BE NOTHING AND LET GOD BE ALL!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY AUGUST 21, 2023.

SUBJECT: BE NOTHING AND LET GOD BE ALL! 

Memory verse: "Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11 vs 29.)

READ: John 5 vs 19, 30; 6 vs 38; 7 vs 16; 8 vs 28, 50; 14 vs 10, 24, 

5:19: The Son can do nothing of Himself. 

5:30: I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the Will of the Father who sent Me.

6:38: For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own Will, but the Will of Him who sent Me. 

7:16: Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but who sent Me.

8:28: Then Jesus said to them, “......I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

8:50: And I do not seek My own glory, there is One who seeks and judges.

14:10: “...The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”

14:24: “.....The word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

INTIMATION:

The Gospel of John, the apostle closest to Jesus, have the inner life of our Lord laid open to us. Jesus speaks frequently of His relation to the Father, of the motives by which He is guided, of His consciousness of the power and spirit in which He acts. The words He spoke clearly showed wherein His humility consisted. In His humility, He simply consented to let God be all, and He surrendered Himself to God's working alone. 

The passages we read today reveal the words in which Jesus speaks of His relation to the Father, and shows how unceasingly He uses the words 'not,' and 'nothing,' of Himself. "Not I," is the very spirit of what Christ says of His relation to the Father. These words open to us the deepest roots of Christ's life and work. They tell us how it was that the Almighty God was able to work His mighty redemption work through Him. They show Christ's state of heart which makes Him the Son of the Father. They teach us the essential nature, and life of that redemption which Christ accomplished and now communicates. And It is this: “He was nothing, that God might be all.”

He entirely laid aside His Will and His powers for the Father to work in Him of His own power, His own Will, and His own glory. Jesus, of His whole mission, with all His works, and His teaching, and of all this He said; "It is not I,” "I am nothing,” "I have given Myself to the Father to work,” "the Father is all." What a humble heart! It is in this life of entire self-denial—of absolute submission and dependence upon the Father's will—that Christ found perfect peace and joy, and calls us to do the same. And this should be first and the chief of the marks of the Christ within us, and that which Jesus must give us if we are to have any part with Him. 

He lost nothing by giving all to God. God honored His trust, and did all for Him, and then exalted Him to His own right hand in glory. And because Christ had thus humbled Himself, God was ever before Him, He found it possible to humble Himself before men too, and to be the Servant of all. His humility was simply the surrender of Himself to God, to allow Him to do in Him what He pleased, not minding whatever men around might say of Him, or do to Him. It is in this state of mind, in this spirit and disposition, that the redemption of Christ has its virtue and efficacy. And It is to bring us to this disposition that we are made partakers of Christ. 

It is to this self-denial that our Savior calls us, to acknowledgment that self has nothing good in it, except as an empty vessel which God must fill, and therefore, its claim to be or do anything may not for a moment be allowed. And this, above and before everything, is in which the conformity to Jesus consists—the being and doing nothing of ourselves, that God may be all. We must learn of Jesus, how He is meek and lowly of heart. He teaches us that true humility takes its rise, and finds its strength in the knowledge that it is God who works all in all, and that our place is to yield to Him in perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent to do nothing of ourselves. 

Until Christians understand the humility of Jesus as the very essence of His redemption, the very blessedness of the life of the Son of God, and the only true relation to the Father, our thirst and aspiration to manifest heavenly bound humility will become a burden, and a far cry.

Prayer: Abba Father, by You all things consist. Endue me with the spirit of self-denial, heavenly bound humility, and total commitment to Your Will, that I may be a partaker of Christ’s nature, and You be all in all in my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY AUGUST 20, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS!

Memory verse: "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” (Second Thessalonians 2 vs 7.) 

READ: Second Thessalonians 2 vs 6 - 12: 

2:6: And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.

2:7: For the mystery of lawlessness is already work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

2:8: And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming:

2:9: The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders,

2:10: and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2:11: And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,

2:12: that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

INTIMATION:

“Lawlessness” is lack of respect for the law; illegality, anarchy, wildness, unruliness, lack of restraint. It is the hidden, subtle, underlying force from which all sin springs. “Mystery” means something no one can discover but something God will reveal. Today the world is being ravaged by lawlessness which is going on to a certain extent, but the man of sin—the Antichrist—has  not yet been revealed.  “The mystery of lawlessness,”  the Scripture notes, is already at work. This means that the work that this AntiChrist will do is already going on.

However, the movements of lawlessness are usually not the result of one individual. Individuals only become the instigators of a mood that prevails in a particular society. 

