A People for His Name

 

“Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.” (Acts 15:14)

It is scarcely possible to overemphasize the centrality of the name of God, that is, the fame of God, in motivating the mission of the church.

When Peter had his world turned upside down by the vision of unclean animals in Acts 10, and by the lesson from God that he should evangelize Gentiles as well as Jews, he came back to Jerusalem and told the apostles that it was all owing to God’s zeal for his name. We know this because James summed up Peter’s speech like this: “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name” (Acts 15:13–14).

It’s not surprising that Peter would say that God’s purpose was to gather a people for his name; because the Lord Jesus had stung Peter some years earlier with an unforgettable lesson.

You recall that, after a rich young man turned away from Jesus and refused to follow him, Peter said to Jesus, “See, we have left everything and followed you [unlike this rich fellow]. What then will we have?” (Matthew 19:27). Jesus responded with a mild rebuke, which in effect said that there is no ultimate sacrifice when you live for the name of the Son of Man. He said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

The truth is plain: God is pursuing with omnipotent delight a worldwide purpose of gathering a people for his name from every tribe and language and nation (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the fame of his name among the nations.

Therefore, when we bring our affections in line with his, and, for the sake of his name, renounce the quest for our own worldly fame and comforts, and join his global purpose, God’s omnipotent commitment to his name flies like a banner before us, and we cannot lose, even if we must walk through many tribulations (Acts 14:22; Romans 8:35–39).

BECOMING LIKE CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY MAY 10, 2023.

SUBJECT: BECOMING LIKE CHRIST!

Memory verse: "Till we all come to the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4 vs 13.)

READ: Ephesians 3 vs 16 - 19:

3:16: that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

3:17: that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

3:18: may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the width and length, and depth and height—

3:19: to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

INTIMATION:

God created us to grow. His ultimate goal is for us to mature and develop the characteristics of Jesus Christ. Becoming like Christ, is neither instant nor automatic; it is a gradual, progressive development that will take the rest of your life. It calls for an intentional commitment. You must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow, and persist in growing. Discipleship—the process of becoming like Christ—always begins with a decision, the decision to respond when Jesus calls you. Even your response is not automatic, it may take some time. Peter, James, and John were called on three different occasions by Jesus Christ before they eventually got committed (John 1 vs 35 - 42, at the Sea of Galilee; Mark 1 vs 16 - 18, and at the Lake of Gennesaret; Luke 5 vs 1 - 11).

Accepting the invitation is all you need to start. When you accept the invitation, you become a work in progress. Your spiritual transformation commences, and developing the character of Jesus would take the rest of your life. And even then, it won't be completed here on earth. It will only be finished when you get to heaven or when Jesus returns. At that point, whatever unfinished work on your character would be wrapped up.

Sadly, millions of Christians grow older but never grow up. They are stuck in perpetual spiritual infancy, remaining in diapers and booties. The reason is that they never intended to grow. They never allow the world to pass through them while passing through the world. The Word of God they hear, the people they interact with, and the circumstances they encounter in life hardly influence them from shifting their position. 

God is more interested in building your character than He is in anything else. God is more interested in what you are than in what you do or what you have. We are human beings, not human doings. God is much more concerned about your character than your career or any other thing, because you only take your character to eternity. There can be many different careers that could be in God's Will for your life, but His utmost care is that whatever you do, you do it in a Christlike manner: (First Corinthians 10 vs 31; Colossians 3 vs 17; Colossians 3 vs 23.) 

The Scripture in First Corinthians 16 vs 14 says, “Let all you do be done with love.” In becoming like Christ, our actions must be motivated by God’s love, and His love will so permeate our motives that all we do would be for His glory, that is, “doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus." And for it to be our guiding principle, we would always ask, "Is this action glorifying God?" or "How can I honor God through this action?" You do things to bring honor to Christ in every aspect and activity of your daily living. 

As a Christian, you represent Christ at all times—whatever you do, wherever you go, and whatever you say—demonstrates christlikeness in our lives. Always ask yourself these pertinent questions, "What impression do people have of Christ when they see or talk with me? "What changes would I make in my life in order to honor Christ?" Regard whatever you do or say as an act of worship or service to God. 

So many people are in love with themselves, and put self before anything else, including God. They have abandoned living for God's great purposes and settled for personal fulfillment and emotional stability. Jesus did not die on the cross just so we could live comfortable, well-adjusted lives. His purpose is far deeper. He wants to make us like Himself before taking us to heaven. This is our greatest privilege, our immediate responsibility, and our ultimate destiny.

Prayer: Abba Father, I love you. All I have is Yours, Yours I am, and Yours I want to be. Do with me as it’s pleasing to You. Endue me with the mind of Christ that I may live a fulfilling life in Christ, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

What It Means to Love God

 

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalm 63:1–2)

Only God will satisfy a heart like David’s. And David was a man after God’s own heart. That’s the way we were created to be.

