God’s Indescribable Gift

 God’s Indescribable Gift

If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10–11)

How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in God? We do it through Jesus Christ. Which means, at least, that we make the portrait of Jesus in the Bible — that is, the work and the words of Jesus portrayed in the New Testament — we make that portrait the essential content of our exultation over God. Exulting in God without the content of Christ does not honor Christ. And where Christ is not honored, God is not honored.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, Paul describes conversion in two ways. In verse 4, he says it is seeing “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And in verse 6, he says it is seeing “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In either case you see the point. We have Christ, the image of God, and we have God in the face of Christ.

To exult in God, we exult in what we see and know of God in the portrait of Jesus Christ. And this comes to its fullest experience when the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as Romans 5:5 says. And that sweet, Spirit-given experience of the love of God is mediated to us as we ponder the historical reality of verse 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

So here’s the Christmas point. Not only did God purchase our reconciliation through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:10), and not only did God enable us to receive that reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ, but even now we exult in God himself, by the Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:11).

Jesus purchased our reconciliation. Jesus enabled us to receive reconciliation and open the gift. And Jesus himself shines forth as himself the indescribable gift — God in the flesh — and stirs up all our exultation in God.

Look to Jesus this Christmas. Receive the reconciliation that he purchased. Don’t put the gift on the shelf unopened. And when you open it, remember God himself is the gift of reconciliation with God.

Exult in him. Experience him as your pleasure. Know him as y

our treasure.

Trust Your Wings by Bishop TD Jakes

TRUST YOUR WINGS BY BISHOP TD JAKES

That You May Believe

 That You May Believe

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31)

I feel so strongly that among those of us who have grown up in church and who can recite the great doctrines of our faith in our sleep, and yet who can yawn through the Apostles’ Creed — that among us something must be done to help us once more feel the awe, the fear, the astonishment, the wonder of the Son of God, begotten by the Father from all eternity, reflecting all the glory of God, being the very image of his person, through whom all things were created, upholding the universe by the word of his power.

You can read every fairy tale that was ever written, every mystery thriller, every ghost story, and you will never find anything so shocking, so strange, so weird and spellbinding as the story of the incarnation of the Son of God.

How dead we are! How callous and unfeeling to your glory and your story, O God! How often have I had to repent and say, “God, I am sorry that the stories men have made up stir my emotions, my awe and wonder and admiration and joy, more than your own true story.”

Perhaps the galactic movie thrillers of our day can do at least this good for us: they can humble us and bring us to repentance, by showing us that we really are capable of some of the wonder and awe and amazement that we so seldom feel when we contemplate the eternal God and the cosmic glory of Christ and a real living contact between them and us in Jesus of Nazareth.

When Jesus said, “For this purpose I have come into the world” (John 18:37), he said something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any statement in science fiction that you have ever read.

Oh, how I pray for a breaking forth of the Spirit of God upon me and upon you; for the Holy Spirit to break into my experience in a frightening way, to wake me up to the unimaginable reality of God.

One of these days lightning is going to fill the sky from the rising of the sun to its setting, and there is going to appear in the clouds the Son of Man with his mighty angels in flaming fire. And we will see him clearly. And whether from terror or sheer excitement, we will tremble and we will wonder how we ever lived so long with such a domesticated, harmless Christ.

These things are written — the whole Bible is written — that we might believe — that we might be stunned and awakened to the wonder — that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came 

into the world.

The Birth of the Ancient of Days

 The Birth of the Ancient of Days

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

This is a great Christmas text even though it comes from the very end of Jesus’s life on earth, not the beginning.

Notice: Jesus says not only that he was born, but that he “came into the world.” The uniqueness of his birth is that he did not originate at his birth. He existed before he was born in a manger. The personhood, the character, the personality of Jesus of Nazareth existed before the man Jesus of Nazareth was born.

The theological word to describe this mystery is not creation, but incarnation. The person, not the body, but the essential personhood of Jesus existed before he was born as man. His birth was not a coming into being of a new person, but a coming into the world of an infinitely old person.

Micah 5:2 puts it like this, 700 years before Jesus was born:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

The mystery of the birth of Jesus is not merely that he was born of a virgin. That miracle was intended by God to witness to an even greater one; namely, that the child born at Christmas was a person who existed “from of old, from ancient days.”

And, therefore, his birth was purposeful. Before he was born he thought about being born. Together with his Father there was a plan. And part of that great plan he spoke in the last hours of his life on earth: “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).

He was the eternal Truth. He spoke only the truth. He acted out the greatest truth of love. And he is gathering into his eternal family all those who are born of the truth. This was the plan fro

m ancient days.

THE NEED FOR NIGHT PRAYERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY DECEMBER 21, 2024.

SUBJECT: THE NEED FOR NIGHT PRAYERS! 

Memory verse: "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the LORD. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your young children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street.” (Lamentations 2 vs 19.)

