BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY MARCH 12, 2023.

SUBJECT : BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT! 

Memory verse: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Romans 8 vs 14.)

READ: Romans 8 vs 1 - 7; 

8:1: There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

8:2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

8:3: For what the law could not in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin; He condemned sin in the flesh,

8:4: that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

8:5: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

8:6: For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 

8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

INTIMATION:

The passage we read today shows that there are two minds; the mind of flesh and the mind of the Spirit of God. But that does not mean you and I have two brains, it simply means that we receive information from our natural mind (which operates without the Holy Spirit), and we get information from our spirit (through which the Holy Spirit communicates directly to us).

Now the mind of the flesh which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit is death; death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter. But the mind of the Holy Spirit is life and peace both now and forever. As children of God, we are not to be led by our carnal mind, but by the Holy Spirit Who indwells us. The Holy Spirit is the only One who knows the mind of God, and is the revealer of the truth. (John 16 vs 13). 

In First Corinthians 2 vs 16, the Bible says, 

"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ." This Scripture tells us that because the Holy Spirit lives in us, you and I have the mind of Christ. The problem is that although we have the mind of Christ and know the Word of God, we don't listen to our spirit which is being enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Instead, we listen to our natural mind, which relies strictly on sense and reason without the Holy Spirit.

In every situation of life, our head will be trying to give us information. It will be yelling at us so loudly that if we don't turn our attention to our spirit we will never hear what the Lord is saying to us in that situation. That is why we must learn to live out of our spirit and not of our head.

You see, evil spirits constantly bombard us with negative thoughts. If we receive them and dwell on them, they become ours because the Bible says that as we think in our heart, so are we. (Proverbs 23 vs 7.) If we accept the lies of the devil as reality, then they will become reality to us because of our "faith," our belief in them.

That is why in moments of worry, stress and turmoil we have to simply take the time to turn to our inner man, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and say, "Lord, what do You have to say about this?" If we listen in faith, He will speak to us and reveal to us the truth of that situation.

You and I have two huge vats of information within us. One is carnal information that comes off the top of our head. The other is spiritual information which wells up out of our heart. One is muddy. polluted water, and the other is clean drinking water. It is up to us to decide which source we are going to drink from.

Some people try to drink from both sources. That's what the Bible calls being double-minded. (James 1 vs 8.) Do you know what it means to be double-minded? It means that your mind is trying to tell you one thing, and the your spirit is trying to tell you just the opposite. Instead of saying, "I'm not going to believe that because it's a lie," you get in a cross-fire, going back and forth between the two thoughts.

If you and I are ever going to live the happy, victorious and successful Christian life the Lord wills for us, we are going to have to decide which fountain of information we are going to drink from. We are going to have to learn to live out of our spirit and not out of our head.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the gift of an Helper, the Holy Spirit.Give me the grace to seek the guidance and counsel of the Holy Spirit at all times in my life’s journey and His empowerment to lead my life in accordance with Your will, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

When the Potter Is for Us

 

“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?” (Isaiah 45:9)

The majesty of God is magnified when we see him through the lens of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing). He commands nothingness, and it obeys and becomes something.

Out of nothing he makes the clay, and out of the clay he makes us — the pottery of the Lord (Isaiah 45:9) — his possession, destined for his glory, in total dependence on him.

“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3). It is a humbling thing to be a sheep and a pot that belong to somebody else.

This morning I was reading in Isaiah and found another statement about God’s majesty. When I put it together with God’s absolute power and rights as Creator, there was a combustion that went off in my heart. Boom!

Isaiah 33:21 says, “The Lord in majesty will be for us!”

For us! For us! The Creator is for us and not against us. With all the power in the universe and with absolute right to do as he pleases with what he made — he is for us!

“No eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4). “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

Can you think of anything (I mean anything) that is more comforting and assuring and delighting than that the Lord in his majesty is for you?

GRACE AND FAITH WORK TOGETHER!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY MARCH 11, 2023.

SUBJECT : GRACE AND FAITH WORK TOGETHER!

Memory verse: "So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." (Luke 17 vs 6.)

READ: Hebrews 11 vs 4 - 7:

11:4: By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

11:5: By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not sea death, "and was not found, because God has taken him", for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

11:7: By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

INTIMATION:

There is a very fine line between grace and faith that is often missed by us. Because these two work together, the line between them is difficult for many to discern. And if we do miss it, our lives become confused. 

Many trust their faith to meet their needs. When their needs are not met, then they tried to have more faith because they are unable to discern the very fine line between faith and grace. They are not seeing beyond their faith to seek the grace of God (the power of God) to meet their needs.

