WHEN WE PRAY FOR OTHERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2021.

SUBJECT: WHEN WE PRAY FOR OTHERS!

Memory verse: "So I sought for a man among them, who should make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”  (Ezekiel 22 vs 30.)

READ: Psalm 106 vs 23:

Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them. 

INTIMATION: 

Intercessory prayer is a never-ending opportunity to join God in His work while, at the same time, a chance to be transformed both in heart and circumstance. Not just a few are called to pray for others; we are all called to pray unceasingly for all of God's people. Are you wondering if praying for others makes a difference? Here are eight amazing things that happen when you pray for others: 

1. When We Pray, we participate in God's work.

There are many people in our lives who need prayer. At times their needs are clear. Other times we may not know what to pray. Either way, when we pray for others, we join God in His work in their lives. If you are not sure what to pray, follow First Timothy 2 vs 1 - 4:

“Therefore I exhort first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 

Being obedient in prayer for others clears the way for God's work and will to be done.

2. Praying for others we emulates Jesus.

In the book of Luke, we find Jesus praying often. He goes to His Father in prayer as His ministry begins. As we can see in Scripture, Jesus prayed about everything. By bringing petitions of prayer on behalf of others, we imitate our Savior. 

3. When we pray for others, we share in their  burdens. In Philippians 2 vs 3 - 4, the apostle Paul reminds us to put others ahead of our needs and to consider the needs of others more important than our own. Our nature is to do the opposite. Our first thought is to pray for our burdens to be lifted or erased altogether. It is humility that allows us to pray for others earnestly. And by offering prayers for the relief of others and sharing their burdens, our burdens seem lighter. 

4. By praying for others, we join the ministry of reconciliation. The apostle Paul said that God made our relationship with Himself through Christ, and then gives us the ministry of reconciliation, or working to help others know Jesus, salvation, and God's love. (First Corinthians 5 vs 18). Our first tool is prayer. Praying for others puts us in the middle of God's work to bring everyone to Himself. By praying for others, we are ministers in the work of salvation, opening the gospel to those in our prayers. God wants everyone to be saved, and we are invited to be part of the work. (First Timothy 2 vs 3 - 4.)

5. When we pray for others, we learn to trust God. If we depend on our strength and abilities, we cannot accomplish God's will. Only through surrendering to God is He able to work through us to accomplish His desires in our prayers for others. When we offer intercessory prayers, pleading with God on behalf of loved ones and friends, we are trusting in His ability to answer, and He does. We are giving up our capabilities to answer and depending on God to keep His promise to answer our prayers.

6. When we pray for others, we are also changed. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person's inner nature. While we pray for others, we plead with God to intercede in their lives, perhaps to bring healing or strength in difficult times. But we are also opening our hearts for change. When we pray for others, we connect to the One who has the power to transform the hearts of others and bring change to their circumstances. At the same time, it amends our hearts.

7. Praying for others glorifies God. When we practice intercessory prayer, we glorify the only One who can answer prayers. Our prayers display trust in God, our belief in Christ, and when prayers are answered, we praise Him for his faithfulness. Our prayers glorify God. Praying is not just a conversation. Prayer is praise for the work God will do through our prayers.

8. God answers when we pray for others.

As Christians, our prayers do not bounce off the ceiling or dissipate like fog. God hears when we pray for others, and He answers. The answer may not come quickly, nor may the reply be what we expected. Or, because God is gracious, we receive much more than we asked. Either way, God answers our prayers when we pray for others. Our prayers are powerful, and our loving God wants us to know through His answer to our plea that He has the power and authority to answer whatever we ask.

Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the excellent spirit of prayer and supplication with thanksgiving in all things, and giving myself to praying for others, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Possible with God

 “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” (John 10:16)

God has a people in every people group in the world. He will call them through the gospel with Creator power. And they will believe! What a power is in these words for overcoming discouragement in the hard places of the frontiers!

The story of Peter Cameron Scott is a good illustration. Born in Glasgow in 1867, Scott became the founder of the Africa Inland Mission. But his beginnings in Africa were anything but auspicious.

His first trip to Africa ended in a severe attack of malaria that sent him home. He resolved to return after he recuperated. This return was especially gratifying to him because this time his brother John joined him. But before long, John was struck down by fever.

All alone, Peter buried his brother in African soil, and in the agony of those days recommitted himself to preach the gospel in Africa. Yet his health gave way again, and he had to return to England.

