The All-Satisfying Object

 The All-Satisfying Object

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

The quest for pleasure is not even optional, but commanded (in the Psalms): “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

The psalmists sought to do just this: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1–2). “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

The motif of thirsting has its satisfying counterpart when the psalmist says that men “drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights” (Psalm 36:8 NASB).

I found that the goodness of God, the very foundation of worship, is not a thing you pay your respects to out of some kind of disinterested reverence. No, it is something to be enjoyed: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). Taste. Taste! And see.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).

As C.S. Lewis says, God in the Psalms is the “all-satisfying Object.” His people adore him unashamedly for the “exceeding joy” they find in him (Psalm 43:4). He is the source of complete and unending pleasure: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Every day in the Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2025.

SUBJECT: THE FORCE OF FAITH IN PRAYER!

Memory verse: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11 vs 6.)

READ: Hebrews 10 vs 19 - 23:

10:19: Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 

10:20: by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

10:21: and having a High Priest over the house of God,

10:22: let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

10:23: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

INTIMATION:

Building up your faith is a prerequisite for effectual communication with God. Faith is a potent force without which prayer will be absolutely unproductive. The Bible defines faith as "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11 vs 1.) You are holding in confidence the things you have asked in prayers, and perceiving as real facts what is not revealed to the senses. It is the ticket on which you take delivery of anything from heaven.

Your confidence in God must first be in place before you ask Him for anything, because though His Word presented before Him grants you audience in the Throne Room, your faith in Him and in His Word are what motivate Him to act on your behalf. Therefore, it is you, not God, who determines whether your prayer gets answered or not. Though ‘He is ready to perform His Word’ (Jeremiah 1 vs 12), He demands your faith that leads to a personal, dynamic relationship with Him.

You don't only approach God with His Word, you must come with an unwavering assurance that ‘He abides faithful and cannot deny Himself’ (Second Timothy 2 vs 13). Therefore, your approach to the Throne Room must be with unwavering faith. The apostle James, in James 1 vs 6 - 7 says, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord."

Once faith and trust in God is established, you can rest assured of results when you pray. You will not only believe in the existence of God, but also believe in His loving care. That is relying on God with full expectations that He will hear and answer when you pray.

In Matthew 9, two blind men prayed to Jesus for the restoration of their sight. Even though Jesus heard them, He did not heal them until He was assured of their faith in Him: "When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him. Yes, Lord. Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." And their eyes were opened...." (Matthew 9 vs 27 - 30.)

Jesus didn't respond immediately to the blind men's pleas. He waited to see if they had faith. They followed Him all through to the house, pleading with Him to heal them, and that shows believe and commitment. Not everyone who says he wants help really believes God can help him. Jesus may have waited and questioned these men to emphasize and increase their faith. When you think that God is too slow in answering your prayers, consider that He might be testing you as He did the blind men.

Jesus, by His death and offering of His blood in atonement for our sins, has made it possible for us to approach God in the Throne Room directly. We must come not halfheartedly or with improper motives or pretense, but with pure, individual, and sincere worship in faith. We can know that we have “a true heart” If we evaluate our thoughts and motives according to His Word. Christians can approach God boldly, free from our “evil conscience” and in full assurance because of the work Jesus Christ did for us in redemption.

Under the new covenant of accepting the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, our hearts and consciences are cleansed completely, not partially or temporarily, from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9 vs 14). Christ’s sacrifice transforms our lives and hearts and make us clean on the inside. Our clean conscience allow us to enter God’s presence with boldness. We have a personal access to God through Christ and can draw near to Him without an elaborate system, and growing in faith to deepen our relationship with God.

Prayer: Abba Father, my trust is in You who made heaven and earth. Forever You are my God and in You I live, and move, and have my being. Whatever You cannot give me, let me not have it. Whatever You cannot do for me, let it remain undone. My absolute faith is in You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Most Liberating Discovery

 The Most Liberating Discovery

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 3:1)

No one had ever taught me that God is glorified by our joy in him — that joy in God is the very thing that makes our praise an honor to God, and not hypocrisy.

But Jonathan Edwards said it so clearly and powerfully:

God glorifies himself towards the creatures also [in] two ways: (1) by appearing to . . . their understanding; (2) in communicating himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying the manifestations which he makes of himself. . . . God is glorified not only by his glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . . 

[W]hen those that see it delight in it: God is more glorified than if they only see it. . . . He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

This was a stunning discovery for me. I must pursue joy in God if I am to glorify him as the surpassingly valuable Reality in the universe. Joy is not a mere option alongside worship. It is an essential component of worship. Indeed the very essence of worship — being glad in the glories of God.