This is the essence of what it means to love God: to be satisfied in him. In him — not just his gifts, but God himself, as the glorious person that he is!

Loving God will include obeying all his commands; it will include believing all his word; it will include thanking him for all his gifts. But all that is overflow. The essence of loving God is admiring and enjoying all he is. And it is this enjoyment of God that makes all of our other responses truly glorifying to him.

We all know this intuitively as well as from Scripture. Do we feel most honored by the love of those who serve us from the constraints of duty, or from the delights of fellowship?

My wife is most honored when I say, “It makes me happy to spend time with you.” My happiness is the echo of her excellence. And so it is with God. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

None of us has arrived at perfect satisfaction in God. I grieve often over the murmuring of my heart when I lose some earthly comfort or convenience. But I have tasted that the Lord is good. By God’s grace I now know the fountain of everlasting joy.

And so I love to spend my days luring people into joy until they say with me, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

GOD DESIRES ALL YOUR HEART!

 

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY MAY 09, 2023.

SUBJECT : GOD DESIRES ALL YOUR HEART!

Memory verse: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God." (Psalm 42 vs 1.)

READ: Deuteronomy 6 vs 5; 10 vs 12:

6:5: 5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

10:12: And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

INTIMATION:

The heart, for an easy transition, stands for man’s entire mental and moral activity, both for the rational and the emotional elements. In other wards, the heart is used figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life. The Scripture regards the heart as the sphere of divine influence. Consequently, God desires the submission of our whole heart to Him, as He desire to live in the hearts of those who love Him. The God of the universe takes up residence in His people, to be their “Faithful Companion,” in control of their physical, mental, and moral activities, both for rational, emotional, and spiritual elements of their personal lives.

Throughout our lives, we look for those rare individuals with whom we feel relaxed and comfortable and can share our heart and our secrets and know they will not betray us, who will always be there for us, and in whom we can have confidence; individuals we can respect and who in turn admire us and want us to be successful. God wants to be in that type of whole heart relationship with us, but He is even better than any earthly companion. For God is a perfect companion: the One who knows the road we are traveling on and all of the problems that lay ahead; the One who can give us dependable advice; the One who wants to share our lives with us and will not put us down when we stumble; the One who will never desert us if we fail or do not live up to His standards. 

God desires our submission inside, in our hearts. Submitting your whole heart to God is putting Him first in all areas of your life. Unfortunately many people never really seek Him with all their hearts. They are content to learn as a child would. That is, learning and following rules in order to avoid big problems, but not as willing to spend any great period of time with the Lord in the free time they have. There is little delight in the relationship, only obedience out of necessity. They have salvation from penalty of sin, but they will enter heaven "through the flames" (First Corinthians 3 vs 15). They have yet to cross that line of spiritual familial relationship into spiritual heart relationship.

A wise person once said, "When God measures you, He puts the tape around your heart, not your head." So how is your heart doing? Our memory verse indicates the heart relationship of David, the man God testified thus, "a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will." ( Acts 13 vs 22.) This kind of heart relationship should be the desire of every child of God. 

Whole heart relationship can best be explained through a human illustration. Some children grow up in families where their father is a strong disciplinarian. They obey because they do not want to suffer the wrath of their father. Although they may even respect the father and his accomplishments, they want nothing to do with him on a personal basis. It is not unusual for such children to dread the return of their father in the evening. As adults they spend as little time with him as possible. There is a physical relationship with obedience, but not the close heart relationship. Fear and mistrust are barriers to their ever being close.

On the other hand, some have fathers who have definite standards and rules to obey, but the relationship is one of love and respect. They are excited when Dad walks through the door at night. They love the weekends because Dad can be with them and they do fun things together. Such children obey because they love and trust their father, not because they fear him or the consequences of disobedience. 

Prayer: Abba Father, I desire You take me over completely; my whole heart yielding to Your desires in every area of my life. Build in my heart Your steadfast Spirit, so as to follow and obey You in every aspect of my life. My utmost heart desire is an intimate relationship with You. Help me, O Lord, to accomplish this, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Pleased with His Precepts

 

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:3–5)

What is plain in these verses is that being born again — being born of God — turns the commandments of God from being burdensome to being our delight. How does that work?

How does being born of God make the commandments of God a delight rather than a burden?

The apostle John says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith” (1 John 5:4). In other words, the way that being born of God overcomes the worldly burdensomeness of God’s commandments is by begetting faith. This is confirmed in 1 John 5:1, which says, literally, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”

Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not cause ourselves to be born again by deciding to believe. God creates our willingness to believe by causing us to be born again. As Peter said in his first letter, God “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Our living hope, or faith in future grace, is the work of God through new birth.

