2022-06-15
1 John 1:3-4 GWT
When joy is absent from your life, power is also missing (See Nehemiah 8:10). Our happiness shouldn’t be based on what’s happening around us; it should be dependent on our relationship with Jesus. John says, “We can be completely filled with joy” (1 John 1:4 GWT). Pastor Reimar Schultze notes: “John did not say this when all was well, but when… everything had turned to shambles.
(1) All his fellow apostles had been murdered.
(2) Rome had destroyed the temple [so]… not one stone was left upon another. Flavius Josephus, an eyewitness wrote, ‘The multitude of those that… perished exceeded all the destructions men or God ever brought upon the world.’
(3) Many Jews and Christians became refugees. Average life expectancy was about forty years and 25 percent of the people in Rome were slaves.
(4) John himself lived as a condemned criminal on the Isle of Patmos. He had no earthly comforts;… no assurance of living another day. When the cup of misery was full, God commissioned [him] to show the world the absolute power and triumph of Christianity over everything… [John’s] writings, in reference to our daily walk, put a capstone on all that heaven intended to reveal in the Word: if we have apostolic fellowship, our joy will be full. You do not need pleasant circumstances for this to happen.”
The psalmist said it best: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore'” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV).
Soul food: 2 Kings 4:18-6:33; Matt 18:1-9; Ps 80:1-11; Pro 13:11-12
2022-06-14
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 NIV
Writer Jim Killam offers some more tips for a successful marriage:
“(1) Praying together may be the most intimate thing you can do, even more than sex. Pray together before making big decisions and most small ones. Ultimately, the decision you make is less important than the fact you prayed about it together.
(2) Hold your career with a light touch. It’s not who you are, it’s just what you do.
(3) Moving every few years is a good way to take stock of how much unnecessary stuff you have.
(4) Observe a no-TV week once in a while. It’ll be there when you get back… and there will still be [very little] worth watching.
(5) Find regular times of quietness alone and together. (Guys, watching a ball game doesn’t count!)
(6) Never attempt exploratory surgery on a broken dishwasher. You can call the repairman now or later. Save yourself years of humiliation. Call now!
(7) Instead of entertaining yourselves, focus outward. Together, you can impact your community and your world.
(8) Find a good church and get involved. Don’t be spectators; churches have enough of those.
(9) ‘Honor your father and mother’ applies at all ages – and not just for their sakes.
(10) Talk often about your hopes and dreams, and don’t laugh at hers.
(11) Fight fair and clean. No yelling, escalating, or pouting.
(12) Remember, ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain’ (1 Timothy 6:6 KJV). Approach each day with a thankful heart; it’s freeing to realize nobody owes you anything.
(13) Your wife is an amazing gift from God; treat her that way.
(14) No marriage is bulletproof. Guard it with your life.”
Soul food: 2 Kings 1:1-4:17; Matt 17:14-27; Ps 143; Pro 13:9-10
2022-06-13
Proverbs 4:1 NIV
Author Jim Killam writes, “In a few days our oldest son will marry… I have no coherent advice to offer on planning a wedding [but]… based on 24 years’ experience, I can offer a few bits of advice on how to navigate marriage. So here goes!
(1) Praising your wife in front of others does wonders for her self-esteem.
(2) Criticizing her in front of them, even in jest, is always a bad idea.
(3) Sometimes she doesn’t need you to solve her problems, she just wants you to listen. I know; I don’t understand it either!
(4) Don’t fall for that line of garbage that marriage is a ball and chain. The people who tell you that would give anything to have what you have.
(5) Sometimes, as impractical as it seems, it’s better to spend $500 on a trip than on furniture – provided you have the money.
(6) Credit card debt is a monster. Don’t fall for it, even short term. And don’t keep financial secrets; they never remain secret. Live on less than you make; if possible, live on one income. Swim against the tide. Be stewards, not consumers.
(7) Tithe. Not only does it honor God, it brings focus to the rest of your money decisions.
(8) Laughing together is better for you than exercising together.
