Showing posts with label Billy Graham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billy Graham. Show all posts

Working Together for Good - Billy Graham

March 01, 2018

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God . . .
—Romans 8:28


We might never have had the songs of Fanny Crosby had she not been afflicted with blindness. George Matheson would never have given the world his immortal song, “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” had it not been for his passing through the furnace of affliction. The “Hallelujah Chorus” was written by George Frederick Handel when he was poverty-stricken and suffering from a paralyzed right side and right arm. Affliction may be for our edification and Christian development. Sickness is one of the “all things” which work together for good to them that love God. Don’t resent it. Don’t be embittered by it.

Why did God let me get sick? Read Billy Graham’s answer.

Prayer for the day

You do not make mistakes, Father. If sorrow comes into my life, let me use it to help others know about You.
Continue Reading

He Gives Us Life Eternal - By Billy Graham

February 28, 2018
These things have I written unto you that believe . . . that ye may know that ye have eternal life . . .
—1 John 5:13

Recently I read that it will cost this country a hundred billion dollars to get one man safely to Mars. It cost God the priceless blood of His only Son to get us sinners to heaven. By tasting death for every man, Jesus took over our penalty as He erased our guilt. Now God can forgive. In a moment of thanksgiving, Paul once exclaimed, “He loved me and gave Himself for me!” Will you repeat these words right now, even as you read? If you do, I believe you will have cause to be thankful too, and that you will experience the love of God in your heart. Try it and see. The Bible teaches that you can be absolutely sure that you are saved.

Find out more about God’s amazing love as you watch The Cross, featuring Billy Graham, Lecrae & Lacey Sturm.

Prayer for the day

Father, although my finite mind cannot understand all the wonders of the Gospel, I thank You for the assurance of my salvation through Christ.
Continue Reading

Hope for the Future - Billy Graham

October 31, 2017

For our citizenship is in heaven; from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

—Philippians 3:20 (NASB)


If you are moving to a new home, you want to know all about the community to which you are going. And since we will spend eternity some place, we ought to know something about it. The information concerning heaven is found in the Bible. When we talk about heaven, earth grows shabby by comparison. Our sorrows and problems here seem so much less, when we have keen anticipation of the future.

In a certain sense the Christian has heaven here on earth. He has peace of soul, peace of conscience, and peace with God. In the midst of troubles and difficulties he can smile. He has a spring in his step, a joy in his soul, a smile on his face. But the Bible also promises the Christian a heaven in the life hereafter.

Find out more on what Heaven will be like.

Prayer for the day

Father, as I face whatever trials come my way, I will take heart in the glorious promise of heaven—knowing I shall be with You!
Continue Reading

God Is Love! - By Billy Graham

October 30, 2017

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love . . .

—Jeremiah 31:3


As I read the Bible, I find love to be the supreme and dominant attribute of God. The promises of God’s love and forgiveness are as real, as sure, as positive, as human words can make them. But the total beauty of the ocean cannot be understood until it is seen, and it is the same with God’s love. Until you actually experience it, until you actually possess it, no one can describe its wonders to you.

Never question God’s great love, for it is as unchangeable a part of God as His holiness. Were it not for the love of God, none of us would ever have a chance in the future life. But God is love! And His love for us is everlasting.

Read more about God’s love and how to experience it.
Prayer for the day

Knowing myself as I do, Lord, the knowledge of Your love and forgiveness never ceases to amaze me. In the knowledge of this, help me to communicate to others that this love is theirs too, if they will only reach out for it.
Continue Reading

Where Is Heaven? - Billy Graham

October 23, 2017

I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.

—Luke 22:29


Many people have asked, “Where is heaven?” We are not told in the Scripture where heaven is. Some students have tried to take some Scriptures and put them together and say that heaven is in the north. They quote Psalm 48:2, “The joy of the whole earth is . . . on the sides of the north . . . ” The magnetic needle points north. Perhaps the Celestial City is in the north. We do not know. But no matter where heaven is, it will be where Christ is.

Many people ask, “Do you believe that heaven is a literal place?” Yes! Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” The Bible teaches that Enoch and Elijah ascended in a literal body to a literal place that is just as real as Los Angeles, London, or Algiers! The Bible also teaches that heaven will be a place of beauty. It is described in the Bible as “a building of God”-“a city”-“a better country”-“an inheritance”-“a glory.”

