Searchlight Goal Success Coaching
  • Home
  • Articles
  • About
  • Get In Touch
  • Home
  • Articles
  • About
  • Get In Touch

Devotional - The Secret of Surrender

8/27/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

​Just as you used to be slaves to all kinds of sin, so now you must let yourselves be slaves to all that is right and holy.
—Romans 6:19 (TLB)

We have heard the modern expression, “Don’t fight it—it’s bigger than both of us.” Those who are meek do not fight back at life. They learn the secret of surrender, or yielding to God. He then fights for us! Instead of filling your mind with resentments, abusing your body by sinful diversion, and damaging your soul by willfulness, humbly give all over to God. Your conflicts will disappear and your inner tensions will vanish into thin air. Then your life will begin to count for something. You will have the feeling of belonging to life. Boredom will melt away, and you will become vibrant with hope and expectation. Because you are meekly yielded, you will begin to “inherit the earth” of good things, which God holds in store for all who trust Him with their all.
Comments

Devotional - Unspeakable Joy

8/26/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

And the disciples were called Christians . . . 
—Acts 11:26

In the third century Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, wrote to his friend Donatus, “It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people, who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians . . . and I am one of them.” If you have repented of your sins and have received Christ as Savior, then you, too, are one of them.
Comments

Devotional - We Must Decrease

8/23/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

​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.
Comments

Devotional - God Provides

8/22/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

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.
Comments

Devotional - What Heaven Will Be Like

8/21/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.
—Revelation 22:3

The Bible indicates that Heaven will be a place of great understanding and knowledge of things that we never learned down here. Sir Isaac Newton, when an old man, said to one who praised his wisdom, “I am as a child on the seashore picking up a pebble here and a shell there, but the great ocean of truth still lies before me.” And Thomas Edison once said, “I do not know one millionth part of one percent about anything.” Many of the mysteries of God—the heartaches, trials, disappointments, tragedies, and the silence of God in the midst of suffering—will be revealed in Heaven.
Comments

Devotional - Cast Your Cares

8/20/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

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.
Comments

Devotional - Be Not Anxious

8/19/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
—Colossians 3:16

Christians are to rejoice. To do that, you need only to think of the great things God has done for you. Then we are told not to be anxious, but in our prayers to make our requests known to God. In your biggest problems you have One to whom you can go; and before Him you can pour out your heart with the assurance that He will not leave you without an answer to that great problem. Then we are to fill our minds with those things that are good. They are mentioned in the Scriptures as being things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and of virtue. It is upon these things that we are to think. Live positively, not negatively. Once you learn that secret, God will have given you the victory.
Comments

Devotional - Hunger for Righteousness

8/16/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

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.
Comments

Devotional - The Beginning of Wisdom

8/14/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom . . . 
—1 Corinthians 1:30

I believe we ought to get all the education we can, but we dare not make it our god. John Dewey once defined education as the systematic, purposeful reconstruction of experience; but so much of modern education leaves out God. What we are actually doing is reconstructing our sins. We expand our sins, enlarge them, multiply them. We need education, but not just for the mind and the body; we also need education for the spirit. Man has a spirit, and in our educational system today we need a spiritual emphasis. If we bring up a generation that lacks the wisdom that God can give, they can turn into educated savages and fools. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” and education. Let’s make sure our rock is God.
Comments

Devotional - Life Changing Power

8/13/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

Christ died and rose again . . . so that he can be our Lord both while we live and when we die.
—Romans 14:9 (TLB)

With a frequency that is amazing, the Bible affirms the fact of the bodily resurrection of Christ. Perhaps the most direct of all its statements is Luke’s account in the book of Acts, where he reports, “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days” (Acts 1:3). What are we going to do with these “many infallible proofs”? Someone asked my colleague George Beverly Shea how much he knew about God. He said, “I don’t know much, but what I do know has changed my life.” We may not be able to take all of this evidence into a scientific laboratory and prove it; but, if we accept any fact of history, we must accept the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Comments

Devotional - The Unmerited Favor of God

8/12/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

For by grace are ye saved...—Ephesians 2:8

“Grace,” according to the dictionary, is the unmerited favor of God toward mankind. The word “grace” is used over 170 times in the New Testament alone. Grace is not bought. It is a free gift of almighty God to needy mankind. When I picture Jesus Christ dying on the cross, I see the free gift of God’s grace in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. I sing with the songwriter, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Your human mind, with its philosophy of an equal return for favors done, can hardly comprehend the full meaning of this grace of God. But when you catch, by the inspiration of God, its full meaning, you will leave the limits of human reasoning and revel in the spiritual riches of divine truth and privilege.
Yes, the grace of God is a reality. Thousands have tried, tested, and proved that it is more than a cold creed, a docile doctrine, or a tedious theory. The grace of God has been tested in the crucible of human experience, and has been found to be more than an equal for the problems and sins of humanity.
Comments