We have a name for those who speak their praises of God when they have no pleasure in what they praise. We call them hypocrites. Jesus said, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me’” (Matthew 15:7–8). This fact — that authentic praise means consummate pleasure and that the highest end of man is to drink deeply of this pleasure for God’s glory — was perhaps the most liberating discovery I have ever made.

Every day in the Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2025.

SUBJECT : IT IS ALL BY THE GRACE OF GOD.

Memory verse: "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (First Corinthians 15 vs 10.)

READ: Ephesians 1 vs 3 - 10:

1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,

1:4: just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

1:5: having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His Will,

1:6: to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

1:7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

1:8: which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

1:9: having made known to us the mystery of His Will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

1:10: that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 

INTIMATION:

The dictionary definition of grace is; beauty, kindness, good-will, mercy, reprieve, and pardon. God's grace objectively means, that which bestows or occasions pleasure, delight, or causes favorable regard on a person; that is beauty, kindness, good-will, mercy, reprieve, and pardon on a person. For instance, referencing Jesus the Bible says, “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.” (Luke 2 vs 40.) 

Then, subjectively on the part of God the bestower, it denotes the friendly disposition from which the kindly act proceeds; graciousness, loving-kindness, goodwill generally. For instance, the Bible states about Joseph, “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.” (Acts 7 vs 9 - 10.) 

Regarding the divine nature of God’s grace or favor, the Scriptures stress on its freeness and universality, its spontaneous character, as in the case of God’s redemptive mercy, and the pleasure or joy He designs for the recipient—a sense of favor and feeling of gratitude for the sum of earthly blessings. These blessings of God are freely, and undeservedly given to sinful humanity. 

God poured out the riches of His grace. Grace was sufficient to save us from sin and deliver us out of the condemnation that was brought on ourselves through sin. It was in the wisdom and understanding of God that His plan of grace was revealed to men. It was God’s initiative, not man’s work, that brought about the revelation of the plan of God’s grace through the cross.

God’s grace therefore, can be defined as the free, and unmerited power of God available to sinful humanity to meet our needs without any costs to us. it is received by believing rather than through any human efforts. 

The simple and uncomplicated nature of God's grace, and being a free gift, make many people to miss it. There is nothing more powerful than grace. In fact, everything in the Bible—salvation, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, fellowship with God and victory in our daily lives—is based upon the grace of God. Without grace, we are nothing, we have nothing, and can do nothing. If it were not for the grace of God, we would all be miserable and hopeless. And there is grace for everything we do of feel.

In our memory verse, the apostle Paul tells us that everything we are and do and have is by the grace of God. You and I are one hundred percent helpless without the grace of God. That is why we must not trust our own abilities, and initiatives because apart from Him, (cut off from vital union with Him), we can do nothing (John 15 vs 5). The writer of Hebrews tells us that, by the grace of God, our works were prepared for us by God and finished from the foundation of the world, and It is in the consciousness, and believe in God's grace that we will "enter that rest" already fashioned for us by Him (Hebrews 4 vs 3).

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul reminds us that God’s, by His grace “had blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places” which means that in Christ we have all the benefits of knowing God—being chosen for salvation, being adopted as His children, forgiveness, insight, the gifts of the Spirit, power to do God’s Will, the hope of living forever with Christ. Because we have an intimate relationship with Christ, we can enjoy these blessings now. The “heavenly places” means that these blessings are eternal, not temporal, and all by the grace of God.

Haven known the blessedness of God’s grace, we should start each day by praying to God and saying, "Lord, Here I am, ready for whatever You have for me to do. I empty myself, as much as I know how, to allow Your grace to flow in my life, to cause me to be able to do whatever it is that You desire for me. I cast myself totally upon You. I can be only what You allow me to be, I can have only what You Will for me to have, I can do only what You empower me to do, and each victory is to Your glory, not mine."

Prayer: Abba Father, without You I am nothing. In You I live, and move, and have my being. Give me the unction to function according to Your Will, not by my strength, but by Your grace upon my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Make War with Unbelief

 Make War with Unbelief

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17) 

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Join me in this battle! Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. Unbelief in the promises of God is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, Paul said in Ephesians 6:17. The shield by which we quench Satan’s fiery deceits is faith (verse 16) — faith in that very word of God. So take up the shield in your left hand and the sword in your right hand, and let us fight the good fight of faith.

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace.

Every day in the Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2025.

SUBJECT : THE ENDURING MERCY OF GOD! 

Memory verse: "O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." (Psalm 136 vs 1.)

