Our Good Is His Glory

 “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

One common objection to Christian Hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above the glory of God — that it puts my happiness above God’s honor. But Christian Hedonism most emphatically does not do this.

To be sure, we Christian Hedonists endeavor to pursue our interest and our happiness with all our might. We endorse the resolution of the young Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved: To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.”

But we have learned from the Bible (and from Edwards!) that God’s interest is to magnify the fullness of his glory by spilling over in mercy to us — to us sinners, who desperately need him.

Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness, even if it costs us our lives, is never above God’s interest and God’s happiness and God’s glory, but always in God’s. One of the most precious truths in the Bible is that God’s greatest interest is to glorify the wealth of his grace by making sinners happy in him — in him!

When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of self-sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory become one.

When Jesus promises in Matthew 6:6, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” this is a reward he wants us to seek. He does not lure us with joy we shouldn’t have! But this reward — this joy — is the overflow of turning away from human praise, and going into our closet to seek God.

Therefore, Christian Hedonists do not put their happiness above God’s glory. They put their happiness in God himself and discover the glorious truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

TRIALS ARE GOD’S PURIFIER!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2023.

SUBJECT: TRIALS ARE GOD’S PURIFIER! 

Memory verse: "And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers." (Isaiah 30 vs 20.)

READ: James 1 vs 2 - 4:

1:2: My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various troubles,

2:3: knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

2:4: But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

INTIMATION: 

Everything God offers man on earth comes to him in the form of a promise. And the promise precedes His trial. However, trial comes before triumph, the cross comes before the crown. Darkness comes before the dawning. Promises come before problems, and problems come before provision. Gold is tried, and purified in fire to get the finest of it. So also, are God's children purified in the furnace of adversity. The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven have been tried, smelted, polished, and glorified through the furnace of a great problem. 

After you receive a promise, a loving God takes you into a tailor-made problem, revealing to you the spiritual, emotional, moral, and financial imperfections in your life. Problems will make you neither weak nor strong, but they will reveal what you are. The greater the promise, the greater the problem. The magnitude of the promise God gives you determine the intensity of the problem you are preordained to encounter. If God gives you a million-dollar promise, you can count on a million-dollar problem. The wilderness comes before the provision in the promise. The diamonds (the promises) is in the dust (the problems).

Many people believe that Christianity should offer a problem-free life. Consequently, as life gets tough, they draw back disappointed. Instead, they should determine to prevail with God through life’s storms. Problems and difficulties are painful but inevitable; you might as well see them as opportunities for growth. You can’t prevail with God unless you have troubles to prevail over. When we are burdened, we may feel defeated. But our burdens can make us stronger and develop qualities in us that will prepare us for the future. We cannot be over-comers without troubles to overcome. 

As believers, we feel that if the Holy Spirit leads us, it will always be “beside the still waters” (Psalm 23 vs 2). But that is not necessarily true. He lead Jesus into the wilderness for a long and difficult time of testing, and He may also lead us into difficult situations. When facing trials, first make sure you haven’t brought them on yourself through sin or unwise choices. If you find no sin to confess or unwise behavior to change, then ask God to strengthen you for the test. Finally, be careful to follow faithfully wherever the Holy Spirit leads.

In our memory verse, the Lord gave His people the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but He promised to be with them, teach them, and guide them during hard times. God expects a lot from us, and many times following Him can be painful, but He always acts out of His love for us. Next time you go through a difficult time, try to appreciate the experience and grow from it, learning what God wants to teach you. God may be showing you His love by patiently walking with you through adversity.

How you conduct yourself in the problem will determine how long you stay in the problem. It took God one day to get the children of Israel out of Egypt; it took Him years to get Egypt out of them. The children of Israel murmured, complained, made another god for themselves, rebelled against Moses, and so on. And all these God hate. Experts have calculated that the Israelites could have walked across the wilderness in ninety days, but it took them forty years. When we face hardship and discouragement, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture. Suffering is the training ground for Christian maturity. It develops our patience and makes our final victory sweet. 

