MY REDEEMER LIVES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY DECEMBER 6, 2020.

SUBJECT : MY REDEEMER LIVES!

Memory verse: "

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth

.

" (Job 19 vs 25.)

READ: Job 19 vs 13 - 20:

19:13: He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintance are completely estranged from me.
19:14: My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me.
19:15: Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, count me as a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
19:16: I cal my servant, but he gives me no answer; I begged him with my mouth.
19:17: My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am repulsive to the children of my own body.
19:18: Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.
19:19: All my close friends abhor me: and those whom I love have turned against me.

19:20: My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

INTIMATION:

The Most High God is our Redeemer and He lives! All we need to do is have faith in Him. There are times of great distress and challenging circumstances in our lives that cause us to lose hope, and think that the end has come for us. But our God says, “C

all upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” (Psalm 50 vs 15.) 

At the heart of the book of Job comes His ringing affirmation of faith and confidence in God: “I know my Redeemer lives.” What a tremendous faith Job had, especially in light of the fact that he was unaware of the conference between God and Satan. 

In the passage we read today, the sufferings of Job were overwhelming: in His distress his brothers, relatives, friends, his wife, children, and even his servants dumped him, and his acquaintances abandoned him, little children despised him, and even the ones he loved turned against him. Faced with death and decay Job still anchored his faith, trust, hope, and confidence in God. 

Although Job struggled with the idea that God was presently against Him, he finally believed that in the end God would be on his side. This belief was so strong that Job became one of the first to talk about the resurrection of the body 

One of the greatest sufferings Job endured was to lose his friends. Not only were the three friends detached from him with their judgmental discourses, all others had also forsaken him. He was alone in his suffering, which loneliness brought great despair. No one was there for him. And yet, he remained faithful to God. Not one word of cursing came out of his mouth. Job said, “In my flesh I shall see God.” In Job’s situation, it seemed unlikely to Him that He would, in his flesh, see God. And that’s just the point of Job’s faith! He was confident that God’s justice would triumph, even if it would take a miracle like resurrection to accomplish this. And at the end God came through for him in his unwavering faith!

I don’t know what you may be passing through or the circumstances surrounding your life at the moment, all you need to do is have faith in our unfailing God; Call upon Him in your day of trouble, and He will deliver you! Know it now, your Redeemer lives! Humble yourself before Him, and He will exalt you. After the drama of Job’s suffering, and with his new understanding of God, Job responded in a positive manner by recognizing his humble nature in comparison to God. This should be our attitude at all times.

What manifested in the integrity of Job was his forgiveness of his friends. In the depths of his calamity he was accused and verbally abused by his friends. Nevertheless, when his ordeal was over, he forgave them. Forgiveness was for himself, for without it his lack of forgiveness would turn to bitterness. He remembered to forgive because God forgave him. 

Evidently, the condition for returning the fortunes of Job was based on Job’s forgiveness of his friends. His forgiveness was manifested when he prayed for them. As Christians, forgiveness should be paramount in our lives! 

As a result of his forgiveness of his friends, Job’s wealth was doubled. He again had children. His daughters were the most beautiful in the land. Evidently, Job became so prosperous after his suffering that he gave the daughters an inheritance as he did their brothers. We do not know how old Job was at the time of his suffering. We would assume that he was an older person because of the position that he held among the people. If we add the 140 years to his age at the time of suffering, we would estimated that he was possibly close to 200 years old when he died. At least he died in his fourth generation of the sons and daughters who were born to Him after suffering.

We notice that the world seems to run by a system of cause and effect, yet there are some effects for which we can’t find a clear cause, and some causes that don’t lead to the expected effects. Often we suffer consequences for bad decisions and actions. Job’s willingness to repent and confess known wrongs is a good guideline for us. Sometimes suffering shapes us for special service to others. Sometimes suffering is an attack by Satan on our lives. And sometimes we don’t know why we suffer. At those times, we should trust God in spite of unanswered questions.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my Redeemer, and my faith, trust, and confidence are anchored in You. There is nothing too hard for You, or impossible with You. In any circumstances I found myself, I know this for sure; ‘You will deliver me when I call upon You,’ my Loving Father. I pray that nothing will ever come between us, in the mighty Name of Jesus, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

DO YOU CARE FOR THE LOST SHEEP?

 *Do You Care for the Lost Sheep? 