READ: Matthew 13 vs 24 - 25:

13:24: Another parable He put forth to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, 

13:25: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.

INTIMATION:

Prayer is the greatest privilege and ministry available to all Christians. Indeed everyone who seeks to take his or her place in the kingdom of God should seek or learn how to pray effectively. Because prayer is, in itself, our fellowship with the Father, He awaits us to come to Him in prayers, and consequently welcomes us into fellowship with Him. Prayer is very essential for every Christian. It is noteworthy that our Master. Jesus, never taught His disciples how to preach but rather taught them how to pray. He said to His disciples "When you pray" and not "If you pray," therefore, He requires us to be in fellowship with the Father always.

Prayer is the key to constant maintenance of God’s grace in our lives. A disciplined prayer life entails going to God in prayers often, preferably three times a day; morning, afternoon and night. The psalmist in Psalm 55 vs 17 says: “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice" 

Praying in the night hours is considered the best timing as our prayers are usually interrupted during the day by the pressures of our daily schedule. In the night our concentration is highest, and our fellowship most effective. Night prayers arm us most effectively to overcome the overwhelming evils in the world. The evil doers usually perpetrate their evils in the night hours when most Christians are resting in their beds. 

In the passage we read today, Jesus told His followers a parable saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away......" (Matthew 13 vs 24 - 25.) "While men slept" the evil doers—men of the underworld—are up in their covens, in their shrines, to perpetrate evil under the cover of darkness. 

When you fellowship with the Lord in prayers in the night hours, you are in His presence; the place of maximum protection, and the glory of God expels any form of darkness around you. The prince of this world and his cohorts cannot operate in His presence; for ‘He disappoints their devices so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.’ (Job 5 vs 12.)

Jesus Christ, in His ministry on earth, has always gone up to the mountains in the night hours to pray—communing with the Father, and obtaining all the powers required for His exploits; charged up fully in the night hours of prayers in readiness for daily exploits. Then, in the day time, He only gives thanks to the Father who always hears Him in their communion in the night: "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6 vs 12.)

Jesus has always chosen the night to isolate Himself to pray to the Father. His concentration in His fellowship with the Father in the night hours is at its maximum. No distractions of any sorts. This practice of fellowshipping with the Father and our Messiah Jesus, in the night hours, is very essential for every Christian to win our battles against the devil and his cohorts. Our battles with them is not physical, but spiritual; "For though we walk in the flesh! we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down strongholds," (Second Corinthians 10 vs 3 - 4.) 

Praying at the end of the day (at night) is an opportunity to thank the Lord for the blessings He gives and protection He provided us to live another day. Finishing your day with prayer is a powerful way to let go of anxiety and find peace before falling asleep. Regardless of what you suffered in the day, talking to God through a night prayer will revive your faith and assist you to sleep in peace. 

Night prayers also help you review all the experiences during your day and the ways that God has been present with you. Bedtime is the perfect time of day to look back on your day and count your blessings. By praying at bedtime allows you to stop and think about all the things that happened to you during the day, and take those moments to feel the gratitude and appreciation for all the little moments.

To effectively war with the devil and his cohorts we are required to arm ourselves with the whole armor of God; “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6 vs 11 - 12.) It’s noteworthy that the whole armor of God is centered on prayer. And engaging in the spiritual warfare in prayers with the whole armor is most effective in the night hours when your concentration is at its peak and to intercept the the activities of the rulers of darkness of this world.

Prayer: Abba Father, in the night hours I will come to You in prayer with my whole heart and being to express my gratitude to You for all You did for me during the day, and commit to Your care my life against the activities of the rulers of darkness of this world. And I am persuaded that my petitions with sincerity of my whole heart will receive Your attention, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Christmas Solidarity

 Christmas Solidarity

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

The assembly line of Satan turns out millions of sins every day. He packs them into huge cargo planes and flies them to heaven and spreads them out before God and laughs and laughs and laughs.

Some people work full-time on the assembly line. Others have quit their jobs there and only now and then return.

Every minute of work on the assembly line makes God the laughingstock of Satan. Sin is Satan’s business because he hates the light and beauty and purity and glory of God. Nothing pleases him more than when creatures distrust and disobey their Maker.

Therefore, Christmas is good news for man and good news for God.

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). That’s good news for us.

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). That is also good news for God.

Christmas is good news for God because Jesus has come to lead a strike at Satan’s assembly plant. He has walked right into the plant, called for the Solidarity of the faithful, and begun a massive walkout.

Christmas is a call to go on strike at the assembly plant of sin. No negotiations with the management. No bargaining. Just single-minded, unswerving opposition to the product. We won’t be a part of making it anymore.

Christmas Solidarity aims to ground the cargo planes. It will not use force or violence, but with relentless devotion to Truth it will expose the life-destroying conditions of the devil’s industry.

