THE GRACE OF GOD DEFINED!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY JULY 03, 2020.

SUBJECT:  GRACE OF GOD DEFINED!

Memory verse:  "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." (Second Corinthians 8 vs 9.) 

READ:  Ephesians 1 verse 7 - 8:

1:7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace,

1:8: which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

INTIMATION:

The common definition of grace known to us is "God’ free and unmerited or undeserved favor for sinful humanity." God showered His kindness (also known as His grace) on us. This is the voluntary and loving favor given to those He saves through faith in the substitutionary work of Christ. God voluntarily became man—the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The man Jesus was subject to human limitations by setting aside His glory and His rights, in response to His Father’s Will to limit His power and knowledge. Christ became “poor” when He became human because He set aside so much. Yet by doing so, He made us “rich” because by His “grace,” we are redeemed—we received salvation and eternal life. 

Therefore, the grace of God can be defined as His voluntarily setting aside His Deity—His glory, rights, power, and knowledge, for the love of sinful humanity, and bestowing on us unmerited or undeserved favor by redeeming from sin and Satan, and handing us the gift of salvation and eternal life. The study of James 4 vs 5 - 6 in the Bible, reveals that there is so much more to grace; “Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore, He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

The verses in Amplified Version of the Bible is quite revealing, "Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says. The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcomed] with a jealous love? But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace (continually) to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it)."

The Amplified Bible says that grace is the power of the Holy Spirit to meet the evil tendency within each of us. What evil tendency is James referring to here? The evil tendency or desire is clearly stated In James 4 vs 4; "You are [like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world] and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend to the world takes his stand as an enemy of God." (AMP)

The evil tendency or desire is, like an unfaithful wife, having  illicit love affairs with the world. It is turning away from God and looking to ourselves or to others, rather than simply asking Him to meet our needs. That is a tendency of the flesh, and it is not the way God wants us to react. Whoever chooses to be a friend to the world takes a stand as an enemy of God.

The remedy to this evil tendency is found in James 4 verse 6 which tells us that in the midst of all our problems and frustrations, God gives us more and more grace, more and more power of the of the Holy Spirit to handle this evil tendency or desires, and all others things fully. That is why God sets Himself against the proud and haughty (Psalm 138 vs 6; Proverbs 3 vs 34; James 4 vs 6) who think they can handle things on their own without Him, but gives grace continually to the lowly, to those who are humble enough to receive His grace by simply asking for it.

God wants to give us the power to overcome our wrong motives and intentions, if we will be humble enough to ask for it and receive it rather than trying to handle everything ourselves by our own power and in our own way. 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for Your grace lavished on me out of Your love. Endue me with the spirit of complete trust, and obedience to You that I may fully harness the benefits of Your grace upon me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

DECLARE BOLDLY HIS WORD!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY JULY 02, 2020.

SUBJECT: DECLARE BOLDLY HIS WORD!

Memory verse: "And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak." (Second Corinthians 4 vs 13.)

READ: Mark 16 vs 20; Acts 14 vs 3; 

Mark 16:20: And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through accompanying signs. Amen.

Acts 14:3: Therefore they stayed a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

INTIMATION:

Bold declaration of the Word of God with faith is agreeing with Him, and only in so doing will God work with you. The prophet Amos asked this very important question, "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3 vs 3.) We agree with God by faithfully saying what His Word says with boldness. When you, as a faithful child of God, boldly declare His Word, God is left with no other choice but to agree with you, and confirm His word by hastening to perform it according to His Will (Jeremiah 1 vs 12). When your word is not in agreement with God's Word, you weary Him with your word (Malachi 2 vs 17). The fallout of such disagreement is agreeing with the lies of the devil, which eventually separates us from God.

Obviously, It is in the heart of all Christians to agree with God, and walk closely with Him. The Bible records the testimony of Enoch: "[He] walked with God" (Genesis 5 vs 24). Enoch wasn't the only person who could walk with God, you and I also can walk with God. We can walk just as closely with God as Enoch did if we choose to agree with Him in faith, boldly declaring His Word, because that same spirit of faith that worked in Enoch is in us, and also working in us who believe.

When you speak lack, sickness, fear, defeat, and inability, you are disagreeing with God because, "He is your shepherd, and you shall not want" (Psalm 23 vs 1), "He supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4 vs 19). "By His stripes you are healed" (Isaiah 53 vs 5), and "He sent His Word and healed you, and delivered you from your destructions" (Psalm 107 vs 20), "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind" (Second Timothy 1 vs 7). 

