Let Goods and Kindred Go

 Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. (Hebrews 10:32–35)

The Christians in Hebrews 10:32–35 have earned the right to teach us about costly love.

The situation appears to be this: In the early days of their conversion, some of them were imprisoned for their faith. The others were confronted with a difficult choice: Shall we go underground and stay “safe,” or shall we visit our brothers and sisters in prison and risk our lives and property? They chose the way of love and accepted the cost.

“For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property.”

But were they losers? No. They lost property and gained joy! They joyfully accepted the loss.

In one sense, they denied themselves. It was real and costly. But in another sense, they did not. They chose the way of joy. Evidently, these Christians were motivated for prison ministry the same way the Macedonians (of 2 Corinthians 8:1–9) were motivated to relieve the poor. Their joy in God overflowed in love for others.

They looked at their own lives and said, “The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life” (see Psalm 63:3).

They looked at all their possessions and said, “We have a possession in heaven that is better and lasts longer than any of this” (see Hebrews 10:34).

Then they looked at each other and said — perhaps sang — something like Martin Luther’s great hymn:

Let goods and kindred go

This mortal life also

The body they may kill

God’s truth abideth still

His kingdom is forever

WORLDLINESS IS ENMITY WITH GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023.

SUBJECT: WORLDLINESS IS ENMITY WITH GOD!

Memory verse: “Adulterers and Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with world is enmity with God? Whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4 vs 4.)

READ: First John 2 vs 15 - 17: 

2:15: Do not love the world or things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

2:16: For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

2:17: And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

INTIMATION:

Worldliness is the love and care of the things of this world, that is, having friendship with the world. The materialist is an adulterer in that he has wedded himself as a member of the body of Christ to that which is of this world. He has broken the covenant he made with Christ in order to give himself to the world. It’s to be carnally minded—living according to the desires of the flesh, that is, setting our mind on things of the flesh. And it drives the love of God out of you, and puts you up as enemies of God. 

Worldliness is characterized by both internal and external behaviors. The internal worldliness which begins in the heart, are specifically expressed in three forms: (1) lust of the flesh—preoccupation with gratifying physical desires; (2) lust of the eyes—coveting and accumulating things, bowing to the god of materialism; and (3) pride of life—obsession with one’s status or importance. The external worldliness is predominantly displayed in class consciousness, and attraction to pleasures.

By contrast, God’s value system is quite different from the world’s system. God hates pride, but values humility, self-control, meekness, gentleness, and generosity. And because of His value system, that is quite distinct from the world’s value system, loving the things of the world, is putting oneself up as an enemy of God because they lure us into wrong doing. In the world there are temptations that are produced wherein one is drawn away from the love of God to satisfy the the desires of the flesh in an ungodly manner. Pleasure that keeps us from pleasing God is sinful. However, there is nothing wrong with wanting a pleasurable life. God gives us good gifts that He wants us to enjoy (First Timothy 6 vs 17). 

Those who love activities and possessions of this world do not love the Father, for they are obsessed with the things of this world. One cannot love God with the love with which God seeks to be loved, and at the same time, engage himself in the pleasures of this world. That does not mean that the rich must forsake their riches, for many rich brethren have the gift of making money for the benefit of the work of the body of Christ. Therefore, the rich are not obligated to give themselves into poverty. However, those who have been consumed with the things of the world have taken their minds off that which is to come. And that which is to come is the destruction of all that for which one has worked in this world. 

Christians are not to attach themselves to the thinking of the world in a way that they are diverted from keeping their minds on those things that are above (Colossians 3 vs 1 - 2). Those who would pattern their lives after the world, therefore, have forgotten that they have attached themselves to something that will not exist forever. If they have not patterned their thinking after that which is eternal, they will not be prepared to exist in eternity. It is for this reason that the worldly minded people will not inherit eternal life. Whenever there is a compromise in one’s relationship with the world and God, lukewarmness or apostasy in reference to the truth results. One’s relationship with the world must be defined and controlled by his love of God,

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world that are usually selfish and often corrupting. Wise Christians decide that worldly behavior is off-limits for them. Our refusal to conform to this world’s values, however, must go even deeper than just behavior and customs; it must be firmly planted in our mind. Allow the Holy Spirit of the living God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. The Spirit will renew, reeducate, and redirect your mind to be truly transformed. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the humble spirit of total obedience to Your precepts, and to put away the desires, cares and pleasures of this world that are contrary to my obeying and serving You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

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).