Daily Devotion with Billy Graham

Daily Devotion - 3/9/2010

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith . . . ” -Ephesians 3:17

Experts have told us that society is sick. Their panaceas have treated human frailty with infusions of low-income housing, welfare payments, integrated education, and psychological conditioning. But we are learning that this is not the total answer. The world does need changing, society needs changing, the nation needs changing, but we never will change it until we ourselves are changed. And we never will change until we look into the mirror of our own soul and face with candor what we are inside. Then freely acknowledge that there is a defect in human nature, a built-in waywardness that comes from man’s natural rebellion against God. I am not preaching now, just trying to give you an understanding of what makes you tick. But I also expect to show you that, in the end, you can find your answers only in a personal relationship with God.

Daily Devotion - 3/16/2010

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

“I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great
his power is to help those who believe him. It is that same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead . . . ” -Ephesians 1:19,20 (TLB)

Jesus told His disciples that the world would hate them. They would be “as sheep in the midst of wolves.” They would be arrested, scourged, and brought before governors and kings. Even their loved ones would persecute them. As the world hated and persecuted Him, so it would treat His servants. Thousands of Christians have learned the secret of contentment and joy in trial. Some of the happiest Christians I have met have been life-long sufferers. They have had every reason to sigh and complain, being denied so many privileges and pleasures that they see others enjoy, yet they have found greater cause for gratitude and joy than many who are prosperous, vigorous, and strong.

In all ages, Christians have found it possible to maintain the spirit of joy in the hour of trial. In circumstances that would have felled most men, they have so completely risen above them that they actually have used the circumstances to serve and glorify Christ.

Daily Devotion - 3/15/2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

“ . . . may the God of peace . . . produce in you through the power of Christ all that is pleasing to him . . . ” -Hebrews 13:20,21 (TLB)

When I was a boy, radio was just coming of age. We would gather around a crude homemade set and twist the three tuning dials in an effort to establish contact with the transmitter. Often, all the sound that came out of the amplifier was the squawk of static; but we knew that somewhere out there was the unseen transmitter, and if contact was established and the dials were in adjustment, we could hear a voice loud and clear. After a long time of laborious tuning, the far distant voice would suddenly break through and a smile of triumph would illuminate the faces of all in the room. At last we were tuned in!

In the revelation that God established between Himself and us, we can find a new life and a new dimension of living, but we must “tune in.” There are higher levels of living to which we have never attained. There is peace, satisfaction, and joy that we have never experienced. God is trying to break through to us. The heavens are calling. God is speaking! Let man hear.

Daily Devotion - 3/14/2010

Sunday, March 14, 2010

“So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” -Matthew 6:34 (TLB)

King George V wrote on the flyleaf of the Bible of a friend, “The secret of happiness is not to do what you like to do, but to learn to like what you have to do.” Too many think of happiness as some sort of will-o’-the-wisp thing that is discovered by constant and relentless searching. It is not found by seeking. It is not an end in itself. Pots of gold are never found at the end of the rainbow, as we used to think when we were children; gold is mined from the ground or panned laboriously from a mountain stream.

Jesus once told His disciples, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The “things” He spoke of were the things that make us feel happy and secure—food, drink, clothes, shelter. He told us not to make these the chief goal of our lives but to “seek the kingdom” and these needs would be automatically supplied. There, if we will take it, is the secret of happiness.

Daily Devotion - 3/13/2010

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust . . . ” -Psalm 18:2

The trouble with our modern thinking is that we have a conception that God is a haphazard God with no set rules of life and salvation. Ask the astronomer if God is a haphazard God. He will tell you that every star moves with precision in its celestial path. Ask the scientist if God is a haphazard God. He will tell you that His formulas and equations are fixed, and that to ignore the laws of science would be a fool’s folly. If the laws in the material realm are so fixed and exact, is it reasonable that God could afford to be haphazard in the spiritual realm, where eternal destinies of souls are at stake? Just as God has equations and rules in the material realm, God has equations and rules in the spiritual.

Daily Devotion - 3/12/2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

“Dear brothers, I have been talking to you as though you were still just babies in the Christian life . . . ” -1 Corinthians 3:1 (TLB)

Some people have received Christ but have never reached spiritual maturity. They have been in church all their lives, and yet they have never become mature Christians. They are still considered “spiritual children” and “babes in Christ.” They know little Scripture. They have little desire to pray, and bear few of the marks of a Christian in their daily living. To say, “I will resolve to do better, I will muster all my will power and revise my way of living,” is noble, but futile. A corpse could as well say, “I will—through sheer effort—rise out of this coffin and be a living man again.” You need a power outside yourself. You cannot get over the habits and chains that are binding you. You need outside help. You need Christ. The Bible tells of a bridge of faith which reaches from the valley of despair to the high hills of glorious hope in Christ. It tells where we are, but beyond that—it tells where we may be in Christ. Now, of course, you will not be completely mature until you are in the presence of Christ, but you should be growing every day as a Christian.

Daily Devotion - 3/11/2010

Thursday, March 11, 2010

“Submit yourselves therefore to God . . . ” -James 4:7

You have a tongue and a voice. These instruments of speech can be used destructively or employed constructively. You can use your tongue to slander, to gripe, to scold, to nag, and to quarrel; or you can bring it under the control of God’s Spirit and make it an instrument of blessing and praise. The 20th-century version of James 3:3 says, “When we put bits into the horses’ mouths to make them obey us, we control the rest of their bodies also.” Just so, when we submit to the claims of Christ upon our lives, our untamed natures are brought under His control. We become meek, tamed, and “fit for the Master’s service.”

Daily Devotion - 3/10/2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

“ . . . not having mine own righteousness . . . ” -Philippians 3:9

People go through many doors which do not lead to the Kingdom of God. Some try the door of good works. They say, “I can get to heaven if I only do enough good things, because God will honor all the good things I do.” It’s wonderful to do good things, but we cannot do enough good things to satisfy God. God demands perfection, and we’re not perfect. If we’re going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we have to be absolutely perfect. You ask, “Well, how will I ever be perfect?” We need to be clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. There is one door to the Kingdom and it’s Jesus. And we will never get to heaven unless we go His way.