We All Need Help

 We All Need Help

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Every one of us needs help. We are not God. We have needs. We have weaknesses. We have confusion. We have limitations of all kinds. We need help.

But every one of us has something else: We have sins. And therefore at the bottom of our hearts we know that we do not deserve the help we need. And so we feel trapped. 

I need help to live my life, and to handle death, and to cope with eternity — help with my family, my spouse, my children, my loneliness, my job, my health, my finances. I need help. But I don’t deserve the help I need.

So, what can I do? I can try to deny it all and be a superman or a superwoman, who doesn’t need any help. Or I can try to drown it all and throw my life into a pool of sensual pleasures. Or I can simply give way to the paralysis of despair.

But God declares over this hopeless situation: Jesus Christ became a High Priest to shatter that despair with hope, and to humble that superman or superwoman, and to rescue that drowning wretch.

Yes, we all need help. Yes, none of us deserves the help we need. But no to despair and pride and lechery. Look at what God says. Because we have a Great High Priest, the throne of God is a throne of grace. And the help we get at that throne of grace is mercy and grace to help in time of need. Grace to help! Not deserved help — gracious help. That’s why the High Priest, Jesus Christ, shed his own blood.

You are not trapped. Say no to that lie. We need help. We don’t deserve it. But we can have it. You can have it right now and forever. If you will receive and trust in your High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, and draw near to God through him.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2025.

SUBJECT : WHEN THE LORD IS YOUR SHEPHERD! 

Memory verse: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm 23 vs 1.)

READ: Psalm 23 vs 1 - 6:

23:1: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

23:2: He makes me to lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside the still waters.

23:3: He restores my soul: He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

23:4: Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

23:5: You prepare a table before me in the presence of My enemies: You anointed my head with oil; my cup runs over.

23:6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

INTIMATION:

The passage we read today is the most quoted of all the psalms simply because in a few words it portrays the life of the righteous. Though the righteous must live in a world that is plagued with suffering and turmoil, they must put their faith in God as they struggle through life. The psalm is a sublime utterance of those who are focused on staying close to God. 

As a shepherd boy, David, the psalmist, knew the life of a shepherd. He knew the responsibility of guarding the sheep from the perils of life. Sheep are completely dependent on the shepherd for provision, guidance, and protection. The New Testament calls Jesus the good shepherd (John 10 vs 11), the great Shepherd (Hebrews 13 vs 20), and the Chief Shepherd (First Peter 5 vs 4). As the Lord is a good shepherd, so we are His sheep—not frightened, passive animals, but dependent followers, wise enough to follow one who will lead us in the right places and in right ways. 

When we allow God, our shepherd, to guide us, we have contentment. When we choose to sin and go our own way, however, we cannot blame God for the environment we create for ourselves. Our shepherd knows the “green pasture” and “still waters” that will restore us. We will reach these places only by following Him obediently. Rebelling against the shepherd’s leading is actually rebelling against our own best interests.

When one submits to the shepherding of God, he or she trusts that God will provide all that is necessary for survival. David listed seven specific things that the Lord provided as He watches over His sheep. Green pastures: When sheep are filled, they lie down. Because of the Lord’s care over us, we are satisfied with the spiritual food that comes from Him, and thus we take our rest in the shadow of His care.

He leads us: Because the sheep know their shepherd, they are willingly led by Him. We know our Lord, and thus He is able to lead us according to His Will to places of security. As calm waters naturally soothe one’s mind in times of trouble, so God takes us to places where the turmoil of life can be endured. He restores my soul: By the calm waters our inner man is renewed and refreshed. 

He leads us in the “paths of righteousness”: Because of sheep’s trust in the leadership of the shepherd, the sheep will follow the shepherd in going to where he desires that they should go. He thus leads them down paths that take them to that which is good for them. The Lord takes us in His righteousness. He does this in order that His name be glorified among the nations. He is holy and desires that His people be holy. 

We will “fear no evil”: The sheep have confidence in the leadership of the shepherd. Since we have faith that God is head over all things, and that all is under His control, then we are confident that all things will work for our good. For “you are with me”: In God is our faith. He will not forsake those who are His. The assurance of the believer is his faith that God will never turn His back on His people. 

