Not Nearly Hedonistic Enough

 

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19–20)

The message that needs to be shouted from the houses of high finance is this: Secular man, you are not nearly hedonistic enough!

Quit being satisfied with the little 2% yields of pleasure that get eaten up by the moths of inflation and the rust of death. Invest in the blue-chip, high-yield, divinely insured securities of heaven.

Devoting a life to material comforts and security and thrills is like throwing money down a rat hole. But investing a life in the labor of love yields dividends of joy unsurpassed and unending:

“Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. [And thus] provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail” (Luke 12:33).

This message is very good news: Come to Christ, in whose presence are fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Join us in the labor of Christian Hedonism. For the Lord has spoken: It is more blessed to love than to live in luxury! More blessed now, and forever.

GOD IS EVER CARING!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2022.

SUBJECT: GOD IS EVER CARING!

Memory verse: "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (First Peter 5 vs 7.) 

READ: Psalm 103 vs 8 - 14 & 17:

103:8: The Lord is merciful and gracious. slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 

103:9: He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. 

103:10: He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. 

103:11: For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 

103:12: As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 

103:13: As s father pities his children, do the Lord pities those who fear Him. 

103:14: For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 

103:17: But the mercy of The Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him. And His righteousness to children's children. 

INTIMATION:

God has deep interest in all that concerns you and I. We are fragile but God's care is eternal. Too often we focus on God as Judge and Lawgiver, ignoring His compassion and concern for us. When God examines our lives He remembers our human condition. He cares for us as a father lovingly cares for his children. Though there are times when His children needs to be disciplined, but God would not continually do so day after day. His mercy takes everything into account and He deals with us compassionately. Because of His forgiveness and mercy, He does not punish His people with what they deserve for their sins. Their rebellion would justly deserve death, but because of of His mercy, He only disciplines. 

God is so caring that when He forgives us our sin, He separates it from us and doesn't even remember it. East and west can never meet, and this is a symbolic portrait of how God separates us from sins that He has forgiven us. We need never wallow in the past, for God forgives and forgets. It’s normal to think 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 of those struggles, including our sins. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, and to admit your needs, and let God take care of you. 

Our loving Father will never leave us; that is His promise to us. But the enemy of our souls wants us to doubt God, and to question His ability. Obviously, if you told a big enough lie long enough very often, people would believe it. And this, undoubtedly, is the trick the father of lies, Satan, has used from the beginning of human history. In the Garden of Eden our first parents were set up to live happily ever after, having been placed in a paradise-like setting by a Loving, Caring, and Personal God. They had been given everything they could ever want, but with only one small restriction: "Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." 

We easily will say today, 'What a simple innocuous request and easy to obey.'

But when they were enticed by the “tempter,” the devil, they fell into his trap of questioning the love and goodness of the One from whom they had only experienced good. What a monstrous lie! But they bought the lie hook, line and sinker! And mankind has been wretched ever since, but thanks be to God for His intervention through His Son, Jesus Christ! It’s noteworthy that sometimes we do the same these days; we willingly swallow the lie that we cannot trust our Heavenly Father. We allow our earthly hurts from parents or others to distrust our view and our understanding of God. Our many feelings, emotions, fears, and human experience effectively block a clean perception, consequently stifling all truth about Him. 

Pray that God will help you not allow negative human relationship and experience interfere with having a close relationship with your Loving, and Caring Father, and hindering your enjoying the never ending and limitless benefits of His care.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are so caring and loving that You gave Your only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for my sins. What a supreme sacrifice You made for me! Forever You remain my God. Endue me with the spirit of love, compassion, trust, and complete obedience to You, Who has given all for me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Our Unspeakable Privilege

 

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)

One implication of the magnificent name, I AM WHO I AM, is that this infinite, absolute, self-determining God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ.

In John 8:56–58 Jesus is answering the criticism of the Jewish leaders. He says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Could Jesus have taken any more exalted words upon his lips? When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” he took up all the majestic truth of the name of God, wrapped it in the humility of servanthood, offered himself to atone for all our rebellion, and made a way for us to see the glory of this infinite, absolute, all-sufficient God — without fear.

In Jesus Christ we who are born of God have the unspeakable privilege of knowing Yahweh as our Father — I AM WHO I AM — the God

who existswhose personality and power is owing solely to himselfwho never changesfrom whom all power and energy in the universe flowsand to whom all creation should conform its life.

May those who know the name of God put their trust in him (Psalm 9:10).

The Only True Freedom

 

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32)

What is true freedom? Are you free?

Here are four things that need to be true if we are going to be fully free.

