An Unshakably Happy God

An Unshakably Happy God

 “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)

God is absolutely sovereign.

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

Therefore, he is not frustrated. He rejoices in all his works when he contemplates them as colors of the magnificent mosaic of redemptive history. He is an unshakably happy God.

His happiness is foundationally the delight he has in himself. Before creation, he rejoiced in the image of his glory in the person of his Son — his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased (Matthew 3:17). Then the joy of God “went public” in the works of creation and redemption.

These works delight the heart of God because they reflect his glory. The heavens are telling the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works” (Psalm 104:31). He does everything he does to preserve and display that glory, for in this his soul rejoices.

All the works of God culminate in the praises of his redeemed people. “Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!” (Psalm 150:2). The climax of his happiness is the delight he takes in the echoes of his excellence in the praises of the saints. “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:10–11). 

But our praise is not only God’s delight, as an echo of his excellence; it is also the apex of our joy. Praise is the consummation of the joy we have in seeing and savoring the greatness of God.

Therefore, God’s pursuit of praise from us and our pursuit of pleasure in him are the same pursuit. This is the great outcome of the gospel of the glory of the grace of God in Christ!

WE CANNOT KNOW GOD COMPLETELY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 21, 2024.

SUBJECT : WE CANNOT KNOW GOD COMPLETELY!

Memory verse: "”Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered." (Job 36 vs 26.)

READ: Job 11 vs 7 - 9:

11:7: Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?

11:8: They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Shoel—what can you know?

11:9: Their measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

INTIMATION:

One theme in the poetic literature of the Bible is that God is incomprehensible; we cannot know Him completely. We can have some knowledge about Him, for the Bible is full of details about who God is, how we can know Him, and how we can have an eternal relationship with Him. But we can never know enough to answer all of life’s questions, to predict our own future, or to manipulate God for our own ends. Life always creates more questions than we have answers, and we must constantly go to God for fresh insights into life’s dilemmas. 

God will never be known absolutely, but we can know things about Him that are absolutely true, so much so that we can be willing to live and die for those beliefs. God has provided knowledge of Himself that is personal, relational, and sufficient for fruitful, faithful, godly living. No one will ever be able to say he lacked the necessary revelation to know God and to start living as God intends.

Because God can never be fully known, those who seek to know God should be deeply humbled in the process, realizing that they will always have more to learn. The appropriate response to God is a heart of wonder and awe in light of His incomprehensible greatness.

God’s incomprehensibility also means that beliefs can be held with firm conviction even though they may be filled with inexplicable mysteries. God has given us a glimpse of the perfection of His creation. But it is only a glimpse, we cannot see into the future or comprehend everything. So we must trust God now and do His work on earth. 

The tremendous truth is that faith in God is more important than our desire to know the reason behind any predicament we find ourselves in. God is sovereign over all of nature and over our lives. God is in control—He directs, preserves, and maintains His created order. Although we can’t see it, God is divinely governing the moral and political affairs of people as well. By spending time observing the majestic and intricate parts of God’s creation, we can be reminded of His power in every aspect of our lives. 

The incomprehensibility of God is majorly due to: 1. God is infinite and His creatures are finite. By definition, creatures depend on their Creator for their very existence and are limited in all aspects. Yet God is without limitations in every quality he possesses. This Creator/creature, infinite/finite gap will always exist. 

2. The perfect unity of God’s attributes is far beyond the realm of human experience. God’s love, wrath, grace, justice, holiness, patience, and jealousy are continually functioning in a perfectly integrated yet infinitely complex way. 

3. The effects of sin on the minds of fallen humans also greatly inhibit the ability to know God. The tendency of fallen creatures is to distort, pervert, and confuse truth and to use, or rather abuse it for selfish ends rather than for God’s glory. 

4. A final reason God can never be fully known is that in His sovereign wisdom God has chosen not to reveal some things: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29 vs 29). 

God is beyond the comprehension of man, and thus He is not the invention of man. God’s ways are unsearchable by man because He does not deal with man after the nature of the flesh. He does not deal with man after the nature by which man often deal unmercifully with one another in man-made religions. Only those who are frustrated in their efforts to understand God fully, or want God to behave as they so choose, seek to create false gods whom they can understand. 

In heaven, God’s incomprehensibility will no doubt be lessened when the effects of sin no longer ravage minds, and when He will most likely share some of His secrets. However, God will always be infinite and humans will always be finite, so He will always be beyond human ability to know exhaustively.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are beyond human comprehension, Your ways past finding out. One thing I know is that Your thoughts for me are of good, and not of evil. My absolute trust is in You. What You can’t do for me, let it remain undone. What You can’t give me, may I never have it. My faith is completely anchored in You, and may nothing take my attention off You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Jesus Is Who You’re Looking For

 Jesus Is Who You’re Looking For

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

The last chapter of Matthew is a window that opens onto the sunrise glory of the risen Christ. Through it you can see at least three massive peaks in the mountain range of Christ’s character: the peak of his power; the peak of his kindness; and the peak of his purposefulness. 

