DO NOT TOLERATE SIN IN YOUR LIFE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY AUGUST 05, 2024.

SUBJECT : DO NOT TOLERATE SIN IN YOUR LIFE!

Memory verse: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched-“ (Mark 9 vs 43.)

READ: Matthew 5 vs 29 - 30:

5:29: If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

5:30: And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 

INTIMATION:

We are to be completely intolerant of sin and remove it from our lives. God cannot condone or excuse even the smallest sin, therefore, we cannot excuse ourselves for sinning only a little bit. We should be tolerant of people who hold differing views, but we should not condone beliefs or practices that lead people away from God’s standard of living.

We sometimes tolerate sin in our lives that, left unchecked, could eventually destroy us. It is better to experience the pain of removal (getting rid of a bad habit or something we treasure, for instance) than to allow the sin to bring judgement and condemnation. Examine your life for anything that causes you to sin, and take every necessary actions to remove it.

Not tolerating sin in our lives is not easy in a world full of immoral conducts. We also are living in times of widespread sin and sexual immorality. It is popular to be open-minded toward many types of sin, calling them personal choices or alternative lifestyles. But when the body of believers begin to tolerate sin amongst them, it lowers the standards and compromises the believers’ witnessing for Christ. Remember that God’s approval is infinitely more important than the world’s. Use God’s Word, not what people around you are willing to accept, to set the standards for what is right or wrong. 

One of the realities of sin is that its effects spread. When we do something wrong, often we try to relieve our guilt by involving someone else. Like toxic waste spilled in a river, sin swiftly spreads. Sin in our lives is similar to pollution in streams. Even small amounts are deadly. A small sin has the tendency of growing out of control. 

When we discover sin in our lives, we must deal with it completely. When God points out sin, move quickly to remove it from your life. We often choose to tolerate sin rather than drive it from our lives. We may know what to do but just don’t follow through. This results in a gradual deterioration of our relationship with God. In our battles, we may grow tired and want rest, but we need to know that God loves us and has given us a purpose for life. Victory comes from living according to His purpose and from being willing to fully obey Him. 

In our anchor Scripture., the starling language is not meant to promote self-mutilation, but instead stresses the importance of cutting sin out of your life. Painful self-discipline is required of God’s true followers. Giving up a relationship, job, or habit that is against God’s Will may seem just as painful as cutting off a hand, but Christ is worth any possible loss or discomfort. Nothing should stand in the way of faith. We must be ruthless in removing sin from our lives now in order to avoid suffering for eternity. Make your choices from an eternal perspective.

As we grow spiritually, our sensitivity to sin increases. As God makes us aware of sin, we must be intolerant toward it and be willing to change. All believers should strive to be more tolerant of people but less tolerant of the sin in themselves and others. Are you insensitive, unconcerned, disappointed, or comfortable? What is your reaction to sin in your life? 

It is not the sins we don’t know about but the sin we excuse that cause us the greatest trouble. We must never let any sin go unchallenged. In your life, is an unchallenged sin spreading like a deadly cancer? Don’t excuse it. Confess the sin to God and ask Him for strength to resist the temptation. 

Prayer: Abba Father, sin is an abomination before You, O Most Holy God. Endue me with the spirit of delightsome obedience to Your Word, and empower me to live for You all the days of my life. Help me to resist any temptations that come my way, that I may find strength to lead a holy life pleasing to You at all times, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Guard Against Greed

 Topic: Guard Against Greed

You cannot serve two masters: God and money. — Matthew 6:24 (TLB)

Tell me what you think about money, and I will tell you what you think about God, for these two are closely related. A man’s heart is closer to his wallet than anything else. It is a staggering fact that for the past few years people have spent ten times as much for luxuries and non-essentials as they have for all charitable and religious purposes. This is a commentary on our shallow and superficial religious faith.

While the Bible warns us against greed and selfishness, it does encourage frugality and thrift. Even Jesus said to His disciples after He fed the multitude, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” Although our Lord had the power to create, He Himself lived frugally and without luxury. John Wesley had a threefold philosophy about money. He said, “Make all you can; keep all you can; and give all you can.” Most of us get all we can, spend all we can; borrow all we can; and give meagerly to God.

Prayer for the day:

Lord, give me a generous heart so that others may know Your love and compassion.

Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

Today, is my birthday special please join me to appreciate God 🙏🙏🙏🙏🔥

BELIEVERS HAVE THE SAME SPIRIT AS CHRIST!

 

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY AUGUST 04, 2024.

SUBJECT: BELIEVERS HAVE THE SAME SPIRIT AS CHRIST!

Memory verse: “But if the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8 vs 11.)

