Ammunition Against Anxiety

 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

One of the things we are thankful for when we let our requests be known to God is his promises. These are the ammunition in the cannon that cuts down the unbelief that produces worry. So here’s how I fight.

When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with the promise of Isaiah 55:11. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

When I am anxious about the welfare of those I love, I battle unbelief with the promise that if I, being evil, know how to give good things to my children, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

And I fight to maintain my spiritual equilibrium with the reminder that everyone who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for Christ’s sake, shall “receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29–30).

When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

And I take the promise with trembling: “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).

THE LOVE COMMANDMENT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE LOVE COMMANDMENT!

Memory verse: "So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10 vs 27.)

READ: Mark 12 vs 29 - 34:

12:29: Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

12:30: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: This is the first commandment.

12:31: And the second, like it, is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

12:32: So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher.You have spoken the truth: for there is one God, and there is no other but He.

12:33: And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

12:34: Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that no one dared question Him.

INTIMATION:

God demands our love and service (total devotion) to Him, in sincerity of heart, not with eye-service, but doing the Will of God from your heart, with all your soul, might, and strength. Doing the Will of God is obeying His commandments passionately, that is, from your heart! This is called the “Great Commandment.”

The principle by which one must live life is summed up in love for God. If one loves God, obedience to His word will be the natural part of his life (John 14 vs 15; First John 5 vs 1 - 3). With such love one establishes a correct relationship with God by obedience to His Will. Love is the motivation by which law is put into action in our lives. In our relationship with God, we keep His commandments because we love Him. 

In relation to our behavior toward our neighbor, we deal justly because we love our fellow man as ourselves. Establishment of the principle in one’s life determines our relationship with our fellow man. Love of our neighbor is the foundation upon which our behavior toward our fellow man is directed. 

How do you know when you are serving God from your heart? The first telltale sign is enthusiasm; your excitement, and great interest in serving Him. When you are doing what you love to do, no one has to motivate you or challenge you, or check up on you. You do it for sheer enjoyment. You don't need rewards, or applause or payment, because you love serving in this way. This is exactly what God requires of us. Hallelujah!

The second characteristic of serving God from your heart is effectiveness. Whenever you do what God wired you to do, you get good at it. Passion drives perfection. If you don't care about a task, it is unlikely that you will excel at it. In contrast, the highest achievers in any field are those who do it because of passion, not duty or profit.

God’s interest in the man’s heart is because the heart is the center of the man. Your heart reveals the real you—what you truly are, not what others think you are, or what circumstances force you to be. Your heart determines why you say the things you say, why you feel the way you feel, and why you act the way you do. The Bible, in Proverbs 27 vs 19, says, "As in water face reflects face, so a man's heart reveals the man." 

The Bible uses the term heart to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections you have. Your heart represents the source of all your inspirations—what motivates you, what you love to do, and what you care about most. Even today, we still use the word in this way when we say, "I love you with all my heart." It’s for this reason that God demands our heart (our passion) in loving and serving Him.

Our heart—our feelings of love and desire—dictates to a great extent how we live because we always find time to do what we enjoy, hence God’s interest in our hearts. In Proverbs 4 vs 23, the Scripture says, "Keep you heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life." It tells us to guard our heart above all else, making sure we concentrate on those desires that will keep us on the right path—the path of God. 

When your heart is centered on God, your affections push you in the right direction—the path of God, and consequently, you put boundaries on your desires, and will not do or go after everything you see.

Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects you feel passionate about and others you could care less about. Some experiences turn you on and capture your attention while others turn you off or bore you to tears. These reveal the nature of your heart. Your emotional heartbeat is the second key to understanding your shape for service. God gave each and everyone of us some inborn interests. Don't ignore your interests. Consider how they might be used for God's glory. 

