Give God Your Revenge

 

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

Why is this such a crucial promise in overcoming our bent toward bitterness and revenge? The reason is that this promise answers one of the most powerful impulses behind anger — an impulse that is not entirely wrong.

In many cases, real wrongs have been done to us. Therefore, it is not entirely wrong to feel that justice should be done. What’s wrong is to feel that we must make it happen and that we may feel bitter until it does. This would be a deadly mistake.

During my seminary days, Noël and I were in a small group for couples that began to relate at a fairly deep personal level. One evening we were discussing forgiveness and anger. One of the young wives said that she could not and would not forgive her mother for something she had done to her as a young girl.

We talked about some of the biblical commands and warnings concerning an unforgiving spirit.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

If you do not forgive others . . . neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:15)

But she would not budge. So I warned her that her very soul was in danger if she kept on with such an attitude of unforgiving bitterness. But she was adamant that she would not forgive her mother.

The grace of God’s judgment is promised to us here in Romans 12 as a means of helping us overcome such a deadly spirit of revenge and bitterness.

Paul’s argument is that we can be sure that all wrongs will be dealt with by God and that we can leave the matter in his hands because vengeance belongs to the Lord. To motivate us to lay down our vengeful desires he gives us a promise: “I will repay, says the Lord.”

The promise that frees us from an unforgiving, bitter, vengeful spirit is the promise that God will settle our accounts. He will do it more justly and mercifully and more thoroughly than we ever could. He punishes all sin. Nobody gets away with anything. He punishes it either in Christ on the cross for those who repent and trust him, or in hell for those who don’t. Therefore, we can back off and leave room for God to do his perfect work.

When Will I Be Satisfied?

 

“I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

Imagine being able to enjoy what is most enjoyable with unbounded and increasing energy and passion forever.

This is not now our experience. Three things stand in the way of our complete satisfaction in this world.

Nothing in this world has a personal worth great enough to meet the deepest longings of our hearts.

We lack the strength to savor the best treasures to their maximum worth.

Our enjoyment of things here comes to an end. Nothing lasts.

But if the aim of Jesus in John 17:26 comes true, all this will change. He prays to his Father about us, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” God does not love the Son the way he loves sinners. He loves the Son because the Son is infinitely worthy of love. That is, he loves the Son because the Son is infinitely lovely. Which means that this love is totally pleasure. Jesus prays that this pleasure that God has in his Son will be the same pleasure we have in the Son.

If God’s pleasure in the Son becomes our pleasure, then the object of our pleasure, Jesus, will be inexhaustible in personal worth. He will never become boring or disappointing or frustrating. No greater treasure can be conceived than the Son of God.

But add to this what Jesus prays for; namely, that our ability — our energy, our passion — to savor this inexhaustible treasure will not be limited by human weaknesses. We will enjoy the Son of God with the very enjoyment of his omnipotent Father.

God’s delight in his Son will be in us and it will be ours. And this will never end, because neither the Father nor the Son ever ends. Their love for each other will be our love for them, and therefore our loving them will never die.

DISCOVER WHY YOU WERE CREATED BY GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JULY 04, 2022.

SUBJECT: DISCOVER WHY YOU WERE CREATED BY GOD! 

Memory verse: "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were through him and for Him.” (Colossians 1 vs 16.)

READ: Genesis 1 vs 27 - 28:

1:27: So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

1:28: Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over  every living thing that moves on the earth.

INTIMATION:

Everything, absolutely everything above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank of angels, everything got started in God, and finds its purpose in Him. God has His reasons for creating the world. He has a purpose for creating all that are in the world, and determines the purpose to be served by all He created. All these are tailored to the form and nature of our Creator—our God is a God of purpose. 

To live purposefully in this life, we need to understand why we are created, and brought into this world by the Creator. I am not an accident, as well as you. We are here for a purpose. God brought you into the world for a purpose. Discovering that purpose makes life worth living, and you make the best of life here on earth.

All things in life serve their respective purposes. Manufacturers manufacture their products to serve their intended purposes, developers develop for intended purposes, all productions are for different purposes. And everything manufactured, produced, or developed have their respective guidelines, manuals, and instructions for their use. 

God mandated man, His creation in His own image and after His likeness, to have dominion over all other things He created. And this is the primary, and general purpose to be served by all of us. To have dominion over something is to have absolute authority and control over it. God has ultimate rule over the earth, and He exercises His authority with loving care. God delegated some of His authority to the human race, and expects us to take responsibility for the environment and the other creatures that share our planet. 