All authority is his — the right and the power to do his will. And he uses this power to pursue his unwavering purpose to make disciples from all the nations. And in the process he is personally kind to us, promising to be with us to the end.

We all know in our hearts that if the risen Christ is going to satisfy our desire to admire greatness, that is the way he has to be. Great in power. Great in kindness. Great in purposefulness.

People who are too weak to accomplish their purposes can’t satisfy our desire to admire greatness. We admire people even less who have no purpose in life. And still less those whose purposes are merely selfish and unkind. 

What we long to see and know is a Person whose power is unlimited, whose kindness is tender, and whose purpose is single and unflinching. 

Novelists and poets and movie-makers and TV writers now and then create a shadow of this Person. But they can no more fill our longing to worship than this month’s National Geographic can satisfy my longing for the Grand Canyon.

We must have the real thing. We must see the Original of all power and kindness and purposefulness. We must see and worship the risen Christ.

MAKING YOURSELF AN ENEMY OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY AUGUST 20, 2024.

SUBJECT : MAKING YOURSELF AN ENEMY OF GOD!

Memory verse: "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend to the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4 vs 4.)

READ: First John 2 vs 15 - 17:

2:15: 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.

2:16: For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.

2:17: And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the Will of God abides forever.

INTIMATION:

Being a friend to the world is making yourself an enemy of God. This is because having friendship with the world involves seeking pleasure at the expense of obeying God. Christians are not to attach themselves to the things of the world in a way that they are diverted from keeping their minds on those things that are above. The Christian must not be directed in his or her life by the evil values and morals that are maintained by those deceived by Satan. 

It is impossible for one to love God with the intensity of love by which God demands that we serve Him, and at the same time compromise his or her values and morals by living in accordance with the world’s standards. Whenever there is a compromise in one’s relationship with God, in relation to the world, lukewarmness or apostasy in reference to the truth results. One’s relationship with the world must be defined and controlled by his or her love for God.

The believer who is a materialist is an adulterer in that, as a member of the body of Christ, he or she has wedded himself or herself to that which is of the world. He or she has broken the covenant made with Christ, and has given himself or herself to the world. If one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him or her. Those who love activities and possessions of this world do not love the Father, for they are obsessed with the things of this world. 

This does not mean that the rich must forsake their riches, for many rich people have the gift of making money for the benefit of advancing the works of the kingdom. The rich are not obligated to give themselves into poverty. However, those who have been consumed with the things the world have taken their minds off that which is to come. And that which is to come is the destruction of all that for which one has worked in this world.

Pleasure is the desire or inclination that pleases or delights you. It's something that gives you enjoyment, that is joy or delight. Pleasure can keep us away from God. And that pleasure that keeps us from pleasing God is sinful. But pleasure from God's rich bounty is good. There is nothing wrong with wanting a pleasurable life. God gives us good gifts, and He gives us richly all things to enjoy (James 1 vs 17; First Timothy 6 vs 17). But those sinful pleasures or evil desires that keep us away from God should be avoided. The Scripture has given us the cure of evil desires, which is humility.

Some people think that worldliness is limited to external behavior—the people we associate with, the places we go, the activities we enjoy. Worldliness is also internal because it begins in the heart and is characterized by three attitudes: (1) lust of the flesh; preoccupation with gratifying physical desires, (2) lust of the eyes; coveting and accumulating things; bowing to the god of materialism, and (3) pride of life; obsession with one's status or importance. 

The enemy of our soul—the devil—knows we are vulnerable in these areas. When the serpent tempted Eve, he tempted her in these areas; "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3 vs 6),  Also, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, these were his three areas of attack (see Matthew 4 vs 1 - 11). Jesus didn't fall to the whims and caprices of the devil. He resisted him and he flee from Him. Jesus defeated the devil by His self-control, insisting on dong what “is written”! 

Normally, the desire for possessions and sinful pleasures can be intense, but we should realize that these objects of desire will one day pass away. It has been plainly revealed in the Scripture that it is only the person who does the Will of God will live forever. In the passage we read today, the apostle John got his conviction based on the facts of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and promises. We too should learn from that. Knowing that this evil world will end can give you the courage to deny yourself temporary pleasures in this world in order to enjoy what God has promised for eternity.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of love for, and complete obedience to You, and give me the grace to resist any form of compromises with the world that will draw me away from You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

DESIRE TO MEET THE NEED OF OTHERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY AUGUST 19, 2024.

SUBJECT: DESIRE TO MEET THE NEED OF OTHERS!

Memory verse: "Is not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?" (Isaiah 58 vs 7.)

READ: Matthew 25 vs 34 - 40:

25:34: Then the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

25:35: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in;

25:36: I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’

25:37: Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? or thirsty and gave you drink?

25:38: When did we see you a stranger and take you in? or naked and clothed you?

