2022-11-23
Proverbs 29:18 KJV
God has a plan for your life; one that will help you see what’s truly important. It’s called a “vision.” Otherwise, things get blurred and you end up not knowing where you’re supposed to go. Athletes focus on one thing only: winning! To do it, they sacrifice relationships, pastimes, and pleasures. Eugene Peterson describes “vision” this way: “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed” (v. 18 MSG).
When God gives you a vision, you begin to see things as He sees them. Moses “saw” the promised land while everybody around him saw only wilderness and wanted to give up and return to Egypt (See Hebrews 11:24-27). And he understood that he would get there on God’s schedule, according to God’s plan, one step at a time. Sometimes your vision can feel overwhelming. That’s when you break it down into small steps and visualise yourself taking the next one. You will be surprised at your progress. But until you take the first step, a vision is just a daydream.
A British clergyman named Frederick Langbridge wrote, “Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw mud, the other stars.” What do you see in your future? Do you think God is just going to drop success into your lap? No, you must energise your vision with faith and give it momentum through hard work. After working all night and catching no fish, Jesus told His disciples, “Launch out into the deep” (Luke 5:4). When they obeyed, they caught their biggest catch ever. Bottom line: The world doesn’t control your supply, God does!
Soul food: 2 Chron 1-5; John 11:1-16; Ps 102:1-11; Prov 27:7-9
2022-11-22
Deuteronomy 14:22 NIV
Why did God command His people to give Him the first tenth of their income? He tells us: “So that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands” (v. 29 NIV). That means tithing doesn’t cost, it pays! When you give God the first tenth of your income, He promises to bless “all the work of your hands.” So the question is not does the church need your tithe, but do you need God’s blessing? God’s work won’t go broke if you don’t tithe, but how well will you do if you disobey Him? Paul writes, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income” (1 Corinthians 16:2 NIV).
You say, “I thought tithing was only the rule under Old Testament law. Did the New Testament Christians practice it too?” Consider Paul’s words: “Each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income.” That’s proportionate giving! And since the only “Bible” the New Testament believers had was the Old Testament, what sum of money do you think they gave to God? Certainly not less than a tenth!
Jesus told the Pharisees: “Woe to you, teachers of the law… You give a tenth… But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter [tithing], without neglecting the former” (Matthew 23:23 NIV).
Question: Would you give God less under grace than you do under law? The tithe is the minimum, but only your love for God and His kingdom can determine the maximum.
Soul food: 1 Chron 26:20-29:30; John 10:34-42; Ps 76; Prov 27:4-6
2022-11-21
Deuteronomy 5:29 NIV
What God commands you to do, He will give you the grace to do. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were ordered by the king to be burned alive for refusing to worship his golden image.
Notice their faith confession:
(1) “Our God… is able to deliver us” (Daniel 3:17 KJV). They never doubted God’s ability.
(2) “And he will deliver us” (v. 17). They never doubted God’s willingness.
(3) “But if not,… we will not… worship the golden image” (v. 18).
They never considered an alternative to obedience! How did their story turn out? “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished… saying… ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God'” (vv. 24-25 NKJV). What happened next? “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon” (v. 30). You say, “But this is the hardest thing I have ever been asked to do.”
When God asks you to do something you don’t want to do, or feel you can’t do, He has your best interests in mind. When your children say, “I can’t do this, it’s too hard,” do you change your mind and let them off the hook? No, you insist, because it’s for their good. That’s how God feels about you: “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them” (Deuteronomy 5:29 NIV).
Soul food: 1 Chron 23:21-26:19; John 10:22-33; Ps 81; Prov 27:1-3
2022-11-20
2 Corinthians 1:8 NLT
Job describes the rewards of obedience: “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity” (Job 36:11 NKJV). John adds, “Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22 NKJV).
But Paul describes the cost of obedience: “We think you ought to know… about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10 NLT).
Notice the words “He did rescue us… He will rescue us again… He will continue to rescue us.” God didn’t lift Paul out of his trouble, He walked with him in it and brought him through it. You say, “But I have asked God to help me understand the situation and He hasn’t.” God doesn’t owe us an explanation, but He promises us an exit strategy. “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 MSG). So the word for you today is – obey God, regardless.
Soul food: Exo 17:1-7; John 4:1-42
2022-11-19
Hebrews 5:8 NLT
The rewards of obedience are awesome, but sometimes the process is agonising. “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him” (vv. 8-9 NLT).
Before God promotes you to a position of usefulness in His service, He qualifies you. We admire the faith of Abraham who took his son Isaac up Mount Moriah and laid him on the altar. But the story doesn’t make sense until you read the first verse in the chapter: “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham” (Genesis 22:1 NKJV). What did God test? His faith! His obedience! And when he passed the test, God told him, “In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed” (Genesis 22:17).
Understand this: When you pray and ask God for success, you’re inviting Him to test your faith and obedience. God probably won’t test you at the same level He tested Jesus or Abraham. But it’s the smaller tests that prepare you to handle the bigger assignments in God’s kingdom.
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis’ senior devil talks to his nephew Wormwood about their mutual enemy, the Lord. “Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” The obedience God desires from you today is obedience that rises above your feelings and circumstances and says, “Yes, Lord!”
Soul food: 1 Chron 19:1-23:20; John 10:11-21; Ps 50; Prov 26:27-28
2022-11-18
Luke 24:30 NKJV
Just before Jesus went to the cross, He instituted what has become known as “The Lord’s Supper”, or Holy Communion. He said that the cup represented His shed blood and the bread represented His broken body. Then He ended by saying: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19 NKJV).
Now fast-forward to the house of Cleopas and his companion, following the resurrection. Jesus had walked and talked with them on the Emmaus road, explaining to them that all that had happened was a fulfillment of prophecy. “They constrained Him, saying, ‘Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.’ And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him” (Luke 24:29-31 NKJV). In a sense, this too was a communion service. But notice what happened to the people who attended it.
(1) Jesus met with them there.
(2) Their eyes were opened and they recognized Him in a way they never had before.
(3) They were deeply moved. “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us” (v. 32 NKJV).
(4) Then they went out and told others. “They rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, ‘The Lord is risen indeed'” (vv. 33-34 NKJV).
If you have ever wondered how you’re supposed to feel or think when you take communion, now you know.
Soul food: 1 Chron 16-18; John 10:1-10; Ps 105:1-15; Prov 26:23-26