Most people seemed to base all achievements on their faith, when, in reality, every victory or achievement is based on God's faithfulness bestowed on us by His grace—the power of God. If we frustrate the grace of God, we are going to feel frustrated. This explains why, by the grace of God, we receive our petition even when our faith is near zero: "So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there," and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17 vs 20.)

It is not the tiny faith (as tiny as the tiniest seed on earth) that will move the mountain, but the mighty power of God (the grace of God) which came through your tiny faith. All the faith story at the dawn of history, in the passage we read today, were the power of God (the grace of God) manifesting. But without faith, it is impossible to plug into the power source—the grace of God.

Jesus had faith (great faith I supposed) all the time He was suffering. He had faith while in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had faith before the high priest and Pilate. He had faith when He was being ridiculed, abused and mistreated. He had faith on the way to Golgotha. He had faith while hanging on the cross. He even had faith while His body lay in the tomb; He had absolute faith that God would not leave Him there but would raise Him up, as He had promised. 

But do you realize that for all His faith, nothing happened until the power of God came forth to bring about the resurrection? His faith only kept him stable until the Father's appointed time for His deliverance. We can have all the faith in the world, but it will avail us nothing until it is 'plugged into' the source of power, which is the grace of God. 

In order to get our needs met, in order to receive anything from the Lord, we must have both faith and grace. It is by grace through faith that we are saved. And it is by grace through faith that all our prayers are answered and all of our needs are met: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2 vs 8.)

In Second Timothy 2 vs 13, the Bible says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." The Bible is teaching us here to get our eyes off our ability to believe (as the ultimate), but rather onto God's willingness to meet our needs even though we do not have perfect faith. 

Remember the man who came to Jesus asking for healing of his son. Jesus told him that all things are possible to those who believe. The man replied, "Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief" or "Help my weakness of faith!" The man knew his faith was lacking, but he was honest about it, and Jesus healed his son. (See Mark 9 vs 17 - 24.) God's grace (power) came on the scene and gave the man what he did not deserve.

Keep your eyes on God to deliver you, not your faith. But always pray with faith for the grace of God (unmerited favor) to come upon you, and enable you to meet all your needs.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my source of everything. By my strength I cannot prevail, for without you can do nothing. My eyes are upon You. Give me the grace to have faith in Your power to help me always obtain a good testimony of Your grace working in me and for me in all things, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

Two Infinitely Strong and Tender Truths

 

“ . . . declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” (Isaiah 46:10)

The word “sovereignty” (like the word “Trinity”) does not occur in the Bible. We use it to refer to this truth: God is in ultimate control of the world from the largest international intrigue to the smallest bird-fall in the forest.

Here is how the Bible puts it: “I am God, and there is no other. . . . ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:9–10). And: “[God] does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35). And: “He is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me” (Job 23:13–14). And: “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

One reason this doctrine is so precious to believers is that we know that God’s great desire is to show mercy and kindness to those who trust him (Ephesians 2:7; Psalm 37:3–7; Proverbs 29:25). God’s sovereignty means that this design for us cannot be frustrated. It cannot fail.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, befalls those “who love God” and “are called according to his purpose” but what is for our deepest and highest and longest good (Romans 8:28; Psalm 84:11).

This is why I like to say that the mercy and the sovereignty of God are the twin pillars of my life. They are the hope of my future, the energy of my service, the center of my theology, the bond of my marriage, the best medicine in all my sicknesses, the remedy of all my discouragements.

And when I come to die (whether sooner or later), these two truths will stand by my bed, and with infinitely strong and infinitely tender hands lift me up to God.

Let Us Adore the Lamb

 

I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. (Revelation 5:4)

Have you ever thought of your prayers as the aroma of heaven? This is the picture we get when we read Revelation 5. Here is a glimpse of life in heaven.

In Revelation 5, we see God almighty on the throne with a scroll in his hand. The scroll had seven seals. They all had to be pulled off before the scroll could be opened.

I think the opening of the scroll represents the final days of history, and the pulling off of the seven seals represents the kind of history we will pass through as we move toward those days.

At first, John wept that there was no one worthy to open the scroll and look into it (Revelation 5:4). But then one of the elders in heaven says, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).

By dying on the cross, Jesus had earned the right to open the remainder of redemptive history and lead his people victoriously through it.

In the next verse, the Lion is pictured as a Lamb, “standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Isn’t this a beautiful image of Jesus’s victory on the cross? Standing, not lying, though it had been slain!

