God’s Grace in Spiritual Gifts

 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)

When we use our spiritual gifts, we are stewarding grace — not yesterday’s grace, but today’s, arriving in every moment of need. And this future grace is “varied grace.” It comes in many colors and shapes and sizes. This is one of the reasons spiritual gifts in the body are so diverse. The prism of God’s gifts in your life will refract shades of divine glory that would never come through my prism. 

There are as many future graces as there are needs in the body of Christ — and more. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to receive and dispense the future grace of God to those needs. 

But someone may ask, “Why do you take Peter to refer to future grace? Doesn’t a steward manage a household store that is already on hand?” 

The main reason I take Peter to refer to future grace is because the next verse illustrates how this works, and the reference there is to ongoing supplies of future grace. He says, “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). The word is “supplies,” not “supplied.” As you serve, serve in the power of the ongoing supply of God’s grace to do what you need to do.

When you fulfill your spiritual gift to serve someone tomorrow, you will be serving “by the strength that God supplies” — and the supply will be tomorrow, not today. “As your days, so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).

God goes on, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, supplying the “strength” in which we minister. He does this because the ongoing, inexhaustible supplier of power gets the glory. “Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

GOD'S POWER IN OUR WEAKNESSES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY JULY 18, 2023. 

SUBJECT: GOD'S POWER IN OUR WEAKNESSES!

Memory verse: "But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (Second Corinthians 12 vs 9.)

READ: Romans 7 vs 15 - 25:

7:15: For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

7:16: If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

7:17: But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

7:18: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

7:19: For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

7:20: Now if I do what I not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

7:21: I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

7:22: For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man:

7:23: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

7:24: O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

7:25: I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

INTIMATION:

Our limitations or weaknesses are perfect tools in God’s hands, and He uses them for great works and achievements if we allow Him to work through our weaknesses. We need to be courageous enough to admit our weaknesses to attract God’s help. Don't pretend to have it all together, and be honest about yourself. Instead of trying to protect yourself, or living in self-deceit of denial or making excuses, take the time to identify your personal weaknesses, and own them up. You can make a list of them as a reminder.

One of the intriguing confessions recorded in the Scripture is the apostle Paul's inability to deal with his sinful desires as enumerated in the passage we read today. God demonstrates His power in our weaknesses just as He did in apostle Paul's, and this is an encouragement to us. Normally, we recognize our weaknesses, and will not congratulate ourselves and rest at that. We will want to be freed from our weaknesses, not be content with them! Therefore, in our weaknesses or limitations, we will turn to God to seek pathways for effectiveness, rather than relying on our own energy, effort, or talent. Our weaknesses not only helps us develop Christian character; it also deepens our worship, because in admitting our weakness, we affirm God's strength.

All God's giants were weak people: Moses' weakness was his temper. It caused him to murder an Egyptian, strike the rock he was supposed to speak to, and break the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Yet God transformed Moses into "the humblest man on earth (Numbers 12 vs 3). Gideon's weakness was low self-esteem and deep insecurities, but God transformed him into a "mighty man of valor (Judges 6 vs 12). Abraham's weakness was fear. Not once, but twice, he claimed his wife was his sister to protect himself. But God transformed him into "the father of those who have faith (Romans 4 vs 11). 

Impulsive, weak-willed Peter became "a rock" (Matthew 16 vs 18). The adulterer David became "a man after God's own heart" (Acts 13 vs 22). And John, one of the arrogant "Sons of Thunder," became the "Apostle of Love." This list could go on and on. Consequently, God specializes in turning weaknesses into strengths. He wants to take your greatest weakness and transform it to a major strength. God wants to use your weaknesses, not just your strengths. Your life becomes a testimonial when people see God using you in spite of your weaknesses, and they are encouraged, and they will then think that God can use them too. Our strengths create competition, but our weaknesses create community.