The Bible also indicates that heaven will be a place of great understanding and knowledge of things that we never learned down here.

Read: “5 Answers from Billy Graham on Heaven.”

Listen to Billy Graham’s audio message about Heaven.
Prayer for the day

Living Lord Jesus, the knowledge that You have prepared a place for me in heaven brings comfort and delight to my soul!
Continue Reading

The Real Source of Power - Billy Graham

October 09, 2017

But seek ye first the kingdom of God . . .

—Matthew 6:33

A man or a woman who has been focusing all attention on financial gains, or business, or social prestige, or who has centered all his affection on some one person, experiences a devastating sense of loss when denied the thing that has given life its meaning. In these tragic moments, the individual recognizes how terribly and completely alone he is.

In that moment the Holy Spirit may cause the worldly bandages to fall from his eyes so that he sees clearly for the first time. He recognizes that God is the only source of real power, and the only enduring fountainhead of love and companionship.

What gives your life meaning? Listen to this Billy Graham message about turning away from worldly pleasures.

Prayer for the day

From out of the depths, Lord, my eyes have seen that only You are unchanging, eternal love. Help me to put You first in everything I do.
Continue Reading

Finite Beings—Infinite Desires - Billy Graham

September 18, 2017

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

—Hebrews 13:14


One of the basic desires of the soul is to live on and on. Self-preservation is the first law of nature. People may grow tired of aches and pains and the decrepitude of old age, but they do not grow tired of life itself. God has arranged to satisfy this yearning of the soul to live forever, and the desire to be free from pain and sickness and trouble. People are little creatures with big capacities, finite beings with infinite desires, deserving nothing but demanding all. God made people with this huge capacity and desire in order that He might come in and completely satisfy that desire. God made the human heart so big that only He can fill it. He made it demand so much that only He can supply that demand . . . Jesus Christ is the only one who holds the keys of death. In His death and resurrection He took the sting out of death, and now God offers eternal life to every person who puts his trust and faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

Have you put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ? Begin today.

Life in Christ brings the only real freedom, Billy Graham shares.

Prayer for the day

Lord Jesus, when I come to the end of this earthly life, You will be there to guide me to my heavenly home. Thank You, my loving Father.
Continue Reading

Only Jesus - Billy Graham

September 11, 2017

God . . . is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, even Christ our Lord.

—1 Corinthians 1:9 (TLB)


The question remains, “How can God be just-that is, true to Himself in nature and true to Himself in holiness—and yet justify the sinner?” Because each man had to bear his own sins, all mankind was excluded from helping, since each was contaminated with the same disease. The only solution was for an innocent party to volunteer to die physically and spiritually as a substitution before God. This innocent party would have to take man’s judgment, penalty, and death. But where was such an individual? Certainly, there was none on earth. There was only one possibility. God’s own Son was the only personality in the universe who had the capacity to bear in His own body the sins of the world. Only God’s Son was infinite and thus able to die for all.

Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Learn why.

Prayer for the day

Lord Jesus, Lamb of God, in adoration I thank You for the love that made You willing to suffer and die on the cross for my sin.
Continue Reading

The Truth Sets Us Free - Billy Graham

September 05, 2017

Come unto me, all ye that labor . . .

—Matthew 11:28


The mark of a true Christian is found in his personal relationship to the Person of Jesus Christ. Christianity is Christ. Christ is Christianity. I speak reverently when I say that Jesus is more than His ideas. All that He said was true, but without Him even the truth would have been powerless. Men know the power of truth, and truth is that which sets men free. Jesus said, “I am the truth.”

What is truth?

Prayer for the day

Thank You, Jesus, for the shackles that have been broken in my life!
Continue Reading

The First Missionary By Billy Graham

September 01, 2017

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

—Matthew 4:19


Jesus Himself was the first missionary! He did not sit by passively and let those who happened to be interested in His teaching come to Him. He went out where the sick, the sorrowing, and the sad were, and expounded His message of joy, healing, and salvation. Even at a tender age, He went to the Temple and “taught” the doctors and lawyers who were entrenched in the old traditions. He found His way to the seaside and intruded upon the life of the commonest of laborers, saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Wherever He went He challenged, uprooted, and changed men. And at length they nailed Him to a cross because He had upset their selfish, secure, smug way of life. Not only was Jesus a missionary, but He pledged His followers to be missionaries, too!

