GOD WORKS IN YOU TO PLEASE HIM!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

 

MONDAY JANUARY 08, 2024.

SUBJECT: GOD WORKS IN YOU TO PLEASE HIM!

Memory verse: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2 vs 13.)

READ: Hebrews 13 vs 20 - 21:

13:20: Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

13:21: make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

INTIMATION: 

To please God is to do His will; to walk in accordance with His precepts. It’s on this pivot that all that pertains to life and godliness revolve. God works in us as we have responded to His work for us. He worked for us through the cross; the gift of His only begotten Son as a propitiation for our sins. We are sinners who had no hopes of saving ourselves from God’s condemnation. But Christ came, took our place, paid the wages we owed—the wages of sin which is death. And died fro our sins to salvage us—set us free—from the consequences of sin and death, and separation from God. 

It is on this premise that we work out our salvation in appreciation of what Christ has done for us. Our sense of gratitude for the work of God in reference to our salvation, therefore, should move us into action. In this way God is living in us. When we are motivated into action by the redemptive work of God, then we work according to His purposes. And when we work according to the purposes of God, it is God who works in us. Christians do not work in order to be saved. They work out their salvation because they are saved. When we respond to the sacrificial blood of Jesus on the cross, then it is God who is working in us. 

God has not left us alone in our struggles to do His will—to obey His laws. He wants to come alongside us and be within us to help, hence His gift of the Holy Spirit—our Helper. God gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. As a believer, you are not left to your own resources to cope with problems. God created you for His specific purposes that are predetermined by Him, even before the foundation of the world. Consequently, only Him can work out His plan and purpose in you. 

In Ephesians 1 vs 11, the Scripture says, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” God is sovereign and in control of all things. He works all things in us according the counsel of His will. God’s purposes for the believers cannot be thwarted, no matter how hard Satan tries, or what he brings our way.

Jesus gave us the assurances when He said, in John 6 vs 37 - 40, “All the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Godhead—the Trinity—in union with one another, is at work in the world, and in every believer. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit never work independently of the other. The will of the Father (Loving Father) is accomplished by the Son (our Sacrificial Savior) with the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit (our Faithful Companion). Thus, anyone who makes a sincere commitment to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior is secure in God’s promises, even the promise of everlasting life with Him. 

God’s work for us began when Christ died on the cross in our place. His work in us began when we first believed. Now, the Holy Spirit—our Helper—lives in us, enabling us to be more like Christ every day, helping us accomplish the will of God for us. This is the Christian growth and maturity that began when we accepted Jesus, and continues until Christ returns to perfect us and take us home to the Father.

Sometimes, by human assessment, you feel as though you aren’t making progress in your spiritual life, especially when sometimes you fall into sin. But be of good cheer, it is a gradual process that will only come to perfection when Christ returns. Now, look at this Scripture, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1 vs 6.) Be confident that when God starts a project, He completes it! God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us grow in grace until He has completed His work in our lives. Never let your shortcomings, and your feeling of incompleteness, or distress becloud you of God’s promise and provision.

All that is required of the believer is to believe Him and keep His commandments. The same commandments He has sent an Helper—the Holy Spirit—to help us in our weaknesses. God works in us to make us the kind of people that would please Him, and He equips us to do the kind of work that would please Him. Yours is to yield to the total control of the Spirit that His fruit will be fully manifested in you—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In the real sense of it, He does all things. What a benevolent Father!

Prayer: Abba Father, I surrender completely to You. Work Your work in me that I may be complete in every good work to do Your will and please You at all times, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!I

Grace Denied and Supplied

 Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

The need for inner strength arises not just from the depletions of everyday stress, but from the suffering and afflictions that come from time to time. And they do come.

Suffering is inevitably added to heart-weariness on the way to heaven. When it comes, the heart may waver and the narrow way that leads to life may look impossibly hard. It’s hard enough to have a narrow road and steep hills that test the old jalopy’s strength to the limit. But what shall we do when the car breaks down?

Paul cried out three times with this question because of some affliction in his life. He asked for relief from his thorn in the flesh. But God’s grace did not come in the form he asked. It came in another form. Christ answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Here we see grace given in the form of Christ’s sustaining power in unrelieved affliction — one grace given, we could say, within the circle of another grace denied. And Paul responded with faith in the sufficiency of this future grace: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God often blesses us with a “grace given” in the circle of “grace denied.” 