Some people say that troubles are the result of sin or lack of faith, but they may be a part of God’s plan for believers. Our problem can help us look upward and forward, instead of inward, they can build strong character (Romans 5 vs 3 - 4), and they can provide us with opportunities to comfort others who also are struggling (Second Corinthians 1 vs 3 - 5). Your troubles may be an indication that you are taking a stand for Christ. When you do so, you are experiencing the privilege of showing that you are worthy of God’s kingdom (Second Thessalonians 1 vs 11).

Prayer: Abba Father, I know you want to make me mature and complete, even in my trials. I thank You for promising to be with you in rough times. Give me the strength to endure, and help me to help solve my problems, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Power of a Superior Promise

 I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts. (Psalm 119:45, my translation)

An essential element of joy is freedom. None of us would be happy if we were not free from what we hate and free for what we love.

And where do we find true freedom? Psalm 119:45 says, “I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts.”

The picture is one of open spaces. The word frees us from smallness of mind. “God gave Solomon . . . breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:29). The word frees us from threatening confinements. “He brought me out into a broad place” (Psalm 18:19).

Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The freedom he has in mind is freedom from the slavery of sin (John 8:34). Or, to put it positively, it is freedom for holiness.

The promises of God’s grace provide the power that makes the demands of God’s holiness an experience of freedom rather than fear and confinement. Peter described the freeing power of God’s promises like this: “Through [his precious and very great promises] you become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4).

In other words, when we trust the promises of God, we sever the root of corruption and sinful desire by the power of a superior promise.

How crucial is the word that breaks the power of counterfeit pleasures! And how vigilant we should be to light our paths and load our hearts with the word of God!

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

STOP MAKING EXCUSES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2023.

SUBJECT: STOP MAKING EXCUSES!

Memory verse: "For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that." (First Corinthians 7 vs 7.)

READ: Romans 12 vs 4 - 8:

12:4: For as we have many members in one body, but all members do not have the same function, 

12:5: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 

12:6: Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 

12:7: or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 

12:8: he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

INTIMATION:

All God’s works are marvelous, and all His creations are wonderful and are useful to Him for His predetermined purposes. Nothing that He created is useless to Him. All natural positions are gifts from God. And none is morally better than the other, and all are valuable to accomplishing HIs purposes. It is important to us to accept our present situation, knowing that your present situation is a tool in God’s hands to achieve His purposes. Our limitations does not limit God, therefore, cannot be an excuse in your ministry or service.

If you're not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse have you been using? No excuse is admissible in ministry. All the people used by God in the Bible had their limitations which never excused them in ministry or service. Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid. 

That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in His service. He will use you if you stop making excuses. We have our different callings to serve, and each service is significant. God created us for His specific purposes, and it's His desire that we identify our pathway and follow it to achieve His purpose of creating us. But He left us a choice—to choose His pathway or ours. Obviously, your choice is made when you give your life for something. What will it be; a career, a sport, a hobby, fame, wealth? Or God's pathway for you to serve Him, and others. No choice you make, outside God's pathway of service destined for you, will have lasting significance. 

When you identify your own gifts, ask how you can use them to build up God’s family. At the same time, realize that your gifts can’t do the work of the body of Christ all alone. Be thankful for people whose gifts are completely different from yours. Let your strengths balance their weaknesses, and be grateful that their abilities make up for your deficiencies. The apostle Paul uses the concept of human body to teach how Christians should live and work together. As the human body is, so is the Body of Christ. Each human part finds its significance on its vocation, but all function under the direction of the brain. So Christians are to work together under the command and authority of Jesus Christ, using our different gifts. 

Service is the pathway to real significance. It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives. As we serve together in God's family, our lives take on eternal importance. In human body, the eyes cannot do the work of the legs, nor the tongue the work of the stomach. When any part tries to do the work of another, it fails, and loses its significance. The Bible, in First Corinthians 7 vs 7, 20, 24, says, "..But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called." 

