7 Reasons Not to Worry, Part 3

 

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:31–34)

We have seen in the last two days that Matthew 6:25–34 contains at least seven promises designed by Jesus to help us fight the good fight against unbelief and be free from anxiety. Today we look at the final three promises.

Promise #5: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:31–32)

Do not think that God is ignorant of your needs. He knows all of them. And he is “your heavenly Father.” He does not look on, indifferently, from a distance. He cares. He will act to supply your need when the time is best.

Promise #6: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

If you will give yourself to his cause in the world, rather than fretting about your private material needs, he will make sure that you have all you need to do his will and give him glory. This is how I understand “All these things will be added to you.” All the food and drink and clothing — and everything else — that you need to do his will and glorify him. Which might mean his purpose is for you to die for him, but he will supply everything you need to do it for his glory.

This is similar to the promise of Romans 8:32, “Will [God] not also with [Christ] graciously give us all things?” Which is followed by, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors” (Romans 8:35–37). Famine and nakedness may come. But we will have everything we need to be more than a conqueror.

Promise #7: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)

God will see to it that you are not tested in any given day more than you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). He will work for you, so that “as [your] days, so shall [your] strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25, KJV).

Every day has its appointed trouble. But never more than you can bear by his grace. Every day will have mercies that are new every morning — mercies sufficient for that day’s trouble (Lamentations 3:22–23). He will not expect any good deed from you for which he does not supply all the grace you need (2 Corinthians 9:8).

THE DRIVING FORCE OF LOVE IN EVANGELISM!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2022.

SUBJECT: THE DRIVING FORCE OF LOVE IN EVANGELISM!

Memory verse: "If you love me keep My commandments." (John 14 vs 15.)

READ: First John 4 vs 7 - 14:

4:7: Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 

4:8: He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

4:9: In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 

4:10: In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

4:11: Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. 

INTIMATION:

The major driving force in sharing the “Good News” is the love for God and our neighbors. Learning to love how God loves is the most important aspect of our mission. God has never made a person He didn't love. Everybody matters to Him: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..” (John 3 vs 16). Therefore, everybody should matter to us, especially the unsaved souls, and we must reach out to them.

Whenever you feel indifferent about others, especially the unsaved souls, and about your mission in this world, spend some time thinking about what Jesus did for you on the cross. What else can you offer in return to Him than obey and serve Him with all your heart, caring about what He cares for, and loving all He loves. Christ's love should compel your actions as it did for the believers in the apostle Paul's days: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." (Second Corinthians 5 vs 14.)

The love of Christ constrained the believers to certain courses of action. They took certain difficult, and delicate steps in the spreading of the Good News. And so shall it be to us this day. They knew that Jesus, out of His great love, had given up His life for their sakes. He had not acted out of His own self-interest, selfishly holding on to the glory of heaven that He already possessed. Instead, Jesus had willingly "died for all." 

We should no longer live to please ourselves; we should spend our lives pleasing Christ. Therefore, you must learn to love other people the way God does. God has never made a person He didn't love. Everybody matters to Him. Therefore, everybody should matter to us, especially the unsaved souls, and we must reach out to them. If you have been indifferent or afraid to share the Good News with those around you, ask God to fill your heart with His love for them.

Jesus gave us the “Great Commission” to go into the world and preach the Good News. And our memory verse gives us Christ’s yardstick of measuring our love for Him—keeping His commandments. How else do we demonstrate our love for Him who loved us first and gave His life up for us than to keep His commandment of preaching the Good News to the world.

However, we need wisdom in reaching out to unbelievers, making the most of our opportunities to tell them the Good News of salvation: "Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." (Colossians 4 vs 5 - 6.)

When we tell others about Christ, it is important always to be gracious in what we say. No matter how much sense the message makes, we lose our effectiveness if we are not courteous. Just as we like to be respected, we must respect others if we want them to listen to what we have to say.

Prayer: Abba Father, You poured out Your love in my heart through the Holy Spirit indwelling me. Give me the grace to respond to Your love by obeying and keeping Your commandments, especially in preaching Your saving grace through Christ to the unbelievers, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

7 Reasons Not to Worry, Part 2

 

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:27–30)

Matthew 6:25–34 contains at least seven promises designed by Jesus to help us fight the fight for faith and be free from anxiety. Yesterday we saw Promises 1 and 2; today we look at 3 and 4.