For example, on a beastly hot day in July, the water pump on our car stopped working, and twenty miles from any town we were stranded on the interstate in Tennessee.

I had prayed that morning that the car would work well and that we would come to our destination safely. Now the car had died. The grace of trouble-free travel had been denied. No one was stopping as we stood around our car. Then my son Abraham (about eleven at the time) said, “Daddy, we should pray.” So we bowed behind the car and asked God for some future grace — a help in time of need. When we looked up, a pickup truck had pulled over.

The driver was a mechanic who worked about twenty miles away. He said he would be willing to go get the parts and come back and fix the car. I rode with him to town and was able to share the gospel with him. We were on our way in about five hours.

Now the remarkable thing about that answer to our prayer is that it came inside the circle of a prayer denied. We asked for a trouble-free trip. God gave us trouble. But in the midst of a grace denied, we got a grace supplied. And I am learning to trust God’s wisdom in giving the grace that is best for me and for unbelieving mechanics and for the watching faith of eleven-year-old boys.

We should not be surprised that God gives us wonderful graces in the midst of suffering that we had asked him to spare us. He knows best how to apportion his grace for our good and for his glory.

SANCTIFICATION IS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY JANUARY 07, 2024.

SUBJECT : SANCTIFICATION IS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Memory verse: "Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth." (John 17 vs 17.) 

READ: John 14 vs 23 - 26:

14:23: Jesus answered and said to him, "if anyone loves Me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

14:24: He who does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word which is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

14:25: These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.

14:26: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

INTIMATION:

A follower of Christ becomes sanctified (separated from the ways of the world) through believing and applying the Word of God in their daily living. He or she has already accepted the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for forgiveness and remission of sin and has declared Him as his or her Lord and Savior. Daily application of God's Word has a purifying effect on our minds and hearts. Scripture points out sin, motivates us to confess and forsake sin, renews our relationship with Christ, and guides us back to the right path. Obedience to the truth of God will separate one from the world in the sense that one obeys God and not men. One’s continued obedience maintains the separation from the world.

The Scripture says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of heart." (Hebrews 4 vs 12.) There is life-changing power in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is the embodiment of that power of God. The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, and also assures them of the truth of the gospel. The Holy Spirit is the power of our new lives in Christ. He begins a lifelong process of change  making us more like Jesus. 

To ‘sanctify” literally means to "to separate," to set apart for sacred purposes, to purify. We can purify ourselves by reading God's Word, thoughtfully applying it to our lives, and preparing our hearts to participate in worship through anticipation, self-examination, and meditation. We cannot become sanctified on our own, but God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us obey and to give us power to overcome sin. We rely on God's power to free us from the grip of sin. Don't use the excuse that you can't help slipping into sin to continue in your sinful lifestyle, for God has made available His power, through the Holy Spirit, to overcome our evil desires.

A message about sanctification without a message about empowerment simply produces pressure. Because it causes people to go out and start trying to live a sanctified life without knowing how to do what they know they should be doing. If we don't know about the power of the Holy Spirit to help us do what He has revealed to us to do and not do, we would be overcome. We see the commands, such as the one in First Peter 1 vs 14 - 16, about not conforming to the former lusts that governed us before when we were in ignorance and didn't know the requirements of the Gospel, and about being holy even as God is holy, and we realize out inability to do all that without help. Hence the need to go back to our empowerer—the Holy Spirit. 

If you study the subject of holiness, for instance, you will learn that there is no such as a person becoming holy apart from a great involvement with the Holy Spirit in his life. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is the power of God given to us to do in us and through us and for us and to us what we could never do on our own.

Jesus said in John 15 vs 5, "....Without Me you can do nothing." We are not capable of anything in our own powers or strength, "....For by strength no man shall prevail" (First Samuel 2 vs 9). To make available His power to help mankind, God became a man in Jesus so that Jesus could die for our sins. Jesus rose from the dead to offer salvation to all people through spiritual renewal and rebirth. When Jesus ascended into heaven, His physical presence left the earth, but He promised to send the Holy Spirit so that His spiritual presence would still be among humankind. All believers have the power of the Holy Spirit available to them. It's only the power of God in the Holy Spirit given to us that can the believers have the strength to do all things (Philippians 4 vs 13).

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the gift of Jesus Christ our Messiah, and the Holy Spirit our Helper. Your faithfulness endures forever, and without the Holy Spirit empowerment I am capable of doing nothing. May I never take my focus away from You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen,

PRAISE THE LORD!