When you are in the state you were called, God remains with you, hence your significance, because It is only in Him your hope of glory lies; "..Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1 vs 28.) When one is outside of his calling, you hear people complain, "Upon all I am doing nobody notices me," "I am putting in my best, but it seems like nothing is done," "nobody sees my contribution, but when the other person does the same thing, people will be full of praise for him."

God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived, but how right you lived. What you might look at as a disadvantage may turn out to be an advantage in your ministry. In acknowledging God's uniqueness and goodness, the psalmist in Psalm 139 vs 14 says, "I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well."

God is perfect, and His works also are perfect. He never makes mistake, and is forever the same. Find your God's ordained path and follow it, and you will find real significance.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You most precious God for Your marvelous works in me, and how You fearfully and wonderfully made me for Your predetermined purposes. Give me the grace to identify my ordained pathway that I may walk in it, and be relevance in service to You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Live Confident in God’s Sovereign Power

The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe . . . (Ephesians 1:19)

The omnipotence of God means eternal, unshakable refuge in the everlasting glory of God no matter what happens on this earth. And that confidence is the source and power of radical obedience to the call of God. 

Is there anything more freeing, more thrilling, or more strengthening than the truth that God Almighty is your refuge — all day, every day, in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life?

If we believed this, if we really let this truth of God’s omnipotence get hold of us, what a difference it would make in our personal lives and in our ministries! How humble and powerful we would become for the saving purposes of God! 

The omnipotence of God means refuge for the people of God. And when you really believe that your refuge is the omnipotence of God Almighty, there is a joy and a freedom and a power that spills over in a life of radical obedience to Jesus Christ.

The omnipotence of God means reverence, recompense, and refuge for his covenant people. 

I invite you to accept the terms of his covenant of grace: Turn from sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ; and the omnipotence of God Almighty will be the reverence of your soul, the recompense of your enemies, and the refuge of your life — forever.

ATTITUDES THAT INHIBITS GOD’S GRACE IN OUR LIVES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2023.

SUBJECT: ATTITUDES THAT INHIBITS GOD’S GRACE IN OUR LIVES!

Memory verse: "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Matthew 11 vs 6.) 

READ: Psalm 37 vs 8 - 9; 39 vs 1 - 2; Philippians 2 vs 14 - 15:

Psalm 37:8: Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.

37:9: For evil doers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

39:1: I said, “I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me.”

39:2: I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up.

Philippians 2:14: Do all things without complaining or disputing,

2:15: that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

INTIMATION:

There are several things that can keep us from receiving the grace of God. One of these is ignorance, not knowing enough to call on the Lord, asking Him to pour out His grace in time of need. The prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...” (Hosea 4 vs 6.)

Others are; worrying, complaining, murmuring, anger etc. They can never mix with grace. Many times the mistake we make is griping and fussing from daylight to dark, at the same time we are trying to activate the power of God in our life to help us solve our problems. Many times the reason we are not able to tap into the grace of God is simply because our attitude is all wrong. We cannot expect God to intervene on our behalf in a situation if we are constantly grumbling, angry with ourselves, or with others, fault-finding, complaining, murmuring, nit-picking, jealousy and envy. 

All these bad attitudes are very destructive emotions. They reveal a lack of faith in God, believing that God loves us and is in control. We should not do all that. Instead, we should trust in God, giving ourselves to Him for His use and safekeeping. When you dwell on your problems, you will become anxious and angry. But if you concentrate on God and His goodness, you will find peace and inner strength to tarry.

Like King David, resolve to always keep your tongue from sin; not complaining about anything to anybody, even when you have reasons to complain. Instead take your complaints directly to God. We all have complaints about our job, finances, and other unfavorable situations in our lives, but complaining to others may make them think that God cannot take care of us. It may also look as if we blame God for our troubles, and it may result into our turning away from Him. Take your complaints directly to God, turn to Him in times of troubles, for only Him can take it and provide an answer.