“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.” Matthew 18:12–13 (KJV)

All human beings were lost because of the Adamic sin, but thanks be to God for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, who paid the price of sin and has now given the opportunity to mankind to come into fellowship with God again. The good news is now being preached. Many are receiving it and becoming born again, and they find themselves in the church. Sometimes people in the church leave the church to either join another church or stay at home. Dear beloved, when you hear that a member of your church has left the church to join another one or is staying at home, do you try to find out the reason why they left? Some may leave for reasons such as they don’t feel loved, their needs are not being met, someone has offended them, they have backslidden, etc. Beloved, Jesus Christ wants us to show concern for the lost sheep, so start by praying for such a person; then ask for their contact number or address and contact them (Galatians 6:1, Philemon 1:10–16). Do well to encourage them in the Lord, and let them know that you are praying for them. Let the pastor or their immediate church leader know about it, and let them follow up. By the grace of God, this member who has left will come back and be established in the Lord. Beloved, you and all those who were involved in the mission of bringing the lost member back to church will rejoice like the owner of the lost sheep in Jesus’ parable, to the glory of God. Hallelujah! God bless you!

Prayer Point: My loving Father, I’m so blessed by your Word today. Please equip me and use me to bring back the members of my church, Christians who have left the church inappropriately, or those have backslidden, to the glory of your name, in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Were you blessed by today's message? Kindly go to the comment section and share your comments, and testimonies. Let's also know your challenges so that we can pray for you. 

*

WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?

 Who Are You Working For? 

“For he that is not against us is on our part.” Mark 9:40 (KJV)

The Kingdom of God is full of light and without any spot of darkness. It was not surprising that in His ministry on the earth, Jesus Christ always wanted people to take a particular stand; either they were for Him or against Him. So He said either make a tree good and its fruits good or make the tree bad and its fruits bad (Matthew 12:33). Dear beloved, have you chosen to come into the light of the Kingdom of God or remain in darkness? No hypocrites are entertained, and neither are those who sit on the fence. If you are a born again Christian, let it show in your good conduct that you belong to Jesus Christ. Be able to share the good news of Christ with the people in your sphere of contact. Anyone who interacts with you should clearly know your stand for Jesus Christ, that you truly belong to Him forever and are not ready to compromise your position, just like Agrippa, who almost became a Christian through Apostle Paul’s preaching (Acts 26:28). Remember that if you claim you are a Christian but the things you do are in contrast to the teachings of Christ Jesus, you are against Him, and you will be marked for punishment if you do not repent. Beloved, stand for Christ Jesus, and your life will move from glory to glory even in the midst of challenges. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Prayer Point: My precious heavenly Father, thank you for enlightening me today from your Word. Please give me grace each day to stand for Christ Jesus wherever I find myself. Let many lives be touched and blessed through me because of my stand for Christ even in the midst of challenges. Amen!

Were you blessed by today's message? Kindly go to the comment section and share your comments, and testimonies. Let's also know your challenges so that we can pray for you. 

BLESS AND DO NOT CURSE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY DECEMBER 5, 2020.

SUBJECT : BLESS AND DO NOT CURSE!

Memory verse: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

" (Romans 12 vs 14.)

READ: James 3 vs 8 - 12:

3:8: But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

3:9: With it we bless our God and Father; and with it we curse men, who has been made in the similitude of God.
3:10: Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
3:11: Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

3:12: Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

INTIMATION:

Christians should always remember God’s law of love—love for God and our neighbor. Love is the greatest of all human qualities and is an attitude of God Himself (First John4 vs 8). Love should make a Christian always bless others rather than curse them because it sees good at the end everything. Therefore, any Christian practicing God’s law of love is never hypocritical. It is hypocritical for a Christian to speak good of God and evil of his brother or sister in Christ at the same time. Hypocrisy is revealed in the one who speaks both blessings and cursing. Hypocrite seeks to worship God, while at the same time, he or she harbors animosity toward his or her brother or sister in Christ. 

Springs do not bring forth fresh and bitter water. Fig trees do not bear olives and grapevines do not yield figs. In the same manner, a sincere Christian does not speak blessings and cursing. As it is unnatural for trees and vines to bear that which is not common to their fruit. Praises to God and curses of men should not come forth from the same mouth. One cannot propose to giving praise to God while at the same time cursing those who are made after the image of God. Criticizing what God has made in His image and likeness, and the same time praising God for all His goodness is duplicitous, and two-faced because on one hand one is saying that God is good, and on the other hand that what He created is not good. 

Our contradictory speech often puzzles us. At times our words are right and pleasing to God, but at other times they are violent and destructive. We were made in God’s image, but the tongue gives us a picture of our basic sinful nature. When our speech is motivated by Satan, it is full of bitter envy, selfish ambition, earthly concerns and desires, unspiritual thoughts and ideas, confusion, and evil. But when motivated by God and His wisdom, it is full of mercy, love for others, peace, consideration for others, submission, sincerity, impartiality, and righteousness. God works to change us from the inside out. When the Holy Spirit purifies a heart, He gives self-control so that the person will speak words that please God. 

