Lonely Dirt Road"

 Lonely Dirt Road" 

Christmas Is for Freedom

 Christmas Is for Freedom

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14–15)

Jesus became man because what was needed was the death of a man who was more than man. The incarnation was God’s locking himself into death row.

Christ did not risk death. He chose death. He embraced it. That is precisely why he came: “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

No wonder Satan tried to turn Jesus from the cross — in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11) and in the mouth of Peter (Matthew 16:21–23)! The cross was Satan’s destruction. How did Jesus destroy him?

Hebrews 2:14 says that Satan has “the power of death.” That means Satan has the ability to make death fearful. “The power of death” is the power that holds men in bondage through fear of death. It is the power to keep men in sin so that death comes as a dreadful thing.

But Jesus stripped Satan of this power. He disarmed him. He molded a breastplate of righteousness for us that makes us immune to the devil’s condemnation. How did he do this?

By his death, Jesus wiped away all our sins. And a person without sin cannot be condemned by Satan. Forgiven, we are finally indestructible. Satan’s plan was to destroy God’s rule by condemning God’s followers in God’s own courtroom. But now, in Christ, there is no condemnation. Satan’s treason is aborted. His cosmic treachery is foiled. “His rage we can endure, for, lo, his doom is sure.” The cross has run him through. And he will gasp his last before long. 

Christmas is for freedom. Freedom from the fear of death.

Jesus took our nature in Bethlehem, to die our death in Jerusalem — all that we might be fearless in our city today. Yes, fearless. Because if the biggest threat to my joy is gone, then why should I fret over the little ones? How can you say (really!), “Well, I’m not afraid to die but I’m afraid to lose my job”? No. No. Think!

If death (I said, death! — no pulse, cold, gone!) if death is no longer a fear, we’re free, really free. Free to take any risk under the sun for Christ and for love. No more enslavement to anxiety.

If the Son has set you free, you sha

ll be free, indeed!

WHAT WORSHIP TO GOD IS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY DECEMBER 19, 2024.

SUBJECT : WHAT WORSHIP TO GOD IS! 

Memory verse: ""But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."(John 4 vs 23.)

READ: Psalm 96 vs 1 - 9:

96:1: Oh sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth.

96:2: Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

96:3: Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all people.

96:4: For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.

96:5: For all the gods of the peoples are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

96:6: Honour and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

96:7: Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, give to the LORD glory and strength.

96:8: Give to the LORD the glory due to His name: bring an offering, and come into His courts.

96:9: Oh worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: tremble before Him, all the earth.

INTIMATION:

The worship of God is nowhere defined in Scripture. A consideration of the verbs that precede the object of worship shows that it is not confined to praise. Worship to the Lord is broadly regarded as the direct acknowledgment to God; of His nature, attributes, ways and claims, whether by the outgoing of the heart in praise and thanksgiving or by deed done in such accomplishment. Worship should occupy the core of our lives and not just a few minutes once a week. 

God alone is worthy of being worshipped because of who He is! We are to sincerely, willingly and joyfully come into God’s presence, not just going through the motions. We can worship at any time if we stay aware of God’s presence and guidance in all situations and if we maintain an attitude of serving Him. To truly develop the attitude of worship to God, you should build your life around the worship of God rather than making worship just another activity in a busy schedule. 

The first step toward meaningful worship is a desire to know God. If we thirst for Him, the Bible promises that He will provide for us and satisfy our needs. Confess your sins that might be hindering your fellowship to God. Then ask God to stir your heart, to instill within you an unquenchable thirst to know Him. Meditate upon how God has revealed Himself in the Bible, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you again. When you see God in a new way, of who really He is, worship will be your only fitting response.

When you follow a worship ritual but maintain a sinful lifestyle, it’s not true worship. It is religion without personal commitment to God. Attending church, taking communion, teaching church school, singing in choir and so forth, all are empty exercises unless we are truly doing them for God. It is good to do these activities, not because we ought to do them for the church, but because we want to do them for God. God's heart is not touched by tradition in worship, but by passion and commitment of the worshiper.

When people claim to be close to God, but they are disobedient and merely going through the motions, such people come near to God with their mouth and honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. Their worship is only routine rather than real. It is noteworthy that we are all capable of hypocrisy. Often we slip into routine patterns when we worship and neglect to give God our love and devotion. 

It takes time to worship, and setting aside the time allows us to adjust our attitudes before and reflect afterward. The pressures of everyday life may cause us to focus on the here and now and thus forget God. True worship is so important; it takes our eyes off our current worries, gives us a glimpse of God’s holiness, and allows us to look toward His future kingdom. God desires wholehearted worship. We show our commitment when we give God something of value to Him. God’s presence makes everything glorious, and worship brings us into His presence. 