How would he ever pull out of the desolation and depression of those days? He had pledged himself to God. But where could he find the strength to go back to Africa? With man it was impossible!

He found strength in Westminster Abbey. David Livingstone’s tomb is still there. Scott entered quietly, found the tomb, and knelt in front of it to pray. The inscription reads:

OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD; THEM ALSO I MUST BRING.

He rose from his knees with a new hope. He returned to Africa. And today, over a hundred years later, the mission he founded is a vibrant, growing force for the gospel in Africa.

If your greatest joy is to experience the infilling grace of God overflowing from you for the good of others, then the best news in all the world is that God will do the impossible through you for the salvation of the unreached peoples.

Medicine for the Missionary

 “All things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

Sovereign grace is the spring of life for the Christian Hedonist. For what the Christian Hedonist loves best is the experience of the sovereign grace of God filling him, and overflowing for the good of others.

Christian Hedonist missionaries love the experience of “not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). They bask in the truth that the fruit of their missionary labor is entirely of God (1 Corinthians 3:7; Romans 11:36).

They feel only gladness when the Master says, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). They leap like lambs over the truth that God has taken the impossible weight of new creation off their shoulders and put it on his own. Without begrudging, they say, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

When they come home on furlough, nothing gives them more joy than to say to churches, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience” (Romans 15:18).

“All things are possible with God!” — in front the words give hope, and behind they give humility. They are the antidote to despair and the antidote to pride — the perfect missionary medicine.

THE SIN OF NOT PRAYING FOR OTHERS!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 26, 2021.

SUBJECT: THE SIN OF NOT PRAYING FOR OTHERS!

Memory verse: "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (First Samuel 12 vs 23.)

READ: Ephesians 6 vs 18; Colossians 1 vs 3. 9 - 12:

Ephesians 6:18; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the Saints—

Colossians 1:3: We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

1:9: For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

1:10: that you may walk worthy of the Lord. fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 

1:11: strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 

1:12: giving thanks to the Father who has  qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

INTIMATION:

Prayer is the master key we use to free ourselves from the bondage of all form of afflictions of the enemy, and for the restoration of our beauty in Christ. It’s the kingdom’s force of deliverance from afflictions, and restoration of our glorious destiny. Necessity is laid on us to pray, not only for ourselves, but also for others, both believers and unbelievers, that is interceding for others in prayer. Consequently, we are enjoined to pray or intercede for others’ needs—physical, spiritual, and/or material.

Is failing to pray for others a sin? Samuel’s words in our anchor Scripture seem to indicate that it is. His actions illustrate two of God’s people’s responsibilities: (1)!They should pray consistently for others, and (2) they should teach others the right way to God. Although Samuel didn’t agreed with the Israelites’ demand for a king, but he assured them that he would continue to pray for them and teach them. We may disagree with others, but we shouldn’t stop praying for them. 

There is a misconception that only certain people are called or gifted to be intercessory prayer warriors. There are people in our churches and our lives who seem to have that special intimate connection with God. They are relentless when it comes to praying for others. The truth is we are all called to pray for others.

In Ezekiel 22 vs 30, God is searching for those who would stand in the gap, to intercede for others. The invitation is for all Christians to serve through intercessory prayer. Praying for others is not a choice; it is our privilege.  

Whether we believe it or not, we are all equipped to be prayer warriors on behalf of others. We are heirs with Christ. We are adopted sons and daughters and therefore possess the same power and access to God that our Savior enjoys. We can whisper, or cry out, and offer our requests to our Heavenly Father, and He hears us. Sharing in the inheritance of Jesus, we are called high priests with a direct connection to God and an opportunity to offer up prayers on behalf of family, friends, neighbors, government officials, and our nation. The words do not have to be perfect, only spoken through love and trust in a God who hears and answers. 

It is easy to pray for those we know, and chances are that we might know the needs of people we know. But sometimes we wonder how to pray for those we don’t know and have never met. In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul had never met the Colossians, but he faithfully prayed for them. His prayers teach how to pray for others, whether we know them or not. We can request that they: 

(1) understand what God wants them to do, 

(2) gain spiritual wisdom, 

(3) honor and please God, 

(4) produce every kind of good fruit, 

(5) learn to know God better and better, 

(6) be strengthened with God’s glorious power, (7) have great endurance and patience, 

(8) be filled with joy, and 

(9) give thanks always. 

