The Piercing Power of the Word

 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

The word of God is our only hope. The good news of God’s promises and the warnings of his judgment are sharp enough and living enough and active enough to penetrate to the bottom of my heart and show me that the lies of sin are indeed lies.

Abortion will not create a wonderful future for me. Neither will cheating, or dressing provocatively, or throwing away my sexual purity, or keeping quiet about dishonesty at work, or divorce, or vengeance. And what rescues me from this deception is the word of God. 

The word of God’s promise is like throwing open a great window of bright morning sunlight on the roaches of sin masquerading as satisfying pleasures in our hearts. God has given you his good news, his promises, his word to protect you from the deep deceptions of sin that try to harden your heart and lure it away from God and lead it to destruction. 

Be of good cheer in your battle to believe. Because the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, it will penetrate deeper than any deception of sin has ever gone and reveal what is truly valuable and what is truly worth trusting and loving.

FAITH EXPRESSES ITSELF THROUGH LOVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2023.

SUBJECT: FAITH EXPRESSES ITSELF THROUGH LOVE!

Memory verse: "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love." (Galatians 5 vs 6.) 

READ: James 2 vs 14 - 26:

2:14: What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

2:15: If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

2:16: and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body; what doth it profit?

2:17: Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

2:18: But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

2:19: You believe that there is one God; you do well. Even the devils believe—and tremble!

2:20: But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

INTIMATION:

We become Christians through God’s unmerited grace, not as the result of any effort, ability, intelligent choice, or act of service on our part. However, out of gratitude for this free gift, we will seek to help and serve others with kindness, love, and gentleness, and not merely to please ourselves. We are saved by faith, not by deeds. But love for others and for God, is the response of those whom God has forgiven. God’s forgiveness is complete, and Jesus said that those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7 vs 47). Because faith expresses itself through love, you can check your love for others as a way to monitor your faith.

The characteristics of an effective Christian in any age is work produced by faith, labor prompted by love and endurance inspired by hope. As Christians, our calling from God is to become like Christ (Romans 8 vs 29). To be worthy of this calling means to want to do what is right and good (as Christ would). Christians have been created anew in Christ by obedience to the gospel (Romans 6 vs 4 - 5). Since they are recreated in Christ, they respond with good works of thanksgiving. They have been so created, not by good works, but for good works. Such actions show that our commitment to God is real. Deeds of loving service are not a substitute for, but rather a verification of our faith in Christ.

Faith is the foundation and content of God’s message, hope is the attitude and focus, love is the action. Therefore, your faith is put into action through love. Love involves unselfish service to others. When faith and hope are in place, you are free to love completely because you understand how God loves. While it is true that our good deeds can never earn salvation, true faith always results in a changed life and good deeds. Love endures forever (First Corinthians 13 vs 13). Love is the greatest of all human qualities and is an attribute of God Himself (First John 4 vs 8). Does your faith fully express itself in loving others? 

Your faith should be carried into action with an obedient response to the grace of God. (Second Corinthians 4 vs 15). Your faith should move you into action. In your relationship with one another you should be moved into action to care for one another. God’s intention is that our salvation will result in acts of service. We are not saved merely for our own benefit, but to benefit others in our faith works through love, serve Christ and build up the church. Christians thus work in response to what God has done for them (First Corinthians 15 vs 10). It is their works that manifest their response to the grace of God. 

Though good works are not a qualification for the saving grace of God, rather it is a manifestation of the obedient and faithful response to the free gift of grace. What is required of a Christian is a faith that works through love. This is the obedient faith that responds to the grace of God. One’s recognition of one’s salvation by the free gift of grace motivates one to work out of love and thanksgiving. When one trusts in God for his or her salvation by grace, he or she will lovingly respond in obedience to God with a better relationship with his or her fellow human. 

The work referred to in this context, is not specifically the keeping the commandments of law. For this reason, one must not confuse the works of faith that the apostle James discusses with the works of law about which the apostle Paul speaks about in both Romans and Galatians. Reference here is to good deeds toward one’s fellow human. Such deeds are the manifestation of one’s faith. 

Therefore, one’s faith must be manifested by his or her benevolent actions toward others. If one claims to have faith in God, and yet does not manifest such in the behavior of his or her life, then such faith is of no profit toward salvation. Faith without benevolent actions is self-deception on the part of the one who seeks to please God on his own conditions. 

When someone claims to have faith, what he or she may have is intellectual assent—agreement with a set of Christian teachings—and as such it would be incomplete faith. True faith transforms our conduct as well as our thoughts. If your life remains unchanged, you don’t truly believe the truths you claim to believe. 

