BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY APRIL 09, 2023.

SUBJECT : BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!

Memory verse: "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. ” (Hebrews 13 vs 5.)

READ: First Timothy 6 vs 6 vs 9:

6:6: Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

6:7: For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

6:8: And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

6:9: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

INTIMATION:

Contentment is being satisfied or pleased with what you have. It primarily signifies to be sufficient. It’s not being obsessed with getting more material things, but rather being relaxed with what you have. The Scripture recognizes that there is great gain in being content. This signifies your trust and reliance on God which greatly helps in spiritual growth and personal fulfillment. Contentment helps us to honor God and center our desires on Him, and be content with what He is doing in our lives.

Christian should learn how to live whether we have plenty, or whether we have need. We should take a cue from the apostle Paul who said, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content; I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need." (Philippians 4 vs 11 - 12.) 

As a Christian, are you able to be content (get along happily) in any circumstances you face? Like the apostle Paul, we should see life from God’s point of view, relying on God’s promises to provide all our needs. We should focus on what we are supposed to do, not what we feel we should have. Christians should have their priorities straight, and be grateful for everything God had given us, detaching ourselves from the nonessentials so that we could concentrate on the eternal. 

How can we learn to be content with what we have? It’s by striving to live with less rather than desiring more; giving away out of our abundance rather than accumulating more; relishing what we have rather than resenting what we are missing. We become satisfied when we realize God’s sufficiency for our needs. When we focus our lives on behaving after the directions of the word of God, we become content with life, realizing that the purpose of life is not to consume the things of this world upon our own lusts. Rather we should focus on spiritual things that will result in eternal life.

Christians who become materialistic are saying by their actions that God can’t take care of them, or at least that He won’t take care of them the way they want. Insecurity can lead to discontentment. However, God ordained that the things of this world are to sustain our brief stay here in preparation for that which is to come. The only antidote to discontentment is to trust God to meet our needs. We should see God’s love expressed in what He has provided.

King Solomon, in recognition of the need for contentment, says to God, "Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches - Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You. And say, "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God." (Proverbs 30 vs 8 - 9.) 

God recognizes the attributes of man; in plenty man is likely to deny Him, and in lack man will do anything to survive, including stealing which will eventually profane God's name. For instance, having too much money can be dangerous; but so can having little. Being poor can, in fact, be hazardous to spiritual as well as physical health. It is for this reason that God prefers to provide for us, but on a day-by-day basis. There is every likelihood that possessions can take away our concentration and dependence on God because we will not be in need of anything hence will remember less of God.

Prayer: Abba Father, teach me contentment in every circumstances, for I know You will. supply all your needs in a way that You know is best for me. May I never desire nor have what You cannot give me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Talk to God, Not Just About Him

 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Psalm 23:4)

The form of the 23rd psalm is instructive.

In Psalm 23:1–3 David refers to God as “he”:

The Lord is my shepherd . . .
he makes me lie down . . .
he leads me . . .
he restores my soul.

Then in verses 4 and 5 David refers to God as “you”:

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me.
You anoint my head with oil.

Then in verse 6 he switches back:

I shall dwell in the house of the Lord.

The lesson we can learn from this form is that it is good not to talk very long about God without talking to God.

Every Christian is at least an amateur theologian — that is, a person who tries to understand the character and ways of God and then put that into words. If we aren’t little theologians, then we won’t ever say anything to each other, or to God, about God, and will be of very little real help to each other’s faith.

But what I have learned from David in Psalm 23 and other psalms is that I should interweave my theology with prayer. I should frequently interrupt my talking about God by talking to God.

Not far behind the theological sentence, “God is generous,” should come the prayerful sentence, “Thank you, God, for your generosity.”

On the heels of, “God is glorious,” should come, “I adore your glory.”

This is the way it must be, if we are feeling God’s reality in our hearts as well as thinking it in our heads and describing it with our lips.

CONFESSION OF SIN OF A CHRISTIAN!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY APRIL 08, 2023. 

SUBJECT: CONFESSION OF SIN OF A CHRISTIAN!

Memory verse: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (First John 1 vs 9.)