All believers have these same basic needs. When you don’t know how to pray for someone, use Paul’s prayer pattern for the Colossians. Now, imagine how many people in your life could be touched if you prayed in this way? Actually the best way to influence someone is to pray for him or her. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the excellent spirit of prayer and supplication with thanksgiving in all things, give me the grace Vic interceding for others in prayer that I may not sin against You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

 

I WILL DO A NEW THING!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY OCTOBER 25, 2021.

SUBJECT: I WILL DO A NEW THING!

Memory verse: "Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43 vs 19.)

READ: Revelation 21 vs 4 - 7:

21:4: And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

21:5: Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And he said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

21:6: And he said to Me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to Him who thirsts.

21:7: He who overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. 

INTIMATION:

Christianity is not a passive religion that advocates waiting for God to act. We must contend earnestly for the faith we profess; we must have an active faith, training hard, sacrificing, and doing what we know is right. As Christians, our calling from God is to become like Christ (Romans 8 vs 29). This requires our work of faith, being patient, and enduring to the end, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things” (Revelation 21 vs 7).

Christian life may involve a lot of challenges; hardships in many forms: persecution, illness, imprisonment, and even death. The apostle Paul mentioned such challenges in Romans 8 vs 35 as tribulations (trials and suffering), distress (extreme danger and troubles), persecution (oppression, torment, harassment), famine (lack and want), nakedness (bareness, exposure, state of being uncovered), peril (danger, hazards), sword (death). But he said, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8 vs 37).

God that loves us says, "Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43 vs 19.) God, who makes all things new, has promised to do a new thing. Therefore, no matter the situation you are in right now, I have a good news for someone today, God says He will do new things in your life, even those things that seems impossible, in Jesus’ most wonderful name. Just hold tight to Him, and the former things will pass away, if you endure to the end. 

When the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, God led them around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. Pharaoh changed his mind, came after the children of Israel with his army, to bring them back to Egypt to continue their service to the Egyptians as slaves. The Israelites, who were camping by the sea, lifted up their eyes and saw them coming after them. Trapped against the sea, the Israelites faced the Egyptian army sweeping in for the kill. They thought they were doomed.

Then Moses, who held tight to God, said to them in faith, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” ( Exodus 14 vs 13 - 14.) God commanded the sea to go back by a strong east wind all through the night, and made the sea into a dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. What happened to Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea is well known to us.

God is saying to someone reading this message today, “Are in a situation that is over your head, and seems impossible for you to conquer?” I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert for you.” Therefore, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”  

All God requires from us is to strive to work out our faith in Him. We may not be chased by an army, but we may still feel trapped in the circumstances of life, instead of giving in to despair, we should stand still, holding on to God tightly, and see the Lord arise for us, and His glory shall be seen upon us, in the mighty name of Jesus. The God that makes all things new will do a new thing in your life, for you who overcomes, will inherit all things. Hallelujah! 

Prayer: Abba Father, my complete trust is in You. In You I live, and move, and have my being. There is nothing impossible with You nor difficult for You. Do a new thing in my life, that the world will see Your glory shine upon my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Great Missionary Hope

 Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:5)

The great missionary hope is that when the gospel is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, God himself does what man cannot do: he creates the faith that saves. The call of God does what the call of man can’t. It raises the dead. It creates spiritual life. It is like the call of Jesus to Lazarus in the tomb, “Come out!” And the dead man obeyed and came out. The call created the obedience by creating life (John 11:43). That is how anyone is saved.

We can waken someone from sleep with our call, but God’s call can summon into being things that are not (Romans 4:17). God’s call is irresistible in the sense that it can overcome all resistance. It is infallibly effective according to God’s purpose — so much so that Paul can say, “Those whom [God] called he also justified” (Romans 8:30), even though we are only justified by our faith.

In other words, God’s call is so effectual that it infallibly creates the faith through which a person is justified. All the called are justified according to Romans 8:30. But none is justified without faith (Romans 5:1). So the call of God cannot fail in its intended effect. It irresistibly brings into being the faith that justifies.

This is what man cannot do. It is impossible. Only God can take out the heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26). Only God can draw people to the Son (John 6:44, 65). Only God can open the spiritually dead heart so that it gives heed to the gospel (Acts 16:14). Only the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and calls them by name with such compelling power that they all follow — and never perish (John 10:3–4, 14).