We are in the last days—the time between Christ’s first and second comings. The Scriptures warn us about the happenings that will dominate the world before the second coming of Christ. A new world order that will be headed by the Antichrist; Satan’s tool for his final battle. However, throughout history there have been individuals who epitomized evil and who were hostile to everything Christ stands for. These antiChrists have lived in every generation and will continue to work their evil. Then just before Christ’s second coming, “the man of sin....the son of perdition,” a completely evil man, will arise. He will be Satan’s tool, equipped with Satan’s power. The lawless man will be the Antichrist.

Civilization which still has a veneer of decency through law enforcement, education, science, and reason, has not been able to contain the lawlessness. Instead it has, through science, assisted in sophisticating the lawlessness. Today we have seen the conspiracy theory in high places occasioning the manufacturing of viruses in laboratories and released into the air to attack human population. This is what the Bible called “spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6 vs 12.) Although we are horrified by these lawlessness and criminal acts, we have yet to see the real horror of complete lawlessness. This will happen when the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. 

Why will God allow this to happen? To show people and nations their own sinfulness, and to show them by bitter experience the true alternative to the lordship of Christ. People totally without God can act no better than vicious animals. The Bible reveals a God who hates evil and will one day do away with it completely and forever (Revelation 20 vs 10 - 15). We don’t need to understand every detail of how God works in order to have perfect confidence in His absolute power over evil and His total goodness toward us. 

It is dangerous, however, to label any person as the Antichrist and try to predict Christ’s coming based on the assumption. The man of sin (lawlessness) is mentioned in the Scripture, not so that we might attempt to identify him, but so we might be ready for anything that threatens our faith. If our faith is strong, we don’t need to be afraid of what lies ahead, because we know that the lawless man had already been defeated by God, no matter how powerful he becomes or how terrible our situation seems. God is in control, and He will be victorious. Our task is to be prepared for Christ’s return and to spread the gospel so that even more people will also be prepared.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for all You wrought for us in redemption through Christ’s atonement for our sins. Satan is a defeated foe, and by our faith in Christ, we stand victorious in Him. Endue me with the spirit of faith that I may remain faithful to the end, and receive the crown of glory in eternity with You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

GRACE GIVES US FREEDOM TO OBEY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY AUGUST 19, 2023.

SUBJECT : GRACE GIVES US FREEDOM TO OBEY!

Memory verse: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:(Hebrews 12 vs 28.) 

READ: Romans 6 vs 15 - 19: 

6:15: What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not!

6:16: Do You not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

6:17: But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which you were delivered.

6:18: And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

6:19: I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

INTIMATION:

God’s grace gives freedom to obey. It does not liberate one to sin. It does not become the license to ignore the will of the One who offered grace, but rather freedom to obey Him. Those who would not respond to the grace of God are those who do not understand that God meant that grace should stir up love and thanksgiving (Second Corinthians 4 vs 15). Those who understand grace work from a heart of appreciation for the salvation he had received as a result of God’s grace. 

Christians have freedom in Christ, but the definition of freedom in the context of Christianity is more narrow than the normal use of the word in common language. Christians use freedom as a tool for a life of exuberant service. It’s the foundation that God gives to us to reach our highest potential. Because God gives us freedom from religious rules and eternal guilt, we must not seek to indulge our own desires; instead, we should reach for the best God has for us. And our freedom should sing of power, joy, and love—accountable to God, devoted to others.

We are to love because He first loved us (First John 4 vs 19). We are to have mercy because He first extended mercy to us (James 2 vs 13). We are to work more abundantly because He worked abundantly toward us (First Corinthians 15 vs 10). If there is no love, mercy, and abundant work on the part of one who has been the recipient of the grace, then he or she has misunderstood grace. God’s grace is in vain in the life of the one who manifests no response to God.

Christians have been rescued by God out of the bondage of legal justification and are now free from the necessity of justification by law-keeping and meritorious deeds. Though the Christian may be set free from justification by law-keeping, he or she is not free from the law of Christ as a standard of moral behavior. Therefore, grace establishes law of Christ in the life of the one who walks in gratitude for the grace of God. Law is established because the obedient son cries out “Abba Father” in his realization that he cannot direct his own paths. He thus cries out for the guidance of the Father. The Father responds with direction, and thus, law is brought into the life of the one who responds by faith in the grace of God.