If you don’t have the desire to do a thing, you are not fully free to do it. Oh, you may muster the willpower to do what you don’t want to do, but nobody calls that full freedom. It’s not the way we want to live. There is a constraint and pressure on us that we don’t want.And if you have the desire to do something, but no ability to do it, you are not free to do it.And if you have the desire and the ability to do something, but no opportunity to do it, you are not free to do it.And if you have the desire to do something, and the ability to do it, and the opportunity to do it, but it destroys you in the end, you are not fully free — not free indeed — when you do it.

To be fully free, we must have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make us happy forever. No regrets. And only Jesus, the Son of God who died and rose for us, can make that possible.

If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36).

GOD WANTS US IN HIS PRESENCE ALWAYS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2022.

SUBJECT : GOD WANTS US IN HIS PRESENCE ALWAYS!

Memory verse: "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart," (Luke 18 vs 1.)

READ: Luke 18 vs 1 - 8:

18:1: Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 

18:2: saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.

18:3: Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary,’

18:4: And He would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,

18:5: yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

18:6: Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.

18:7: And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

18:8: I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

INTIMATION:

Prayer is the call of love on the Father to come and fellowship with Him. It is a call to the Father for a visit with Him. Prayer is our need crying out for help, a voice of faith to the Father for His assistance. Prayer, then, is facing God with man's needs, with His promise to meet those needs. It is born out of the sense of need, and the assurance that the need will be met. The Lord taught us to pray, He is one with us in this prayer life. Prayer is part of God's program for us. It is for this reason that the Lord wants us to always pray; always be in His presence. 

Most Christians have realized the fact that the Father's heart is hungry for the companionship of His children. His heart hunger is the reason for man and his redemption. God wants a constant fellowship with His children. It was His plan from the beginning hence He visited Adam everyday in the Garden. He loves us and that love impels Him to call us to prayer.

It is God's Will that His children will come to His Throne Room, to stand in His presence  without reproof or condemnation. It is for this reason that Jesus Christ, while teaching His disciples how to pray, said, "When you pray" (Matthew 6 vs 5), and not "If you pray." It is God's intention that His children will visit their Father, the children coming joyously into the presence of their ‘Loving Parent,’ and are welcome.

The apostle Paul, in consonance with the Lord’s demand, says we should persist in prayer and not give up; “pray without ceasing” (First Thessalonians 5 vs 17); continuing steadfastly, and earnestly in it, and being vigilant in it with thanksgiving (Romans 12 vs 12; Colossians 4 vs 2). Christians should not allow themselves to be trapped in circumstances or mental attitudes that would hinder their communication with God. They should be of an attitude at all times that is conducive to offering prayer to God. They must not only pray continually, they must be fervent in prayer with thanksgiving.

To persist in prayer and not give up, does not mean endless repetition or painfully long prayer sessions. Always praying means keeping our requests constantly before God as we live for Him day by day, believing He will answer. When we live by faith, we are not to give up. God may delay answering, but His delays have good reasons. As we persist in prayer we grow in character, faith, and hope. 

When we pray, we are in constant communication with the Father and it enriches us spiritually. We touch the Father through our prayers, and there cannot be any touching of the Master without the Master knowing it. When our need touches Him, it makes a demand upon his ability to meet that need. 

For instance, one day when the crowd was pressing around the Master, Jesus said, "Who touched Me?" Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, "Who touched Me?" But Jesus said. "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me." (Luke 8 vs 45 - 47.) touching the Master is making a demand from Him. The woman, with a hemorrhage of blood for twelve years, touched Him, making a demand in faith upon His ability to meet her need, and the Master knew it, and she got her need met - she was healed of the disease. 

In the passage we read today, we learned that the Lord wants us to persist in prayer and not give up. It’s a Christian behavior, and an expression of our faith that God answers our prayers. Faith shouldn’t die if the answers come slowly, for the delay may be God’s way of working His Will in our life. He is ever present—Omnipresent—, always listening, always answering, may be not in ways you had hoped, but in ways that He knows are best as the All-knowing—Omniscient—God.

If the unjust judge responds to constant pressure, how much more will a great and loving God respond to us? If we know He loves us, we can believe He will hear our cries for help. Therefore, Christians must believe that God will readily answer their prayers. 

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my Loving Father, and Faithful Companion. Endue me with the spirit of constant prayer and supplication to You, making my requests known to You, with thanksgiving, knowing that You will come through to me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD,

BELIEVERS CAN NEVER BE SEPARATED FROM GOD’S LOVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2022.

SUBJECT : BELIEVERS CAN NEVER BE SEPARATED FROM GOD’S LOVE!

Memory verse: "Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8 vs 35).

READ: Romans 8 vs 31 - 39:

8:31: What then shall we say to these things? If God be 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?

