7 Reasons Not to Worry, Part 1

 7 Reasons Not to Worry, Part 1

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25–26)

We are going to spend three days on this part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus is dealing specifically with anxiety about food and clothing. But, in fact, it relates to all anxiety.

Even in America, with its extensive welfare system, anxiety over finances and housing and food and clothing can be intense. Not to mention Christians who live in situations where much greater poverty threatens life. But Jesus says in verse 30 that our anxiety comes from little faith in our Father’s promise of future grace: “O you of little faith.” 

These verses (25–34) contain at least seven promises designed by Jesus to help us fight the good fight against unbelief and be free from anxiety. (Today we look at Promises 1 and 2 — then over the next two days at the rest.)

Promise #1: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

Since your body and your life are vastly more complex and difficult to provide than food and clothing are, and yet God has, in fact, created and provided you with both, then surely he will be able and willing to provide you with food and clothing.

Moreover, no matter what happens, God will raise your body someday and preserve your life and body for his eternal fellowship.

Promise #2: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26)

If God is willing and able to feed such insignificant creatures as birds who cannot do anything to bring their food into being — as you can by farming — then he will certainly provide what you need, because you are worth a lot more than birds. You, unlike the birds, have the amazing capacity to glorify God by trusting, obeying, and thanking God.

Prayer against Delay and Disappointment

  

Today, we're praying against delay and disappointments. As you pray those below prayer points with faith in God may your testimony manifest speedily in Jesus Name 🙏🙏🙏

PRAYER POINTS

Thank God for what He has done for you this year.  

- Let frustration and disappointment, be the portion of every object fashioned against my life and family, in the name of Jesus.  

- Every tie to polluted objects and items between my life and family, break, in the name of Jesus.  

- Every curse pronounced inwardly against my destiny, break, in the name of Jesus.

  - Every unspoken curse against my life, break, in the name of Jesus. 

 - You inward curses, militating against my virtues, break, in the name of Jesus

Let every spirit of Balaam hired to curse my progress, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus. 

 - Every curse that I have brought into my life through ignorance and disobedience, break by fire, in the name of Jesus.

  - Every power magnetizing physical and spiritual curses to me, I raise the blood of Jesus against you and I challenge you by fire, in the name of Jesus.

  - Father, Lord, turn all my self-imposed curses to blessings, in the name of Jesus. 

 - Every instrument, put in place to frustrate me become impotent, in the name of Jesus.

  - I reject every cycle of frustration, in the name of Jesus.  

- I break the curse of constant disappointment in my life, in the name of Jesus.  

- I curse every spirit of disappointments, in my life, in Jesus name.

  - I destroy every altar of disappointments at the edge of success, in the name of Jesus. 

 - Every arrow of disappointment and confusion fired into my life, backfire, in the name of Jesus

  - You spirit of disappointment, you cannot hold me ransom, so therefore pack your loads and get out from my life and destiny, in the name of Jesus.  

- Every disappointments in my marriage, be cancelled by the blood of Jesus.

  - Any power given the mandate to curse and hinder my progress, summersault and die, in the name of Jesus.

  - I shake off every spirit of disappointment and worry in my marriage, in the name of Jesus.

THE POWER OF SPOKEN FAITH!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2024.

SUBJECT : THE POWER OF SPOKEN FAITH!

Memory verse: "And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak," (Second Corinthians 4 vs 13.)

READ: Matthew 8 vs 5 - 13:

8:5: Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,

8:6: saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." 

8:7: And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."

8:8: The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.

8:9: For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

8:10: When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 

8:11: And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

8:12: But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

8:13: Then, Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour.

INTIMATION:

Believe in your heart and say with your mouth. Believing God and His Word is of great importance. But Jesus encourages us further to articulate, to say aloud, what we are believing God for. There is great power in the spoken word of faith.

Believing God is wonderful. But Jesus urged us to do one more thing: to speak the word of faith, to verbalize what we are seeking from God. Believers should understand the power of speaking the Word of God with boldness and faith, and the believer "shall have whatsoever he saith". (Mark 11 vs 22 -23.) If one truly believes, then he will speak forth the word of God.

The passage we read today is about the faith of the Roman soldier, a 'Centurion.' I have always enjoyed meditating on the Bible story of this Roman soldier, and his faith. This Bible story sets forth all the ingredients of triumphant faith—the power of spoken faith in action. The centurion believed and spoke out his faith. He knew Jesus has authority over all things, including demons, and can exercise His authority from anywhere, just as he can, as a soldier over his subjects, and it is done. We, 'believers,' should do the same. 

