Author: Dwight Clough

“Loose him and let him go.” — John 11:44Big Idea #10. God doesn’t like a straight jacket any more than we do.One of the proudest moments of my life was in May of 1978 when I was chosen as the male graduating class speaker at Moody Bible Institute. This was my text: John 11:44. It was an ambitious text for a twenty-year old college about-to-be graduate — ambitious because I didn’t know what it meant, and I knew that I didn’t know.But I spoke on it anyway and it has become a theme for my life. Loose him and let…

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. — Hebrews 4:13Big Idea #9. Be honest … with yourself … with God … with your neighbor.I don’t know if everybody needs to learn this the hard way, but I sure did. I wanted so badly to please God, just as a child I had wanted so badly to please my parents. But I believed, deep down, that God would only be pleased with me if I did everything right. Of course, I didn’t know how to do everything right. I couldn’t do everything right.Logically, there is a simple conclusion here:…

[God] satisfies your desires with good things. — Psalm 103:5Big Idea #8. Every desire — good, bad and ugly — will take you to God if you allow it.What do you do with your evil desires? Take them to God! This is one of the most powerful lessons I have ever learned. All of us are tempted. We pray to avoid temptation, but when it comes, let it be an opportunity for God.God delights in satisfying our desires. Not to make us self-indulgent, spoiled little brats. Not at all. But rather so that we might drink deep the truth of…

“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” — John 4:48Big Idea #7. Every "no" has a reason; let Jesus deal with the reasons.When people say "no" to God, this should not surprise us. Deep inside we all wonder, “Can we really trust this Guy who runs the universe?" and "What is He going to do with my dreams, my marriage, my kids, my plans, my fears?”And everybody has objections. If you and I are honest with ourselves and with God, there are places inside where we have objections. (“God, do anything you…

And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. — 2 Timothy 2:24-26Big Idea #6. Break it down to baby steps; almost everybody has a place where they can say "yes" to God.This is a wonderful discovery. You don’t have to…

“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Sir,” she said.“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” — John 8:10-11Big Idea #5. Find the pain… and you will find the door.The more I meditate on this passage, the more wisdom I see in the approach Jesus used. As the story opens, a woman caught in the act of adultery, is thrown down before Jesus to see if Jesus will take a hard line on sin and insist that she be stoned according to the law of Moses. She had…

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.” — Revelation 3:20Big Idea #4. If you want God to transform your life, find the door where Jesus is knocking.Nothing of any importance happens until Jesus shows up. We can do religious things but they won’t help anybody — they will just clutter up the space God needs to work in. What are we trying to do or to be? Are we trying to win someone to the Lord?…

“… apart from Me, you can do nothing.” — John 15:5Big Idea #3. God expects the impossible … but He doesn’t expect it to be achieved without Him.We are instructed to carry the life transforming presence of Jesus Christ into our world. It is expected that we will touch people’s lives and their cowardice will be turned to courage, their trembling fear into perfect peace, their anger into love, their shame into radiant joy and purity, their death into life. That’s a tall order.In the meanwhile, we are expected to rejoice in the middle of trouble and suffering. We are…

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” — John 9:3Big Idea #2: God’s goodness is more important than our badness.This is the foundation upon which this devotional rests. We will be further ahead if we put our focus on what God is doing right instead of what man is doing wrong.This is one of the many lessons I learned the hard way. Years ago all I could see was the wrong — the wrong in me and the wrong in everyone else. I…

Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” — Mark 14:29One day when I was quite discouraged, I was pouring out my complaints to the Lord. In response, I sensed that He wanted me to write down the ten most important ideas that I want to communicate to my world before I die. I hope these aren’t just ideas that Dwight dreamed up, but rather scripturally valid principles that the Lord has been teaching me and has been using to change my life and the lives of many other people.Here’s the first one: You and I are in…