God’s Will Is That You Draw Near

Let us draw near with a true heart. (Hebrews 10:22)

The command we are given in this passage is to draw near to God. The great aim of the writer of the book of Hebrews is that we get near God, that we have fellowship with him, that we not settle for a Christian life at a distance from God.

This drawing near is not a physical act. It’s not building a tower of Babel by your achievements to get to heaven. It’s not necessarily going to a church building. Or walking to an altar at the front. It is an invisible act of the heart. You can do it while standing absolutely still, or while lying in a hospital bed, or on the train as you commute to work.

This is the center of the gospel — this is what the garden of Gethsemane and Good Friday are all about — that God has done astonishing and costly things to draw us near to himself. He has sent his Son to suffer and to die so that through him we might draw near. Everything that he has done in the great plan of redemption is so that we might draw near. And that nearness is for our joy and for his glory. 

He does not need us. If we stay away, he is not impoverished. He does not need us in order to be happy in the fellowship of the Trinity. But he magnifies his mercy by giving us free access through his Son, in spite of our sin, to the one Reality that can satisfy our souls completely and forever, namely, himself. “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

This is God’s will for you, even as you read this. This is why Christ died: that you would draw near to God.

NOT ENTERING GOD’S REST IS THE RESULT OF UNBELIEF!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JANUARY 06, 2024.

SUBJECT :NOT ENTERING GOD’S REST IS THE RESULT OF UNBELIEF!

Memory verse: "For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it." (Hebrews 4 vs 2.)

READ: Hebrews 4 vs 1 - 7:

4:1: Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 

4:2: For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

4:3: For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest'" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4:4: For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works";

4:5: And again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest."

4:6: Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,

4:7: Again He designates a certain day, saying to David, "Today," after such a long time, as it had been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."

INTIMATION:

The Bible says that, when people hear God's Word but do not believe it, "the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Unbelief results in disobedience and not entering His rest. One cannot claim to believe in God if he or she does not obey the will of God—the Word of God. If a person’s faith does not move him or her to continue to obey the will of God, he or she will not enter into God’s final rest of heaven. 

Many of the Christians filling our churches today know a great deal about Christ, but they do not know Christ personally—they do not combine their knowledge with faith. They do not believe completely in Him and do not act on what they know. Consequently, they turn back on the promises of God, and doubt that God would fulfill His promises. Especially when a problem shows up in their life, they will be overwhelmed by the difficulties of the present moment, and allow that to overshadow the reality of God's promise. They are tempted to trust in their abilities to handle their problems. Never trust in your efforts that are never adequate, but rather on Christ’s unfailing power, or else you can be in danger of turning back.

The things that keeps us from God's ultimate blessings ("entering His rest" includes; (1) Not worshipping or submitting to Him. (2) Hardening our hearts, especially to sin. (3) Trying God's patience because of stubborn doubts. (4) Ungrateful hearts—not being thankful. In the passage we read today, the Bible warns us not to harden our hearts, but to reject the glamour of sin and anything else that would lead us away from God. 

Although the works of the promised rest were finished from the foundation of the world, only those who believe do enter that rest (do obtain His promised blessings). God even swore in His anger that the unbelieving hearts would not enter His rest (Psalm 95 vs 11). For the Christians that believes, the apostle Paul has a word for you in First Thessalonians 2 vs 13, "For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe." The Word only works in the life of those who believe.

God wants us to enter His rest; to be at peace with Him now and rest eternally with Him later. He offers the opportunity to enter His ultimate place of rest, that is, invites us to come to Christ. To enter His rest, you must believe that God has this relationship in mind for you (Jeremiah 29 vs 11). It is not subject to your creating it; it is already in place, and you must trust in Christ for it; and you must determine to obey Him. We do not need to wait for the next life to enjoy God's rest and peace; we may have it daily now! Our daily rest in the Lord will not end with death, but will become an eternal rest in the place that Christ is preparing for us.

Prayer: Abba Father, You have said it, I believe it, and that settles it. In Christ Jesus I have rest round about, and in Him I live, and move, and have my being. Give me the grace never to shift my focus on Christ at anytime. Blessed be Your name forever, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Our Toothless Enemy

 You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:13–15)

The reason that union with Christ makes a great difference for the believer is that Christ achieved a decisive triumph over the devil at Calvary. He did not remove Satan from the world, but he disarmed him to the extent that the weapon of damnation was stripped from his hand. 

