THE BEST FORM OF LIFE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 21, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE BEST FORM OF LIFE!

Memory verse: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1 vs 5.)

READ: Psalm 139 vs 13 - 17:

139:13: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. 

139:14: I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

139:15:My frame is not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 

139:16: Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

139:17: How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

INTIMATION:

The best of life is living in accordance with God’s purpose for your life. God has something specific in mind for you. He has a divine design for your life. He designed you for a unique purpose, something super special, something you alone is planned and designed to accomplish, something above and beyond your ability to think or imagine. God knows you long before you were born or even conceived. He thought about you and planned for you. God has a specific purpose for every of His children. And discovering the purpose that purpose requires your thirsting for it, and fellowshipping with Him in faith. 

Instances abound in the Bible for God's appointment for some of His children. A few examples are mentioned below. The Scripture in Judges 13 vs 3 - 5, says this about Samson, "And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Indeed now you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." 

In Luke 1 vs 13 - 17, the Bible says this about John the Baptist, “But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

The apostle Paul, in Galatians 1 vs 15 - 16, says about himself, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles....." 

God knows you intimately as well, and He chose you to be His, even before you were born. He wants you to draw closer to Him and to fulfill the purpose He has for your life. You are appointed for specific kinds of work, just as Jeremiah, Samson, John the Baptist, and the apostle Paul. That same God who has created you for a specific purpose will reveal it to you at His own time, and in His own way, if you thirst for it, and draw closer to Him in fellowship. He will also equip you to accomplish the task. And whatever work you do should be done for the glory of God. 

God is our Creator. He made each one of us an original masterpiece. He loves what He made, and made it for His purpose: not for our purposes. Never be tempted to dislike what God made, because if you do, you will not discover His purpose for creating you. Many people wish to be someone else. Consequently, they dislike themselves, and wished to lead very different lives than what they live. Stop trying to become a cheap copy of someone you were never intended to be. Love yourself, and seek to discover God's purpose in your life. It is only in doing so, you will lead the life God intended for you, and assuredly please God. And the life that pleasing to God is the best form of life.

Prayer: Abba Father, I thank You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made for Your predetermined purpose. My utmost heart desire is to discover Your purpose for creating me, and serving to accomplish the purpose to please You and live the best of life, in Jesus, Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Prayer’s First Priority

 “Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9)

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches that the first priority in praying is to ask our heavenly Father to cause his name to be hallowed. In us. In the church. In the world. Everywhere.

Notice that this is a petition, a request. It is not a declaration or acclamation. It is not an expression of praise, but petition. For years I misread the Lord’s Prayer as if it began with praise: “Praise God, the Lord’s name is hallowed, revered, honored!” But it is not acclamation. It is supplication. It is a request to God that he would see to it that his own name be hallowed.

It is like another text, Matthew 9:38, where Jesus tells us to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers into his own harvest. It never ceases to amaze me that we, we laborers, should be instructed to ask the owner of the farm, who knows the harvest better than we do, to add on more farm hands.

But isn’t this the same thing we have here in the Lord’s Prayer — Jesus is telling us to ask God, who is infinitely jealous for the honor of his own name, to see to it that his name be hallowed, which means honored, revered, exalted as supremely precious? 

Well it may amaze us, but there it is. And it teaches us two things.

One is that prayer does not move God to do things he is disinclined to do. He has every intention to cause his name to be hallowed. Nothing is higher on God’s priority list. But we should ask anyway.

The other is that prayer is God’s way of bringing our priorities into line with his. God wills to make great things the consequence of our prayers when our prayers are the consequence of his great purposes. 

Bring your heart into line with the jealousy of God to hallow his name, and you will pray with great effect. Let your first and all-determining prayer be for the hallowing of God’s name, and your prayers will plug into the power of God’s jealousy for his name.

THE REALITY OF REDEMPTION IN JESUS CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY OCTOBER 20, 2023.  

SUBJECT: THE REALITY OF REDEMPTION IN JESUS CHRIST!

Memory verse: "In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, the remission of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence."(Ephesians 1 vs 7.)

READ: Romans 3 vs 21 - 25: 

3:2:1 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

3:22: Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ to all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

3:24: Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

3:25: Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

INTIMATION:

The metaphor “redemption” refers to being bought out of that from which we could not deliver ourselves. Redemption has been a theological word in the minds of most believers. The literal meaning of word is known to us. But most believers don't know the new meaning that the Father put into it. It is noteworthy that so many of the Greek words used in the classical Greek language (one of the original languages the Bible was written) was translated in many versions of the Bible, and eventually didn't give the exact meaning of some of those words. 

