Two of Our Deepest Needs

 

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:1)

We as a church are “in” a Father and “in” a Lord. What does that mean?

The word “Father” implies primarily care and sustaining and protection and provision and discipline. So, to be “in” the Father would mean mainly to be in the care and under the protection of God as our heavenly Father.

The other designation is Lord: We are in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “Lord” implies primarily authority and leadership and ownership. So, to be “in” the Lord means mainly to be in the charge, under the authority, and in the possession of Jesus as our supreme Lord.

So, Paul greets the Thessalonian church in such a way as to remind them that they are a family (in the care of a Father) and that they are servants (in the charge of a Lord). These two descriptions of God as Father and Lord, and thus of the church as family and servants, correspond to two of our deepest needs.

Every single one of us has a need for rescue and help, on the one hand, and the need for purpose and meaning, on the other.

We need a heavenly Father to pity us and rescue us from sin and misery. We need his help every step of the way, because we are so weak and vulnerable.

We also need a heavenly Lord to guide us in life and tell us what is wise and give us a great and meaningful charge to fulfill, and reason for existence, some usefulness for the way God made us. We don’t just want to be safe in the care of a Father — as precious and needed as that is. We want a glorious cause to live for.

We want a merciful Father to be our Protector, and we want an omnipotent Lord to be our Champion and our Commander and our Leader in some great cause. So, when Paul says in verse 1, You are the church “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” we can take rest and help from the one — God is our Father! And we can take courage and meaning from the other — Jesus is our Lord!

WORDS ALSO WORK BLUNDERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY APRIL 01, 2023.

SUBJECT: WORDS ALSO WORK BLUNDERS!

Memory verse:  "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles"

(Proverbs 21 vs 23).

READ: Proverbs 6 vs 2; 13 vs 3; 18 vs 21; Matthew 12 vs 37; James 3 vs 2:

Proverbs 6:2: You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth. 

13:3: He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

18:21: Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Matthew 12:37: For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

James 3:2: For we stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, He is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

INTIMATION:

Words can work wonders, but they can also work blunders! Do you realize that multitude of people fail in life because they speak failure? They fear failure and allow their fear to overcome their faith. What you say locates you. You will not, and you cannot, rise above your own words. If you speak defeat, failure, anxiety, sickness, and unbelief, you will live on that level. Neither you nor anyone else, no matter how clever, or anointed, will ever live above the standard of their conversation/confession. This spiritual principle is unalterable.

If your conversation/confession is foolish, trifling, unpractical, or disorganized, your life invariably will be the same way. With your words, you constantly paint a picture of your inner self. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12 vs 34). What we say reveals what is in our hearts. Words can cut and destroy. You are either condemned or justified by your words. 

The apostle James recognized this truth when he stated, “The tongue is a little member and boasts great things” (James 3 vs 5). What you say and what you don’t say are both important. What we say probably affects more people than any other action we take. Therefore, learn self-control by controlling your tongue. If you can control this small but powerful member, you can control the rest of your body.

If you think back on your life, you will probably agree that most of your troubles have been tongue troubles. Numerous troubles are caused by an unruly tongue! Words spoken in the heat of the moment; words of anger, words of harshness, words of retaliation, words of bitterness, words of unkindness, these words produce trouble for us. 

The uncontrolled tongue can do terrible damage. The apostle James compares the damage the tongue can do to a raging fire. The tongue’s wickedness has its source in hell itself. Satan uses the tongue to divide people and pit them against one another. Idle and hateful words are damaging because they spread destruction quickly, and no one can stop the results once they are spoken. 

We dare not be careless with what we say, thinking we can apologize later, because even if we do, the scars remain. A few words spoken in anger can destroy a relationship that took years to build. Before you speak, remember that words are like fire—you can neither control nor reverse the damages they can do. 

Avoid careless speech because it is a vicious habit. When one realizes that his words are the coin of his kingdom and that his words can be either a cursing influence or a blessing, he will learn to value the gift of speech. The word is a seed (Luke 8 vs 11), and if spoken from a poisoned mind, it is a disaster. An idle word spoken aloud may fall into the soil of someone's heart and poison his entire life. Learn to control your tongue.