Listen: Billy Graham preaches on the cost of not following Jesus.

Prayer for the day

Wherever I go, it is a mission field for You, Lord. Help me to be conscious of this, so that I may tell others the joyous message.
Continue Reading

Make Room in Your Heart - Billy Graham

August 30, 2017

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven . . .

—Matthew 5:43–45


When H. G. Wells summed up the influence of Jesus in history, he said, “Is it any wonder that this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?” And yet the heart of man, though small, is big enough for Christ to live in, if man will only make room for Him. Christ instilled the spirit of Christian love in His followers, so that they lived without malice and died without rancor. The love that Christ talked about can only be given to us by God. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit. When you come to Jesus Christ, He transforms you. Your past is forgiven. You receive a power to love men, beyond your natural ability to love.

Take today’s devotion one step further. Study God’s love with Anne Graham Lotz.

Prayer for the day

Instill in me, dear Father, Your same Spirit of love which enabled the disciples to live with true charity.
Continue Reading

The Purity of Marriage - Billy Graham

August 25, 2017

Whatsoever things are pure . . . think on these things.

—Philippians 4:8


Nowhere does the Bible teach that sex in itself is a sin. Man in his sinful nature has taken what was intended to be a glorious and complete act of love between two people and has made it something low, cheap, and dirty. The Bible is one of the world’s outspoken books on the subject of sex, and the Bible condemns sex outside the bonds of matrimony. The fact that immorality is rampant throughout the nation doesn’t make it right; the fact that some clergymen may condone it doesn’t make it right. The Bible says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Under Jewish law adultery was punishable by death. Under God’s law today it also results in spiritual death.

Read Billy Graham’s response when a young person asks, ‘Why shouldn’t I start having sex?‘

Prayer for the day

All around me, breaking Your laws is made so enticing, Father. Help me to keep my eyes on Jesus.
Continue Reading

Root of Sin - Billy Graham

August 24, 2017

Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us.
—Romans 8:37 (TLB)


The basic problem facing our world is not just social inequity, or lack of education, or even physical hunger. We are finding that highly educated and well-fed people have greeds, hates, passions, and lusts that are not eliminated by education. The root of sin in each of our hearts is extremely deep, and this is the basic cause of the world’s problems; only the fire of the Lord can burn it out. This is precisely what Christ came to do. He didn’t come to treat symptoms. He came to get at the very heart of man’s disease.

What exactly is sin? Learn more.

Prayer for the day

Father, root out the sin in my life—the shortcomings that are there—and fill me with Your love, so I may fight against the evil present in the world today.
Continue Reading

We Must Decrease - Billy Graham

August 23, 2017

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.

—Lamentations 3:40


Our modern philosophy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency has caused many to believe that we can make the grade without God. “Religion,” they argue, “may be all right for certain emotional people, but you can’t beat a man who believes in himself.” But this self-confident generation has produced more alcoholics, more dope addicts, more criminals, more wars, more broken homes, more assaults, more embezzlements, more murders, and more suicides than any other generation that ever lived. It is time for all of us to take stock of our failures, blunders, and costly mistakes. It is about time that we are putting less confidence in ourselves and more trust and faith in God.

Time is too short for indecision. Read Billy Graham’s classic message.
Prayer for the day

As I examine my heart, I see so much of self there. I ask that You would forgive me, Lord—my confidence will be in Your leading.
Continue Reading

God Provides - Billy Graham

August 22, 2017

For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down-when we die and leave these bodies-we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself, and not by human hands.

—2 Corinthians 5:1 (TLB)


Death, to the Christian, is the exchanging of a tent for a building. Here we are as pilgrims or gypsies, living in a frail, flimsy home; subject to disease, pain, and peril. But at death we exchange this crumbling, disintegrating tent for a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The wandering wayfarer comes into his own at death and is given the title to a mansion which will never deteriorate nor crumble. Do you think that God, who has provided so amply for living, has made no provision for dying? The Bible says we are strangers in a foreign land. This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven. When a Christian dies, he goes into the presence of Christ. He goes to Heaven to spend eternity with God.

Is Heaven real? Read and share.

