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
2024-09-27
Psalm 23:2 AMPC
When you find yourself saying, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” you may need to change some of your priorities and adjust your lifestyle.
The psalmist said, “I am… wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14 KJV). God designed your body to give you warnings when you’re pushing too hard, like an ache here or a pain there. But we ignore these warnings until we become too sick to ignore them any longer. And because we live in the most medicated generation in history, we take prescriptions, pills, and potions hoping that’s the answer. But it’s a short-term cure.
We can’t ignore God’s direction to take time to rest and not pay a price for it. Nobody had a greater purpose or a more important mission than Jesus and His disciples. Yet He instructed them to take time out for rest and relaxation (See Mark 6:31). Pastor, is this an area of discipleship you need to practice and teach your people? The church should not keep people so busy that it negatively affects their health and hurts their family relationships.
If you are living an unsustainable life today, stop putting off making the changes you need to make. Don’t wait until something happens, like a health problem or a family problem. Make changes now to live the kind of life God wants you to live. When you live God’s way, you will discover a new level of peace in your life. “He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside still and restful waters.”
Soul food: 1 Cor 4-6; Luke 23:44-56; Ps 13; Prov 25:4-8
2024-09-26
Ecclesiastes 9:9 NKJV
It’s amazing how many of us are willing to invest time and effort into our education, career, and financial future, but not our marriage. One of the leading causes of divorce is boredom.
One minister explains: “Partners lose their focus, stray into affairs, get addicted to porn, or exhibit other destructive behavior… The secret to a strong marriage is to continue to find ways to improve yourself and to share. It can be as simple as reading a book or article and sharing something interesting about what you read, or taking a course and using what you learned at home… It can be learning about your partner’s career field and taking an interest in what they do all day, showing you are engaged with who they are…
Partners who want to keep growing as a couple also need to have lives of their own away from the marriage as well. Pursuing hobbies, interests, and appropriate friendships outside the marriage makes each partner more interesting and stimulating when they come back home. How wonderful to sit together at the dinner table and share exciting things you each discovered during the day.
There is a balancing act in developing your own life without ignoring the life you have together. The person you marry will be around for a very long time if you do things right. Long after physical attraction and the intensity of sexual chemistry have faded, and the kids are grown and living on their own, you and your partner will want strong connections so you can continue to grow and enjoy life together.”
So, invest in your marriage.
Soul food: 1 Cor 1-3; Luke 23:35-43; Ps 54; Prov 25:1-3
2024-09-25
Ephesians 1:4 AMPC
Nothing about you surprises God. He knew what He was getting when He chose you. He “actually picked us out for Himself as His own.” You didn’t just randomly show up one day. And God hasn’t decided to merely tolerate you. He is not rolling His eyes when you have a problem. Instead, He will always remind you how far you have come, how well you are doing, how precious you are in His sight, and how much He loves you. God already knew your weaknesses, every flaw you would have, and every time you would fail, yet He still said, “I want you.”
Ephesians 1:5 says that God “adopted” you as His own. He is your father, and you are His family. Yes, He will discipline you when you need it, but He will never discard you. And with Him on your side, things are bound to work out all right in the end.
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son” (vv. 3-6 NLT).
Soul food: Zech 12-14; Luke 23:26-34; Ps 52; Prov 24:32-34
