GLORY ONLY IN THE LORD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY AUGUST 14, 2020.

SUBJECT : GLORY ONLY IN THE LORD!

Memory verse: "But, “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.

" (Second Corinthians 10 vs 17.)

READ: Jeremiah 9 vs 23 - 24:

9:23: Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

9:24: But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the LORD.

INTIMATION:

People tend to admire three things about others: wisdom, power, and riches. But God puts a higher priority on knowing Him personally and living a life that reflects His justice, righteousness, and love. God created all things, including you, and gave you all that you have; abilities, talents, wisdom, possessions and so on. When one employs the things God has given him or her to achieve some feat, it will be wrong to boast of such things as your achievements, leaving out the One who has bestowed the enablements on you. Instead one should glory or boast in the Lord who has given you all you have, and made you what you are. 

One should not glory in order to emphasize his or her own abilities to perform. One should glory on the basis that he or she is in the Lord, and thus, it is the Lord working through you. When we boast in order to bring glory to Jesus, then we know that our lives are about Jesus, not ourselves. 

Never take pride in human wisdom, defenses and material possessions, because all these things are worthless in defending one against the power of God. One can boast only in so far as the grace of God has worked in his or her life to move him or her to respond to the will of God, and take pride in grace, righteousness, and just judgement of God..

When we do something well, we want to tell others and be recognized. But recognition is dangerous—it can lead to inflated pride. How much better it is to seek the recognition of God rather than the praise of people. Then, when we receive praise, we will be free to give God the credit. We should always lead our lives in order to receive God’s commendation.

The apostle Paul, in Galatians 6 vs 14, says, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The world is full of enticements. Daily we are confronted with subtle cultural pressures and overt propaganda. The only way to escape these destructive influences is to ask God to help crucify our interest in them, just as Paul did. How much do the interests of this world matter to you? 

Although God asks us to do our part, we should remember that He gives us that enablement to even do our part; “

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” (Philippians 4 vs 13.) And 

He is not limited to human effort. God often chooses to work through people, but only because it is good for them. He can accomplish all His purposes without ant help from us if He chooses. You are very important to God, but on your own you have neither the ability to fulfill nor power to disrupt God’s plans. So if you have the privilege to be used to accomplish His plans through the enablements He has given you, then boast or glory in Him—the Enabler. 

Great servants of God in the Scriptures, such as Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Paul, and so on, never stopped at anything to glory in the Lord, ascribing all their feat to Him. Many people believe that to survive in this world a person must be skillful, powerful, tough, unbending, and harsh. But God says, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.” (Zechariah 4 vs 6.) The key words are “by My Spirit.” It is only through God’s Spirit that anything of lasting value is accomplished. As you live for God, determine not to trust in your own strength or abilities. Instead, depend on God and work in the power of His Spirit! Then boast in that Spirit of God. 

 

The Scripture, in 

Ecclesiastes 9 vs 11, says, 

“I returned and saw under the sun that—the race is not for the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” It isn’t difficult to think of cases where the swiftest or the strongest don’t win, the wise are poor, and the skillful are unrewarding with wealth or honor. Your abilities and talents are not In themselves guarantees for success, but rather all things are of God who only guarantees anything of achievement in us, therefore, glory or boast only in Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, outside of You I am nothing and can do nothing. Endue me with the spirit of total dependence on You, and in all glory in Your works through me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE REWARD OF THE WICKED

 THE REWARD OF THE WICKED

"Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Psalms 91:8" 

Devotion : The children of God who read this Scripture should be consoled over the acts of the wicked: surely there is a reward of the wicked. What is this reward of the wicked? The reward of the wicked is not something that is pleasant at all; it is described as the chaff which the wind drives away (Psalms 1:4). The following happens to the wicked: God is angry at them every day; the wicked will be destroyed; evil shall slay the wicked; they are even estranged from the womb (Psalms 58:3); they flee when no man is pursuing them; the wicked will finally be turned into hell (Psalms 9:17). As you can see, there is no peace for the wicked. Any wicked person reading this article should quickly turn from their wickedness and receive Christ Jesus as Lord and personal Savior. If they do this they will be forgiven and they will become the children of God. Hallelujah! Share your thoughts here!

