2020-04-13
1 Thessalonians 2:18 NKJV
Paul writes, “We wanted to come to you – even I, Paul…time and again – but Satan hindered us.” Note the words “time and again.” When you have an assignment from God, Satan will repeatedly attack you and try to stop you from fulfilling it. Observe three things: (1) His attacks reveal that he believes you’re capable of accomplishing your goal. That’s why when you’re down, he wants to keep you there. He knows if you rise again, you’ll be stronger and more effective than ever. (2) He always attacks the birth of something significant in your life. It may be the birth of your ministry, as with Jesus in the wilderness temptation. It may be the birth of your “child of destiny,” like the birth of Moses, which initiated the killing of newborn males in Egypt in an effort to stop the exodus. (3) He uses those closest to you as a gateway to your heart. Jesus said, “Your enemies will be right in your own household!” (Matthew 10:36 NLT). So what should you do? Pray for them. Your intercession is often the only covering they have, so pray daily for the grace and mercy of God to be downloaded into their hearts. And above all, never forget that your attitude is more important than the adversity you’re experiencing. Attacks pass, but your attitude, if bitter or demoralized, can grow into a root of bitterness that will poison every day of your future (See Hebrews 12:15). Your influence in God’s kingdom determines the level of attack the Enemy launches against you. So don’t get discouraged – keep on keeping on!
Soul food: Lev 11:1-13:37; Matt 28:11-20; Ps 50:1-15; Prov 10:3
2020-04-12
Galatians 2:20 NKJV
The cross must become a vital part of your everyday life. Why? Because you have three relentless enemies you must overcome each day: sin, Satan, self. How do you overcome them? By living the crucified life. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” You say, “It’s too difficult to live a Christian life!” No, it’s not difficult…it’s impossible. The only way is to let the power and person of Christ live through you. That’s why Paul wrote, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14 NKJV). After years in a Russian labor camp, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn became so depressed that he wanted to die. Laying his shovel down, he walked over to a bench and sat down, knowing that any moment a guard could come by and use that shovel to beat him to death. It was then that a fellow inmate took a stick, and in the sand at Solzhenitsyn’s feet traced out the sign of the cross. As he stared at it, his entire perspective shifted. Realizing the cross represented the greatest power in the universe, he slowly got up, picked up his shovel, and went back to work under the sign of the cross. And you must do that too. Each day, remind yourself: “Jesus died for me. I died with Him. When I die to me, He lives in me. When He lives in me, I can live for Him.” That’s the secret of a victorious Christian life.
Soul food: 1 Cor 15; Matt 28:1-10; Job 19:25-26; John 11:25-26; 1 Pet 1:3; Isa 25:8
2020-04-11
Jeremiah 8:9 NKJV
You will never understand the message of the cross, or receive the benefits of salvation that come from the cross, until you first kneel at the cross and receive Jesus Christ as your personal saviour. The story is told of a great preacher who was touring Italy. A friend told him to go to a certain village and see a painting of the crucifixion of Christ. “What is it like?” he asked. His friend said, “Never mind what it is like. I want you to see it. Please promise me you will.” He replied, “I will.” He went to the village and visited the chapel where the painting was. The old caretaker said, “You’ve come to see the painting, haven’t you?” He said, “Why, yes I have.” The caretaker responded, “Follow me.” The great preacher was not prepared for what he was about to see. Instead of a beautiful masterpiece, the painting seemed all out of proportion and didn’t make sense. “I don’t understand this painting,” he said. The caretaker replied, “Come closer.” He did. The caretaker said, “Get lower.” He did. Finally, as he was kneeling at the foot of the cross, he looked up and saw the power and beauty of the painting and was reduced to tears. It’s only when you lay aside your pride, your preconceived notions, and your intellectual approach, and humble yourself, that the message of the cross transforms you. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV).
Soul food: Num 21:4-9; Matt 27:57-66; Ps 69:7-21; Deut 21:22-23
2020-04-10
1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV
God dying on the cross for our sins sounds like “foolishness” to some people. Their philosophy is “If I cannot understand it, I won’t accept it.” That’s where they get it wrong. Salvation comes through faith alone. “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3 NKJV). Simple, childlike faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross is all that’s required. The story is told of a college student whose professor gave him zero on a test. Upset, he said, “I don’t deserve this grade.” The professor smiled and quipped, “I agree, but zero is the lowest grade I can give.” That’s how God feels about our wisdom. “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19 NKJV). One day a man stood on the roof of his house during a flood, and prayed, “God, please save me.” Soon a rowboat came by and offered to take him to safety. But he said, “No, God will take care of me.” The waters kept coming up until they were almost at his waist. Suddenly a helicopter appeared overhead and a rope ladder was lowered down. “Oh no, God will take care of me.” Soon after that the man drowned. When he stood before God, he said, “Why didn’t you save me?” God responded, “I sent you a rowboat and a helicopter. What else did you want?” At the cross, God did everything required to save you. All you have to do is trust in Christ and receive the gift of eternal life.
Soul food: Gen 22:1-18; Matt 27:45-56; Ps 22; Isa 53
2020-04-09
1 Corinthians 1:23 NKJV
Paul writes: “For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (vv. 22-24 NKJV). There’s no Jewish way to be saved, or Gentile way to be saved. There’s only one way to be saved – that’s the way of the cross! We all have the same need. We need to know what’s right and do what’s right. We need the wisdom to know what to do, and we need the power to do it. And Christ offers us both through the cross. In his early ministry, when Billy Graham preached to a great crowd in Dallas, Texas, there was very little response to his message. As he was leaving the platform, an old man told him, “Your message was good, but you didn’t preach the cross.” Billy went to his room, wept, and resolved, “There will never be a sermon that I preach unless the cross is central.” Starting that day, God used him to win more people to Christ than almost any other preacher in history. There’s just enough ego in each of us to want to “contribute” to our salvation by doing good works. But we cannot. Hymnist Robert Lowry wrote: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
Soul food: Lev 8-10; Matt 27:33-44; Ps 49; Prov 10:1-2
2020-04-08
Galatians 6:14 KJV
It’s interesting that in the Bible Jesus doesn’t ask us to remember His birth or His resurrection, although we know we should, but He tells us to remember His death. When He instituted the Lord’s Supper, He said, “This do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19 KJV). Paul said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The cross, like the gallows and the electric chair, is an instrument of death. So why glory in it? Because of what took place there. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” all your sins from the cradle to the grave were paid for. So the cross is God’s first and last word when it comes to salvation. It’s His first word because Jesus was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8 KJV). And the cross is God’s last word about salvation, for in heaven they will sing, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9 KJV). There is no “plan B” for salvation. The only highway that goes to heaven goes through Calvary. You can’t bypass the cross or go around it if you want to be saved. The Bible says, “Without shedding of blood [there] is no remission [for sin]” (Hebrews 9:22 KJV). As you look at the cross today, you’ll see the curse of sin, the cost of sin, and the cure for sin. And as you look at the cross, remind yourself: “He did it for me.”
Soul food: Exo 12:1-14; 1 Cor 11:20-34; Ps 25:16-22
