Prepare the Way

 Prepare the Way

“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16–17)

What John the Baptist did for Israel, Advent can do for us. Don’t let Christmas find you unprepared. I mean spiritually unprepared. Its joy and impact will be so much greater if you are ready!

So, that you might be prepared . . . 

First, meditate on the fact that we need a Savior. Christmas is an indictment before it becomes a delight. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). If you don’t need a Savior, you don’t need Christmas. Christmas will not have its intended effect until we feel desperately the need for a Savior. Let these short Advent meditations help awaken in you a bittersweet sense of need for the Savior.

Second, engage in sober self-examination. Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24). Let every heart prepare him room . . . by cleaning house.

Third, build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home — especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too. If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of the King’s arrival visible for the children.

Fourth, be much in the Scriptures, and memorize the great passages! “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:29)! Gather ’round that fire this Advent season. It is warm. It is sparkling with colors of grace. It is healing for a thousand hurts. It is light for dark nights.

TRUE RICHES ARE IN CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY DECEMBER 01, 2024.

SUBJECT : TRUE RICHES ARE IN CHRIST!

Memory verse: “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." (Revelation 3 vs 17.)

READ: Luke 12 vs 15 - 21:

12:15: And He said to them, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

12:16: Then He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.

12:17: And he thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?”

12:18: So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.

12:19: And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

12:20: But God said unto him, “Fool! this night your soul will be required of you: then whose will those things be, which you have provided?”

12:21: “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

INTIMATION:

God’s measure of success is different from ours. Most people think that wealth is a sign of God’s approval, but true riches and good success is a function of our relationship and fellowship with Him. God calls us to faith, not to affluence. Character is more important to Him than our purses. Knowing this truth, we should be concerned about how we get our wealth. Some believers assume that numerous material possessions are a sign of God’s spiritual blessing. 

In our contemporary society, people think that true riches connote having money, possessions, wealth, power and so on, hence their relentless desire to get ahead in pursuance of these things. But true riches are inherent in observing God's laws and being strong and courageous to obey, and follow His leading. You may not be rich by world's standards, but you will be rich in God's eyes, and His opinion is final and lasts forever. If you accumulate wealth only to enrich yourself, with no concern for helping others, you will enter eternity empty-handed. Jesus challenges us to think beyond earthbound goals and to use what we have been given for God’s kingdom. Faith, service, and obedience are the way to become rich toward God.

We find true wealth by developing our spiritual life, not by developing our financial assets. God is interested in what is lasting (our souls), not in what is temporary (our money and possessions). What you have in your heart, not your bank account, matters to God and endures for eternity. 

The Scripture in Revelation 3 vs 17 - 18, Jesus said to the Laodiceans church, “Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” Wealth, luxury, and ease can make people feel confident, satisfied, and complacent. But no matter how much you possess or how much money you make, you have nothing if you don’t have a vital relationship with Christ. 

Laodicea was known for its great wealth. What the Laodiceans could see and buy had become more valuable to them than what is unseen and eternal. Christ told the Laodiceans to buy their gold from Him (real spiritual treasures). The city was proud of its cloth and dyeing industries; Christ told them to buy white garments from Him (His righteousness). Laodicea prided itself on its precious eye salve that healed many eye problems; Christ told them to buy salve for their eyes so they could see the truth (John 9 vs 39). Christ was showing the Laodiceans that true value was not in material possessions but in a right relationship with God. Their possessions and achievements were valueless compared with the everlasting future of Christ’s kingdom.

Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possess.” (Luke 12 vs 15.) Jesus says that the good life has nothing to do with being wealthy, the exact opposite of what society usually says. A truly fulfilled life is living in a relationship with God and doing His work. If you are trying to find fulfillment only through riches, wealth may be the only reward you will ever get, and it does not last. We should not seek comfort now at the expense of eternal life. Our heavenly rewards will be the most accurate reflection of what we have done on earth, and they will be far greater than we can imagine. How does your current level of wealth affect your spiritual desire? Instead of centering your life primarily on comfort and luxury, find your true riches in Christ.

Prayer: Abba Father, You have put eternity in our hearts. Give me the grace to be eternity conscious that I may serve and obey You to obtain my crown of life—eternity with You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Triumphant Shame of the Cross

 The Triumphant Shame of the Cross

[Christ did not] offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:25–26)

It is not to be taken for granted that there should be a welcome for sinners in heaven. 

God is holy and pure and perfectly just and righteous. Yet the whole story of the Bible is how such a great and holy God can and does welcome dirty, unholy people like you and me into his favor. How can this be?

Hebrews 9:25 says that Christ’s sacrifice for sin was not like the sacrifices of the Jewish high priests. They came into the holy place yearly with animal sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. But these verses say Christ did not enter heaven to “offer himself repeatedly . . . for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 9:26). 

