Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 14, 2026.

SUBJECT: LIFE AND LIVING IN CHRIST!

Memory verse: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2 vs 20.)

READ: Second Corinthians 5 vs 16 - 21: 

5:16: Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

5:18: Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

5:19: that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

5:20: Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God 

5:21: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

INTIMATION:

Life in Christ means experiencing a total spiritual rebirth and a fresh identity centered on God's love and Will. Living in Christ means making Jesus the central focus, identity, and guiding power of a person's daily life and spiritual state. Being "in Christ" describes a close connection where Christians live within Christ's spiritual realm rather than the worldly sphere of the flesh.

Christians are brand-new people on the inside. The Holy Spirit gives them new life, and they are not the same anymore. They are not reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated, rather they are re-ceeated (new creation), living in vital union with Christ. At conversion we do not merely turn over a new leaf; we begin a new life under a new Master. 

Not only are Christians changed from within, but a whole new order of creative energy began with Christ. There is a new covenant, a new perspective, a new body, a new church. All of creation is being renewed. Christians' actions, goals, and desires aim to bring glory and honor to Jesus. Therefore, note that this is not a superficial change that will be quickly superseded by another novelty. 

As Christians, at conversion our entire personal being and life changes by being consumed in the Will of Jesus. The Will and mission of Jesus becomes the life of the Christian who has come into a covenant relationship with Jesus. The ultimate goal is to make us like Him (First John 3 vs 2). As we become more and more like Him, we discover our true selves, the persons we are created to be. 

How can we become like Christ? We can accomplish this by: (1) Reading and heeding the Word, (2) studying His life on earth through the Gospels, (3) spending time in prayer, (4) being filled with the Spirit, (5) doing His work in the world. 

Life and living in Christ constitute daily guidance by the Holy Spirit. Christians rely on the Holy Spirit to guide their thoughts, motives, and everyday actions toward love and obedience to Christ. Their lives as transformed into the image of Jesus by their obedience to His Will. 

The glory that the Spirit imparts to the Christian is excellent. By gazing at the nature of God with unveiled minds, we can become more like Him. In the Gospel, we see the truth about Christ, and it transforms the believer morally as they understand and apply it. Through learning about Christ's life, we can understand how wonderful God is and what He is really like. As the knowledge deepens, the Holy Spirit helps us to change. Becoming like Christ is a progressive experience; the more closely we follow Christ, the more we will be like Him. 

The Christian's life in Christ is marked by the fruit of the Spirit, which includes love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness. The fruit of the Spirit is the spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Spirit produces these character traits that are found in the nature of Christ. They are the by-products of Christ’s control. To obtain the fruit, we must abide in Him (join our life to His), we must know Him, believe in Him, receive Him as our Savior and Lord, love Him, obey Him, remember Him, and imitate Him. 

Life and living in Christ makes the believers focus their minds on heavenly realities and values rather than secular attachments to the things of this world. Christians build their confidence in what is lasting and eternal and not be bound to earth and its treasures or pursuits. We don't spend more of our time piling up possessions, but should strive to develop Christlike character, and are assured of the permanent promise of eternal life and fellowship with God.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the privilege of sonship and life in Christ, and the ensuing fellowship with Him through the Holy Spirit indwelling me. My utmost heart desire is continually access the fellowship with Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit at all times and in all things, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God Heals by Humbling

 God Heals by Humbling

“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.” (Isaiah 57:18–19)

In spite of the severity of man’s disease of rebellion and willfulness, God will heal. How will he heal? Isaiah 57:15 says that God dwells with the crushed and humble. Yet the people of Isaiah 57:17 are not humble. They are brazenly pursuing their own proud way. So, what will a healing be?

It can only be one thing. God will heal them by humbling them. He will cure the patient by crushing his pride. If only the crushed and humble enjoy God’s fellowship (Isaiah 57:15), and if Israel’s sickness is a proud and willful rebellion (Isaiah 57:17), and if God promises to heal them (Isaiah 57:18), then his healing must be humbling and his cure must be a crushed spirit.

Isn’t this Isaiah’s way of prophesying what Jeremiah called the new covenant and the gift of a new heart? He said, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33).

Isaiah and Jeremiah both see a time coming when a sick, disobedient, hard-hearted people will be supernaturally changed. Isaiah speaks of healing. Jeremiah speaks of writing the law on their hearts. And Ezekiel puts it like this: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26) 

So the healing of Isaiah 57:18 is a major heart transplant — the old hardened, proud, willful heart of stone is taken out, and a new soft, tender heart is put in, which is easily humbled and crushed by the memory of sin and the sin that remains. 

This is a heart that the lofty One whose name is Holy will dwell with forever.

The Master Servant

 The Master Servant

. . . so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7)

To me, the Bible’s most astonishing image of Christ’s second coming is in Luke 12:35–37, which pictures the return of a master from a marriage feast like this:

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.”