It is for this reason that the apostle Paul, in Philippians 4 vs 8 says to us, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” 

What we put into our mind determines what comes out in our speech and actions. The apostle Paul tells us to program our mind with thoughts that are true, noble, right, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. If one will only meditate on these things, then his or her thoughts will be optimistic about life and others. Do not criticize or curse others, but rather think and speak of those good things you know about others. There is no room in the Christian mentality for pessimistic thinking. When one understands that all things are under the control of the God who can do all things, then he or she sees the best things of life. His or her focus is on that which is good and after the nature of God who is working all things together for good. 

A true heart is not one of malice or hate. Hearts of malice and hate identify those individuals who are of the world. Jesus said we should love our enemies and treat them well. If you love your enemies and treat them well, you will truly show that Jesus is Lord of your life. This is only possible for those who give themselves fully to God, because only He can deliver people from natural selfishness. We must trust the Holy Spirit to help us show love to those for whom we may not feel love. By telling us not to retaliate, Jesus keeps us from taking the law into our own hands. By loving and praying for our enemies, we can overcome evil with good. 

Remember that we are not fighting the tongue’s fire in our own strength. The Holy Spirit will give us increasing power to monitor and control what we say, so that when we are offended, the Spirit will remind us of God’s love, and we won’t react in a hateful manner. When we are criticized, the Spirit will heal the hurt and help us to not lash out.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of self-control that I my speech will bless and not curse, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

LEARN FROM YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER

 Learn from Your Heavenly Father! 

“He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.” Psalm 103:9 (KJV)

The Most High God is truly a Father of His creation. There is a lot to learn from Him every day till eternity. He relates to His creation on a personal level. Remember how He personally visited Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to have fellowship with them (Genesis 3:8). Even after they had sinned against Him, He wasn’t angry with them. Eventually, neither felt remorseful but blamed something else for their choices. Adam was even bold enough to accuse God for providing him with a wife (Genesis 3:12). He is a loving God and the opening scripture buttresses this point: He doesn’t always strive with us or keep His anger forever. These are essential virtues we can learn from Him and put to use till it becomes part of us. Dear beloved, have you learned these virtues from your heavenly Father? We can walk in the virtues of God when we govern our thoughts by the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in our actions. Any time the Holy Spirit convicts us of any sin, let’s accept it and ask Him to forgive us instead of being defensive (Ephesians 4:30). Just as God doesn’t keep His anger forever, we should also learn to exercise control over any form of anger in our lives; we should use it for an act of righteousness like Jesus Christ, and God will be pleased to express His other virtues such as love, joy, peace, gentleness, etc. through us (John 2:14–16). Hallelujah! God bless you!

Prayer Point: Dear heavenly Father, thank You for exhorting me today from Your Word. I make a conscious effort today to learn from You. Please prepare me to be a good vessel so that You can freely express Yourself through me in order to be blessed as well as everyone in my sphere of contact in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Were you blessed by today's message? Kindly go to the comment section and share your comments, and testimonies. Let's also know your challenges so that we can pray for you.

THERE IS POWER IN YOUR WORDS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 4, 2020.

SUBJECT : THERE IS POWER IN YOUR WORDS!

Memory verse: "

You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth" (Proverbs 6 vs 2).

READ: Psalm 141 vs 3; Proverbs 18 vs 21; James 3 vs 2:

Psalm 141: Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. Proverbs 18:21: Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

James 3:2: For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body.

INTIMATION:

Words can work wonders, and they can also work blunders! Do you realize that multitude of people fail in life because they speak failure? They fear failure and allow their fear to overcome their faith. What you say locates you. You will not, yes you cannot rise above your own words. If you speak defeat, failure, anxiety, sickness, and unbelief, you will live on that level. Neither you nor anyone else, no matter how clever, will ever live above the standard of their words. This spiritual principle is unalterable. If your word is foolish, trifling, unpractical, or disorganized, your life invariably will be the same way. With your words, you constantly paint a picture of your inner self. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the. Heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12 vs 34).

If you think back on your life, you will probably agree that most of your troubles have been tongue troubles. In our memory verse, the Bible says, "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles." Numerous troubles are caused by an unruly tongue! Words spoken in the heat of the moment; words of anger, harshness, retaliation, bitterness, unkindness, and so on, these words produce trouble for us. 

In the passage we read today, David knowing the power of his words, prayed God to set a guard over his mouth, to keep watch over the doors of his lips, knowing that in it lies the power of life and death. It's really important that we let God help us overcome our unruly speech habits, for our words can work blunders and get us into trouble. 

