2024-10-03
Proverbs 17:6 NIV
Many of the appliances in your home come with an instruction manual. Taking the time to read and understand it can save you all sorts of trouble. And God has given us the ultimate instruction manual for raising children – the Bible. It says, “Parents are the pride of their children.” No calling is higher than that of becoming a parent. It involves the most significant and life-changing decision you will ever make. Therefore, you should make it with serious consideration, prayer, and a sense of humor, and it can turn into one of the greatest joys of your life.
Your children need you to establish boundaries for them and safeguard them from harm. You need to conduct yourself as their spiritual and moral compass. Today children are being inundated with television shows, advertisements, music, video games, the Internet, and magazines full of images of materialism, cruelty, sex, and drug and alcohol abuse. And a lot of the negativity they see is admired and celebrated. So much so that even possessing a strong moral center, they may start to feel like something is wrong with them if they don’t follow along.
As a parent, your job is to reinforce your beliefs again and again while equipping your children with the tools they need to withstand the pressures of life. It’s a lifetime commitment. In a sense, you will be on call every day, all day, for the remainder of your life. And since God is called “our Father,” He understands what you’re up against and will help you when you turn to Him in prayer.
Soul food: Num 29:1-6; Matt 24; Rev 11:15-19; 1 Cor 15:50-58
2024-10-02
James 4:2 NIV
Many of our failures result from our failure to pray. As we examine our mistakes, we discover a forsaken prayer altar and an unopened Bible. James bottom-lines it: “You do not have because you do not ask God.” One Christian leader writes: “As a burned-out, frustrated young Christian, I realized one day that living in my own strength was useless. I needed to take my problems to God. In other words, I needed to pray more!” Found in Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells us, “Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you” (AMPC).
Sometimes it’s only when we reach the end of our rope that we turn to God in prayer. And even then, when our prayers are not instantly answered, we give up. Over and over in Scripture, we are told to “wait on God.” Why? Because while we’re waiting, God is working. Sometimes He is working on the thing we have asked Him for; other times He is working on us. In such times He may be correcting our desires and attitudes or directing us toward His will.
Don’t just pray; pray persistently. Don’t stress out trying to make things happen on your own. Give it all to God as you pray. Remember, He has promised that when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him (See Jeremiah 29:13). So, put your heart into your praying, wait quietly in God’s presence, and let Him speak to you. You will be delightfully surprised at how He answers your prayers.
Soul food: 1 Cor 15-16; Luke 24:36-44; Ps 60; Prov 25:21-22
2024-10-01
2 Corinthians 10:5 AMPC
Your mind is the battlefield where victory or defeat is decided. That’s why Paul writes, “We lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ.” You have a choice: Either you lead your thoughts, or your thoughts will lead you. Either you take your thoughts captive, or your thoughts will take you captive.
Where do thoughts come from? Everywhere. If you spend quality time with God each day in prayer and the Scriptures, your thoughts will be guided by God. If not, your thoughts will be guided by the world around you. You don’t have to accept every thought that comes into your head. Instead, you should measure each thought against the standard of Scripture, which calls for obedience to Christ.
Here is a practical example: If someone hurts your feelings, make a decision right then and there that you won’t be upset with them for days on end. That only gives Satan the opportunity to plant seeds of bitterness (See 2 Corinthians 2:11). Instead, you can reject negative thinking and refuse to let it drain you of your peace and joy. The same is true when you are tempted. The best way to conquer a wrong thought is to replace it with a right one.
As you renew your mind with God’s Word each day, your thinking will change and begin to line up with Scripture. Then, day by day, godly boundaries around your thoughts will be established and reinforced. These limits will not only keep you out of deception and defeat but help you to live a more enjoyable, godly life.
Soul food: 1 Cor 12-14; Luke 24:25-35; Ps 68:19-35; Prov 25:17-20
2024-09-30
2 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV
In the Bible, when God calls someone to do something, you will notice they don’t jump up and say, “No problem, I’m ready.” In story after story, they tell God why they can’t do it. Consider the following list of people. Moses: “I have never been eloquent… I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10 NIV). Gideon: “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15 NIV). Abraham: “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? (Genesis 17:17 NIV). Jeremiah: “Alas, Sovereign Lord… I am too young” (Jeremiah 1:6 NIV). Isaiah: “Woe to me!… For I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5 NIV). Esther: “All… know that for any man or woman who approaches the king…without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death” (Esther 4:11 NIV). Rich young ruler: “He went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:22 NIV). Saul: “The Lord said, ‘See, he has hidden himself among the baggage'” (1 Samuel 10:22 NRSV). (This occurred when Samuel was proclaiming Saul as king, and the people couldn’t find him and asked the Lord where he was.)
What a list of excuses: too inarticulate, too weak, too old, too young, too sinful, too dangerous, too rich, too hesitant – yet God used every one of them to fulfill His purposes. And Paul tells us why: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” Today, depend on God.
Soul food: 1 Cor 10-11; Luke 24:13-24; Ps 68:1-18; Prov 25:13-16
2024-09-29
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
The last thing Jesus said to His disciples before returning to heaven was this: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… I am with you always.” When God gives you an instruction or an assignment, it will always require His involvement, His strength, His guidance, and His provision. Will He use your talents? Yes. Will He use others to assist and bless you? Yes. But He will never allow you to depend on anyone more than Him. Back at the point when Jesus sends His disciples off to change the world, there are two remarkable challenges.
One, there are now only eleven disciples. Throughout the Gospels, the number twelve reminds readers that the disciples have been selected to be a representation of the redeemed, restarted twelve tribes of Israel. Twelve is the number of completeness, wholeness, and readiness. Now they don’t have sufficient players. But it’s not merely that they have the wrong number. Following Christ’s resurrection, we read: “The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted” (vv. 16-17 NKJV). They already have a quantity dilemma; now they have a quality dilemma.
They don’t have enough disciples, and even those don’t believe enough. Yet God used them mightily. Indeed, the accusation leveled against them by their enemies started with one of their greatest compliments: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6 NKJV). So, the key to success is not in your ability but in God’s ability to work through you. That’s why you must live each day in dependence on God.
Soul food: Heb 11:7; Gen 6:9-22; Gen 8:18-22; Matt 24:36-41
2024-09-28
Philippians 4:13 AMPC
Paul shares with us the key to his amazing success in life: “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].” There is a syndrome called “failure to launch.” It’s experienced by people who feel insecure about their future. They never seem to get to the place in life where they feel ready, so they miss out on opportunities.
Life says, “Ready or not, here I come.” Now, life’s inevitability doesn’t mean that preparation is trivial; it’s important. But feeling ready is very overvalued. We are called to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
When God brought the Israelites into the promised land, He told them to step into the Jordan River first; after, He parted the water. If they had waited for evidence first, they would be waiting on the banks still. Faith grows when God says go and you say yes. The truth is, you don’t realize what you can do until you do it. “Ready” happens quicker if you’re already moving. If you wait to move until you’re completely ready, you will wait until you die.
Jesus doesn’t tell us, “Go; you’re ready.” He tells us, “Go; I’ll go with you.” You will grow as you “go.” You will develop as you “do.” Here is the key: The thing that makes you “ready for anything and equal to anything” is “Him Who infuses inner strength” into you. God designed it that way because He wants you to depend on Him.
Soul food: 1 Cor 7-9; Luke 24:1-12; Ps 91; Prov 25:9-12
