The Only Conscience-Cleanser

 How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

Here we are in the modern age — the age of the Internet, smartphones, space travel, and heart transplants — and our problem is fundamentally the same as always: Our consciences condemn us and make us feel unacceptable to God. We are alienated from God. And our consciences bear witness.

We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to charity, or serve in a soup kitchen, or a hundred forms of penance or self-injury, and the result will be the same: The stain remains and death terrifies.

We know that our conscience is defiled — not with external things like touching a corpse, a dirty diaper, or a piece of pork. Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15–23). We are defiled by attitudes like pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear.

The only answer in this modern age, as in every other age, is the blood of Christ. When your conscience rises up and condemns you, where will you turn? Hebrews 9:14 gives you the answer: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

The answer is: Turn to the blood of Christ. Turn to the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give you relief in life, and peace in death.

WHEN GOD IS WITH YOU!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY NOVEMBER 29, 2021.

SUBJECT : WHEN GOD IS WITH YOU!

Memory verse: "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." (Genesis 50 vs 20.)

READ: Genesis 37 vs 26 - 28;  45 vs 5 - 8:

37:26: So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother, and conceal his blood?

37:27: Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers listened.

37:28: Then Midianites traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

45:5: But now, do not therefore be grieved, nor angry with yourselves because you sold me here: for God sent me before you to preserve life.

45:6: For these two years the famine has been in the land; and there are still five years, in the which there will  be neither plowing nor harvesting.

45:7: And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

45:8: So now it was not you who sent me here, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

INTIMATION:

People get into problems of various kinds in life. Some of the problems are caused by ourselves, some are caused by some externalities we have no control over, and yet some are planned against us by others. Some problems ensue after a careful planning, some by occurrence of natural disasters, and some out of jealousy and wickedness of others. In all these things losses of all kinds may abound along the line. But if God is with you, they turn at last to be for our own good, and necessary pathways planned by God to actualize His predetermined purposes.

The pathways of children of God are determined and ordered by Him. The prophet Jeremiah says, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who  walks to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10 vs 23.) God is involved in our lives. At times the path of the righteous doesn’t seem smooth, and it isn’t easy to do God’s will, but we are never alone when we face tough times. God is there to help us, to comfort us, and lead us. God does this by giving us a purpose (keeping our mind centered on Him) and making provisions for us as we go along. Also God gives us wisdom to make decisions and faith to trust Him. He also, provides us with relationships of family, friends, and mentors. 

We are often confused by the events around us. But for a child of God, many things we will never understand will fall into place in years to come as we look back and see how God was working. Therefore, you should not worry if you don’t understand everything as it happens. Instead, you should trust that God knows what He Is doing, even if His timing or design is not clear to you. Remember, the end is known to Him from the beginning!

The psalmist says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in His way. Though he fall, He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds Him with His hand.” (Psalm 37 vs 23 - 24.) The person in whom God delights is one who follows God, trusts Him, and tries to do His will. God watches over the person and makes firm every step that he or she takes. If you will like to have God your way, then seek His advice before you step out.

Instances abound where people planned evil against another good person, and eventually God turned the evil in the long run to good for the victim. In the passage we read today, Joseph’s bothers planned to eliminate him out of jealousy and hatred. Although they didn’t kill him outright, but they wouldn’t expect him to survive for long as a slave. They were quite willing to let cruel slave traders do their dirty work for them. Joseph faced a 30-day journey through the desert, probably chained, and journeyed on foot. Hw would be treated like baggage and once in Egypt, would be sold as a piece of merchandise. His brothers thought they would never see him again. But God was in control of Joseph’s life and had other plans.

Although Joseph’s brothers had wanted to get rid of him, God used even their evil actions to fulfill His ultimate plan. He had sent Joseph ahead to preserve their lives, save Egypt, and prepare the way for the beginning of the nation of Israel. God is sovereign. His plans are not dictated by human actions. When others intend evil toward you, as a child of God, just know that they are only God’s tools. As Joseph said to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” 

The Scripture says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8 vs 28.) God brought good from the brother’s evil deed, Potiphar’s wife’s false accusation, the butler’s neglect, and seven years of famine. The experiences in Joseph’s life taught him that God brings good from evil for those who put their trust in Him. Do you trust God enough to wait patiently for Him to bring good out of bad situations? You can trust him because, as Joseph learned, God can overrule people’s evil intentions to bring about His intended results.