Worship is not for your benefit, but for the benefit of who you offer it to—the Lord. Whatever anybody does that brings glory, honor, and is pleasurable to God is worship. Every activity can be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory, honor, and pleasure of God. You may not like the way I dance in the church, but if I dance to bring glory, honor, and pleasure to God, it is true worship. 

Any act of worship that is intended to please oneself is worshiping for the wrong reason—to please yourself, rather than God. Worship isn't for you. It's for God. Of course, most "worship" services also include elements of fellowship, edification, exhortation, and evangelism, and these are benefits to worship, but we don't worship to please ourselves. Our motive it to bring glory and pleasure to our Creator.

For many people, worship is just synonymous with music, especially slow style of music. They say such things as, "In our church we have worship first, then teaching." Or, "First we sing hymns, then praise and worship songs." Or, "I like the fast praise songs but enjoy the slow worship songs the most." All these are misconceptions. Every act of bringing glory to God or every part of a church service, is an act of worship; praying, Scripture reading, singing, confession, silence, being still, listening to a sermon, taking notes, giving offering, baptism, communion, signing a commitment card, and even greeting other worshipers.

Worship has nothing to do with the style or volume or speed of a song. God loves all kinds of music because He invented it all; the fast, and slow, the loud and soft, old and new. You probably don't like it all, but God does! If it is offered to God in spirit and truth, it is an act of worship. There are no styles nor music notes in the Bible. 

Frankly, the music style you like best says more about you—your background and personality—than it does about God. One ethnic group's music can sound like noise to another. But God likes variety and enjoys it all. There are no such thing as Christian music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of true worship to You, that I may worship You acceptably. My utmost heart desire is that all I do in my life shall bring glory to Your name. Perfect Your strength in my weaknesses to enable accomplish this, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Christmas Model for Missions

The Christmas Model for Missions

“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18)

Christmas is a model for missions. Missions is a mirror of Christmas. As I, so you. 

For example, danger. Christ came to his own and his own received him not. So you also. They plotted against him. So you. He had no permanent home. So you. They trumped up false charges against him. So you. They whipped and mocked him. So you. He died after three years of ministry. So you.

But there is a worse danger than any of these which Jesus escaped. So you!!

In the mid-16th century the missionary Francis Xavier (1506–1552), wrote to Father Perez of Malacca (today part of Malaysia) about the perils of his mission to China. He said,

The danger of all dangers would be to lose trust and confidence in the mercy of God. . . . To distrust him would be a far more terrible thing than any physical evil which all the enemies of God put together could inflict on us, for without God’s permission neither the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us in the slightest degree.

The greatest danger a missionary faces is not death but to distrust the mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting.

In the end God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. Alexander says, “Each instant of present labor is to be graciously repaid with a million ages of glory.”

Christ escaped this danger — the danger of distrusting God. Therefore God has highly exalted him! As he, so you.

Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model for missions. As I, so you. And that mission means danger. And the greatest danger is distrusting God’s mercy. Succumb to this and all is lost. Conquer here and nothing can harm you for a million ages.

ASK FOR YOUR DAILY NEED!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 18, 2024.

SUBJECT: ASK FOR YOUR DAILY NEED!

Memory verse: "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6 vs 11.)

READ: Exodus 16 vs 11 - 21:

16:11: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

16:12: “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’’

16:13: So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all round the camp.

16:14: And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

16:15: So when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “What is it?” For they do not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”

16:16: This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, “Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; ‘let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”

16:17: Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less.

16:18: So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.

16:19: And Moses said, “Let no man leave any of it till morning.”

16:20: Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

INTIMATION:

God relates with us on a "day by day" basis, hence His telling us to ask for our daily needs. In the Scriptures, God speaks on 'our days,' not 'our years.' "Our days" is used in the Bible over 85 times, but "our years" is only used or referred to about 5 times. “The years” is often used in reference to God. For instance, the psalmist in Psalm 102 vs 24 says, "I said, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; Your years are throughout all generations."

God's provisioning is daily, not all at once. The reason God wants us to ask for our daily needs is because of our tendency to relegate God to the background if He allows us to have all our needs in one go. He is always testing us on a daily basis. This daily testing is necessarily because of His love and care for us; that we don't fall away from faith and trust in Him if He overloads us. By daily provisioning God is only helping us to remain focused on Him, not that He is miserly or that His hands are shortened that He cannot bless us exceedingly. 

Asking for your daily need puts you in the Will of God, and He will oblige you with the need because He has already promised to meet our needs already known to Him. There is the likelihood that if we are allowed to store up His blessings, we might cut off communication with God. Therefore, we ought not to be self-satisfied. God is our “Source,” and we must remain connected to the “Source.” God wants us to completely depend on Him in everything. Depending on the provisions God has given us is idolatry, and He forbids that amongst His children.

In the passage we read today, the children of Israel in the wilderness had their daily supply of their needs: "Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." (Exodus 16 vs 4 - 5.) God never allowed them to be self-satisfied and forget their source.

