Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 07, 2026.

SUBJECT : GRACE IN OUR FAITH WALK!

Memory verse: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." (Galatians 2 vs 16.)

READ: Galatians 3 vs 2 - 7:

3:2: This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

3:3: Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

3:4: Have you suffered so many things in vain - if indeed it was in vain?

3:5: Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

3:6: Just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness."

3:7: Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

INTIMATION:

The Holy Spirit (the Spirit of grace) gives Christians great power to live for God. People still feel insecure in their faith because faith alone seems too easy. Some Christians want more than this. They want to live in a state of perpetual excitement. They still try to get closer to God by following rules. While certain Christian disciplines may help us grow, they must not take the place of the Holy Spirit in us or become ends in themselves.

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul is asking the Galatian believers, "Did you receive the Lord through your own works and efforts or by hearing the Gospel message and saying, 'I believe that?'" He further ask them, "Are you really so foolish and senseless and silly as to begin your new life by the Spirit and then try to reach perfection by depending on your own weak human flesh?"

Then finally, he concludes in asking them, "Does God supply your every need and work miracles among you because you keep the law perfectly or because you put your entire faith and trust in the message you heard?" The believers in Galatia received the Lord by faith, but were trying to perfect themselves by depending on their own flesh, trying to change themselves and their lives by human effort rather than by trusting in God, and His grace to live a changed life.

Now, effort has a place in the Christian life. It does have a part to play. But even then, anything done outside the grace of God will have no real lasting effect. The law is not bad in itself. Even the Scripture says, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (Romans 7 vs 12). 

The law can make us acceptable to God. Yes, the law still has an important role to play in the life of a Christian. The law (1) guards us from sin by giving us standards for behavior; (2) convicts us of sin, leaving us the opportunity to ask for God's forgiveness; and (3) drives us to trust the sufficiency of Christ, because we can never keep the “Ten Commandments” perfectly. The law cannot possibly save us. But after we become Christians, it can guide us to live as God requires.

Are you struggling with changes that need to be made in your personality? Do you ever get frustrated and confused, trying to believe and have faith and confess and do all the right things to bring about change in yourself and your life, yet it never seems to happen? You wanted to change everything you saw wrong about yourself and life, but for some reason you just couldn't do it.

In the aforementioned situation, most believers will blame the devil. They will spend better part of their time binding and casting the devil away, instead of turning to the Lord for help. The Lord requires us to constantly turn to Him for help. Why? Because when we do anything apart from Him, we take the credit and glory that rightfully belongs to Him. For this reason He will frustrate any of our own efforts to do things outside of Him. Jesus said, "......For without Me, you can do nothing." (John 15 vs 5).

We are saved by grace (unmerited favor) from God, and only the grace we receive that empowers us to meet specific situations in life. In Luke 11 vs 2 - 4, Jesus thought His disciples how to pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one."

Our Lord's Prayer clearly shows three things; (1) God our giver, (2) our leader, (3) our deliverer. Our duty then is to ask so that we can receive. (See Matthew 7 vs 7 - 8). We are to the asking, and God Himself does the work. Therefore, turn to God in prayer, because only God could bring about changes that you desire in your life. But our duty is to ask in faith. Get your face before the Lord on a regular basis and say:

Prayer: Abba Father, I can't help myself. I come to You like a little child. I am totally helpless. I lay this whole situation before You, asking for Your grace. I don't deserve Your help, Father, but You are my only hope. Please do for me what I can't do for myself to Your glory, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God-Given Foes and God-Given Faith

 God-Given Foes and God-Given Faith

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . . not frightened in anything by your opponents. . . . For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. (Philippians 1:27–29)

Paul told the Philippians that living worthy of the gospel of Christ meant fearlessness before enemies. Then he gave the logic of fearlessness.

The logic is this: God has given you two gifts, not just one — faith and suffering. That’s what verse 29 says. “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” Granted to you to believe, and granted to you to suffer.