He cannot accuse believers of unforgiven sin. Which is the only accusation that can destroy us. And therefore, he cannot bring us to utter ruin. He can hurt us physically and emotionally — even kill us. He can tempt us and incite others against us. But he cannot destroy us.

The decisive triumph of Colossians 2:13–15 is owing to the fact that “the record of debt that stood against us” was nailed to the cross. The devil made that record his chief accusation against us. Now he has no accusation that can hold in the court of heaven. He is helpless to do the one thing he wants to do most: damn us. He can’t. Christ bore our damnation. The devil is disarmed.

Another way to say it is in Hebrews 2:14–15: “[Christ became human] that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Death is still our enemy. But it is defanged. The viper’s poison has been drained away. The deadly sting is gone. The sting of death was sin. And the damning power of sin was in the demand of the law. But thanks be to Christ who satisfied the law’s demand. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

GOD’S PLAN CARRIES HIS GRACE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY JANUARY 05, 2024.

SUBJECT: GOD’S PLAN CARRIES HIS GRACE!

Memory verse: “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.” (Luke 2 vs 40.)

READ: Psalm 105 vs 13 - 15:

105:13: When they went from one nation to another; from one kingdom to another people, 

105:14: He permitted no one to do them wrong; yes, He rebuked kings for their sake, 

105:15: saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm

INTIMATION:

It is hard for us to enjoy life if we don't have assurance about today, peace about yesterday and confidence about tomorrow. Why is it so? It is because as long as we live we will always have to face situations for which we don't have all the answers. If we don't have something going on in our lives that we can't handle, we wouldn't need God, therefore, we wouldn't need faith, we wouldn't have to trust God. 

The Lord will see to it that we are always dependent upon Him. And He does that by allowing us get into situations that are over our head. That is why although we may get worried, God never gets worried because He already knows exactly what He's going to do. He has got a plan, a path, and a work all ready for each of us. For instance, when Jesus fed the multitude of five thousand men, excluding women and children, He said to Philip His disciple; “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat? But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.” (John 6 vs 5 - 6.)

Although the Lord already has a plan for us to follow, a path for us to walk in, and a work for us to do, He won't give us all the answers today that we will need tomorrow. With each new day comes the grace that we need to live that day and meet the challenges of it.  Consequently, Jesus advised us thus; “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (John 6 vs 34). Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will give you the grace to deal with whatever hard things that comes up at His appointed time. But not until you ask Him.

You may have heard the story about the young man who was in prison and about to be burned at the stake the next day for his faith in Christ. In the same cell there was an older man, more experienced believer who knew more about the way of the Lord. As it began to get dark, the younger man struck a match to light a candle, and as he did so, he burned his finger. Letting out a cry of anguish and pain, he said to his companion, "How can I stand to be burned at the stake tomorrow if I can't stand to be burned on the finger tonight?" The older man calmly replied, "Son, God didn't ask you to burn your finger, so there is no grace for that. But He is asking you to die for your faith, so when the time comes the grace will be there."

No matter what happens, God is still in control. He has a plan to handle everything that we will encounter in this life. And His grace is sufficient to meet all our needs in accordance with His leading. When the Israelites were brought out of the land of Egypt to the promised land, because it was God’s plan, His grace was sufficient for them to meet all their needs, even in the wilderness, until they arrived at the promised land.

We turn to God to seek pathways for effectiveness. We must rely on God for our effectiveness rather than simply on our own energy, effort, or talent. In Second Corinthians 12 vs 9, God told the apostle Paul, "...My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Our weakness not only helps develop Christian character, it also deepens our worship, because in admitting our weakness, we affirm God's strength.

It was God's plan to send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. And the Bible recorded in Luke 2 vs 40, "And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” When the time came for Jesus to do what He came for, He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed, and He said to His disciples, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” (Matthew 26 vs 37 - 38). 

Jesus prayed to God the Father three times, asking for the same thing, saying the same words; “O My Father, If this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done” (Matthew 26 vs 42). Thereafter, God took over, the Father’s strength was made perfect in the Son’s weakness, and He became strengthened to face the planned death for mankind. God's plan carries His grace. Crave for His leading at all times.

Prayer: Abba Father, in You I live, and move, and have my being. I can do all things through Your grace available to me. Help me, O Lord, that nothing can inhibit Your grace in my life, and I will crave for Your leading at all times, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!