A Future for Failures

“Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.” (1 Samuel 12:20–22)

When the Israelites have been brought to fear and they repent of their sin of demanding that Samuel give them a king to be like the other nations, then comes the good news: “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil.” Do you hear how backward that sounds — how wonderfully backward? You might expect him to say, “Fear, for you have done all this evil.” That’s a good reason to fear: you have done the great evil of demanding another king besides God! But that’s not what Samuel says. “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil.”

He goes on, “Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.”

This is the gospel: Even though you have sinned greatly, and terribly dishonored the Lord, even though you now have a king which it was a sin to demand, even though there is no undoing that sin or its painful consequences that are yet to come, nevertheless there is a future and a hope. There is mercy.

Fear not! Fear not!

Then comes the great ground — the basis and foundation — of the gospel in 1 Samuel 12:22. Why don’t you need to fear, even though you have done all this evil? “For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.” 

The ground of the gospel is God’s commitment to his own name. Did you hear it? Don’t fear, though you have sinned, “The Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake.” This should have two effects on you: heart-breaking humility and toe-tapping happiness. Humility because your worth is not the foundation of your salvation. Happiness because your salvation is as sure as God’s allegiance to his own name. It can’t get more sure.

YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY APRIL 19, 2021.

SUBJECT: YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT! 

Memory verse: "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings." (Acts 17 vs 26.)

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 unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the day's fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them."

INTIMATION:

You are not an accident. Your birth was not a mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned for you, but God did. Long before your conception in your mother's womb, God had already conceived you in His mind. He is the "Alpha" - the very beginning. He thought of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, not luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. The days fashioned for you is already written in His Book, and only Him will conditionally fulfill the number of those your days (Exodus 23 vs 25). 

Every single detail of your body is by God's prescription. He deliberately chose your race, the color of your skin, your hair, and every other feature. Your body is made according to His needs of you, and impacts you will the natural talents you would possess and the uniqueness of your personality. Because God made you for a reason, He also decided when you would be born and how long you would live. God also planned where you'd be born and where you'd live for His purpose. Your race and nationality are no accident. God left no detail to chance. He planned it all for His purpose.

Nothing in your life is arbitrary. It's all for a purpose predetermined by the Owner—God! Regardless of the circumstances of your birth or who your parents are, God had a plan in creating you. It doesn't matter whether your parents good, bad, or indifferent. While there are illegitimate parents, there are no illegitimate children. Many children are unplanned by their parents, but they are not unplanned by God the Creator. God's purpose even took into account human error, and even sin.

Remember King David, Bathsheba, and Solomon. David and his son Solomon were Israel's two most famous kings. Bathsheba was lover and wife to one (David), and mother to the other (Solomon). Her adultery with David almost brought an end to the family through which God planned to physically enter His world. Out of the ashes of that sin, however, God brought good. Eventually, Jesus Christ, the salvation of mankind, was born to a descendant of David and Bathsheba.

God never does anything accidentally, and He never makes mistakes. He has a reason for everything He creates, be it human, animal, or plant. All are designed with a purpose in His mind. The motive of God for creating us was His love. And it was with  that same motive He gave us a Savior. God’s character goes into the creation of every person. Therefore, you should have as much respect for yourself as your Maker and Owner has for you. God made you for a reason, and your life has profound meaning! You discover that meaning and purpose only when you make God the reference point of your life. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is, and by what He does for us.

Prayer: Abba Father, You own me, and created me for a purpose, show me that path of life predetermined for me by You, that I may walk in it to achieve Your purpose for me. This I prayed in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

ONYAMI SONG BY BENJAMIN DUBE

God, Touch Our Hearts

Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. (1 Samuel 10:26)

Just think of what is being said in this verse. God touched them. Not a wife. Not a child. Not a parent. Not a counselor. But God. God touched them.

The One with infinite power in the universe. The One with infinite authority and infinite wisdom and infinite love and infinite goodness and infinite purity and infinite justice. That One touched their heart. 

How does the circumference of Jupiter touch the edge of a molecule? Let alone penetrate to its nucleus?

The touch of God is awesome not just because it is God who touches, but also because it is a touch. It is a real connection. That it involves the heart is awesome. That it involves God is awesome. And that it involves an actual touch is awesome. 

The valiant men were not just spoken to. They were not just swayed by a divine influence. They were not just seen and known. God, with infinite condescension, touched their heart. God was that close. And they were not consumed.