In this context that means: Both your faith in the face of suffering, and your suffering are gifts of God. When Paul says, don’t be frightened by your opponents, he had two reasons in his mind why they don’t need to be frightened:

One reason is that the opponents are in the hand of God. Their opposition is a gift from God. He governs it. That’s the first point of verse 29.

And the other reason not to be afraid is that your fearlessness, that is, your faith, is also in the hand of God. It too is a gift. That is the other point of verse 29.

So the logic of fearlessness in the face of adversity is this double truth: Both your adversity and your faith in the face of adversity are gifts of God.

Why is this called living “worthy of the gospel of Christ”? Because the gospel is the good news that Christ’s blood of the covenant infallibly obtained for all his people the sovereign working of God to give us faith and to govern our enemies — always for our eternal good. That’s what the gospel secured. Therefore, to live that way shows the power and goodness of the gospel.

Therefore, fear not. Your adversaries can do no more than God grants. And he will grant all the faith you need. These promises are blood-bought and sealed. They are gospel promises.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 06, 2026.

SUBJECT: THE RACE OF FAITH!

Memory verse: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.(First Corinthians 9 vs 24.) 

READ: Hebrews 12 vs 1 - 4:

12:1: Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 

12:2: looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

12:3: For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

12:4: You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 

INTIMATION:

The race of faith in Christ is an enduring and great race that requires strength, committment, and determination. Just as winning a normal race in sports require purpose and discipline, the Christian faith life takes hard work, self-discipline, self-denial, and grueling preparation. The race of faith in our lives is a lifelong race. And just as long-distance runners work hard to build endurance and strength, so it is with our race of faith in Christ. 

As Christians we are running toward our heavenly reward. Our hope of heaven should be strong enough to motivate us to remain in the race regardless of the sufferings of this present world. The essential disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and worship equip us to run with vigor and stamina. If one is not actively engaged in the race, then he is in a state of falling away. Indifference and/or stalemate in our faith life is only stages of digression. 

The Christian life requires us to give up whatever endangers our relationship with God, to run with endurance, and to struggle against sin with the power of the Holy Spirit. To live effectively, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. We will stumble if we look away from Him to stare at ourselves or at the circumstances surrounding us. We should be running for Christ, not ourselves, and we must always keep Him in sight. 

When Christians think that they are suffering too much for Jesus, then they should think of all the things Jesus endured on their behalf. One's physical life is surely of little value in comparison to the eternal life that one will receive in the presence of God. 

To run the race that God has set before us, we must also strip off the excess weight that slows us down. How can we do that? 

(1) Choose friends who are also committed to the race. Wrong friends will have values and activities that may deter you from the course. Much of your own weight may result from the crowd you run with. Make wise choices. 

(2) Drop certain activities which at the time may be weight. Try dropping them for a while; then check the results in your life. (3) Get help for addictions that disable you. If you have a secret "weight" such as pornography, gambling, smoking, alcohol, etc. admit your need and get help Immediately.

In the passage of Scriptures we read today, the phrase "great a cloud of witnesses" is composed of the people described in chapter 11. Their faithfulness is a constant encouragement to us. We do not struggle alone, and we are not the first to struggle with the problems we face. Others have run the race and won, and their witness stirs us to run and win also. What an inspiring heritage we have! 

When we face hardship and discouragement, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture. But we are not alone; there is help from our Xhrist ordained Helper-the Holy Spirit. Many have already made it through life, enduring far more difficult circumstances than we have experienced. Suffering is the training ground for Christian maturity. It develops our patience and makes our final victory sweet. 

It is noteworthy that all sin hinders one's faithfulness in running the Christian race. Therefore, we should endeavor to lay aside all forms sin in our lives, including our doubt concerning God's faithfulness to keep His promises. It is the doubt that hinders Christians from zealously doing that which God requires of an active faith. 