READ: Zechariah 3 vs 1 - 5:

3:1: Then he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

3:2: And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

3:3: Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel.

3:4: Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”

3:5: And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the angel of the LORD stood by.

INTIMATION:

Mercy is a translation of a Hebrew word that includes aspects of love, kindness, mercy, and faithfulness. It is the outward manifestation of pity. It assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it. It is used of God who is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2 vs 4), and who has provided salvation for all men. God is merciful to those who fear (reverence) Him. We never have to worry that God will run out of love because it flows from a well that will never run dry. All that exists is the result of the mercy of God. God could have existed alone in eternity, but He chose not to. 

Mercy has literally been defined as not giving a person what he or she deserves in punishment. This is exactly what God does for us. Our disobedience demands God’s wrath! But God is merciful to us sinners; He shows mercy toward us by providing an escape from sin’s penalty through Jesus Christ, Who alone saves us from sin. When we pray for forgiveness, we are asking for what we do not deserve. Yet when we take this step and trust in Christ’s saving work on our behalf, we can experience God’s forgiveness.

Countless times throughout the Bible we see God showing His love and patience toward men and women in order to save them. Although He realizes that their hearts are evil, He continues to try to reach them. When we sin or fall away from God, we surely deserve to be destroyed by His judgement. But God has promised never again to destroy everything on earth until the judgement day when Christ returns to destroy evil forever. God reminds Himself of this promise by every change of season made by Him.

God’s mercy is unbelievable, it goes far beyond what we can imagine. Even when we deliberately walk away from Him and ruin our lives, He would still take us back, and give us inward spiritual renewal. God wants to forgive us our sins and bring us back to Himself, too, and will not remember them anymore. Most of us will not learn this until their world has crashed in around them. Then the sorrow and pain seem to open our eyes to what God has been saying all along. Are you separated from God by sin? No matter how far you have wandered, God promises a fresh beginning if only you will turn to Him.

The passage we read today regarding Zechariah’s vision portrays how we receive God’s mercy. We do nothing ourselves. God removes our filthy garments (sins), then provides us with fine, new clothes (the righteousness and holiness of God—Second Corinthians 5 vs 21; Ephesians 4 vs 25; Revelation 19 vs 8). All we need to do is repent and ask God to forgive us. When Satan tries to make you feel dirty and unworthy, remember that the clean clothes of Christ’s righteousness make you worthy to draw near to God. 

Satan accused (opposed) Joshua, who here represents the nation of Israel. The accusations were accurate—Joshua stood in filthy garments (sins). Yet God revealed His mercy, stating that He chose to save His people in spite of their sins. Satan is always accusing people of their sins before God (Job 1 vs 6). But he greatly misunderstands the breadth of God’s mercy and forgiveness toward those who believe in Him. Satan the accuser will ultimately be destroyed (Revelation 12 vs 10); while everyone who is a believer will be saved (John 3 vs 16). To be prepared, we can ask God to remove our clothing of sin and dress us with His goodness. 

We should be thankful that God’s mercy extends to us. Many times God has withheld us from sinning against Him in many ways unknown to us, and we can’t even detect. We have no way of knowing, but He does. God works just as often in ways we can’t see as in ways we can. It is easy to view sin lightly in a world that sees sin as inconsequential, but we should view sin as serious. Even when we sin in the worst imaginable way, we can turn to God in prayers and repentance, and He will forgive us. 

Prayer: Abba Father, You are full of compassion, gracious, long suffering, ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon You. Thank You, O Lord, for Your grace and mercy upon my sinful life and may it speak for me all the days of my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Our Good Is His Glory

 Our Good Is His Glory

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

One common objection to Christian Hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above the glory of God — that it puts my happiness above God’s honor. But Christian Hedonism most emphatically does not do this.

To be sure, we Christian Hedonists endeavor to pursue our interest and our happiness with all our might. We endorse the resolution of the young Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved: To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.”

But we have learned from the Bible (and from Edwards!) that God’s interest is to magnify the fullness of his glory by spilling over in mercy to us — to us sinners, who desperately need him.

Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness, even if it costs us our lives, is never above God’s interest and God’s happiness and God’s glory, but always in God’s. One of the most precious truths in the Bible is that God’s greatest interest is to glorify the wealth of his grace by making sinners happy in him — in him!

When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of self-sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory become one.

When Jesus promises in Matthew 6:6, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” this is a reward he wants us to seek. He does not lure us with joy we shouldn’t have! But this reward — this joy — is the overflow of turning away from human praise, and going into our closet to seek God.

Therefore, Christian Hedonists do not put their happiness above God’s glory. They put their happiness in God himself and discover the glorious truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.