So, when John says, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,” and then adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith” (1 John 5:4), I take him to mean that God enables us, by the new birth, to overcome the world — that is, to overcome our worldly disinclination to keep God’s commandments. The new birth does this by creating faith, which evidently includes a disposition to be pleased by God’s commandments, rather than put off by God’s commandments, so that they feel burdensome.

Therefore, it is faith that overcomes our inborn hostility to God and his will, and frees us to keep his commandments and to say with the psalmist, “I delight to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8).

Don’t Serve God

 

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. Neither is the call to Christian service.

God is not looking for people to work for him. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s the great worker. He’s the one with broad, burden-bearing shoulders. He’s the strong one. And he is looking for ways to show it. This is what differentiates God from the so-called gods of the world: he works for us. Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you [in other words this is his uniqueness], who acts for those who wait for him.”

What does God want from us? Not what we might expect. He rebukes Israel for bringing him so many sacrifices: “I will not accept a bull from your house. . . . For every beast of the forest is mine. . . . ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine’” (Psalm 50:9–10, 12).

But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle him to the status of beneficiary?

Yes. Our anxieties. Our needs. Our cries for power to do his will.

It’s a command: “[Cast] all your anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7). God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and his all-sufficiency.

Christianity is fundamentally convalescence. Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions and therapy. The Sermon on the Mount is our Doctor’s therapeutic regimen, not our Employer’s job description.

Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. Their wage. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work for it. God is the workman in this affair. And what he gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service.

HAVE GOOD THOUGHTS ALWAYS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY MAY 07, 2023.

SUBJECT : HAVE GOOD THOUGHTS ALWAYS!

Memory verse: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." (Philippians 4 vs 8.)

READ: Proverbs 4 vs 23 - 27:

4:23: Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it springs the issues of life.

4:24: Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you.

4:25: Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.

4:26: Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.

4:27: Do not turn to the right or to the left: remove your foot from evil.

INTIMATION:

Whatever you choose to fill your mind with will affect the way you think and act. A mind filled with good things has little or no space for what is evil. An evil action begins with a single thought. Allowing our minds to dwell on lust, envy, hatred, jealousy, revenge, and other negative thoughts will lead to sin. Don’t defile yourself by focusing on evil. It is a dangerous emotion that always threatens to leap out of control, leading to violence, emotional hurt, increased mental stress, and spiritual damage. Instead, think of what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Turn your thoughts to God, His Word, and good thoughts, and you will discover more and more goodness, even in this evil world. 

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul lists the things upon which Christians must meditate. He exhorts believers to bring their minds into control. They must focus on that which is true (Ephesians 4 vs 25). They must focus on that which is noble (Second Corinthians 8 vs 21). They must concentrate on that which is right (First Thessalonians 5 vs 22; James 3 vs 17). They must keep their minds on the pure, lovely, and admirable things of life (First Corinthians 13 vs 4 - 7). If one will only meditate on these things, then his thoughts will be optimistic about life. 

There is no room in the Christian mentality for pessimistic thinking. When one understands that all things are under the control of God who can do all things, then he or she sees the best things of life. His or her focus is on that which is good and after the nature of God who is working all things together for good to them who love Him, and to them who the called according to His purpose (Romans 8 vs 28). This is the life about which Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10 vs 10). 

What you put into your mind determines what comes out in your words and actions. Program our mind with thoughts that are true, noble, right, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. If you have problems with impure thoughts and daydreams, then examine what you are putting into your mind through television, internet, books, conversations, movies, and magazines. Replace harmful input with wholesome material. Above all, read God’s word and pray. Ask God to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure. It takes practice, but it can be done.

The apostle Paul manifested in his life a positive view of all things. He thus exhorts believers to follow the demeanor of his life (First Corinthians 11 vs 1). The brief time he had with brethren in Philippi was enough for them to recognize the godly nature of his behavior and spirit. They were thus to follow his response to the work of God in his life (First Thessalonians 5 vs 22). 

As a person thinks in his heart, so he eventually behaves. One must thoroughly examine his heart in order to bring every evil thought under control. In order to maintain the way of righteousness, one must be on guard. We work hard to keep our outward appearance attractive, but what is deep down in our heart (where others can’t see) is more important to God. What are you like inside? When people become Christians, God makes them different on the inside. He will continue the process of change inside them if they only ask. God wants us to have healthy thoughts and motives, not just healthy bodies. 

A man attended a funeral, and people were busy discussing the late man’s attitudes and behaviors. Then the man was called up to say something about the diseased. The man looked around and said, “I will never forget how the late man laughs.” He said that to avoid making any negative comments or fill his mind with negative thoughts. This should be a model of our thought process, knowing that we should give account of every single word we speak to the Lord in the day of judgement (Matthew 12 vs 36). 

Prayer: Abba Father, l know Your thoughts for me; they of good, and not for evil. Give me the grace to think good thoughts like You in every circumstance, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!