In our memory verse, the apostle Paul encouraged all believers to boldly speak the word, just like the psalmist who wrote, “I have believed it, so I said it.” (Psalm 116 vs 10.) We should boldly say what we believe, and what we believe and boldly declare is what God confirms in our lives in accordance with His Will, because He is a God “who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers” (Isaiah 44 vs 26). 

As believers, having the same spirit of faith in God, we should boldly be speaking the Words of our Father, and the power in the Word will manifest in our lips as though is the Father speaking them. It is not us, nor our power, but God who hastens to perform His Word to His glory. As a child of God, and a believer in Christ's work of redemption, Christ has already promised to give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist (Luke 21 vs 15). 

Our relationship with the Lord should be in humility, obedience, and trust in Him and His Words. Jesus enumerated the benefits of believing and boldly declaring the word of God to the world:  “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16 vs 17 - 18.) For those believers who boldly witness for God, in the name of Jesus they will exercise complete authority over the evil one and his cohorts, they will be spirit-filled, they cannot be killed by poisoning, and will be commanders of signs and wonders. 

In the Book of Acts of the Apostles, we read abounding testimonies of the apostles who boldly declared the Word of God by faith, and became commanders of signs and wonders. The same Word of the unchanging God is available to us, and has never changed. That same signs and wonders that followed the apostles will follow us when we boldly declare God’s Word in faith.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your faithfulness endures forever. You have magnified Your Word even above Your Name. Endue me with the spirit of faith in Your Word that I may continually declare Your Word in every circumstances I face in life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE GREAT COMMANDMENT!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2020.

SUBJECT: THE GREAT COMMANDMENT!

Memory verse: "So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10 vs 27.)

READ: Deuteronomy 11 vs 13 - 15:

11:13: And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

11:14: then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

11:15: And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.

INTIMATION:

God demands our love and service (total devotion) to Him, in sincerity of heart, not with eye-service, but doing the Will of God from your heart. Doing the Will of God is obeying His commandments passionately, that is, from your heart! This is called the “Great Commandment.”

How do you know when you are serving God from your heart? The first telltale sign is enthusiasm; your excitement, and great interest in serving Him. When you are doing what you love to do, no one has to motivate you or challenge you, or check up on you. You do it for sheer enjoyment. You don't need rewards, or applause or payment, because you love serving in this way. This is exactly what God requires of us. Hallelujah!

The second characteristic of serving God from your heart is effectiveness. Whenever you do what God wired you to love to do, you get good at it. Passion drives perfection. If you don't care about a task, it is unlikely that you will excel at it. In contrast, the highest achievers in any field are those who do it because of passion, not duty or profit.

God’s interest in the man’s heart is because the heart is the center of the man. Your heart reveals the real you—what you truly are, not what others think you are, or what circumstances force you to be. Your heart determines why you say the things you say, why you feel the way you feel, and why you act the way you do. The Bible, in Proverbs 27 vs 19, says, "As in water face reflects face, so a man's heart reveals the man." 

The Bible uses the term heart to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections you have. Your heart represents the source of all your inspirations—what motivates you, what you love to do, and what you care about most. Even today, we still use the word in this way when we say, "I love you with all my heart." It’s for this reason that God demands our heart (our passion) in loving and serving Him.

Our heart—our feelings of love and desire—dictates to a great extent how we live because we always find time to do what we enjoy, hence God’s interest in our hearts. In Proverbs 4 vs 23, the Scripture says, "Keep you heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life." It tells us to guard our heart above all else, making sure we concentrate on those desires that will keep us on the right path—the path of God. When your heart is centered on God, your affections push you in the right direction—the path of God, and consequently, you put boundaries on your desires, and will not do or go after everything you see. 

Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects you feel passionate about and others you could care less about. Some experiences turn you on and capture your attention while others turn you off or bore you to tears. These reveal the nature of your heart. Your emotional heartbeat is the second key to understanding your shape for service. God gave each and everyone of us some inborn interests. Don't ignore your interests. Consider how they might be used for God's glory. 

Now, the question is, “What is your passion for God?” God wants you to serve Him passionately, not dutifully. Let the service come from your heart. The Bible repeatedly tells us to "serve the Lord with all your heart."  People rarely excel at tasks they don't enjoy doing or feel passionate about. God wants you to use your natural interests to serve Him and others. The reason you love to do those things you love doing is because you derive great passion in doing them. Listening to inner prompting—signals from your heart—that can point to the ministry God intends for you to have. 