A study of the word "redemption," from the revelation given to the apostle Paul, and documented in his epistles, enables you grasp the new and richer meaning of it. The metaphorical use of the word by the apostle Paul refers to our purchase by the Blood of Jesus out of the slavery of sin from which we could not deliver ourselves by works of law or meritorious deeds.Jesus paid the ransom price in order to redeem us, and the price paid was the cross, the blood offering of the incarnate Son of God.

The forgiveness of sins always comes with redemption by the blood of Jesus. One receives the forgiveness of sins when he is baptized. Therefore, the spiritual blessings of God that come as a result of His grace, are made applicable when one responds to the cross through obedience to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. When one fulfills this condition in response to faith in the grace of God, he receives the result of the riches of God’s grace.

The key word in the passage we read today is "Righteousness," or the ability to stand in the Father's presence without a sense of guilt or inferiority—stand there without condemnation or the sense of sin consciousness. The apostle Paul gives a clearer meaning of redemption as Christ setting sinners free from slavery to sin and Satan, and revealing of the righteousness of God that comes to man through faith in Jesus Christ, and it belongs to all those who acknowledge Christ as Savior and confess Him as their Lord. 

The righteousness of God that is manifested is the justification of God that is revealed in order to save men regardless of their ability to keep law. And this righteousness is credited to those who seek God by faith. The righteousness of God is the justification of those who obediently respond to the grace of God that was revealed on the cross. God is just because He has revealed the means by men can be made righteous.

Those who confessed Christ are justified freely on the grounds of grace, through the redemption that God wrought in Christ. The redemption is based upon the fact that God laid our sins, griefs, sorrows, diseases etc., upon Jesus, that "Him who knew no sin, God made to become sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

(Second Corinthians 5 vs 21.) Not only did He become the Sin-bearer, but God accepted His substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf. He was raised from the dead because He had put sin away; He had satisfied the claim of justice—"the soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18 vs 20).

When Jesus arose from the dead, He arose, not only because He had put away sin, but also because He had, as a substitute, conquered Satan. It was as though we, individually, had been the conquerors, just as though we had been there in that dark region and had conquered Satan, stripped him of his authority and risen from the dead. When Christ rose from the dead, redemption became a settled and closed issue.

Note carefully, "In Whom we have." That means in Christ we have (present tense) our redemption out of the hand of the enemy, so Satan no longer has dominion over us. We have our redemption from sin and its judgement. "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." It is better put this way, "Sin shall not lord it over us because now we have entered the realm of grace through the new birth."

The Scriptures in Colossians 1 vs 13 - 14 says, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Note carefully that we have been delivered out of the authority of Satan, and we have been translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption. It's ours, just as the money we have in our pockets that we earned honestly is ours. Now this redemption from Satan is a present-tense fact, for you have this redemption now, and it is eternal.

The Scriptures in Hebrews 9 vs 11 - 12 says, "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." 

The Book of Hebrews says that He did not only obtain an eternal redemption for us, but that He sat down at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High (Hebrews 1 vs 13). He carried His Blood into the Holy of Holies, and our redemption was sealed. The Supreme Court of the universe passed upon it and declared that whoever accepted Jesus as Savior and confessed Him as Lord could come into God's family, and be free from condemnation.

Satan is eternally defeated. That redemption is an eternal redemption. God wrought it in His Son who satisfied the claims of justice. That Son is seated as the head of the New Creation at the Right Hand of the Father, and the New Creation is free from the dominion of Satan. Christ is the head. You will enjoy your rights in the redemption as you know the reality.

As long as one holds his redemption as a theory or as a doctrine it will bring him no sense of reality, but as soon as he looks up and says, "Father, I thank you for my perfect redemption, that this body of mine is no longer under the dominance of Satan, that my mind and senses are no longer to be dominated by Satan; I am free, and by Your grace I will not be entangled again in the yoke of bondage,"  then, it is real.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for all You wrought for us in redemption. Give me the grace to be conscious of what I am in Christ in my new creation, and enabling me to always exercise my rights in redemption in Christ, being bestowed with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Let the eyes of my understanding be enlightened, that I may know what is the hope of the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the believers, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

Love’s Greatest Happiness

 No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. (Ephesians 5:29–30)

Don’t miss that last phrase: “because we are members of his body.” And don’t forget what Paul said two verses earlier, namely, that Christ gave himself for us “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor.” So in two different ways, Paul makes plain that Christ pursued his joy in pursuing the holiness and beauty and happiness of his people.

