ASK FOR YOUR DAILY NEED!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY JUNE 17, 2025.

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 Him 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 away 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. Cause me not to put my trust on the gifts, instead of putting my trust on the Giver. Daily will I come to You for my needs, trusting in that never fails, believing You provide as You’ve ever done, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Serve God with Your Thirst

 Serve God with Your Thirst

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:9)

What if you discovered (like the Pharisees did) that you had devoted your whole life to trying to please God, but all the while had been doing things that in God’s sight were abominations (Luke 16:14–15)? 

Someone may question this and say, “I don’t think that’s possible; God wouldn’t reject a person who has been trying to please him.” But do you see what this questioner has done? He has based his conviction about what would please God on his idea of what God is like. That is precisely why we must begin with the character of God revealed in Scripture.

God is a mountain spring, not a watering trough. A mountain spring is self-replenishing. It constantly overflows and supplies others. But a watering trough needs to be filled with a pump or bucket. So, the great question is: How do you serve a spring? And: How do you serve a watering trough? How do you glorify God the way he really is?

If you want to glorify the worth of a watering trough, you work hard to keep it full and useful. But if you want to glorify the worth of a spring, you do it by getting down on your hands and knees and drinking to your heart’s satisfaction, until you have the refreshment and strength to go back down in the valley and tell the people what you’ve found.

My hope as a desperate sinner hangs on this biblical truth: that God is the kind of God who will be pleased with the one thing I have to offer: my thirst. That’s why the sovereign freedom and self-sufficiency of God are so precious to me: they are the foundation of my hope that God is delighted not by the resourcefulness of bucket brigades, but by the bending down of broken sinners to drink at the fountain of grace.

By all means we should seek to please God, now and forever. But woe to us if our whole life proves to be based on a false view of what pleases God. The Lord is pleased not by those who treat him as a needy watering trough, but as an inexhaustible, all-satisfying spring. As Psalm 147:11 says, “The Lord takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

PROVIDENTIAL WORK OF GOD FOR US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JUNE 16, 2025.

SUBJECT: PROVIDENTIAL WORK OF GOD FOR US!

Memory verse: "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place; but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4 vs 14. )

READ: Esther 3 vs 8 - 14:

3:8: Then Haman said to king Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to them remain.

3:9 If it please the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the king's treasuries.”

3:10 So the king took his signet  ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

3:11 And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, do with them as it seems good to you.

3:12 Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and  a decree was written according to all that Haman had commanded— to the king's satraps, to the governors who were over every province, according to the officials of every people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of king Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king's signet ring.

3:13 And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions..

INTIMATION:

Providence is foresight; care; especially, the foresight and care which God manifests for His creatures; hence, God Himself, regarded as exercising a constant wise prescience. It is a manifestation of the care and superintendence which God exercises over His creatures; an event ordained by divine direction. It is noteworthy that God is constantly behind the scenes working for the good of His people—His children who believe in Him.

Probably there is no book, in the entire Bible that portrays the providential work of God in the lives of His people more than the Book of Esther. When considering the plan of God to bring the Mesiah into the world, the Book of Esther gives a vital historical view of how God providentially preserved the returned exiles in order that they be the foundation upon which He fulfilled His promises to the seed of Abraham. The key figures—Mordecai and Esther—were of the God’s chosen race, the Jews. Ironically God or His name wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the Book of Esther, 

Though there is no mention of God in the book, the lives of Mordecai and Esther exemplify the lives of people who are committed to God and His purposes. When the skeptic would consider coincidences in the lives of these two characters of the book, the believer stands in wonder at how God worked all things together for the good of His people. The book shows how God worked in the events surrounding His people in order that they survive to bring about His purpose for their existence. 

Mordecai’s family was deported to Babylonian empire. He was probably born in Shushan, a city that became one of Persia’s capitals after Cyrus conquered Babylon. Mordecai then inherited an official position among the Jewish captives that kept him around the palace even after the Babylonians were driven out. At one time, when Mordecai overheard plans to assassinate King Ahasuerus, he reported the plot and saved his life.