The fact that God's power is displayed in weak people should give us courage. When Satan points out your weaknesses, agree with him and fill your heart with praise for Jesus, who "understands every weakness of ours," and for the Holy Spirit, who "helps our weaknesses."  (Romans 8 vs 26.) As a believer, God will not leave you to your own resources to cope with problems. Even when you don't know the right words to pray, the Holy Spirit prays with and for you, and God answers. When we are weak, allowing God to fill us with His power, then His power makes us stronger than we could ever be on our own. God wants us to depend on Him in the face of life's challenges and obstacles. Only His power will make us effective for Him and will help us do work that has lasting value.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your loving kindness is inexplicable, and undeniable. In our unfaithfulness, You have always remained faithful. Even when we were neck-deep in sin, You showered Your love on us exceedingly. You have always demonstrated Your strength in our weaknesses. My Loving Father, make Your strength perfect in my weaknesses, and strengthen in my inner man to serve You diligently, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Power to Profess Christ

 With great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. (Acts 4:33)

If our ministry is to witness to Christ tomorrow in some unsympathetic situation, the key will not be our brilliance; the key will be abundant future grace. 

Of all people, the apostles seemed to need least help to give a compelling witness to the risen Christ. They had been with him for three years. They had seen him die. They had seen him alive after the crucifixion. In their witnessing arsenal they had “many proofs” (Acts 1:3). You might think that, of all people, their ministry of witnessing, in those early days, would sustain itself on the strength of the past glories that were still so fresh. 

But that is not what the book of Acts tells us. The power to witness with faithfulness and effectiveness did not come mainly from memories of grace; it came from the new arrivals of “great grace.” “Great grace was upon them all.” That’s the way it was for the apostles, and that’s the way it will be for us in our ministry of witnessing. 

Whatever added signs and wonders God may show to amplify our witness to Christ, they will come the same way they came for Stephen. “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). Grace was arriving from God for all that Stephen needed — eventually all that he would need to die.

There is an extraordinary future grace and power that we may bank on in the crisis of special ministry need. It is a fresh act of power by which God “bore witness to the word of his grace” (Acts 14:3; see also Hebrews 2:4). The ever-arriving grace of power bears witness to the ever-given grace of truth.

OUR DEBT OF CHRISTLIKE LOVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JULY 17, 2023.

SUBJECT: OUR DEBT OF CHRISTLIKE LOVE!

Memory verse: "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15 vs 12.) 

READ: Romans 13 vs 8 - 10:

13:8: Owe no one anything except to love one another: for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

13:9: For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

13:10: Love does no harm to a neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

INTIMATION:

The extent to which Jesus went to give Himself for us—His life of inestimable value for our lives of sin that are completely worthless, manifests the extent of the love that Christ demonstrated toward us, and is commanding us to have the same for one another. The greatest expression of love that can be made is that one lay down his or her life for another. This is what Jesus did for us, and wants us to do so for one another: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13 vs 34; 15 vs 12) This is called the “royal Law, and was given by our Great King Jesus Christ.

Christlike love is a debt that we owe. We are permanently in debt to Christ for His love He lavishly poured out on us. The only way we can even begin to repay this debt is by fulfilling our obligation to love others in turn. Because Christ’s love will always be infinitely greater than ours, we will always have the obligation to love our neighbors. Jesus, our role model, asked God to forgive the people who were putting Him to death (Luke 23 vs 34). Jesus was suffering the most horrible, painful death ever devised by sinful man, and He looked at the people responsible for His suffering and prayed for their forgiveness. And because we are all sinners, we all played a part in putting Jesus to death. 

Love is more than simply warm feelings; it is an attitude that reveals itself in action. How can we love others as Jesus loved us? By helping when it’s not convenient, by giving when it hurts, by devoting energy to others’ welfare rather than our own, by absorbing hurts from others without complaining or fighting back. This kind of loving is hard to do. That is why people notice when you do it and know you are empowered by a supernatural source. The apostle Paul, in First Corinthians 13, enumerated another beautiful description of love that believers have to show for one another.

Let us be imitators of God as dear children (Ephesians 5 vs 1). Just as children imitate their parents, we should imitate Christ. Our love for others should be of the same kind—a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service. Christlikeness (Christianity) is based on love. All human relationships that are true and enduring find their bond in the action of love. Jesus says we should love everyone, including our enemies and treat them well. Doing this shows that Jesus is truly the Lord of your life. This is possible only for those who give themselves fully to God, because only Him, through the help of the Holy Spirit, can deliver people from natural selfishness, and help us show love to those for whom we may not feel love. 