Devotional - A New World

8/9/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him.
—1 Corinthians 2:9

At the close of the Bible we encounter these words, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” A new world is coming! Each time we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” we should remember that that prayer will be answered. Heaven is described as a new creation in which we shall move in new bodies, possessed of new names, singing new songs, living in a new city, by a new form of government, and challenged by new prospects of eternity with social justice for all. The paradise that man lost will be regained, but it will be much more. It will not be the old one repaired, patched up, and made over. When God says, “Behold, I make all things new,” the emphasis is on all things. One day we shall live in a brand-new world. Centuries ago the apostles greeted each other with the word, “Maranatha”—the Lord is coming.
Comments

Devotional - Unity in Scripture

8/8/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

...holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
—2 Peter 1:21

Although one can derive inspiration from any portion of the Scripture, it is better to have an understanding of the general structure of the Bible to get the most out of it. The Old Testament is an account of a nation, Israel. Out of that nation came Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. The New Testament is an account of a Man, the Son of man, the Savior. God Himself became a man, so that we might know what He is like. His appearance on the earth was the central, most important event of history. The Old Testament gives the background for this event; the New Testament tells the story of its fulfillment. You will find a unity of thought and purpose which indicates that one mind inspired the writing of the whole.
Comments

Devotional - The Mind of Christ

8/7/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
—2 Timothy 1:7

Many diseases of both body and mind are self-inflicted. For example, ulcers are often caused by worry and anxiety. Heart attacks are caused many times by overexertion. Unjustified worry, fear, prejudice, hatred, and envy can contribute to mental stress, which could lead to mental illness. So one way to have a healthy mind is to avoid those practices. But the Bible way to a healthy mind is this, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” If you have the mind of Christ, worry will be offset by trust, enmity by love, and fear by faith.
Comments

Ills of the Human Race

8/6/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

Set thy house in order . . . 
—2 Kings 20:1

Man condemns himself by his refusal of God’s way of salvation. In love and mercy, God is offering to men and women a way of escape, a way of salvation, a hope and anticipation of better things. Man in his blindness, stupidity, stubbornness, egotism, and love of sinful pleasure, refuses God’s simple method of escaping the pangs of eternal banishment. Suppose you were sick and called a doctor who came and gave you a prescription. But after thinking it over you decided to ignore his advice and to refuse the medicine. When he returned a few days later, he might have found your condition much worse. Could you blame the doctor? Could you hold him responsible? He gave you the prescription, he prescribed the remedy. But you refused it!
​
Just so, God prescribes the remedy for the ills of the human race. That remedy is personal faith in, and commitment to, Jesus Christ. The remedy is to be “born again.” If we deliberately refuse it, then we must suffer the consequence; and we cannot blame God. Is it God’s fault that we refuse the remedy?
Comments

Devotional - Demands of the Soul

8/2/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought . . . 
—Isaiah 58:11

The soul demands as much attention as the body. It demands fellowship and communion with God. It demands worship, quietness, and meditation. Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and shriveled. It remains discontented, confused, restless. Many people turn to alcohol to try to drown the cryings and longings of the soul. Some turn to a new sex experience. Others attempt to quiet the longings of their souls in other ways. Nothing but God ever completely satisfies, because the soul is made for God, and without God it is restless and in secret torment. The first step to God is a realization of your spiritual poverty. The poor in spirit do not measure the worth of life in earthly possessions, which fade away, but in terms of eternal realities, which endure forever. Wise is the man who openly confesses his lack of spiritual wealth and in humility of heart cries, “God, be merciful unto me, a sinner.”
Comments

Devotional - Internal Strife

8/1/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.
—Proverbs 16:18 (TLB)

David, king of ancient Israel, found himself in the midst of a confused national situation. His kingdom was torn by internal strife. Slave hated master; master hated slave. People blamed the government, and government blamed the people. David looked about him and saw that every man thought himself perfect. Each individual placed blame upon other individuals. David knew that if sinful pride continued to increase, his nation would collapse spiritually. He knew that economic depression, moral disintegration, or military defeat inevitably follow spiritual decline. So David turned to God, and it was revealed to him by the Spirit of God that the spiritual tide of his nation could rise no higher than the spiritual level of his own heart. So he fell on his knees in utter humility and prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23,24).
Comments

Devotional - A Covenant with Eyes

7/30/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

Keep thyself pure.
—1 Timothy 5:22

Someone has said, “You cannot help the first look, but the second is sin.” Jesus indicated that you can engage in immorality by a look. The Bible places the “lust of the eye” right along with other major sins. Listen: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Peter spoke of having “eyes full of adultery.” No wonder Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” Your eyes see only what your soul allows them to see.
Comments

Devotional - Faith Pleases God

7/29/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him.
—Hebrews 11:6 (TLB)

Faith pleases God more than anything else. The Christian life is dependent upon faith. We stand on faith; we live on faith. Faith is loved and honored by God more than any other single thing. The Bible teaches that faith is the only approach that we have to God. No man has sins forgiven, no man goes to heaven, no man has assurance of peace and happiness, until he has faith in Jesus Christ. You may be saying, “God, I believe you are a great person, but I do not believe your Word; I do not believe what you say.” In order to please God, you must believe Him. Perhaps your faith is small and weak. It does not matter how big your faith is, but rather, where your faith is. Is it in Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross for your sins?
Comments