He “comforts me”: The shepherd’s staff (rod) is for the protection of the sheep when they are under attack. The staff is hooked at the end in order to be used to deliver fallen sheep out of pits into which they may stumble. Knowing that the Lord is in our lives for both protection and deliverance reassures us and gives us great comfort. 

PHe “prepares a table”: In the case of God’s people, by His provision for their needs, He openly manifests to the nations that they are His people. Anointed my head: The anointing manifests hospitality. 

My cup overflows: God’s provision is not limited. His “Goodness and mercy”: Since God has done so much to and for His people, they are motivated to do good to others and show mercy. Then the sheep “will dwell”: Not only do the righteous dwell in the house of God on earth, they will also be in the security of this house when it is taken into heaven. Believers will dwell with the Lord. God, the perfect shepherd and host, promises to guide and protect us through out our life and bring us into His house forever.

Death casts a frightening shadow over us because we are entirely helpless in its presence. We can struggle with other enemies—pain, suffering, disease, injury—but strength and courage cannot overcome death. It has the final word. Only one person can walk with us through death’s dark valley and bring us safely to the other side—the God of life, our Shepherd. Because life is uncertain, we should follow this shepherd who offers us eternal comfort, and bears the responsibility of guarding the sheep from the perils of life. When one submits to the shepherding of God, he trusts that God will provide all that is necessary for survival. 

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my shepherd and I am Your sheep. In You I live, and move, and have my being. My complete and unwavering trust is in You. Do with me as is pleasing to You. You are my only hope. May nothing take my attention off You, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Piercing Power of the Word

 The Piercing Power of the Word

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

The word of God is our only hope. The good news of God’s promises and the warnings of his judgment are sharp enough and living enough and active enough to penetrate to the bottom of my heart and show me that the lies of sin are indeed lies.

Abortion will not create a wonderful future for me. Neither will cheating, or dressing provocatively, or throwing away my sexual purity, or keeping quiet about dishonesty at work, or divorce, or vengeance. And what rescues me from this deception is the word of God. 

The word of God’s promise is like throwing open a great window of bright morning sunlight on the roaches of sin masquerading as satisfying pleasures in our hearts. God has given you his good news, his promises, his word to protect you from the deep deceptions of sin that try to harden your heart and lure it away from God and lead it to destruction. 

Be of good cheer in your battle to believe. Because the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, it will penetrate deeper than any deception of sin has ever gone and reveal what is truly valuable and what is truly worth trusting and loving.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2025.

SUBJECT : THE PURIFYING BLOOD OF JESUS!

Memory verse: “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed," (Romans 3 vs 25.)

READ: Revelation 7 vs 9 - 17:

7:9: After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands,

7:10: and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb!

7:11: All the angels stood round the throne, and the elders and the four creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God,

7:12: saying: “Amen! Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

7:13: Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

7:14: And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

7:15: Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.

7:16: They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat;

7:17: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

INTIMATION:

Sin is a moral evil, a transgression of God’s will, or rebellion against God’s laws. It is a perversion of heart culminating into wrongdoing and committing of offense, thereby missing the expected mark of an upright moral life. And sin alienates us from God; our relationship with God is severed. And if allowed to continue or stay, will completely lead to our permanent separation from God, and our eventual destruction.

God, in His infinite mercy, benevolence, and love, made a provision for our reconciliation to Himself through the sacrifice of His Son’s life for the sin of the whole world: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3 vs 16.) Christ died in our place, for our sins. God is justifiably angry at sinners. They have rebelled against Him and cut themselves off from His life-giving power. But God declares Christ’s death, the shedding of His blood, to be the appropriate, designated sacrifice for our sin. Christ then stands in our place, having paid the penalty of death for our sin, and He completely satisfies God’s demands. His sacrifice brings pardon, deliverance, and freedom.