25:39: Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’

25:40: And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’

INTIMATION:

A need is a necessity, a requirement; a shortage of an indispensable item. It is anything that is necessary but lacking, a condition requiring relief. Helping those in need is one of the most important ways to honor God. God created all things to coexist, and are interdependent. No one is an island. As humans, we are not equally gifted; some are better than others in diverse ways. As we are different so are our needs. Many people have physical and spiritual needs you can meet, either by yourself or with others who are also concerned. 

The passage we read today is a parable Jesus told His disciples to describe the acts of mercy we all can do everyday. These acts do not depend on wealth, ability, or intelligence; they are simple acts freely given and freely received. We have no excuse to neglect those who have needs. Jesus demands our personal involvement in caring for others’ needs. How much we love God can be measured by how well we treat others. Jesus’ example of caring for the needs of the least of our brethren is a good model of unselfish service. The least of our brethren usually can’t or won’t return a favor. God notices every good deed we do as if He were the one receiving it. Is there something unselfish you can do for someone else today? Although no one else may see you, God will notice.

However, the point in this parable is the importance of serving where service is needed. The focus of the parable is that we should love every person and serve everyone we can. Such love for others glorifies God by reflecting our love for Him. The apostle John said, “But whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (First John 3 vs 17 - 18.) These verses give an example of how to lay down our lives for others—to help those in need. How clearly do your actions say you really love others? Are you as generous as you should be with your money, possessions, and time?

The apostle James says, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2 vs 15 - 17.) We cannot earn our salvation by serving and obeying God. But such actions of meeting people’s needs show that our commitment to God is real. Deeds of loving service are not a substitute for, but rather a verification of, faith in Christ.

In our society today, there are many needy people. God has allowed them among us to test our faith or believe in Him. If we say we follow Christ, we should be like Him, who was so unselfish that He gave His life of inestimable value for our own lives that are completely worthless, to save us. We see these needy people lining the streets. How much of their needs do you meet? Or are you so selfish to give to them only when you have surplus to give out? John the Baptist, in preparing the way for Christ, spoke to the people when they asked him, “What shall we do then?” And he answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” (Luke 3 vs 10 - 11.) 

Some believers are too disinterested to the needy. How sad when the followers of Christ are so preoccupied with their own relationships and agendas that they don’t even see those who are in need. The simple acts of giving to the needy, can draw them to Christ. If Jesus is present in our lives, our faces should reflect His love, and our hands extended in fellowship to the needy, and open a way for others to come in. It is possible to become so occupied with spiritual matters that we become oblivious to the needs around us. This may be true especially if we are prejudiced against needy people or if they cause us inconvenience. Instead of being annoyed, be aware of the opportunities that surround you, and make an effort to look for ways to minister to others. 

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to lay down my life for others—to help the needy, and endue me with the spirit of sharing what I have with others, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

What the Resurrection Means for Us

 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

What does it mean to “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead”? Satan believes that God raised Jesus from the dead. He saw it happen. To answer this question, we need to ponder what the resurrection means for God’s people.

The meaning of the resurrection is that God is for us. He aims to close ranks with us. He aims to overcome all our sense of abandonment and alienation.

The resurrection of Jesus is God’s declaration to Israel and to the world that we cannot work our way to glory, but that he intends to do the impossible to get us there. 

The resurrection is the promise of God that all who trust Jesus will be the beneficiaries of God’s power to lead us in paths of righteousness and through the valley of death.

Therefore, believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is much more than accepting a fact. It means being confident that God is for you, that he has closed ranks with you, that he is transforming your life, and that he will save you for eternal joy.

Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life and hope and righteousness for which it stands. 

It means being so confident of God’s power and love that no fear of worldly loss or greed for worldly gain will lure us to disobey his will. 

That’s the difference between Satan and the saints. Oh, might God circumcise our hearts to love him (Deuteronomy 30:6) and to rest in the resurrection of his Son.

Hope to Obey Hard Commands

 Hope to Obey Hard Commands

“Whoever desires to love life and see good days . . . let him turn away from evil and do good.” (1 Peter 3:10–11)

There is only one basic reason why we disobey the commands of Jesus: it’s because we don’t have heartfelt confidence that obeying will bring more blessing than disobeying. We do not hope fully in God’s promise. 

What did he promise? Peter passes on the teachings of Jesus like this:

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days . . . let him turn away from evil and do good.” (1 Peter 3:9–11)

Peter, following Jesus, is not ashamed to motivate obedience to hard commands — like not returning evil for evil — with the promise of greater joy. “Bless those who revile you . . . that you may obtain a blessing!” Do you want to enjoy everlasting life? Turn away from evil! Joy for all eternity awaits you! Is that not reward enough to avoid the pleasures of vengeance now?

You will always be better off to obey than to disobey Jesus, even if that obedience costs you your life. Jesus said,

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time . . . with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29–30)

The only way to have the power to follow Christ in the costly way of love is to be filled with hope, with strong confidence that, if we lose our life doing his will, we will find it again and be richly rewarded forever.