(9) Don’t be so afraid of hurting each other’s feelings that you never talk about how you really feel. (It took me 5 years to tell your mom I didn’t like the grape jelly she’d been putting on my peanut butter sandwiches!)
(10) Don’t be too embarrassed to talk about sex together.”
Soul food: Rev 19-22; Matt 17:1-13; Ps 132:11-18; Pro 13:7-8
2022-06-12
2 Timothy 2:13 NIV
Here is something you should be very glad about: God’s faithfulness to you doesn’t depend on your faithfulness to Him. The Bible says, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.” Your mistakes may take you out of God’s will, but they will never place you beyond His reach.
Catherine Marshall tells of a great personal struggle she experienced after writing a novel titled Gloria. She began the book in 1969 and abandoned the project two-and-a-half years later. To her, the shelved manuscript was like “a death in the family.” Attempting to reconcile her conflicting thoughts and feelings, she spent time at a retreat house. And while there, she reread the Bible story from Numbers about a time when poisonous snakes filled the Israelite camp. The people recognized the snakes as punishment for their sin, and cried out in repentance. The Lord told Moses, “Make a [bronze] snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (Numbers 21:8 NIV).
Catherine realized that just as the Israelites took that which had hurt them, lifted it up to God, and were healed, we can take our mistakes and sins, lift them up to God in prayer, and trust Him to heal us. She writes, “When any one of us has made a wrong (or even doubtful) turning in our lives through arrogance, lack of trust, impatience, or fear – God will show us a way out.” Even when you stray, God loves you so much that He will draw you back to Himself again. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.”
Soul food: Ezek 37:1-14; Matt 27:50-53; 1 Thes 4:13-18; Eph 1:19-20
2022-06-11
Psalm 48:13 NIV
Here is a sobering verse: “Another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord” (Judges 2:10 NKJV). How did it happen? Their parents failed to tell them. Read these three Scriptures carefully and prayerfully: (1) “Tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death” (Psalm 48:13-14). (2) “We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord” (Psalm 78:4 NKJV). (3) “One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4 NKJV).
You say, “We need better government.” Perhaps, but governments don’t raise children, parents do. You say, “We need better school systems.” Maybe, but schools don’t raise children, parents do. As a parent, you’re called to govern your own home. As a parent, you’re called to educate your children in the ways of the Lord. You get the first bite of the apple! So give your children deep spiritual roots, starting as early as possible.
Will they rebel? Possibly; the Prodigal Son came from a good home and he rebelled. But he “came back,” because he had memories and values to return to.
Approaching the end of his life, Joshua called the nation’s leaders together and said, “You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done” (Joshua 23:3 NIV). Then he instructed them to tell their children. Did they do it? No. And what was the end result? Their sons and daughters ended up marrying outsiders and adopting their sinful lifestyle. Don’t let that happen to your children.
Soul food: Rev 15-18; Matt 16:13-28; Ps 132:1-10; Pro 13:4-6
2022-06-10
Daniel 3:29 NKJV
The story of the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace teaches us these four lessons: (1) Doing God’s will can land you in trouble. Don’t expect the world to appreciate you. Look at Jesus: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5 NKJV).
(2) God will be with you in your trouble. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fire, he said, “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” (Daniel 3:25 NKJV). Instead of destroying them, the fire destroyed the ropes that bound them, setting them free. Be encouraged! It may look like circumstances have you locked in, but God is going to vindicate you and bring you out victoriously.
(3) It’s your trouble that produces your testimony. People are watching you. The things they’re trusting in don’t work, and they’re wondering if what you’re trusting in does. Your faithfulness to God and His intervention on your behalf will touch their lives in ways your theology never will. Everyone in Babylon knew what the Hebrew children believed. But they wanted to know, “Does it work when you’re in the fire?” It does!
(4) The greater your trouble, the greater your blessing. “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon” (v. 30 NKJV). Here is a scriptural principle you can count on: When you prove yourself faithful in times of trouble, God will promote you to higher levels of blessing.
Soul food: Rev 10-14; Matt 16:1-12; Ps 48; Pro 13:2-3