Now, the question is, “What is your passion for God?” God wants you to serve Him passionately, not dutifully. Let the service come from your heart. The Bible repeatedly tells us to "serve the Lord with all your heart." People rarely excel at tasks they don't enjoy doing or feel passionate about. God wants you to use your natural interests to serve Him and others. The reason you love to do those things you love doing is because you derive great passion in doing them. Listening to inner prompting—signals from your heart—that can point to the ministry God intends for you to have. 

Our affections and feelings must be directed toward what God would have us be in our lives. Our character must focus on God. All the intellectual capabilities of the Christian disciples also be focused on knowing God and His Will. All the physical and mental abilities of man must also be directed toward serving God. This is the first and great commandment because once one establishes God as the one who should reign in his heart, then everything else will follow (Matthew 6 vs 33). 

Prayer: Abba Father, Your Will is that I serve You, and others with passion. Give me the grace to manifest fully in passionate service to You, O Lord, and to serve others likewise, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Not Nearly Hedonistic Enough

 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19–20)

The message that needs to be shouted from the houses of high finance is this: Secular man, you are not nearly hedonistic enough!

Quit being satisfied with the little 2% yields of pleasure that get eaten up by the moths of inflation and the rust of death. Invest in the blue-chip, high-yield, divinely insured securities of heaven. 

Devoting a life to material comforts and security and thrills is like throwing money down a rat hole. But investing a life in the labor of love yields dividends of joy unsurpassed and unending:

“Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. [And thus] provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail” (Luke 12:33).

This message is very good news: Come to Christ, in whose presence are fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Join us in the labor of Christian Hedonism. For the Lord has spoken: It is more blessed to love than to live in luxury! More blessed now, and forever.

THE BANE OF SELF-PITY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE BANE OF SELF-PITY!

Memory verse: “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69 vs 20.)

READ: John 5 vs 2 - 8:

5:2: Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in the Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.

5:3: In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

5:4: For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool, and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

5:5: Now a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty eight years.

5:6: When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

5:7: The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

5:8: Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”

5:9: And immediately the man was made well, took up His bed, and walked.

INTIMATION:

When you are trapped in a problem so long, the tendency is that you lose your faith in the promises of God. Some people become so stagnant in the problem that they forget the promises of God. They become so weary that they are acclimated to their problems. Such people will then fall into the pit of feeling sorry for themselves. That is 'SELF-PITY.' It's dangerously bad! It is no place for a child of God. Self-pity conquers faith, because it leads to negative confessions when you accept your position or consequences facing you as your fate. It makes you look for man's approval rather than God's direction. 

Self-pity is a death that has no resurrection, a pit that has no bottom. Self-pity is a destroying trap, because it has a multiplying effect on your problem. Once you indulge in it, you will develop what I call the 'wilderness complex.' Have you always counted yourself as poor? Have you always regretted your life? Have you always counted yourself as unlucky or felt unfairly treated by God? That God has failed you? Have you always wished you were another person, in another relationship, in another place, and so on? All these are what I called the 'pity-pots.' 

There are two common responses to hopelessness: despair and self-indulgence. But we need not act as if we had no hope. Self-pity is so damaging and dangerous that you resort to depending on man rather than God. Your problem becomes a tool for seeking or begging for help from people. That is what I mean by 'making you seek man’s approval instead of God's direction.’ You live your life at the mercy of others. At any opportunity, you want people to know how bad it is with you, or your family, or your partner, and so on.

In the passage we read today, we saw a man who had an infinitely 38years, and had abandoned himself in that hospital (Sheep Gate pool), had no hopes of ever getting out of there healed. The man had fallen so deep into the trap of self-pity that his problem had become a way of life. No one had ever helped him, and he had no hope of ever being helped nor healed. The man’s situation looked hopeless, and he had lost faith completely. But no matter how trapped you feel in your infirmities or troubles, God can minister to your deepest needs. As we face difficulties, our proper response should be to trust God and His promises.