Christmas Solidarity will not give up until a complete shutdown has been achieved.

When sin has been destroyed, God’s name will be wholly exonerated. No one will be laughing anymore.

If you want to give a gift to God this Christmas, walk off the assembly line of sin and don’t go back. Take up your place in the picket line of love. Join Christmas Solidarity until the majestic name of God is cleared, and he stands glorious amid the acco

lades of the righteous.

HOW TO ENSURE THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 20, 2024.

SUBJECT : HOW TO ENSURE THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY!

Memory verse: "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare." (First Timothy 1 vs 18.) 

READ: Second Peter 1 vs 19 - 21:

1:19: And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 

1:20: knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 

1:21: for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

INTIMATION:

In the Scriptures, prophecy signifies the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God. Every prophecy is God's plan unfolded through a human vessel. It is the forth-telling of the will of God, whether with reference to the past, the present, or the future, through the spoken or written word of God. It is also a prophetic prediction of the future. Though much of the Old Testament prophecy was purely predictive, (see Micah 5 vs 2), it is not necessarily, nor even primarily fore-telling. It is a declaration of that which cannot be known by natural means; it is the knowledge of the future (usually said to be obtained from a divine source), and uttered under divine inspiration.

In the passage we read today, the apostle Peter stated that, "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." What this means is that the Scriptures did not come from the creative work of the prophets' own invention or interpretation. God inspired the writers, so their message is authentic and reliable. God used the talents, education, and cultural background of each writer; and God cooperated with the writers in such a way to ensure that the message He intended was faithfully communicated in the very words they wrote.

So whatever God says to you through the Scriptures or through a human vessel (in prophecy) is His plan for you, and as far as He is concerned, it is settled. But what many Christians don't understand is that most prophecies don't get fulfilled without the application of certain kingdom forces.

You don't watch prophecies, you war with them, until they come into reality. In fact, a prophecy may look like falsehood or mockery, if you don't know what it takes to make it happen. There are oppositions that have set themselves to block your access into your promise land, so you must do something to make that prophecy a reality. 

To ensure the fulfillment of prophecy, you war with it, by going to God in prayers with the spoken word (the prophecy), reminding Him of His commitment to perform what He has spoken. Then you turn to the enemy and declare what is written concerning you, and that his activities are forbidden around you. 

God asks you to "Present your case, ...Bring forth your strong reasons." (Isaiah 41 vs 21.) Therefore, come before Him in prayers, reminding Him of what He said. He compels you to come and contend together with Him on what He said; stating your case appropriately before Him, that you may be acquitted, (See Isaiah 43 vs 26). Take His Word back to Him. God is faithful and He cannot deny Himself. He is committed to do anything He has said. 

For instance, in Deuteronomy 2 vs 24, God said to the children of Israel, "Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon. Look , I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, King of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it and engage him in battle." God had given the children of Israel the land, but the devil somewhere is saying, "No, you can't have it." God's instruction to them was, "Rise up! Don't sit there expecting it to drop into your laps! Begin to possess what is yours; challenge and fight any opposition to your possessing what is given to you. And because God has spoken and given to you, the battle is already won if you obey because the battle is of the Lord’s. This tells you that you don't wait for things to happen, you make them happen. 

God says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29 vs 11.) God has good thoughts and plans of a glorious future for us all. And He shows us how to bring them to pass: "Then you will call upon Me, and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29 vs 12 - 13.)

That means, "When you wait and you don't see the things I told you of, come and ask Me of them in prayers." It takes intercession and seeking the face of God to see the fulfillment of the great plans and visions He had told you about. God has set an expected end before you, but you must call upon Him and seek Him with all your heart if you want to enjoy it. Your seeking Him is an indication that you have faith in Him, and believes He can do what He has said.

The Scripture says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11 vs 6.) God assures us that all who honestly seek Him—who act in faith on the knowledge of God that they possess—will be rewarded.

Any Word of God or prophecy that you have received and believed will surely bring forth when you apply the relevant force or power of prayer to it. The Word is a seed (Luke 8 vs 11); but no matter how precious any seed may be, without planting the seed, it will never germinate, and without watering it when it is planted, it will die in the ground. Planting the seed of the Word is tantamount to believing the Word and exercising your faith in Him. Watering the planted seed is tantamount to applying the relevant prayer force or manure, as instructed by God, for effective reaping of the harvest resulting from the yield of the planted and nurtured seed.

Maybe you have sat down with that word too long. You can't keep on saying, "It will come to pass one day." Or keep saying, "Let the Will of God be done," nothing will happen without proper work. Rise up now and do what it takes to make it come to pass. Pray it down! May you never fail to obtain your promise from God in prophecy, in Jesus’ name. 

Prayer: Abba Father, forever Your Word is settled in heaven. Give me the grace to contend with You in prayers, that I may receive from You according to Your Word which You hasten to perform, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!