Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 23, 2025.

SUBJECT : SATAN HAS NO SUPERNATURAL POWER!

Memory verse: “And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” (Job 1 vs 12.)

READ: Job 2 vs 1 - 6:

2:1: Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

2:2: And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

2:3: And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God, and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

2:4: So Satan answered the LORD, and said, “Skin for skin! Yes all that a man has he will give for his life.

2:5: But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face.!”

2:6: And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; but spare his life.

INTIMATION: 

Satan has no supernatural power. All supernatural power rests with God, for God created all things, including Satan (Colossians 1 vs 16). The statement that Satan moved God against Job clearly manifests this teaching that is maintained throughout the Bible. Only God has power over the supernatural. Only God can work miraculous happenings. And in this case, it was the power of God that was given to Satan on this particular occasion in order that Satan do the deed against Job. 

Satan was a created angel of God who fell. That which was created cannot have the power of the One who creates. All supernatural beings were created by God, and thus do not have the power of the Creator. All supernatural powers originate from God, and thus are controlled by God. If God had not delegated power to Satan he could have done nothing in reference to taking away Job’s possessions, family, and inflicting his body. God limits Satan, and in this case God did not allow Satan to touch Job’s life. Therefore, Satan is limited to what God allows, and so it is forever.

We must learn to recognize, but not fear Satan’s attacks, because Satan cannot exceed the limits that God set. Don’t let any experience drive a wedge between you and God. Although you can’t control how Satan may attack, you can always choose how you will respond when it happens. In Job’s case, Satan attempted to drive a wedge between Job and God by getting Job to believe that God’s governing of the world was not just and good. But in all Satan’s schemes, Job never succumbed to his wiles. 

Satan’s greatest power lies in deception and accusing believers before God. But can Satan persuade God to change His plans? Satan is unable to persuade God to go against His character. God is completely and eternally good. But God is willing to go along with Satan’s plan because God knows the eventual outcome. God cannot be fooled by Satan. For instance, God knew the eventual outcome of Job’s story. Job’s suffering was a test for Job, Satan, and us—not God.

Satan schemes in order to deceive the innocent. His deceptive influences are presented to the saints of God through every means. If one is not conscious of the fact that Satan is continually scheming to deceive the righteous, then he will not be vigilant against apostasy. The most common deception of Satan is through the means of misdirecting the religious inclinations of man. The world is full of religions that satisfy man’s religious desires. However, all such religions are false because they are not founded upon the Word of truth that has been revealed by and through the Holy Spirit. By smooth and fair speech the religious leaders of the world have thus led astray the hearts of the innocent who are ignorant of the Word of God.

The Christian’s strength is maintained if he remains in fellowship with the Lord who is the source of power against Satan. The imperative command places the responsibility for being strong on the shoulders of the Christian. The Holy Spirit does not assume the responsibility for keeping the Christian strong. The responsibility for faithfulness is with free-moral saints who must maintain the spiritual armor of the Lord by which strength is maintained against the wiles of Satan. The Holy Spirit does not work in the life of any individual in a manner that would subject free-moral agents into conforming to the Will of God. 

The reason of putting on the whole armor of God is to be able to stand against Satan’s deceptions. Satan has deceived the whole world. Through the intimidation of the environment in which Christians live, they are often drawn away from truth in order to conform to the teaching and behavior of unbelieving friends and neighbors. (James 1 vs 13 - 15). Satan is the ruler of those who have given themselves over to follow after the lusts of the world. Those who make decisions, and live without considering the Will of God, are often living and making decisions according to the will of Satan. They are thus being directed by Satan. 

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to put on Your whole armor, that I may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, and to remain in fellowship with You all the days of my life. Give me grace to walk in the consciousness and enrichment of this desire, in Jesus' mighty Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God’s Final, Decisive Word

 God’s Final, Decisive Word

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. (Hebrews 1:1–2)

The last days begin with the coming of the Son into the world. “In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” We have been living in the last days since the days of Christ — that is, the last days of history as we know it before the final and full establishment of the kingdom of God.

The point for the writer of Hebrews is this: The Word that God spoke by his Son is the decisive Word. By the Son’s own design, that word has been captured for the ages in the writings of the New Testament. He explicitly made provision for this, lest every generation be left to itself to dream up the decisive word of God. This word will not be followed in this age by any greater word or replacement word. This is the Word of God — the person of Jesus, the teaching of Jesus, and the work of Jesus, captured by inspiration in the apostolic writings we call the New Testament.

