The Perfect City

 He has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

No pollution, no graffiti, no trash, no peeling paint or rotting garages, no dead grass or broken bottles, no harsh street talk, no in-your-face confrontations, no domestic strife or violence, no dangers in the night, no arson or lying or stealing or killing, no vandalism, and no ugliness. 

The city of God will be perfect, because God will be in it. He will walk in it and talk in it and manifest himself in every part of it. All that is good and beautiful and holy and peaceful and true and happy will be there, because God will be there. 

Perfect justice will be there and recompense a thousandfold for every pain suffered in obedience to Christ in this world. And it will never deteriorate. In fact, it will shine brighter and brighter as eternity stretches out into unending ages of increasing joy.

When you desire this city above everything else on the earth, then you honor God, who, according to Hebrews 11:10, is the designer and builder of the city. And when God is honored, he is pleased and not ashamed to be called your God.

MAKE YOUR CHOICE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2024.

SUBJECT: MAKE YOUR CHOICE!

Memory verse: "And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24 vs 15.)

READ: First King 18 vs 20 - 24:

18:20: So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on mount Carmel.

18:21: And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, follow him. But the people answered him not a word.

18:22: Then said Elijah to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

18:23: Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it: and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it.

18:24: Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God who answers by fire, He is God. And all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”

INTIMATION:

God always leaves us with a choice. God doesn’t force His will on anyone. He lets us decide whether to follow Him or reject Him. This decision, however, is a blessing-or-curse; a life-or-death matter. God wants us to realize this, for He would like us to choose blessing rather than curse, life rather than death. We are daily confronted with this decision in circumstances of life we face. And daily, in each new situation, we must affirm and reinforce this commitment.

At a time in the history of the Israelites, Moses placed this choice before them; “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His status, and His judgements, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (Deuteronomy 30 vs 15 - 16 & 19.) 

Moses challenged Israel to choose life; to obey God, and therefore to continue to experience His blessings. God has called us to keep His commands, while reminding us that His laws are not hidden from us or beyond our reach (Deuteronomy 30 vs 11 - 14). God has detailed His laws in the Bible for our information and study, therefore, no one would say, “I will obey God if I know what He wants.” 

Obeying God is reasonable, sensible, and beneficial. Some people have complained that obedience to God’s laws is too difficult for a mere human. But God, in His infinite mercy, love, and benevolence, has given us an Helper in the person of the Holy Spirit, to abide with us forever, and help us in our inadequacies, and infirmities. Therefore, if you have ever given such complains above, know that they are unacceptable excuses. The most difficult part of obeying God’s laws is simply deciding to start now. 

In our memory verse, Joshua also reminded the Israelites of their privilege of choice. The people had to decide whether they would obey the Lord, who had proven His trustworthiness in their lives, or obey the local gods in their new lands they inhabited, which were only man-made idols. Joshua took a stand with his household to serve God. In taking a definite stand for the Lord, he displayed his spiritual leadership, and encouraged others to follow him. He made a commitment to God, and was determined to set an example of living by that decision.

It is easy to slip into a quiet rebellion—going about life in your own way. Some of us are controlled by our own limited personality, or the world’s standard of success—possessions, status, wealth etc. Power, status, appearance, or material possessions can become our gods if we devote our lives to them. Any substitute to God’s control is completely imperfect and deceitful. 

Once you have chosen to be controlled by God’s Spirit, reaffirm your choice every day. The way we live shows others the strength of our commitment to serving God. It is important to take a stand for the Lord. If we just drift along with whatever is pleasant and easy, we will someday discover that we have been worshiping a false God—ourselves. May you never worship a false god, in the mighty name of Jesus. 

In the passage we read today, Elijah challenged the people to take a stand—make a choice to follow whoever is the true God. Although the prophets of Baal raved all afternoon, no one answered them. Their god was silent because it was not real. In times of need when they desperately call out to these gods, there will only be silence. They can offer no true answers, no guidance, and no wisdom.

People waver between the two choices of who to follow, or deliberately be looking the other way because of the sinful pleasures and other temporary benefits that come with turning a blind eye to obeying God’s laws. It’s easy to be deceived by the temporary benefits of wealth, popularity, status, and achievement, and to be blind to the long-range benefits of God’s kingdom. It only takes faith to look beyond the world’s value system to see the eternal values of God’s kingdom. Therefore, today make your choice.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my all in all. Whatever You cannot do for me, let it remain undone. Whatever You cannot give me, let me never have it. I rather die than put my trust in anything else but You. Endue me with the spirit of raw obedience to You in all things, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Lincoln’s Providence

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:33)

Abraham Lincoln, who was born on this day in 1809, remained skeptical, and at times even cynical, about religion into his forties. So, it is a most striking thing how personal and national suffering drew Lincoln into the reality of God, rather than pushing him away.

In 1862, when Lincoln was 53 years old, his 11-year-old son Willie died. Lincoln’s wife “tried to deal with her grief by searching out New Age mediums.” Lincoln turned to Phineas Gurley, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington. 