To achieve the general purpose God created us all to serve, we are to individually serve our specific purposes predetermined by Him, and it is the individual contributions, and collective responsibilities of all of us that culminates into achieving the general purpose for which we are created. The purpose of each and everyone of us toward achieving this goal is determined by God Himself. In Jeremiah 10 vs 23 the Bible says; "...The way of man is not in himself, it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." 

The quest for the purpose of life for everyone of us has puzzled many for thousands of years. This is because we typically begin at the wrong starting point—ourselves. We usually ask self-centered questions like; "What do I want to be?" "What should I do with my life?" "What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future?" But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life's purpose. Our Owner, our Creator, created us for a purpose, that is, His purpose. Therefore, if you want to know why you were placed on this earth, you must begin your quest with God. 

All we are, and our purposes in life are in God's hand. Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's purpose looking within yourself. You didn't create yourself, and as such there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created to do! If you are handed over an invention you have never seen before, you wouldn't know its purpose, and the invention itself wouldn't be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner's manual could reveal its purpose.

We cannot arrive at our purpose by starting with a focus on ourselves. We must begin with God, our Creator. We exist only because God wills that we exist. We were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.

The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it directly, or refer to the owner's manual. The same is true for discovering your life's purpose; Ask God—your Maker, or refer to the Owner's Manual—the Bible. The discovery is by revelations inherent in the Word of God. He has not left us in the dark to wonder and guess. He has clearly revealed His purposes for our lives in the Bible. It tells us why we are alive, how life works, how the owner of life governs it, what to do, what to avoid, and what to expect now, and in the future. And it is only in Him, and His manual you can find these answers.

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, at all, 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. 

God created you for a purpose, and determines how that purpose will be served and achieved by you. All these He wrought when you are yet unformed. Knowing that in Him all knowledge of you is hidden, why then do you seek your purpose in life outside of Him. Go to Him, and you will discover the purpose of your creation.

Prayer: Abba Father, in You I live, and move, and have my being. Help me discover my purpose on earth which is imbedded in the knowledge of You and Your Will. Give me the spirit of wisdom and knowledge of You, that Your grace and peace will be multiplied unto me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Good News: God Is Happy

 

. . . the gospel of the glory of the blessed God . . . (1 Timothy 1:11)

This is a beautiful phrase in 1 Timothy, buried beneath the too-familiar surface of Bible buzzwords. But after you dig it up, it sounds like this: “the good news of the glory of the happy God.” The word “blessed” is not the one that means “praised,” but the one that means “happy.”

A great part of God’s glory is his happiness.

It was inconceivable to the apostle Paul that God could be denied infinite joy and still be all-glorious. To be infinitely glorious was to be infinitely happy. He used the phrase, “the glory of the happy God,” because it is a glorious thing for God to be happy the way he is.

God’s glory consists much in the fact that he is happy beyond our wildest imagination. As the great eighteenth-century preacher, Jonathan Edwards, said, “Part of God’s fullness which he communicates is his happiness. This happiness consists in enjoying and rejoicing in himself; so does also the creature’s happiness.”

And this is a key part of the gospel, Paul says: “the gospel of the glory of the happy God.” It is good news that God is gloriously happy. No one would want to spend eternity with a gloomy, unhappy God.

If God is unhappy, then the goal of the gospel — to be with God forever — is not a happy goal, and that means it would be no gospel at all. But, in fact, Jesus invites us to spend eternity with a happy God when he says, “Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23).

Jesus said in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Jesus spoke, and lived, and died that his joy — God’s joy — might be in us and our joy might be full. Therefore, the gospel is “the gospel of the glory of the happy God.”

YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY JULY 03, 2022.

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 with 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 would be born and where you would 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 are 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.

Though omnipresent and omniscient, God is mindful of every individual of His creation. In the passage we read today, the psalmist was concerned that our understanding of the awesomeness of God might lead us to believe that He is indifferent to the details of His creation, and thus might overlook individuals. 

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. Eventuality 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 ourselves as your Maker and Owner has for you. God made you for a reason, and your life has profound meaning! We discover that meaning and purpose only when we make God the reference point of our lives. 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, that I may lead a purposeful life to earn Your approval, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

How Well Do You Know God?

 

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” (Job 36:26)

It is impossible to know God too well.

He is the most important person who exists. And this is because he made all others, and any importance they have is owing to him.