It's really important that we let God help us overcome our unruly speech habits, for our words can work blunders and get us into trouble. Confession is made with the mouth, not only for the good things God has promised us, but also for sickness, defeat, bondage, lack, and failure. 

Refuse to have a bad confession. A negative confession can produce negative results. Refuse to have a negative confession. Repudiate a dual confession, when you are saying at one moment, "with His stripes I am healed," and at the next moment, "But the pain is still there." 

Go to a higher level of living in the kingdom of God. Believe that you are who God says you are. Think that way. Talk that way. Act that way. Train yourself to live on the level of what is written about you in God's Word. Do not permit your thoughts, your words, or your actions to contradict what God says about you.

Although you may  not master positive confession in a day or even a week, or a month, you will learn it as you continue to walk in it faithfully. Because God has said it, we should boldly say the same thing! 

Prayer: Abba Father, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Set a guard over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let the Holy Spirit give me increasing power to monitor and control what I say, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

What Binds the Hands of Love?

 

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. (Colossians 1:3–5)

The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. That’s not happening! The people of God are not so full of love to God that they spend half their days in his word.

The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half loving and repairing what they spend it on.

It’s not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love for the lost and hurting of this world. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.

Where is the person whose heart is so passionately in love with the promised glory of heaven that he feels like an exile and a sojourner on the earth? Where is the person who has so tasted the beauty of the age to come that the diamonds of the world look like marbles from the dollar store, and the entertainment of the world feels empty, and the moral causes of the world are too small because they have no view to eternity? Where is this person?

To be sure, he is not in bondage to the Internet or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or sailing or putzing around. He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love. By expanding my joy in God, no matter the cost, if by any means possible I might include others in it.

Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love!

It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love and make them ineffective. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords of selfishness that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope. “We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:4–5).

I say it again with all the conviction that lies within me: it is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love on this earth. It is worldly-mindedness. And therefore the great fountain of love is the powerful, freeing confidence of Christian hope.

CLASSES OF SPOKEN WORD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY MARCH 31, 2023.

SUBJECT: CLASSES OF SPOKEN WORD!

Memory verse:  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6 vs 63.)

READ: Psalm 19 vs 14; Matthew 12 vs 36 - 37:

Psalm 19:14: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.

Matthew 12:36: But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement.

12:37: For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

INTIMATION:

Be careful with the words you speak. What you say reveals what is in your mind, hence Jesus warned that we must give account of our words at the judgement day. Words are seeds (Luke 8 vs 11), when planted it germinates and bears fruits according to their likeness. Therefore, plant good seeds (speak good words), and at the time of harvest, you will receive good fruits. 

There are three classes of words. The first is neutral, colorless, empty, soulless words. These constitute the general conversation of most people. They are just empty words of the monotone; there is no power, no soul, no color, and no life in such words, just sounds thrown out in the air. For instance, when you ask somebody 'how are you,' and the person replies, 'well I am there.' You feel the emptiness, hopelessness, soulless, life-lacking nature in the words spoken by the person.

The second class of words comprises construction words, strength-building words, healing words, and inspirational words. These are thrilling, mighty, and dominant words, and they are pregnant with hope, love, and victory. Such words are the Words of God. 

For instance, when you are asked the same question, 'how are you,' no matter the situation the fellow may be in, the person boldly answers; I am doing real good, "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against this day" (Second Timothy 1 vs 12); or "God is faithful, He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I ask or think, according to the power that works in me" (Ephesians 3 vs 20);  or, "I am good, for God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4 vs 19); or "I am fine, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  (Philippians 4 vs 13.)

The third class is composed of destructive, hate-filled words full of scandal, jealousy, and deadly virus, they come from a heart full of bitterness, and are sent out to wound, blight, and curse. When asked the same question as above, the reply might be 'Can't you see how this wicked world has kept me'; or 'I never knew I will see today'; or 'life is hopeless.'

Confession always precedes possession. Be careful, what you say is what you get. Dare to say exactly what God says in His Word, and mean what you say, as God means all He says and says what He means. Agree with God by speaking His Word in all circumstances. Declare God’s Words boldly, with faith, and obtain His promises attached, because He is faithful who had promised (Hebrews 11 vs 11).

