2022-10-23
Psalm 30:5 NKJV
The earth is continually revolving, which means when it’s light in one hemisphere, it’s dark in another. While one person is experiencing midnight, another is rejoicing because daybreak has finally come for them. Both people live on the same planet, but they’re in very different places.
So when you’re having a nighttime experience, if you can just hold on a little longer, things will change. God guarantees it. The same way you rotated into the darkness, you will rotate out of it again. God works the night shift, and He will turn your darkness into light if you just keep trusting Him.
Notice: Certain significant events in the Bible happened at night. For example, while Adam was sleeping, God reached in, performed surgery, and made Eve. At midnight, while the other prisoners slept, Paul and Silas sang praises to God and He delivered them. When Peter was locked in the inner prison, at midnight God sent an angel to liberate him. When Jesus was crucified, the earth was plunged into darkness, but on Easter morning the light came on – forever.
You have to expect some nighttime experiences; it comes with the territory. God’s “darkroom” is where He develops you into the image of Christ. Enduring is what gives you the credentials to walk out into the daylight, having earned the right to be there.
This kind of faith is tenacious, radical, and relentless. When it’s backed into a corner, it stands its ground and declares, “I’ve lost my job, my mortgage is overdue, my symptoms don’t look too good, but I still believe God.” That kind of faith gets results every time!
Soul food: 2 Kings 6:8-23; Matt 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36
2022-10-22
2 Timothy 1:6 NIV
Other people may not think you’re important, but God does. And His opinion is the one that counts most. Remember David? Before he became king, he had to overcome two obstacles. The first obstacle was his family’s inability to see his potential. When Samuel the prophet came looking for a king among Jesse’s sons, David wasn’t even considered. Maybe that’s because he was the youngest, or his brothers seemed more qualified, or his father wanted to impress the prophet. The second obstacle was Samuel’s inability to recognize God’s call on his life. When Samuel the prophet saw the oldest brother, Eliab, a general in the king’s army, he said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here” (1 Samuel 16:6 NIV). But God set Samuel – and the rest of us – straight with these words: “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV).
David’s problem is a common one. Many of us don’t believe in ourselves because we weren’t recognized or encouraged by our parents. Perhaps you have the potential to be a great musician, but because nobody cared enough to give you music lessons when you were young, you have given up on yourself. Or you may be a budding entrepreneur who was criticized for your “foolish ideas” about how to do business, and you have given up the dreams of your youth.
If that’s the case, it’s time to rise up and reclaim who you are; to start praying that God will open your eyes and put someone in your life who will validate and “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you.”
Soul food: 2 Sam 17:14-19:43; John 5:16-30; Ps 15; Prov 24:7
2022-10-21
Psalm 119:47 KJV
George Müller was a man of great faith. He rescued thousands of homeless children in England. Sometimes when they gathered at the table for supper there was nothing to eat, so he would pray and thank God for supernatural provision. No sooner had he said, “Amen” than a baker would show up at his door with bread, or a greengrocer with vegetables, or a farmer with milk.
Here is an entry from his journal, dated May 9, 1841: “I saw more clearly than ever that the first great primary business to which I ought to attend every day was… not how much I might serve the Lord… but… how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers… and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit. Before this time my practice had been… to give myself to prayer after having dressed myself in the morning. Now, I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God, and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that this, by means of the Word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.”
For over forty years, Müller walked in the power of God and saw miracles. What was his secret? Taking time each day to meditate in God’s Word.
Soul food: 2 Sam 14:21-17:13; John 5:1-15; Ps 41; Prov 24:5-6
2022-10-20
Deuteronomy 7:2 NKJV
American author Henry Van Dyke says, “As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.” Habits are like machines; they consistently turn out the same product. They can’t do anything else; they’re designed to produce that specific result. Change requires new behaviours, thoughts, relationships, and a willingness to do battle with old ways of thinking. And that calls for a strong relationship with God!
Upon entering the Promised Land, God told His people to “utterly destroy” their enemies; otherwise, their enemies would live to eventually destroy them. So when God tells you it’s time to declare war on your bad habits, don’t say, “Everybody’s doing it,” or “It’s no big deal.” Anything that keeps you enslaved and prevents you from enjoying the freedom Jesus purchased for you at Calvary is a very big deal.
Instead of resisting and making excuses, pray, “Lord, show me the root of this problem and how to deal with it. I’m ready for positive change in my life today.”
Have you ever noticed that whenever you have had a mountaintop experience with God, the Enemy is always waiting for you at the foot of the mountain? After their experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus’ disciples were approached by a man whose son was caught in a cycle of self-destruction where “frequently he [fell] into the fire and… water” (Matthew 17:15 AMPC). Anytime you keep falling into the same traps, making the same mistakes, jumping into the same relationships, getting hooked on the same habits, it’s time to take your problem to Jesus and ask Him to help you. And He will!
Soul food: 2 Sam 12:1-14:20; John 4:39-54; Ps 87; Prov 24:1-4
2022-10-19
Romans 12:3 NKJV
It’s easy to give in to negative thoughts and fears about how things will turn out based on your past experiences. As Jesus pointed out, we live in a “faithless” generation (Matthew 17:17 NKJV). That means you must constantly fight the defeatist attitude portrayed by the culture, the media, the educational system, the workplace – and sometimes your own friends. Unless you recognize this, it can wear you down by diluting your faith. That’s why you need to feed your faith daily on God’s Word. Jesus said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move’… and it will” (Matthew 17:20 NKJV).
Notice, Jesus isn’t referring to a mountain you encountered years ago. He said, “Say to this mountain.” He wants you to exercise your faith today! He said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed… nothing will be impossible for you” (v. 20 NKJV). A mustard seed is so tiny, it can get stuck between your teeth. But Jesus said although it’s “the least of all the seeds,” it grows into a tree big enough for the birds to nest in (See Matthew 13:32 NKJV).
You say, “I don’t have any faith.” Yes, you do. Paul says, “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” And when it’s activated, miracles happen. Even if you have only an ounce of faith left, you have what you need to prevail. But faith only works when it becomes the language you speak and the attitude you maintain. The Enemy doesn’t want you to know that, because when you do, you won’t just think about what’s happening, you will start thinking about what’s possible!
Soul food: 2 Sam 7:18-11:27; John 4:27-38; Ps 32; Prov 23:29-35
2022-10-18
Malachi 3:10 NLT
Beware of developing a sense of entitlement where you think your money is something you earned all by yourself. Anytime you struggle to give God what is rightfully His according to Scripture, it’s because you have become more attached to the gift than the giver.
If you have never tried tithing, read this: “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse… If you do… I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” (v. 10 NLT).
A pastor received this letter from a couple in his church: “We were behind with our rent and car payments. We were forty thousand dollars in debt, we’d no food in the fridge, and we’d just started a construction business. So when you challenged us to tithe as part of our Christian commitment, we thought, ‘How can we give what we don’t have?’ Nevertheless, we decided to go ahead and honour God by giving Him the first tenth of our income. The very first week we met a contractor who asked us to build a house, with more to follow. Now we no longer questioned how we’d fulfill our commitment to God; in fact, we increased our giving! And if the story ended there, it would still be a good one. But you can’t outgive God. Through a series of divinely orchestrated events, we went from being renters to being homeowners. Today, we’re enjoying financial blessing. And even though this story is all about trusting God, on reflection we’re still trying to answer one question: ‘What exactly was it we sacrificed?'”
Soul food: 2 Sam 3:22-7:17; John 4:13-26; Ps 100; Prov 23:22-28