READ: John 14 vs 15 - 18:

14:15: If you love Me, keep my commandments.

14:16: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you for ever;

14:17: the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him, nor knows Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with you, and will be in you.

14:18: I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

14:19: A little while longer and the world will see Me no more; but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.

14:20: At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

INTIMATION:

The “new creation” (the believer) has that same spirit that was at work in Jesus; the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. And that same Spirit is at work in the believers that will enable them to do what Christ did; working in the power of that Spirit—Holy Spirit. Jesus used the illustration of moving the mountain to show that God can do the impossible with the believers. The qualification for being able to command the power of the supernatural demands that you believe. You require a non-doubting faith that will enable you to do great things for God. 

This “new creation” is with God's nature, and God is indwelling him, he has been given a legal right, and the power of attorney to the use of the Name of Jesus; the name that is above every other name in heaven, on earth, and beneath the earth, and to receive help from the Holy Spirit. This believer; this new creation in Christ, is a child of Deity. He stands before the world as a very branch of the vine. He is taking the place of Jesus in the world. He is really an incarnation. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, came the day of Pentecost, to make His home in the body of the believers. He not only has God's nature, but has God actually living in him.

Have you been worried about whether or not you really are a Christian? A Christian is anyone who has the Spirit of God living in him or her. If you have sincerely trusted Christ for your salvation and acknowledged Him as Lord and personal Savior, then the Holy Spirit lives within you and you are a Christian. You are assured that you have the Holy Spirit because Jesus promised that He would send Him. The Christian has a new life through the Holy Spirit, and his heart is continually renewed by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s promise or guarantee of eternal life for those who believe in Him. 

The Spirit is within the believers now, and by faith they are certain to live with Christ forever. The Holy Spirit is a powerful person on the side of the believer, working for and with the believer; He is the very presence of God within all believers, helping them live as God wants and building Christ’s church on earth. By faith the believers can appropriate the Spirit’s power each day. He helps them to act as Christ directs (Romans 8 vs 5; Galatians 5 vs 22 - 23), and find help in dealing with their daily problems and also in praying (Romans 8 vs 26 - 27). 

Jesus, during His time on earth, was going to leave the disciples at some point, but He would still remain with them. How could this be? The Helper—the Spirit of God Himself—would come after Jesus was gone to care for and guide the disciples. The regenerating power of the Spirit came on the disciples just before Jesus’ ascension (John 20 vs 22), and the Spirit was poured out on all the believers at Pentecost (Acts 2), shortly after Jesus ascended to heaven. 

The Holy Spirit will never leave the believers; the world at large cannot receive Him; He lives with them and in them; He teaches them (John 14 vs 26); He reminds them of Jesus’ words (John 14 vs 26; 15 vs 26); He convinces the world of sin, shows them God’s righteousness, and announces God’s judgement on evil (John 16 vs 8); He guides them into truth and gives them insight into the future events (John 16 vs 13); and He brings glory to Christ (John 16 vs 14). 

Prayer: Abba, Father, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit to all who are recreated in Christ Jesus. Give me the grace not to quench the Spirit, but always follow His leading in all things, and at all times, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

BELIEVERS ASSOCIATION WITH UNBELIEVERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY AUGUST 03, 2024.

SUBJECT : BELIEVERS  ASSOCIATION WITH UNBELIEVERS!

Memory verse: "And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for today I must stay at your house." (Luke 19 vs 5.)

READ: Luke 5 vs 27 - 32: 

5:27: After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow me.”

5:28: So he left all rose up, and followed Him.

5:29: Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

5:30: And their scribes and Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

5:31: Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who  are sick.

5:32: I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

INTIMATION:

Unbelievers are those skeptical of matters of religious truth; not believing in God, and in the substitutionary work of His Son Jesus Christ for mankind. Consequently, they are not Christ’s followers.

Jesus taught His followers to associate with unbelievers or sinners in order to lead them to Him. Befriending or associating with  unbelievers is investable if we are to lead them to Christ. However, followers of Christ must be wary of those who are viciously evil, immoral, or opposed to all that Christianity stands for. Such people are more likely to influence them for evil than they are to influence them for good. It is obvious that Christ’s followers should not disassociate themselves from unbelievers, otherwise they could not carry out Christ’s command to tell them about salvation (see Matthew 28 vs 18 - 20).

But Christians are to distance themselves from hypocrites; the person with pretense of piety—false or godless persons. Such persons pretend or claim to be Christians, yet indulge in sins explicitly forbidden in Scripture by rationalizing his or her actions. By rationalizing sin, a person harms others for whom Christ died and dims the image of God in himself or herself.