Prayer: Abba Father, Your Will is that I serve You, and others with passion. Engrace me to manifest fully in passionate service to You, O Lord, and to serve others likewise, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

GODS DESIRE TO SAVE US

"Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Timothy 2:4"

Devotion : God is good. He is good because He does not want anybody to go to hell. Even though He does not want anyone to go to hell, He has left everyone to his own will; in other words, He has allowed mankind to make their own choices. The almighty God, through His saving plan, gave Jesus Christ to mankind that through Jesus all men can be saved. For this reason, the gospel is still being preached today; this is the saving knowledge God is conveying to the people of the world through His ministers of the gospel. The desire and expectation of the Father of creation is that sinners, evildoers, and the wicked will take advantage of the knowledge of Christ and be saved. If they don't choose the path of salvation, then they have chosen the path of eternal damnation. Dear beloved, what path have you chosen? Share your thoughts here!

NO MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN

"For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. Mark 12:25"

Devotion : A question was posed by the Sadducees about a woman who married seven times because every husband she married died without giving her children. Finally the woman also died, and the question was, whose wife will she be after the resurrection? Jesus Christ, who knew what was prevailing in heaven, answered the Sadducees that in heaven there is no marriage. God, in His own wisdom, restricted marriage to the earth. This insightful knowledge will aid people to plan toward their marriage since they can only enjoy it here on Earth. Furthermore, the answer from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ silences all false doctrines in certain religions that beautiful women and men await them in paradise for marriage. Dear beloved, do you have a desire to marry? May your desire be fulfilled right here on Earth, amen. Share your comments here!

YOU ARE WONDERFULLY MADE!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY JUNE 30, 2020.

SUBJECT: YOU ARE WONDERFULLY MADE!

Memory verse: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2 vs 10.) 

READ: Psalm 139 vs 13 - 16:

139:13: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.

139:14: I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. 

139:15: My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, 

139:16: Your eyes saw my substance, being yet formed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

INTIMATION:

We were all made and shaped to serve God’s predetermined purposes. God endowed every creature on this planet with a special area of expertise. Some animals run, some hop, some swim, some burrow, some crawl, and some fly. Each has a particular role to play, based on the way they are made and the shaped by God. The same is true with humans. Each of us is uniquely designed, or "shaped," to do certain things. God deliberately shaped and formed you to serve Him in a way that makes your ministry unique. The psalmist, David, in Psalm 139, praised God for this incredible personal attention to detail. God never makes mistake, and consequently He is perfect in all His doings. Therefore, do not shortchange yourself.

Everything about you is fashioned by God at creation for His purpose. They are all known to Him and recorded in His books. Before God created you, He decided what role He wanted you to play on earth. He planned exactly how He wanted you to serve Him. And then He shaped you for those tasks. You are the way you are because you were made for a specific ministry. You are God's handcrafted work of art. You are not an assembly-line product, mass produced without thought. You are a custom-designed, one-of-a-kind, original masterpiece. Therefore, don’t try to change your looks nor wish you are another person for God made and shaped you the way you are for His special predetermined purposes. 

The apostle Paul, in Ephesians 1 vs 11, says, "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance; being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." Not only did God shape you before your birth, He planned every day of your life to support His shaping process. David, the psalmist, further said, "And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." Every day of our lives are recorded in God's book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. This means that nothing that happens in your life is insignificant. God uses all of it to mold you for your ministry to others and shape you for your service to Him. 

God never waste anything. He would not give you abilities, interests, talents, gifts, personality, and life experiences unless He intended to use them for His glory. By identifying and understanding these factors you can discover God's will for your life. The Bible says you are "fearfully and wonderfully made," and acknowledged "how marvelous are the works." You are a combination of many different factors, all put together for God's purposes. The Bible, in Romans 8 vs 28, says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” 

God works in "all things," not just in isolated incidents, for our good. It is noteworthy that not all incidents that are good, but God turns every circumstance around for your long-range good. We often cannot see the good that comes from immediate shape, trials, suffering, style God has bestowed on us. The good God brings is within our lifetime, and also, He views things from eternal perspective. The final good of God will come with the reward of eternal heaven. Though there is good that comes from God in our lifetime, there is the final good of glory that will come after the end of this world when the final calling of Christians out of this world will occur. The finality of things, therefore, will end for good for the Christian when he or she is called out of this world into eternal glory.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for I am wonderfully made, and perfect in Your site, and is Your opinion that matters. Engrace me to serve earnestly and effectively in the shape and style You made me according to Your predetermined purposes, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE BANE OF SELF-PITY!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JUNE 29, 2020.

