God Strengthens Us Through Others

 

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31–32)

What about the other ten apostles (not counting Judas)?

Satan was going to sift them too. Did Jesus pray for them?

Yes he did. But he did not ask the Father to guard their faith in the very same way he guarded Peter’s.

God broke the back of Peter’s pride and self-reliance that night in the agony of Satan’s sieve. But he did not let him go. He turned him around and forgave him and restored him and strengthened his faith. And now it was Peter’s mission to strengthen the other ten. “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus provided for the ten by providing for Peter. The strengthened becomes the strengthener.

There is a great lesson here for us. Sometimes God will deal with you directly, strengthening your faith alone in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is asleep. But most of the time (we might say ten-elevenths of the time) God strengthens our faith through another person.

God sends us some Simon Peter who brings just the word of grace we need to keep on in the faith: some testimony about how “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

Eternal security is a community project. Whenever God encourages your heart with the promise that in Satan’s sifting your faith will not fail, then take that encouragement and double your joy by using it to strengthen your brothers and sisters — with the very strength with which you have been strengthened.

SUBMIT TO GOD’S TIMING IN YOUR JOURNEY OF LIFE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY APRIL 04, 2023.

SUBJECT: SUBMIT TO GOD’S TIMING IN YOUR JOURNEY OF LIFE! 

Memory verse: "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”. (Ecclesiastes 3 vs 1.)

READ: Ecclesiastes 3 vs 2 - 8:

3:2: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;

3:3: A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up;

3:4: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time dance;

3:5: A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

3:6: A time to gain, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

3:7: A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

3:8: A time to love, and a time to hate; A time to war, and a time of peace.

INTIMATION:

God has plans and purposes for all people, and for all things. He provides circles of life, each with its work for us to do. Times for the good, and times for the bad. All these are from God and are purposed by Him in His perfect plan. However, the major problem of many of us is not submitting ourselves to God’s timing and plans, but rather we always want to put God into our own timing and plans. And it will never work.

God’s timing is of great essence in the journey of life. The secret to peace with God is to discover, accept, and appreciate God's perfect timing. The danger is to doubt or resent God's timing, and instead want ours. This can lead to despair, rebellion, or moving ahead without His advice. God plans all things in our lives at His appropriate and perfect timing. Even the problems we encounter may be part of His plan and come at His timing. Although we may face many problems that seem to contradict God's plan, these should not be barriers to believing Him, but rather opportunities to discover that without God life's problems have no lasting solutions! 

From our perspective, God sometimes seems slow to intervene on our behalf. But what might appear slow to us is good timing in God’s perspective. It’s easy to become impatient while waiting for God to act, but we must never give up on Him. When God is silent and you are in deep anguish, review the great acts of God throughout biblical history, then review what He has done for you. This will remind you that God is at work, not only in history, but also in your life today.

For instance, Jesus was a close friend to Lazarus and his family. He loved this family and often stayed with them. When Lazarus was sick, the family sent for Jesus wanting Him to come immediately. He stayed where he was for more two days, and eventually Lazarus died. Jesus knew their pain but didn’t respond immediately. His delay had a specific purpose (See John 11). God’s timing, especially His delays, may make us think He is not answering or is not answering the way we want. But He will meet all our needs according to His perfect schedule and purpose. Patiently await His timing, for He controls all times, methods, circumstances, and events 

God’s response doesn’t always come the moment we want it. He only responds when He knows the right time has come, for He knows the best time to act. When you feel that God has forgotten you in your troubles, remember that God has a time schedule we can’t see.

God will act when He is ready. It is a common knowledge that children have difficulty grasping the concept of time. “It’s not time yet” is not a reason they easily understand because they only comprehend the present. As limited human beings, likened to children, we can’t understand God’s perspective about time. We want everything according to our timing, unaware that God’s timing is better. When God is ready, He will do what needs to be done, not what we would like Him to do. We may be as impatient as children, but we must not doubt the wisdom of God’s timing. Wait for God to reveal His plan. Don’t take matters into your own hands. 

God’s timing is inherent in our becoming the persons God ordained us to be. We are forever in the process of becoming the person we will be. The word becoming implies the direction we are taking in our spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual growth and development. Life is a journey: it's not a destination. Every ending is a new beginning to our future, and every beginning is an ending to our past.