Prayer for the day

Dear Lord, today keep me mindful that as Your child my real home is not on this earth, but that one day I will exchange this tent for a house made by You in heaven.
Continue Reading

Three Kinds of Pleasure - Billy Graham

August 21, 2017

The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

—Acts 13:52


The Bible speaks of three kinds of pleasure. There is lustful pleasure, the lust of the flesh, and Scripture says it is sinful and wrong. There is legitimate pleasure, which is not wrong, but we are not to become so preoccupied with its activities that it takes the place of God. Then there is a third kind of pleasure, lasting pleasure. Do you have that kind? It does not depend on circumstances or feelings. It is the pleasure that runs deep and comes from the Spirit of God.

Dig deeper with Anne Graham Lotz in this Bible study on the Holy Spirit.

Prayer for the day

Almighty God, may my pleasure always come from being filled with the joy of Your Holy Spirit.
Continue Reading

Where Is Your Treasure - By Billy Graham

August 18, 2017

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . .
—Matthew 6:20


Many young people are building their lives on the rock of materialism. I find across the country a deep economic discontent among people in every walk of life. People want more and more things. They forget that we are enjoying the highest standard of living the world has ever known. We still have poverty, and hundreds of agencies are trying to do something about it; but we are dissatisfied. We want more, more, more. But Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and money.” He said that a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses. Adolf Berle, in his study of power, points out that riches often make people solitary and lonely and,of course, afraid. Many times a rich man knows loneliness and fear, because when he makes wealth his god, it leaves him empty. You see, without God life loses its zest and purpose and meaning.

Ever prayed and wondered why God won’t let you win the lottery? Read Billy Graham’s answer.

Prayer for the day

Knowing You, my heavenly Father, brings richness to my life and soul.
Continue Reading

Cast Your Cares - Billy Graham

August 17, 2017

Look at the birds! They don't worry about what to eat-they don't need to sow or reap or store up food-for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.

—Matthew 6:26 (TLB)


Some section hands on a British railroad found a thrush’s nest under a rail. Peacefully sitting on her eggs, the hen was undisturbed by the roar of the fast trains above and around her. Someone has written a little verse which goes:

“Said the robin to the sparrow,
‘I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.’
Said the sparrow to the robin,
‘Friend, I think that it must be,
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.'”

Jesus used the carefree attitude of the birds to underscore the fact that worrying is unnatural. I am learning in my own life, day by day, to keep my mind centered on Christ, and the worries and anxieties and concerns of the world pass, and nothing but “perfect peace” is left in the human heart. God has taken the responsibility for our care and worry.

Put your mind at ease with these Bible verses.

Prayer for the day

Lord Jesus, I'm happiest when I'm fully trusting You. This day help me to be constantly grateful for Your care and faithfulness.
Continue Reading

Hunger for Righteousness - Billy Graham

August 16, 2017

I will give to the thirsty the springs of the Water of Life—as a gift!

—Revelation 21:6 (TLB)


God says that only those who hunger after righteousness will receive it. God thrusts this heavenly manna on no one. You must desire it, above everything else. Your yearning for God must supersede all other desires. It must be like a gnawing hunger and a burning thirst.

Read this classic Billy Graham message on being in the world but not of it.
Prayer for the day

Almighty God, my soul is parched and I'm so hungry without the spiritual food You so desire to give me. Take away anything in my life that would cause me not to give You pre-eminence.
Continue Reading

Wonders of Nature - Billy Graham

August 15, 2017

These things that were written in the Scriptures so long ago are to teach us . . .

—Romans 15:4 (TLB)


In the wonders of nature we see God’s laws in operation. Who has not looked up at the stars on a cloudless night and marveled in silent awe at the glory of God’s handiwork? Who has not felt his heart lifted in the spring of the year, as he sees all creation bursting with new life and vigor? In the beauty and abundance around us we see the magnitude of God’s power and the infinite detail of His planning; but nature tells us nothing of God’s love or God’s grace. Conscience tells us in our innermost being of the presence of God and of the moral difference between good and evil; but this is a fragmentary message, in no way as distinct and comprehensive as the lessons of the Bible. It is only in its pages that we find the clear and unmistakable message upon which all true Christianity is based.

Distracted? Here’s how you can focus on God.

Prayer for the day

As I read Your Word, almighty God, clear my mind of needless thoughts, so that I may be aware of Your message for me this day.
Continue Reading
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )
TOF. Powered by Blogger.
Comment from discussion Blog on Daily Devotional Guide.