The union between Christ and his bride is so close (“one flesh”) that any good done to her is a good done to himself. Which means that the clear assertion of this text is that the Lord is moved to nourish, cherish, sanctify, and cleanse his bride because in this he finds his joy.

By some definitions, this cannot be love. Love, they say, must be free of self-interest — especially Christlike love, especially Calvary love. I have never seen such a view of love made to square with this passage of Scripture.

Yet what Christ does for his bride, this text plainly calls love: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church . . . ” (Ephesians 5:25). Why not let the text define love for us, instead of bringing our definition from ethics or philosophy? According to this text, love is the pursuit of Christ’s joy in the holy joy of the beloved. 

There is no way to exclude self-interest from love, for self-interest is not the same as selfishness. Selfishness seeks its own private happiness at the expense of others. 

Christlike love seeks its happiness in the happiness of others — not at their expense. It will even suffer and die for the beloved in order that its joy might be made full in the life and purity of the beloved. 

This is how Christ loved us, and this is how he calls us to love one another.

ETERNITY WITH CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 19, 2023.

SUBJECT: ETERNITY WITH CHRIST!

Memory verse: "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come (Hebrews 13 vs 14.)

READ: John 14 vs 1 - 2:

14:1: Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

14:2: In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

14:3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

INTIMATION:

What is it going to be like in eternity with Christ? Although the details of eternity are unknown, we need not fear because Jesus is preparing for the believers and will spend eternity with them. There are few verses in Scripture that describe everlasting life, but these few verses are rich with promises. For instance, the apostle Paul, in First Corinthians 2 vs 9 stated, "But it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

Frankly, the capacity of of our brains cannot handle the wonder and greatness of life in eternity with Christ. It will be trying to describe the Internet to an ant. He will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65 vs 17; Revelation 21 vs 1), and the believers will live with Him forever. There will be no more death, sickness, lack, want etc. The Bible, in Revelation chapter 21 reveals the idea of the home God is preparing for His children. Words have not been invented that could adequately convey the experience of eternity.

It is a common knowledge that the only time people think about eternity is at funerals, and then it's often shallow, sentimental thinking based on ignorance. Most people feel it's morbid to think about death, but actually it's unhealthy to live in denial of death, and not consider what is inevitable. The Bible in Ecclesiastes 7 vs 2 noted, "Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart." 

The most damaging act of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. The child of God is a citizen of heaven where the child enjoys the best of life unlimited. The devil is not a citizen of heaven, and cannot access such life hence his efforts to drag people to his side of total misery. There is far more to life than just here and now! 

We know that right now God is preparing an eternal home for the believers. In heaven, they put on their celestial bodies (Spiritual bodies (First Corinthians 15 vs 40 & 44)), they will be reunited with the departed loved ones who were believers, released from all pains and suffering, rewarded for our faithfulness on earth, and reassigned to do work that they will enjoy doing. They will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, and He will enjoy them for an unlimited, endless time forever. One day Jesus will say, "Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." (Matthew 25 vs 34.) 

Every moment the believers spend in this earthly bodies is time spent away from their eternal home in heaven with Jesus. The time they spend on this earth, if measured against eternity, is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of the life on earth will last forever. This calls for serious caution noting that the deeds of this life are the destiny of the next. 

God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here. His plan involves far more than the few decades you will live on earth here. God offers you opportunity to live with him beyond your lifetime on earth. The Bible says in Psalm 33 vs 11, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart to all generations." His plans are forever, and His promises last eternally.

Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so is life on earth, a preparation for life in eternity with God, or without God. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don't need to fear death. It is the door to eternity. Death will be the last hour of your time on earth, but certainly not the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life. 

Against this backdrop, It is therefore, wise to listen to the counsel of most preachers, ‘Prepare yourself each day in life for eternity, living as if each day is your last day of your life on earth, being ready at all times to meet with your Creator.’

