July 7

When God tells me to visit a country, I obey His direction. So when I saw that a clerk in a travel agency had changed my route, I telephoned her back immediately.

“Why must I go from Sydney to Tel Aviv and then to Cape Town, instead of from Sydney to Cape Town?”

“I am sorry, but there is no refueling spot in the Indian Ocean.”

"Well, I cannot change my plans. I will just have to pray for an island!”

In only a few minutes’ time she telephoned me again, saying she had received a telegram from Qantas (the Australian airline) announcing that they had arranged a refueling place in the Cocos Islands so that there was now a direct flight from Sydney to Cape Town.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.

Proverbs 3:5 

Trusting in You brings us in the territory of miracles, Father. It is so good to know that You do not make mistakes when You make Your plans for us.

July 6

Let us remember that God’s Word stands forever, and His commandments mean the same for us today as for His disciples two thousand years ago. Those who act on them in obedience will in the same way prove God’s almighty power.

All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them.

1 John 3:24  

We obey Your laws with joy, Father. Our eagerness to do so comes not from fear but from love. You give us so much and You ask so little in return.

July 5

An East German border guard once detained me in his office for three hours. He questioned me thoroughly about my work, but as time went by, I could feel him softening. I was impatient at the delay, knowing I had work to do in his country, but I used the time to try to bring him and his secretary to the Lord.

Just before he passed me through, they both accepted books from me. As I left, he explained, “I am sorry to have delayed you, but what we have been doing here is more important than your visit to your friends.” The Lord had used those three hours to bring His Good News to two people who walked in the darkness, and I had been impatient!

. . . I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 5:30     

Even delays and detours come from You, Lord, and serve Your purpose, when we serve as a channel between You and people we meet. Keep us from impatience. Don’t let us pass by people who need Your Word.  

July 4

Early Christians traced the outline of a fish on their homes, tombs, and catacombs to identify themselves to each other. The fish was used because the Greek word for fish was a simple code in which each letter stood for another word. The five letters stood for the words Jesus Christ, God ’s Son, Saviour.

Every knee shall bow to Jesus,

Every tongue confess His name.

Every knee shall bow to Jesus,

Here with joy, or there with shame.

Bow to Jesus, bow to Jesus,

Bow your heart to Jesus now.

And he is the head of the body, the church . . .

Colossians 1:18 KJV

How wonderful to be in the company of Your people, Lord, and all the others who have gone before us as Your servants!

July 3

It never ceases to amaze me the way the Lord creates a bond among believers which reaches across continents, beyond race and color.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 15:12   

Father, we declare our oneness with Your children all over the world. Thank You for our fellowship together. It is a little foretaste of heaven.

July 2

The riches promised in the Bible are difficult to describe because they are earthly reproductions of heavenly riches. Therefore the Bible authors used what I call the “uns”:

Unfathomable—His wondrous love

Unchangeable—His ways

Unsearchable—His blessed truths

Unutterable—His praise

Unimaginable—His splendor

Unspeakable—His joy and gifts

Unnumbered—His company of angels

 

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Romans 11:33     

Lord, frankly I stand amazed at the unfathomable complexity of Your wisdom and Your knowledge. How could men ever understand Your reasons for Your actions or explain Your method of working?

July 1

The highest potential of God’s love and power is available for us in the trivial things of everyday life.

Can men tell that you love Jesus?

Can they, by your life and mine,

See in daily walk and action

That we have His life divine?

. . .Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Matthew 6:9 KJV

Lord, show us today in everything we experience that we are dependent children of a loving heavenly Father.