2021-04-22
Jonah 2:10 NKJV
Some folks question the story of Jonah being swallowed by a whale and living to tell about it. Here are two reasons you should believe it:
First, because Jesus did. “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40 NKJV).
But here’s a second reason for believing the story. In 1891 off the Falkland Islands, two fishing boats encountered a huge sperm whale. The first boat shot harpoons into it, while the other boat came around to do the same thing from the other side. The whale’s tail hit it and knocked it over. There were two men on that boat. One drowned, and the other was not found. Two days later, a few other boats found the same sperm whale and killed it. They brought the whale to the shore and slit it open, and guess what they found? The second man. He was unconscious but still alive, and after care, resumed his life.
Dr. Tony Evans comments: “The miracle is not that a fish swallowed a man, because that has happened before. The miracle is that the fish paid attention to the Lord.” You say, “What has any of this got to do with me?” Simply this; when you turn to God for help and He speaks to you, supernatural things begin to happen on your behalf. Jesus said, “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24 NKJV).
Soul food: Jam 1-2; Mark 3:20-35; Ps 7:1-9; Prov 10:16
2021-04-21
2 Corinthians 5:10 KJV
Paul writes: “We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (vv. 9-10 NKJV). If you are wise, you will live each day with this truth uppermost in your mind. You’ll have a “preparation perspective!”
Think about it this way: You don’t just wake up one morning and say, “I’ve decided to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or an accountant, etc.”; no, you make that decision many years earlier, and then you work toward it. Now let’s be clear. As a Christian, you’re not working to earn your salvation, but to earn your reward in heaven. Salvation is the foundation you build on, and the Bible says, “No one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have – Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11 NLT).
Then Paul goes on to say: “Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials – gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames” (vv. 12-15 NLT).
When you stand before Christ, you have two options – rewards or regrets. So get a “preparation perspective.”
Soul food: Dan 11-12; Mark 3:7-19; Ps 16; Prov 10:15
2021-04-20
Colossians 4:6 NKJV
The Chinese Christian leader Watchman Nee devoted a chapter in his book The Normal Christian Worker to watching what you say and how you say it. “Because of unrestrained speech, the usefulness of many Christian workers is seriously curtailed. Instead of being powerful instruments in the Lord’s service, their ministry makes little impact on account of the constant leakage of power through their careless talk.”
Paul writes, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt.” That means when you speak, make sure it’s in good taste. And the look on your face and the tone of your voice can determine whether a person receives or resents what you’re saying.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases Paul’s words this way: “Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out” (MSG). Again Paul writes, “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (Ephesians 4:29 NLT). So before you speak, check your attitude and ask yourself, “What frame of mind am I in right now?” And don’t stop with that question. Ask yourself also, “Will what I’m about to say help or hurt, clarify or confuse, make me feel better or the other person feel better?”
Acknowledging his propensity to say the wrong thing, David prayed, “Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. Don’t let me drift toward evil” (Psalm 141:3-4 NLT). It’s not enough to be talented in life; to succeed in life, you must speak wisely.
Soul food: Dan 8-10; Mark 3:1-6; Ps 103:13-22; Prov 10:14
2021-04-19
1 Chronicles 29:14 NKJV
Generous people are always comfortable talking about money, and they are even more comfortable giving it. Self-centered people obsess over keeping what they have, and how to get even more. That’s why Jesus, who was the most generous person in history, spoke so much about money. He understood its source, its use, and who owns it all. Sixteen of his thirty-eight parables deal with how to handle money and possessions. In the four Gospels, one out of every ten verses deals with the subject. The Bible has five hundred verses on prayer, roughly the same amount on faith, but over two thousand on money and possessions. Is God trying to tell you something? If so, what?
It’s this: Everything you have came from God! So you’re not an owner, but an administrator of His estate. That means when He taps you on the shoulder and says, “Give to this person or to that cause,” you don’t argue or rationalize but say, “Yes, Lord!”
After raising the money to build the temple, David prayed: “Both riches and honour come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You” (vv. 12-14 NKJV).
When you give to God, you are just giving back to your supplier.
Soul food: Dan 5-7; Mark 2:23-28; Ps 103:1-12; Prov 10:13
2021-04-18
Psalm 55:22 AMPC
After preaching about taking our worries to God in prayer, a lady approached the great preacher G. Campbell Morgan and said, “I don’t bother God with little things; I only take the big ones to Him.” Morgan replied, “My dear lady, everything we take to God is little.”
The Bible says, “Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you.” God knows you’re not built to carry the weight of worry, so He invites you to give it to Him today. Anything that’s big enough to be a source of anxiety should be turned into a prayer.
Peter writes: “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully” (1 Peter 5:7 AMPC). Note the word “casting.” That’s the opposite of “carrying!” The moment you recognize that a worry is beginning to weigh you down, “cast” it on the Lord, knowing “He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
Now if He was a distant God who didn’t care about you, you would have reason to worry. Or if He was a weak God who couldn’t do anything about it, you would have reason to worry. The truth is, it’s as you give your worries to God that you discover how big He really is. The songwriter Joseph Scriven put it this way: “Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”
Soul food: 2 Ki 6:8-23; Matt 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36
2021-04-17
Romans 8:16-17 NKJV
When our Favourite sports team wins, we say, “We won!” What do you mean “we?” You weren’t on the field. You didn’t get tackled. You didn’t throw or kick the ball. You didn’t even score a single goal. What do you mean “we” won? You mean that because the team you support and identify with won, you won too.
There’s an important spiritual truth here for you as the redeemed child of God. When Jesus died, you died with Him. When Jesus arose, you arose with Him to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). The difference between you and the team that won is that you will never actually be part of it. But when Jesus won at the cross and you accepted Him as your Saviour, God positioned you “in Christ.” Today He sees you clothed in the righteousness of Christ (See 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Paul explains it this way: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Did you get that? As a redeemed child of God, you are an “heir” of everything your heavenly Father owns. And it gets better; you’re also “a joint heir with Christ,” meaning that whatever Jesus is entitled to, you are also entitled to.
When you understand this truth and begin to walk according to it, you start to identify and claim the blessings God has promised you in His Word. These blessings include such things as grace, forgiveness, healing, provision, guidance, strength, etc. Your identity in Christ entitles you to all these things.
Soul food: Dan 3-4; Mark 2:18-22; Ps 130; Prov 10:12