The passage we read today gives us the glimpse of the believers cleansing by the purifying blood of Jesus, and their final rest with God in His place. The blood of Jesus washes us clean from sin’s stubborn stain, and it is the only remedy available to mankind. It is difficult to imagine how blood could make any cloth white, but the blood of Jesus Christ is the world’s greatest purifier because it removes the stain of sin, no matter how deep the stain. White symbolizes sinless perfection or holiness, which can be given to people only by the death of the sinless Lamb of God on our behalf. This is a picture of how we are saved through faith in what Christ has wrought for us in redemption. 

All who have been faithful through the ages are singing before God’s throne. Their tribulations and sorrows are over; no more tears for sin, for all sins are forgiven; no more tears for death, for all believers have been resurrected to die no more. The multitude in heaven is composed of all those who remained faithful to God throughout the generations. God includes and protects each of all the believers, and they are all guaranteed a place in His presence. 

God will provide for His children’s needs in their eternal home where there will be no hunger, thirst, or pain, and He will wipe away all tears. When you are suffering or torn apart by sorrow, take comfort in this promise of complete perfection and relief. The believers come through their times of suffering by remaining loyal to God. Because they remain faithful, God will give them eternal life with Him.

God says, “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1 vs 18.) Crimson was the color of a deep-red permanent dye, and its deep stain was virtually impossible to remove from clothing. The stain of sin seems equally permanent, but God can remove sin’s stain from our lives, if we are willing and obedient. Christ will forgive and remove our most indelible stains through His purifying blood.

Christianity is unique in that no good deed that we do will make us right with God. No amount of human achievement or personal goodness will close the gap between God’s moral perfection and our imperfect daily performance. People try many methods to remove the guilt of sin—good deeds, intellectual pursuits, and even casting blame on others. Good deeds are important, but they will not earn us eternal life. But we are saved only by trusting in what Jesus Christ has done for us; purifying us from the stain of sin through His blood. Have you had the guilt of sin removed in the only way possible? 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You most precious Redeemer for the gift of Your Son to the World as a propitiation for our sins. With His blood He has purified all who put their trust in Him as Lord and Savior. Endue me with the spirit of raw obedience to Him, in Jesus’ most precious Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Change Is Possible

 Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)

Change Is Possible

Christianity means change is possible. Deep, fundamental change. It is possible to become tenderhearted when once you were callous and insensitive. It is possible to stop being dominated by bitterness and anger. It is possible to become a loving person, no matter what your background has been.

The Bible assumes that God is the decisive factor in making us what we should be. With wonderful bluntness, the Bible says, “Put away . . . all malice” and be “tenderhearted” (Ephesians 4:31–32). It does not say, “If you can . . . ” Or, “If your parents were tenderhearted . . . ” Or, “If you have not been terribly abused . . . ” It says, “Be . . . tenderhearted.”

This is wonderfully freeing. It frees us from the terrible fatalism that says change is impossible for me. It frees me from mechanistic views that make my background my destiny.

And God’s commands always come with freeing, life-changing truth to believe. For example,

God adopted us as his children. We have a new Father and a new family. This breaks the fatalistic forces of our “family-of-origin.” “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).

God loves us as his children. We are “loved children” (Ephesians 5:1). The command to imitate the love of God does not hang in the air, it comes with power: “Be imitators of God, as loved children.” “Love!” is the command and being loved by God is the power.

God has forgiven us in Christ. Be tenderhearted and forgiving just as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). What God did in Christ is powerful. It makes change possible. The command to be tenderhearted has more to do with what God did for you than what your mother or your father did to you. This kind of command means you can change.

Christ loved you and gave himself up for you. “Walk in love, as Christ loved [you]” (Ephesians 5:2). The command comes with life-changing truth. “Christ loved you.” At the moment when there is a chance to love, and some voice says, “You are not a loving person,” you can say, “Christ’s love for me makes me a new kind of person. His command to love is just as surely possible for me as his promise of love is true for me.”

Don’t be a fatalist. Be a Christian. Change is possible. God is alive. Christ is risen. The promises are true.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2025.

SUBJECT : THE NEED OF PATIENCE!

Memory verse: "For you have need of patience, so that after you have done the Will of God, you may receive the promise." (Hebrews 10 vs 36.)