I love that touch. I want it more and more. For myself and for all of you. I pray that God would touch me anew with his glory and for this glory. I pray that he would touch us all. 

Oh, for the touch of God! If it comes with fire, so be it. If it comes with water, so be it. If it comes with wind, let it come, O God. If it comes with thunder and lightning, let us bow before it.

O Lord, come. Come that close. Burn and soak and blow and crash. Or still and small, come. Come all the way. Touch our hearts.

FIX YOUR SEARCH ON CHRIST FOR YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY APRIL 18, 2021.

SUBJECT: FIX YOUR SEARCH ON CHRIST FOR YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE! 

Memory verse: "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."  (Ephesians 1 vs 11.)

READ: Matthew 16 vs 25 - 26:

Matthew 16:25: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 

16:26: For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"

INTIMATION:

God is not just the starting point of your life; He is the source of it. To discover your purpose in life you must turn to God's Word, not the world's wisdom. You must build your life on eternal truths, not pop psychology, success motivation, or inspirational stories. God, in His infinite wisdom, purposefully created you, and you are to serve His purpose to live a purposeful life.

In the passage we read today, Jesus gives the panacea for discovering your purpose. God relates with us in the spirit and the soul. The 'soul' is the individual's essential self, life, and being. Jesus said to His disciples, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. They should follow Him and He will show them their life's purpose. Jesus advised them that self-help is no help at all, but self-sacrifice is the way, God is the way to finding yourself, your true self. Achieving your life's purpose ordained by your Creator is more valuable than gaining the whole world.

Many books have been written that suggests ways to discover the purpose of your life. All of them are classified as "self-help" books because they all approached the subject from a self-centered viewpoint, and predictable steps to finding your life's purpose. Some of the steps offered by these books are titled; ‘Consider your dreams.’ ‘Clarify your values.’ ‘Set some goals.’ ‘Figure out what you are good at.’ ‘Aim high.’ ‘Go for it!’ ‘Be disciplined.’ ‘Believe you can achieve your goals.’ ‘Involve others.’ ‘Never give up.’

Of course, these recommendations often lead to great success. You can usually succeed in reaching a goal if you apply yourself to it. But being successful, and fulfilling your life's purpose are not in any way the same issue! You could reach all your personal goals, and achieve your set objectives, becoming a star, or a raving success by the world's standard, and still miss the purpose for which God created you. You need more than self-help advice. 

Today’s memory verse is quite clear and direct on how we find our purpose on earth. It is in Christ that we find out who we are (we obtain an inheritance), and what we are living for (the purpose of Him for us), and He did it all according to His Will. He works all things according to his overall plans and purposes in everything and for everyone.

God is unique in His knowledge and in His control of the future. His consistent purpose is to carry out what He has planned. The verse in Ephesians gives us three insights into our purposes: (1) We discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ. (2) God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about Him. His purpose for your life predates your conception. He planned it before you existed, without your input! You may choose your career, your spouse, your hobbies, and many other parts of your life, but you don't get to choose your purpose. (3) The purpose of your life fits into a much larger, cosmic purpose that God has designed for eternity.

God told Jeremiah; "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1 vs 5.) God knew you, as He knew Jeremiah, long before you were born or even conceived. He thought about you and planned for you. God has a purpose for each and everyone of us. In the same way He ordained Jeremiah a prophet to the nations while he was still in the womb, we are all appointed for various kinds of work. Discover yours! Fixation on self instead on your Maker is wrong. Such obsession with self in these matters is a dead end. The Bible in Romans 8 vs 6 states; "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

Prayer: Abba Father, in You all things consist. Help me discover the purpose You created and ordained me to serve. For in this I am purposefully fulfilled in You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Embracing Jesus

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. (1 John 5:3–4)

Notice: Loving God is not just keeping his commandments. It is having a kind of heart for God that means that commandment-keeping is not burdensome. That’s what John says. But then he puts that truth in terms of new birth and faith, rather than love. He says, without a break, “For” — that is, here’s why God’s commandments are not burdensome: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. So, the new birth is what overcomes the worldly obstacles to keeping God’s commandments without burdensomeness. 

And finally he adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” So, the new birth overcomes the worldly obstacles to burden-free commandment-keeping, because the new birth gives rise to faith. So, the miracle of new birth creates faith, which embraces all that God is for us in Christ as supremely satisfying, which makes obedience to God more desirable than the temptations of the world. And that is what it means to love God. 