READ: First John 1 vs 5 - 10:

1:5: This is the message which we have heard from Him and declared to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 

1:6: If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 

1:7: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1:8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1:10: If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

INTIMATION:

When you are without Christ, you are dead in sin and condemned before God. But when you believe in, accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins on the cross of Calvary, and confess Him as our Lord and Savior you have became a Christian. Consequently, you thereby establish relationship and fellowship the Lord. Yet, even after we become Christians, we still sometimes sin and still need to confess. Though we have a relationship with the Lord as His adopted children, but our sins deny us of the privilege of continued fellowship with Him. 

Consequently, Christians must continually and humbly keep on acknowledging their sin (Psalm 32 vs 5). This is the nature of walking in the light. In other words, one who is walking in the light is continually confessing his or her sin. Reference here is to a demeanor of life. It is natural for the one who walks in the light to recognize and confess his or her sin to God. This is the condition upon which one receives the continual cleansing of sin by the blood of Jesus. Sin refers to transgression of God’s law, and thus confession of sin is to God, not to man. Confession of sin is the nature of those who walk in the light. It is the evidence that they are in the light. 

God’s attributes of being faithful and just is inherent in His promise of forgiveness because He is righteous and just. God is proclaimed righteous because He has offered the sacrificial atonement for sin through the blood of Jesus (Roman 3 vs 25). He is faithful because He did not create man a free-moral being without a plan of atonement for man’s problem of sin (Ephesians 2 vs 8 - 12). He is thus just because He has offered atonement for all humans through the cross, for no one could atone for his or her sins by either law-keeping or good works. God both forgives and cleanses. Forgiveness refers to forgetting completely (Hebrews 10 vs 17). Cleansing refers to sanctifying one’s soul in order that he or she be able to approach God. 

Therefore, the confession of sin by a Christian is not offered to gain God’s acceptance, but to remove the barrier to fellowship that our sin has put between the Christian and Him. Broken fellowship does not break the relationship, but it mars it and robs of its richest blessings and benefits—fellowship with the Lord. We need not fear revealing our sins to God, He knows them already. He will not push us away, no matter what we have done. Instead, He will draw us to Himself. He has given to us an ‘Helper’ in the person of Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has given us the way to restore broken fellowship in the epistle of John. This short epistle was written to tell us how to maintain our fellowship and how to restore it when it is broken.

God is light, and as long as you are in fellowship with Him, you are in the light. But the instant your fellowship is broken, you go into the dark. As long as we walk in the light; as long as we are in fellowship with Him, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses all the blunders and mistakes that we make. But if we sin, we are out of fellowship with Him and we are walking in darkness, deceiving ourselves. The moment we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleans us from all unrighteousness. The broken fellowship is restored.

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to continually be in full fellowship with You. Though the human factors my cause the fellowship to be impaired from time to time, I pray that You endue me with the spirit of constant and immediate confession of any sin I may commit so as to ever restore my fellowship with You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Make Satan Know His Defeat

 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

The more real Satan appears in our day — the more obviously active — the more precious the victory of Christ will become to those who trust him.

The New Testament teaches that when Christ died and rose again, Satan was decisively defeated. A time of limited freedom is granted to him, but his power against God’s people is broken and his destruction is sure.

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)“[Christ] himself likewise partook of the same things [flesh and blood], that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)“[God] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:15)

In other words, the decisive blow was struck at Calvary. And one day, when Satan’s time of limited freedom is over, Revelation 20:10 says, “The devil . . . [will be] thrown into the lake of fire . . . and will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

What does this mean for those of us who follow Jesus Christ?

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies!” (Romans 8:33)“[Neither] angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39)“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)“They [the saints] have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” (Revelation 12:11)

Therefore, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you!” He has been defeated, and we have been given victory. Our task now is to live in that victory and make Satan know his defeat.

It wasn't easy by Cece Winas

 

What It Means to Pray for Your Enemy

 

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

Prayer for your enemies is one of the deepest forms of love, because it means that you have to really want that something good happen to them.

You might do nice things for your enemies without any genuine desire that things go well with them. But prayer for them is in the presence of God who knows your heart, and prayer is interceding with God on their behalf.