When I complain that I don’t hear the Word of God, when I feel a desire to hear the voice of God, and get frustrated that he does not speak in ways that I may crave, what am I really saying? Am I really saying that I have exhausted this final, decisive Word revealed to me so fully and infallibly in the New Testament? Have I really exhausted this Word? Has it become so much a part of me that it has shaped my very being and given me life and guidance? 

Or have I treated it lightly — skimmed it like a newspaper, clicked through like a quick series of internet postings, dipped in like a taste-tester — and then decided I wanted something different, something more? This is what I fear I am guilty of more than I wish to admit. 

God is calling us to hear his final, decisive, inexhaustible Word — to meditate on it and study it and memorize it and linger over it and soak in it until it saturates us to the center of our being.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 22, 2025.

SUBJECT: THE CARNALLY MINDED CANNOT PLEASE GOD!

Memory verse: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." (Romans 8 vs 7.)

READ: Romans 8 vs 5 - 8:

8:5: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

8:6: For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8:8: So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

INTIMATION:

Humans are divided into two categories; those who arej

 dominated by their sinful nature; those behavioral patterns of life that are considered desires of the carnal nature of man, and those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit. All of us would be in the first category if Jesus hadn’t offered us a way out. Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will want to continue following Him, because His way brings life and peace. 

The carnally minded focuses on his own desires. He is in the flesh. In a religious context, it is the one who focuses on his own ability to perform law in order to save himself. The carnally minded person is walking in sin, though he may not recognize the fact that he is in sin. The individual who persists on remaining “in the flesh,” or is focusing on his own meritorious performance of law, is actually working against the plan of God to have all men trust in Him for direction. Such a person is focusing on himself and not on God’s grace. This is the man who seeks to walk by sight without the faith that is necessary to please God (Hebrews 11 vs 6). 

We all have evil desires, and we can’t ignore them. In order for us to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we must deal with them decisively (crucify them). These desires include obvious sins, such as sexual immorality and demonic activities. They also include less obvious sins, such as hostility, jealousy, and selfish ambition. Those who ignore such sins or refuse to deal with them reveal that they have not received the gift of the Spirit that leads to a transformed life.  

As long as one seeks to approach God on his own terms, he will not allow God to direct his life. In the world of religions, there are countless religious people who are seeking to worship God on their own terms. They are walking in the flesh because they are seeking to worship God on their own terms. They are walking in the flesh because they are seeking God either by following after the security of their own traditions or the assurance of their own subjective religiosity. Such religions are “after the flesh” because they are not based on direction from God.

In Galatians 5 vs 19 - 21, the Bible says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; emulations; of which I tell you beforehand, just as also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5 vs 19 - 21.)

In the above list it was apostle Paul’s goal only to list examples of the lusts of the flesh. These are the sins of the unregenerate life, the life of living after the base nature of man. These actions, or works, are in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, that is, the product that comes from the one who is dependent on God. The person who walks after the Spirit focuses by faith on the cross and God’s grace. He has life and peace of mind because he is trusting in the grace of God and not in his abilities in reference to law-keeping.

In Galatians 6 vs 8, the Bible says, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” It will certainly be a surprise if you planted corn and pumpkins came up. It’s a natural law to harvest what we plant. It’s true in other areas, too. If you gossip about your friends, you will lose their friendship. Every action has results. If you plant to please your own desires, you’ll harvest a crop of sorrow and evil. If you plant to please God, you will harvest joy and everlasting life. 

You are free to choose between two masters, but you are not free to adjust the consequences of your choice. Each of the two masters pays with his own kind of currency. The currency of sin is eternal death. That is all you can expect or hope for in life without God. Christ’s currency is eternal life—new life with God that begins on earth and continues forever with God. 

Daily we must consciously choose to center our lives on God. Use the Bible to discover God’s guidelines, and then follow them. In every perplexing situation, ask yourself, what will Jesus want me to do? When the Holy Spirit points out what is right, do it eagerly. How much influence do your desires have on your life? Your goal should be to let God’s desires be yours. Being controlled by own desires will stunt your growth.

