We Wait, He Works

 We Wait, He Works

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4)

Only a few things have gripped me with greater joy than the truth that God loves to show his God-ness by working for me, and that his working for me is always before and under and in any working I do for him.

At first it may sound arrogant of us, and belittling to God, to say that he works for us. But that’s only because of the connotation that I am an employer and God needs a job. That’s not the connotation when the Bible talks about God’s working for us. That’s not at all in Isaiah’s mind when he says, God “works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

The proper connotation of saying God works for me is that I am bankrupt and need a bailout. I am weak and need someone strong. I am endangered and need a protector. I am foolish and need someone wise. I am lost and need a Rescuer.

God works for me means I can’t do the work. I am utterly in need of help.

And this glorifies God not me. The Giver gets the glory. The Powerful One gets the praise.

Listen to the way the Bible talks about God working for you, and be freed from the burden of bearing your own load. Let him do that work.

“No eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you. . . . Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:12, 15).

“To your old age . . . I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

“I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

“Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11).

“Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work” (Philippians 2:12–13).

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

THE SECRET OF A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY OCTOBER 07, 2024.

SUBJECT : THE SECRET OF A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

Memory verse: "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." (Mark 1 vs 35.)

READ: Psalm 5 vs 1 - 3:

5:1: Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

5:2: Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto you will I pray.

5:3: My voice you shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct my prayer to You, and will look up. 

INTIMATION:

The secret of a close relationship with God is to pray to Him earnestly each morning. Prayer is one of the greatest opportunities given to man by God. It is one of the greatest privileges and ministries available to all believers. Indeed everyone who seeks to take his or her place in the Kingdom of God should seek or learn how to pray effectively. Praying is speaking reverently to God in order to express thanks or make a request. It is earnestly entreating God in sincerity of your intention.

God not only welcomes us in prayer, He is waiting for us to pray. In the morning, our minds are more free from problems, and then we can commit the whole day to God. Regular communication helps in friendship and is certainly necessary for a strong relationship with God. We need to communicate with Him daily. Throughout Jesus’ ministry He often went to places where He could be alone in order to concentrate on praying to the Father.

Our anchor Scripture says He rose up early and in the morning went to a solitary place to pray.

The first thing believers should do before communicating with anyone is communicating with their Maker first. There is this peace and stillness that comes with communicating your fears to God. It’s how we rebuke the devil: The devil is always on the look out for every believer, he comes to them with a snare. Believers must always be at alert in prayer, one must be relentless in prayer always, in the morning, noon and at night. 

Every believer should embrace the act of starting and committing a new day to God’s hands in the morning, asking Him to guide us and shield us from the evils that come with a new day. Also, It is how we command our day: When you invite God to your morning via morning prayers, it sends signals to the realm of the Spirit, you call forth the good you want to see in your morning via prayers. Each day comes with its blessings and opportunities, and that is why Scripture says ‘He daily load us with benefit.’ It is very significant to commit the day into God’s hands and to also tune into the prompting and leading of the Spirit.

Jesus Christ never taught His disciples how to preach but rather taught them how to pray. Note that Jesus Christ told the disciples "WHEN YOU PRAY" and not "IF YOU PRAY" therefore, the onus is on us to pray. We, the godly; those who are faithful and devoted to God, should know that God is waiting for us to approach Him in prayer and should be confident that God listens to our prayers and answers when we call upon Him. Sometimes we think that God will not hear us because we have fallen short of His high standards for holy living, but if we are aware of the sacrifice of His only Son for our sins, we know He hears us.

Perhaps you need to redesign your schedule to find time for earnest prayer, especially in the morning. It is vitally important to: (1) seek the Lord before your busy schedule takes over your thoughts; (2) withdraw from noise and demands so you can focus on God; (3) take Jesus’ attitude of regular communion with the Father; (4) reflect on the priorities Jesus had for His life; (5) determine to pray on a more regular basis, not just in times of crisis. If prayer was important for Jesus, then it must be important for His followers. Pray, make it a point of duty to get up early in the morning to do it! Do you have a regular time to pray and read God’s Word?

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the privilege of communing with You in prayer. Give me the enablement to always start my day in communion with You in prayer; handing everything over to Your care and direction, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Happy God

 The Happy God

Sound doctrine [is] in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed [that is, happy] God. (1 Timothy 1:10–11)

A great part of God’s glory is his happiness.

It was inconceivable to the apostle Paul that God could be denied infinite joy and still be all-glorious. To be infinitely glorious was to be infinitely happy. He used the phrase, “the glory of the happy God,” because it is a glorious thing for God to be as happy as he is — infinitely happy.

God’s glory consists much in the fact that he is happy beyond our wildest imagination.

This is the gospel: “the gospel of the glory of the happy God.” That’s a quote from the Bible! It is good news that God is gloriously happy.

No one would want to spend eternity with an unhappy God. If God is unhappy, then the goal of the gospel is not a happy goal, and that means it would be no gospel at all.