Promise #3: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27)

This is a promise of sorts — the simple promise of reality that you can discover from experience: Being anxious will simply not do you any good. That’s a promise. This is not the main argument, but sometimes we just have to get tough with ourselves and say, “Soul, this fretting is absolutely useless. It promises nothing. You are not only messing up your own day, but a lot of other people’s as well. Renounce it. Leave it with God. And get on with your work.”

Anxiety accomplishes nothing worthwhile. That’s a promise. Believe it. Act on it.

Promise #4: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:28–30)

Compared to the flowers of the field you are a much higher priority for God, because you will live forever, and can thus bring him eternal praise as his loved children.

Nevertheless, God has such an overflow of creative energy and care, he lavishes it on flowers that last only a matter of days. So, he will certainly take that same energy and creative skill and use it to care for his children who will live forever. The question is: Will we believe this promise, and put away anxiety?

7 Reasons Not to Worry, Part 1

 

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25–26)

We are going to spend three days on this part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus is dealing specifically with anxiety about food and clothing. But, in fact, it relates to all anxiety.

Even in America, with its extensive welfare system, anxiety over finances and housing and food and clothing can be intense. Not to mention Christians who live in situations where much greater poverty threatens life. But Jesus says in verse 30 that our anxiety comes from little faith in our Father’s promise of future grace: “O you of little faith.”

These verses (25–34) contain at least seven promises designed by Jesus to help us fight the good fight against unbelief and be free from anxiety. (Today we look at Promises 1 and 2 — then over the next two days at the rest.)

Promise #1: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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?” (Matthew 6:25)

Since your body and your life are vastly more complex and difficult to provide than food and clothing are, and yet God has, in fact, created and provided you with both, then surely he will be able and willing to provide you with food and clothing.

Moreover, no matter what happens, God will raise your body someday and preserve your life and body for his eternal fellowship.

Promise #2: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26)

If God is willing and able to feed such insignificant creatures as birds who cannot do anything to bring their food into being — as you can by farming — then he will certainly provide what you need, because you are worth a lot more than birds. You, unlike the birds, have the amazing capacity to glorify God by trusting, obeying, and thanking God.

GOD’S UNCONQUERABLE LOVE FOR THOSE IN CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2022.

SUBJECT: GOD’S UNCONQUERABLE LOVE FOR THOSE IN CHRIST!

Memory verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3 vs 16.)

READ: Romans 8 vs 31 - 35 & 37 - 39:

8:31: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 

8:32: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 

8:33: Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 

8:34: Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 

8:35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

8:37: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 

8:38: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, 

8:39: nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separated us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

INTIMATION:

In the passage we read today, the Scripture overwhelmingly reveals the 'everlasting love' for us who are in Christ; who believe in Him, and have accepted Him as their personal Lord and Savior, completely accepting what He wrought for us in redemption. Christ's death for us is proof of His unconquerable love for the believers. Nothing can stop Christ's constant presence with the believer. When we know how great His love for us is, we will feel totally secure in Him. If we believe these overwhelming assurances, we will not be afraid when we are faced with any form of hardships, which naturally comes in the course of life.

Many of us are yet to realize what Christ wrought for us in the New Creation. Few of us have realized that our combat is with the eternally defeated one—Satan. He was eternally defeated when Jesus arose from the dead. Jesus couldn't have risen until Satan was defeated, and now Jesus is the Head of an unconquerable body! In Romans  8 vs 37, the apostle Paul recapitulated all the things that can assail the believer—the new created being; "Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword," and the believer has been made more than a conqueror in all these.

Sin consciousness had been the outstanding enemy of the believer, but there is no ground for it. If one knew that sin and sins were put away when he was “Born Again,” that there was no past that could ever confront him or her again, it would change the believer’s life completely. Everything that the believer has ever been and has done were put away, all the sins were remitted. The believer’s nature that has led him or her to sin has been changed. A new nature has taken its place (See Second Corinthians 5 vs 17 - 21). The “Blood of Jesus” has cleansed us. We is now utterly one with Christ, and are complete in Him.

The Bible in Colossians 2 vs 9 - 10 states, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." The Scripture confirms Christ's deity. All of God was in Christ's human body. We need not anything in addition to what Christ has provided for us to be saved. We are complete in Him. The completeness is a result of the Father's own work through Christ, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." (Ephesians 2 vs 10.)

It is obvious our Perfect Father couldn't create anything in His Son that wasn't perfectly well pleasing to Himself. And He confirmed this when He said, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3 vs 17.) We have been recreated in His Son. And the actual working out of that creation is described in Second Corinthians 5 vs 17; “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

That new creation is a new species that stands complete and perfect in the Father's presence. This new creation is as perfect as the first creation was in the Garden of Eden. The difference is that this new creation is a son, an heir of God, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ, and has the Nature of God in him! You can see what this means. It puts us over into the same class with Jesus—as conquerors. Hallelujah!