Prayer: Abba Father, all things are Yours. And by You all things consist. My total trust and confidence is in You. Give me the grace never to shift my trust and focus from You, for any reason, in any circumstances, and by anything, and endue me with the mind of Christ in all things and at all times, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Hedonism for Husbands and Wives

 Hedonism for Husbands and Wives

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:24–25) 

There is a pattern of love in marriage ordained by God.

The roles of husband and wife are not the same. The husband is to take his special cues from Christ as the head of the church. The wife is to take her special cues from God’s design for the church as submissive to Christ.

In doing this, the sinful and damaging results of the fall begin to be reversed. The fall twisted man’s loving headship into hostile domination in some men, and lazy indifference in others. The fall twisted woman’s intelligent, willing submission into manipulative obsequiousness in some women, and brazen insubordination in others.

The redemption we anticipated when the Messiah finally came in Jesus Christ was not the dismantling of the created order of loving headship and willing submission, but a recovery of it. Wives, redeem your fallen submission by modeling it after God’s intention for a joyful church! Husbands, redeem your fallen headship by modeling it after God’s intention for the lavishly loving Christ!

I find in Ephesians 5:21–33 these two things: (1) the display of Christian Hedonism in marriage and (2) the direction its impulses should take.

Wives, seek your joy in the joy of your husband by affirming and honoring his God-ordained role as “head” or leader in your relationship. Husbands, seek your joy in the joy of your wife by accepting the responsibility to lead as Christ led the church and gave himself for her.

I would like to bear witness to God’s goodness in my life. I discovered Christian Hedonism the same year I got married, in 1968. Since then, Noël and I, in obedience to Jesus Christ, have pursued as passionately as we can the deepest, most lasting joys possible. All too imperfectly, all too half-heartedly at times, we have stalked our own joy in the joy of each other.

And we can testify together after over 50 years of marriage: For those who marry, this is the path to the heart’s desire. For us, marriage has been a matrix for Christian Hedonism. As each pursues joy in the joy of the other and fulfills a God-ordained role, the mystery of marriage as a parable of Christ and the church becomes manifest for his great glory and for our great joy.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 21, 2025.

SUBJECT : WHAT YOU SOW YOU REAP! 

Memory verse: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." (Galatians 6 vs 7.) 

READ: Luke 6 vs 37 - 38:

6:37:Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 

6:38: Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

INTIMATION:

It would certainly be a surprise if you planted corn in your farm and pumpkins came up. It's a natural law to harvest what we plant. It's true in other areas, too. It is a principle of life that one reaps what he or she sows. One must not deceive himself into thinking that he or she can escape the consequences of his or her behavior. 

To think one can, is to mock God, for God says that we will reap what we sow, not only in this life, but also in that which is to come. If you sow to the flesh; cares of this world (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) you will definitely reap corruption. But if you sow to the things of the Spirit, you will definitely reap eternal life with Christ. 

This natural law governs rule of our lives, and our relationships with others. How is your relationship with other people? What do you give to others? What do you give to God? Are you resentful? speaking guile? gossiping about others? Do you give love and care to others? Are you judgmental? Do you easily fret? Are you always returning to others as they did to you, especially in wrong doing? These are not Christlike! 

The thrust of what the Scripture states here is that we will be dealt with in final judgement by God in the same manner by which we treat our fellow men. Therefore, when we measure mercy to others, God will in turn measure mercy to us. If we forgive others, God will in turn forgive us. A forgiving spirit demonstrates that a person has received God’s forgiveness. 

If we are critical rather than compassionate, we will also receive criticism. If we treat others generously, graciously, and compassionately, however, these qualities will come back to us in full measure. Every action has its result. If you plant to please your own desires, you'll harvest a crop of sorrow and evil. If you plant to please God, you'll harvest joy and everlasting life. 

The passage we read today, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you," has always been misinterpreted in churches and fellowships, especially during offerings and fund raising exercises. They give a money and material interpretations to our giving. But the close and meditation on the preceding verse, will bring to fore the import of the teaching. There is God's judgment awaiting everybody. Although, His judgement is already working in our lives, there is a future, final judgement when Christ returns (Matthew 25 vs 31 - 46), and everyone's life will be reviewed and evaluated. Jesus will look at how we handled gifts, opportunities, relationships, and responsibilities in order to determine our rewards.