YOUR WORSHIP MUST BE MINDFUL!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY AUGUST 13, 2020.

SUBJECT : 

YOUR WORSHIP MUST BE MINDFUL

!

Memory verse: "

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.

" (Mark 12 vs 30.)

READ: Luke 10 vs 25 - 28:

10:25: And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
10:26: He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
10:27: So he answered and said, “You shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

10:28: And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this, and you will live.”

INTIMATION:

Worship must be thoughtful, it must be mindful; coming from your mind, and well thought out. If worship is mindless, it is meaningless. You must engage your mind in worship. Jesus' command to "love God with all your mind" is repeated four times in the New Testament. God is not pleased when your worship is thoughtless, be it singing of hymns, or exclamation of "Thank You Jesus" or "Praise the Lord," or careless, and reckless praying of cliches because we can't think of anything else to say at the moment. For instance, someone who is in a precarious situation to start worshiping in praise, singing, “It’s well, it’s well, it’s well, in the name of Jesus, it’s well with my life today.” What is well? Instead of mindfully calling upon Him in your day of trouble that He will deliver you in accordance with His promise (Psalm 50 vs 15).

Jesus called thoughtless worship "vain repetitions." (Matthew 6 vs 7.) even Biblical terms can become tired cliches from overuse, and we stop thinking about the meaning. Though it is so much easier to offer cliches in worship instead of making the effort to honor God with fresh words or ways. But a genuine effort of new words or ways, expressing your heartfelt love and understanding of God, is better appreciated by Him because you are speaking from your mind. 

That kind of feeling is the same with us. When someone calls you by a new name outside what is common with your contemporaries, in appreciation of you, it attracts more of your attention, and receives more acceptance from you. It is the same with our God. Try praising God without using the words praise, hallelujah, thanks, or amen. Instead of saying, "We just want to praise you," make a list of synonyms and use fresh words like admire, respect, value, revere, honor, and appreciate.

Also be specific and mindful with your worship. Whatever you say in worship to God must be specifically meaningful; give Him good reasons for your form of worship. For instance, if someone approached you and repeated, "I praise you!" ten times, you would probably think, “For what?” You will not attach any importance to such salutations because it is meaningless to you. It is a commonplace in public when a person or group approaches you in a social gathering, and begin to poor encomiums (praises, high commendations) on you, it attracts less of your attention, and approval. You would rather receive two specific compliments than twenty vague generalities. So would our God.

Instead of thoughtless worship, make a list of different names of God, and focus on them. God's names are not arbitrary; they tell us about different aspects of His character. In Old Testament, God gradually revealed Himself to Israel by introducing new names for Himself, and He commands us to praise His name. Call Him names and be mindful and specific with reasons for the names in your worship. An ideal worship is like this: “You are my Loving Father and gave Your only Son out of love for my sins, You are my Sacrificial Savior who sacrificed Son on the cross of Calvary as a propitiation for my sins, You are my Faithful Companion who Your Holy Spirit to indwelling me and be with me always, what a loving and merciful God You are.” It is even more appreciative to call Him new names out of a mindful and specific heart, and give your reasons for such new names. 

Even in our public or corporate meetings, God wants our worship gatherings to be thoughtful too. The apostle Paul devotes an entire chapter to this in First Corinthians 14, and concludes thus, "Let all things be done decently and in order." (First Corinthians 14 vs 40.) We should also be sensitive to unbelievers around you in your worship, God insists that our worship services be understandable to unbelievers when they are present in our gathering. For instance, when some strangers are in your worship service, and you are praising God with your spirit—speaking in unknown tongues—they will not understand you, and as such will not know what you are doing, or even when to say, 'Amen'? You may be worshipping God in a wonderful way, but no one else will be helped. 