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to be with You forever. Give me the grace to always have this consciousness in me, being ready at all times to meet with You, that I may receive my crown of glory, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Jesus’s Joy in MarriageJesus’s Joy in Marriage

 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor. (Ephesians 5:25–27)

The reason there is so much misery in marriage is not that husbands and wives seek their own pleasure, but that they do not seek it in the pleasure of their spouses. The biblical mandate to husbands and wives is to seek your own joy in the joy of your spouse.

There is scarcely a more hedonistic passage in the Bible than the one on marriage in Ephesians 5:25–30. Husbands are told to love their wives the way Christ loved the church. 

How did he love the church? Verse 25 says he “gave himself up for her.” But why? Verse 26 says, “that he might sanctify” and cleanse her. But why did he want to do that? Verse 27 answers, “that he might present the church to himself in splendor!” 

Ah! There it is! “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). What joy? The joy of marriage to his bride, the church. The joy of presenting the church to himself in blood-bought splendor.

Jesus does not intend to have a dirty and unholy wife. Therefore, he was willing to die to sanctify and cleanse his betrothed so he could present to himself a wife “in splendor.” He gained the desire of his heart by giving himself up in suffering for the good of his bride.

Then Paul applies this to husbands in verses 28–30: “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.” 

Jesus had said to husbands and wives — and everyone else — “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Marriage is an extraordinary place of application. It is not merely “as” you love yourself. But you are loving yourself. When you love the person with whom God has made you one flesh, you are loving yourself. That is, your greatest joy is found in seeking the greatest joy of your spouse.

ETERNITY IN HEAVEN OR HELL?

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18, 2023.

SUBJECT: ETERNITY IN HEAVEN OR HELL?

Memory verse: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3 vs 11.)

READ: Revelation 20 vs 12 - 15:

20:12: And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of life. And the dead were judged out of their works, by the things which were written in the books.

20:13: The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

20:14: Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

20:15: And anyone not found written in the Book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

INTIMATION:

You are created to live forever. Life on earth is not all there is. It is just the beginning of life, it is the preparation for the next. Death marks the beginning of life on the other side—in eternity. It isn't your termination because you can't be terminated. Death is only a transition into eternity, and there are eternal consequences to everything you do on earth, leading to the part of the eternal divide you will forever live. Earth is only a tryout for your life in eternity. It is a practice workout before the actual game. Your time on earth is but a small parenthesis in eternity. You are made to last forever. 

Even though we know that everyone will eventually die, death always seems unnatural and unfair, even at a hundred and twenty years. The reason we feel we should live forever is that God wired our brains with that desire! One day your heart will stop pumping, and that marks the end of your body and your time on earth, but it will not be the end of you. Your earthly body is just a temporary residence for your real self—your spirit.

The plain truth is that while life on earth offers many chances, eternity offers only two; heaven or hell. Your relationship with God on earth will determine your relationship with Him in eternity. If you learn to love and trust God's Son, Jesus, accept His finished work on the cross for you, and confess Him as your Lord and Savior, you are then given the legal right to be the child of God, heir of God, joint heir with His Son, and will spend the rest of eternity with Him. On the other hand, if you reject Him, reject His love, forgiveness, and salvation, thereby committing the only unforgiving sin, you will spend eternity apart from God—in hell. 

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Your Will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right then, have it your way.' Tragically, many people will have to endure eternity without God because they chose to live without Him here on earth. When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and realize that life is just a preparation for eternity, you will start living in light of eternity, and that will color how you handle every relationship, task, and circumstance. Suddenly many activities, goals, and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty, and unworthy of your attention. 

The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears. Eternity focused life changes your value system. You use your time and money wisely. You place higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame, wealth, achievements, and even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with trends, fashions, and popular values just doesn't matter as much anymore. 

The Scripture in Philippians 3 vs 7, the apostle Paul says, "But what things were gain to me, I have counted loss for Christ." He said he thought his past achievements were very important, but now considers them worthless when compared with what Christ has done for him. If our time here on earth is all there is to life, we would live as if there is no tomorrow. You could exploit life as much as you could, forgeting being good and ethical, and wouldn't have to worry about any consequences of your actions. You could indulge yourself in total self-centeredness because your actions would have no long-term repercussions. 

Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen. We need to think more about eternity. The big question is, “Where do you plan to spend your eternity, and how ready are you for the choice made?”

Prayer: Abba Father, in my life everyday draw me nearer to You. Brush off my rough edges, and refine me for a life with You in eternity, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!