Sanctuary

[Rowan]

JANUARY 23

PREPARE FOR TESTS

JAMES 1:18
Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.


James reminds us that we experience temptation because we are God’s special people. We are members of His family because we have been born again by the word of truth. When James uses the word “firstfruits” to describe believers, he is reminding us that we belong only to God. In the Old Testament, “firstfruits” were the firstborn of cattle and the early fruit of the ground, both of which belonged to God.

The enemy targets us because of our relationship with God. There would be no inner battle if we were truly lost.

The tests God allows to mature us can become temptations from Satan that malign us. We must be prepared for tests, realize they can become temptations, and then overcome them through the strength of our relationship with God.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

FEBRUARY 1

REST IN JESUS

JOHN 16:33
In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

When we don’t know how this is all going to work out, we have to hold tightly to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and rest in Him. That’s the message we often find in the New Testament.

In John 16:33 Jesus said to His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jesus had been talking about His future death, but then He said, “Don’t get caught up in that. Make sure in the midst of these tumultuous times your trust is in Me.”

When we go through a tough time, if we’ve spent any time at all in the Word of God, that tough time is like a magnet that draws us to the Lord Jesus. Nothing will happen in the future that will catch Jesus Christ by surprise. And there’s nothing that will happen that He can’t help His children work through.

So rather than spending our time trying to figure out the nuances of what will happen, we should spend at least as much time getting to know Him better.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

FEBRUARY 13

THE BEST LOVE

PHILIPPIANS 2:4
Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.


There is an inscription on a small tombstone in an English village that reads: “Here lies a miser who lived for himself. He cared for nothing but gathering wealth. Now, where he is or how he fares, nobody knows and nobody cares.”

The root of all evil in human nature is the desire to have one’s own say. Self-centeredness is the exact opposite of agape love. Agape love is love that seeks the best interest of the one loved. Selfishness seeks the best interest for one’s own self, so the two are exactly opposite. It is not possible to have agape love and to have self-seeking or self-interest. R. C. H. Lenski, the well-known commentator, has said, “If you can cure selfishness, you have just replanted the Garden of Eden.” It was selfishness that caused Adam and Eve to reject God’s way in favor of their own desires.

Self replaced God in their hearts and they determined to go their own way. Love, on the other hand, is not interested in its own way, but is preoccupied with the interests of others.

Love does not seek its own. Love considers the other person and gets excited about seeing that their needs get met.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

FEBRUARY 15

LISTEN TO JESUS

REVELATION 1:17–18
I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.


Who is Jesus? He’s the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is the God-man and the man-God. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. He is God walking around in a body. He is God forever enthroned in heaven now at the right hand of the Father. Jesus Christ is God.

One of the greatest illustrations of who Christ is and why we should listen to His words is found in the pro-logue of the Book of Revelation. John was in exile on the Isle of Patmos, and he saw this One to whom we are appealing and said, “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen’ ” (Revelation 1:17–18).

There is no one like Jesus Christ. He is the only one who has ever lived or ever will live who has a true grasp of the future. Because the Lord Jesus Christ as God lives in the time about which He speaks, He views all of time as if it were the present. He is the Eternal One, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

FEBRUARY 17

ALONE WITH GOD

PSALM 88:13
In the morning my prayer comes before you.


I believe the best time to get alone with God is early morning—it sets the tone for your entire day. He’ll show you things and tell you things that will make the difference at crisis points during the next twelve hours or so. After you talk with the Lord and walk with Him through the schedule that lies ahead of you, He’ll strengthen and encourage you to make every point of your day an act of worship.

Another advantage to a morning time with God is that He’ll plant His word in your heart. You’ll be amazed at how often the very verse you studied over your morning coffee will have key significance a few hours later. Ask the Spirit to illuminate your study, and then go over your Scripture passage reflectively.

Try to take that verse with you the rest of the day, so that it’s never far from your mind. The Word of God is essential to the worship of God, and there’s simply nothing so encouraging as His timeless and powerful Word. One little verse is enough to give you a divine perspective throughout the day.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

FEBRUARY 20

THE ENERGY TO WAIT

ROMANS 4:20–21
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief … being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.


One of the hardest things for us to do is wait on God. Sometimes God’s promises don’t materialize as soon as we would like, and we wonder if God has forgotten us.