Devotional - Face Down in Prayer

7/26/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text: Copyright 2019, Searchlight Organization

Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. - Numbers 20:6

Often when Moses and Aaron approached God in the Tent of Meeting at the Tabernacle, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, the Bible explains that they fell down on their faces or fell "facedown." It was during these times the Lord showed his greatest acts of mercy and compassion toward the Israelites; when they were willing to submit and humble themselves to Him. Many of us pray standing up, sitting, while lying in bed, or just hanging out on the front porch, but when was the last time you prayed face down? There is an important message to be received in this action. First, it helps remind us that God is our ruler and we must humble ourselves at his feet. It helps us to understand that his greatness and power surrounds us and shroud us in his protection. Will you do God, the Father, the honor of praying face down on your knees with gratitude, honor, and praise today? May a blessing be poured out on you today, friends, as you create a moment of intimacy with your Creator.
Comments

Devotional - Sanctity of Marriage

7/25/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

How I need your help, especially in my own home...
—Psalm 101:2 (TLB)

In the marriage ceremony, after the vows are said, the minister solemnly and reverently remarks, “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” Is not God the third part in a marriage? Should He not be taken into account in the marriage, and in the home that emerges from that marriage? If God joins the couple together at the outset, should not His presence be recognized in the home continually? Many homes are on the rocks today because God has been left out of the domestic picture.
​
With the clash of personalities in a domestic pattern, there must be an integrating force, and the living God is that Force! Many couples think that if they have a better home, get a better job, or live in a different neighborhood, their domestic life will be happier. No! The secret of domestic happiness is to let God, the party of the third part in the marriage contract, have His rightful place in the home. Make peace with Him, and then you can be a real peacemaker in the home.
Comments

We Are Blessed

7/22/2019

Comments

 
Picture

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. - Number 6:24-26

After the Israelites escaped out of Egypt and the tabernacle was built, God gave Moses specific instructions, written above, regarding how the priests were to bless the Israelites. He wanted each and every one of them to know that God was there for them and would bless them. This wasn't something just relevant to the Israelites. This phrase still rings true and is still said by priests all over the world when blessing their congregations. We ought to remember this when we focus on prayer that God, indeed, does hear our earnest desires and seeks to bless us, keep us, and give us peace.
Comments

Rise Up

7/20/2019

Comments

 
Picture

Rise up, Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you. - Numbers 10:35

On the mornings when the Israelites would move from one location to another, Moses would wake up in the morning and say this aloud. I can't help but notice the exclamation point when Moses says, "Rise up, Lord!" We all know what an exclamation point means, but in this context, Moses states this phrase with exuberance, motivation, anticipation, and maybe even a bit joyfully? He knows God is with him, because God visits with him face to face, but he is taking on an air of authority and expectation with God. This gives us hope in our own challenges, that when we rise up in the morning, we should make our intentions known to God expectantly that he will do the same for us and he will! Let them be known excitedly, joyfully, and abundantly!

Prayer
Dear Lord, Rise up! Go before me and remove all challenges that separate me from executing your will! Lay to waste and ruin all plans Satan has for me and fill me up with your Holy Spirit.
Comments

Words to Count On

7/19/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Text and photo used with permission from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - www.billygraham.org

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts . . . 
—Zechariah 4:6 (TLB)

After the crucifixion the beleaguered disciples despaired and said, “We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21, RSV). There was anguish, despair, and tragedy in their midst. Life had lost its meaning and purpose. But when the resurrection became apparent, life took on a new meaning. It had purpose and reason.
David Livingstone once addressed a group of students at Glasgow University. When he rose to speak, he bore on his body the marks of his African struggles. Several illnesses on nearly 30 occasions had left him gaunt and haggard. His left arm, crushed by a lion, hung limp by his side. After describing his trials and tribulations, he said, “Would you like to have me tell you what supported me through all the years of exile among people whose language I could not understand, and whose attitude toward me was always uncertain and often hostile? It was this, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ On these words I staked everything, and they never failed.”
Comments

Satisfaction of Soul

7/18/2019

Comments

 
Picture

Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee . . . 
—Deuteronomy 26:11

Often the Church has banged away negatively at evils without reminding us that God is tremendously interested in our finding a satisfying way of life here and now. We Christians have talked so much of the negative side of Christian experience that we have forgotten to emphasize the positive, joyous, thrilling, and victorious experience of daily fellowship with Christ. God declared that things will not satisfy. God satisfies! This is the secret of soul-satisfaction: Let your soul delight itself in fatness. Remove the obstructions, tear down the barriers, and let your soul find the fulfillment of its deepest longings in fellowship with God.
Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018

    Categories

    All
    Affirmations
    Articles By Searchlight
    Bible Verses
    Devotionals
    Healing Videos
    Holy Spiritual Transformation
    Inspirational Videos
    Jesus' Parables
    Memes
    Miscellaneous Content
    Miscellaneous Videos
    Motivational Videos
    Mysterious World
    Opinion Pieces
    Outside Articles
    Prayers
    Prophesy
    Stories
    Support And Giving
    Testimonies
    Visions

    RSS Feed

    Picture

Copyright © 2020