Any strength or intelligence or skill or beauty that other beings have comes from him. On every scale of excellence, he is infinitely greater than the best person you ever knew or ever heard of.

Being infinite, he is inexhaustibly interesting. It is impossible, therefore, that God be boring. His continual demonstration of the most intelligent and interesting actions is volcanic.

As the source of every good pleasure, he himself pleases fully and finally. If that’s not how we experience him, we are either dead, or blind, or sleepwalking.

It is therefore astonishing how little effort in this world is put into knowing God.

It’s as though the President of the United States came to live with you for a month, and you only said hello in passing every day or so. Or as if you were flown at the speed of light for a couple of hours around the sun and the solar system, and instead of looking out the window, you played a computer game. Or as if you were invited to watch the best actors, singers, athletes, inventors, and scholars perform their best, but you declined to go, so you could watch the TV season’s final soap.

Let us pray together that our infinitely great God would incline our hearts, and open our eyes to see him as fully as we can and seek to know him more.

HEAVEN IS BELIEVERS ETERNAL HOME!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JULY 02, 022.

SUBJECT: HEAVEN IS BELIEVERS ETERNAL HOME!

Memory verse: "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” (First Peter 2 vs 11.)

READ: Hebrews 11 vs 13 - 16:

11:13: These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

11:14: For those that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

11:15: And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

11:16: But now they desire a better, that is, an heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. 

INTIMATION:

Believers are “sojourner sand pilgrims” on this earth because our real home is with God. Believers are residents of the world, but the spiritual expatriates of this world. However, their citizenship is not of this world. Their citizenship (membership) is registered in heaven. Heaven is not the pink-cloud-and-harp existence popular in cartoons. Heaven is where God lives. Life in heaven operates according to God’s principles and values, and it is eternal and unshakable. 

The kingdom of heaven came on earth in the symbolism of the Jewish sanctuary (the tabernacle and temple), where God’s presence dwelt. It came in a fuller way in the person of Jesus Christ “God with us.” It spreads through the entire world as the Holy Spirit came to live in every believer. 

The most damaging act of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. The child of God is a citizen of heaven where the child enjoys the best of life unlimited. The devil is not a citizen of heaven, and cannot access such life hence his effort to drag people to his side of total misery. There is far more to life than just here and now! 

What is it going to be like in eternity with God? Although the details of eternity are unknown, we need not fear because Jesus is preparing for us and will spend eternity with us. There are few verses in Scripture that describe everlasting life, but these few verses are rich with promises.

Frankly, the capacity of of our brains cannot handle the wonder and greatness of life in eternity with Christ. It will be trying to describe the Internet to an ant. He will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65 vs 17; Revelation 21 vs 1), and we will live with Him forever. There will be no more death, sickness, lack, want etc. The Bible, in the Book of Revelation chapter 21, reveals the idea of the home God is preparing for His children. Words have not been invented that could adequately convey the experience of eternity.

We know that right now God is preparing an eternal home for us. In heaven, we put on our celestial bodies (Spiritual bodies (First Corinthians 15 vs 40 & 44)), we will be reunited with the loved ones who are believers, released from all pains and suffering, rewarded for our faithfulness on earth, and reassigned to do work that we will enjoy doing. We will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, and He will enjoy us for forever (unlimited, and endless).

God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here. His plan involves far more than the few decades you will live on earth here. God offers you opportunity to live with him beyond your lifetime on earth. 

It is a common knowledge that the only time people think about eternity is at funerals, and then it's often shallow, and sentimental thinking based on ignorance. Most people feel it's morbid to think about death, but actually it's unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable. The Bible in Ecclesiastes 7 vs 2, says, "Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart." Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen. We need to think more about eternity, 

Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so is life on earth, a preparation for life in eternity with God, or without God. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don't need to fear death. It is the door to eternity. It will be the last hour of your time on earth, but certainly not the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life. 

The Bible says in Hebrews 13 vs 14, "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come." This world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven. Every moment we spend in this earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus. The time we spend on this earth, if measured against eternity, is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever. This calls for serious caution noting that the deeds of this life are the destiny of the next.

It is therefore, wise to listen to the counsel of most preachers; "Prepare yourself each day in life for eternity, living as if each day is your last day of your life on earth, being ready at all times to meet with your Creator."

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to lead a life pleasing to You, preparing myself each day in life for eternity, living each day of my life as the last on earth, so that to die will be gain to me because I will live with You in eternity forever, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!