What It Means to Pray for Your Enemy

 “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

Prayer for your enemies is one of the deepest forms of love, because it means that you have to really want that something good happen to them.

You might do nice things for your enemies without any genuine desire that things go well with them. But prayer for them is in the presence of God who knows your heart, and prayer is interceding with God on their behalf.

It may be for their conversion. It may be for their repentance. It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts. It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin, even if it takes disease or calamity to do it. But the prayer Jesus has in mind here is always for their good.

This is what Jesus did as he hung on the cross:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

And it’s what Stephen did as he was being stoned:

Falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60)

Jesus is calling us not just to do good things for our enemy, like greeting them and helping supply their needs (Matthew 5:47); he is also calling us to desire their best, and to express those desires in prayers, even when the enemy is nowhere around.

Our hearts should desire their salvation and desire their presence in heaven with us and desire their eternal happiness. May God give us grace to pray like the apostle Paul for the Jewish people, many of whom made life very hard for Paul:

My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1)

DO NOT ENVY THE WEALTH OF THE WICKED!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY APRIL 07, 2022.

SUBJECT : DO NOT ENVY THE WEALTH OF THE WICKED!

Memory verse: "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” (Psalm 37 vs 7.)

READ: Psalm 73 vs 3 - 9; 13 - 20:

73:3: For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

73:4: For there are no pangs in their death: but their strength is firm.

73:5: They are not in trouble as other men; nor are they plagued like other men.

73:6: Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.

73:7: Their eyes bulge with abundance: they have more than heart could wish.

73:13: Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence.

73:14: For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

73:15: If I had said, “I will speak thus;,” behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.

73:16: When I thought to understand this, it was too painful for me;

73:17: Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.

73:18: Surely You set them in slippery places: You cast them down to destruction.

73:19: Oh how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.

73:20: As a dream when one awakes; so, Lord, when You awake, You shall qdespise their image.

INTIMATION:

We observe in the world that sometimes the wicked prosper, leaving all the godly people wondering why they bother to be good. We also observe that the wealth of the wicked looks so inviting that faithful people may wish they could trade places. But these two themes or observations come to unexpected ends, for the wealth of the wicked suddenly loses its power at death, and the rewards for the godly suddenly takes on eternal value. What seemed like wealth is now waste, and what seemed worthless now lasts forever. Don’t wish you could trade places with evil people to get their wealth. One day they will wish they could trade places with you and have your eternal wealth.

We should never envy evil people, even though some may be extremely popular or excessively rich. No matter how much they have, it will fade and varnish like grass that withers and dies. Those who follow God live differently from the wicked and, in the end, will have treasures in heaven. What an unbeliever gets on earth may last a lifetime, but what the believer gets from following God lasts forever. 

At a point, in the passage we read today, the psalmist wondered why he had sought to walk righteously in his life, because the result was his oppression. He complained until he went to the sanctuary of God. It was there that he understood that the end of the wicked was doom. Though their lives seemed glorious, their end was destruction.Thus the psalmist was willing to sacrifice the seemingly glorious life of the unrighteous in order to avoid their end.

Many people have asked, “Why does the wicked prosper?” One may question the prosperity of the wicked, while the righteous suffer, but our questioning should not turn into envy of what the wealthy possess. The righteous must content themselves with God who is in control and working all things together for good for His people (Romans 8 vs 28). In God’s long-range plans and purposes, we should realize that God is doing right, even when you don’t understand why He works as He does. 

The nature and life of the wicked who prosper is full of arrogance because they are well fed, having a life without trouble. They go unchecked with their oppressive conduct and unscrupulous dealings. They have more than one could desire. And because they are arrogant in their speech, people often turn to them for leadership and counsel. They continue to prosper regardless of their unrighteous behavior. All these make the righteous worry.

Worry, envy, and impatience are tools of the devil to ensnare the righteous. The righteous must keep in mind that the wealth of the wicked is only temporary in the sense that in death the wicked will lose all their wealth. Therefore, one should not sacrifice his contentment by envying those things that will eventually pass away, both at the time of death and at the end of the world (See Second Peter 3 vs 10 - 16).