But, in fact, Jesus invites us to spend eternity with a happy God when he says, “Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23). Jesus lived and died that his joy — God’s joy — might be in us and our joy might be full (John 15:11; 17:13). Therefore, the gospel is “the gospel of the glory of the happy God.”

The happiness of God is first and foremost a happiness in his Son. Thus when we share in the happiness of God, we share in the very pleasure that the Father has in the Son.

This is why Jesus made the Father known to us. At the end of his great prayer in John 17, he said to his Father, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). He made God known so that God’s pleasure in his Son might be in us and become our pleasure in him.

THE GIVING THAT RECEIVES REWARD.

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 06, 2024.

SUBJECT : THE GIVING THAT RECEIVES REWARD.

Memory verse: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." (Luke 6 vs 38.)

READ: Second Corinthians 9 vs 6 - 11:

9:6: But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

9:7: So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

9:8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

9:9: As it is written: "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever."

9:10: Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,

9:11: while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

INTIMATION:

God has a divine law of giving and receiving. If you want to receive reward for your giving, you need to understand this divine law. Therefore, understand that it is the measure with which you give that determines what you will receive from God. That is to say, "What you give determines what you receive."

In our memory verse, Jesus used the picture of measuring grain in a basket to ensure the full amount and import of His teaching. A forgiving spirit demonstrates that a person has received forgiveness. If you are critical rather than compassionate, you will also receive criticism. If you treat others generously, and compassionately, obviously these qualities will come back to you in full measure. Jesus taught us to love others as ourselves, not judge them.

The measurement here  is relatively not in volume or quantity, but rather in value, or quality. In Mark 12 vs 42 - 43, a poor widow made an offering of two mites, and Jesus told His disciples that the poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury, because others have given of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gratuitously put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. Though her gift was the smallest, she gave more than the others put together in the eyes of the Lord.

The value of a gift is not determined by its quantity, but by the spirit in which it is given. A gift given grudgingly or for recognition loses its value. God desires that your gift be pleasing to Him, the volume or quantity not withstanding. Your gift is pleasing to God when it is given out of a heart of gratitude, and a spirit of generosity. When you give with God's desired motives, the dividend you receive thereto far more outweighs what you have given. The reward to you, as the Scripture has foretold, is in: good measure, press down, shaking together, and running over, and will be put into your bosom. 

For instance, King Solomon gave a sacrifice of a thousand cows out of a heart of gratitude and a spirit of generosity, and it was pleasing to God. Rather than give him the wisdom to rule the Israelites he requested, God gave him his petition and added riches and honor. (First King 3 vs 4 - 14). You cannot out-give God. 

A giving attitude is more important than the amount given. A person who can give only a small gift with sincerity of heart shouldn't be embarrassed. God is concerned about how a person gives from his or her resources. God Himself is a cheerful giver. Consider all He has done for us. He is pleased when we, who are created in His image, give generously and joyfully. 

People may hesitate to give generously to God because they worry about having enough left over to meet their needs. Obviously, it is lack of faith in God, and also reflects ungratefulness to Him. The Bible tells us that withholding from God tends to poverty (Proverbs 11 vs 24). God wants to produce tremendous blessings for you, spiritually, physically, and financially. Real giving is an act of faith. Failure to give is unbelief, and it is giving place to the devil. Believe God's Word, give cheerfully and be blessed. 

God gives us resources to use and invest for Him. In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul uses the illustration of seed to explain that the resources God gives us are not to be hidden, foolishly devoured, or thrown away. Instead, they should be cultivated in order to produce more crops. When we invest what God has given us in His work, He will provide us with even more to give in His service. That is why "givers never lack."

Prayer: Abba Father, You have imparted Your nature of love on me in redemption. Endue with the me spirit of gratuitous and generous giving, and the grace to abound in it, reflecting my faith and trust in You, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Justice Will Be Done

 Justice Will Be Done Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

All of you have been wronged at one time or another. Most of you, probably, have been wronged seriously by someone who has never apologized or done anything sufficient to make it right.

And one of the deep hindrances to your letting go of that hurt and bitterness is the conviction — the justified conviction — that justice should be done, that the moral fabric of the universe will unravel if people can just get away with horrible wrongs and deceive everyone.

That is one of the hindrances to forgiveness and letting grudges go. It’s not the only one. We have our own sin to deal with. But it is a real one.

We feel that just to let it go would be to admit that justice simply won’t be done. And we can’t do it.

So we hold on to anger, and play the events or the words over and over again with the feelings: It shouldn’t have happened; it shouldn’t have happened; it was wrong; it was wrong. How can he (or she) be so happy when I am so miserable? It is so wrong. It is so wrong! We can’t let it go. And our bitterness starts to poison everything.

This word in Romans 12:19 is given to us by God to lift that burden from us.

“Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.” What does this mean for you?