Those who lose their thanksgiving and gratitude for their salvation, often claim that God’s grace covers all sin regardless of the moral behavior of the believer. Such is a gross misunderstanding of grace. We cannot sin so that grace may abound (Romans 6 vs 1). Though the Christian may be set free from justification by law-keeping, he or she is not free from the law of Christ as a standard of moral behavior. Under grace, one’s love of God, not law, is the motivating factor that stimulates us to be subservient to the will of God. If one is not motivated to work and serve, he or she has no appreciation for the grace of God. 

Some would seek to use their liberty from law as an occasion for sin. Some would sin in order to supposedly increase the grace of God in their lives. Even today, some Christians minimize the sinfulness of sin, believing that how they live has little to do with their faith. But what a person truly believes will show up in how he or she acts. Those who truly have faith will show it by their deep respect for God and their sincere desire to live according to the principles in His Word.

Prayer: Abba Father, make all grace abound toward me, that I will always have all sufficiency in all things, and have an abundance for every good work in doing Your will, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

THE BEST WAY TO LIVE OUR LIFE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY AUGUST 18, 2023:

SUBJECT: THE BEST WAY TO LIVE OUR LIFE! 

Memory verse: "He who finds his life will lose it, and He who loses his life will find it.” (Matthew 10 vs 39.)

READ: Matthew 16 vs 24 - 26:

16:24: Then said Jesus to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

16:25: For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

16:26: For what profit is it to a man if he if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

INTIMATION:

The best way to live our life is to cling to Jesus instead of this worldly life; pledging our whole existence to His service which is our real purpose of life. Clinging to the worldly life may cause you to forfeit the best from Christ in this world and in the next. Adhering to this life is loving this life’s rewards (leisure, power, popularity, financial security, etc.) at the expense of your commitment to Christ, and what He desires of you. 

The rewards of this life is really empty compared to what Christ offers. The best way to live our life, therefore, is to loosen our greedy grip on earthly rewards so that we can be free to follow Christ. In doing so, we will inherit eternal life and begin at once to experience the benefits of following Christ. 

When we don’t know Christ, we make choices as though there were no afterlife. In reality, this life is just the introduction to eternity. How we live this brief span determines our eternal state. What we accumulate on earth has no value in gaining eternal life. Even the highest social or civic honors cannot earn us entrance into heaven. 

Jesus wants us to choose to follow Him rather than to lead a life of sin and self-satisfaction. He wants us to stop trying to control our own destiny and to let Him direct us. This makes good sense because, as the Creator, Christ knows better than we do what real life is about. He asks for submission, not self-hatred; He asks us only to lose our self-centered determination to be in charge.

Many people spend all their energy seeking pleasure. Jesus said, however, that worldliness, which is centered on possessions, position, or power, is ultimately worthless. Whatever you have on earth is only temporary; it cannot be exchanged for your soul. If you work hard at getting what you want, you might eventually have a pleasurable life, but in the end you will find it hollow, empty, and all is vanity (Ecclesiastes 12 vs 8). Therefore, make the pursuit of God more important than the selfish pursuit. Follow Jesus, and you will know what it means to live abundantly now and to have eternal life as well. And that is the best way to live.

If this present life is most important to you, you will do everything you can to protect it. You will not want to do anything that might endanger your safety, health, or comfort. By contrast, if following Jesus is most important, you may find yourself in unsafe, unhealthy, and uncomfortable places. You may risk death, but you will not fear it because you know that Jesus will raise you to eternal life. Nothing material can compensate for the loss of eternal life in Christ. Do not use your life on earth merely to please yourself, rather you should spend your life serving God and others.

Those who control the lust of the flesh in this life will enjoy the abundance of life. Those who have committed themselves to Jesus will not only receive the abundant life in this life, they will also receive eternal life in the new heavens and earth to come. It is senseless to profit that which is of this life at the expense of that which is beyond this life. It is senseless because no man with the goods of this world can make an exchange for the heaven that is to come. 

If any would seek first the satisfaction of earthly desires in order not to glorify God in this life, he would perish eternally. If one does not give his or her life to Jesus, then he will not receive the which will preserve his life into eternity with Christ.

Prayer: Abba Father, by You all things consist. My utmost heart desire is to live and move and have my being in Christ. Give me the grace to do all things in consonance to Your precepts, that I may be found worthy of Your crown of glory, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

OUR PART IN GOD’S BLESSINGS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY AUGUST 17, 2023.

SUBJECT : OUR PART IN GOD’S BLESSINGS!

Memory verse: "Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments." (Psalm 112 vs 1.)

READ: Deuteronomy 28 vs 1 - 2; Psalm 34 vs 1, 8 - 10; Ephesians 1 vs 3 - 4; Second Corinthians 9 vs 8 - 9:

Deuteronomy 28:1: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth.