Though works are not meritorious conditions upon which one will be judged, but they are indications of thankful response to God for His grace. However, final judgement by Christ will be based on our deeds because our deeds proclaim what sort of heart is within us.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for your saving grace bestowed on us in Christ. My faith is in You. Give me the grace to manifest my faith expressed through love for You and others, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Change Is Possible

 Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)

Christianity means change is possible. Deep, fundamental change. It is possible to become tenderhearted when once you were callous and insensitive. It is possible to stop being dominated by bitterness and anger. It is possible to become a loving person, no matter what your background has been.

The Bible assumes that God is the decisive factor in making us what we should be. With wonderful bluntness, the Bible says, “Put away . . . all malice” and be “tenderhearted” (Ephesians 4:31–32). It does not say, “If you can . . . ” Or, “If your parents were tenderhearted . . . ” Or, “If you have not been terribly abused . . . ” It says, “Be . . . tenderhearted.”

This is wonderfully freeing. It frees us from the terrible fatalism that says change is impossible for me. It frees me from mechanistic views that make my background my destiny.

And God’s commands always come with freeing, life-changing truth to believe. For example,

God adopted us as his children. We have a new Father and a new family. This breaks the fatalistic forces of our “family-of-origin.” “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).

God loves us as his children. We are “loved children” (Ephesians 5:1). The command to imitate the love of God does not hang in the air, it comes with power: “Be imitators of God, as loved children.” “Love!” is the command and being loved by God is the power.

God has forgiven us in Christ. Be tenderhearted and forgiving just as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). What God did in Christ is powerful. It makes change possible. The command to be tenderhearted has more to do with what God did for you than what your mother or your father did to you. This kind of command means you can change.

Christ loved you and gave himself up for you. “Walk in love, as Christ loved [you]” (Ephesians 5:2). The command comes with life-changing truth. “Christ loved you.” At the moment when there is a chance to love, and some voice says, “You are not a loving person,” you can say, “Christ’s love for me makes me a new kind of person. His command to love is just as surely possible for me as his promise of love is true for me.”

Don’t be a fatalist. Be a Christian. Change is possible. God is alive. Christ is risen. The promises are true.

HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023.

SUBJECT: HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT!

Memory verse: "One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." (Psalm 27 vs 4.)

READ: Luke 10 vs 38 - 42: 

10:38: Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

10:39: And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 

10:40: But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

10:41: And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

10:42: But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

INTIMATION:

We should have our priorities right, knowing that the spiritual, which controls the physical, should take precedence in all we do. It is good to care for our physical needs. However, the spiritual needs of man are always more important. One must not use the service of physical needs as an excuse to neglect the spiritual food that is more important. It is for this reason that Jesus advised us thus, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6 vs 33.) Our priorities should be determined by what is most important at any time.

To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness means to put God first in your life, making Jesus the Lord and King of your life. He must control every area —your work, play, plans, relationships, and so on. You must fill your thoughts with His desires, to take His character for your pattern, and to serve and obey Him in everything. Emphasis here is that we desire that the will of the Father be done on earth in our hearts, as it is in heaven. God’s righteousness comes through one’s submission to His will. Seeking the kingdom of God, therefore, must always be first. God will take care of those who seek Him first. 

People, objects, goals, and other desires all compete for priority. Any of these can quickly become most important to you, if you don’t actively choose to give God the first place in every area of your life. Our greatest desire should be to live in the presence of the Lord each day of our lives. Sadly, this is not the greatest desire of many who claim to be believers. Many substitute commitment and obedience to God with busywork in form of Christian services, especially in the church, which, to a large extent, is self-serving—wanting to be seen as workers in His vineyard while his heart is far away from Him.

True life is more than the food the body consumes, it is more than the activities in which one can participate in order to entertain oneself. Faith in God draws one away from the material world in order to trust in God as the provider of all that is necessary for life. The abundant life results in one’s reliance on God as the provider of both physical and spiritual needs (John 10 vs 10). 

Consider Mary and Martha in the passage we read today, on this occasion they were both serving Jesus in their house, the One they both loved. But Martha was very busy with the household chores while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to His teaching. Martha didn't realize that in her desire to serve, she was actually neglecting her guest. As at the time Jesus was present in the house, Martha’s priorities were wrong. She was busy doing a needed and good work. However, the situation demanded a change in her priorities because the end of Jesus’ ministry was drawing near. It was a time to listen to Jesus for the last time.

Though Martha’s works were good but were not to her best interest. She got so busy that she found it hard to relax and enjoy her guests. Her service to Jesus degenerated into mere busywork that was no longer full of devotion to Him. The personal attention she gave her guests should be more important than the comforts she tried to provide for them. She was overwhelmed by her wrong priority of placing physical needs above spiritual needs. 