Even when Jesus thought His disciples how to pray, He said they should ask for their daily need, as stated in our memory verse. When we ask in prayer for our daily need, we are acknowledging that God is our Sustainer and Provider. It is a misconception to think that we provide for our needs ourselves. We must trust God for our daily needs. 

The Scripture in Proverbs 30 vs 8 - 9 says, "Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches - Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You. And say, "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God." Solomon recognizes the attributes of man; in plenty man is likely to deny God, and in lack man will do anything to survive, including stealing which will eventually profane God's name. Hence the reason God wants to daily provide for us—dealing with us on a day-by-day basis.

There is the likelihood that our possessions will take our concentration and dependence on God because we are not in need of anything hence will remember less of God. It was for this reason that Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19 vs 23 - 24.) Our life is more likely to be effective if we have neither poverty nor riches, hence God's wisdom to deal with us day-by-day, so that we can rely on Him for the strength in all things.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my Source of all things. You made the heavens, the earth, and all therein. By Your Word all things bond together. Cause me not to put my trust on Your gifts to me but rather on You the Giver for by You all things consist, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

I’m 

Prayer Against Evil Adversaries

 Prayer Against Evil Adversaries

Today we're praying against evil adversaries blocking our progress and destiny. May God destroy every evil adversaries in our lives in Jesus Name🙏🙏🙏

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Hebrews 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

1 Corinthians 16:9 For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.

Deuteronomy 32:43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

PRAYER POINTS

1 - Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; let your kingdom be established in every area of my life.

2.- All evil seeds, planted by fear into my life, be uprooted in the name of Jesus.

3.  - O Lord, wake me up from any form of spiritual sleep, in the mighty name of Jesus.

4.  - I refuse to wage war against myself, in the name of Jesus.

5.  - I refuse to be spiritually amputated, in the name of Jesus.

6.  - In the name of Jesus, I call on the heavenly surgeon to perform surgical operations, where necessary in my life.

7.  - I revoke any conscious, or unconscious covenant, with the spirit of death in the name of Jesus.

8.  - I withdraw all the bullets and ammunition, made available to the enemy against me, in the name of Jesus.

9.  - I bind all evil remote control spirits, in the name of Jesus.

10.  - O Lord, make my life invisible to demonic observers.

11.  - I disarm any power that has made a covenant with the ground, water and wind about me in the name of Jesus.

12.  - I bind every spirit, working against answers to my prayers, in the name of Jesus.

13.  - Let the healing power of the Holy Spirit, overshadow me.

14.  - Let every evil device against me be disappointed in Jesus Name.

15.  - Lord, reschedule my enemies to useless and harmless assignments.

16.  - I destroy the clock and the time-table, of the enemy for my life in the name of Jesus.

17.  - I cancel evil vows, that are affecting me negatively, in the name of Jesus

18.  - I command every satanic reinforcement against me, to scatter in the name of Jesus.

19.  - Let every problem connected to polygamy, In my life, be nullified in Jesus Name.

20.  - Let all evil associations, summoned for my sake be scattered, in the name of Jesus.

The Greatest Salvation Imaginable

 The Greatest Salvation Imaginable

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah . . . ” (Jeremiah 31:31)

God is just and holy and separated from sinners like us. This is our main problem at Christmas — and every other season. How shall we get right with a just and holy God?

Nevertheless, God is merciful and has promised in Jeremiah 31 (five hundred years before Christ) that someday he would do something new. He would replace shadows with the Reality of the Messiah. And he would powerfully move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained from outside, but are willing from inside, to love him and trust him and follow him.

That would be the greatest salvation imaginable — if God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to enjoy and then move in us to know that Reality in such a way that we could enjoy it with the greatest freedom and the greatest pleasure possible. That would be a Christmas gift worth singing about.

That is, in fact, what he promised in the new covenant. But there was a huge obstacle. Our sin. Our separation from God because of our unrighteousness.

How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the universe (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest possible joy? 

The answer is that God put our sins on his Son, and judged them there, so that he could put them out of his mind, and deal with us mercifully and remain just and holy at the same time. Hebrews 9:28 says Christ was “offered once to bear the sins of many.”

Christ bore our sins in his own body when he died (1 Peter 2:24). He took our judgment (Romans 8:3). He canceled our guilt (Romans 8:1). And that means our sins are gone (Acts 10:43). They do not remain in God’s mind as a basis for condemnation. In that sense, he “forgets” them (Jeremiah 31:34). They are consumed in the death of Christ.

Which means that God is now free, in his justice, to lavish us with all the unspeakably great new covenant promises. He gives us Christ, the greatest Reality in the universe, for our enjoyment. And he writes his own will — his own heart — on our hearts so that we can love Christ and trust Christ and follow Christ from the inside out, with freedom and joy.