Several long talks led to what Gurley described as “a conversion to Christ.” Lincoln confided that he was “driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go.”

Similarly, the horrors of the dead and wounded soldiers assaulted him daily. There were fifty hospitals for the wounded in Washington. The rotunda of the Capitol held two thousand cots for wounded soldiers. 

Typically, fifty soldiers a day died in these temporary hospitals. All of this drove Lincoln deeper into the providence of God. “We cannot but believe, that He who made the world still governs it.”

His most famous statement about the providence of God in relation to the Civil War was his Second Inaugural Address, given a month before he was assassinated. It is remarkable for not making God a simple supporter for the Union or Confederate cause. God has his own purposes and does not excuse sin on either side.

Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away. . . .

Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.”

I pray for all of you who suffer loss and injury and great sorrow that it will awaken for you, as it did for Lincoln, not an empty fatalism, but a deeper reliance on the infinite wisdom and love of God’s inscrutable providence.

BE CAUTIOUS OF THE WORDS YOU SPEAK!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2024.

SUBJECT: BE CAUTIOUS OF THE WORDS YOU SPEAK!

Memory verse: "You are snared by the words of your mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth.” (Proverbs 6 vs 2.)

READ: James 3 vs 2, 5, 8 - 12:

3:2: For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

3:5: Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

3:8: But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 

3:9: With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God?

3:10: Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not be so.

3:11: Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 

3:12: Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

INTIMATION:

Our words are integral part of ourselves; they are ourselves. You create a mental condition with your words. Your words, coming from your heart, goes out into the air to thrill and throb in the hearts of those that listen. If your words are full of love and peace and fidelity, they are born out of your heart life. Life is largely made of words. We declare war with words. Divorces and defeats are made up of words. Children become what words make them.

What you say and what you don’t say are both important. To use proper speech you must not only say the right words at the right time but also not say what you shouldn’t. Examples of an untamed tongue include gossiping, putting others down, bragging, manipulating, false teaching, exaggerating, complaining, flattering, and lying. 

Before you speak, ask, “Is what I want to say true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? We dare not be careless with what we say, thinking we can apologize later, because even if we do, the scars remain. A few words spoken in anger can destroy a relationship that took years to build. Before you speak, remember that words are like fire; you can neither control nor reverse the damage they can do.

The mouth can be used either as a weapon or a tool, hurting relationships or building them up. Sadly, it is often easier to destroy than to build, and most people have received more destructive comments than those that build up. Every person you meet today is either a demolition site or a construction opportunity. Your words will make a difference. Will they be weapons for destruction or tools for construction? 

Our contradictory speech often puzzles us. At times our words are right and pleasing to God, but at other times they are violent and destructive. You might be imprisoned with your own words. You talked failure and failure held you in bondage. You said that you did not have faith, and doubt arose like a giant and bound you. You said that you could not, and the moment that you said it you were whipped.

Few of us realize that our words dominate us. A young man said, "I was never whipped until I confess I was whipped." Another said, "The moment I began to make a bold, confident confession, a new courage that I had never known took possession of me." Another young woman said, "My lips have been a constant curse. I have never been able to get the mastery of my lips." 

A woman said the other day, "I always speak my mind." She has few friends. Only pity causes people to go see her. Her lips have been her curse. It isn't so bad speaking your mind if you have the mind of Christ, but as long as you have a mind dominated by the devil, few people care to hear your mind. When our speech is motivated by Satan, it is full of bitter envy, selfish ambition, earthly concerns and desires, unspiritual thoughts and ideas, confusion, and evil. But when our speech is motivated by God and His wisdom, it is full of mercy, love for others, peace, consideration for others, submission, sincerity, impartiality, and righteousness.

Learn to use words that will work for you and be your servants. Learn that your lips make you a millionaire or a pauper; wanted or despised; a victor or a captive. Cultivate the habit of thinking big things, and then learn to use words that will react upon your own spirit and make you a conqueror. Your faith will never register above the words of your lips. Thoughts may come and persist in staying, but you refuse to put them into words and they die unborn.

Learn from our Messiah, His confessions proved to be realities. Jesus confessed that He is the Light of the World. He is it. The rejection of Him has plunged the world into a new darkness. He said He was the bread from heaven, and it is true. The people who feed upon His Words never suffer want. His Words were filled with Himself, as we act on them, they fill us with Christ. 

We were made in God’s image, but the tongue gives us a picture of our basic sinful nature. God works to change us from the inside out. When the Holy Spirit purifies a heart, He gives self-control so that the person will speak words that please God. The believer's words should be born of love and filled with love. Our words should never bruise or hurt, but should bless and heal. 

Prayer: Abba Father, I know the creative power of words, for the world was created by spoken words, and by my words I will be justified, and by my words I will be condemned. Bridle my tongue, Oh Most High, endue me with spirit of self-control that I may speak words abundant in love, trust, and confidence in You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Best Form of Slavery

 He who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. (1 Corinthians 7:22, my translation)

I would have expected Paul to switch the places of “Lord,” which means Master, and “Christ,” which means Messiah. 