It is as sure as though a lion had devoured the foe — but the way he achieved the victory was by letting the foe slay him like a lamb!

So, now the Lamb is worthy to take the scroll of redemptive history from God’s hand and open it. This is such a kingly act that the twenty-four elders of heaven (God’s worship council, as it were) fall down before the Lamb in adoration.

And do you know what the golden bowls of incense are? Revelation 5:8 says they are “the prayers of the saints.” Does not this mean that our prayers are the aroma of heaven, sweet smelling before the throne of God and before the Lamb?

I am strengthened and encouraged to pray all the more often and all the more vigorously when I think that my prayers are being assembled and stored up in heaven and offered to Christ repeatedly in heavenly acts of worship.

Let’s all bless and honor and adore Christ here below with our prayers, and then doubly rejoice that the worship council of heaven offers them again to Christ as sweet smelling incense before the Lamb who was slain.

OBEY AND BE BLESSED!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2023.

SUBJECT: OBEY AND BE BLESSED!

Memory verse: "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land." (Isaiah 1 vs 19.)

READ: Deuteronomy 30 vs 15 - 16: 

30:15: See, I have set before You today life and good, death and evil, 

30:16: in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgements, that you may live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

INTIMATION:

Being obedient is submitting to authority; to comply with orders—the practice of doing what one is told. Obedience to God is doing the will of God, and willingness to forsake all that are outside God’s will. True obedience is willingness to obey commands from the heart. Heartless obedience of law is worthless before God. His laws are written in the Bible and are clearly evident in the world around us. Obeying them is reasonable, sensible, and beneficial. We could expect blessings when we conduct ourselves according to the moral principles of God. The most difficult part of obeying God’s laws is simply deciding to start now.

Not being obedient is, in my considered opinion, disagreeing with God, and consequently, refusing to access the promises and blessings of God. The Scripture likened disobedience to rebellion and stubbornness to God. Rebellion and stubbornness are serious sins. They involve far more than being independent and strong-minded. Scriptures equates them with divination (witchcraft) and idolatry (First Samuel 15 vs 23). 

Rebellion against God is, perhaps, the most serious sin of all because as long as a person rebels, he or she closes the door of forgiveness and restoration with God. Christians today always make rituals of going to church, taking communion, serving in units, paying tithes etc. But these activities are empty if our reasons for doing them are selfish. God doesn't want these sacrifices and offerings without an attitude of devotion (obedience) to Him. 

The prophet Samuel told Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (First Samuel 15 vs 22). All we should do is to give God the obedience and lifelong service He desires from us, and the promises of God and the provisions thereto, are all ours.

The Christian rituals are not bribes to make God overlook our character faults. All God wants is our sincere faith and devotion. The Christian rituals ought to be outward sign of an inward faith in God. Many today have come to place more faith in the rituals of their religion than in God they worship. God does not take pleasure in your outward expressions if your inward faith is missing (Hosea 6 vs 6). Though religious rituals can help people understand God and nourish their relationship with Him, but they are helpful only if it is carried out with an attitude of love and obedience to God.

Have you ever said you would obey God if you know what He wanted? Have you ever complained that obedience is too difficult for a mere human? These are unacceptable excuses. All God’s laws are good, and are for our benefit in obedience (See Deuteronomy 28 vs 1 - 13). The strength to obey comes from our relationship with God, who is also the source of our strength for; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4 vs 13). The power we receive in union with Christ is sufficient to do His Will and to face all challenges that arise from our commitment to doing it. 

Prayer: Abba Father, trust and obedience to Your Word is the only access to Your promises and provisions. Strengthen me, O Lord, with the spirit of raw obedience to You and Your Word, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God Cares for You

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6–7)

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?

God’s answer would sound something like this (paraphrasing Isaiah 51:12):

I — the Lord, your Maker — I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So, your fear must mean that you do not trust me — and even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my future grace. So, all your trembling — weak as it is — reveals pride.

The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of the promise of his future grace.

You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1 Peter 5:6–7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses. “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God . . . [now, verse 7] casting all your anxieties on him.” Verse 7 is not a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause. It starts with a participle: “Humble yourselves . . . [by] casting all your anxieties on him.”

This means that casting your anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. It’s like saying, “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.” Or, “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes on the road.” Or, “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.” Or, “Humble yourselves . . . casting your fears on God.”

One way to humble ourselves is to cast all our anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride. No matter how weak it looks or feels.

Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are unmanagable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger. 

In other words, pride is a form of unbelief and does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t. 

Therefore, the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, “He cares for you.” And then unload your fears onto his strong shoulders.