When You Are Immortal

 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. (Acts 23:12)

What about those hungry fellows who promised not to eat till they had ambushed Paul?

We read about them in Acts 23:12, “When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.” It didn’t work. Why? Because a string of unlikely events happened. 

A boy overheard the plot. The boy was the son of Paul’s sister. The boy had the courage to go to the Roman centurion guarding Paul. The centurion took him seriously and brought him to the tribune. The tribune believed him and prepared “two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen” to take Paul to safety. 

Every one of those events was highly unlikely. Strange. But that’s what happened.

What had those hungry men lying in ambush overlooked? They failed to reckon with what happened to Paul just before they made their plot. The Lord appeared to Paul in prison and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome” (Acts 23:11).

Christ said Paul was going to Rome. And that was that. No ambush can stand against the promise of Christ. Until he got to Rome, Paul was immortal. There was a final testimony to be given. And Christ would see to it that Paul would give it.

You too have final testimony to give. And you are immortal until you give it.

The Sweet Designs of God

 He set me apart before I was born, and called me by his grace. (Galatians 1:15)

Ponder the conversion of Paul, the sovereignty of Christ, and what Paul’s sins have to do with your salvation.

Paul said that God “set me apart before I was born,” and then, years later, on the Damascus road, “called me by his grace” (Galatians 1:15). This means that between Paul’s birth and his call on the Damascus road he was an already-chosen, but not-yet-called, instrument of God (Acts 9:15; 22:14).

This means that Paul was beating and imprisoning and murdering Christians as a God-chosen, soon-to-be-made-Christian missionary.

As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 22:6–7) 

There was no denying or escaping it. God had chosen him for this before he was born. And now he would take him. The word of Christ was sovereign. There was no negotiating. 

Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do. (Acts 22:10)

Damascus was not Paul’s final, free will yielding to Christ after decades of futile divine effort to save him. No. God had a time for choosing him (before he was born) and a time for calling him (on the Damascus road). God called, and the call produced the yielding.

Therefore, the sins that God permitted between Paul’s birth and his calling were part of the plan, since God could have called him sooner. 

Do we have any idea what the plan for those sins might have been? Yes, we do. They were permitted for you and me — for all who fear that they might have sinned themselves out of grace. Here’s the way Paul relates his sins to your hope: 

Formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. . . . But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:13, 16) 

Oh, how sweet are the designs of God in the sovereign salvation of hardened, hopeless sinners!

DESIRE TO WALK IN THE WILL OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2024.

SUBJECT: DESIRE TO WALK IN THE WILL OF GOD!

Memory verse: "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7 vs 21.)

READ: Ephesians 5 vs 15 - 17:

5:15: See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,

5:16: redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

5:17: Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

INTIMATION:

One theme that all parts of Scripture take up in one way or another is the Will of God. God's Will is as vast as His entire plan for creation, and from the standpoint of objective content, it seems to be settled and unchanging. God’s Will is expressed in His Word (His laws, and His ways). Walking in the Will of God is being obedient to His Word, and strictly doing them.

God has a specific plan for your life and His greatest desire is that you operate in it daily. In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul tells us to "walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." and "do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord." Why? So that we can enjoy the blessings of God and avoid the pitfalls that come from disobedience. 

Too many Christians today presume to know the Will of God for their lives. I've heard people say that they are called to ministry, and then struggle with finances, marriage, and the people they serve until they become weary in well doing. We are to walk circumspectly, or "cautiously, carefully, and prudently." In other words, we should be cautious of the things we do and the choices we make.

Now, to understand means to "comprehend, grasp, or be familiar with." To understand the Lord's Will is to piece it together, or make sense of it. The only way to do that is by developing a relationship with the Father. And it is not something you learn all at once, from beginning to the end. It is actually a steady unfolding of revelation; little by little.

The key to receiving this revelation is found in simple acts of obedience. It's like a jigsaw puzzle; once completed, the pieces create an entire picture that could not be discerned when they were separated. As we operate in obedience, we begin to see more clearly God's perfect Will for our lives.

God has His perfect will for each and everyone of us, it’s His plan and purpose for our lives, not our own plans. Elevating your self-will above God's will leads to God's permissive Will. Permissive Will is when God allows you to make all the choices. Oftentimes we end up making mistakes, hurting ourselves, and living with regrets. But it's never too late to change. If you repent and yield yourself to God, He will forgive you and lead you back into His perfect Will. 

God will never force you to do anything. If He did, everyone would be saved right now. And although it is God's Will for them to be saved (First Timothy 2 vs 4), He will not force anyone to accept His salvation. The same is true of the Will of God. He will reveal it to you, if you're willing to listen. The truth of the matter is, without obedience, God's Will for your life will never come to pass.