Christians or believers usually wrongly interpret the apostle Paul’s teaching regarding association with unbelievers in Second Corinthians 6 vs 14 - 15. He said, “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 part has a believer with unbeliever?” 

The apostle Paul urges believers not to be “unequally yoked,” that is, not to be burdened or bear burden together with unbelievers. That is burdens of partnerships in business or any associations of like manner, because this might weaken their Christian commitment, integrity, or standards. Because believers don’t share the same faith with unbelievers, common grounds are usually difficult in such partnership due to different believe systems. It would be a mismatch. 

Earlier, Apostle Paul had explained that this did not mean isolating oneself from unbelievers (See First Corinthians 5 vs 9 - 10). When believers in leadership positions become allied with unbelievers, values can be compromised and spiritual awareness dulled. Hence the Bible often warns against teaming up with unbelievers.

For married couples, the apostle Paul even urges Christians to stay with their unbelieving spouses if such marriages were consummated before any of the spouse becomes a believer (First Corinthians 7 vs 12 - 13). He wanted believers to be active in their witness for Christ to unbelievers, but they 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. 

These verses also have strong application to marriage. The apostle Paul did not want single believers to enter into marriage with unbelievers. Such marriages cannot have unity in the most important issue in life—commitment and obedience to God. Because marriage involves two people becoming one, faith may become an issue, and one spouse may have to compromise beliefs for the sake of unity. Many people discount this problem only to regret it later. Don’t allow emotion or passion to blind you with someone who will not be your spiritual partner. For those who have discovered God’s light, there can be no fellowship or compromise with darkness (First Corinthians 10 vs 20 - 21.) 

Just as when a man and a woman fall in love, so also new believers rejoice at their newfound forgiveness. Associations with unbelievers when the new believers are not yet firmly rooted in Christ may cause them to lose sight of the seriousness of sin, and then they begin to lose the thrill of their forgiveness. In the first steps of your Christian life, you may have had enthusiasm without knowledge. Do you now have knowledge without enthusiasm? Both are necessary if we are to keep love for God intense and untarnished.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with divine wisdom, that I may walk circumspect in dealings with unbelievers that my faith will not be compromised, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Let It Flow

 Topic: Let It Flow

Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. – John 4:14

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Gentleness. Goodness. Faith. Meekness. Temperance. Powerful forces the Bible calls the fruit of the spirit. They’re the character traits of God Himself and when the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you, He brought them with Him, so they could become your character traits too.

They’re designed to bubble up inside you, to gush forth like a powerful stream constantly protecting and cleansing you from the inside out.

Have you ever noticed that you can’t put any trash in the mouth of a flowing fountain? When it’s shooting that water up, the force of its own outflow protects it and keeps it clear of any impurities from the outside. Well, the spiritual fountain within you works the same way. When you’re allowing the forces of love and joy and peace and gentleness and all the others to flow out, the devil can’t get any of his junk in.

How do you keep the spirit flowing? You pump your heart so full of the Word of God that the forces of eternal life start bubbling out. Just a little at first…and then stronger and higher.

Choose to keep those forces streaming out of the fountain of your heart. Refuse to let selfishness and sin stop the flow. You have a fountain filled with unbeatable life forces inside you and it’s ready to come forth. Let it flow!

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17:7-13

This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to info@awmi.net,

Find Yourself In The Book

 TOPIC: Find Yourself In The Book (TREM Devotional 2 August 2024)

“And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.” Luke 4:17 (KJV)

Wisdom For The Day MESSAGE: 

The secret of power is having a vibrant, intact, ongoing relationship with God. It must not be a one-time shot. You must put your ears in His mouth. That is the secret of power. If you do not discover this, you can fast all you want and pray all you want; power will not flow. Your father needs you around every time. The reason for manipulation is that people are too much in a hurry. They don’t want to wait. You ought to sit at the Master’s feet and let him share the secret of victory with you.

When Jesus went home to Nazareth, and as His custom was, they gave him the book to read. He opened to what was documented about Him in the volume of books. Jesus opened to Isaiah 61 and read: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken hearted…” After reading, He closed the book and sat down. That seat had been waiting for the man whose documentary was in the book to come and sit there. He sat down, and the Bible says all the eyes of those present were fastened on him.

Do you know some of your seats are empty? Do you want people to be drawn to you? Then, find yourself in the book and become the book. It was the same thing with John the Baptist. They asked him, are you the Christ? He said no. Are you one of the prophets? He said no. Then who are you? He quoted from Isaiah 40: 3: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”. The scripture says people left the city and went to look for him in the wilderness. What happened? He found himself in the book.