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to sow right words and deeds in the life of others that I may reap right words and deeds from others as well. Endue me with the spirit of love for You, and others, in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Mystery of Marriage

 The Mystery of Marriage

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31–32) 

Here in Ephesians 5:31 Paul is quoting Genesis 2:24, which Moses spoke — and Jesus said God spoke through Moses (Matthew 19:5) — “A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Paul says this word of God, spoken before the fall into sin, is a reference to Christ and the church and contains therefore a great mystery.

What this implies is that when God engaged to create man and woman and to ordain the union of marriage, he didn’t roll the dice or draw straws or flip a coin as to how they might be related to each other. He patterned marriage very purposefully after the relationship between his Son and the church, which he had planned from all eternity.

Therefore, marriage is a mystery — it contains and conceals a meaning far greater than what we see on the outside. God created man male and female and ordained marriage so that the eternal covenant relationship between Christ and his church would be imaged forth in the marriage union.

The inference Paul draws from this mystery is that the roles of husband and wife in marriage are not arbitrarily assigned, but are rooted in the distinctive roles of Christ and his church.

Those of us who are married need to ponder again and again how mysterious and wonderful it is that God grants us in marriage the privilege to image forth stupendous divine realities infinitely bigger and greater than ourselves.

This mystery of Christ and the church is the foundation of the pattern of love that Paul describes for marriage. It is not enough to say that each spouse should pursue his or her own joy in the joy of the other. That is true. But it is not enough. It is also important to say that husbands and wives should consciously copy the relationship God intended for Christ and the church. That is, each should seek to live after the distinctive model of God’s pure and glad design for Christ and the church. 

I hope you will take this seriously whether you are single or married, old or young. The revelation of the covenant-keeping Christ and his covenant-keeping church hangs on it.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY OCTOBER 20, 2025.

SUBJECT : WORD AFFIRMATION AS A LIFESTYLE!

Memory verse: "This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men." (Titus 3 vs 8.)

READ: Revelation 12 vs 11:

12:11: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to death.

INTIMATION:

Living your life in the Word involves believing, confessing and affirming the Word of God. Affirmation is the last part of the process of this life in the Word. To affirm is to make firm. An affirmation is a statement of truth that you make firm by repetition. The Scripture in our memory verse says, "This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly....." The bold declaration or affirmation of the Word is indicative of the inherent truth, and your trust and believe in it. 

In the first five Books of Moses, God's expression of "I am the LORD" occurred more than two thousand five hundred times, indicating the truth, and lays credence to the fact, and the value of affirmation. That should be the lifestyle of every child of God; confessing, and affirming the Word. 

You should constantly affirm to your own soul the great, and outstanding facts of redemption, reminding yourself constantly of your identity in Christ Jesus, confessing and affirming the fullness of Jesus Christ and His finished work in the presence of your enemies; in the presence of your weakness; in the presence of your adversary. 

They may not mean much the first time you repeat them, but constantly reaffirm them. By and by, the Spirit will illumine them, and your soul will be flooded with light and joy. Every time you repeat what God has said about you as an individual, about Himself—The Trinity, and the church, these truths reach down deep into your inner being with strength, courage, joy and victory. 

Our spiritual lives depend upon our constantly affirming what God has declared, what God is in Christ, what we are in Christ, and what we are before the Father in Christ. It is for this reason that the apostle Paul, in Philemon 6, says, "That the sharing of our faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."

In the passage we read today, Satan, our accuser, was defeated when the Lamb, Jesus Christ, shed His blood for our sins. The victory is won on our behalf by that supreme sacrifice, that is, Christ's death in our place to pay the penalty of our sin, and the sacrifices we make because of our faith in Him; testifying of Him as our Lord and Savior, and affirming what He wrought for us in redemption. These good works of believe, confession, and affirmation, in faith, are all good and profitable for Christians. 

The Bible includes hundreds of passages that speak about the power of the Word. Locate as many as you can, continually confess, and affirm them. They will be more effective as you speak them with volume, feeling, conviction, and enthusiasm. Words weakly spoke have minimal results. I encourage you to speak some of these affirmations as many times as you can, but at least, three to five times a day. 

Prayer: Abba Father, forever Your Word is perfect, and settled in heaven. Endue me with the spirit of bold declaration of Your Word at all times, that I may reap their manifestation in my life, in Jesus” Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!