God has a plan and purpose for everyone, but we must be careful not to get weighed down by selfish desires. It's not about what we want, but what God wants. The Scripture, in Proverbs 3 vs 5 - 6, says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” And in verse 7 we are warned; “Do not be wise in your own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” 

When you obey God, you can count on His protection, and your provision, inherent in His promise, is on the other side of your obedience. Anything you desire is available to you if you walk in the Will of God. Therefore, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6 vs 33). “All these things” not some of the things. And when God says ‘all,’ He means ‘all.’

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to do Your Will. Endue me with the spirit of complete obedience to You, and give me the grace to follow You faithfully, that I may walk in Your Will all the days of my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

When Obedience Feels Impossible

 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. (Hebrews 11:17)

For many of you right now — and for others of you the time is coming — obedience feels like the end of a dream. You feel that if you do what the word of God or the Spirit of God is calling you to do, it will make you miserable and that there is no way that God could turn it all for good.

Perhaps the command or call of God you hear just now is to stay married or stay single, to stay in that job or leave that job, to get baptized, to speak up at work about Christ, to refuse to compromise your standards of honesty, to confront a person in sin, to venture a new vocation, to be a missionary. And as you see it in your limited mind, the prospect of doing this is terrible — it’s like the loss of Isaac, the only son who can be an heir. 

You have considered every human angle, and it is impossible that it could turn out well.

Now you know what it was like for Abraham. This story is in the Bible for you. 

Do you desire God and his way and his promises more than anything, and do you believe that he can and will honor your faith and obedience by being unashamed to call himself your God, and to use all his wisdom and power and love to turn the path of obedience into the path of life and joy?

That is the crisis you face now: Do you desire him? Will you trust him? The word of God to you is: God is worthy and God is able.

THE LOVE OF THE FATHER SHOULD BE IN YOU!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 16 2024.

SUBJECT: THE LOVE OF THE FATHER SHOULD BE IN YOU!

Memory verse: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (First John 2 vs 15.)

READ: John 5 vs 41 - 45:

5:41: I do not receive honor from men. 

5:42: But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.

5:43: I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

5:44: How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor from the only God?

5:45: Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust.

INTIMATION:

The love of the Father is unfathomable; the love that gave in exchange an asset of inestimable value for something completely worthless. The love of the Father for the whole world that made Him gave His only begotten Son—Jesus Christ—as a propitiation for us; He sacrificed His life, died a shameful and painful death on the cross to pay the debt we owed (the wages of sin), that we may have life, not just life but abundant life. Whenever I imagined God’s demonstration of His love for me, I always felt a shiver ran through my spine. 

What assurances it gives to the heart when we come to know that the Father loves us so much so that He gave His only Son, in whom He is well pleased, to die in our place for our sins when He knew no sin. He loves us even as He loved Jesus, that He is vitally interested in us as He was in His Son when He walked the earth. 

Jesus revealed the extent of the care and love of the Father for us when He said: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who come 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” (John 6 vs 37 - 39).

You and I are in the Father’s will. Jesus said He would not lose even one person whom the Father had given Him. Therefore, anyone who makes a sincere commitment to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior is secured in God’s promise of everlasting life. Jesus will not let His people be overcome by Satan and lose their salvation. Out of the sincere and unparalleled love He has for us, He has promised and we, “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).

Jesus Himself is “the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12 vs 2), and He who began a good work in us continues it throughout our lifetime and will finish it when we meet Him face to face. 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 lives in us, enabling us to be more like Christ every day. The Christian process of growth and maturity that began when we accepted Jesus, continues until Christ returns.

It’s not unusual to sometimes feel as though you aren’t making progress in your spiritual life, especially when you misstep and fall into sin. Do not condemn yourself when it’s obvious that, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus...” (Romans 8 vs 1). Sincerely confess your sin and restore your fellowship with Him, knowing that, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (First John 1 vs 9).

When God starts a project, He completes it! God will help you grow in grace until He has completed His work in your life. When you are discouraged, remember that God won’t give up on you. He promises to finish the work He has begun. When you feel incomplete, unfinished, or distressed by your shortcomings, remember God’s promise and provision. Don’t let your present condition rob you of the joy of knowing Christ or keep you from growing closer to Him.

As Christians, the Father’s kind of love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit  Who has been given to us by the Father (Romans 5 vs 5). This love has God as its primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments. Also, this love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered; it ought to have no boundaries just as God’s. 

The Father’s kind of love seeks the welfare of all (Romans 15 vs 2), and works no ill to any (Romans 13 vs 8 - 10). It seeks opportunity to do good to all, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith (Galatians 6 vs 10). 