Laying down the burden of anger, laying down the practice of nursing your hurt with feelings of being wronged — laying that down — does not mean there was no great wrong against you. There was.

But it also does not mean there is no justice. It does not mean you will not be vindicated. It does not mean they just got away with it. No they didn’t.

It means, when you lay down the burden of vengeance, God will pick it up.

This is not a subtle way of getting revenge. This is a way of giving vengeance to the One to whom it belongs. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. You lay it down. I will pick it up. Justice will be done. 

What a glorious relief. I do not have to carry this burden. It is like taking a deep breath, perhaps for the first time in decades, and feeling like now at last you may be free to love.

GOD DESIRES OUR CONSISTENT OBEDIENCE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 05, 2024.

SUBJECT : GOD DESIRES OUR CONSISTENT OBEDIENCE!

Memory verse: "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved." (Mark 13 vs 13.)

READ: Philippians 2 vs 5 - 11: 

2:5: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 

2:6: who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

2:7: but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

2:8: And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross.

2:9: Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given him the name which is above every name,

2:10: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth,

2:11: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

INTIMATION:

God demands our obedience to His commandments. We do this by obeying God with (1) Our heart— by loving Him more than any relationship, activity, achievement, or possession; (2) Our will—by committing ourselves completely to Him; (3) Our mind—by seeking to know Him and His Word, so His principles and values form the foundation of all we think and do; (4) Our body—by recognizing that our strengths, talents, and sexuality are given to us by God to be used for pleasure and fulfillment according to His rules, not ours; (5) Our finances—by deciding that all of the resources we have ultimately come from God, and that we are to be managers of them and not owners; (6) Our future—by deciding to make service to God and man the main purpose of our live’s work.

We should strive to be consistent in our obedience. Heroic spiritual lives are built by stacking days of obedience one on top of the other. Like a brick, each obedient act is small in itself, but in time the acts will pile up, and a huge wall of strong character will be built—a great defense against temptation. God requires lifelong obedience. Spurts of obedience are not enough, and we can’t please God by spurts of religiosity. Real spirituality takes a lifetime of consistent obedience. Only "he who endures to the end" will be rewarded. 

Be remembered for your consistent faith, being consistent in your faith every day; that way you will build a lifetime of obedience. Otherwise you may become more famous for your downfall than for your success. 

Consider Jesus Christ who actually became a human to identify with our sins; He voluntarily laid aside His divine rights and privileges out of love for, and obedience to His Father. Christ died on the cross for our sins, and God glorified Him because of His obedience; consistent obedience to the end. God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

Therefore, if we say we follow Christ as believers, we must also say we want to live as He lived, and strive to live as He lived. He is our role model, and we are expected to be Christlike. To believe in Jesus "to the end" will take perseverance because our faith will be challenged and opposed. Severe trials will sift true Christians from fair-weather believers. 

Enduring to the end does not earn salvation for us but marks us as already saved, and an evidence that we are really committed to Jesus. The assurance of our salvation will keep us strong in times of persecution. Persistence or consistency is the by product of a truly devoted life.

Obedience to God begins with humility. We humble ourselves by renouncing other masters, identify ourselves with Jesus, discover His will and live according to it, and consciously turn away from conflicting interests, even if these interests have been important to us in the past. 

We must believe that His way is better than our own. We may not always understand His ways of working, but by humbly obeying, we will receive His blessings. We must remember that (1) God’s ways are best; (2) God wants our obedience more than anything else; (3) God can use anything to accomplish His purposes. 

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to have the mind of Christ and live humbly as He lived; consistent in my obedience to the end. Strengthen me in my strive, and help me in my daily life to live like Christ, and live for You, in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Joy Unbound

 Joy Unbound

“I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

That’s what Jesus prayed the night before he died. Imagine being able to enjoy what is most enjoyable with unbounded energy and passion forever. This is not now our experience. Three things stand in the way of our complete satisfaction in this world.

One is that nothing in this created world has a personal worth great enough to meet the deepest longings of our hearts.

Another is that we lack the strength to savor the best treasures to their maximum worth.

And a third obstacle standing in the way of complete satisfaction is that our joys here come to an end. Nothing lasts. But if the aim and the prayer of Jesus in John 17:26 come true, all this will change. He prayed “that the love with which you, Father, have loved me may be in them.” God’s infinitely well-pleased love for his Son in us!

If God’s pleasure in the Son becomes our pleasure in the Son, then the object of our pleasure, Jesus, will be inexhaustible in personal worth. He will never become boring or disappointing or frustrating.

No greater treasure can be conceived than the Son of God.

Moreover, our ability to savor this inexhaustible treasure will not be limited by human weaknesses. We will enjoy the Son of God with the very enjoyment of his Father. That’s what Jesus prayed for!

God’s delight in his Son will be in us and it will be ours — our delight in the Son. And this will never end, because neither the Father nor the Son ever ends.

Their love for each other will be our love for them and therefore our loving them will never die, nor ever diminish.