God Heals by Humbling

 

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.” (Isaiah 57:18–19)

In spite of the severity of man’s disease of rebellion and willfulness, God will heal. How will he heal? Isaiah 57:15 says that God dwells with the crushed and humble. Yet the people of Isaiah 57:17 are not humble. They are brazenly pursuing their own proud way. So, what will a healing be?

It can only be one thing. God will heal them by humbling them. He will cure the patient by crushing his pride. If only the crushed and humble enjoy God’s fellowship (Isaiah 57:15), and if Israel’s sickness is a proud and willful rebellion (Isaiah 57:17), and if God promises to heal them (Isaiah 57:18), then his healing must be humbling and his cure must be a crushed spirit.

Isn’t this Isaiah’s way of prophesying what Jeremiah called the new covenant and the gift of a new heart? He said, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33).

Isaiah and Jeremiah both see a time coming when a sick, disobedient, hard-hearted people will be supernaturally changed. Isaiah speaks of healing. Jeremiah speaks of writing the law on their hearts. And Ezekiel puts it like this: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26)

So the healing of Isaiah 57:18 is a major heart transplant — the old hardened, proud, willful heart of stone is taken out, and a new soft, tender heart is put in, which is easily humbled and crushed by the memory of sin and the sin that remains.

This is a heart that the lofty One whose name is Holy will dwell with forever.

MAKING INQUIRIES IN PRAYER!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13, 2022.

SUBJECT : MAKING INQUIRIES IN PRAYER!

Memory verse: "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3.)

READ: Second Samuel 5 vs 17 - 20:

5:17: Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David King over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.

5:18: The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

5:19: So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

5:20: So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there, and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.

INTIMATION:

To inquire is to ask, but it is more formal than asking. It entails showing an eagerness to find out or learn. It is to earnestly ask or investigate and receive information. Ordinarily, we are full of prayers of petition, calling on God to intervene and do something about our situation. But we have, more often than not, ignored the place of enquiry in our prayers, and that actually gives us access to God's ways.

God is “All-Knowing,” the end of any matters are known to Him from the beginning (Isaiah 46 vs 10). You must make enquiries from Him, if you really desire the way out of your predicament, for all about you is known to Him from the beginning. Prayer of inquiry gives us access to the secret and hidden things of life. The Bible in Jeremiah 6 vs 16 says, "Thus says the Lord: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls...." 

The Bible, in Matthew 7 vs 7 - 8, says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds  and to him who knocks it will be opened." Jesus said "everyone," that includes you, and I, nobody is excluded. These are the assurances of Jesus on our inquiries in prayer.

God has instructed us to inquire from Him. Prayers like, "Oh God, come and do it for me" is the prayer of babies; but, "Lord, what must I do?" Is the prayer of sons. As long as you remain a child in the kingdom, always asking for things to be done for you, and crying in the face of every situation, the glory never comes near you. It is sonship that attracts the glory, and responsibility is what makes a son.

There are times you are faced with a dilemma of not knowing what next to do in life or which way to turn. These are the cross-roads of life. In prayer of inquiry, God shows you what to do in order to get what you are looking for. It then becomes your responsibility to put to work what has been revealed to you.

King David won all his battles because he was a man of inquiries. The passage we read today demonstrates David’s lifestyle of inquiring from God in his moments of great decision-making concerning his life. Before David went to battle, he inquired of God first, asking for His presence and guidance. And in almost every new situation, David prayed for guidance from God. 

David, as a man of inquiries, never suffered any defeat or injuries as a warrior. He had access to divine instructions by prayer of inquiry, and it made a world of difference in his life. One instruction from heaven can deliver you from a lifetime of struggle that you will no longer suffer injuries in your life.

Responsibility is the price you pay for greatness. There is what you must do to commit God to listen to you. You have your part to play and God has His; He will never play yours for you. He said, "Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you" (James 4 vs 8). It is your drawing near to Him and making inquiries that provokes His drawing near to you with answers and instructions. 

Don't watch your life drag on endlessly. Determine to see the end of that problem. Make inquiries by getting into God's presence and with your entire spirit, approach Him for an answer. Do not be in a hurry, be set to get an answer and take delivery of His higher ways, which will put you above whatever situation you are in. Whatever way you are missing it, He will reveal it to you when you go before Him to inquire. You worship before Him, speak to Him and wait for His response, celebrating in tongues until the answer comes.

Too often we wait until we are in trouble before turning to God. By then the consequences of our actions are already unfolding. Do you ask for God’s help only as a desperate last resort? Instead of going to Him first! Like David, you may receive incredible help and avoid serious trouble if you inquire patiently from Him first. 

New developments offer us new challenges as well as new risks. We should seek guidance in each new situation because this will help us avoid unseen dangers. Don’t assume that God’s way of working in your life will always be the same. If you seek God’s leading in new circumstances, change won’t appear as a threat but as an opportunity to let God work in new ways.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your ways, and taught are higher than ours. Before You all things lay bare, as nothing is hidden from You.  Show me the path of life, and lead me in all things, thereby making me a victor in all situations, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Master Servant

 

so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7)

To me, the Bible’s most astonishing image of Christ’s second coming is in Luke 12:35–37, which pictures the return of a master from a marriage feast like this:

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.”

To be sure, we are called servants — and that no doubt means we are to do exactly as we are told. But the wonder of this picture is that the “master” insists on serving. We may have expected this during Jesus’s ministry on earth, since he said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). But Luke 12:35–37 is a picture of the second coming, when the Son of Man comes in the blinding glory of his Father “with his mighty angels in flaming fire” as 2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 says. Why would Jesus be portrayed as a table waiter at the second coming?