If Christ followed the pattern of the priests, then he would have to die yearly. And since the sins to be covered include the sins of Adam and Eve, he would have had to begin his yearly dying at the foundation of the world. But the writer treats this as unthinkable. 

Why is this unthinkable? Because it would make the death of the Son of God look weak and ineffective. If it has to be repeated year after year for centuries, where would be the triumph? Where would we see the infinite value of the sacrifice of the Son of God? It would vanish in the shamefulness of a yearly suffering and death. 

There was shame in the cross, but it was triumphant shame. “[Jesus despised] the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

This is the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). I pray that no matter how dirty or unholy with sin you are, you will see the light of this glory and believe.

THE PRAYER GOD WONT HEAR!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2024.

SUBJECT : THE PRAYER GOD WONT HEAR!

Memory verse: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear." (Psalm 66 vs 18.)

READ: Isaiah 59 vs 1 - 3:

59:1: Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy; that it cannot hear.

59:2: But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.

59:3: For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. 

INTIMATION:

Iniquity is sin, implying the perversion of heart and wickedness of purpose. Sin is defined as a moral offense or shortcoming. It is a rebellion against God's laws, a perversion of heart. Sin is a reproach to any people as well as to God. It offends our Holy God and separates us from Him. Because God is holy He cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it didn't matter, therefore, sin cuts people off from Him, forming a wall to isolate God from the people He loves. Our sins makes God angry and forces Him to look the other way. 

When we are involved in iniquity or sin, we build a wall of separation between us and God. The Scripture says of God, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness...” (Habakkuk 1 vs 13.) When we are involved in sinful and wicked deeds, we cause our separation from the Holy God, and our prayers are not heard by Him. These are times when we bear loads of grudges, resentment, envy, hatred, anger, un-forgivenesses , and like emotions. The loads of such emotions are very heavy and costly to our relationship with God, because they are iniquities before Him whose eyes cannot behold iniquity.

Our confession of sin must be continual because we continue to do wrong. But true confession requires us to listen to God and want to stop doing what is wrong. We may not be able to remember every sin we have ever committed, but our attitude should be one of confession and obedience. Though we may have been dragged into such emotions by wrongdoing to us by another, but these emotions hurt us more than they hurt the one who has wronged us. This is because, if our faith is strong and our prayer is persistent, there is only one thing that can stand in the way of answered prayer—getting what you say—and it is un-repented sin. What a terrible condition for a Christian to be in, to be unable to talk to God! 

When we understand what our resentment does to us, we see how much better it is for us to allow our enemies to get away with their cruelty, even murder, and forgive them, rather than hold a grudge and cut ourselves off from God. God knows the heart of our enemy, and repays accordingly without needing any helps from us. The Bible tells us that vengeance is God's business not ours: "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12 vs 19). God takes vengeance on our enemies because He is just, and because He loves us.

An unforgiving spirit is so destructive that we are warned that when God does take vengeance on our enemies, we ought not be happy that He did; "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him" (Proverbs 24 vs 17 - 18). 

Once you understand the destructiveness of "getting even," you will be able to ask God to keep you from resentment in all its forms. In Matthew 5 vs 39 Jesus commanded us, "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." Jesus is suggesting that our response to injustice should not be demanding our right, but to give it up freely! According to Him it is more important to give justice and mercy than to receive it.

Jesus said in Mark 11 vs 25; "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." Only in so doing that you receive what you ask in prayers.

When you study the exploits of the apostle Paul and Barnabas in Antioch in Acts 13 where they preached and taught, you will appreciate how the two steadfast and spirit-filled servants of God handled the resentment of Jews against them. They preached and the Gentiles heard and were glad and glorified God, and all those who believed received the Spirit and were ordained to eternal life. The Jews, however, incited the devout men and women against the apostle Paul and Barnabas and drove them from the city. They left, and they were filled with joy in the Holy Spirit, and never had any desire for retaliation. The Spirit-filled life doesn't seek revenge but joyously reflects the presence of God within.

Prayer: Abba Father, keep me from resentment of all forms. Cleanse me from secret faults, and keep me from presumptuous sins that they may not have dominion over me. Endue me with the spirit of forgiveness that I may forgive all that offend me and stand blameless before You, in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Only Conscience-Cleanser

 The Only Conscience-Cleanser

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

Here we are in the modern age — the age of the Internet, smartphones, space travel, and heart transplants — and our problem is fundamentally the same as always: Our consciences condemn us and make us feel unacceptable to God. We are alienated from God. And our consciences bear witness.

We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to charity, or serve in a soup kitchen, or a hundred forms of penance or self-injury, and the result will be the same: The stain remains and death terrifies. 

We know that our conscience is defiled — not with external things like touching a corpse, a dirty diaper, or a piece of pork. Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15–23). We are defiled by attitudes like pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear. 