Our work for the necessities of life takes second place to that which is above this world. When material things are in their right priority, they become spiritual in the sense that we consider such to be blessings from God. When material blessings are used for the work of God, then they are a blessing to many. The rich man who continually focuses his material blessings toward the propagation of the gospel is a blessing to the kingdom of God. 

What is really important to you? Is the kingdom only one of your many concerns, or is it central to all you do? Are you holding back any areas of your life from God’s control? As Lord and Creator, He wants to help provide what you need as well as guide how you use what He provides. Only in seeking first the kingdom of God can one maintain the correct priorities of the Christian life. It is when one places God first in all things that God takes care of the one in all ways. 

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to adequately prioritize my needs, placing You and my spiritual needs first in my life, that I may serve the interest of Your kingdom first, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

When I Am Anxious

 . . . casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

There is a promise suited to every sin you are tempted to commit and every form of unbelief that takes you off guard and makes you anxious. For example:

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, “knowing that 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).

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise: “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). 

So, let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. It is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. 

So, let us fix our eyes on the precious and very great promises of God. Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace.

SACRIFICE YOURSELF TO GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2023.

SUBJECT: SACRIFICE YOURSELF TO GOD! 

Memory verse: "And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

 (Romans 6 vs 13.)

READ: Romans 12 vs 1 - 2:

12:1: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

12:2: And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

INTIMATION:

In view of the fact that God’s grace was poured out for our salvation, our natural response is to obediently comply with the directions of the One who has offered the grace. Christians should be motivated to respond to all that God has done by giving themselves totally to God who gave His only begotten Son as a propitiation for our sins. Presenting yourself as a living sacrifice is the natural response of the spiritually-minded individual who has come to know and appreciate the grace of God. 

Just as the Levitical law (Leviticus 1 vs 9) called for the total consumption of the burnt offering for sin upon the altar of sacrifice, so must Christians give their lives totally to God. It is only reasonable to respond with worship to God for His grace that was manifested through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. They should offer our their lives in sacrificial worship and service to Him. 

Christians should offer their lives in sacrificial worship and service to Him. Those who have not given their lives totally to God have not appreciated the grace of God. If because of His grace God was willing to offer His Son, who was eternal in heaven, then certainly it is not unreasonable that we give to Him the totality of our short life on earth. 

It is also the mind of the flesh to reason that one can give anything less than the totality of his life and believe that God’s grace will reward him for his lukewarm commitment. The committed mind is directed by purposes that are higher than the material world and the ambitions of the selfishly driven individual. 

The thinking of the Christian ought to be on those things that will last beyond the existence of this world. Therefore, he or she is not to engage his or her thinking in those things that would divert his or her life from the eternal purposes of God. The desires of the flesh should not be given occasion to control their lives. Sin does not reign in the person who has dedicated himself to live the life of thanksgiving to God for saving him through His grace. 

To sacrifice yourself to God is to submit to God in devotion. He wants us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices—daily laying aside our own desires to follow Him, putting all our energy and resources at His disposal and trusting Him to guide us. We do this out of gratitude that our sins have been forgiven. 

God has good, pleasing, and perfect plans His children. He wants us to be transformed people with renewed minds, living to honor and obey Him. Because He wants only what is best for us, and because He gave His Son to make our new life in Christ possible, we should joyfully give ourselves as living sacrifices for His service.

Our skills, capabilities, and bodies can serve many purposes, good or bad. In sin, every part of the our body is vulnerable. In Christ, every part can be an instrument for service. It is the one to whom we offer our service that makes the difference. We are like lasers that can burn destructive holes in steel places or do delicate cataract surgery. Will you give yourself completely to God, asking Him to put you to good use to His glory? 

Let us not lose sight of the end result of all our humility and self-sacrifice—a joyous banquet with our Lord! God never asks us to suffer for the sake of suffering. He never asks us to give up something good unless He plans to replace it with something even better. Jesus is not calling us to join Him in a labor camp but in a feast—the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19 vs 6 - 9), when God and His beloved church will be joined forever.

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is for an intimate relationship with You, willing, and empowered by You, to offer myself as a living sacrifice to You, desiring that You put me to good use to Your glory, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Fighting Words

 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I battle unbelief with one of my most often-used promises: Isaiah 41:10.

The day I left for three years to study in Germany, my father called me long distance in New York and gave me the promise of this verse on the telephone. For three years, I must have quoted it to myself hundreds of times to get me through periods of tremendous stress. 

When the motor of my mind is in neutral, the hum of the gears is the sound of Isaiah 41:10. I love this verse.

Of course, it’s not the only dagger in the arsenal of my faith.

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).

So by all means fight unbelief with every promise in the book. But it helps to have one central, default weapon. And for me that has been Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Precious, precious promise!