There is no way to receive God's grace while seeking sympathy from others or fellowshipping with self-pity. God will heal our wound if we don't seek others to nurse them. Many times we want the power of God to come upon us and solve some problems for us, but at the same time we want all our friends to feel sorry for us. For instance, if we are having financial problems, we may go into our prayer closet and cry out to the Lord, "O Father, please help me. I'm in over my head financially, and I need Your help so bad. I'm trusting You to help me, because without You I have no hope. Lord, You are the only One who can save me!"

Then, as soon as prayer time is over, you get on the phone telling your friends, co-workers, and relations, how tight it is for you and family, how hard you have worked and nothing is happening, how your husband or wife has not been helping and is idle, how underprivileged you are, how nobody is helping you, on and on. You want God to help you, but you also want everybody else to feel sorry for you. If we want to receive God's grace, we have got to learn to depend upon Him totally and not upon others' sympathy or our own self-pity. 

It is not wrong to share your burdens in a balanced way and with right motives. But beware of seeking pity. God never leads us where He cannot keep us. His grace is always sufficient for us—in any and every circumstances of life. There is no sense in our griping and complaining, worrying and finagling, constantly trying to figure out things, working ourselves up into a stew and getting all frustrated and confused. If we do, it shows that we have no faith at all in God's abiding grace.

Our lives should be characterized by moral purity, patience, and peacefulness, so that we will “shine as lights” in a dark and depraved world. A transformed life is an effective witness to the power of God’s Word, and a magnet for His grace. Don’t let dissensions snuff out your light. Shine out for God. 

Prayer: Abba Father, the earth is Yours and all its fullness. My needs are known to You from the very beginning because You are my Maker. My sufficiency is in You. Give me the grace to always to develop the right attitude of total dependence on You in all things, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

PRAYERS TO RECEIVE REVELATION

 PRAYERS TO RECEIVE REVELATION

You are the God who reveals secrets, Lord, reveal your secrets to me (Daniel 2:28).

Reveal to me the secret and the deep (Daniel 2:22).

Let me understand secrets kept from the foundation of the world (Matthew 13:35).

Let the seals of your Word be broken (Daniel 12:9).

Let me understand and receive revelation of your will and your purpose for my life.

Give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation and may the eyes of my understanding be opened (Ephesians 1:17).

Let me understand heavenly things (John 3:12).

Open my eyes to witness the wonders of your Word (Psalms 119:18).

Let me know and understand the mysteries of the Kingdom (Mark 4:11).

Let me speak revelation to others (1 Corinthians 14:6).

Reveal your secrets to your servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).

Let the hidden become manifest (Mark 4:22).

Hide your truths from the wise and prudent and reveal them to children (Matthew 11:25).

May your arm be revealed in my life (John 12:38).

Reveal to me what belongs to me (Deuteronomy 29:29).

May your Word be revealed to me (1 Samuel 3:7).

May your glory be revealed in my life (Isaiah 40:5).

May your righteousness be revealed in my life (Isaiah 56:1).

Allow him to receive visions and revelations from the Lord (2 Corinthians 12:1).

Give me revelations in abundance (2 Corinthians 12:7).

May he be a good steward of your revelations (1 Corinthians 4:1).

Let it speak of the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3).

Give me your hidden wisdom and that I may understand it (1 Corinthians 2:7).

Do not hide your commandments from me (Psalms 119:19).

Let the wisdom of God speak in mystery (1 Corinthians 2:7).

Make known to me the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19).

Make me know the mystery of your will (Ephesians 1:9).

Open your riddle with the harp (Psalms 49:4).

Make me understand your parables, the words of the wise and their riddles (Proverbs 1:6).

Lord, light my lamp and illuminate my darkness (Psalm 18:28).

Turn darkness before me into light (Isaiah 42:16).

Give me hidden treasures and closely guarded secrets (Isaiah 45:3).

Let your lamp shine over my head (Job 29:3).

My spirit is a lamp of the Lord that searches the depths of the heart (Proverbs 20:27).