FURTHER READING

Luke 4:16-21

DAILY BIBLE READING

Morning – Psalms 60-62; Evening – Romans 5

Wisdom For The Day Devotional was Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.

Flatimes’ Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus’ name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to trem@trem.org,

POVERTY IS PART OF THE CURSE OF THE LAW!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY AUGUST 02, 2024.

SUBJECT : POVERTY IS PART OF THE CURSE OF THE LAW!

Memory verse: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree") (Galatians 3 vs 13.)

READ: Deuteronomy 28 vs 15 - 20:

28:15: But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

28:16: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.

28:17: Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

28:18: Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

28:19: Cursed shall shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

28:20: The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.

INTIMATION:

Poverty is a curse. It is part of the curse of the law. The passage we read today reveals the curse of poverty inherent in disobedience to God’s law. In the beginning God placed everything that man could use and enjoy in the Garden of Eden. His Will is for us to lack nothing, and be in abundance. God saw to it that Adam lacked no good thing. Haven created Adam in his own image and after His likeness (as we are also created), left nothing to be desired, but asked for their obedience to a single command; “Do not eat of the of the tree of knowledge of good and evil..” (Genesis 2 vs 17). Adam was the master of the kingdom given to him. God only placed Himself above Adam as his master.

God's Will of abundance for Adam was supreme until that fatal day he committed high treason against God, haven believed the devil with his wife, Eve, and doubted God’s integrity. When Adam partook of the deadly tree, he died, not physically but spiritually. Spiritual death—the nature of Satan—overtook his once righteous spirit, and he became one with Satan. Every phase of Adam's life came under the curse of his new god, Satan. He was driven from the Garden; abundance was no longer his to enjoy. He had to toil and sweat in order to survive. His beautiful life was overrun by thorns and thistles both in the physical and in the spiritual world.

God's heart yearns for His people to be free, and in His infinite wisdom and mercy, sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, as a propitiation for our sins. He paid the supreme price for our sins, and redeemed us from the curse of the law, when He was nailed to, and hung on the cross, and shed His blood for the remission of our sins. The Scripture says, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree") (Galatians 3 vs 13.)

The Scripture reveals that Jesus bore the curse of poverty at the same time He bore the curse of sickness (Isaiah 53 vs 4 - 5). You can believe for divine prosperity just as you believe for divine health. Both blessings already belong to you. You should refuse lack just as quickly as you refuse sickness because they both are the curse of the law, and Christ has already redeemed you from that curse. The blessing of Abraham is ours, as well as the promises of the Spirit. God’s wish is that we shall prosper in all things and be in health, just as our soul prospers (Third John 2). Prosperity is God's Will for us. Most of us usually look at prosperity in a different way from other things, such as divine health. There are Word principles for divine health, healing, deliverance etc., as well as divine prosperity and abundance, and they all work the same way.

But we have not been using the Word to believe for divine prosperity as we had for divine health. We usually live in the laws of prosperity (paying tithes, give offering, make kingdom investments etc.), but we don't take authority in the Word for prosperity. If you have obeyed the laws, and then refuse to take what belongs to you, you will miss it. We have been acting on prosperity differently from other provisions of the Word. In this way, we would allow symptoms of lack to come on us and stay there. We are willing to tolerate it, and sometimes claim is God's Will. But the word is very clear on the Will of God (Jeremiah 29 vs 11 & Third John vs 2). If you have obeyed the laws of prosperity, then take authority in the Word over it because it belongs to you.

Satan will always come to us with the thoughts of doubt and say; "There is no way you can have your needs met." "There is no way you can come out of your debts because you are poor, your salary cannot carry you through." "There is no way you can do all you ought to do, build a house, by a car, marry etc., There is just no way." Your answer to him should be "No Satan, my God is able! Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law, and the blessing of Abraham are mine in Christ Jesus." You will hang your faith completely in the Scriptures.

Confess continually the Word in Second Corinthians 9 vs 8 and personalize it; "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” The Amplified Version is more revealing on this verse, “:And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to me in abundance, so that I may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need, be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donations]. 

The Word says that God is able to get it to you. Don't look to natural sources. Don't look at your job, your present position, your natural capabilities, and present financial position, but look unto God. Keep your eyes single on the Word. Trust Him in whatever your hands have found to do, He will prosper you there. You have to realize and know that He can and will work in your behalf. God is real! He is able to get things done!

Prayer: Abba Father, thank you for all you received for me in redemption. Through the grace of our Messiah, Jesus Christ; though He was rich, yet for my sake He became poor, that I through His poverty might become rich. I refuse the lies of the devil, and embrace the truth of my abundant life in Christ Jesus: Abraham blessings are mine, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!