Delayed Deliverances

 

Immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (Acts 16:26)

In this age, God rescues his people from some harm. Not all harm. That’s comforting to know, because otherwise we might conclude from our harm that he has forgotten us or rejected us.

So be encouraged by the simple reminder that in Acts 16:19–24, Paul and Silas were not delivered, but in verses 25–26, they were.

First, no deliverance:

“They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace.” (verse 19)“The magistrates tore the garments off them.” (verse 22)They “inflicted many blows upon them.” (verse 23)The jailer “fastened their feet in the stocks.” (verse 24)

But then, deliverance:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God . . . and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (verses 25–26)

God could have stepped in sooner. He didn’t. He has his reasons. He loves Paul and Silas.

Question for you: If you plot your life along this continuum of Paul’s initial suffering and later deliverance, where are you? Are you in the stripped-and-beaten stage, or the unshackled, door-flung-open stage?

Both are God’s stages of care for you. He has not left you or forsaken you (Hebrews 13:5).

If you are in the fettered stage, don’t despair. Sing. Freedom is on the way. It is only a matter of time. Even if it comes through death. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

Served in Serving Others

 Jesus said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” (Mark 8:17)

After Jesus had fed both the 5,000 and the 4,000 with only a few loaves and fish, the disciples got in a boat without enough bread for themselves.

When they began to discuss their plight, Jesus said, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand?” (Mark 8:17). What didn’t they understand?

They did not understand the meaning of the leftovers, namely, that Jesus will take care of them when they take care of others. Jesus says,

“When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:19–21)

Understand what? The leftovers.

The leftovers were for the servers. In fact, the first time there were twelve servers and twelve basketfuls left over (Mark 6:43) — one whole basket for each server. The second time there were seven basketfuls left over — seven, the number of abundant completeness.

What didn’t they understand? That Jesus would take care of them. You can’t out-give Jesus. When you spend your life for others, your needs will be met. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JANUARY 24, 2022. 

SUBJECT : WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US!

Memory verse: “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 10 vs 12.)

READ: Deuteronomy 10 vs 12 - 17:

10:12: And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all thy heart and with all your soul,

10:13: and to keep the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes, which I command you today for your good?

10:14: Indeed, heaven and the highest of heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.

10:15: The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, you above all people, as it is this day.

10:16: Therefore, circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.

10:17: For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.

INTIMATION:

Often one asks, “What does God expect of me? This is the most important question anybody could ask. God created us for His predetermined purposes. The Bible in Psalm 139 vs 15 - 17 says, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts for me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”

God created us for His purposes and carefully wove us together as is soothing to His predetermined purposes. He prepared beforehand every day of our lives even before we had even lived one day, and every moment laid out before a single day had passed. He put together His precious thoughts for and about us, and these things are already recorded in His book. He, therefore, requires us to walk in His preordained path to achieve His thoughts for us.

In the passage we read today, the Bible gives a summary of what God expects from us in a simple form and easy to remember. Here are the essentials: (1) Have reverence for God. (2) Walk in His ways. (3) Love Him. (4) Serve Him with all your heart and soul. (5) Keep His commands. However, we usually complicate the expectations of God from us with man-made rules, regulations, and requirements. And regrettably we fall short of those man-made conditions, thereby become frustrated and burned out from trying hard to please God. Concentrate on His real requirements and find peace. Compliance with all that God requires results in our well-being on earth among ourselves. 

God demands that we submit to Him inside, in our hearts, as well as outside, in our bodies. When this is done, we begin to imitate God’s love and justice in our relationships with others. If our hearts are right with God, then our relationships with other people can be made right too. When your heart has been cleansed and you have been reconciled to God, you will begin to see a difference in the way you treat others. 

Jesus said that loving God with all ourselves is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22 vs 37 - 39). This command, combined with the command to love your neighbor (Leviticus 19 vs 18), encompasses all the other Old Testament laws. We are to love God, think constantly about His commandments, teach His commandments to our children, and live each day by the guidelines in His Word. 

God emphasized the importance of parents’ teaching the Bible to their children. The church and Christian schools cannot be used to escape from this responsibility. The Bible provides many opportunities for object lessons and practical teaching. Consequently, it would be a shame to study it only one day in a week. Eternal truths are most effectively learned in constant study and meditation on God’s Word.

Your life reflects your view of life. How you define life determines what you get out of it. When we understand that all the galaxies of the heavens to the minute particles of existence on earth originated from God, and that He is over all, then our response to Him is obedience to His will. Your perspective of life will influence how you invest your time, spend your money, use your talents, and value your relationships.

Your view of life may, inadvertently, be based on a faulty metaphor. To fulfill the purposes God made you for, you will have to challenge conventional wisdom and replace it with the biblical metaphors of life. This is what the Scripture tells us in Romans 12 vs 2 that states, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  (Romans 12 vs 2.)

Now that you have known what God requires of you, walk in the light of God’s requirements, and fulfill His purpose of life for you. God walks with you when you are in His predetermined path, and ensures you are on the right track. Walking in God’s predetermined path for you is tantamount to entering into an agreement with Him. Such agreements are irrevocable and eternal. Even though we rarely uphold our end of the agreement, God would always be faithful to His part. 

God’s mercy is unconditional. No matter how many times we turned from God, He is always there to restore us. It is comforting to know that despite our inconsistencies and sins, God loves us unconditionally. Eternal life is achieved not on the merit system but on the mercy system. God loves us no matter who we are or what we have done. 

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to please You and walk in Your ways. My purpose in life is not in myself to determine. Guide me through life’s journey that I may not miss the path You already determined for me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

UNEXPECTED BY BISHOP TD JAKES

 

WHAT TRUE WEALTH IS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY JANUARY 23, 2022.

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, not by developing our 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 injunction, 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—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.

You 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’s 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 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. Give me the grace to love You and others, with all my heart, mind, and soul, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Go Directly to God

 

“In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” (John 16:26–27)

Don’t make God’s Son more of a Mediator than he is.

Jesus says, “I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf.” In other words, I’m not going to insert myself between you and the Father, as though you can’t go to him directly. Why? “The Father himself loves you.”

This is astonishing. Jesus is warning us not to think of God Almighty as unwilling to receive us directly into his presence. By “directly” I mean what Jesus meant when he said, “I am not going to take your requests to God for you. You may take them directly. He loves you. He wants you to come. He is not angry at you.”

It is absolutely true that no sinful human being has any access to the Father except through Jesus’s blood (Hebrews 10:19–20). He intercedes for us now (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). He is our advocate with the Father now (1 John 2:1). He is our High Priest before the throne of God now (Hebrews 4:15–16). He said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Yes. But Jesus is protecting us from taking his intercession too far. “I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you.” Jesus is there. He is providing an ever-present, ever-living witness to the removal of the Father’s wrath from us.

But he is not there to talk for us, or to keep us at a distance from the Father, or to suggest that the Father’s heart is guarded toward us or disinclined to us — hence the words, “For the Father himself loves you.”

So, come. Come boldly (Hebrews 4:16). Come expectantly. Come expecting a smile. Come trembling with joy, not dread.

Jesus is saying, “I have made a way to God. Now I am not going to get in the way.” Come.

PROVIDENTIAL WORKS OF GOD FOR US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JANUARY 22, 2022.

SUBJECT: PROVIDENTIAL WORKS 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 tothe 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 thought 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!