The centurion believed in his heart and spoke it with his mouth, exercising the power of spoken faith, and Jesus highly commended him. In fact, He called it the greatest faith He had seen in all Israel. Let us all, therefore, as 'Believers,' speak with the same spirit of faith in the word. Our memory verse is the spoken faith of the anonymous psalmist in Psalm 116 vs 10, "I believed, therefore I spoke." He believed in God, spoke out to the LORD in his time of distress, and the LORD heard his voice and his supplication:

Salvation is the greatest of all God's gifts, and the opener of all other blessings of God. And it is obtained by us through believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths that Jesus is the risen Lord. Salvation is as close as your own lips and heart: "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is the word of faith which we preach: that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10 vs 8 - 10.)

When we learn to speak the Word and not the problem, we are on the road to absolute victory. But we are defeated the moment we allow ourselves to start listing our burdens instead of counting our blessings. God is the Creator and Master over all things. He has given us the carte blanche to 'ask and receive, seek and find, and knock and the door will be opened to us.' But we must have faith in Him, and that faith must be spoken out. But as Christ said, "the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness." Many Christians will miss the kingdom because of not confessing their faith. Therefore, if you believe, then speak it.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are so faithful to Your promises, and cannot deny Yourself. I hold tightly to You and Your Word, my Redeemer and Savior. You have given me a mouth and wisdom which all my adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. Help me to always declare boldly my faith in You at all times. As I believe so will I speak, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

How to Fight Anxiety

 How to Fight Anxiety

[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them?

The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by fighting against unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace. And the way you fight this “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7) is by meditating on God’s assurances of future grace and by asking for the help of his Spirit.

The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief, and the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit. The battle to be freed from sin — including the sin of anxiety — is fought “by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

The work of the Spirit and the word of truth. These are the great faith-builders. Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit, the wipers of the word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief on the windshield.

Both are necessary: the Spirit and the word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so that we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our faith grows stronger and the swerving of anxiety straightens out.

THE UNPARALLELED LOVE OF GOD FOR US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2024.

SUBJECT : THE UNPARALLELED LOVE OF GOD FOR US!

Memory verse: "Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8 vs 35).

READ: Romans 8 vs 31 - 39:

8:31: What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

8:32: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

8:33: Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

8:34: Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes Intercession for us.

8:35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

8:36: As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

8:37: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

8:38: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor Angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 

8:39: nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

INTIMATION:

Have you ever imagined a separation of you from God? Your answer might be yes, because you have considered yourself not good enough for God. You will then say, "God will not save me." Your thought is that your sinful life will be a hindrance for you to receive salvation from Him. But it is not true!

Christ had already chosen you, not you chosen Him, and gave His life for you because of His love for you, and quest for you to have life, and have it more abundantly. Have you ever imagined this show of love for us by God? And have you ever heard of any parallel, or equal show of love in history, and now?

Christ was spotless, perfect and rich. For His love for you and I, He became poor, chose to be a propitiation for our sins, took all our sins, past, present, and future, on Himself, and paid the wages of our sin, which is death (Romans 6 vs 23; Ezekiel 18 vs 4). His death was even a shameful death on the cross, just for us.

By His death for our sins, He justified us, legally setting us free from sin after haven paid the price for us. He did not stop at that. He descended to hell and met with our accuser, and greatest enemy, Satan. He engaged him there, defeated him, and stripped him of all powers. He took back His life and ascended into heaven where He sits at His position of authority—the right hand of God, and making intercession for us continually, as our Advocate before the Father. He is our High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, and ever ready to help us through the journey of life.

God loves us so much so that He exchanged His Son's life of inestimable value with our worthless sinful lives. Whenever I imagine this act of God, I feel a chill run through my spines, with goose-pimples all over my skin. It is awesome!

No matter what happens to us, no matter where we are, we can never be separated from His love. Though believers may have to face hardships in many forms: persecution, illness, imprisonment, and even death., these sometimes cause us to think that Christ has abandoned us. But far be it from the truth, it is impossible to be separated from Christ. His death for us is proof of His unconquerable love, which is an overwhelming assurance of our being totally secure in Him. Nothing can separate us from His presence.

Consequently, in Christ we are super-conquerors, and His love will protect us from any forces in the universe; principalities and powers, unseen evil forces like Satan and his fallen angels—the demons. We are completely secured in Him.

