2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 38
The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence
Day 38
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,” Romans 8:38
Nothing Can Separate Us
Paul intends this list to be exhaustive. He categorizes every conceivable thing that might bring separation. Death provides the most daunting example of separation. For those who have buried a loved one, nothing compares to the deafening silence that ensues. “I just want to talk with him.” “I just want to hear her voice.” “I just want to hold his hands or share a cup of coffee with him.” The pain of separation fills every moment of the day for those who have recently buried a spouse. If death cannot separate us from Christ, then nothing can separate us. Nothing in this life, no angel or demon, nothing from the present time and nothing in our future can separate us from God. He is a friend that sticks closer to us than a brother. He abides continually with us. His powers transcend any of these temporary forces, even death itself. He has always and will always be sovereign over all these things. He demonstrated His power over these things when He brought Jesus Christ back from the dead. Many mighty things were accomplished in the resurrection of Christ. One such accomplishment is this: the resurrection proves that death is no match for God and it is incapable of separating us from Him.
Prayer Focus
God, You are good. Your mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. You never leave me. Nothing can separate me from Your love. Nothing in this life is big enough or strong enough to compete with Your power. Nothing in this life can undo Your love. Even though death itself should come against me, I trust in Your promises. You proved Your power over all things, including death, when You brought Your Son back from the grave. In the name of Jesus Christ, the resurrected One, I pray, Amen.
From DL Moody’s Secret Power
LOVE’S WONDERFUL EFFECTS/CRITICS BEWARE
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away."1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV
That’s the work of love. It is not easily provoked. Now if a man has no love of God in his heart, how easy it is to become offended. Perhaps with the church because some members of the church don’t treat him just right, or some men of the church don’t bow to him on the street, he takes offense, and that is the last you see of him. Love is long-suffering. If I love the Lord Jesus Christ, these little things are not going to separate me from His people. They are like the dust in the balance. Nor will the cold, formal treatment of hypocrites in the church quench that love I have in my heart for Him. If this love is in the heart, and the fire is burning on the altar, we will not be all the time finding fault with other people and criticizing what they have done.
Love will rebuke evil, but will not rejoice in it. Love will be impatient of sin, but patient with the sinner. To form the habit of finding fault constantly, is very damaging to spiritual life. It is about the lowest and meanest position that a man can take. I never saw a man who was aiming to do the best work, that there could not have been some improvement. I have never done anything in my life, I have never addressed an audience, that I didn’t think I could have done better. And I have often berated myself that I had not done better. But to sit down and find fault with other people when we are doing nothing ourselves, not lifting our hands to save someone, is all wrong, and is the opposite of holy, patient, divine love.
Love is forbearance. What we want is to get this spirit of criticism and fault finding out of the Church, and out of our hearts. Let each one of us live as if we had to answer for ourselves, and not for the community, on the last day. if we are living according to the 13th chapter of Corinthians, we will not be constantly finding fault with other people. “Love suffers long and is kind.”
Love forgets itself, and doesn't dwell upon itself. The woman who came to Christ with that alabaster box, I venture to say, never thought of herself. Little did she know what an act she was performing. It was just her love for the Master. She forgot the surroundings, she forgot everything else that was there. She broke that box and poured the ointment upon Him, and filled the house with its odor. That act, as a memorial, has come down these 1800 years. It is right here - the perfume of that box is in the world today. That ointment was worth $40 or $50; no small sum of those days for a poor woman. Judas sold the Son of God for only about $15 or $20. But what this woman gave to Christ was everything that she had, and she became so occupied with Jesus Christ that she didn’t think what people were going to say.
So when we act with a single eye for the glory of our lord, not finding fault with everything about us, but doing what we can in the power of this love, then will our deeds for God speak. The world will acknowledge that we have been with Jesus, and that this glorious love has been shed abroad in our hearts. If we don’t love the Church of God, I am afraid it won’t do us much good. If we don’t love the blessed Bible, it will not do us much good. What we want, then, is to have love for Christ, to have love for His Word, and to have love for the Church of God, and when we have love, and are living in that spirit, we will not be in the spirit of finding fault and working mischief.