The sovereign grace of God, doing the humanly impossible, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the great missionary hope.

SATAN STRIKES ONLY WHEN GOD ALLOWS!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 24, 2021.

SUBJECT : SATAN STRIKES ONLY WHEN GOD ALLOWS!

Memory verse: “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered Amy servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” (Job 2 vs 3.)

READ: Job 1 vs 13 - 19:

1:6: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

1:7: And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD, and said, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

1:8: Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and shuns evil?”

1:9: So Satan answered the LORD, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

1:10: Have you not made a hedge around him, and around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

1:11: But now, stretch our Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

12 And the LORD said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in thy power; only do not lay a hand on his person. So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

INTIMATION:

God is fully aware of Satan’s every attempt to bring adversities on us. The conversation between God and Satan in Job 1 vs 6 - 12 clearly gives us the understanding that Satan also presents himself before God with the mission to incite God against His people. For instance, in Zechariah 3 vs 1 - 2, Satan accused (“opposed”) Joshua the high priest who was before the Lord representing the nation of Israel. His accusations were accurate—Joshua stood in filthy garments (sins of the Israelites). Yet God revealed His mercy, stating that He chose to save His people in spite of their sin. 

Part of Satan’s mission is to accuse us before God and incite Him against us for our sins (Revelation 12 vs 10). But he greatly misunderstands the breadth of God’s mercy and forgiveness toward those who believe in Him. Satan, originally an angel of God, had become corrupt through his own pride, and has been evil since his rebellion against God (First John 3 vs 8). He tries to hinder God’s work in people, but he is limited by God’s power and can do only what he is allowed to do. 

Jesus emphasized Satan’s mission ana limitations when He said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22 vs 31 - 32.) Satan wanted to crush Simon Peter and the other disciples like grains of wheat. Jesus assured Peter of His intervention in prayer, and that his faith, although it would falter, would not be destroyed. God would not allow Satan to afflict him.

Again, from God’s conversation with Satan, we have learned that he is real, active on earth and is accountable to God. All angelic beings, good and evil, are compelled to present themselves before God. God knows Satan’s intents—to kill, to steal, and to destroy, but he cannot do anything without God’s permission. God puts limitations on what Satan can do. God’s people can overcome his attacks through God’s power. Although Satan is a spirit being, he is not omnipresent, he can only be at only one place at a time. His demons aid him in his work; but as a created being, he is limited; he cannot see our minds or foretell the future. If he could, he would have known that Job would not break under pressure.

Although God loves us, believing and obeying Him do not shelter us from life’s calamities. Look at Job, whom God personally testified about, Satan still incited God against him, saying, that Job was blameless and had integrity only because he had no reason to turn against God. Ever since he had started following God everything had gone well for him. Satan wanted to prove that Job worshipped God, not out of love, but because God had given him so much, and if God would take away all the blessings, including his health, that he would deny Him and curse Him to His face. 

God allowed Satan to attack him in an especially harsh manner. Yet Job was a model of trust and obedience to God. Setbacks, tragedies, and sorrows strike Christians and non-Christians alike. But in our tests and trials, God expects us to express our faith in Him to the world. How do you respond to your troubles? Do you ask God, “Why me?” or do you say, “Use me!”? or are you one of the people that would say, “It is not my portion!”

Satan accurately analyzed why many people trust God. They are fair-weather believers, following God only when everything is going well or for what they can get. Adversity destroys the superficial faith. But adversity strengthens real faith by causing believers to dig their roots deeper into God in order to withstand the storms. How dip does your faith go? Put the roots of your faith down dip into God so that you can withstand any storm you may face.

God allows Satan to attack some of His children because He knows the eventual outcome of the attack. He is All-knowing, and cannot be fooled by Satan. The suffering and trials can be a test for His people like Job, and to prove Satan wrong. It is not any surprises to God.

When hit with adversity, we can be astonished and are free to express such emotions. God created our emotions, and it is not sinful or inappropriate to express them. If you have experienced a deep loss, a disappointment, or a heartbreak, admit your feelings to yourself and others, and grieve. But never lose your trust in God. People ought to love God for who He is, not for what He gives.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of resilience, and complete trust in You, in all life’s circumstances, to the glory of Your name, and shame to the devil, in Jesus’ mighty Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!