Mordecai was in conflict with the king’s second in command, Haman. Although willing to serve the king, Mordecai refused to worship the king’s representative. Haman was furious with Mordecai . So he planned to have Mordecai and all the Jews killed. His plan became a law of the Medes and Persians, and it looked as though the Jews were doomed. 

Esther was a Jewish orphan girl who eventually became the queen of Persia. She was brought up in Shushan by her uncle, Mordecai. Esther’s beauty and character won Ahasuerus’ heart, and he made her queen. At the instruction of her uncle, Mordecai, Esther didn’t disclose her whole identity even in the position of the queen of Medes and Persia. 

Mordecai, willing to be God’s servant wherever he was, responded by contacting Esther, and telling her that one reason God had allowed her to be queen might well be to save her people from this threat. But God had also placed him in the right place years earlier. In Mordecai’s life, God blended character and circumstances to accomplish great things. He has not changed the way He works. God is using the situations you face each day to weave a pattern of godliness into your character. 

God was working behind the scenes. God denied the king sleep, and consequently revealed to the king through his nighttime reading of historical documents that Mordecai had once saved his life, and the king realized he had never thanked him. Ahasuerus lost no time in honoring Mordecai for that act. The great honor then given to Mordecai ruined Haman’s plan to impale him to a pole. God had woven an effective counter-strategy against which Haman’s plan could not stand. There is grim justice in Haman’s death on the pole he had built for Mordecai, and it seems fitting that the day on which the Jews were to be slaughtered became the day their enemies died. 

God presumably made Haman to introduce the Jews to the king as ”a certain people.” The king was greatly infuriated when he learned that Haman’s  plan would have caused the death of the queen after Esther disclosed she was among the people he was to kill. All these things were working together for the good of God’s people, and for His purpose of preserving a remnant of the seed of Abraham through which the Messiah will come, so that His promise would be fulfilled.

As a child of God, always know that God is providentially working behind the scenes for your good, the circumstances you found yourself notwithstanding. Again, God has not placed you in your present position for your own benefit. He put you there to serve Him. As in Esther’s case, this may involve risking your security. Are you willing to let God be your ultimate security?

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my refuge and my fortress. Surely You will deliver me from hidden traps, shield me from deadly hazards, I will not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day, nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at t my side, and ten thousand at my right hand; but it will not come near me. Only with my eyes will I see the reward of the wicked, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Honeymoon That Never Ends

 The Honeymoon That Never Ends

As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5)

When God does good to his people, it is not so much like a reluctant judge showing kindness to a criminal whom he finds despicable. It is like a bridegroom showing affection to his bride. 

Sometimes we joke and say about a marriage, “The honeymoon is over.” But that’s because we are finite. We can’t sustain a honeymoon level of intensity and affection. But God says that his joy over his people is like a bridegroom over a bride. And he doesn’t mean it starts out that way and then fades.

He is talking about honeymoon intensity and honeymoon pleasures and honeymoon energy and excitement and enthusiasm and enjoyment. He is trying to get into our hearts what he means when he says he rejoices over us with all his heart. Jeremiah 32:41, “I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.” Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

With God the honeymoon never ends. He is infinite in power and wisdom and creativity so that there will be no boredom for the next trillion ages of millenniums.

WHAT TRUE WEALTH IS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY JUNE 15, 2025.

SUBJECT: WHAT TRUE WEALTH IS!

Memory verse: "Because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and Its flower falls away." (First Peter 1 vs 24.)

READ: James 1 vs 9 - 11:

1:9: Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,

1:10: but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he shall pass away.

