Why We Don’t Lose Heart

 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

Paul can’t see the way he used to (and there were no glasses). He can’t hear the way he used to (and there were no hearing aids). He doesn’t recover from beatings the way he used to (and there were no antibiotics). His strength, walking from town to town, doesn’t hold up the way it used to. He sees the wrinkles in his face and neck. His memory is not as good. And he admits that this is a threat to his faith and joy and courage.

But he does not lose heart. Why?

He doesn’t lose heart because his inner man is being renewed. How?

The renewing of his heart comes from something very strange: it comes from looking at what he can’t see.

We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

This is Paul’s way of not losing heart: looking at what he cannot see. What, then, did he see when he looked?

A few verses later in 2 Corinthians 5:7, he says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” This doesn’t mean that he leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there. It means that for now the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses.

We “look” at these unseen things through the gospel. We strengthen our hearts — we renew our courage — by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face.

“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We see this as it shines in our heart through the gospel.

We became Christians when this happened — whether we understood this or not. And with Paul we need to go on seeing with the eyes of the heart, so that we not lose heart.

THE DOUBLE-MINDED MAN!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY JULY 27, 2021.

SUBJECT: THE DOUBLE-MINDED MAN! 

Memory verse: "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." (Mark 11 vs 24.)

READ: James 1 vs 5 - 8:

1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

1:6: But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

1:7: For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

1:8: he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

INTIMATION:

A double-minded man is a two-souled man. The soul is the seat of the will and purpose of the human’s life. If the human’s will and purpose is unstable and wavers between two opinions, he is two-souled, that is double-minded. Such people, in the morning they are confessing Christ and His finished works on the cross, but in the evening they are rebuking Satan for his hold on them. The mind that wavers is not completely convinced that God’s way is the best. It treats God’s Word like any human advice and retains the option to disobey. It vacillates between allegiance to subjective feelings, the world’s ideas, and God’s command. 

First Kings 18 vs 21 gives us a graphic description of that kind of human: "And Elijah came to all people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word." Elijah was confronted with the problem of dealing with double-minded men. In the modern church, and indeed the world, we have the same problem. Many people, including believers, are very unstable in their ways. They hardly can take a stand in their lives. In fact, it is grievous when they cannot take a stand in their relationship with God. It is absolutely important to take a stand for the Lord. If you just drift along with whatever is pleasant and easy, you will someday discover that you have been worshipping a false god—“yourself!”

If you have ever seen the constant rolling of huge waves at sea, you know how restless they are; subject to the forces of wind, gravity, and tide. Doubt leaves a person as unsettled as the restless waves. If you want to stop being tossed about, rely on God to show you what is best for you. Ask Him for wisdom, and trust that He will give it to you. Then your decision will be sure and solid. 

The Scripture is very apt on trusting in God and receiving from Him: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11 vs 6.) We must believe not only in the existence of God but also in His loving care. This include relying on God and expecting that He will hear and answer when we pray. We must put away our critical attitude when we come to Him. And trust in His assurance of His reward to those who honestly seek Him; who act in faith on the knowledge of God that they possess. 

Some people need to doubt before they believe. If doubt leads to questions, and questions leads to answers, and if the answers are accepted, then doubt has done good work. It is when doubt becomes stubbornness and stubbornness becomes a prideful lifestyle that doubt harms faith. When you doubt, don’t stop there. Let your doubt deepen your faith as you continue to search for the answer.

Prayer: Abba Father, my total trust and confidence is in You. You are my everything. I resist and rebuke any planting of doubt in my mind by the evil one, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

 

If You Don’t Fight Lust

 Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)

When I confronted a man about the adultery he was living in, I tried to understand his situation, and I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, “You know, Jesus says that if you don’t fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever.”

As a professing Christian, he looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, “You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?”

So, I have learned again and again from firsthand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the threats of the Bible, and that puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical warnings. I believe this view of the Christian life is comforting thousands who are on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).

Jesus said, if you don’t fight lust, you won’t go to heaven. “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29). The point is not that true Christians always succeed in every battle. The issue is that we resolve to fight, not that we succeed flawlessly. We don’t make peace with sin. We make war.

The stakes are much higher than whether the world is blown up by a thousand long-range missiles, or terrorists bomb your city, or global warming melts the ice caps, or AIDS sweeps the nations. All these calamities can kill only the body. But if we don’t fight lust, we lose our souls. Forever.

Peter says the passions of the flesh wage war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). The stakes in this war are infinitely higher than in any threat of world war or terrorism. The apostle Paul listed “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness,” then said it is “on account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6). And the wrath of God is immeasurably more fearful than the wrath of all the nations of the world put together.

May God give us grace to take our souls and others’ souls seriously and keep up the fight.

WHEN GOD SEEMS FAR AWAY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JULY 26, 2021.

SUBJECT : WHEN GOD SEEMS FAR AWAY!

Memory verse: "If He goes by me, I do not see Him; if He moves past, I do not perceive Him.” (Job 9 vs 11.)

READ: Job 23 vs 8 - 12:

23:8: Look, I go forward, but He is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 23:9: When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. 

23:10: But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

23:11: My foot has held fast to His steps; I have I kept His way and not turned aside.

23:12: I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

INTIMATION: 

There are times when God seems far away, and you eventually feels abandoned. You may have been working in righteousness, and obedience to God, but still nothing seems to work for you. Worst still, you may look around you and see the wicked and unrighteous prospering. People may even be asking you, “Where is your God.” When God seems distant, you may feel that He is angry with you or is disciplining you for some sin. Though it is a fact that sin does disconnect us from intimate fellowship with God because it grieves His Spirit and quench our fellowship with Him. By our disobedience, conflict with others, busyness, friendship with the world, and other sins we we grieve His Spirit. 

