Sin, Satan, Sickness, or Sabotage

 Sin, Satan, Sickness, or Sabotage

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:8–9) 

Is the suffering that comes to the Christian because of persecution the same as the suffering that comes from cancer? Do the promises given to one apply to the other? My answer is yes. All of life, if it is lived earnestly by faith in the pursuit of God’s glory and the salvation of others, will meet with some kind of obstacle and suffering. The suffering that comes to the obedient Christian is part of the price of living where you are in obedience to the call of God.

In choosing to follow Christ in the way he directs, we choose all that this path includes under his sovereign providence. Thus, all suffering that comes in the path of obedience is suffering with Christ and for Christ — whether it is cancer at home or persecution far away.

And it is “chosen” — that is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us, and we do not murmur against God. We may pray — as Paul did — that the suffering be removed (2 Corinthians 12:8); but if God wills, we embrace it as part of the cost of discipleship in the path of obedience on the way to heaven.

All experiences of suffering in the path of Christian obedience, whether from persecution or sickness or accident, have this in common: They all threaten our faith in the goodness of God, and tempt us to leave the path of obedience.

Therefore, every triumph of faith, and all perseverance in obedience, are testimonies to the goodness of God and the preciousness of Christ — whether the enemy is sickness, Satan, sin, or sabotage. Therefore, all suffering, of every kind, that we endure in the path of our Christian calling is a suffering “with Christ” and “for Christ.”

With him in the sense that the suffering comes to us as we are walking with him by faith, and in the sense that it is endured in the strength he supplies through his sympathizing high-priestly ministry to us (Hebrews 4:15).

And for him in the sense that the suffering tests and proves our allegiance to his goodness and power, and in the sense that it reveals his worth as an all-sufficient compensation and prize.

Heavenly Testimonies

 

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 28, 2025.

SUBJECT: SPIRITUAL ADULTERY!

Memory verse: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (First John 2 vs 15.) 

READ: James 4 vs 4 - 6:

4:4: Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

4:5: Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealousy”?

4:6: But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

INTIMATION:

Idolatry, outward or inward, is spiritual adultery—breaking our commitment to God in order to love something else. Turning from the worship of the true God to worshiping idols is idolatry. This can be either inward or outward. When one is not heartily committed to the worship of God, and is attracted to worldliness, it is spiritual adultery. Jesus described the people of His day as adulterous, even though they were religiously strict because their hearts were far away from total commitment to the worship of the true God. Inwardly and outwardly they had idols they are committed to, and even worshipped other gods. 

As believers and members of the body of Christ—the church—we are the ‘wife’ (or bride) of Christ (Revelation 19 vs 7), and by faith, we can be clothed in His righteousness. Anything outside the total commitment to Him is spiritual adultery. The materialist is an adulterer in that he or she has wedded himself or herself as a member of the body of Christ to that which is of this world. Such person has broken the covenant made with Christ in order to give himself or herself to the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God: If one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in his heart (First John 2 vs 15). Those who love activities and possessions of this world do not love the Father, for they are obsessed with the things of this world. 

Some people think that worldliness is limited to external behavior—the people we associate with, the places we go, the activities we enjoy. Worldliness is also internal because it begins in the heart and is characterized by three attitudes: (1) lust of the flesh—preoccupation with gratifying physical desires; (2) lust of the eyes—covering and accumulating things, bowing to God of materialism; (3) pride of life—obsession with one’s status or importance. When the serpent tempted Eve (Genesis 3 vs 6), he tempted her in these areas. Also, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, these were his three areas of attack.

It is unnatural for one to live a spiritually adulterous life. God created us to seek Him, not the world (Genesis 1 vs 26). Therefore, the spirit that lusts after the things of this world in order to ignore God had degenerated to the point of allowing Satan to control his desires. It is obvious that one cannot love God with the love with which God seeks to be loved, and at the same time, engage himself or herself in the pleasures of this world. However, those who have been consumed with the things of the world have taken their minds off that which is to come. And that which is to come is the destruction of all that for which one had worked in this world (Second Peter 3 vs 10).

God has blessed some believers with money and other possessions. They are wealthy because God has given them power to get it, and they should not allow their wealth to take the first place in their lives other than God. Avoiding spiritual adultery does not mean that the rich must forsake their riches, for many rich people have the gift of making money for the benefit of the work of the church. Though the rich are not obligated to give themselves into poverty, but they must not be obsessed by their wealth, and should be willing to share with others in need. 

Believers are not to attach themselves to the thinking of the world in a way that they are diverted from keeping their minds on those things that above. They must not be directed in their lives by the evil values and morals that are maintained by those deceived by Satan. It is impossible for one to love God with the intensity of love by which God demands that we serve Him, and at the same time, compromise his values and morals by living after the world. 