1:11: For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

INTIMATION:

Wealth is large possessions; a comparative abundance of things which are objects of human desire; especially abundance of worldly estate; affluence; opulence; riches. They have economic utility, a monetary value or an exchange value. However, wealth is designated as “true wealth” when it is of lasting value that endures to eternity. We find “true wealth” by developing our spiritual life, rather than accumulation material possessions and financial assets. God is interested in what is lasting (our souls), not in what is temporary (our money and possessions).

Everything in this life—possessions, accomplishments, people—will eventually fade away and disappear. Only God’s will, Word, and work are permanent. We must stop grasping the temporary and begin focusing our time, money, and energy on the permanent: the Word of God and our eternal life in Christ.

True wealth, according to Biblical injunctions, is more of a spiritual undertaking than anything material. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible’s view of heavenly wealth remains constant. Christ in several analogies spoke about the vanity and banality of material possessions; about the stupidity in putting ones faith in such perishable items that cannot stand the test of time; about the foolishness in chasing after transient things that will not guarantee us a future of limitless enjoyment which is eternity with Christ.

It is noteworthy that the “Ten Commandments” of God are all relationship based; the first four on relationship with God, and the last six on relationship with one another. Nothing in the commandments has anything to do with material possessions, hence wealth, power, and status mean nothing to God. Therefore, “true wealth” is achieved by our relationship with God and one another.

We   can’t take anything with you when you die.

No one can bring material wealth into eternity. Heaven and hell don’t have banks or parking garages. Money and belongings aren’t any good to someone six feet under. What you have won’t change your circumstances when you die. No amount of possessions gives us a better or worse position after life. Jesus warned us about this when He said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal ...” (Matthew 6 vs 19 - 20).

There’s nothing inherently wrong with wealth. God is the one who generously gives people success with resources and money (Ecclesiastes 5 vs 19). But when we become more concerned about the gifts rather than the giver, possessions become toxic and pointless (Ecclesiastes 5 vs 10). Obsession with wealth ruins our relationship with God and with other people. God cares more about the condition of our hearts than the condition of our wallets. 

There must be a difference between our possessions and what is valuable in God’s economy. Our time on Earth is temporary, and we’re all headed to eternity to somewhere. We can make the most of everything now and prepare for an eternity with God later by listening to Jesus and doing what He says.

What is valuable both now and in eternity is what God cares about: treating people right, forgiveness and loyalty (Matthew 23 vs 23; Micah 6 vs 8). We’re meant to use possessions and love people, not love possessions and use people. Our eternal perspective affects our earthly priorities. We can choose to focus our lives on temporary wealth, but God offers us treasure that lasts forever—true wealth: a relationship with Him that begins here and continues for eternity in heaven. What will we benefit if we give up on what really matters to get a few more possessions? Nothing is worth more than knowing Jesus.

With true wealth and eternity in mind, therefore, strive to treat each person as Christ would treat him or her. Don’t become arrogant. Work hard and become successful in life but don’t think of yourself as better than others because of your material wealth. In Deuteronomy 8 vs 18 Moses reminds us, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”

Don’t put your hope in your wealth. Proverbs 23 vs 5 says, “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” A good job or business and its steady earnings can be here today and gone tomorrow.

Be rich in good deeds. A good deed is a free and voluntary act of service toward another person. Doing good deeds for others is the fruit of your salvation in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 vs 10 tells us: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”

Be generous and willing to share. Generous people are synergistic. They build organizations and contribute to the success of others. Think about it: who wants to do business with someone who only takes?

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of obsession for true wealth, for it lies the glory of God. Give me the grace to love You and my neighbor, with all my heart, mind, and soul, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

How Much God Wants to Bless You

 How Much God Wants to Bless You

“The Lord will again take delight in prospering you.” (Deuteronomy 30:9)

God does not bless us begrudgingly. There is a kind of eagerness about the beneficence of God. He does not wait for us to come to him. He seeks us out, because it is his pleasure to do us good. God is not waiting for us; he is pursuing us. That, in fact, is the literal translation of Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.”

