devos from the hill

Category Archives: trials


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Boils at Christmas

Mars Hill Staff Devotional
Part 2

“Tis the season to be jolly?” With mass shootings, war in the middle east, an economic cliff, etc,. where’s the joy? For our staff devo yesterday, we also looked at a Christmas message in the middle of the book of Job 19:13-27   (via Ray Stedman… Follow the link below to read the full lesson).

The old Christmas carol tells us to “Deck the halls with boughs of holly … ’tis the season to be jolly,” but I have noted, as I am sure you have, a very strange and somber mood this Christmas. The energy crunch has kept all the decorations from the streets, and not many houses are showing bright lights either. It is a rather dull and gloomy Christmas in comparison with those of the past. Most of us feel the somberness of this occasion, especially as we read in the newspapers the chilling stories of cruel and ruthless murders occurring in many places today. We know that famine is spreading in the Sahara, war clouds hang over the Mideast, and corruption in politics still occupies the front pages of our newspapers.

Many people today are asking, very honestly, “What is there to celebrate about Christmas?” Perhaps many of you are facing personal sorrow in your own lives, feeling pain and tragedy. And despite the joy of family reunions there is an inner pain and darkness.

I had lunch this week with a man who told me he had all the outward marks of success. He was eminent in his profession, had a beautiful home and a lovely family — all these things that people count as important. And yet inwardly he was filled with a constant agony and a sense of self-doubt. Many are feeling this way. “Where is the joy of Christmas?” they say.

Read more…http://www.raystedman.org/thematic-studies/christmas-and-easter/boils-at-christmas


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Missionary Weapons

Mars Hill Staff Devotional
from My Utmost for His Highest
by Oswald Chambers

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and *said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”  Nathanael *said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” John 1:47-48 NASB

Key Take-aways:

– Worshiping in everyday occasions readies us for whatever comes our way.

– A crisis does not build something within us – it simply reveals what we are made of already. A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness.

– John 1:51 Nathanael needed to see that, while his private time with God under the fig tree made him spiritually fit, the time had come to worship openly. In the words of John Piper, “there are no holy geographic places any more designated by God as his meeting place with man. Jesus is now that meeting place.”

– John 1:51 calls to mind Gen 28:12-16. Jacob found himself in a holy place. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder. In this passage, Jesus communicates that He is the ladder. Also from Piper, “When we move heavenward, we move on the Son of Man. When God moves earthward, he moves on the Son of Man.”

Click here for the full devotional: http://utmost.org/missionary-weapons-1/


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The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith

Mars Hill Staff Devotional

The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith from
My Utmost for His Highest
by Oswald Chambers

Jesus said to her, ’Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ —John 11:40

Key Take-Aways:

– Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual.

– Faith will only be your intimate possession when it is tested.
Read full devotional here: http://utmost.org/the-unsurpassed-intimacy-of-tested-faith/


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Broken Walls, Broken Lives

Mars Hill Staff Devotional – August 7, 2012

The brokenness of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day is a metaphor for a broken human life.
God reveals our brokenness, not to condemn us, but to rebuild my life.
Key take away: Are we willing to expose our brokenness? “God opposes the proud
and give grace to the humble.” – James 4:6.

Today’s devotional is part 1 of 2. Next week we’ll look at the 4 steps to restoration and healing.

“Broken Walls, Broken Lives” by Ray Stedman
Read the Scripture: Nehemiah 1:1-3

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire (Nehemiah 1:3b).

Notice the description of Jerusalem. The people were in trouble and were feeling a great sense of disgrace and reproach. The walls of the city were broken down. The gates had been burned with fire and were no longer usable.

If we take Jerusalem as a symbol of our own lives, there are many of us who fit this description. You look back on your life, and you see there are places where the walls have been broken down. There is no longer any ability left to resist destructive attacks. You have fallen victim to sinful habits that you now find difficult to break. That is the kind of ruin that is described here.

Perhaps you have gone along with the ways of the world. You have fallen into practices that the Bible says are wrong, and you know they are wrong. But you have difficulty stopping them. Perhaps your drift began innocently. You did not realize you were forming a habit, but now you no longer can stop it. Your defenses are gone. The walls of your city are broken down, and perhaps your gates are also burned. Gates are ways in and out. They are the way by which other people get to know you as you really are. Perhaps your gates have been destroyed by wrong habits.

Perhaps you were abused as a child. This phenomenon seems to be surfacing frequently in our day. The shame and the scarring of it have kept you a recluse. Your gates are burned, and nobody has access to you. Perhaps you were a victim of divorce or rape or of some bitter experience, and you feel betrayed or sabotaged.