God extends His grace toward those that have humbly submitted to Him (See Romans 5 vs 20). Those who are arrogant will not submit their lives to the Will of God. They resist submission, and thus, God resists giving His grace to them in order that they might be saved. God values self-control, a spirit of generosity, and commitment to humble service. It is possible to give the impression of avoiding worldly pleasures while still harboring worldly attitudes at one’s heart. It is also possible, like Jesus, to love sinners and spend time with them while maintaining a commitment to the values of God’s kingdom. Let nothing take away the first place of God in your life.

Prayer: Abba Father, in You I live, move and have my being. Nothing will ever take the first place in my life other than You. O Lord, give me the grace to forever keep my total commitment and obedience to You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Radical Recompense

 Radical Recompense

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29–30)

What Jesus means here is that he himself makes up for every sacrifice.

If you give up a mother’s nearby affection and concern, you get back one hundred times the affection and concern from the ever-present Christ.

If you give up the warm comradeship of a brother, you get back one hundred times the warmth and comradeship of Christ.

If you give up the sense of at-homeness you had in your house, you get back one hundred times the comfort and security of knowing that your Lord owns every house.

To prospective missionaries, Jesus says, “I promise to work for you, and be for you, so much that you will not be able to speak of having sacrificed anything.”

What was Jesus’s attitude to Peter’s “sacrificial” spirit? Peter said, “We have left everything and followed you” (Mark 10:28). Is this the spirit of “self-denial” commended by Jesus? No, it is rebuked. 

Jesus said to Peter, “No one ever sacrifices anything for me that I do not pay back a hundredfold — yes, in one sense even in this life, not to mention eternal life in the age to come.”

Possible with God

 Possible with God

“I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” (John 10:16)

God has a people in every people group in the world. He will call them through the gospel with Creator power. And they will believe! What a power is in these words for overcoming discouragement in the hard places of the frontiers!

The story of Peter Cameron Scott is a good illustration. Born in Glasgow in 1867, Scott became the founder of the Africa Inland Mission. But his beginnings in Africa were anything but auspicious.

His first trip to Africa ended in a severe attack of malaria that sent him home. He resolved to return after he recuperated. This return was especially gratifying to him because this time his brother John joined him. But before long, John was struck down by fever.

All alone, Peter buried his brother in African soil, and in the agony of those days recommitted himself to preach the gospel in Africa. Yet his health gave way again, and he had to return to England.

How would he ever pull out of the desolation and depression of those days? He had pledged himself to God. But where could he find the strength to go back to Africa? With man it was impossible!

He found strength in Westminster Abbey. David Livingstone’s tomb is still there. Scott entered quietly, found the tomb, and knelt in front of it to pray. The inscription reads:

OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD; THEM ALSO I MUST BRING.

He rose from his knees with a new hope. He returned to Africa. And today, over a hundred years later, the mission he founded is a vibrant, growing force for the gospel in Africa.

If your greatest joy is to experience the infilling grace of God overflowing from you for the good of others, then the best news in all the world is that God will do the impossible through you for the salvation of the unreached peoples.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY OCTOBER 27, 2025.

SUBJECT : THE BREVITY OF LIFE!

Memory verse: "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." (James 4 vs 14.)

READ: Psalm 39 vs 4 - 6:

39:4: Lord make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.

39:5: Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You.

39:6: Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.

INTIMATION:

Life on earth is the period between birth and death. And because it has a beginning and an end, it is temporary, and not permanent. The brevity of life is a theme throughout the books of Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. The Bible is full of metaphors that teach about the brief, temporary, transient nature of life on earth. The earth is not our permanent home or final destination. We are just passing through, just visiting earth. The Bible uses terms like alien, pilgrim, foreigner, stranger, visitor, and traveler to describe our temporary and brief stay on earth. 

Ironically, people spend so much time securing their lives on earth but take little or no thought about life after here; where they will spend eternity. They are busy with the things that are temporary, but neglecting the things that are permanent. Amassing riches and busily accomplishing worldly tasks would make no difference in eternity. 

Few people understand that their only hope is in the Lord. The only thing that matters in eternity is your relationship with your Maker, and it is the relationship built with Him that you take to eternity. All other things you have acquired, built, accomplished and so on, are abandoned here on earth to the cares of others, and they will one day perish.

To make the best use of your life is to build a superb relationship and fellowship with the Lord which is the only thing that qualifies you for eternity with Him, and your mansion in His house. Realizing that life is short helps us use the little time we have more wisely for eternal good, and don't get too attached to this world. May God help you see life on earth as He sees it. 

In First Peter 2 vs 11, the apostle Peter stated, "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." As believers, we are "sojourners and pilgrims" in this world, because our real home is with God. Our true loyalty should be to our citizenship in heaven, not to our temporary stay here, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3 vs 20.) How prepared are you to receive Him at His coming?

Real believers understand that there is far more to life than just the few years we live on this planet, and their homeland is heaven. When you grasp this truth, you will stop worrying about "having it all" on earth. God is very blunt about the danger of living for the here and now and adopting the values, priorities, and lifestyles of the world around us. 

When we flirt with the temptations of this world, God calls it spiritual adultery: "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4 vs 4.)