Concerning this, the apostle Paul, in First Corinthians 14 vs 16 - 17, says thus, "Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say "Amen" at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified." Being sensitive to unbelievers who visit your worship gatherings is a biblical command. To ignore this command is to be both disobedient and unloving. 

 

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to mindfully worship You at all times, expressing my deep heartfelt understanding of who You are, and my appreciation of You and Your doings, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

SATAN IS UNDER YOUR FEET!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 12, 2020.

SUBJECT : SATAN IS UNDER YOUR FEET.

Memory verse: "But 

if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8 vs 11).

READ: Ephesians 1 vs 17 - 23:

1:17: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

1:18: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints,

1:19: and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

1:20: which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

1:21: far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

1:22: And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,

1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

INTIMATION:

In the first three chapters of the apostle Paul's epistle to the church in Ephesus, he enumerated the consummation of Christ's substitutionary work in relations to Satan and his cohorts—the demons. His heart intent is that we will come to the full knowledge of what we are in Christ. From the passage we read today, we observed that he prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, may grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelational insight into mysteries and secret in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him. This He will accomplish by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that we can know and understand the hope to which He has called us, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the believers.

He clearly stated that, it is the working of God's spiritual might which He wrought in the Christ when He raised Him up from the among dead, that is still at work within us. The heart can hardly take it in that same Might, that the same Resurrection Power that wrought in the dead body of Jesus is ours today. That same Spirit that embodied the power is indwelling us today, and with the same power.

In Ephesians 2 vs 4 - 6, the Scripture says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." You must always keep in mind that we were raised together with Him, and He made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places; so representatively, we are seated on the throne with Christ.

He has been given all authority, that authority belongs to His body—the church—for its benefit. He conquered all the forces of darkness and left them paralyzed and broken before He arose from the dead. It is as though we had accomplished the mighty work, because It is reckoned for us as our credit. Carefully take note of twenty-second and twenty-third verses; "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Therefore, Satan and his cohorts are under our feet—the body of Christ. 

We are the fullness of Him (John 1 vs 16). We are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2 vs 10). He is not only our fullness, but we are His fullness also. The word, "fullness" comes from a Greek word that is almost untranslatable: "pleroma," which means "completeness," "perfectness," or any other synonym that suggests fullness. 

Adam had sold us out in his sin of high treason. Jesus redeemed us, defeated our enemy and put him beneath our feet—the church (His body), and we are the church. Consequently, all these malignant, wicked influences are beneath our feet. We have been made masters of them all. He did not defeat them for Himself, but for us. He did not fight that battle for His glory, but for our good. 

That knowledge should become as common to us, and as usable as the multiplication table. And when this is done Believers will spend less or no time glorying the devil, instead of using that time time to glorify Jesus Christ for His triumph over Satan and his cohorts. It was for this reason that the apostle Paul thanked God in Second Corinthians 2 vs 14, for His triumph over Satan for us; "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ...."

When your heart take in, and your mind becomes fruitful with this mighty unveiling of what we are in Christ, you hardly give the devil any room to minister his usual lies to you because you have embraced the truth of what you are in Christ. Satan is a defeated enemy ruling many by subterfuge, resist Him and He will flesh from you. This is the Hallelujah chorus of the new creation, and it never becomes real until we begin to confess it, begin to tell to the world what we are in Christ. The Scripture in Hebrews 9 vs 12 tells us that this is an Eternal Redemption. Not just a redemption for the hour in which it was done, but that Satan is as much defeated now as he was when Christ arose from the dead; that he is as much a subject to the Name of Jesus as he was when Jesus conquered him.

Prayer: Abba Father, I thank You for what You wrought for me in redemption in Christ Jesus. Thank You for the triumph You have given me in Christ over Satan. Help me to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ's love for me, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

IGNORE WHAT OTHERS SAID.

