2021-02-23
Romans 9:1 AMPC
Paul writes: “My conscience [enlightened and prompted] by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me.” Note that when the Holy Spirit speaks to your conscience, two things happen. First, He illuminates your heart with the truth. Second, He prompts you about what to do. Some things may be “right” for others and be “wrong” for you. Why? Because God has a particular plan for your life and He doesn’t want you to be negatively influenced, or even derailed.
Read the following Scriptures and consider them prayerfully: “Therefore I always exercise and discipline myself [mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects] to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men” (Acts 24:16 AMPC). “Holding fast to faith (that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence) and having a good (clear) conscience. By rejecting and thrusting from them [their conscience], some individuals have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Timothy 1:19 AMPC). “They must possess the mystic secret of the faith [Christian truth as hidden from ungodly men] with a clear conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9 AMPC). “For we are convinced that we have a good (clear) conscience, that we want to walk uprightly and live a noble life, acting honorably and in complete honesty in all things” (Hebrews 13:18 AMPC).
As a redeemed child of God, when you sin willfully and don’t repent, you lose your sense of peace and joy and become uncomfortable in your own skin. So the word for you today is – keep your conscience clear.
Soul food: Gen 17-19; Matt 17:14-27; Ps 40:9-17; Prov 6:6-8
2021-02-22
Psalm 30:5 NKJV
Pain is an inevitable part of life and growth; a beneficial part! Stop and consider some of its benefits:
(1) It lets you know when there’s something wrong in your body that needs to be made right.
(2) It forces you to acknowledge a condition you didn’t know about; one that could potentially claim your life.
(3) It makes you rearrange your priorities and your schedule and seek help.
(4) It makes you willing to submit to treatment you may not enjoy, believing that it will make you whole.
Are you getting the idea? Strange as it may seem, the more you dread and resist the pain, the more you increase the effect it has on you. What we resist persists, and the more pain is resisted, the stronger it becomes.
When a pregnant woman goes into labor, the advice she generally gets from her medical team is to “relax.” They know the more she fights the pain, the stronger it will become and the longer the delivery process will take. So when you are experiencing pain, don’t fight it. Walk through it and allow it to accomplish its purpose.
The Bible says: “When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know…when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4 NLT).
So the word for you today is – learn to endure this season of pain, knowing that God has promised you joy on the other side of it!
Soul food: Gen 13-16; Matt 17:1-13; Ps 40:1-8; Prov 6:1-5
2021-02-21
Philippians 3:13-14 AMPC
We all have a “past.” It’s filled with hurts others have done to us, mistakes that got us into trouble, and things we’re so ashamed of we wouldn’t dare talk openly about them. What to do? There are only two things you can do with your past: focus on it, or forget it and move on.
If you need forgiveness, ask God for it, receive it by faith, learn from your mistakes, and try to do better next time. Paul wrote: “One thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward” (vv. 13-14 AMPC). Note the words “my one aspiration.” Before Paul met Christ, he routinely imprisoned and executed Christians and shut down churches. And what’s more, he got paid for it! Maybe that’ll make you feel a little better about your past. Now, however, Paul had only one aspiration: “straining forward to what lies ahead.”
When you fail by sinning, you compound your failure by obsessing over it and wallowing in guilt. Why? Because God has provided forgiveness for you! So whether you sinned twenty years or twenty minutes ago, there’s nothing you can do about it except to ask God for forgiveness, receive it, put it behind you, and move on. You must let go of yesterday’s mistakes in order to grasp today’s blessings. When you learn to do that, you will enjoy life the way God intended.
Soul food: 1 Sam 3:1-11; Acts 9:1-9
2021-02-20
2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT
God hasn’t made prayer difficult or complicated, but really simple. The truth is, many of us pray more often than we know. And we have a more effective and successful prayer life than we realize. The trouble is, we don’t always recognize when we’re praying. That’s because we’ve gotten the wrong idea about it. We’ve been taught that prayer requires a specific environment like church, or a prescribed posture like kneeling, or a particular form of words like “Thee” and “Thou,” and that we must strictly adhere to certain religious rituals.
No, prayer is simply talking to God, then being still and allowing Him to talk to you. You can pray any time, anywhere, about anything, by just directing your thoughts, spoken and unspoken, toward God.
Paul writes, “We fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” Imagine that all of God’s blessings and benefits are stored in a giant warehouse in the invisible realm; things like forgiveness, strength, wisdom, guidance, favour, and resources. Through prayer you enter God’s warehouse of blessings, and by faith you receive them and bring them back into your life.
The Bible says you have not because you ask not (See James 4:2). So whatever you need today, pray and ask God for it – believing that He will give it to you. Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted” (John 15:7 NLT). So, have you prayed about it?
Soul food: Gen 10-12; Matt 16:13-28; Ps 36; Prov 5:21-23
2021-02-19
Ephesians 2:8 AMPC
To understand how God sees you, try to think of these two things:
(1) A dollar bill. What makes it more valuable than any other piece of paper of equal size? The wealth and stability of the government whose signature is on it. You can crumple that dollar bill up, step on it, even tear it in two and tape it back together again, and its worth is still the same.
(2) A diamond. If you rub a diamond in the dirt, it’s still a diamond, albeit a dirty one. But it has not lost its value. Now, we must point out that in order to truly appreciate the beauty of the diamond, you would have to get the dirt off it and then restore it back to its original luster.
What’s the point of these two illustrations? That your value in God’s eyes as His redeemed child doesn’t change or diminish when you get dirty, or stepped on, or torn apart by life and circumstances.
That’s because your true worth is determined not by your own efforts but by the price Jesus paid for you on the cross. There, the great exchange took place. All your sins from the cradle to the grave were laid on Him. And when you accept Him as your Saviour, all His righteousness is transferred to you. You don’t have to strive for it; it’s a “gift.” “This [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God.”
Soul food: Gen 7-9; Matt 16:1-12; Ps 33:13-22; Prov 5:15-20
2021-02-18
Proverbs 25:28 NKJV
A Christian leader writes: “The Great Wall of China was erected in the third century BC as a defense against raids by nomadic peoples from the north. Throughout succeeding centuries, especially during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Great Wall was repaired and extended in length, finally stretching for forty-five-hundred miles.”
Centuries before it began, biblical cultures used walls to protect themselves, and to draw boundaries around themselves for the purposes of identifying the land which was theirs. To be effective, however, those walls had to be regularly maintained. The slightest breach could give the enemy a fateful advantage. There is a valuable lesson here.
As a Christian, there is one wall in your defense system that has to be maintained and protected at all times – the wall of self-control. The Bible says, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.” Your failure to maintain self-control is like opening the city gates and issuing an invitation to the Devil to attack you.
J. Wilbur Chapman, one of history’s great preachers, formulated what he called “my rule for Christian living.” And it’s a rule you should endeavor to live by. He said, “The rule that governs my life is this: Anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult, is wrong for me, and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it.”
Question: Have your boundary walls been breached or fallen into disrepair? If so, do something about it today.
Soul food: Gen 4-6; Matt 15:29-39; Ps 33:1-12; Prov 5:7-14