8:36: As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

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, nor things present nor things to come, 

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

INTIMATION:

Have you ever imagined a separation from God? Your answer might be yes, because you have considered yourself not good enough for God. You will then say, "God will not save me." Your thought is that your sinful life will be a hindrance for you to receive salvation from Him. But it is not true! If God gave His Son for you, He isn’t going to hold back the gift of salvation! And He will not withhold anything you need to live for Him. If Christ gave His life for you, He isn’t going to turn around and condemn you! 

Christ had already chosen you, and gave His life for you because of His love for you, and quest for you to have life, and have it more abundantly. Have you ever imagined this show of love by God? Have you ever heard of any parallel, or equal show of love in history, and even now? Christ was spotless, perfect, and rich. For our sake, He became poor, accepted to be a propitiation for our sins, took all our sins; past, present, and future, on Himself, and paid the wages of our sin which is death (Romans 6 vs 23; Ezekiel 18 vs 4). His death was even a shameful death on the cross, just for us. 

By His death for our sins, He justified us, legally setting us free from sin haven paid the price for us. He did not stop at that. He descended to hell and met with our accuser, and greatest enemy, Satan. He engaged him there, defeated him, and stripped him of all powers. He took back His life and ascended into heaven where He sits at His position of authority—the right hand of God, and making intercession for us continually, as our Advocate before the Father. However, He is not there for the purpose of condemnation, but for the work of intercession on behalf of the saints. His continued intercession means that the Christian has the continual cleansing of sin by His sacrificial blood. 

He is our High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, and ever ready to help us through the journey of life. When our accuser—Satan—accuses us, He reminds God of what He has wrought for us. No matter what happens to us, no matter where we are, we can never be separated from His love. Though believers may have to face hardships that Satan would unleash upon them in many forms, but they cannot separate the sons of God from their Father if they remain faithful. 

Though the hardships sometimes cause us to think that Christ has abandoned us. But far be it from the truth, it is impossible to be separated from Christ. His death for us is proof of His unconquerable love, which is an overwhelming assurance of our being totally secure in Him. No one, including Satan, or anything can stand against God to bring His people into eternal glory, except us when any of reject the offer Christ has given to us by His death as a propitiation for our sins. 

No one can bring a charge against the children of God except the One to whom the body of Christ belongs. No one has a right to condemn the members of the body except the One who saved them. However, since God loved His children and offered His own Son for them, then it is not logical to believe that He would charge His blood-bought children with sin. If Jesus gave Himself on the cross to save the Christian, then it is not logical to believe that He would turn and condemn those for whom He died.

Consequently, in Christ we are super-conquerors, and His love will protect us from any forces in the universe: principalities and powers, unseen evil forces like Satan and his fallen angels—the demons. We are completely secured in Him. God loved us so much so that He exchanged His Son's life of inestimable value with our worthless sinful lives. Whenever I imagine this act of God, I feel a chill run through my spines, with goose-pimples all over my skin. It is awesome!

When we comprehend the extent to which God went to bring us into eternal glory, then we begin to understand the love of God. When we understand how far Jesus had to come to get us, then we can appreciate the extent to which God had to go to save us. If the magnitude of God’s love does not motivate us into action, then certainly, we will be lost because we are loveless and unresponsive to the grace of God. We are ungrateful if we do not respond to His grace. Loveless and ungrateful characters have no place in eternal glory.

Prayer: Abba Father, I thank You for all You wrought for me in redemption out of Your unparalleled and unconquerable love for me. It is my desire to reciprocate this love You showcased for me. Engrace me, O Lord, with raw obedience to You in all things in my journey of life, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Worship in a Lightning Storm

 

For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.” (Luke 17:24)

I was flying at night from Chicago to Minneapolis, almost alone on the plane. The pilot announced that there was a thunderstorm over Lake Michigan and into Wisconsin. He would skirt it to the west to avoid turbulence.

As I sat there staring out into the total blackness on the east side of the plane, suddenly the whole sky was brilliant with light, and a cavern of white clouds fell away four miles beneath the plane and then vanished.

A second later, a mammoth white tunnel of light exploded from north to south across the horizon, and again vanished into blackness. Soon the lightning was almost constant, and volcanoes of light burst up out of cloud ravines and from behind distant white mountains of clouds.

I sat there shaking my head almost in unbelief. O Lord, if these are but the sparks from the sharpening of your sword, what will be the day of your appearing! And I remembered the words of Christ: “As the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day” (Luke 17:24).

Even now as I recollect that sight, the word glory is full of feeling for me. I thank God that again and again he has awakened my heart to desire him, to see him, and to sit down to the feast of Christian Hedonism and worship the King of Glory. The banquet hall is very large. Come.