It is obvious that all those who call upon God in their need will be answered, sometimes in unexpected ways. Remember God knows what we need and our deepest needs are spiritual. Even though many Christians face unbeatable poverty and hardship, they still have enough spiritual nourishment to live for God. If you have God, you have all you really need. God is enough.

If you feel you don’t have everything you need, then ask yourself: (1) Is this really a need? (2) Is this really good for me? (3) Is this the best time for me to have what I desire? Even if you answer yes to all three questions, God may allow you to go without to help you grow more dependent on Him. He may want you to learn that you need Him more than having your immediate desires met. 

Prayer: Abba Father, I know Your thoughts for me is of good and not of evil to give me a future and a hope. In You I live, move, and have my being. Endue me with the spirit of contentment with all You do for me and have allowed me to have, that I will never envy the wicked and evil doers and their wealth, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

Two Ways to Remember Jesus

 

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. (2 Timothy 2:8)

Paul mentions two specific ways to remember Jesus: Remember him as risen from the dead. And remember him as the offspring of David. Why these two things about Jesus?

Because if he is risen from the dead he is alive and triumphant over death — including our death! “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

Which means that no matter how serious the suffering becomes, the worst that it can do on this earth is kill you. And Jesus has taken the sting out of that enemy. He is alive. And you will be alive. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28).

But more than that, the resurrection of Jesus was not a random resurrection. It was the resurrection of the son of David. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David.” Why does Paul say that?

Because every Jewish person knew what that meant. That meant that Jesus is the Messiah (John 7:42). And that meant that this resurrection was the resurrection of an everlasting King. Listen to the words of the angel to Mary, Jesus’s mother:

“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31–33)

So, remember Jesus, the one you serve, and the one for whom you suffer. He is not just alive from the dead, but he is alive as a King who will reign forever — of his kingdom there will be no end. No matter what they do to you, you do not need to be afraid. You will live again. And you will reign with him.

THE REALITY OF OUR NEW CREATION IN CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY APRIL 06, 2022.

SUBJECT : THE REALITY OF OUR NEW CREATION IN CHRIST!

Memory verse: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new" (Second Corinthians 5 vs 17).

READ: Revelation 21 vs 5 - 7:

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 the 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:

The comprehension of the "New Creation" reality has always been a problem of many. The theological thinkers are yet to find an explanation of that in their wisdom. However, this revelation is the ultimate toward which all of God's plans revolves.

Man, a failure, the sin-ruled, the Satan-dominated, held in bondage by the unseen forces of spiritual darkness, is to be recreated, made a "New Creation," taken out of the family of Satan and translated into the Kingdom of Christ on legal grounds. The legal ground is that the proper wage had to be paid; "For the wages of sin is death..." (Ezekiel 18 vs 4; Romans 6 vs 23). Christ fulfilled the law by His death on propitiatory grounds for mankind, in accordance with God's plan and purposes.

When the law was obeyed; the wages of sin paid by the propitiatory death of Christ for sinful man, God then offered the solution to the human problem by giving His Nature, and His Love, to fallen man. Man is introduced into the blessing of salvation; to what God has wrought for the believer is in Christ. Consequently the fallen man was recreated. God gave us Christ, and by His sacrifice, God made man a new creation united with Jesus Christ—the Head of the New Creation. Man therefore, became the "raised together with Christ" man.

Believers are brand new people on the inside. The Holy Spirit gives them new life, and they are not the same anymore. They are not reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated, they are recreated (new creations), living in vital union with Christ. At conversion we are not merely turning over a new leaf, we are beginning a new life under a new Master. Man’s old sin consciousness, his old fallen life, his old sin life, and his old evil habits that grow out of spiritual death, have passed away. He is a new being. The Father has no memory of his past life. His old past life has stopped being in the mind of the Father. He is entirely a new creation that has come into being through grace.