SUBJECT: THE BANE OF SELF-PITY!

Memory verse: “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69 vs 20.)

READ: John 5 vs 2 - 8:

5:2: Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in the Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
5:3: In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
5:4: For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool, and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
5:5: Now a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty eight years.

5:6: When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

5:7: The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

5:8: Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”

5:9: And immediately the man was made well, took up His bed, and walked.

INTIMATION:

When you are trapped in a problem so long, the tendency is that you lose your faith in the promises of God. Some people become so stagnant in the problem that they forget the promises of God. They become so weary that they are acclimated to their problems. Such people will then fall into the pit of feeling sorry for themselves. That is 'SELF-PITY.' It's dangerously bad! It is no place for a child of God. Self-pity conquers faith, because it leads to negative confessions when you accept your position or consequences facing you as your fate. It makes you look for man's approval rather than God's direction. 

Self-pity is a death that has no resurrection, a pit that has no bottom. Self-pity is a destroying trap, because it has a multiplying effect on your problem. Once you indulge in it, you will develop what I call the 'wilderness complex.' Have you always counted yourself as poor? Have you always regretted your life? Have you always counted yourself as unlucky or felt unfairly treated by God? That God has failed you? Have you always wished you were another person, in another relationship, in another place, and so on? All these are what I called the 'pity-pots.' 

There are two common responses to hopelessness: despair and self-indulgence. But we need not act as if we had no hope. Self-pity is so damaging and dangerous that you resort to depending on man rather than God. Your problem becomes a tool for seeking or begging for help from people. That is what I mean by 'making you seek man’s approval instead of God's direction.’ You live your life at the mercy of others. At any opportunity, you want people to know how bad it is with you, or your family, or your partner, and so on.

In the passage we read today, we saw a man who had an infinitely 38years, and had abandoned himself in that hospital (Sheep Gate pool), had no hopes of ever getting out of there healed. The man had fallen so deep into the trap of self-pity that his problem had become a way of life. No one had ever helped him, and he had no hope of ever being helped nor healed. The man’s situation looked hopeless, and he had lost faith completely. But no matter how trapped you feel in your infirmities or troubles, God can minister to your deepest needs. As we face difficulties, our proper response should be to trust God and His promises.

One would wonder how Jesus came to that hospital and was interested in only one patient while there are so many patients lying there. Jesus had seen how the man has been self-defeated and lying completely hopeless in his ‘pity-pot.’ He knew the very dangerous situation the man was in and couldn’t help himself nor get help from anybody. The man was so downcast that he lost faith even in God, and Jesus saw that clearly. However, He came to give hope to the hopeless hence His ministered healing to the man. 

Don’t let a problem or hardship cause you to lose hope. What that means is your obvious denial of the promise of Christ who said to us, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11 vs 28). A person may be carrying heavy burdens of sin, oppression, persecution, affliction, hardship, or even weariness in the search for God (The list is not all inclusive—not limited to these mentioned areas), but Jesus frees people from all these burdens. The rest promised in Him is love, healing, freedom, and peace with God. God may even have special work for you to do in spite of your condition, or even because of it. 

When you face problems, and people scoff at you, mock, insult, humiliate, and make you an object of citywide gossip, never fall into self-pity. If your situation seems hopeless, determine that no matter how bad things become you will continue to pray. God will hear your prayer, and He will rescue you. When others reject us, we need God most. Don’t ever turn from your most faithful Friend.

When we are completely beaten down, we are tempted to turn from God, give up, and quit trusting Him. Faith in God is justified even when our situations look hopeless. Faith based on rewards or prosperity is hollow. To be unshakable, faith must be built on the confidence that God’s ultimate purpose will come to pass. Circumstances are never so bad that they are beyond God’s help. We need never despair because we belong to a loving God. We don’t yet know what good He may bring out of a seemingly hopeless situation (Romans 8 vs 28). 

Prayer: Abba Father, if life seems hopeless, You are the reason I still have breath in me,  if I have lost something, You are the reason I have not lost everything. You are the reason I live and move and have my being. I know the thoughts You have for me, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give me a future and a hope. In You I put my trust, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!