Love is considered something we owe, because we are permanently in debt to Christ for the lavish love He has poured out on us. The only way we can even begin to repay this debt is by fulfilling our obligation to love others in turn. 

Because Christ’s love will always be infinitely greater than ours, we will always have the obligation to love our neighbor. We may not have to die for someone, but there are other ways to practice sacrificial love; listening, helping, encouraging, giving, and so on. 

Therefore, examine yourselves and gauge the quantum of the love of God in You. What will be your answer when you stand before Him, to a question such as, “My child, how did you use the My love poured out in your heart?” You can start now to prepare your answer in deeds. Hallelujah!

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me the spirit of love, that I may love as You love me and You only begotten Son to die in my stead for my sins, and that I will be a true ambassador of Christ, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Every Calvary Step Was Love

 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16)

The love of Christ for us in his dying was as conscious as his suffering was intentional. If he was intentional in laying down his life, it was for us. It was love. 

“When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). 

Every step on the Calvary road meant, “I love you.”

Therefore, to feel the love of Christ in the laying down of his life, it helps to see how utterly intentional it was.

Look at what Jesus said just after that violent moment when Peter tried to cleave the skull of the servant, but only cut off his ear.

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:52–54) 

It is one thing to say that the details of Jesus’s death were predicted in the Old Testament. But it is much more to say that Jesus himself was making his choices precisely to see to it that the Scriptures would be fulfilled. 

That is what Jesus said he was doing in Matthew 26:54. “I could escape this misery, but how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” 

In other words, I am not choosing to take the way out that I could take, because I know the Scriptures. I know what must take place for my people to be saved. It is my choice to fulfill all that is predicted of me in the word of God. It is my choice — every step of the way — to love my people to the uttermost. And I want them to feel this. And be utterly secure and free and radically different from the world.

WALK NOT IN THE COUNSEL OF THE UNGODLY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2024.

SUBJECT: WALK NOT IN THE COUNSEL OF THE UNGODLY!

Memory verse: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." (Psalm 1 vs 1.)

READ: Psalm 1 vs 1 - 3:

1:1: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

1:2: But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

1:3: He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall proper.

INTIMATION:

Ungodliness is general impiety; lack of reverence for God or religious matters. The ungodly has disregard for, or defiance of God’s laws. They act without reverence for God, not merely irreligious but acting in contravention of God’s demands. Taking counsel from—walking in the counsel of ungodly people—is a no-no for all believers. 

The Scripture does not forbid us to have contacts with unbelievers. Any contacts between believers and unbelievers should be aimed at converting them to Christ. We are encouraged by Christ to befriend sinners and lead them to Him: “Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5 vs 29 - 32).

Unbelievers, in their lifestyle, tolerate and make excuses for bad behavior, and obviously will recommend its practice to others. When a believer takes counsel from such people, they will definitely lure him or her to their side. Such people easily pollute the life of the believer and lead him or her astray. We must befriend unbelievers for the simple good reason of leading them to Christ, but we must be wary of those of them who are viciously evil, immoral, or opposed to all that Christianity stands for. Such people are more likely to influence believers for evil than the believers are to influence them for good. But on no account should counsel be taken from unbelievers by believers.

In the passage we read today, the psalmist was extolling the joys of obeying God and refusing to listen to those who discredit or ridicule Him. Our friends and associates can have a profound influence on us, often in very subtle ways. If we insist on friendships with those who mock what God considers important, we might sin by becoming indifferent to God’s will. 

Those who diligently try to obey God’s will shall be blessed. They are like healthy, fruit-bearing trees planted along a riverbank with strong roots, and God promises to watch over them. God’s wisdom guides their lives. In contrast, those who don’t trust and obey God have meaningless lives that blow away like dust.

The more we delight in obeying God, the more fruitful we are. On the other hand, the more we allow those who ridicule God affect our thoughts and attitudes, the more we separate ourselves from our source of nourishment. We must have contact with unbelievers if we are to witness to them, but we must not join in or imitate their sinful behaviors. If you want to despair, spend time with mocking sinners, but if you want God’s blessing, make friends with those who love God and His Word.

The apostle Paul urges believers in the same manner, saying, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer with an unbeliever?” (Second Corinthians 6 vs 14 - 16).

The apostle Paul urges believers not to form partnerships with unbelievers because such partnership might result in weakening their Christian faith or commitment, integrity, or standards, especially for those who are not strong in faith. He wanted believers to be active in witnessing for Christ to unbelievers, and should not lock themselves into personal or business relationships that could cause them to compromise their faith. Believers should do everything in their power to avoid situations that could force them to divide their loyalties.

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace never to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, no matter how wise they may seem to be, that I will compromise my faith in God, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!