It's obvious that this is unachievable without Christ. By our own abilities, we will always crash. The Bible notes in First Samuel 2 vs 9, "…For by strength no man shall prevail." It's only God that makes all things possible with us. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4 vs 13). It is the power we receive in union with Christ that sufficiently helps us to do God's Will and to face the challenges that arise from our commitment to doing it. 

Prayer: Abba Father, show me the path of life that I may work in it. In Your leading and timing I am assured of the lines fallen unto me in pleasant places, and the destination ordained for me is sure to come, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Are You Born Again?

 

The question that only you that have the answer

How to Respond When You Falter

 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:19)

Christians do not live only in defeat. But neither do we live only in perfect victory over sin. And in those times when we fail to triumph over sin, Romans 7:13–25 shows us the normal way a healthy Christian should respond. 

We should say:

I love the law of God. (verse 22)I hate what I just did. (verse 15)Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (verse 24)Thanks be to God! The victory will come through Jesus Christ my Lord. (verse 25) 

In other words, no Christian wants to live in defeat. No Christian settles for living in defeat. But if we are defeated for a time, we shouldn’t lie about it. 

No hypocrisy. No posing. No boasted perfectionism. No churchy, pasted smiles or chipper superficiality. 

And even more, God save us from blindness to our own failures and the consequent quickness to judge others. 

God, help us to feel worse about our own shortfalls than the failure of others. 

God, give us the honesty and candor and humility of the apostle Paul in this text! “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24–25).

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH HIM WHO BELIEVES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY APRIL 03, 2023.

SUBJECT:  ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH HIM WHO BELIEVES!

Memory verse:  "Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9 vs 23.)

READ:  Mark 11 vs 22 - 25:

11:22: So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

11:23: For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

11:24: Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you have then, and you will have them.

11:25: And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you Your trespasses.

INTIMATION:

Who is the believer whom nothing is impossible with, and always possesses the confession of his mouth? This is the believer who has faith in God, and continually “believes” Him without any iota of doubt, and also in right standing with Him. 

Note Jesus’ remark in our memory verse; “...all things are possible to him who believes.” Notice that the word 'believes' is a present-continuous tense. It is not that all things are possible to him who 'believe'. The believing is continuous, and ought to be so, because the Word of God is in the now and living. It is like the author; ‘Eternal, and Unchanging.’

You don't believe today, and tomorrow be filled with doubt. You can't believe now, and later begin to doubt. James called this a wavering faith; "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. For let not that man, suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1 vs 6 - 8). 

Doubt is the opposite of faith. You have faith when you decide to take God for His Word. You doubt when you decide not to take God for His Word, or you fail to make a decision to take God's Word for the matter in question. Our faith in God and His Word must not waver, and must remain firm, no matter how frightened or unsure we may feel about the outcome of the matter.

It is common amongst us to see and then believe, like doubting Thomas (John 20 vs 25). God's way is to believe and then see. The Bible says that God "calls those things which do not exist as though they did" (Romans 4 vs 17). And, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20 vs 29). Look at the instructions of Jesus in the passages we read today: First; "Have faith in God." Without faith we can't please Him, knowing that if you come to Him, you must believe He is what He said He is, and that His reward is with those who seek Him diligently (See Hebrews 11 vs 6). 

Second; You have to believe in your heart that what you say will come to pass. It is only what you believe in your heart that you speak out in faith, and it is only with the believer with conc faith in Christ that nothing is impossible with.

Third; You must speak out your believe. It is only in confessing your faith—your believe, that you receive from Him. It is whatever you have spoken in His hearing, that He will do for you (See Numbers 14 vs 26).

Many people think that they need "great faith" in order to have their words work miracles. This is not what Jesus taught in the Scripture. However, He said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17 vs 20). Therefore, put your faith into action by speaking it out, then the grace of God—the power of God (not your faith) will swing into action.

Some people become discouraged when they speak and did not receive immediately. Though, the outcome may or may not be immediate but it is sure to come provided you are in right standing with God, and have asked according to His Will. Take a cue from the following; Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11 vs 14, "Let no man eat fruit from you ever again." It was the following morning that the disciples saw that the fig tree that He cursed the previous day has dried up from the roots (See Mark 11 vs 20). In another scenario, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He called him to come forth, and he who had died came out immediately. (See John 11 vs 43 - 44).

Finally, the other qualifying condition is your having the right motives in prayer. When you do not have the right motives, you receive nothing. It is only with the right motives in prayer that you can bring the power of spoken faith in the Word into action. To have the right motives, you must; (1) not hold a grudge against another person (Mark 11 vs 25); (2) you must not pray with selfish interest; (3) your request must be for the good of God's kingdom; (4) you must have faith in God and His Word, not faith in the object of your request.

