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Who Keeps You From Falling 

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Jude 24, HCSB

My wife and I took two granddaughters on a Horne school study tour of the American West, including the Grand Canyon. With great excitement the girls rushed toward the canyon walls hoping to see the early morning splendor of color all the way to the river far below. My life-long fear of falling from a great height brought knots to my stomach. I wanted to pierce the quietness around us with warnings.

In 25 verses Jude reminded fellow Christians about the tragedy of living on the edge of ungodliness. He appealed to them through historical accounts with which they were familiar. Each account was of men to whom God had revealed himself, but then turned away to live fleshly, unrighteous lives.



Yet in a doxology of praise Jude gives us our great hope. Though we are sinners, we are kept by the mercy of our Lord from falling out of His grace. Through Christ, we are fully forgiven, faultless before God. Follow Jude's example and sing or say your personal doxology celebrating your security today.



Father, thank You for keeping me from the snare of sin.



This devotional is courtesy of Open Windows…

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Selections from Genesis 39



Joseph was well-built and handsome. After some time his master's wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, "Sleep with me." But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master ... has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?" Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her. Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants was there. She grabbed him by his garment and said, "Sleep with me!" But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. (HCSB)



His master's wife wasn't just casually flirting with Joseph. She was coming on to him big-time, flaunting the kind of half-dressed half-truths that any man with half a hormone would have a tough time resisting. But the way he played it was a pure stroke of integrity.



The world's pleasures are nothing but slick advertising. Underneath the smile and the swimsuit is - not joy and fulfillment - but pain, loneliness, heartbreak, emptiness, and the sickening, sour taste of detesting ourselves later on. That's a strange way to define pleasure, but it's the best the world's pleasures have to offer. Your temptation to want them is really a hunger for the beauty of holiness. Living for Christ doesn't mean turning our backs on pleasure. It means discovering "eter-nal pleasures" from the hand of God (Psalm16:11).



Look At It This Way

It's hard to miss God's concern for purity. He demanded the use of pure gold in the construction of the tabernacle; he prescribed pure incense for use in worship; he required pure animals for sacrifice; he commanded pure hearts, pure religion, and pure relationships. In other words, the model Father communicates - in contrast to modern culture, peer pres-sure, and media messages - that purity is good.



The model Father…

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Pain hurts. That’s not a very profound statement, but it’s true. Another not very profound statement that’s true is our lives our filled with pain. That is something we cannot escape. In fact, a very well known ancient Hebrew teacher guaranteed that we would have trouble in our lives (hint: his initials are J.C.). So the issue is not if we will experience pain, but how we should respond when it happens.



One of the things that’s been painful to me recently is seeing people who are coping poorly with the challenges and difficulties that have accompanied the financial pains they have been experiencing. A loss of a job or significant amount of income can be painful, not only financially, but also emotionally, mentally and relationally.



It breaks my heart to hear stories of people who after having lost their jobs decided to take their own lives and the lives of loved ones also. Was the pain of getting fired so bad that their situation couldn’t be worked out? Was the fear of starting over too much to bear?



That doesn’t have to be your story. You can re:Position your pain!

“There is no growth without change, no change without fear or loss, and no loss without pain.” - Anonymous



Pain often signals that something in your life is wrong or needs to change. When you were younger and your feet were still growing, pain in your toes let you know it was time to get some new shoes. Although, they might have been your favorite pair, they were now hurting you. The great thing is you could then enjoy the anticipation and experience of getting new shoes. You had to be willing to let go of what was hurting you in order to embrace something new – even if it took a while to get used to it.



As painful as some of our experiences are, new opportunities often present themselves out of these same hurtful episodes. Many times we get the opportunity to start fresh or do something new/different that… Continue