But quite often this feeling of abandonment or estrangement from God has nothing to do with sin. It is a test of faith, and is obvious we all must face this test. In such situations, will you continue to love, trust, obey, and worship God, even when you have no sense of His presence or visible evidence of His work in your life? That is the test, and just the right thing to do!

The most common mistake Christians make in worship today is seeking an experience rather than seeking God. They look for a feeling, and if it happens, they conclude that they have worshiped. This is very wrong! In fact, God often removes our feelings so we won't depend on them. Seeking a feeling, even the feeling of closeness to Christ, is not worship. When you are a baby Christian, God gives you a lot of confirming emotions and often answers the most immature, self-centered prayers, so you'll know He exists. But as you grow in faith, He will wean you of these dependencies. 

God's omnipresence and the manifestation of His presence are two different things. One is a fact, the other is often a feeling. God is always present, even when you are unaware of Him, and His presence is too profound to be measured by mere emotion. Of course, God wants you to sense His presence, but He is more concerned that you trust Him than that you feel Him. Faith, not feelings, pleases God. 

The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God is nowhere to be found. This happened to Job. On a single day he lost everything—his family, his business, his health, and everything he owned. Most discouraging, for thirty-seven chapters in the Book of Job God said nothing! The realization of the fact that God, at some points in our lives, tests us with His deliberate silence to observe our commitment and trust in Him, gave Job hope when he could not feel God's presence in his life. He said, "Look, I go forward, but He is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23 vs 8 - 10.) What a great and awesome faith!

How do you praise God when you don't understand what's happening in your life and God is silent? How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication? How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they're full of tears? You do what Job did: "Then Job arose,......and fell to the ground and worshiped. And He said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong." (Job 1 vs 20 - 22.)

Job didn't hide his overwhelming grief. He had not lost his faith in God; instead, his emotions showed that he was human and that he loved his family. God created our emotions, and it is not sinful or inappropriate to express them as Job did. Even the Lord Jesus expressed His when He wept (John 11 vs 35). 

If you have experienced a deep loss, a disappointment, or a heartbreak, admit your feelings to yourself and others, and grieve. Job had lost his possessions and family, but he reacted rightly toward God by acknowledging God's sovereign authority over everything God had given him. Job proved that people can love God for who He is, not for what He gives. In the unfortunate circumstances Job worshiped the Lord, blessed His name, and never sinned nor charged God with any wrong! This should be the believers’ attitude or reaction in such situations as Job’s—when God seems far away.

Prayer: Abba Father, forever Yours I am and Yours I want to be. Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. Do to me, and with as it is pleasing to You, in Jesus’ Name I prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

What It Means to Love Money

 The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. (1 Timothy 6:10)

What did Paul mean when he wrote this? He couldn’t have meant that money is always on your mind when you sin. A lot of sin happens when we are not thinking about money.

My suggestion is this: He meant that all the evils in the world come from a certain kind of heart, namely, the kind of heart that loves money.

So what does it mean to love money? It doesn’t mean to admire the green paper or the copper coins or the silver shekels. To know what it means to love money, you have to ask, What is money? I would answer that question like this: Money is simply a symbol that stands for human resources. Money stands for what you can get from man — other human beings — instead of God.

God deals in the currency of grace, not money: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isaiah 55:1). Money is the currency of human resources. So, the heart that loves money is a heart that pins its hopes, and pursues its pleasures, and puts its trust in what human resources can offer.

So, the love of money is virtually the same as faith in money — belief (trust, confidence, assurance) that money will meet your needs and make you happy.

Love of money is the alternative to faith in God’s future grace. It is faith in future human resources — the kind of thing you can obtain or secure with money. Therefore the love of money, or trust in money, is the underside of unbelief in the promises of God. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. . . . You cannot serve God and money.”

You can’t trust in God and in money at the same time. Belief in one is unbelief in the other. A heart that loves money — that banks on money for happiness — is not banking on all that God is for us in Jesus as the satisfaction of our souls.

ANOINTED FOR THE ALTERCATION BY BISHOP TD JAKES

 

Satan’s Strategy and Your Defense

 

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. (1 Peter 5:8–9)

The two great enemies of our souls are sin and Satan. And sin is the worst enemy, because the only way that Satan can destroy us is by getting us to sin, and keeping us from repenting. The only thing that damns us is unforgiven sin. Not Satan.

God may give him leash enough to rough us up, the way he did Job, or even to kill us, the way he did the saints in Smyrna (Revelation 2:10); but Satan cannot condemn us or rob us of eternal life. The only way he can do us ultimate harm is by influencing us to sin, and keep us from repentance. Which is exactly what he aims to do.

So, Satan’s main business is to advocate, promote, assist, titillate, and confirm our bent to sinning. And to keep us from faith and repentance.

We see this in Ephesians 2:1–2: “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked . . . according to the prince of the power of the air” (NASB). Sinning “accords” with Satan’s power in the world. When he brings about moral evil, it is through sin. When we sin, we move in his sphere. We come into accord with him. When we sin, we give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27).

The only thing that will condemn us at the judgment day is unforgiven sin — not sickness or afflictions or persecutions or intimidations or apparitions or nightmares. Satan knows this. Therefore, his great focus is not primarily on how to scare Christians with weird phenomena (though there’s plenty of that), but on how to corrupt Christians with worthless fads and evil thoughts.

Satan wants to catch us at a time when our faith is not firm, when it is vulnerable. It makes sense that the very thing Satan wants to destroy would also be the means of our resisting his efforts. That’s why Peter says, “Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:9). It is also why Paul says that the “shield of faith” can “extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16).

The way to thwart the devil is to strengthen the very thing he is trying most to destroy — your faith.