One would wonder how Jesus came to that hospital and was interested in only one patient while there are so many patients lying there. Jesus had seen how the man has been self-defeated and lying completely hopeless in his ‘pity-pot.’ He knew the very dangerous situation the man was in and couldn’t help himself nor get help from anybody. The man was so downcast that he lost faith even in God, and Jesus saw that clearly. However, He came to give hope to the hopeless hence He ministered healing to the man. 

Don’t let a problem or hardship cause you to lose hope. What that means is your obvious denial of the promise of Christ who said to us, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11 vs 28). A person may be carrying heavy burdens of sin, oppression, persecution, affliction, hardship, or even weariness in the search for God (The list is not all inclusive—not limited to these mentioned areas), but Jesus frees people from all these burdens. The rest promised in Him is love, healing, freedom, and peace with God. God may even have special work for you to do in spite of your condition, or even because of it. 

When you face problems, and people scoff at you, mock, insult, humiliate, and make you an object of citywide gossip, never fall into self-pity. If your situation seems hopeless, determine that no matter how bad things become you will continue to pray. God will hear your prayer, and He will rescue you. When others reject us, we need God most. Don’t ever turn from your most faithful Friend.

When we are completely beaten down, we are tempted to turn from God, give up, and quit trusting Him. Faith in God is justified even when our situations look hopeless. Faith based on rewards or prosperity is hollow. To be unshakable, faith must be built on the confidence that God’s ultimate purpose will come to pass. Circumstances are never so bad that they are beyond God’s help. We need never despair because we belong to a loving God. We don’t yet know what good He may bring out of a seemingly hopeless situation (Romans 8 vs 28). 

Prayer: Abba Father, if life seems hopeless, You are the reason I still have breath in me, if I have lost something, You are the reason I have not lost everything. You are the reason I live and move and have my being. I know the thoughts You have for me, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give me a future and a hope. In You I put my whole trust, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Our Unspeakable Privilege

 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)

One implication of the magnificent name, I AM WHO I AM, is that this infinite, absolute, self-determining God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ. 

In John 8:56–58 Jesus is answering the criticism of the Jewish leaders. He says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Could Jesus have taken any more exalted words upon his lips? When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” he took up all the majestic truth of the name of God, wrapped it in the humility of servanthood, offered himself to atone for all our rebellion, and made a way for us to see the glory of this infinite, absolute, all-sufficient God — without fear.

In Jesus Christ we who are born of God have the unspeakable privilege of knowing Yahweh as our Father — I AM WHO I AM — the God

who existswhose personality and power is owing solely to himselfwho never changesfrom whom all power and energy in the universe flowsand to whom all creation should conform its life. 

May those who know the name of God put their trust in him (Psalm 9:10).

PROBLEMS SERVE PURPOSES IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2023.

SUBJECT: PROBLEMS SERVE PURPOSES IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD OF GOD!

Memory verse: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials," (James 1 vs 2.)

READ: Genesis 45 vs 4 - 8; 50 vs 20:

45:4: And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

45:5: But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

45:6: For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.

45:7: And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and save your lives by a great deliverance. 

45:8: So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

50:20: But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

INTIMATION:

A problem is a matter or challenge difficult to settle or solve; a source of perplexity; an adversity. Problem is a constant variable in life's equation. They have no boundaries, it can confront anybody. Problems are God's training ground. They sometimes are part of God's plan for believers, therefore, don't allow them to separate you from God's divine destiny for your life. 

Don't run away from your problems, face them squarely, accept God's promise of help, correct your attitudes, and act as you should. Problems come in different magnitudes, some minor, and some big, and they don't make any appointments before coming. They usually show up when you least expect them, and may stay in your life much longer than you want them to.

Problems can be testing of our faith in God. Therefore, it is necessary for God's children to discover the principle for transforming the problems of their lives into the provisions of God. We all detest problems, but they are the reason for every improvement we make. They quicken our wits, and force us to think outside the box, and above all draw us closer to God. A problem is an opportunity to step into a new dimension of accomplishment, usually routed in observance of supernatural principles of God.