Jesus said that if we truly love God and our neighbor, we will naturally keep all of God’s commandments. When you love God completely and care for others as you care for yourself, then you have fulfilled the intent of the “Ten Commandments.” Let this rule your thoughts, decisions, and actions. When you are uncertain about what to do, ask yourself which course of action best demonstrate love for God and love for others. Rather than worrying about all we should not do, we should concentrate on all we can do to show love for God and others. Therefore, God’s laws can be reduced to two simple principles: Love God and love others. 

When we fail to love, we are actually breaking God’s law. Examine your attitude and actions toward others. Do you build people or tear them down? When you’re ready to criticize someone, remember God’s law of love and say something good instead. Saying something beneficial to others will cure you of finding fault and increase your ability to obey God’s law of love. It is easy to excuse our indifference to others merely because we have no legal obligation to help them and even to justify harming them if our actions are technically legal! But Jesus does not leave loopholes in the law of love. Whenever love demands it, we are to go beyond human legal requirements and imitate the God of love. 

When we believers lose the motivation of love, we become critical of others. We stop looking for good in them and see only their faults. Soon we lose our unity. Have you talked behind someone’s back? Have you focused on others’ shortcomings instead of their strength? Remind yourself of Jesus’ command to love others as you love yourself. When you begin to feel critical of someone, make a list of that person’s positive qualities. When problems need to be addressed, confront in love rather than gossip. 

Prayer: Abba Father, You manifested Your unparalleled love for us by given Your only begotten Son as a propitiation for our sins. Endue me with the spirit of love that I may imitate You as Your child, and love You and others as You loved me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

BUILD UP FOR YOURSELF HEAVENLY WEALTH!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY JULY 16, 2023.

SUBJECT : BUILD UP FOR YOURSELF HEAVENLY WEALTH!

Memory verse: "Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven, and come and follow Me." (Matthew 19 vs 21.)

READ: Matthew 6 vs 19 - 21; First Timothy 6 vs 17 - 19:

Matthew 6:19: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 

6:20: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

6:21: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

First Timothy 6:17: Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 

6:18: Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 

6:19:storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

INTIMATION:

The best way to live is to live with the consciousness of eternity; knowing that there is life after here; the everlasting life on the other side, either in heaven with God or in hell with Satan and his cohorts. Such consciousness motivates us to lead a life of obedience to God. One of such acts of obedience is in our stewardship with our possessions—adequately serving God and others with them. 

Obedience to God’s laws engender one ‘abounding in good works’ (being in abundance of good works and acts that please God). In ‘abounding in good works’ you lay heavenly treasures for yourself. For instance, we are blessed to be a blessing, therefore, we should be ready to give, willing to share, that we may lay treasures in heaven for ourselves. When your heart is transformed and you start working so that you can be a blessing to other people, then, you become obedient in your stewardship of your possessions.

Many people are always in dilemma how to reconcile 'abounding in good works' and their personal responsibilities. They ask questions as "who is going to pay my rent, buy my clothes, and provide food for me to eat if I should be mindful of spending on others?" The answer is that God starts taking better care of you than you ever took of yourself. This is a truth you need to open up your heart to, and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal this to you.

We are responsible to care for our own needs and the needs of our families so as not to be a burden on others. We should, however, be willing to give up anything if God asks us to do so. This kind of attitude allows nothing to come between us and God and keeps us from using our God-given wealth selfishly.

We should build up savings for our use for good works. It's wrong to build up savings out of fear, or so that you can sit back and say to yourself, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for I have goods laid up for many days ahead." (Luke 12 vs 19.) That's the wrong attitude. But build up savings so that you always have resources to "abound in every good work" (Second Corinthians 9 vs 8).

Life is uninteresting if it is all about self.  You will agree with me that there is an inner joy when you do things to touch other people's lives positively. It's discouraging, and monotonous to get up every morning and go to work just so you can pay your house rent, buy food and clothes, meet your personal responsibilities. 

Having riches carries great responsibility. If you have been blessed with wealth, then thank the Lord. Don’t be proud and don’t trust in your possessions. Use them to do good; generous, helping the poor and the needy, investing in kingdom advancement endeavors etc. No matter how much money you have, your life should demonstrate that God controls the wealth that he has placed under your care.

