2023-06-02
Romans 5:9 NLT
The Bible says: “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation… So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God” (vv. 8-9, 11 NLT).
God loves and accepts you just as you are. And it gets better. He sees you as blameless. How? “God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). Note the words “in him.” Imagine yourself placing a letter in an envelope, then sealing it. No longer can you see the letter or read its contents because it’s “in” the envelope. Getting the idea?
Always remember there is a difference between your position and your condition. When you put your trust in Christ, you’re positioned before God as being “righteous.” You say, “But what about my condition? I still fail.” The job of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to bring your condition up to the level of your position. “The Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT).
How does the Holy Spirit do this? He draws you back to the place of repentance where you are cleansed. Notice, your position in Christ doesn’t change, but your condition is constantly changing as you become more like Christ.
Soul food: 1 Kings 14-15; Matt 14:1-12; Ps 117; Prov 12:20-22
2023-06-01
Luke 4:18 NKJV
Every thirty seconds, a child or young person is abducted into the worldwide sex trade; almost one million of them every year! Many are forced to service up to thirty or forty “customers” a night. Can you imagine what the governments of the world would do if a city of one million people was taken captive and exploited and abused every day?
If you think that’s bad, here is a statistic that should break your heart and bring you to your knees: Only 1 percent of those who are abducted into the sex trade are being rescued from it! You say, “What about the other 99 percent?” When they get too old to have value to their pimps, or too sick to work, or become pregnant, or diseased, they’re thrown away like garbage. These are the “walking wounded” who carry emotional and mental scars and struggle with the effects for the rest of their lives.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “It’s sad, and it’s shocking, but thank God it’s not my children or grandchildren.” Thank God, indeed! But as a redeemed child of God, you have a responsibility to care about it. Jesus said He came to “heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives… to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (v. 18 NKJV). That means instead of avoiding the problem, you must become aware, alarmed, and activated.
Only when enough people speak up do politicians start to act. So speak up! Start praying about it. Support ministries that are involved in it. That way, you will be able to stand before God one day and say, “Lord, I did what I could about it!”
Soul food: 1 Kings 12-13; Matt 13:47-58; Ps 82; Prov 12:18-19
2023-05-31
Daniel 1:8 NKJV
Are you continuing to do things you don’t want to do and indulge in thoughts that lead you astray? Are you being constantly overcome by the same old temptations? Here is the bad news: The new birth doesn’t do away with your old nature; it actually intensifies the struggle between your flesh and your spirit. Here is the good news: You can live victoriously! How?
(1) Through prayer. Jesus told His disciples, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41 KJV). If you’re tired of praying for forgiveness after you have failed, start praying before the temptation comes. No, you can’t pray temptation away, but you can prepare yourself in advance to overcome it. And if you need help, call in reinforcements. Find someone who knows how to stand with you in prayer. The Bible says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NKJV).
(2) By making up your mind. “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” The way to subdue your impulses is by activating your will – in advance. When you do that, God empowers you by His Spirit. Where did Daniel’s strength of purpose come from? God. He prayed three times every day (See Daniel 6:10). Don’t set yourself up for failure; keep yourself out of harm’s way. When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, he “fled and ran outside” (Genesis 39:12 NKJV). Both Joseph and Daniel had prayed and made up their mind what they would do before temptation came knocking. You must do that too.
Soul food: 1 Kings 10-11; Matt 13:36-46; Ps 127; Prov 12:15-17
2023-05-30
Romans 8:31 NKJV
To overcome fear, you must believe that God is with you. It’s the key to your ability to obey what He tells you to do. As you become confident that He is with you, your fear will lessen. When David volunteered to fight Goliath, King Saul said to him, “You are not able to go against this Philistine… for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth” (1 Samuel 17:33 NKJV). David replied, “The Lord… will deliver me from… this Philistine” (v. 37 NKJV). You’re not in this battle alone; the Lord is with you. When you’re convinced of that, your fear will subside.
You may not always know what God will do, but you can relax in knowing He will do what needs to be done at the right time. When you think about the future and all the things that are unknown to you, it’s easy to feel afraid. But you can view it two ways. You can either be pessimistic and fearful, or you can say to yourself, “The battle is the Lord’s, and He has never lost a battle!”
You may not always know what to do in a tense situation, but God does. He knows everything prior to it happening, and He has planned your deliverance in advance. Just put one foot in front of the other, confident that He is guiding you. You don’t have to see God or feel Him in order to believe that He is with you. Faith is a matter of the heart instead of the natural senses. God is with you! Believe it and refuse to live in fear.
Soul food: 1 Kings 8-9; Matt 13:24-35; Ps 108; Prov 12:14
2023-05-29
1 John 4:18 NKJV
When God says, “Fear not,” He is basically telling you, “You’re going to have to deal with fear, but you can conquer it. You can act in spite of it.” The Bible says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” Sometimes we mistakenly think that Scripture means if we love God perfectly enough, we won’t be afraid. No, the only perfect love is God’s love for you. And it’s unconditional.
Knowing that He always loves you, walks with you, defends you, supports you, and has promised to bless you in all that you do is what casts out your fear. And it does one more thing: It strengthens your faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Hebrews 11:6 KJV). When you know that God is pleased with you, you begin to rise above your fears. When fear knocks on your door and finds you full of faith, it cannot enter. That’s why you need to meditate continually on God’s Word and let your conversation be filled with faith.
If you’re used to allowing your mind to go everywhere it pleases, meditating on God’s Word will require making a new habit. Don’t become discouraged if you discover you have good intentions but many failures. The Bible says, “We walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV). How did you learn to walk? By getting up one more time than you fell down, until you finally did it. When you set your mind to speaking fear-defying words of faith, the Holy Spirit will come to your aid and strengthen you. As one minister says, “Courage is not the absence of fear, it is progress in its presence.” So just keep progressing, and you will get there!
Soul food: 1 Kings 6-7; Matt 13:10-23; Ps 101; Prov 12:12-13
2023-05-28
Psalm 118:6 NKJV
God has created you for a life of growth, adventure, and acceleration. But you must take bold steps of faith. And you can’t do that if you’re perfectly satisfied to live in “the safe zone.” Even when you feel afraid, don’t let it stop you! Feel the fear and do it anyway! You say, “Will I ever stop being afraid?” Yes, when you get to heaven.
Feeling fear is part of being alive. You will experience fear when you try something for the first time, or when the obstacles in your path seem insurmountable, or when you feel like your resources are not equal to the challenge. None of this means you’re a coward; it just means you’re human. You are only cowardly when you let your fears control your actions and decisions. Feeling fear is merely the temptation to flee from what you should confront. Feeling fear is not the same as being afraid, because being afraid means allowing fearful feelings to take control of you.
But you don’t have to. You can feel anger yet choose not to act on it, and instead respond with forgiveness and love. In the same way, you can feel fear and not let it make your decisions. “He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'” (Hebrews 13:5-6 NKJV). Note those two phrases: “He… has said” and “we may boldly say.” So, stand on God’s Word today and declare, “I will not live in fear.”
Soul food: Lev 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-18
