'Relationships' Tagged Posts (Page 4)
Daily Devotional – Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves? – From Utmost.org March 31, 2016 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. —1 John 5:16 If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we…
Daily Devotional – Holiness or Hardness toward God?
Holiness or Hardness Toward God? – From Utmost.org March 30, 2016 He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16 The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this…
Daily Devotional – Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character – From Utmost.org March 27, 2016 Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place… —Revelation 4:1 A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing…
Daily Devotional – Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity – From Utmost.org March 26, 2016 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. —Matthew 5:8 Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this…
Daily Devotional – Maintaining the Proper Relationship
Maintaining the Proper Relationship – From Utmost.org March 25, 2016 …the friend of the bridegroom… —John 3:29 Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction.…
Daily Devotional – The Burning Heart
The Burning Heart – From Utmost.org March 22, 2016 Did not our heart burn within us…? —Luke 24:32 We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart—…
Daily Devotional – Identified of Simply Interested?
Identified or Simply Interested? – From Utmost.org March 21, 2016 I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20 The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified…
Daily Devotional – Abraham’s Life of Faith
Abraham’s Life of Faith March 19, 2016 He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8 In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal…
Daily Devotional – The Servant’s Primary Goal
The Servant’s Primary Goal – From Utmost.org March 17, 2016 We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9 “We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well…
Daily Devotional – Yielding
Yielding from Utmost.org March 14, 2016 …you are that one’s slaves whom you obey… —Romans 6:16 The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because…
Daily Devotional – Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision”
Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision” – From Utmost.org March 11, 2016 I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. —Acts 26:19 If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient…
Daily Devotional – Being an Example of His Message
Being an Example of His Message – From Utmost.org March 10, 2016 Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2 We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As…