Prayer: Abba Father, my soul and everything that is within me are saying thank You for Your unparalleled love for me. It is my desire to return Your love. Endue me with the spirit of raw obedience to You, that I may love as Christ does, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IN YOU!

 

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2022.

SUBJECT: THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IN YOU!

Memory verse: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (First John 2 vs 15.)

READ: John 5 vs 41 - 45:

5:41: I do not receive honor from men. 

5:42: But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.

5:43: I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

5:44: How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor from the only God?

5:45: Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust.

INTIMATION:

The love of the Father is unfathomable; the love that gave in exchange an asset of inestimable value for something completely worthless. The love of the Father for the whole world that made Him gave His only begotten Son—Jesus Christ—as a propitiation for us, who sacrificed His life, died a shameful and painful death on the cross to pay the debt we owed (the wages of sin), that we may have life, not just life, but abundant life—eternal life wiiHim. Whenever I imagined God’s demonstration of His love for me, I have always felt a shiver ran through my spine. 

What assurances it gives to the heart when we come to know that the Father loves us so much so that He gave His only Son, in whom He is well pleased, to die in our place for our sins when He knew no sin. He loves us even as He loved Jesus, that He is vitally interested in us as He was in His Son when He walked the earth. Jesus revealed the extent of the care and love of the Father for us when He said:

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who come to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6 vs 37 - 40).

All believers are in the Father’s will. Jesus said He would not lose even one person whom the Father had given Him. Therefore, anyone who makes a sincere commitment to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior is secured in God’s promise of everlasting life. Jesus will not let His people be overcome by Satan and lose their salvation. Out of the sincere and unparalleled love He has for us, He has promised and we, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1 vs 6).

Jesus Himself is “the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12 vs 2), and He who began a good work in us continues it throughout our lifetime and will finish it when we meet Him face to face. God’s work for us began when Christ died on the cross in our place. His work in us began when we first believed. Now the Holy Spirit lives in us, enabling us to be more like Christ every day. The Christian process of growth and maturity that began when we accepted Jesus, continues until Christ returns.

It’s not unusual to sometimes feel as though you aren’t making progress in your spiritual life, especially when you misstep and fall into sin. Do not condemn yourself when it’s obvious that, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8 vs 1). “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Romans 8 vs 34). 

Sincerely confess your sin and restore your fellowship with Him, knowing that, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (First John 1 vs 9).

When God starts a project, He completes it! God will help you grow in grace until He has completed His work in your life. When you are discouraged, remember that God won’t give up on you. He promises to finish the work He has begun. When you feel incomplete, unfinished, or distressed by your shortcomings, remember God’s promise and provision. Don’t let your present condition rob you of the joy of knowing Christ or keep you from growing closer to Him.

As Christians, the Father’s kind of love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us by the Father (Romans 5 vs 5). This love has God as its primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments. Also, this love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered; it ought to have no boundaries just as God’s.

The Father’s kind of love seeks the welfare of all (Romans 15 vs 2), and works no ill to any (Romans 13 vs 8 - 10). It seeks opportunity to do good to all, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith (Galatians 6 vs 10). 

Love is considered something we owe, because we are permanently in debt to Christ for the lavish love He has poured out on us. The only way we can even begin to repay this debt is by fulfilling our obligation to love others in turn. Because Christ’s love will always be infinitely greater than ours, we will always have the obligation to love our neighbor. We may not have to die for someone, but there are other ways to practice sacrificial love; listening, helping, encouraging, giving, and so on. 

Therefore, examine yourselves and gauge the quantum of the love of Father in You. What will be your answer when you stand before Him, to a question such as, “My child, how did you use the My love poured out in your heart?” You can start now to prepare your answer in deeds of good works. Hallelujah!

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to practice the love of the Father to all, that I may be a true ambassador of Christ, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

How to Fight Anxiety

 

Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them?

The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by fighting against unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace. And the way you fight this “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7) is by meditating on God’s assurances of future grace and by asking for the help of his Spirit.

The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief, and the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit. The battle to be freed from sin — including the sin of anxiety — is fought “by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

The work of the Spirit and the word of truth. These are the great faith-builders. Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit, the wipers of the word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief on the windshield.

Both are necessary: the Spirit and the word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so that we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our faith grows stronger and the swerving of anxiety straightens out.