The problem with a great amount of material possessions is that such distracts one’s mind from kingdom thinking. Materialism promotes self-indulgence as one thinks of what he can do or buy to entertain himself. In the Scripture passage we read today, that which caused the young ruler to stumble was his attachment to his riches. 

Ask yourself these pertinent questions; “Where do I put my time, money, and energy?” “What do I think about most?” “How should I change the way I use my resources in order to reflect kingdom values more accurately.” The right answers to these questions are pointers to your life motives. The material world was not created in order to provide an opportunity for the Christian to consume things upon his own lusts. It was created in order to be understood by man as a temporary sustenance for man while he is in the flesh. 

Treasures that we possess on earth can easily be consumed or taken from us. Because we know they can soon be taken away we worry about them. By concentrating on those things that are above this earth, one places earthly things in the right perspective. The crown of righteousness in heaven awaits those who have forsaken the treasures of the world. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of love for You and my neighbor. Engrace me, O Lord, to serve You and others with the possessions You put in my care, that I may stand perfect before You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Window of the Heart

 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:3)

One of the most remarkable capacities of the human mind is the capacity to direct its own attention to something it chooses. We can pause and say to our minds, “Think about this, and not that.” We can focus our attention on an idea or a picture or a problem or a hope.

It is an amazing power. I doubt that animals have it. They are probably not self-reflective, but rather governed by impulse and instinct.

Have you been neglecting this great weapon in the arsenal of your war against sin? The Bible calls us again and again to use this remarkable gift. Let’s take this gift off the shelf, and dust it off, and put it to use.

For example, Paul says in Romans 8:5–6, “Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (my translation).

This is stunning. What you set your mind on determines whether the issue is life or death.

Many of us have become far too passive in our pursuit of change and wholeness and peace. I have the feeling that in our therapeutic age we have fallen into the passive mindset of simply “talking through our problems” or “dealing with our issues” or “discovering the roots of our brokenness in our family of origin.”

But I see a much more aggressive, non-passive approach to change in the New Testament. Namely, set your mind. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

Our emotions are governed in large measure by what we consider — what we dwell on with our minds. For example, Jesus told us to overcome the emotion of anxiety by what we consider: “Consider the ravens. . . . Consider the lilies” (Luke 12:24, 27).

The mind is the window of the heart. If we let our minds constantly dwell on the dark, the heart will feel dark. But if we open the window of our mind to the light, the heart will feel the light.

Above all, this great capacity of our minds to focus and consider is meant for considering Jesus (Hebrews 12:3). So, let’s do this: “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

We Work by Grace

 By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Paul realized that the first part of this verse might be misunderstood: “I worked harder than any of them.” So he goes on to say, “Though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” 

Paul does not trace his obedience back to his thankfulness for past grace. He traces it up to moment-by-moment, ever-arriving grace. He is banking on the promise of God’s future grace to arrive at every moment of need. In every instant of Paul’s intention and effort to obey Christ, grace was at work to produce that intention and that effort. Paul did not bring about his work merely out of gratitude for past grace, but in moment-by-moment reliance on the arrival of promised grace. Paul wants to emphasize that the ever-arriving grace of God is the decisive cause of his work.

Does it really say that? Doesn’t it just say that the grace of God worked with Paul? No, it says more. We have to come to terms with the words, “Though it was not I.” Paul wants to exalt the moment-by-moment grace of God in such a way that it is clear that he himself is not the decisive doer of this work.

Nevertheless, he is a doer of this work: “I worked harder than any of them.” He worked. But he said it was the grace of God “toward me.” 

If we let all the parts of this verse stand, the end result is this: grace is the decisive doer in Paul’s work. Since Paul is also a doer of his work, the way grace becomes the decisive doer is by becoming the enabling power of Paul’s work. 

I take this to mean that, as Paul faced each day’s ministry burden, he bowed his head and confessed that, unless future grace was given for that day’s work, he would not be able to do it. 

Perhaps he recalled the words of Jesus, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So he prayed for future grace for the day, and he trusted in the promise that it would come with power. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Then he acted with all his might.