28:2: And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:; 

Psalm 34:1: I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

34:8: Oh taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

34:9: Oh fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.

34:10: The young lions lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Second Corinthians 9:8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

9:9: As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” 

INTIMATION:

Blessing is a fortune, grace, or gift from God. Blessings are spoken of frequently in the Bible, don’t come from luck or chance, but come from God as a direct result of our thoughts and actions. God promises great blessings to His people, but many of these blessings require active participation on the part of the people. For instance, the Scripture says, “Give and it will be given to you”, Luke 6 vs 38. 

To be blessed is to have a share in the glory of God’s grace. Most people talk of being blessed with reference to good health, family, wealth, happiness, status, and material goods.

But if we look to the Bible, we can see that being blessed means something different entirely, and those who are truly blessed aren’t the ones you might expect. The Bible in Matthew 5 vs 5 -12 lists those who are blessed, which includes the meek, the righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. These are the kind of characteristics that beget blessings from the Almighty. 

From this, we can understand that a blessing isn’t a simple stroke of good fortune but rather a state of being that exemplifies Christianity’s compassionate principles. In this sense, you’re already blessed if you’re forgiving, kind, just, joyful, and peaceful. And by inhabiting a kindly Christian nature, you open yourself up to more spiritual blessings, like forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, the power to do God’s will, and ultimately, salvation—the greatest blessing that will bring you to heavenly places. 

So, how does one get to be ‘blessed’? What are the practical actions and steps you must take to openly receive God’s blessings? In Psalm 34, the Bible says, He will set us free from fears, deliver us from trouble, guard and defend us, show us goodness, supply our needs, listen when we call on Him, and redeem us. And we can appropriate these blessings when we have the fear of the Lord in us, seek Him, cry out to Him, trust Him, refrain from lying, turn from evil, do good, search for peace, and serve Him. 

Beyond living your life as a good Christian, there are the ways in which you can open yourself up to receive an abundance of God’s grace. Bible study reveals more important instructions from the Lord on how to receive God’s blessings. Across the four canonical gospels and beyond in the New Testament, we are encouraged to surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. This means: (1) Understanding the teachings of Christ. (2) Listening to the word of God. (3) Offering devotionals. (4) Giving as generously as we receive. (5) Asking God Himself for blessings (6) Maintaining your faith in the Lord God throughout your life. 

In one of the passages we read today, we are enjoined to keep His commandments. Many blessings are available to us—honor, prosperity, security, freedom from fear—if we fear the Lord and delight in obeying His commands. If you expect God’s blessings, you must revere Him and gladly obey Him. The Bible often connects the fear of the Lord (love and reverence for Him) with obedience. King Solomon said that the conclusion of the matter on the whole duty of man is to “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12 vs 13). 

The commandments of the Lord aren’t abstract rules scattered across the pages of the Bible. They’re clearly stated in Exodus and Deuteronomy of the Hebrew Bible in the form of the “Ten Commandments.” I urge us to be revisiting the commandments regularly and considering the ways in which you might be in violation of them. It is interesting to note that all the “Ten Commandments” are relationship based, none of them has anything to do with possessions or materialism.

We could deduce from the opening verses of the epistle of the apostle Paul to the saints in Ephesus that, in reality, we are already blessed. Earth’s creation and our redemption is a blessing of the Lord, without whom we wouldn’t be here. Therefore, we should remember to be grateful for our existence. The verse in the epistle to the Corinthians is a sobering reminder of God’s power and ability in blessing His creations. If you feel you aren’t receiving enough of God’s gifts, ask yourself, are you being righteous? In what ways can you bring yourself closer to Christian ideals?

God can provide to you all your needs and wants (Philippians 4 vs 19). His omnipotence and giving nature knows no limits, so you should never fear that what you have is all you will ever get. But to open oneself up to God’s blessings requires sturdy faith and commitment to the principles of Christianity: Remember to pray, be of a kind and compassionate nature, give generously, and be grateful. That gratitude should be not only for your mere existence but also to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Endeavor to always stay connected to God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit,

Certain things keep us from God’s ultimate blessings. These include; ungrateful hearts, not worshiping or submitting to Him, hardening our hearts, trying God’s patience because of stubborn doubts. Don’t harden your hearts, but reject the glamour of sin and anything else that would lead us away from God. Along with God’s blessings comes the responsibility to live up to His demands of fairness, honesty and justice. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of complete obedience to You, that I will do Your will and keep Your commandments at all times, and be Christlike in my conducts, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!