It may be for their conversion. It may be for their repentance. It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts. It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin, even if it takes disease or calamity to do it. But the prayer Jesus has in mind here is always for their good.

This is what Jesus did as he hung on the cross:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

And it’s what Stephen did as he was being stoned:

Falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60)

Jesus is calling us not just to do good things for our enemy, like greeting them and helping supply their needs (Matthew 5:47); he is also calling us to desire their best, and to express those desires in prayers, even when the enemy is nowhere around.

Our hearts should desire their salvation and desire their presence in heaven with us and desire their eternal happiness. May God give us grace to pray like the apostle Paul for the Jewish people, many of whom made life very hard for Paul:

My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1)

THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF PRIDE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY APRIL 07, 2023.

SUBJECT : THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF PRIDE!

Memory verse: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16 vs 18.)

READ: Psalm 101 vs 5; Proverbs 11 vs 2; 13 vs 10; 16 vs 5; 29 vs 23: 

Psalm 101:5: Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy, the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure.

Proverbs 11:2: When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.

13:10: By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.

16:5: Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; though they join forces, none will go unpunished.

29:23: A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.

INTIMATION:

Pride is inordinate self-esteem or conceit; disdainful treatment of others. Pride, in the Scripture, also denotes being boastful, haughty, vainglory, presumptuous, and puffed up. Many people are lofty in their thoughts. Even many Christians always believe that to surrender to Jesus Christ is all that is required, and all other things will by itself fall into places. A humble and contrite spirit, which are the major requirements for believers, are grossly lacking in them. That is the consequence of pride.

Pride is the inner voice that whispers, "My way is best." It is resisting God's leadership, negating His concepts, and believing that you are able to live without His help. Whenever you find yourself doing this, or wanting to do it your way and looking down on other people, you are being pulled by pride. Only when you eliminate pride can God help you become all He meant you to be. 

Proud people take little account of their weaknesses and do not anticipate stumbling blocks. They think they are above the frailties of common people, but they are always caught in that web. In this state of mind they are easily tripped up. Ironically, proud people seldom realize that pride is their problem. 

Pride leads to disgrace, punishment, and destruction; it produces quarrels, ends up in downfall, and brings one low. The proud attitude heads the list of seven things God hates: "These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren." (Proverbs 6 vs 16 - 19.)

Pride and lies go hand in hand. The proud will always seek to defend their actions, requiring to put up a defense. Such defense are fraughted with lies in other to drive home their points. We may be tempted to believe that some lies are relatively harmless, even useful at times, but God does not overlook lies, flattery, deception, or boasting. Each of these sins originate from a bad attitude that is eventually expressed in our speech. 

When people are driven by pride into wrong doing, they try their best to rationalize their actions, using such words as; "He spoke to me harshly and I gave it back to him," "I was provoked to anger, and I reacted the way I did." It is often their desire to return evil for evil, tear people down verbally or get back at them, if they feel hurt. But this is ungodly, God encourages us to pay back wrongs by praying for the offenders, doing good to them, to seek peace and pursue it. If we love life and desire to see good days, we should eschew evil and do good.

For the proud, "I am wrong" or "I am sorry" are difficult phrases to utter because they require humility. Pride is an ingredient in every quarrel. It stirs up conflict and divides people. Examine your life truthfully, and you will acknowledge that pride has been leading to quarrels. Guard against pride. If you find yourself constantly arguing, always trying to rationalize your actions and behaviors, examine your life for pride, Be willing to admit your mistakes, and be open to godly advice of others, and ask for help when you need it.

Avoid pride when God prospers you, and makes you powerful. If God has given you wealth, influence, popularity, and power, be thankful, but be careful. God hates pride. While it is normal to feel elation when we accomplish something, it is wrong to be disdainful of God or to look down on others. Give God credit of what you have, and use your gifts in ways that pleases Him. Remember, no matter whatever is your position in society, God expects you to honor, worship, and obey Him. It is true that "pride goes before destruction." 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with a humble spirit, that I may constantly examine my ways, thoughts, and actions, to eliminate any form of pride. Give me the grace to admit my faults, my wrongs, and to boldly say "I am sorry," in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!