Confession is made with the mouth, not only for the good things God has promised us, but also for sickness, defeat, bondage, lack, and failure. Refuse to have a bad confession. Refuse to have a negative confession. Repudiate a dual confession, when you are saying at one moment; "With His stripes I am healed" (Isaiah 53 vs 5) and at the next moment; "But the pain is still there." A negative confession can produce negative results. At times our words are right and pleasing to God, but at other times they are violent and destructive. We are made in God's image, but the tongue gives us a picture of our basic sinful nature. God works to change us from inside out. When the Holy Spirit purifies a heart, He gives self-control so that the person will speak words that please God.

Go to higher level of living in the kingdom of God. Believe that you are who God says you are. Think that way. Talk that way. Act that way. Train yourself to live on the level of what is written about you in God's Word. Do not permit your thoughts, your words, or your actions to contradict what God says about you. Avoid careless speech because it is a vicious habit. When one realizes that his words are the coin of his kingdom and that his words can be either a cursing influence or a blessing, he will learn to value the gift of speech. The word is a seed (Luke 8 vs 11), and if spoken from a poisoned mind, it is a disaster. An idle word spoken aloud may fall into the soil of someone's heart and poison his entire life. Learn to control your tongue.

Prayer: Abba Father, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord. You are love, and has poured out Your love in my heart by the Holy Spirit You have given to me. Lord I pray that my words be filled with love from a humble heart, in Jesus' Name, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

BE SELFLESS LIKE CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY DECEMBER 3, 2020.

SUBJECT: BE SELFLESS LIKE CHRIST!

Memory verse: "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ.” (Philippians 2 vs 5.)

READ: Luke 9 vs 23 - 25: 

9:23: Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

9:24: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but who whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

9:25: For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

INTIMATION:

Having the mind of Christ is being selfless. Jesus Christ is selfless; He voluntarily set aside His divine rights and privileges, and the right to His glory and power, as equal to God, and became a human being for the sake of submission to the Father’s Will out of love for Him. Selflessness is the mark of a true Christian. A Christian should have the attitude that enables him or her to set aside rights in order to serve others. If we say we follow Christ, we must also say we want to live as He lived. We should develop His attitude of humility, and selflessness as we serve, even when we are not likely to get recognition for our efforts.

It was for this reason that the apostle Paul, in his letter to the believers in Philippi, said, "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus." The entire Christian experience should be one of continued acts of selflessness. This attribute took our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to the cross to die for our sins, and we also are enjoined to 'deny self daily’ while following the Lord. As human beings born into this world, we’re all selfish by nature. We’re born with a sinful nature that daily bows before the deity called self and until we acknowledge the need for the crucifixion of the Adamic nature, we’ll continue to struggle with selfishness.  

With the word picture in the passage we read today, Jesus presented a clear and challenging description of the Christian life. Being His followeR means putting aside selfish desires, shouldering one’s cross every day, and following Him. It is simple and yet so demanding. For believers today, it means understanding that we belong to Him and that we live to serve His purposes. Consider this: Do you think of your relationship with God primarily in terms of what’s in it for you (which is considerable) or in terms of what you can do for Him? Are you willing to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Him? Anything less is not discipleship; it is merely superficial lip service. When one denies himself, all things of this world are put into their correct perspective in reference to the kingdom. 

A selfless Christian does not seek to be known, praised or rewarded for the good he does because he doesn’t glory in the flesh. All he or she seeks is for Christ to be seen and glorified in his or her attitude and actions which when faithfully executed, will draw all people to Christ. The natural consequence of the truly surrendered, spirit-led life is selflessness. And this must be seen in our attitude and actions if we are to proclaim the testimony of the finished work of the cross. Since the mind of Christ is selfless, can we claim we have Christ if this attribute is not in us? We’ll surely be found out as pretenders, no matter how much we feign our allegiance to Christ, if this attribute is lost in our day to day activities. 

We should do well to take heed to Peter’s advice in First Peter 2 vs 12 that says, "Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." The Christians’ conduct must be honorable among other people in the world; being a mirror reflecting Christ to the world, so that we may actually show ourselves as children of the heavenly kingdom. Let it be such that when they even speak against your faith as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God, and turn to Christ.  Selflessness must be the watchword in our dealings with everybody—Christians and non Christians alike. 

Selflessness will make us willingly give up comforts so our neighbor can have little of what God has blessed us with. It will make us think twice before abusing a position of responsibility entrusted to us in the Church of God, public service, or business. Selflessness will make Church leaders promote the gospel more than they promote themselves and their denominations. It will make us allocate Church resources more to places where it will benefit the Church rather than projects which massage our ego and buttress our vanity. Let us not be moved by the promise of instant gratification of the self to destroy the good work God has called us to do. We’ll be more effective carriers of the good news of the gospel if our individual lives become examples of selflessness. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the mind excellent spirit of selflessness. that I may have mind of Christ, to serve You, and others in love, and with total obedience to You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!