Prayer: Abba Father, I am persuaded that in all situations You are my God, my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. My absolute faith and trust are in You. Let whatever that will make me lose Your leading never come my way, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

BACKSLIDING!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2021.

SUBJECT : BACKSLIDING!

Memory verse: "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10 vs 29.)

READ: Hebrews 6 vs 4 - 8:

6:4: For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Ghost,

6:5: and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,

6:6: If they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

6:7: For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;

6:8: but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

INTIMATION:

Falling away from faith in Christ—backsliding—is disgraceful. Backsliding, in the context of our discussion, is falling back to sin. When people, after receiving the Good News, and Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, deliberately return to evil ways, is abominable. It is refusing the freedom that comes from knowing the truth. For Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8 vs 32.) 

The Scripture describes such as a foolish act of one repeating his folly, just as a dog returns to his own vomit (See Proverbs 26 vs 11).

Jesus gave an analogy of the backsliding scenario, He said, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of the man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11 vs 24 - 26.)

In the passage of the Scripture above, Jesus was illustrating the unfortunate human tendency of backsliding. In many people the desire to reform often does not last long. They are lured by the fantasy of their old worldly ways. Consequently, Satan draws them back to the world, and their last state is worse than the first—prior to accepting Jesus Christ.

It’s not enough to be emptied of evil, we must then be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s new purpose in our lives. Just cleaning up one’s life without filling it with God leaves plenty of room for Satan to enter. Ridding our lives of sin is the first step. We must also take the second step: filling our lives with God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Unfilled and complacent people are easy targets for Satan.

In like manner, the apostle Peter analyzing backsliding says, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ”A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” (Second Peter 2 vs 20 - 22.) 

The apostle Peter was speaking of people who have learned about Christ and how to be saved but then reject the truth and return to their sin. These people are worse off than before because they have rejected the only way out of sin, the only way of salvation. It is like someone sinking in quicksand who refuses to grab the rope thrown to him or her. When you reject Christ’s offer of salvation, you reject God’s most precious gift. You ignore the leading of the Holy Spirit, the one who communicates to us God’s saving love. 

There is no other acceptable sacrifice for sin than the death of Christ on the cross. If someone deliberately rejects the sacrifice of Christ after clearly understanding the gospel teaching about it, then there is no way for that person to be saved, because God has not provided any other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them (See Acts 4 vs 12).

The sacrifice of Christ is tied with the Holy Spirit; therefore, to scorn Christ’s sacrifice is to insult the Holy Spirit by arrogantly rejecting Him. The Holy Spirit is a person, not just a force or influence. To reject him is to cut off the means of God’s acceptance. This is equivalent to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit; the only sin that cannot be forgiven men (See Matthew 12 vs 31 - 32). 

Prayer: Abba Father, by my strength I cannot prevail. Endue me with the spirit of absolute commitment to following Christ that I may not return to my past worldly ways, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Root of Ingratitude

 Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

When gratitude springs up in the human heart toward God, he is magnified as the wealthy source of our blessing. He is acknowledged as giver and benefactor and therefore as glorious.

But when gratitude does not spring up in our hearts at God’s great goodness to us, it probably means that we don’t want to pay him a compliment; we don’t want to magnify him as our benefactor.

And there is a very good reason that human beings by nature do not want to magnify God with thanksgiving or glorify him as their benefactor. The reason is that it detracts from our own glory, and all people by nature love their own glory more than the glory of God.

At the root of all ingratitude is the love of one’s own greatness. For genuine gratitude admits that we are beneficiaries of an unearned bequest. We are cripples leaning on the cross-shaped crutch of Jesus Christ. We are paralytics living minute by minute in the iron lung of God’s mercy. We are children asleep in heaven’s stroller.

The natural person, apart from saving grace, hates to think of himself in these images: unworthy beneficiary, cripple, paralytic, child. They rob him of his glory by giving it all to God.

Therefore, while a man loves his own glory, and prizes his self-sufficiency, and hates to think of himself as sin-sick and helpless, he will never feel genuine gratitude to the true God and so will never magnify God as he ought, but only himself.

Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Jesus did not come to minister to those who insist they are well. He demands something great: that we admit we are not great. This is bad news to the arrogant, but words of honey to those who have given up their charade of self-sufficiency and are seeking God.

BE NOT ANXIOUS RATHER PRAY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2021.

SUBJECT : BE NOT ANXIOUS RATHER PRAY!