READ: Hebrews 10 vs 32 - 36:

10:32: But recall the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings:

10:33: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations; and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;

10:34: for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possessions for yourselves in heaven.

10:35: Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

10:36: For you have need of patience, so that after you have done the Will of God, you may receive the promise.

INTIMATION:

Patience is the quality of being able to calmly endure suffering, toil, delay, vexation, or any similar condition. Patience is a divine virtue or spiritual fruit. It can be simply defined as “waiting without complaint.” And it is listed as one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 vs 22 - 23). It perfects Christian character. Fellowship in the patience of Christ is therefore, the condition upon which believers are to be admitted to reign with Him. For this patience believers are ‘strengthened with all power,’ through His Spirit in the inward man.’ Hence the Lord teaches us to love as God loves, and to be patient as Christ is patient.

The Scripture we read today encourages believers to persevere in the Christian faith and conduct when facing persecution and pressure. We don’t usually think of suffering as good for us, but it can build our character and our patience. During times of great stress, we may feel God’s presence more clearly and find help from Christians we never thought would care. Knowing that Jesus is with us in our suffering and that He will return one day to put an end to all pain helps us grow in our faith and our relationship with Him.

When faced with a difficult decision, don’t allow impatience to drive you to disobey God. When you know what God wants, follow His plan regardless of the consequences. God often uses delays to test our obedience and patience. Trusting God when nothing seems to happen is difficult. But it is harder still to live with the consequences of taking matters into our own hands. Resist the temptation to think God has forgotten you. Have patience and courage to wait for God to act.

The Scripture abounds with those who through patience obtained the promise. For instance, David did not become king over all Israel until he was 37 years old, although he had been promised the kingdom many years earlier (First Samuel 16 vs 13). During those years, David had to wait patiently for the fulfillment of God’s promise. If you feel pressured to achieve instant results and success, remember David’s patience. Just as his time of waiting prepared him for his important task, a waiting period may help you by strengthening your character.

Although God promises to reward our good deeds, we sometimes feel our “payoff” is too far away or delayed. Be patient. God steps in when it will do the most good. In the Book of Esther, Mordecai had exposed a plot to assassinate Ahasuerus—thus, he had saved the king’s life (Esther 2 vs 21 - 23). Although the good deed was recorded in the history books, Mordecai had gone unrewarded. But God was saving Mordecai’s reward for the right time. Just as Haman was about to hang him unjustly, the king was ready to give the reward. 

It has been said that nothing teaches like experience. To some degree this is true of the virtues. Pain and suffering teach us endurance and empathy. The experience of mercy and forgiveness inclines us to be more merciful and forgiving. We gain moral maturity each day precisely because each day brings some difficulty that we must overcome. Like it or not, we persevere, and we are morally the better for it. 

Misfortunes are designed to build virtue in us, and among the virtues gained through difficulty is patience. That family member or work associate who annoys you is God's gift to you to build your patience. If you're stuck with a job you don't like, and you can't find any other work, then God is building your patience. Each nuisance, long wait, and affliction, every mosquito bite, traffic jam, and body ache in the life of the Christian raises her threshold of tolerance ever so much. Even tedious sermons and difficult reading (perhaps including what you are enduring right now!) can make you a more patient person.

So through the daily grind, the Christian grows morally, improving in virtue through various experiences that he or she might not even consider morally relevant, much more significant. But we who affirm the sovereignty of God shouldn't be surprised by this moral growth through even incidentals, for we believe God is always at work in the details, moving always to bring us into closer conformity to His image (Romans 8 vs 28).

This is why the apostle James says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the trying of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Prayer: Abba Father, let the virtue of patience be developed in me by the working of the Holy Spirit, that I may be strengthened in the inner man to persevere in Christ to the end, and obtain the promise, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

When I Am Anxious

 When I Am Anxious

. . . casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

There is a promise suited to every sin you are tempted to commit and every form of unbelief that takes you off guard and makes you anxious. For example:

When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). And I take the promise with trembling, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).

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). 

So, let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. It is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. 

So, let us fix our eyes on the precious and very great promises of God. 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.