You want to run and hide. No one can reach you. You have been so badly burned, you are now touchy and inaccessible. There are parts of your life you cannot talk about. You do not want anyone to know. You have a sense of great personal distress and are feeling reproach and disgrace. You have been scarred emotionally. No one may know about it. To others you appear to be a success. They think you are doing fine, but inwardly you know you are not. As you examine the walls and the gates of your life, you find much of it in ruins. How do you handle that?

That is the great question many face. But that is why the Scriptures are given to us. The men and women of the past have been through these same difficulties, and they have told us how to handle them. This great book of Nehemiah is one of the most helpful pictures we have of how to recover from broken lives. The steps that Nehemiah took covers seven chapters of this book. They are specific steps, orderly–and very effective! Taken in order they will lead to a full recovery of usefulness.

Thank You, Father, that You reveal my own brokenness, not in order to condemn me, but to rebuild my life. I give to You all that is in ruins and ask that You rebuild me into the person You want me to be.

Life Application: Are we ready and willing to allow God to expose our brokenness and lead us in paths of healing and usefulness?

Copyright © 2007 by Elaine Stedman — This daily devotion is from the book The Power of His Presence: a year of devotions from the writings of Ray Stedman; compiled by Mark Mitchell. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice and a hyperlink to http://www.RayStedman.org if the copy is posted on the Internet. Please direct any questions you may have to webmaster@RayStedman.org.

http://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/nehemiah/broken-walls-broken-lives


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From Sorrow to Joy

Mars Hill Staff Devotional – July 17, 2012

A key take away – In this passage Jesus doesn’t just promise to take away our sorrow, but to turn our sorrow into joy. He can take the very thing that causes us heartache and turn it into joy. And He will do this if we let Him!

“From Sorrow to Joy” by Ray Stedman
Read the Scripture: John 16:16-24

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy (John 16:20).

The concern of the disciples is how long Jesus’ absence is going to last. Jesus had said, In a little while you will see me no more, and his disciples had immediately picked up on that phrase a little while. Their hearts clutched with fear, they said to themselves, How long does He mean? Their attention is on that as well as on His words, because I am going to the Father. They said, Why does this have to happen? What does He mean, ‘because I am going to the Father’? You can see that the focus of their concern is on when and why.

If you and I had been there, that is exactly what we would have asked! We are always concerned about how long a trial is going to last and wondering why we have to go through it. Are these not the questions we inevitably ask whenever we have trouble–Why? and How long? But when Jesus answers the troubled disciples, He ignores the whole matter of time. His answer stresses the process and the result that is certain to follow. Jesus isn’t concerned with the Why? and How long? but with the How? and the What? He makes clear to them that a period of sorrow is inevitable. He cannot spare them from it. There will be a time when they will weep and lament and be in sorrow and when the world around will be rejoicing. But, He says, your sorrow will be turned into joy. How long it takes is not significant; the inevitable result is the important thing.

That is a very important lesson to learn. I’ve been saying to the Lord, How long do I have to go through this? And the Lord’s emphasis is strictly upon what is coming at the end, the joy that is certain. To illustrate this, our Lord used the beautiful figure of childbirth. When a baby is being dedicated, the face of the mother is a picture of joy. What causes the joy? The baby. Yet a few weeks earlier that same mother was in anguish and pain. And what was causing the pain? The baby. In other words, the same thing that caused the sorrow would later be the cause of the joy.

That is different from what we usually think. Most of us assume that our sorrow is going to be replaced by joy. But the promise of Jesus is that the very thing that caused sorrow is also going to be the cause of joy. That is a revelation of one of the great principles that marks authentic Christianity, one of the ways by which our Lord works in our life. He takes the very thing that causes us heartache and sorrow and turns it into a cause of joy.

You work in such wonderful ways, Lord. I trust that You will take that which brings sorrow in my life and make it a source of joy.
Life Application: In times of difficulty, do we focus on how long our trial will last? How can our very sorrow produce joy?

From your friends at
http://www.RayStedman.org

Copyright © 2007 by Elaine Stedman — This daily devotion is from the book The Power of His Presence: a year of devotions from the writings of Ray Stedman; compiled by Mark Mitchell. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice and a hyperlink to http://www.RayStedman.org if the copy is posted on the Internet. Please direct any questions you may have to webmaster@RayStedman.org.

http://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/john-13to17/from-sorrow-to-joy