Prayer: Abba Father, my trust is in You who made heaven and the earth. I know it is only what I say in faith that You have promised I will have. The Word of faith is in my mouth and in my heart. Give me the grace to continually speak out my conc faith, and Your word, that I may have what I say, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Better Than Everest

 

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

If you live inside this massive promise, your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest.

Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 8:28. Outside Romans 8:28, all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty. Outside this promise of God’s all-encompassing future grace, there are straw houses of drugs and pornography and dozens of futile diversions. There are slat walls and tin roofs of fragile investment strategies and fleeting insurance coverage and trivial retirement plans. There are cardboard fortifications of deadbolt locks and alarm systems and antiballistic missiles. Outside are a thousand substitutes for Romans 8:28.

Once you walk through the door of love into the massive, unshakable structure of Romans 8:28, everything changes. There come into your life stability and depth and freedom. You simply can’t be blown over anymore. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life.

When God’s people really live by the future grace of Romans 8:28 — from measles to the mortuary — they are the freest and strongest and most generous people in the world.

Their light shines and people give glory to their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF?

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY APRIL 02, 2023.

SUBJECT: HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF?

Memory verse: "Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, For we are well able to overcome it.” (Numbers 13 vs 30.) 

READ: Numbers 13 vs 1 - 2, 25 - 28, 30 - 33:

13:1: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

13:2: “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

13:25: And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

13:26: Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

13:27: Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

13:28: Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

13:30: Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, For we are well able to overcome it.”

13:31: But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”

13:32: And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

13:33: There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

INTIMATION:

How do you see yourself, as a grasshopper or as a mighty warrior of God? Is yours an evil report or a good report? Are you in self-doubt, or self-pity of yourself? Do you know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by your Creator? (Psalm 139 vs 14.) Do you realize that you are made in His image and after His likeness? (Genesis 1 vs 26.) 

God’s character goes in to the creation of every person. When you feel worthless or even begin to hate yourself, remember that God’s Spirit is ready and willing to work within you. We should have as much respect for ourselves as our Maker has for us.

God can give the courage and confidence you need to be a winner. But you have to be in agreement with His plan for your life. You have to quit seeing yourself as just the opposite of what he says you are. You must learn to change your self-image. Not only must you learn to see yourself differently, but also to carry yourself differently. 

Don't let the devil fill your head with thoughts of unworthiness. Remember: thoughts are seeds. Your spirit can only produce for you what you sow and nurture within your own mind and heart. Every thought you allow to enter and take root in your innermost being will begin to grow and produce fruit after its kind. That is why you need to learn to replace negative thoughts and words with positive ones. You need to stop seeing yourself as an unworthy sinner and begin to see yourself as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (First Corinthians 1 vs 30; Second Corinthians 5 vs 21).

In the passage we read today, we observed that when the Children of Israel drew near to their destination—the Promised Land, the Lord instructed Moses to choose twelve men, one from each tribe, and send them on a scouting expedition into the land of Canaan.

When they returned, all twelve of them agreed that the land was fruitful and productive, that it was ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ But when it came to deciding a course of action, ten of the twelve gave "an evil report," while only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, gave a good report. 

The reason the ten gave an evil report is because they were afraid. The problem was that they were looking at the situation in the natural, through the eyes of the flesh, while Caleb and Joshua were looking at it in the spiritual, through the eyes of the Lord.

The land has already been given to them by the Lord for their possession; “And you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.” (Numbers 33 vs 53). Note the word of the Lord “I have given you ,” it already given to them. It is only left for them to go and take it, even if it means a battle, because they are aware the God has already given the land, and the battle is His. The ten said of the inhabitants of the land and of themselves: “There we saw giants, and we were, in our own sight, like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

 When the Lord sets before you a new opportunity, do you fearfully moan, "I can't overcome the giants in the land," or do you boldly declare, "I'm going up right away, because I'm well able to take it!" Ten of the Israelites saw the giants......two saw God! Keep your eyes on God. You plus God is enough in any situation. Never look at circumstances, but rather look up to the One that controls the circumstances!

Prayer: Abba Father, You skillfully wrought me in the lowest part of the earth. I am made in Your image and after Your likeness, and marvelous are Your works. Blot out of me any thoughts of evil report, and self-doubt, for I can do all things through You that strengthens me, in Jesus’ matchless Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!