In our memory verse, Jesus said that the Word of God is life and Spirit. In confirmation, David declared in Psalm 119 vs 50 that he had comfort in his affliction because "God's Word has given him life." Therefore, when you speak truly the Word of God, and mean it, you speak faith-filled words, and you speak life into your circumstance, because those true Words of God are "life to them that find them" (Proverbs 4 vs 22).

In the passage we read today in Psalm 19, David asks that God approve his words and reflections as though they were offerings brought to the altar. Now, knowing that for every word you speak, you are accountable to it because it will be examined by God, resolve to speak love-filled and life-filled words. Start each day asking the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with love for God and others.

Your duty as a 'believer' is to boldly declare the Word, and it is God's duty to confirm, and perform them (Isaiah 44 vs 26).  God 'hastens His word to perform it' (Jeremiah 1 vs 12). It is words of bold authority that overcomes Satan's power; "And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" (Revelation 12 vs 11).

Prayer: Abba Father, Your Word is a light to my feet, and a lamp to my path. In Your Word there is life, and that life is my light. Let the light of Your Word, O Lord, fill my life and path, that I may walk through life an overcomer, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

If He Calls, He Keeps

 

[The Lord] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

What are you depending on to ensure that your faith will last until Jesus comes?

The question is not, Do you believe in eternal security? The question is, How are we kept secure?

Does the perseverance of our faith rest decisively on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest decisively on the work of God to “keep us trusting”?

It is a great and wonderful truth of Scripture that God is faithful and will keep forever those whom he has called. Our confidence that we are eternally secure is a confidence that God will do whatever is necessary to “keep us trusting!”

The certainty of eternity is no greater than the certainty God will keep us trusting now. But that certainty is very great for all whom God has called.

At least three passages put the call of God and the keeping of God together in this way.

“[The Lord] will sustain you (keep you) to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9).

“May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1–2). (See the same reality in Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.)

The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe forever all whom he has called.

GOD IS EVER CARING!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY MARCH 30, 2023.

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 a 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 the frailty of our our human condition. His mercy takes everything into account. God will deal with us compassionately. God is so caring that when He forgives us our sin, He separates it from us and doesn't even remember it anymore. As east and west can never meet, so is the symbolic portrait of God's forgiveness of our sins and their separation from us. We need not wallow in the past, for God forgives and forgets.

In Matthew 6 vs 31 - 33, the Scripture states, "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' Or 'What shall drink?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." To "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" means we should put God first in all things in our lives; we should turn to God first for help, to fill your thoughts with His desires, to take His character for your pattern, and to serve and obey Him in everything. Though other things, and desires all compete for priority in our lives, and any of these can quickly bump God out of first place if you don't actively choose to give Him first place in every area of our life.

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, and to admit your needs, and let God take care of you. Sometimes we 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. Our loving Father will never leave us as He promises. But the enemy of our souls wants us to doubt God, and to question His ability. And undoubtedly, this 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,” 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 for God's intervention through His Son, Jesus Christ!

We do the same today. 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 of God, 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, that I may strive to give You my all, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

As Sure as God’s Love for His Son

 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

God strips every pain of its destructive power. You must believe this or you will not thrive, or perhaps even survive, as a Christian, in the pressures and temptations of modern life.

There is so much pain, so many setbacks and discouragements, so many controversies and pressures. I do not know where I would turn, if I did not believe that almighty God is taking every setback and every discouragement and every controversy and every pressure and every pain, and stripping it of its destructive power, and making it work for the enlargement of my joy in God.

Listen to Paul’s astonishing words in 1 Corinthians 3:21–23, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” The world is ours. Life is ours. Death is ours. Which I take to mean: God reigns so supremely on behalf of his elect that everything which faces us in a lifetime of obedience and ministry will be subdued by the mighty hand of God and made the servant of our holiness and our everlasting joy in God.

If God is for us, and if God is God, then it is true that nothing can succeed against us. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all will infallibly and freely with him give us all things — all things — the world, life, death, and God himself.

Romans 8:32 is a precious friend. The promise of God’s future grace is simply overwhelming. But all-important is the foundation: I have called it the logic of heaven. Here is a place to stand against all obstacles. God did not spare his own Son! Therefore! Therefore! The logic of heaven! Therefore, how much more will he not spare any effort to give us all that Christ died to purchase — all things, all good, and all bad working for our good!

It is as sure as the certainty that he loved his Son!