How else can we reciprocate such love but to follow Him, and be in complete obedience to His commands, knowing that His thought for us is forever good. If he has given His life for us, what else can He not give to us to ensure we live for Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, I thank You for all You wrought for me in redemption out of Your unparalleled love for me. It is my desire to reciprocate this love You showcased for me. Give me the grace, O Lord, for raw and complete obedience to You in my journey in life, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE CHOICE OF LIFE OR DEATH!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 09, 2024.

SUBJECT: THE CHOICE OF LIFE OR DEATH! 

Memory verse: "I call heaven and earth as witness 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 19.)

READ: Deuteronomy 30 vs 15 - 20:

30:15: See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,

30:16: in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, 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. 

30:17: But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,

30:18: I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.

30:19: I call heaven and earth as witness 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;

30:20: that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

INTIMATION:

God is the source and Creator of life, for there is no life outside of God here and hereafter. The life in us is the gift from Him. And because Jesus is eternally existent with God, the Creator, He too, is “the life” through whom we may live eternally. Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14 vs 6.) 

In the passage we read today, Moses, in his farewell address to the Israelites, challenged them to choose life, to obey God and, therefore, to continue to experience His blessings. God doesn’t force His Will on anyone. He lets us decide whether to follow Him or reject Him. This decision, however, is a life and death matter. 

God sets life and death before His people, Israel, at the borders of the Promise Land. As all people do, the children of Israel had a choice: they could obey God or disobey Him. One choice would lead to life, and the other choice would lead to death.

God, however, created us as free-moral individuals. And the final exhortation to us in Scripture is to make a free-moral decision to choose that which will bring life and good. When one stays close to God, he or she will have life. No eternal life exists outside the presence of God. Therefore, one must choose to come into, and continually stay in the presence of God in order to maintain eternal life. Since God is eternal, the Scripture concludes that only those who choose to cleave to Him will enjoy eternal existence in His presence. It is imperative, therefore, that one discover how to come into an eternal relationship with God.

Although the terms of the Old Covenant, according to the passage we read today, were specifically for Israel in the Promised Land and are not applied to all humanity today, the choice is still very much the same. God still sets life and death before us. The Scripture in Romans 6 vs 23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Those who accept Christ by faith will experience eternal life and blessing, while those who reject Him will experience eternal death and destruction (John 3 vs 18). There is a clear choice with eternal consequences.

In life we are faced with choices. God has ordained our paths in life, that we may accomplish our predetermined purposes in life in accordance with His Will for us. God doesn't force His Will on anyone. He lets us decide whether to follow Him or reject Him, obey Him or disobey Him. This decision, however, is a life-or-death matter. God wants us to realize this, for He would like us all to choose life. Daily, in each new situation, we must affirm and reinforce this commitment. 

Now remember this, for the ancient Hebrews’ life, by definition, was precisely that which proceeded from loving and obeying God.  Therefore, if we choose to serve God, we are choosing life.  Death was defined as the rejection of God. Therefore, if we choose not to serve or obey the Lord, we choose death.  

But we need to understand that our choices affect not only eternity, they affect today as well. If I want to live today, it means that I choose to serve the Lord today.  If I choose not to serve the Lord today, it means that for today I have not chosen life; I have chosen something else, and what follows from that choice will not be the life that comes from God but something else, that is, isolation from Him- which is the same as death. 

Remember, what we choose will be given to us, so let’s be sure to choose to serve the Lord and not some other god, let’s be sure to choose life, so that we will live today and throughout all eternity with the Lord.

Prayer: Abba Father, by You all things consist. And You created all things, including me, for Your pleasure. Endue me with the spirit of delightsome obedience to You in all things, that I may please You and live according to Your predetermined purposes for me, and have life more abundantly, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Grace Must Be Free

 Grace Must Be Free

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7) 

Picture salvation as a house that you live in.

It provides you with protection. It is stocked with food and drink that will last forever. It never decays or crumbles. Its windows open onto vistas of all-satisfying glory.

God built it at great cost to himself and to his Son, and he gave it to you free and clear.

The “purchase” agreement is called a “new covenant.” The terms read: “This house shall become and remain yours if you will receive it as a gift and take delight in the Father and the Son as they inhabit the house with you. You shall not profane the house of God by sheltering other gods nor turn your heart away after other treasures, but find your contentment in the fellowship of God in this house.”

Would it not be foolish to say yes to this agreement, and then hire a lawyer to draw up an amortization schedule with monthly payments in the hopes of somehow balancing accounts and paying for the house?

You would be treating the house no longer as a gift, but a purchase. God would no longer be the free benefactor. And you would be enslaved to a new set of demands that he never dreamed of putting on you.

If grace is to be free — which is the very meaning of grace — we cannot view it as something to be repaid.