Prayer: Abba Father, You are a faithful and remains faithful even in our u faithfulness. Endue me with divine strength, wisdom, determination, commitment, and faithfulness to run the race of fauth in Christ to the end, that I will obtain Your promise for those endured to the ends, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

Present and Powerful Love

 Present and Powerful Love

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (Romans 8:35)

Notice three things in Romans 8:35.

1. Christ is loving us now.

A wife might say of her deceased husband: Nothing will separate me from his love. She might mean that the memory of his love will be sweet and powerful all her life. But that is not what Paul means here.

In Romans 8:34 it says plainly, “Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” The reason Paul can say that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ is because Christ is alive and is still loving us right now.

He is at the right hand of God and is therefore ruling for us. And he is interceding for us, which means he is seeing to it that his finished work of redemption does in fact save us hour by hour, and bring us safely to eternal joy. His love is not just a memory. It is a moment-by-moment action by the omnipotent, living Son of God, to bring us to everlasting joy.

2. This love of Christ is effective in protecting us from separation, and therefore is not a universal love for all, but a particular love for his people — that is, those who, according to Romans 8:28, love God and are called according to his purpose.

This is the love of Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” It is Christ’s love for the church, his bride. Christ has a love for all, and he has a special, saving, preserving love for his bride. You know you are part of that bride if you trust Christ. Anyone — no exceptions — anyone who trusts Christ can say, I am part of his bride, his church, his called and chosen ones, the ones who, according to Romans 8:35, are kept and protected forever no matter what.

3. This omnipotent, effective, protecting love does not spare us from calamities in this life, but brings us safely through them to everlasting joy with God.

Death will happen to us, but it will not separate us. So when Paul says in verse 35 that the “sword” will not separate us from the love of Christ, he means: even if we are killed, we are not separated from the love of Christ.

So the sum of the matter in verse 35 is this: Jesus Christ is right now mightily loving his people with omnipotent, moment-by-moment love that does not always rescue us from calamity but preserves us for everlasting joy in his presence even through suffering and death.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 05, 2026.

SUBJECT: GOD’S INTEREST IN US!

Memory verse: “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 10 vs 12.) 

READ: Psalm 50 vs 7 - 15:

50:7: Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! 

50:8: I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me. 

50:9: I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. 

50:10: For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 

50:11: I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beast of the field are Mine. 

50:12: 'If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. 

50:13: Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 

50:14:Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.

50:15: Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

INTIMATION:

God is interested in our heart attitude toward Him in all we do. God judges people for treating Him lightly. He demands that we have reverence for Him, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him with all your heart and soul, and keep His commands. If anything is done superficially, it is unpleasant to Him. 

In the passage we read today, God speaks about the superficial religious people who bring their sacrifices but are only going through the motions. They do not honor God with true obedience, praise and thankfulness. He demands genuine thanksgiving and trust in Him. The people were offering sacrifices and forgetting their significance! 

We may fall into the same pattern when we participate in religious activities, tithe, or attend church out of habit or conformity rather than out of heartfelt love and obedience. God wants righteousness, not empty rituals. God was saying that His disagreement with them wasn't about a lack of sacrifices on their part; they had been offering sacrifices continually. His complaint against them was the heart attitude they had in making offerings. They were missing the point! 

They thought they were making the sacrifices because God somehow needed their bulls and goats. God was making it clear that He didn't need anything from them; everything already belongs to Him. God said, "If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you! The world is Mine, and everything in it." The truth was that the Israelites needed those sacrifices. They needed to give back to God and show their trust and dependence upon Him. It wasn't for God—it's for them.

The psalmist, David, says, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.” (Psalm 40 vs 6.) The religious rituals in David’s days involved sacrificing animals in the tabernacle. David said these acts were meaningless unless done for the right reasons. 