He correlates our liberation with Jesus being our Master (“a freedman of the Lord”). And he correlates our new slavery with Jesus being our Messiah (“a slave of Christ”). It seems strange because the Messiah came to liberate his people from their captors; and masters take control of their slaves’ lives. 

Why does he say it this way? Why correlate slavery (rather than liberation) with Messiah, and liberation (rather than slavery) with Master? 

Suggestion: The switch has two effects on our new liberty and two effects on our new slavery.

On the one hand, in calling us “the liberated of the Lord,” he secures and limits our new liberty:

His lordship is over all other lords; so our liberation is uncontested — absolutely secure.

But, free from all other lords, we are not free from him. Our freedom is mercifully limited. Jesus is our Master.

On the other hand, in calling us the “slaves of Christ,” he loosens and sweetens our slavery:

The Messiah lays claim on his own in order to bring them from the confines of captivity into the open spaces of peace. “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). 

And he makes them his own to give them the sweetest joy. “With honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (Psalm 81:16). And that Rock is Christ, the Messiah.

So, Christian, be glad in this: “He who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord” — the Master. “Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ” — the loosening, sweetening Messiah.”

PRAYING IN THE NAME OF JESUS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2024.

SUBJECT: PRAYING IN THE NAME OF JESUS! 

Memory verse: "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14 vs 13.)

READ: John 14 vs 12 - 14; 15 vs 16; 16 vs 23:

14:12: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes In Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to My Father.

14:13: And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14:14: If you will ask any thing in My name, I will do it.

15:16: You did not chosen Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.

16:23: And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever ye will ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

INTIMATION:

Praying in the name of Jesus is handing over our prayers to Him, He takes over! This is awesome! All you have asked in prayer is then in His care. It is no longer your burden as long as you do not repudiate it by a wrong confession. He is our standby. When Jesus says we can ask anything in His name, our asking must be in according to God’s character and will. 

Jesus is the will of the Father revealed to mankind. And because He is the will of God, whatever we ask in His name in consonance with God’s will we be granted us. God will not grant requests contrary to His nature or His will, and we cannot use His name as a magic formula to fulfill our selfish desires. If we are sincerely following God and seeking to do His will, then our requests will be in line with what He wants, and He will grant them. 

Jesus and His name is One. The right to pray in His name means that we represent Him, and are acting in His stead. When you pray in the name of Jesus, it is as though Jesus Himself is praying. Therefore, the believer praying is partnering with Jesus, and agreeing with Him. The agreement of you two make things come into being, or come to pass in line with His promise of the agreement of two: “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18 vs 19.)

One may say, "Jesus is not here physically." But let us look at the conversation between the Pharisees and Jesus when they accused Him of being a witness of Himself; “Jesus answered and said to them, Even If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I came from and where I am going....It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true....I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.” (John 8 vs 14, 17 & 18.) The Father, who is not present in the physical, bears witness with Him. Jesus, though not present in the physical, but is in you through the Holy Spirit and bears witness with you when you pray in His name.

Now look at this, Jesus is the Word, He has been there from the beginning, He has been with God, all things were made through Him and for Him. Jesus and the Father is One. Jesus said, "I am in the Father and the Father is in Me." (John 14 vs 11.) Jesus is the express image of the person of God (Hebrews 1 vs 3), "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2 vs 9). When you have held up Himself (the Word) to Him in prayer, "He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (Second Timothy 2 vs 13). 

When you pray in His name, you are taking Jesus place. You are acting as Jesus would have acted. You are doing the Father's own Will just as Jesus did it in His earth walk. You and Jesus are one. You act for Him. Your will and His Will are harnessed. They make a very beautiful and wonderful unit. 

The Scripture says in First John 4 vs 4, "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." Satan is in the world and the ruler of it. Jesus said, "I have come into the world." We are in the world, and Jesus is in us through His Spirit—the Holy Spirit, and He is greater than Satan, the ruler of the world. And "as He is so we are in this world" (First John 4 vs 17). It is for this reason that "You are of God." It goes to say that we are greater than the ruler of the world. That is the reason we are overcomers, and are of God because He lives in us. 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for what You wrought for us in redemption through our Messiah Jesus Christ. Thank You for given us a blank cheque to ack in His name that our request will granted to us, in Jesus’ Name I have given thanks. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Saving Faith Isn’t Easily Satisfied

 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. (Hebrews 11:15–16)

Faith sees the promised future that God offers and “desires” it. “As it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” Dwell on this for a moment. 

There are many people who water down what saving faith is by making it a mere decision with no change of what one desires and seeks. But the point of this text in the great faith chapter in the Bible — Hebrews 11 — is that living and dying by faith means having new desires and seeking new satisfactions.

Verse 14 says that the saints of old (who are being commended for their faith here in Hebrews 11) were seeking a different kind of country than this world offered. And verse 16 says they were desiring something better than what a present earthly existence could offer. “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

They had been so gripped by God that nothing short of being with God would satisfy.

So, this is true saving faith: seeing the promises of God from afar, and experiencing a change of values so that you desire and seek after and trust in the promises of God above what the world has to offer.