Memory verse: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4 vs 6).

READ: Matthew 6 vs 25 - 33:

6:25: Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

6:26: Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

6:27: Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

6:28: So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

6:29: And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

6:30: Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

6:31: Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' Or 'What shall we drink?' Or 'What shall we wear?'

6:32: For all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you needs all these things.

6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

INTIMATION:

Anxiety is being uneasy with fear, worry, crave or desire regarding something, In our memory verse, the Scripture tells us not fret or worry about nothing. Instead pray concerning anything that makes you fret. Imagine not worrying or being anxious for anything! It seems like an impossibility; we all have worries on the job, in our homes, in our business, at school, etc. Worry or anxiety in itself can change nothing. Take the required action of committing all things in prayers to the Owner of the whole world. The reason we worry or burn with anxiety is because we have not trusted God and His promises enough. 

Don’t fret or worry, instead of worrying, commit everything in the hands of God in prayer. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. There is nothing impossible with, nor difficult for God. Therefore, steep your life in God’s reality, put Him first in your life; let Him fill your thoughts with His desires, take His character for your pattern, and serve and obey Him in everything.

In turning your worries into prayers, locate in the Scriptures the promise of God relevant to your situation, and put Him into remembrance of His promises (Isaiah 43 vs 26), He hastens to perform His Word (Jeremiah 1 vs 12.) Then rest assured you will receive your petition because you have prayed according to His will. The Scripture says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked Him.” (First John 5 vs 14 - 15.)

In the passage we read today, Jesus tells us to stop worrying about those needs that God promises to supply. God knows you have those needs (Matthew 6 vs 32), and He is well able to supply your needs. Worry has its negative effects on you; it may damage your health, cause the object of your worry to consume your thoughts, disrupt your productivity, negatively affect the way you treat others, reduce your ability to trust in God. Worry immobilizes, but genuine concern moves you to action.

Worry is distinct from planning. Planning for tomorrow is time well spent, worrying about tomorrow is time wasted. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference. Careful planning is thinking ahead about goals, steps, and schedules, and trusting in God's guidance. When done well, planning can help alleviate worry. Worriers, by contrast, are consumed by fear and find it difficult to trust God. They let their plans interfere with their relationship with God. Don't let worries about tomorrow affect your relationship with God today.

Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares. Many a time we run away from God because of our sin, thinking that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, He will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passively. Don't submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances.

Prayers: Abba Father, my trust is in You for I know You will never leave me nor forsake me. Daily You have loaded me with Your benefits. My soul blesses, and rejoices in You. I put my cares upon You, knowing You care for me. Engrace me to be anxious for nothing, in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

How to Magnify God

 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30)

There are two kinds of magnifying: microscope magnifying and telescope magnifying. The one makes a small thing look bigger than it is. The other makes a big thing begin to look as big as it really is.

When David says, “I will magnify God with thanksgiving,” he does not mean, “I will make a small God look bigger than he is.” He means, “I will make a big God begin to look as big as he really is.”

We are not called to be microscopes. We are called to be telescopes. Christians are not called to be con-men who magnify their product out of all proportion to reality, when they know the competitor’s product is far superior. There is nothing and nobody superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is.

That’s why we exist, why we were saved, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God.

This is what it means for a Christian to magnify God. But you can’t magnify what you haven’t seen or what you quickly forget.

Therefore, our first task is to see and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So we pray to God, “Open the eyes of my heart!” (Ephesians 1:18), and we preach to our souls, “Soul, forget not all his benefits!” (Psalm 103:2).

Jesus Prays for Us

 He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

It says that Christ is able to save to the uttermost — forever — since he always lives to make intercession for us. In other words, he would not be able to save us forever if he did not go on interceding for us forever.

This means our salvation is as secure as Christ’s priesthood is indestructible. This is why we needed a priest so much greater than any human priest. Christ’s deity and his resurrection from the dead secure his indestructible priesthood for us.

This means we should not talk about our salvation in static terms the way we often do — as if I did something once in an act of decision, and Christ did something once when he died and rose again, and that’s all there is to it. That’s not all there is to it.

This very day I am being saved by the eternal intercession of Jesus in heaven. Jesus is praying for us and that is essential to our salvation.

We are saved eternally by the eternal prayers (Romans 8:34) and advocacy (1 John 2:1) of Jesus in heaven as our High Priest. He prays for us and his prayers are answered because he prays perfectly on the basis of his perfect sacrifice.