Zondervan Inspire

Delighting in Weakness

From the Editor: So true. There’s really nothing more I can say. Any other thoughts on this subject?

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

I think Scripture is clear. No matter how smart or determined or gifted I may be, I don't have the stamina, confidence, hope, wit, wisdom, purity, peace, perspective, patience, money, or health to handle all the challenges I will face. The only way to obtain the kind of strength I need is to trust in God's unfailing love, drawing conclusions for my life that are based on trust and not on fear.

I want to adopt St. Paul's pugnacious faith. Confident that God's grace would be sufficient for every challenge — hunger, thirst, sleeplessness, bandits, violence, shipwreck, slander, persecution, and more — Paul affirmed: "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).

From The Tender Words of God

by Ann Spangler

The Life Your Parched Soul Craves

From the Editor: Starting in December, the Daily Inspiration emails will be coming to you Monday through Friday only. I noticed that open rates tend to be significantly lower on the weekends, which tells us that most people read the emails Monday through Friday. I hope you find this change beneficial, as sometimes too many emails can be a problem as well.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

"Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.' By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive" (John 7:37–39).

Jesus' message was: The life your parched soul craves is now available to all who learn to do life moment by moment with God. As we become comfortable doing life with God, we begin to experience the power of his life flowing up into our often lifeless world — a power that brings peace even in the storms, a power that gives self-control even when we're angry, a power to live a life of freedom from the chains that enslave us, a power to develop deep, authentic relationships, a power to love even the most difficult people, and the power to experience a joy in the moments of each day as every moment of life becomes alive with new possibilities.

From Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended

by John Burke

Counter-Intuitive Power

From the Editor: This is an awesome quote from Ann Spangler’s latest book. I selected today’s picture to illustrate how we are empowered and uplifted by our heavenly Father. When we are grounded in Him, we can soar above all that seeks to bring us down. Any other thoughts on this subject?

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

In so many ways, the strength that Christ has portrayed and that God promises is counter-intuitive, a contradiction to the world's idea of strength. It is the power to control our appetites rather than to let them control us. It is the ability to endure rather than to run away. It is the quick instinct to take refuge in God rather than to trust in our own abilities or resources. It is the humility to ask God daily for what we need rather than to work ourselves into a frenzy trying to construct the perfect safety net. It is the ability to keep gazing at God even when trouble and fear assails us. It is the patience to wait rather than to run on ahead. It is the faith to keep praying no matter what. It is the decision to put others first and ourselves last. It is the grace to believe that nothing is impossible because we belong to God. It is the strength to be more than we are because God is more than we imagine. It is the power to run and not grow weary, to walk and not be faint, to ground ourselves in God’s might and his power to help and to save.

From The Tender Words of God

by Ann Spangler

The Source of All Strength

From the Editor: When things are going well, it’s so easy to forget that God is our refuge and strength. Perhaps that’s why the Scriptures encourage fasting in conjunction with prayer. Both expose our weakness and need, and point us to the source of all strength. Any other thoughts on this subject?

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

The Hebrew Scriptures make it clear that God is the source of all strength. His power is so great that no power in heaven or on earth can compete with it. Moreover, his love impels him to use his power on behalf of his people, to save those who hope in him.

Ultimately, Jesus is presented as the strongest of all men, the One who through his death and resurrection has overpowered Satan, ultimately freeing us from the devastating consequences of sin.

Remember that God's Word is powerful, living and active, able to accomplish far more than we can even ask or imagine. Let it transform your understanding of how God wants to reveal his strength in you and for you.

From The Tender Words of God

by Ann Spangler

It Will Never Lose Its Power

Only the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross two thousand years ago, shields us from the awful judgment of God for sin. We are not justified because of our good intentions. We are not protected because of our tearful appeals. We can, in fact, do nothing to merit God's favor. Only the blood puts us in right standing with him. In the words of the Andraé Crouch song that we often sing in our church, the blood of Jesus "reaches to the highest mountain" and "flows to the lowest valley." That is why "it will never lose its power."

From You Were Made for More: The Life You Have, the Life God Wants You to Have

by Jim Cymbala

Any comments or testimonies today?

Facing Down Temptations

While I was in prison in China, I found it easy to praise the Lord, because everyone hated me except Jesus. After I started traveling and speaking around the world, however, I found there were many brothers and sisters who clapped and cheered everywhere I spoke. This was a new kind of temptation — the praise of men. It is a dangerous minefield that every preacher must walk very carefully through, making sure he gives all glory to God and doesn't take any of it into his own heart. Jesus said that one of the characteristics of the Pharisees was that "they loved praise from men more than praise from God" (John 12:43).

Whether we are being persecuted and tortured or receiving the adulation of men, the solution is the same — praise and worship of our heavenly Father (see Hebrews 13:15–16).

From Living Water 

by Brother Yun

Any comments or testimonies today?

Strength to Overcome Anything

The challenges in your life are real, but Jesus is the truth! If you will learn to praise Jesus Christ regardless of your circumstances, you will find inner freedom and joy, and you will have the strength to overcome whatever you are faced with. The joy of the Lord is such a key, because Nehemiah said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

If you have allowed the devil to steal the joy of the Lord from you, then you will feel weak and powerless. But when the joy of the Lord returns, you will be strong! If you feel defeated, then "strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come'" (Isaiah 35:3–4). It is in the very nature of our God to help the oppressed (see Psalm 146:7–8).

From Living Water

by Brother Yun

Any comments or testimonies today?

logical

"As Thomas Aquinas observed long ago, omnipotence is not the power to do anything at all. Rather, it is the power to do anything that is logically possible. To insist that an all-powerful being must be capable of creating an object he can't control is like demanding that he must be able to make a round square or make himself go out of existence. Those are nonsensical demands, and our belief in God is not undermined by them so much as they demonstrate confusion on the part of those who make them." —Wynn Kenyon

From Gum, Geckos, and God: A Family's Adventure in Space, Time, and Faith

by James S. Spiegel

Any comments or testimonies today?