We are in the world and constantly in association with the world, its standards, and circumstances. Though we are in the world, but we are not of this world (John 15 vs 19). The prince of this world is the greatest enemy of God, and by extension, our greatest enemy. "We are ambassadors of Christ" (Second Corinthians 5 vs 20). As an ambassador you will not be able to isolate yourself from the rulership of the prince of this world where you have ambassadorial assignment. To fulfill your mission, you would have to have contact with the world.

God warned us not to get too attached to what's around us because it's temporary, "For the form of this world is passing away" (First Corinthians 7 vs 31). The cares of this world; financial security, self actualization, worldly happiness, marriage, and so on, are not the ultimate goal of life. As much as possible, we should live unhindered by the cares of this world, not getting involved in burdensome life activities that might keep us from doing God's work.

Compared with other centuries, life has never been easier for much of our world today. The advancement in technology has made life much more easier and enjoyable. We are constantly entertained, amused, and catered to. With all the fascinating attractions, mesmerizing media, and enjoyable experiences available today, it's easy to forget that the pursuit of happiness is not what life is about. Only as we remember that life is a test, a trust, and a temporary assignment will the appeal of these things lose their grip on our lives. 

Life is short no matter how long we live. Be conscious of the two divides in eternity—heaven and hell. Take time to number your days by asking, “Where do I want to be in eternity?” “What do I want to see happen in my life before I die? What small step could I take toward that purpose today?” If you want to be with the Lord, deal with all undisciplined areas in your life, and tell someone about Jesus. Because life is short, don’t neglect what is truly important, telling others of the Good News of Jesus Christ and all He wrought for us redemption. 

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to be eternity conscious, and not be consumed in seeking after the cares of the world that are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 26, 2025.

SUBJECT: CARNAL MIND VERSUS SPIRITUAL MIND!

Memory verse: "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8 vs 6.) 

READ: Read Romans 8 vs 12 - 14; Galatians 5 vs 16 - 18:

Romans 8:12: Therefore, brethren, we are debtors - not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

8:13: For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

8:14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Galatians 5:16: I say then. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

5:17: For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

5:18: But If You are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

INTIMATION:

The apostle Paul notes in our memory verse that there are two minds—the mind of the flesh, and the mind of the Spirit. That does not mean you and I have two brains, it simply means that we receive information from our natural mind (which operates without the Holy Spirit), and we get information from our spirit (through which the Holy Spirit communicates directly to us). The mind of the flesh, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit, is death, that is death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter. But the mind of the Holy Spirit is life and peace, both now and forever.

In the passages we read today, the believers are not to be led by the carnal mind, but by the Holy Spirit Who indwells them (Romans 8 vs 14; Galatians 5 vs 18). The Holy Spirit is the only One who knows the mind of God, and is the revealer of the truth (John 16 vs 13). If your desire is to have the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 vs 22 - 23), then you know that the Holy Spirit is leading you. 

In First Corinthians 2 vs 16, the Bible says, "For who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” This Scripture tells us that because the Holy Spirit lives in us, you and I have the mind of Christ. The problem is that, although we have the mind of Christ and know the Word of God, we don't listen to our spirit which is being enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Instead, we listen to our natural mind, which relies strictly on sense and reason without the Holy Spirit.

In every situation of life, our head will be trying to give us information. It will be yelling at us so loudly that if we don't turn our attention to our spirit, we will never hear what the Lord is saying to us in that situation. That is why we must learn to live out of our spirit and not of our head. 

It’s noteworthy that evil spirits constantly bombard us with negative thoughts. If we receive them and dwell on them, they become ours because the Bible says that as we think in our heart, so are we (Proverbs 23 vs 7). If we accept the lies of the devil as reality, then they will become reality to us because of our belief in them. Use the Bible to discover God’s guidelines, and then follow them. 

This is why in moments of worry, stress and turmoil we have to simply take the time to turn to our inner man, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and say, "Lord, what do You have to say about this?" If we listen in faith, He will speak to us and reveal to us the truth of that situation. You and I have two huge vats of information within us. One is carnal information that comes off the top of our head. The other is spiritual information which wells up out of our heart. One is muddy. polluted water, and the other is clean drinking water. It is up to us to decide which source we are going to drink from.

Some people try to drink from both sources. That's what the Bible calls being double-minded. (James 1 vs 8.) Do you know what it means to be double-minded? It means that your mind is trying to tell you one thing, and your spirit is trying to tell you just the opposite. Instead of saying, "I'm not going to believe that which comes from my head—the mind of the flesh—because it's a lie," you get in a cross-fire, going back and forth between the two thoughts. 

If we are destined to live the happy, victorious and successful Christian life the Lord wills for us, if we are going to have to decide which fountain of information we are going to drink from, we are going to have to learn to live out of our spirit and not out of our head—our fleshy mind.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is my Senior Partner, and daily I hand over my thoughts, words, and actions to Him for His leading. Endue me with the spirit of discernment, to know the prompting of the Holy Spirit, that I will follow His leading, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!