Sound the Alarm All Over the World
Noises surround us in this swift and fast world. We have made some of them useful — for example, the sound of a cell phone’s alarm to wake us up or remind us to exercise. Even the microwave beeps when the food is ready and warm. Noise alerts are those noises that help us live well. What would become of us without these alarms?
The Word of God warns us about and gives the value of alarms, both to the one who sends the message and the one who receives it:
Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives (Ezekiel 33:4-6 NLT).
God has given us the opportunity to be those living alarms, those alarms that encourage the helpless, that raise the fallen. God has put His Word in our mouths for salvation for this time. By His mercy, we have been chosen as watchmen. Because of this, we have the responsibility to use any means to issue the alert: messages, images, voice notes, movies and songs—anything goes to carry the loving and encouraging message of God, as it says in Ezekiel:
…You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live (Ezekiel 33:10-11).
The word “alarm” can scare us, but the noble work of an alarm is just to keep us safe. The Bible invites us to change, to leave our sinful lives behind.
Today, we have television and mass media within reach to broadcast the message. As it says in 1 Peter 5:8-10:
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So, after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
In Mexico, we live in a culture of disaster prevention due to our history with earthquakes. Seismic alarms and alerts are part of our society. I was born on September 19, 1985, and have survived the Mexican earthquakes of 1985 and 2017. My life was spared and I believe it is my duty to raise my voice, sound the alert, and activate the greatest alarm in history: Christ is the way, the truth, the life —and He will return soon for everyone who loves him.
As an editor of Christian programming, I am currently experiencing the exciting honor of sharing this message of hope with Latin America. From CBN México Studios, we sound the trumpets and pray that everyone can hear the alarm and stay safe while it is sounding.
Watch God Make a Morning – Streams in the Desert – November 28
- 202228 Nov
Thou makest the outgoing of the morning and evening to rejoice (Ps. 65:8).
Get up early and go to the mountain and watch God make a morning. The dull gray will give way as God pushes the sun towards the horizon, and there will be tints and hues of every shade, that will blend into one perfect light as the full-orbed sun bursts into view. As the King of day moves forth majestically, flooding the earth and every lowly vale, listen to the music of heaven’s choir as it sings of the majesty of God and the glory of the morning.
In the holy hush of the early dawn
I hear a Voice
“I am with you all the day,
Rejoice! Rejoice!”
The clear, pure light of the morning made me long for the truth in my heart, which alone could make me pure and clear as the morning, tune me up to the concert-pitch of the nature around me. And the wind that blew from the sunrise made me hope in the God who had first breathed into my nostrils the breath of life; that He would at length so fill me with His breath, His mind, His Spirit, that I should think only His thoughts, and live His life, finding therein my own life, only glorified infinitely.
What should we poor humans do without our God’s nights and mornings?
—George MacDonald
Our Righteousness – In Touch – November 28
From: Crosswalk.com
Anyone who thinks of himself as a pretty good person ought to take a look at God’s assessment of humanity. He says we all come into the world spiritually dead and are ruled by Satan, his world system, and our own sin nature, or flesh. In the Lord’s eyes, we are children of wrath who deserve only punishment.
On the other hand, God is so pure and holy that He is totally separated from all sin and cannot look upon it with any favor or approval (Hab. 1:13). Everything He does is appropriate and beneficial; by comparison, even mankind’s righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). Yet even though we have nothing of value to offer Him, the Lord wants us for His own and has done everything necessary to draw us close.
Those of us who have placed faith in Jesus Christ have been made spiritually alive in Him, and all our sins have been forgiven. There’s a striking contrast between what we were and who we now are in the Lord. But this change has nothing to do with how good we’ve been. Even the faith with which we respond to the Savior comes from God. We can never make ourselves righteous; it’s all a gift from Him. And once He declares us justified, we will never be pronounced guilty again.
God has said that in the ages to come, He wants to show the “surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us” (Eph. 2:7). For all eternity, we will be showered with this awesome demonstration of His love. As great as our blessings are now, they’ll pale in comparison to what awaits us in heaven.
Today’s Devotions
November 28
Isaiah 26:3 3You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah spent the previous chapters telling of all the destruction that was to come to Judah and the surrounding nations. Then he looked forward in time to when the nation of God’s people will enter their holy city. The walls and ramparts are salvation. God wipes away every tear from their eyes. It is the nation of believers who will not forsake their faith in God.
Because of that faith God keeps them in perfect peace. The world goes through changes and turmoil. Nations rise and fall. So much of our sense of security is in the flimsiest of things, but those whose minds are steadfast, seeing the sovereignty of God, and the love and faithfulness of God, have perfect peace. Perfect peace is not circumstantial. It is much deeper than passing things. They trust that God never changes. They trust that the love that He has shown them and His faithfulness and mercy will continue forever. There is no fear that He will change.
All else is fluid. All else is undependable. But the eye of faith looks past this temporal world and sees the unchanging God. The peace faith brings is perfect. It is deep and abiding. It is the peace He gives us. Do you know this peace? Where is your trust placed? If it is on something temporal, turn away from that today and learn to trust in the unchanging One.
Consider: Do you possess His peace?