2025-01-21
2 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV
Gideon’s army of thirty-two thousand men is enormously outnumbered by the Midianites when God tells him, “You have too many men.” He instructs Gideon to release anyone who is afraid, and Gideon loses two-thirds of his army. Now he has only ten thousand men. Again the Lord says, “There are still too many men,” and reduces Gideon’s army to three hundred men. At that moment, the odds had to be a million to one. And it even gets better! God directs Gideon to attack the Midianites with trumpets and pitchers. Now for the real kicker: Israel wins!
Why did God do it like that? Because if Gideon had attacked with thirty-two thousand men and won, the Israelites would have thought that God didn’t provide much help, and God would have received limited credit. But God is worthy of more. God desires and deserves complete credit. And when three hundred men defeat a massive army with trumpets and pitchers, God receives all the glory (See Judges 7). Why? The reason is a victory like that overcomes all odds.
Too frequently, our prayers revolve around requesting God to increase our odds of winning. We would like everything in our favour. But maybe God wants the odds to oppose us so we can encounter a miracle of divine proportions. Faith is trusting God no matter how hopeless the odds are. Our impossible circumstances are chances to experience a new height of God’s glory.
Are you facing a situation that, humanly speaking, is beyond your ability to cope with it? Read this: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV).
Soul food: Rom 3:21-6:23; Luke 5:1-11; Ps 91; Prov 3:3-4
2025-01-20
Romans 8:18 NKJV
In 1857 David Livingstone gave this speech at Cambridge University: “People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa… Away with the word in such a view and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life may make us pause and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”
When you serve the Lord, you always get back more than you give up. And if you get back more than you give up, have you really sacrificed anything at all? “Then Peter began to say to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You.’ So Jesus answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall 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 10:28-30 NKJV).
The only regrets you will have at the end of your life will be that you didn’t seek and serve God more and seek and serve Him sooner.
Soul food: Rom 1:1-3:20; Luke 4:31-44; Ps 89:38-52; Prov 3:1-2
2025-01-19
1 Timothy 4:15 NKJV
Paul had a succession plan for his ministry. That’s why he mentored Timothy and instructed him, “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.” The words “that your progress may be evident to all” mean that growth is measurable. Question: As you look back over the last few years of your life, in what areas have you grown? Before you read on, take a moment, and think carefully about how you answer that question.
In childhood, our bodies automatically grow. But some of us bring into adulthood a subconscious trust that spiritual, emotional, and mental growth follow a comparable pattern. We think that as time goes by, we inevitably improve. We’re like cartoon character Charlie Brown in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, who once said, “I think I’ve discovered the secret of life – you just hang around until you get used to it.” The problem is that you don’t get better by just living; you must be intentional about it. No one improves by chance.
Personal growth doesn’t simply take place on its own. And when you’re finished with your formal education, you must take full ownership of the growth process because no one else will see to it for you. The ultimate growth manual is your Bible. It’s “living and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV). Everything you need to know and everything that’s required for you to grow can be found in its pages. So, open your Bible. Delve into it. Read it. Meditate on it. Apply its principles to your life, and you will be amazed at how you grow.
Soul food: Judg 16:23-31; 2 Cor 12:3-10
2025-01-18
Luke 15:25 NKJV
The parable of the prodigal son is about two boys and their father’s love for each. The younger one dishonoured his father and ended up in a pigpen. When he returned home, he had lost everything – except his father’s love. So no matter who you are or what you have done – God loves you and wants you in His family.
Jesus made an amazing statement: “When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (v. 20 NKJV). Ancient Hebrew culture thought running was an undignified act for older men. Men wore long flowing robes, and had to pull them up around their waist to run, exposing their undergarments. But the father didn’t care about what people thought; he cared about his wayward son. Unfortunately, his older brother didn’t feel that way.
Do you understand why a lot of younger brothers are still out in the pigpen and don’t want to enter the church? Because they’re afraid older brothers will hit them with the mean hand of judgment instead of touching them with the welcoming hand of love. The older brother desires punishment, but the father provides pardon. The older brother requires guilt, but the father gives grace. The older brother wants revenge, but the father wants reconciliation.
Here is the good news: No matter how low you have fallen, know that as soon as you return, you will discover your heavenly Father facing you, extending open arms and a loving heart toward you.
Soul food: Isa 63-66; Luke 4:14-30; Ps 89:15-37; Prov 2:21-22
2025-01-17
Luke 18:13 NKJV
Jesus said: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (vv. 10-14 NKJV).
The difference between these two men is that the Pharisee was guilty of sins of the spirit, and the tax collector was guilty of the sins of the flesh. Pride shut the door of heaven to the Pharisee, and humility opened the door of heaven to the tax collector. The Pharisee said he was innocent but went home guilty. The tax collector acknowledged he was guilty and went home innocent.
Notice, he doesn’t use the usual word for mercy. The word used here dates back to the Hebrew word kippur, which means “atonement,” as in Yom Kippur, which means “the Day of Atonement.” The word atonement means “to cover.” What the tax collector said was, “God, I’m admitting what you already know is true about me. I am a sinful man with a sinful heart. God, will you cover me?” That’s all God needed to hear from him to save him – and that’s all God needs to hear from you too.
Soul food: Isa 58-62; Luke 4:1-13; Ps 89:1-14; Prov 2:20
2025-01-16
Philippians 3:8 NLT
The experiences you had before you committed your life to Christ, including things you regret, can be redeemed, and put to good use. Before Paul met Christ on the Damascus road, his life had been dedicated to the study of Old Testament law. “I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault” (vv. 5-6 NLT).
Looking back, Paul may have considered his years of study as a Pharisee to be wasted. But God had prepared him to show the Jews how Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures he knew so well. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that God doesn’t begin working in our lives until the day we come to know Christ as Saviour. Scripture says that He “foreknew” us, meaning He chose and prepared us long before we ever met Him (See Romans 8:29-30).
David says that God wrote out all the days of his life before they ever came to pass (See Psalm 139:16 NKJV), and that’s true for you. God is at work in your life in ways you’re unaware of. Even when you’re unable to notice Him at work, He is always active in you, causing His good pleasure. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 NKJV). Faith changes the question “Is God at work?” into a declarative statement of faith: “God is at work!”
Soul food: Isa 53-57; Luke 3:21-38; Ps 84; Prov 2:16-19