Today we often make rituals of going to church, taking Communion, or paying tithes. These activities are also empty if our reasons for doing them are selfish. God doesn’t want these sacrifices and offerings without an attitude of devotion to Him. The prophet Samuel told Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (First Samuel 15 vs 22). Make sure that you give God the obedience and lifelong service He desires from you.

A sacrifice is a ritual transaction between a person and God that physically demonstrates a relationship between them. But if the person’s heart was not truly repentant or if he did not truly love God, the sacrifice was a hollow ritual. Religious ceremonies or rituals are empty unless they are performed with an attitude of love and obedience. “Being religious” (going to church, serving on a committee, giving to charity) is not enough if we do not act out of devotion and obedience to God.

Regarding tithing, for instance, your attitude toward your money is actually more important than what you do with it. God doesn't need your money any more than He needed those Old Testament sacrifices. The reason for the tithe is for you to learn to recognize God as the source of all of your money. 

It's one thing to say you believe God is your source, but it's another thing to prove it. The way you prove to yourself, not God, that you believe God is your source is to give a portion of what you make back to Him. People who don't really see God as their source are going to balk at giving part of what they have away. They are going to think, I need that money! But giving back some of what God has already given you is nothing when you see God as your source.

Some people glibly recite God’s laws but are filled with deceit and evil. They claim His promises but refuse to obey Him. This is sin, and God will judge people for it. We, too, are hypocrites when we are not what we claim to be. To let this inconsistency remain shows that we are not true followers of God.

Just because God is silent does not mean He is condoning sin or is indifferent to it. Instead, He is withholding deserved punishment, giving time for people to repent (Second Peter 3 vs 9). God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and wants them to turn from evil (Ezekiel 33 vs 11). But His silence does not last forever—a time of punishment will surely come.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my Source of everything. In You I live, and move, and have my being. I rather die than allow anything come between us! I give my whole heart to You, in Jesus’ Name I prayed. Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Goal of Christ’s Love

 The Goal of Christ’s Love“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” (John 17:24)

Believers in Jesus are precious to God (we’re his bride!). And he loves us so much that he will not allow our preciousness to become our god.

God does indeed make much of us (he adopts us into his family!), but he does so in a way that draws us out of ourselves to enjoy his greatness.

Test yourself. If Jesus came to spend the day with you, sat down beside you on the couch, and said, “I really love you,” what would you focus on the rest of the day that you spend together with him?

It seems to me that too many songs and sermons leave us with the wrong answer. They leave the impression that the heights of our joy would be in the recurrent feeling of being loved. “He loves me!” “He loves me!” To be sure, this is joy indeed. But not the heights, and not the focus.

What are we saying with the words “I am loved”? What do we mean? What is this “being loved”?

Would not the greatest, most Christ-exalting joy be found in watching Jesus all day and bursting with, “You’re amazing!” “You are amazing!”

He answers the hardest question, and his wisdom is amazing.

He touches a filthy, oozing sore, and his compassion is amazing.

He raises a dead lady at the medical examiner’s office, and his power is amazing.

He predicts the afternoon’s events, and his foreknowledge is amazing.

He sleeps during an earthquake, and his fearlessness is amazing.

He says, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), and his words are amazing.

We walk around with him all afternoon, utterly amazed at what we are seeing.

Is not his love for us his eagerness to do for us all he must do (including die for us) so that we can marvel at him and not be incinerated by him? Redemption, propitiation, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation — all these have to happen. They are the act of love.

But the goal of love that makes those acts loving is that we be with him, and see his jaw-dropping glory, and be astounded. In those moments we forget ourselves as we see and savor all that God is for us in him.

So I am urging pastors and teachers: Push people through the acts of Christ’s love to the goal of his love. If redemption and propitiation and forgiveness and justification and reconciliation are not taking us to the enjoyment of Jesus himself, they are not love.

Press on this. It’s what Jesus prayed for in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.”

What’s New About the New Covenant

 What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: 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 31:33) 

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love. 

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10). 

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either. 

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t. 

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith. 

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).