Daily Devotions With Greg Laurie ~ "Christ's Call to Courage" ~ Tuesday, 29 October 2013
But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome."~~Acts 23:11
Have you ever been discouraged as a Christian? You might be surprised to find that none other than the greatest of the apostles had moments of discouragement.
Paul wasn't afraid of death or even hardship. The only thing he seemed to fear was the disapproval of God. How do you stop a man like that? You don't. This is why God used him in such an amazing way. And that is why Paul and the others turned their world upside down.
Yet in Acts 23, we find Paul experiencing an apparent time of deep discouragement. He had ignored the warning of the prophet Agabus and went to Jerusalem. Sure enough, he was arrested and thrown into prison—again. Paul's middle name could have been trouble. There was never a dull moment with him.
It appears that he was discouraged, because the Lord came to him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul" (Acts 23:11). At first this seems like the equivalent of someone saying, "Hey, man, cheer up! Grey skies are going to clear up. Put on a happy face."
But we have to understand what the Lord was saying to Paul. "Be of good cheer" also could be stated, "Be of good courage." This was Christ's call to courage in Paul's life.
Maybe you have been frightened by the future. Maybe you have asked, "What is going on in my life? What is going to happen to me?"
God's power gives courage. Jesus said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me . . ." (Acts 1:8). We need that power to have the courage to do what God has called us to do. And His power is there for each and every one of us today.
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TODAY’S BIBLE READINGS:
Job 20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
2 “Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,
even by reason of my haste that is in me.
3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame.
The spirit of my understanding answers me.
4 Don’t you know this from old time,
since man was placed on earth,
5 that the triumphing of the wicked is short,
the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6 Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
7 yet he shall perish forever like his own dung.
Those who have seen him shall say, ‘Where is he?’
8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found.
Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye which saw him shall see him no more,
neither shall his place any more see him.
10 His children shall seek the favor of the poor.
His hands shall give back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youth,
but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.
12 “Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,
though he hide it under his tongue,
13 though he spare it, and will not let it go,
but keep it still within his mouth;
14 yet his food in his bowels is turned.
It is cobra venom within him.
15 He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again.
God will cast them out of his belly.
16 He shall suck cobra venom.
The viper’s tongue shall kill him.
17 He shall not look at the rivers,
the flowing streams of honey and butter.
18 That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down.
According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.
He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
20 “Because he knew no quietness within him,
he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.
21 There was nothing left that he didn’t devour,
therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him.
The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him.
It will rain on him while he is eating.
24 He shall flee from the iron weapon.
The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
25 He draws it out, and it comes out of his body.
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver.
Terrors are on him.
26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures.
An unfanned fire shall devour him.
It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity.
The earth shall rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall depart.
They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
the heritage appointed to him by God.”(Messianic WEB)
Mark 3:1 He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. 2 They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. 3 He said to the man who had his hand withered, “Stand up.” 4 He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other. 6 The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
7 Yeshua withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, from Judea, 8 from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him. 9 He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t press on him. 10 For he had healed many, so that as many as had diseases pressed on him that they might touch him. 11 The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, “You are the Son of God!” 12 He sternly warned them that they should not make him known.
13 He went up into the mountain, and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him. 14 He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to proclaim, 15 and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16 Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter; 17 Jacob the son of Zebedee; Yochanan, the brother of Jacob, and he called them Benei-Regesh, which means, Sons of Thunder; 18 Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; Jacob, the son of Halfai; Taddai; Simon the Zealot; 19 and Judah Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
He came into a house. 20 The multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, “He is insane.” 22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.”
23 He summoned them, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can’t stand, but has an end. 27 But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house. 28 Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; 29 but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.”* 30 —because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31 His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him. 32 A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters† are outside looking for you.”
33 He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”
4:1 Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea. 2 He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching, 3 “Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow, 4 and as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds* came and devoured it. 5 Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. 6 When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 Others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.” 9 He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables, 12 that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’”✡
13 He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble. 18 Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word, 19 and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”
21 He said to them, “Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket † or under a bed? Isn’t it put on a stand? 22 For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. 23 If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24 He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear. 25 For whoever has, to him will more be given, and he who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.”
26 He said, “God’s Kingdom is as if a man should cast seed on the earth, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how. 28 For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30 He said, “How will we liken God’s Kingdom? Or with what parable will we illustrate it? 31 It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, 32 yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him. 37 A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. 38 He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Rabbi, don’t you care that we are dying?”
39 He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”
41 They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”(Messianic WEB)
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie
P.O. Box 4000
Riverside, CA 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1-800-821-3300
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