One is new in Christ, not only because he has been cleansed of sins (Acts 22 vs 16), but also because of his new perspective of life after obedience to the gospel. In Christ, one does not consider things according to the flesh, but according to the spiritual nature of one’s brothers and sisters in Christ. Since Christians have become new creatures in Christ, they consider all things from a new perspective.

Just as God finished the work of creation (Genesis 2 vs 1 - 3), Jesus finished the work of redemption (John 19 vs 30), which occasioned God recreating man—giving him His Nature, and His Love. Not only are believers changed from within, but a whole new order of creative energy began with Christ. There is a new covenant, a new perspective, a new body. All of creation is being renewed; this is an entirely new order of all creation under Christ's authority. Therefore, this should be the way a believer should think of and assess himself or herself.

Prayer: Abba Father, I can't thank You enough for what You wrought for me in Christ Jesus on the cross. Through the Blood of Jesus, I have been redeemed from Satan. Through the Blood of Jesus my past, present, and future sins are forgiven me. The Blood of Jesus, continually cleanse from my iniquities. Through the Blood of Jesus I am justified, made righteous, as if I never sinned. Through the Blood of Jesus I have been sanctified, made holy, and set aside for God's use. By Your grace I am saved in Christ, recreated and in vital union with You in Christ. I Lord, give me the spiritual wisdom and insight that I will grow in my to knowledge of You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

The Books at the Judgment

 All who dwell on earth will worship [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 13:8)

Salvation is secured for all who are written in the book of life.

The reason that being written in the book of life secures our salvation is that the book is called “the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” The names in this book are not saved on the basis of their deeds. They are saved on the basis of Christ’s being slain.

But John says in Revelation 20:12, “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” So, how then does the record of our lives contained in “the books” have a part in our judgment, if we are saved on the basis of Christ being slain?

The answer is that the books, which record our deeds, contain enough evidence of our belonging to Christ that they function as a public confirmation of our faith and our union with Christ.

Consider Revelation 21:27: “Nothing unclean will ever enter [the New Jerusalem], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Here the result of being written in the “book of life” is not only not perishing, but also not practicing detestable, sinful behaviors.

For example, consider the thief on the cross. Jesus said that he would enter paradise (Luke 23:43). But what will judgment be like for him when the books are opened? More than 99.9% of his life will be sin.

His salvation will be secured by the blood of Christ. His name will be in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.

Then God will open the books. First, he will use the lifelong record of sin to glorify his Son’s supreme sacrifice. And, second, God will read that last page, where the thief’s dramatic transformation on the cross is recorded. This work of God in his life, recorded in the books, about that last day will be the public confirmation of the thief’s faith and union with Christ. And Christ will be the basis of his salvation, not his works.

Therefore, when I say that what is written in the books is a public confirmation of our faith and of union with Christ, I do not mean that the record will contain more good works than bad works.

I mean that there will be recorded there the kind of life in Christ that shows the reality of faith — the reality of regeneration and union with Christ. That is how we enter each day as a Christian: confident that our condemnation is past (Romans 8:1), and that our name is in the book of life, and that the one who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Christ.

OUR MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY APRIL 05, 2022.

SUBJECT : OUR MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION.

Memory verse: "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." (Second Corinthians 5 vs 18).

READ: Second Corinthians 5 vs 18 - 20 - 21:

5:18: Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;

5:19: that is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

5:20: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, to be reconciled to God.

5:21: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

INTIMATION:

The Amplified Version Bible rendering of our memory verse is, "But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].”

The Amplified Bible further explained in verse 19 thus, "It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but canceling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor). 

The word “reconciliation” refers to a restoration in relationship. In this context, it is the reconciliation of man to God. This message of reconciliation has been entrusted to those who proclaim to the lost the means by which all men can be restored to a saving relationship with God. The opportunity of reconciliation to God is not in the power of the messenger, but in the power of the message he bears (Romans 1 bs 16). The messenger simply provides the opportunity for the hearers to respond to the gospel, and thus be reconciled to God.