 

IGNORE WHAT OTHERS SAID

"For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. Jeremiah 30:17" 

Devotion : As a child of God you don't live by what you see or what you hear from others. You live by the Word of God in faith (Romans 1:17). The opening Scripture describes two realms: divine realm and temporal realm. No matter what people are saying against you, try to ignore them. They may say you are an outcast, unwanted, rejected, loser, etc., but don't let it have an effect on you. Choose to live in the promises in the Holy Scriptures. The LORD who is mightier than their profane words says He will restore health to you, and He will heal you of your wounds. Hallelujah! The wounds represent your sufferings, challenges, disappointments, pains, failures, debts, unemployment, and embarrassments. He is ready to give strength to your body and heal all those wounds, amen. Dear beloved, do you believe that God will do for you what He has promised? Share your comments here!

PEACE MAKER

 PEACE MAKER

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9" 

Devotion : When a person becomes born again, Jesus Christ gives the person the ability to be a peacemaker. It is one thing to have the ability to make peace and another to make use of that ability to get the job done. The peacemaker makes peace between God and the unbeliever in Jesus Christ and His gospel. The one who is not born again has no peace with God, therefore, it is the responsibility of the Christian to bring such a person to Christ to reconcile him to the Father. If we do this then we can be called peacemakers hence, the true children of God. Furthermore, the children of God must ensure that there is peace amongst men and wherever they find themselves. Dear beloved, are you are a peacemaker? Share your testimonies here!

HOW GOD SEES YOU!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY AUGUST 11, 2020.

SUBJECT: HOW GOD SEES YOU! 

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: 

First Peter 2 vs 9 - 10:

2:9: 

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

2:10: Who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

INTIMATION:

What assurances it gives to the heart when we come to know that the Father loves us even as He loved Jesus, that He is vitally interested in us as He was in His Son when He walked the earth. Consequently, He made us one with Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ, hence the oneness of the Church and Jesus. The body starts with the head, consequently, the Church is headed by Jesus. In Colossians 1 vs 18, the Scripture says, "And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

Our salvation is something only God can do. It is His powerful creative work in us. If God considers us His work, we dare not treat ourselves or others with disrespect or have any inferiority complex. So I want you to see yourself as the Father sees you in Christ. As He sees you by faith, He is able to make us by grace. As we walk in love, we are being transformed into His image. One of the most graphic pictures of this transformation is given in John's gospel. John 1 vs 16, the Amplified Version Bible gives a clearer picture of that: "For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing  and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift."

The grace (unmerited favor) gives us the gifts of His love life, wisdom, His very being, and substance. We are the branch of the vine; we are partakers of the Divine Nature. His fullness here means His ability, His love, His righteousness, His utter completeness, and we have received them all. All the gifts and favors are now piled on us one after another, and all by His grace. The love of the Father marked us out for the position of sons way back before the morning stars sang their first anthem, and we are made unto the praise of His glory. He planned that we should be holy without blemish before Him. He marked us out for the position of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself; and we are the marked ones.

We have been chosen by God as His very own, and His jewels, a special treasure to Him above all people, and we are to Him a kingdom of priests, as Christ has made us kings and priests to our God that we shall reign on the earth. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ (Ephesians 1 vs 3). We are blessed. We are rich in Him. We have His fullness. We are sufficient in His sufficiency. All that He is, we have. We are what He says we are. And the Father has told us that we are in the Beloved. The Father sees us as His own righteousness in Christ Jesus. "And you are complete in Him," and this completeness is over and above all that we can ask or think or desire. We have been called to represent Him to others. We are united with Christ as members of His body, and we join in His priestly work of reconciling God and people.

God has given us eternal life in Christ. Our eternal life with Christ is certain because we are united in His powerful victory. God’s incomparable great power is available to help us. Now, look at the conclusion of the whole matter as the apostle Paul says, “....We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor power, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8 vs 37 - 39.)

Prayer: Abba Father, I am complete in You, and have Your fullness in Christ. You have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. I am in You, and You in me. Strengthen me with might according to Your glorious power that I may be fruitful in every god work, worthy of Your calling and fully pleasing You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!