The eighteenth-century pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards wrestled with this text and concluded, “Saving faith implies . . . love. . . . Our love to God enables us to overcome the difficulties that attend keeping God’s commands — which shows that love is the main thing in saving faith, the life and power of it, by which it produces great effects.”

I think Edwards is right and that numerous texts in the Bible support what he says. 

Another way to say it is that faith in Christ is not just assenting to what God is for us, but also embracing all that he is for us in Christ. “True faith embraces Christ in whatever ways the Scriptures hold him out to poor sinners” — that’s another quote from Edwards. This “embracing” is one kind of love to Christ — that kind that treasures him above all things. 

Therefore, there is no contradiction between 1 John 5:3, on the one hand, which says that our love for God enables us to keep his commandments, and verse 4, on the other hand, which says that our faith overcomes the obstacles of the world that keep us from obeying God’s commandments. Love for God and Christ is implicit in faith. 

John then defines the faith that obeys as “the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5). This faith is “embracing” the present Jesus as the glorious divine person that he is: the Son of God. It is not simply assenting to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, because the demons assent to that. “They cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’” (Matthew 8:29). Believing that Jesus is the Son of God means “embracing” the significance of that truth — the value of the reality. It means being satisfied with Christ as the Son of God and all God is for us in him.

“Son of God” means that Jesus is the greatest person in the universe alongside his Father. Therefore, all he taught is true, and all he promised will stand firm, and all his soul-satisfying greatness will never change. 

Believing that he is the Son of God, therefore, includes banking on all this, and being satisfied with it.

THE CONDUCT GOD DESIRES OF US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY APRIL 17, 2021.

SUBJECT: THE CONDUCT GOD DESIRES OF US! 

Memory verse: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12 vs 1.)

READ: Psalm 15 vs 1 - 5:

15:1: LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

15:2: He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.

15:3: He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against a friend;

15:4: In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the LORD; he who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 

15:5: He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

INTIMATION:

We cannot measure up to God’s standards. But for Jesus Christ no one has ever measured and will ever measure up to God’s standards. However, God expects us to have some measure of service He considers reasonable. Sacrifice primarily denotes the act of offering, and offering objectively that which is offered. Offering oneself as a  ‘living sacrifice’ is indicative of the conduct of oneself, indicating one’s manner of life, and character. God wants us to offer ourselves as ‘living sacrifices,’ that is daily laying aside our own desires to follow Him, putting all our energy and resources at His disposal and trusting Him to guide us. 

God has good, pleasing, and perfect plans for His children. He wants us to be transformed people with renewed minds, living to honor and obey Him. Because He wants only what is best for us, and because He sacrificed His Son, now living, to make our new life possible, we should joyfully, and gratuitously give ourselves as ‘living sacrifice’ for His service.

Our bodies comprise of parts, also rendered as ‘members.’ Each member serves dedicated purposes. With our bodies we develop skills and capabilities that can serve many purposes, good or bad. In sin, every part of our body is vulnerable. In Christ every part of our body can be an instrument for service. It is the one to whom we offer our service that makes the difference. We are like lasers that can burn destructive holes in steel places or do delicate cataract surgery. 

God demands from us moral uprightness, and in the passage we read today, He gives us ten (10) standards to serve as a measuring scale to determine how we are doing. We live in a morally bankrupt society, a world whose standards and morals are eroding. Our standard of living should not come from our evil society but from God. Words are powerful, and how we use them reflect our relationship with God. Perhaps nothing identifies Christians as their ability to control their speech, especially speaking the truth, refusing to slander, and backbite, and keeping oaths (promises).

Our Messiah, Jesus Christ made life and our standards of living, in accordance with God’s demands, very simple by summarizing all in just two commandments. In Mark 12 vs 29 -  31, the Scripture says, “Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is : ‘Hear O Israel, the LORD your God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12 vs 29 - 31.)

According to Jesus, these two commandments summarize all God’s laws. Let them rule your thoughts, decisions, and actions. When you are uncertain about what to do, ask yourself which course of action best demonstrates love for God and love for others. As we grow in our relationship with our Redeemer, we develop a desire to live by His standards. The depth of our eternal relationship with Him can often be measured by the way we reflect His standards in our daily activities.

Prayer: Abba Father, I want to live my life fully and completely dedicated to You, to serve and obey You in all things. I pray for Your grace to lead me through, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!