God is present, and at work in Christ reconciling the whole world to Himself, canceling out their trespasses, not counting them anymore against them. For the believers in Christ, God has reconciled us to Himself by the mediation of Jesus Christ. All three members of the Trinity are involved in salvation. The Father loved us so much that He sent His Son to bridge the gap between us (John 3 vs 16). The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to fill our life with love and to enable us to live by His power (Acts 1 vs 8). 

In like manner, God has appointed those who believed and accepted Christ and what He wrought for us in redemption, as His representatives (ambassadors of Christ), and has commissioned us to do the same thing He is doing; reconciling the world to Christ. He has given us, through Christ, the ministry of reconciliation; not the ministry of condemnation which we have had before this time, but a ministry of reconciliation. He has also, given us the word (message) of reconciliation, to preach to the world as Christ's personal representatives in the world.

What then do we preach? And what are we to preach? In most of the preaching, we have reckoned unto men their trespasses. We have kept them "trespass-minded." We have kept them conscious of their weaknesses and failings, constantly preaching sin, and judgement to them. That is not wrong in itself, but God has not given us such ministry. He has instead given us the ministry of reconciliation; to preach Eternal life in Christ.

It is proper to remind us of where we are coming from, but it is much more proper to recount to us what God has wrought for us in Christ Jesus, and where we, as believers in Christ and His work in redemption, are heading to. For believers in Christ, the remission of sin is a reality, God has blotted out our past records, and made them nonexistent. Where we are coming from has seized to exist in God's memory, haven given us His righteousness in Christ (vs 21). It was for this reason He commissioned us as Christ's ambassadors with the message of reconciliation. We have the word, and we have the message, It is therefore, ours to give to the world. 

As Christ's representatives, a new commandment has been given to us in John 13 vs 34 - 35; "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

That is the pivot on which the life of the "New Creation" man revolves. God, by His Nature, is love, and He showcased His love nature when He gave to the world His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a propitiation for our sins (John 3 vs 16). He came and paid the debt we ought to have paid for our sins. and legally set us free from that debt.  When we were set free, He blotted out the records of our past, and made them nonexistent. He recreated us to be now in conformity to His love nature that was lacking before now, hence His pouring out His love out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5 vs 5). 

It is after the impartation of His 'Love Nature' in the new creation, that He gave us the new commandment. Out of love for one another, we are to joyfully and freely let others know about Jesus, and the immeasurable worth of what He wrought for us in redemption, that they may come to partake of it.

As ambassadors of Christ, reconciled to God, we have the privilege of encouraging others to be reconciled to God in accordance with the ministry given to us. As ambassadors of reconciliation, we have very important responsibility of delivering the message of entreating the world to be reconciled to God. We dare not take this responsibility lightly. The question then is, 'How well are you fulfilling your commission as Christ's ambassador?

Prayer: Abba Father, let the zeal of 'Your Commission' burn in me that I may be an ambassador of Christ worthy of my calling, and that I may obtain the crown of rejoicing, and righteousness, which the Lord will give to me at the day of His coming, in Jesus Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

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God Strengthens Us Through Others

 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31–32)

What about the other ten apostles (not counting Judas)?

Satan was going to sift them too. Did Jesus pray for them?

Yes he did. But he did not ask the Father to guard their faith in the very same way he guarded Peter’s.

God broke the back of Peter’s pride and self-reliance that night in the agony of Satan’s sieve. But he did not let him go. He turned him around and forgave him and restored him and strengthened his faith. And now it was Peter’s mission to strengthen the other ten. “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus provided for the ten by providing for Peter. The strengthened becomes the strengthener.

There is a great lesson here for us. Sometimes God will deal with you directly, strengthening your faith alone in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is asleep. But most of the time (we might say ten-elevenths of the time) God strengthens our faith through another person.

God sends us some Simon Peter who brings just the word of grace we need to keep on in the faith: some testimony about how “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

Eternal security is a community project. Whenever God encourages your heart with the promise that in Satan’s sifting your faith will not fail, then take that encouragement and double your joy by using it to strengthen your brothers and sisters — with the very strength with which you have been strengthened.