To be sure, we are called servants — and that no doubt means we are to do exactly as we are told. But the wonder of this picture is that the “master” insists on serving. We may have expected this during Jesus’s ministry on earth, since he said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). But Luke 12:35–37 is a picture of the second coming, when the Son of Man comes in the blinding glory of his Father “with his mighty angels in flaming fire” as 2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 says. Why would Jesus be portrayed as a table waiter at the second coming?

Because the very heart of his glory is the fullness of grace that overflows in kindness to needy people. This is why Ephesians 2:7 says he aims “in the coming ages [to] show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

What is the greatness of our God? What is his uniqueness in the world? Isaiah answers: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4 RSV). There is no other god like this. He never relinquishes the role of inexhaustible benefactor of his ever-dependent, happy people.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY OCTOBER 12, 2026.

SUBJECT: GOD’S LOVING DISCIPLINE!

Memory verse: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent." (Revelation 3 vs 19.)

READ: Hebrews 12 vs 5 - 11:

12:5: And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

12:6: For whom the Lord loveth he chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.

12:7: If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

12:8: But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

12:9: Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?"

12:10: For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best for them, but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.

12:11: Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present for the present, but painful; nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it

INTIMATION:

God deals with His children as a parent deals with his or her child. Discipline is for correction, education, and growth. God's discipline is for the purpose of molding our characters in order that we will be prepared for eternal dwelling. While in persecution, therefore, one must remember that the love of God is being manifested in one’s life because God is using trying times in order to mold one for eternal dwelling. God wants no spoiled children in heaven, and those discipline is necessary in order to train our minds to be able to dwell with Jesus who suffered the same tribulations.

God's discipline proves you are a member of the family of God. Anyone who rejects the discipline of God is considered illegitimate by God Himself. Jesus was the Son of God, and never did anything He was not instructed to do by His Father in heaven. Yet Jesus suffered in God's boot camp (Hebrews 5 vs 8). God wants to make us mature and complete, not to keep us from pain. Therefore, we should respond to discipline (chastening) by Him gratefully, as the appropriate response we owe a loving Father.

God’s purpose in discipline is not to punish but to bring people back to Himself. Instead of complaining about our struggles, we should see them as opportunities for our spiritual growth. For instance, if you are lukewarm in your devotion to God, He may discipline you to help you out of your uncaring attitude, and He uses only loving discipline. 

You can avoid God’s discipline by drawing near to Him through worship; confession, service, praise, thanksgiving, and studying the Word. Just as the spark of love can be rekindled in marriage, so the Holy Spirit can re-ignite our zeal for the Lord when we allow Him to work in our heart.

It is a blessing to be disciplined by God when we do wrong. At times God must discipline us to help us. This is similar to a loving parent disciplining his child. The discipline is not very enjoyable to the child, but it is essential to teach him or her right from wrong. Also, it’s never pleasant to be corrected and disciplined by God, but His discipline is a sign of His deep love for us. When God corrects you, see it as proof of His love, and ask Him what He is trying to teach you. Realize that God is urging you to follow His path instead of stubbornly going your own way.

Discipline sounds negative to many people because some disciplinarians are not loving. God, however, is the source of all love. He doesn’t punish us because He enjoys inflicting pain but because He is deeply concerned about our development. He knows that in order to become morally strong and good, we must learn the difference between right and wrong. Correction is a vital part of discipline, and discipline means “to teach and to train.”

It’s difficult to know when God is disciplining us until we look back on the situation later. However, not every calamity that happens to us comes directly from God, of course. But if we rebel against God and refuse to repent when He has identified some sin in our lives, God may use guilt, crises, or bad experiences to bring us back to Him. Sometimes, however, difficult times come when we have no flagrant sin just like Job. Our response then should be patience, integrity, and trust that God like Job did.

In trying or difficult situations don’t try to second-guess what God is doing. Rather, in an act of spiritual discipline, raise your hands in the darkest night of your life and praise God in heaven for the victory that you can only see through the eyes of faith. Then and only then will you see the miracles of God's provision. A man on his knees can see more and farther into the future than a man on a mountaintop. Trials force us to pray with an intensity that causes God to incline his ear toward our cry.

Prayer: Abba Father, I desire Your loving discipline to put me on the right path in my journey of life, and to mold my character for eternal dwelling with You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Beware of Serving God

 Beware of Serving God

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:24–25)

We do not glorify God by providing his needs, but by praying that he would provide ours — and trusting him to answer, and living in the joy of that all-providing care as we lay down our lives in love for other people.

Here we are at the heart of the good news of Christian Hedonism. God’s insistence that we ask him to give us help so that he gets glory. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:15). This forces on us the startling fact that we must beware of thinking he needs us. We must beware of serving God, and we must take special care to let him serve us, lest we rob him of his glory. “God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25). 

