2024-04-06
James 4:6 NKJV
Here are three important principles you need to keep in mind when conflict arises:
(1) Deal with the issue without attacking the person. Some of the most vicious personal attacks have been waged over religion. What a shame! Some of us would rather lose the relationship than lose the argument.
(2) Sometimes it’s best to go separate ways. When Paul and Barnabas argued over whether or not John Mark should travel with them on their next missionary journey, “their disagreement was so sharp that they separated” (Acts 15:39 NLT). But that’s not the end of the story. Actually, it resulted in the birth of two different ministries. So, be gracious. What’s happening right now may be God’s way of moving you into a new area of service and blessing.
(3) Remember that “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17 NKJV). When iron sharpens iron, sparks fly. If you have ever been around teens, you can relate. They’re experts at coming up with unconventional off-the-wall opinions that challenge you and keep you honest. An old Quaker who bought a cantankerous cow. Every milking session became a battle of wills. Determined to demonstrate grace under fire, the old man refused to react when Bessie stomped her foot, whipped him in the face with her tail, and knocked over the milk bucket. Finally, she kicked him against the barn wall, and that did it! Glowering, he growled, “Thou knowest I am a Quaker and cannot strike thee back – but I can surely sell thee to a Presbyterian!”
When you are the injured party, that’s when you need to draw on this promise: “He gives more grace.”
Soul food: Jer 28-30; Mark 1:16-28; Ps 72:1-11; Prov 9:1-6
2024-04-05
Matthew 6:32 NLT
Jesus said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (v. 33 NLT). You ask, “When I think about God, is that the same as praying?” It can be. We’re all familiar with the power of unspoken communication. Many of us grew up with parents who didn’t have to say a thing to make their will known. It may have been a certain look in their eye or some other unspoken signal. But we knew exactly what was being communicated and how we were expected to respond.
Prayer works that way too. When you think about God, it’s prayer; and when God communicates His thoughts back to you, it’s a form of answered prayer. A little boy wanted a bicycle for Christmas, and one night he was praying at the top of his voice telling God exactly what kind and color of bike he wanted. His mother said, “Son, you don’t need to shout for God to hear you.” He replied, “I know Mama, but I need to shout if Grandpa is going to hear me and buy me that bike!”
The truth is, you don’t need to shout for God to hear you, and you don’t need to try and conjure up answers to your prayers. Jesus said, “Your heavenly Father knows what you need before you even ask.” So, why even take the time to pray? Because God wants you to approach Him with confidence, trust Him with all your needs, and build a relationship with Him. That’s what it’s all about!
Soul food: Jer 25-27; Mark 1:9-15; Ps 31; Prov 8:34-36
2024-04-04
James 1:22 NIV
A pastor writes: “The Latin word for ‘listen’ is where we get our word audit. When you audit a class, you take in lots of information, but you don’t do anything with it. You don’t do the homework, or if you do, you don’t turn it in to get it graded. You don’t take the tests. And you don’t get any credit either. The same is true in our spiritual lives. You don’t get credit for auditing Scripture. You’ve got to put it into practice. Every word of Scripture must be translated via obedience. In the Western world, we make a distinction between knowing and doing. But there was no such distinction in ancient Jewish thought. Knowing was doing and doing was knowing. If you didn’t do it, you didn’t really know it. Knowledge isn’t enough. Truth must be translated with your life.”
James writes: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do” (vv. 22-25 NIV).
God doesn’t bless you because of what you know but because of what you do about what you know. So each time you come across a verse that tells you to do something, put it into practice that day.
Soul food: Jer 22-24; Mark 1:1-8; Ps 6; Prov 8:32-33
2024-04-03
John 5:30 NLT
Jesus did only those things placed in His mind by His Father. And He wants you to learn to live that way too. You ask, “Is such a life possible?” Yes, it’s not only possible, it’s essential to fulfilling God’s will for your life.
The Bible says that Mary took time to listen to Jesus, but her sister Martha didn’t because she was too busy “serving” (See Luke 10:40). You can get so busy serving the Lord that you lose your sensitivity to His voice and end up preoccupied with secondary things. You learn to hear from God by making time to hear from Him! Fifteen times in the New Testament, Jesus said, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
When you became a new creation in Christ, you got new spiritual ears, but you must learn how to use them. Indeed, that must become one of the highest priorities in your life. A newborn child has the ability to hear but doesn’t understand what he or she is hearing; understanding takes time, it takes learning, it takes attention, it takes intimacy with his or her parents. When Jesus met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus following His resurrection, they didn’t recognize Him. But He loved them, so “he opened their minds so they could understand” (Luke 24:45 NIV).
As you look back over your life, you recognize times when God walked and talked with you but you didn’t understand what He was saying. No problem! God is patient, and He will work with you and develop you.
Soul food: Jer 18-21; Matt 28:16-20; Ps 69:19-36; Prov 8:30-31
2024-04-02
Romans 1:20 NIV
The New Testament Greek word translated as “disciple” means “learner.” By definition, a disciple is someone who never ceases to learn. He or she makes the most of the hundred billion brain cells God has loaned to them. They keep asking and seeking and knocking (See Mt 7:7).
Leonardo da Vinci carried a notebook wherever he went. Some have estimated that he left fourteen thousand pages of notes to painter Francesco Melzi in his will. Almost seven thousand pages still exist. Bill Gates bought eighteen pages for $30.8 million in 1994. The scribbles on da Vinci’s napkin varied from anatomy to botany to painting to philosophy. One thing that made him extraordinary is that he wrote most of them using a technique called mirror writing. He wrote in reverse so the words could be read solely when reflected in a mirror.
In the final days before his death on May 2, 1519, Leonardo apologized to God and to man “for leaving so much undone.” And he resolved to keep learning until the day he died. Even on his deathbed, Leonardo was observing and relating, in scientific detail, the nature and symptoms of his illness.
So, never stop learning, because it glorifies God when you do it for the right reasons. And the right reason is to know Him so that you can love Him even more. Live like you will die tomorrow – but keep learning like you will live forever. After all, as a redeemed child of God, you will.
Soul food: Jer 14-17; Matt 28:11-15; Ps 69:1-18; Prov 8:27-29
2024-04-01
Proverbs 25:2 NIV
Anything that reveals something about our Creator is something we ought to be interested in. Scripture is in a classification all by itself as God’s written revelation. But mathematics disclose a distinctive dimension of God’s personality too. Along with art. And science.
The Bible says: “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight… He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom” (1 Kings 4:29, 32-34 NIV). Solomon was interested in everything. And the breadth of his knowledge gave him such a depth of wisdom that “from all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.” Who sent those men? “The kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.”
As Spirit-filled citizens of God’s kingdom, we haven’t been called to avoid the culture, but to inform it, instruct it, and illuminate it. “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” God loves it when we realize something or encounter something new to us, even if our discoveries are common knowledge. Isn’t that a normal parental reaction when our children discover new things? When you keep asking the right questions, God will keep giving you the right answers.
Soul food: Jer 10-13; Matt 28:9-10; Ps 38:13-22; Prov 8:24-26
