After He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone.
—Matthew 14:23
Spending time alone with God in a quiet place is vital to me and I believe it is also vital for you. I have an office in my home where I go each morning to meet with God before I begin my day. In addition to that, about four times a year I like to get away for a few days and be alone. I enjoy and need the extended time of quiet and focusing on God.
Most people take vacations yearly and plan some type of entertainment each week. We want to have fun and relaxation, and there is nothing wrong with that. We need it in order to maintain balanced, healthy lives and emotions. But we actually need the spiritual vacations even more and they should be the first thing we put on the yearly calendar or our weekly schedules.
Just imagine how it would honor God if you booked your time with Him before booking anything else. I conduct conferences in the United States and abroad and I am always impressed by the number of people who travel and take vacation time to be at one of these conferences. I always compliment them and I know that God is proud of their choices. They will grow spiritually because they are sacrificing something in order to spend time with God.
Don’t wait until some difficulty or tragedy demands that you spend time with God in order to find answers to your situation. Seek God first and regularly, and then you will already be strong spiritually and enabled to deal with anything that comes. If Jesus needed to be alone with God the Father, then we certainly need it.
God’s word for you today: Get your calendar out right now and schedule some special time with God.
Terror or Peace?
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.”
Luke 24:36–37
D. L. Moody said that just before He died, Christ made a will. To His disciples (and to us) Jesus left His peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Then Moody said, “They say that a man cannot make a will now that lawyers cannot break. I will challenge them to break Christ’s will. Let them try it. No judge or jury can set that aside. Christ rose to execute His own will. He left His peace and His joy for every true believer, and no power on earth can take it from him who trusts.”
Though Jesus had promised lasting peace to His disciples four days earlier, when He appeared to them they were in terror. They did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead as He had said would happen, as the angels had told the women at the tomb, and as the two disciples who had just returned from Emmaus had said. And here is the lesson: when we do not believe what God has said, we forfeit His peace.
It is only through faith that we can maintain the peace of God in the face of the storms and tests of life. It is not from the outside that peace is stolen, but from the inside that it is given away. The promises of God are backed by His faithfulness and complete power—they never fail. So when we are facing trials and burdens, we will have God’s peace instead of terror as long as we do not give it away in unbelief.
Luke 24:36–37
D. L. Moody said that just before He died, Christ made a will. To His disciples (and to us) Jesus left His peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Then Moody said, “They say that a man cannot make a will now that lawyers cannot break. I will challenge them to break Christ’s will. Let them try it. No judge or jury can set that aside. Christ rose to execute His own will. He left His peace and His joy for every true believer, and no power on earth can take it from him who trusts.”
Though Jesus had promised lasting peace to His disciples four days earlier, when He appeared to them they were in terror. They did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead as He had said would happen, as the angels had told the women at the tomb, and as the two disciples who had just returned from Emmaus had said. And here is the lesson: when we do not believe what God has said, we forfeit His peace.
It is only through faith that we can maintain the peace of God in the face of the storms and tests of life. It is not from the outside that peace is stolen, but from the inside that it is given away. The promises of God are backed by His faithfulness and complete power—they never fail. So when we are facing trials and burdens, we will have God’s peace instead of terror as long as we do not give it away in unbelief.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Nothing in the world can take the peace of Jesus away from us unless we give it up ourselves.
Alone with God
by Joyce Meyer - posted November 20, 2016After He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone.
—Matthew 14:23
Spending time alone with God in a quiet place is vital to me and I believe it is also vital for you. I have an office in my home where I go each morning to meet with God before I begin my day. In addition to that, about four times a year I like to get away for a few days and be alone. I enjoy and need the extended time of quiet and focusing on God.
Most people take vacations yearly and plan some type of entertainment each week. We want to have fun and relaxation, and there is nothing wrong with that. We need it in order to maintain balanced, healthy lives and emotions. But we actually need the spiritual vacations even more and they should be the first thing we put on the yearly calendar or our weekly schedules.
Just imagine how it would honor God if you booked your time with Him before booking anything else. I conduct conferences in the United States and abroad and I am always impressed by the number of people who travel and take vacation time to be at one of these conferences. I always compliment them and I know that God is proud of their choices. They will grow spiritually because they are sacrificing something in order to spend time with God.
Don’t wait until some difficulty or tragedy demands that you spend time with God in order to find answers to your situation. Seek God first and regularly, and then you will already be strong spiritually and enabled to deal with anything that comes. If Jesus needed to be alone with God the Father, then we certainly need it.
God’s word for you today: Get your calendar out right now and schedule some special time with God.
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