There is the wise saying: “I asked for strength, and God gave me difficulties to make me strong. I asked for wisdom, and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for courage, and God gave me dangers to overcome. I asked for love, and God gave me troubled people to help. Therefore, my prayers are answered.” If one has faith, all things have meaning because we serve an all-knowing God.

God customizes some of our problems so that we can fulfill the purpose for which we are created. They are stepping stones, and ordained platforms en-route our divine destiny. God knows you and your potentials. The psalmist says in Psalm 139 vs 16, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the day's fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." The cross you carry is tailor-made by the carpenter's Son.

A case-study of Joseph the son of Jacob, makes the concept very clear. He was the favorite son to his father, and envied by his brothers, the favorite servant in Potiphar's house, the favorite prisoner to the warden and other prisoners, the favorite interpreter of dreams, and the favorite lieutenant to King Pharaoh. 

And after many years, he became the favorite even to his ten brothers who were envious of him. He was pre-ordained by God to be the savior of his people, and He was with him in all his travails. So many problems were lined up en-route his destined purpose; he was betrayed and deserted by his brothers; he was exposed to sexual temptation; suffered false accusation, and punished for doing the right thing; he endured a long imprisonment and was forgotten by those he helped. 

Joseph didn't plan to be in the bottom of a pit after he recounted his God-given dream to his loved ones, but he was. He did not foresee his brothers selling him into slavery, but they did. God had destined him for great things, but people and problems got in the way (First Corinthians 16 vs 9), apparently fashioned to get him his promise and provision. 

Joseph was faithful in the problems. He maintained his character and integrity while enduring the problem. He was patient throughout the duration of the problem. He did not complain while facing ridicule, rejection, envy, and jealousy. He held to his dream in the midst of lies, false accusations, and prison. Through it all, God showed favor to Joseph until the provision came.

Joseph had the vision, and interpreted the purpose of his problem. He said, “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.... But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” (Genesis 45 vs 47 - 48 & 50 vs 20.)

Even though Joseph spent years in the problem, he never stopped listening to the voice of God. He remained faithful to God, and God remained faithful to him, leading him to the divine purpose for which he was created. 

Are you in the middle of a severe problem? Have you gone through your spiritual checklist to make sure that you are not the cause of the problem? Do you find it difficult to find the purpose of the predicament you are in? Look for the promise in God's Word. Hold to that promise. It is given to you by your Father in heaven, who is faithful to fulfill it. All of the provisions God offers in the pantry of heaven are available to the child of God who faithfully stands on His promises.

When God is at work, suffering, setbacks, and hardship may still occur. We are encouraged to face the problems or difficulties with happiness when they do come. Problems have a way of developing patience and character by teaching us to trust God to do what is best for us. Always look for ways to honor God in you present situation of problems, remembering that God will not abandon you. 

Also carefully watch out for His predetermined plan for you. His promise and provision awaits those who tarry to the end. Remember this always, "Blessed is the man that endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (James 1 vs 12).

Prayer: Abba Father, my trust is in You, even though my fruit trees fail to produce, though my labor be in vain and my fields shall yield no food; though my flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places in life, even in trouble, suffering, or responsibility, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

The Only True Freedom

 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32)

What is true freedom? Are you free?

Here are four things that need to be true if we are going to be fully free.

If you don’t have the desire to do a thing, you are not fully free to do it. Oh, you may muster the willpower to do what you don’t want to do, but nobody calls that full freedom. It’s not the way we want to live. There is a constraint and pressure on us that we don’t want.And if you have the desire to do something, but no ability to do it, you are not free to do it.And if you have the desire and the ability to do something, but no opportunity to do it, you are not free to do it.And if you have the desire to do something, and the ability to do it, and the opportunity to do it, but it destroys you in the end, you are not fully free — not free indeed — when you do it. 

To be fully free, we must have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make us happy forever. No regrets. And only Jesus, the Son of God who died and rose for us, can make that possible. 

If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36).