This sounds very strange. Most of us think serving God is a totally positive thing. We have not considered that serving God may be an insult to him. But meditation on the very meaning of prayer makes this plain. 

In the novel, Robinson Crusoe, the hero, took Psalm 50:12–15 as his favorite text to hope in as he’s stranded on the island: God says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. . . . Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” 

Which means: there is a way to serve God that would belittle him as needy of our service. Oh, how careful we must be not to preempt the mighty grace of God in Christ. Jesus said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). He aims to be the servant. He aims to get the glory as the Giver.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 11, 2026.

SUBJECT: BELIEVERS TRIALS IN THE FIRES OF HARD TIME!

Memory verse: "So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,” (Second Thessalonians 1 vs 4.) 

READ: James 1 vs 2 - 4; First Peter 1 vs 6 - 8:

James 1:2: My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 

1:3: knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

1:4: But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

First Peter 1:6: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,

1:7: that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 

1:8: whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. 

INTIMATION:

Fires of hard times are the life’s difficulties we experience as we live for Christ. All believers face trials when they let their light shine into the darkness. They will experience troubles because they are trying to be God’s people in a perverse world. Believers must understand, therefore, that life’s trial is an occasion for joy when it comes as a result of one’s commitment. 

We must accept trials as part of the refining process that burns away impurities and prepares us to meet Christ. We must also understand that the many trials are occasions for spiritual growth and development of character. 

Since God uses Satan’s work against him, then trials or persecutions in the life of a believer indicates that God is going to use Satan’s work to accomplish something good in that life (Romans 8 vs 28). It is noteworthy that the candidates of heaven must be tried in the fires of hard times in order to prepare their characters for eternal dwelling. As gold is heated, impurities float to the top and can be skimmed off, likewise our trials, struggles, and persecutions refine and strengthen our faith, making us useful to God. For this reason, we can count it all joy when we have to endure many trials. 

Instead of asking, “Why me?” we should respond to suffering with new sets of responses thus: (1) Confidence that God knows, plans, and directs our lives for the good. It’s hard to calculate sometimes, but God always provides His love and strength for us. He leads us toward a better future. (2) Perseverance when facing grief, anger, sorrow, and pain. We express our grief, but we don’t give in to bitterness and despair. (3) Courage because with Jesus as Brother and Savior, we need not be afraid. He who suffered for us will not abandon us. Jesus carries us through everything. 

The key of surviving life’s difficulties is patience, faith and joy in the Lord. When faced with crushing troubles, we should have faith in God because it pleases Him, and be patient, for God uses our trials for our good and for His glory, knowing that God will not forsake His people (Deuteronomy 4 vs 31). 

The godly life in Christ brings about persecution because Satan will rise up against all that God represents in this world. God is fair and just, and will give us patience in our suffering because He has not forgotten us. In His perfect timing, He will relieve our suffering and punish those who persecute us. 

The apostle Paul said in Romans 5 vs 3 - 4, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.” Paul tells us that in the future we will become, but until then we must overcome. This means that we will experience difficulties that will help us grow. 

We rejoice in suffering, not because we like pain or deny its tragedy, but because we know God is using life’s difficulties and Satan’s attacks to build our character. The problems we run into will develop our perseverance, which in turn will strengthen our character, deepen our trust in God, and give us greater confidence about the future.

Your troubles may be an indication that you are taking a stand for Christ. When you do so, you are experiencing the privilege of showing that you are worthy of God’s kingdom (Second Thessalonians 1 vs 11). As believers, our calling from God is to become like Christ; be patient in suffering, and have faith in God to actualize, at the long run, His purposes in our lives. Becoming like Christ is a gradual, lifelong process that will be completed when we see Christ face to face (First John 3 vs 2). 

In as much as some people say that troubles are the result of sin or lack of faith, but we have seen that they may be a part of God’s plan for believers. Our problems can help us look upward and forward, instead of inward (Philippians 3 vs 13 - 14), they can build strong character, and they can provide us with opportunities to comfort others who also are struggling (Second Corinthians 1 vs 3 - 5). 

The proving or testing of our faith produces a character that is able to endure trials. It is also an opportunity for our faith to be proved genuine and strengthened. As believers we should react to various trials and temptations that we all encounter in life with endurance, steadfastness, and patience. We are to let these things do a thorough work in us so that we will come through them stronger and better than we were before.

Prayer: Abba Father, in all things I give You thanks, knowing that Your thoughts for me is of good and not of evil, to give me a future and a hope. I will rejoice in any situations I find myself because I know my Redeemer lives. Endue me with the spirit of endurance, steadfastness, and perseverance in the face of life’s trials, that I will come out of them better prepared for eternal glory, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

We Can Do Nothing

 We Can Do Nothing

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you? 

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?” 

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” 

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit. 

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.” 

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.