Because the very heart of his glory is the fullness of grace that overflows in kindness to needy people. This is why Ephesians 2:7 says he aims “in the coming ages [to] show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

What is the greatness of our God? What is his uniqueness in the world? Isaiah answers: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4 RSV). There is no other god like this. He never relinquishes the role of inexhaustible benefactor of his ever-dependent, happy people.

DON’T FRET BUT TURN YOUR WORRY TO PRAYER!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12, 2022.

SUBJECT : DON’T FRET BUT TURN YOUR WORRY TO PRAYER!

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

READ: Matthew 6 vs 25 - 33:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

INTIMATION:

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

Commit everything in the hands of God in prayer. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. There is nothing impossible with, nor difficult for God. Therefore, steep your life in God’s reality, put Him first in your life; let Him fill your thoughts with His desires, take His character for your pattern, and serve and obey Him in everything.

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

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

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

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

Prayers: Abba Father, my trust is in You for I know You will never leave me nor forsake me. Daily You have loaded me with Your benefits. My soul blesses, and rejoices in You. I put my cares upon You, knowing You care for me. Give me the grace commit all things concerning me to You in prayers, and not to fret about anything, in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Beware of Serving God

 

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:24–25)

We do not glorify God by providing his needs, but by praying that he would provide ours — and trusting him to answer, and living in the joy of that all-providing care as we lay down our lives in love for other people.

Here we are at the heart of the good news of Christian Hedonism. God’s insistence that we ask him to give us help so that he gets glory. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:15). This forces on us the startling fact that we must beware of thinking he needs us. We must beware of serving God, and we must take special care to let him serve us, lest we rob him of his glory. “God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25).

This sounds very strange. Most of us think serving God is a totally positive thing. We have not considered that serving God may be an insult to him. But meditation on the very meaning of prayer makes this plain.

In the novel, Robinson Crusoe, the hero, took Psalm 50:12–15 as his favorite text to hope in as he’s stranded on the island: God says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. . . . Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

Which means: there is a way to serve God that would belittle him as needy of our service. Oh, how careful we must be not to preempt the mighty grace of God in Christ. Jesus said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). He aims to be the servant. He aims to get the glory as the Giver.

HOLD TIGHT TO YOUR CONFESSION IN PRAYER!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 11, 2022.

SUBJECT : HOLD TIGHT TO YOUR CONFESSION IN PRAYER!

Memory verse: "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, Let us hold fast our confession." (Hebrews 4 vs 14.) 

READ: File James 1 vs 6 - 8: 

1:6: But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

1:7: For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 

1:8: He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

INTIMATION:

As a Christian, what is your confession of the Word of God in prayer, and after prayer? Are you holding tight to your confession during prayer as well as after prayer? Or do you confess doubt and unbelief after prayer? Any confession you make is a seed sowed in like manner, and you will reap according to what you sowed. The condition for reward is faithfulness to that which we heard and obeyed. 

Faith is the foundation upon which all prayer must be made. It is the foundation upon which our prayers are answered. Our faith, or unbelief, is determined by our confession of the Word of God we have heard. Few of us realize the effect of our spoken word on our own hearts, or on our Adversary. He hears us make our confession of trust, confidence, or failure, of sickness, of lack, and apparently he doesn't forget. Remember he is our accuser; accusing us of our weak or negative confession, and we unconsciously go down to the level of our confession. No one ever rises above his or her confession.

Everybody who walks by faith will have testings. They do not necessarily come from the Father; they usually come from the Adversary. God may allow the testings of the Adversary to test your faith and trust in Him. 

But as long as the Adversary can confuse the issue, and keep you in a state of flux, you are at a disadvantage. A state of flux is a state of continual changing, of insatiably, of double mindedness. In the passage we read today, the apostle James describes a double minded man as unstable in all his ways, and let not that man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

In our memory verse, the Scripture advises us, as Christians, to "hold fast our confession." That is, when your confession is in tune with the Word of God in the Scripture, hold tight to it heartily knowing that the Scripture cannot be broken (John 10 vs 35); that what the Father says is true, and sure, already settled in heaven. 

When we doubt His Word, it is because we believe something else that is contrary to the Word. Our confidence may be in the arm of flesh; it may be in medicine; it may be in institutions; but whatever our confidence is in, if it contradicts the Word it destroys our faith life, and without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11 vs 6). Consequently, It destroys our prayers, and brings us again into bondage.

There isn't any power in all the universe that can void any statement of fact in His Word. No Word from God is void of power. He said, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55 vs 11.)

Your confidence is in that unbroken, living Word, and you hold fast to your confession in the face of every assaults of the enemy. Never in any way be terrified by your adversaries. Sometimes, it may appear as though the prayer is not answered, hold on to it, though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come (Habakkuk 2 vs 3). It is your quiet assurance in His Word that gives you the supremacy over your adversary.

God’s ways are forever the best, and therefore, He answers in our best interests. Though it might not be the way we wanted, but He aligns our desires with His purposes. He knows the best for us in any circumstances. 

Prayer: Abba Father, my trust is in You and Your Word. Forever Your Word is settled in heaven. Your Word is as sweet as honey in my mouth. Give me the grace to confess Your Word heartily with absolute trust in You and Your Word, knowing that You hasten to perform Your Word. My absolute confidence is in You, and nothing can take this away from me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

We Can Do Nothing

 

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.