The only answer in this modern age, as in every other age, is the blood of Christ. When your conscience rises up and condemns you, where will you turn? Hebrews 9:14 gives you the answer: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” 

The answer is: Turn to the blood of Christ. Turn to the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give you relief in life, and peace in death.

The Root of Ingratitude

 The Root of Ingratitude

Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

When gratitude springs up in the human heart toward God, he is magnified as the wealthy source of our blessing. He is acknowledged as giver and benefactor and therefore as glorious.

But when gratitude does not spring up in our hearts at God’s great goodness to us, it probably means that we don’t want to pay him a compliment; we don’t want to magnify him as our benefactor.

And there is a very good reason that human beings by nature do not want to magnify God with thanksgiving or glorify him as their benefactor. The reason is that it detracts from our own glory, and all people by nature love their own glory more than the glory of God.

At the root of all ingratitude is the love of one’s own greatness. For genuine gratitude admits that we are beneficiaries of an unearned bequest. We are cripples leaning on the cross-shaped crutch of Jesus Christ. We are paralytics living minute by minute in the iron lung of God’s mercy. We are children asleep in heaven’s stroller.

The natural person, apart from saving grace, hates to think of himself in these images: unworthy beneficiary, cripple, paralytic, child. They rob him of his glory by giving it all to God. 

Therefore, while a man loves his own glory, and prizes his self-sufficiency, and hates to think of himself as sin-sick and helpless, he will never feel genuine gratitude to the true God and so will never magnify God as he ought, but only himself.

Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). 

Jesus did not come to minister to those who insist they are well. He demands something great: that we admit we are not great. This is bad news to the arrogant, but words of honey to those who have given up their charade of self-sufficiency and are seeking God.

BE JOYFUL ALWAYS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2024.

SUBJECT: BE JOYFUL ALWAYS!

Memory verse: "Rejoice always.” (First Thessalonians 5 vs 26.)

READ: Philippians 4 vs 4; First Peter 1 vs 6 - 9:

Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always!Again I will say, rejoice.

First Peter 1:6: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,

First Peter 1:7: that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

First Peter 1:8: whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

First Peter 1:9: receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls. 

INTIMATION:

The demeanor of Christian life-style is one of being joyful always. If a Christian has a cantankerous demeanor, he must repent. One result of the joyful life is gentleness or forbearance toward others. Every Christian should have a reputation for being a patient and longsuffering person toward the faults and weaknesses of others. If one is forbearing, then his or her joy will not be stolen away by his or her own impatience with others. 

Pessimistic and fatalistic attitudes should not be the characteristics of the followers of Jesus. The transformed mind must change from such negative attitudes of life, even in times of trials. They should endure trials knowing that all things are working together for good for those who love God.

When things are going well, we feel elated. When hardships come, we sink into depression. But true joy transcends the rolling waves of circumstance. Joy comes from a consistent relationship with Jesus Christ. When our lives are intertwined with His, He will help us walk through adversity without sinking into debilitating lows and manage prosperity without moving into deceptive highs. The joy of living with Jesus Christ daily will keep you levelheaded, no matter how high or low your circumstance.

Joy is a common theme in Christ’s teachings—He wants us to be joyful. The key to immeasurable joy is living in intimate relationship with Christ, the source of all joy. When we do, we will experience God’s special care and protection and see the victory God brings even when defeat seems certain. Ultimate joy comes from Christ dwelling within us. Christ is near, and at His second coming we will fully realize this ultimate joy. He who lives within us will fulfill His final purpose for us.

True joy is far deeper than happiness; we can feel joy in spite of our deepest troubles. Happiness is temporary because it is based on external circumstances, but joy is lasting because it is based in God’s presence within us. As we contemplate His daily presence, we will find contentment. As we understand the future He has for us, we will experience joy. Don’t base your life on circumstances, but on God who controls circumstances. To find hope and joy, the deepest form of happiness, follow Jesus no matter what the cost. To be blessed by God means the experience of hope and joy, independent of outward circumstances. 

In our anchor Scripture the apostle Paul was encouraging the believers in Thessalonica to be joyful. It seems strange that a man in prison would be telling a church to rejoice. But Paul’s attitude teaches us an important lesson: Our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outward circumstances. The apostle Paul was full of joy because he knew that no matter what happened to him, Jesus was with him. 

Several times in his letter the apostle Paul urged the Philippians to be joyful, probably because they needed to hear this, being convinced that in Christ all things work together for the good of the believer. It’s easy to get discouraged about unpleasant circumstances or to take unimportant events seriously. If you haven’t been joyful lately, you may not be looking at life from the right perspective.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your thought for me is of good not of evil. I am persuaded that all things are working together for my good because of my love for, and trust in You. Give me the grace to remain thankful and joyful in You, for all circumstances are under Your control, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!