What God has promised He is able to perform. Think of the many wonderful promises He has made. How do we know He is able to do what He has promised? Because He is the Almighty God. As we wait for the fruition of God’s promises, we can find confidence in knowing God is not only in charge of the event, but He is in charge of the timing.

What energizes us as we wait for Him is this thought: God has never promised anything to any of us that He is not able to do; and He is faithful to do what He has promised.

God will not prostitute His power to give us desires that will in the end be destructive to our walk with Him. But if we are consumed with a passion to find God’s will through His Word and His Holy Spirit, we can always be in the place where God can shower down His power upon us.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

FEBRUARY 21

PRAY FOR YOUR CHILDREN

JAMES 5:16
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.


If I had to reduce it to just one thing, I would pray for my child’s personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, because if that’s solid, most of the other stuff will settle in.

Some days I have felt so burdened for my family that I have spent my whole prayer time praying for my children, either out loud or in writing, making sure I said everything I wanted to say. And God has answered my prayers in a way that would take ten books to describe.

Perhaps your children are (or will be) scattered around the country or the world. Remember this: though you are separated by hundreds of miles, you can feel a sense of oneness in the presence of God, a sense of security that God will do what He’s promised. Or your children may still live with or near you, but through prayer you can draw even closer to them than physical proximity allows.

Through prayer, righteous parents can change the course and direction of their family. The prayer of a righteous parent can put a child’s heart into the hand of the Lord, who then directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

THE INWARD MAN

2 CORINTHIANS 4:16
Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.


It is easy in our world to lose touch with the value of the inward man. Because we are an accomplishment-oriented society, it is hard to “rank” the inward man on those scales that our culture deems important. Therefore, in order to feel significant, we focus on developing the outward things which give us credibility in the eyes of others.

Paul said that the “outward man is perishing.” No amount of working on it is going to change that. How sad it is to see people wanting to look youthful in their obituary picture in the paper when they are as dead as everyone else! But Paul had a different philosophy. He accepted the fact that the outward man is perishing and the inward man is going to live forever.

But how exactly do we demonstrate that we value the inward man? How do we invest in that part of us which we know is most important? We have to go into the spiritual gymnasium and work out with the inward man just as we would work out with the outward man to build up muscles or lose weight.

Just as the outward body needs food, so the inward man needs food, and the Bible tells us that food is God’s Word.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

FEBRUARY 24

TALK TO THE LORD ABOUT TROUBLES

PSALM 34:17
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.


David testified, “This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” C. S. Lewis once wrote, “Down through the ages whenever men had a need of courage they would cry out, ‘Billy Budd, help me’ and nothing happened. But for 1900 years, whenever men have needed courage and have cried out, ‘Lord Jesus, help me’ something always happened.”

I love the Hebrew definition of the word “trouble.” The word literally translates, “hang-ups.” It means to be inhibited, tied up and restricted. When we lay hold of Christ, we are freed from our “hang-ups.”

Sound too simple? It is! Yet when I’ve counseled with so many Christians in deep trouble, I’ve asked them, “Have you talked to the Lord about this?” They looked at me with a blank stare. “You mean tell Him?” Yes. When you acknowledge the reliability of the One who is in charge of your life and then admit your fear, you have to appropriate the power that He has promised to give you. You have to tell it to Jesus.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God

 

[Rowan]

MARCH 2

NEVER FAIL TO FORGIVE

MATTHEW 6:12
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.


When I was a teenager, I disobediently took my father’s car out for a joy ride when he wasn’t at home. Unfortunately, I ended up running the car off a country road into a ditch. I went to him and said, “Dad, I’ve got to tell you I feel terrible about what I did. I was wrong, deceitful, dishonest. I knew better than to do that. I’m sorry, and I want to ask you to forgive me.” He said, “You are forgiven—but you will pay for the car.”

Now—when I damaged my father’s car did I cease to be my father’s son? No. But my relational forgiveness was in deep trouble. If you want to know the oneness with the Lord in your daily relationship with Him, if you want to feel the reality of your forgiveness when you pray to God, don’t hold grudges against others and fail to forgive them.

You can’t come to God and expect to enjoy His forgiveness of your sins while you have not confessed your own sin of unforgiveness and forgiven your brother. If you want to know the daily sense of your forgiveness in your walk with the Lord, then you must forgive those who have wronged you.


David Jeremiah, Sanctuary