God loves to show mercy. Let me say it again. God loves to show mercy. He is not hesitant or indecisive or tentative in his desires to do good to his people. His anger must be released by a stiff safety lock, but his mercy has a hair trigger. That’s what he meant when he came down on Mount Sinai and said to Moses, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Exodus 34:6). It’s what he meant when he said in Jeremiah 9:24, “I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” 

God is never irritable or edgy. His anger never has a short fuse. Instead he is infinitely energetic with absolutely unbounded and unending enthusiasm for the fulfillment of his delights.

This is hard for us to comprehend, because we have to sleep every day just to cope, not to mention thrive. Our emotions go up and down. We get bored and discouraged one day and feel hopeful and excited another. 

We are like little geysers that gurgle and sputter and pop erratically. But God is like a great Niagara Falls — you look at 186,000 tons of water crashing over the precipice every minute, and think: Surely this can’t keep going at this force year after year after year. Yet it does.

That’s the way God is about doing us good. He never grows weary of it. It never gets boring to him. The Niagara of his grace has no end.

PRAY WITH TOTAL SINCERITY OF HEART!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JUNE 14, 2025.

SUBJECT: PRAY WITH TOTAL SINCERITY OF HEART! 

Memory verse: "But Hannah answered and said, “No , my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD." (First Samuel 1 vs 15.)

READ: First Samuel 1 vs 10 - 16:

1:10: And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish.

1:11: Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.

1:12 And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth.

1:13 Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.

1:14 And Eli said to her, How long wilt you be drunk? put away your wine from you.

1:15: But Hannah answered and said, “No , my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 

1:16: Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.

INTIMATION:

Knowing that God is an all-knowing God, go to Him in prayers with total sincerity of heart, and frankness in all intents and purposes. Don't keep anything back. Don't ask for what you really don't want, or promise to do something you can't or won't do. Remember He already knows your heart. 

In the passage we read today, the Scripture tells us the story of Hannah. She had no child for her husband who really loved her. She was greatly discouraged and bitter because the husband's other wife had children and ridiculed her. Her loving husband could not solve her problem. She then turned in prayer to the Provider of solutions to all problems. 

Eventually, Hannah discovered that an honest and fervent prayer opens the way for God to work. Hannah made a vow in return for having a mail child, to dedicate him to God for a lifetime service. God gave her a son named Samuel. She lived up to her promise, and God even blessed her with five more children excluding Samuel. 

Each of us may face times of barrenness, when nothing seems to work in our lives, service, or even relationships. It is difficult to pray in faith when we feel so ineffective, but Hannah did. We should always be careful what we promise in prayer because God may take you up on it. Hannah so desperately wanted a child that she was willing to strike a bargain with God. God took her up on her promise, and to her credit, she did her part, even though it might have been painful.

Although, we are not in a position to barter with God, He may still choose to answer a prayer that has an attached promise. When you pray, ask yourself, 'Will I follow through on any promises I make to God if He grants my request?' It is dishonest and dangerous to ignore a promise, especially to God. God keeps His promises, and He expects you to keep yours. The antidote to discouragement is telling God honestly of your problem, how you feel, and then leave your problems with Him.

God created you and knows you. All you are passing through, and the circumstances surrounding you in life are all known to Him, hence He is called “the All Knowing God.” If you, for a fact, knows that He knows all things (First John 3 vs 20), why present yourself in prayers with partial sincerity. God hates lie (Proverbs 6 vs 17), and liars are of the devil—the father of it (John 8 vs 44). Prayers without complete sincerity is a sin, and an abomination before God. God desires we worship Him in truth (John 4 vs 23 -24), and prayer is a form of worship.

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to worship You in truth and in spirit. and pray to You in complete frankness, for You already knows my thoughts even before I say them. Give me the grace to always commune with You in all sincerity of heart, not keeping anything about me away from You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!