2020-01-04
James 4:2 NIV
How large is your asking capacity when it comes to prayer? When Elijah asked Elisha, “‘What may I do for you, before I am taken away?’…Elisha said, ‘Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me'” (2 Kings 2:9 NKJV). Some of us may have been shocked by his response, pegged him as arrogant, and said, “You need to humble yourself and be grateful for the privilege of serving a great prophet like Elijah, and count yourself fortunate if God permits you to carry on his ministry.” But Elisha wasn’t timid, and Elijah wasn’t offended. So how did it all turn out? Elisha got his double portion and ended up performing twice as many miracles as Elijah. When you pray, God doesn’t say, “Make your request reasonable and practical.” He wants you to ask “largely and abundantly, not sparingly” (See James 1:5 NIV). How’s this for a big promise: “Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession” (Psalm 2:8 NLT)? Take the limits off God! Think about it: If He’s willing to give you “the nations for your inheritance,” He will surely save your loved ones, heal your body, give you that job, that home, or that relationship you’ve been praying for. Jesus said, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name” (John 14:13 NIV). Only two times in Scripture has someone said something that caused Jesus to marvel. On both occasions it was a demonstration of audacious faith by a Gentile, and someone the religious crowd thought had no right to God’s miraculous provision. So the word for you today is – enlarge your asking capacity.
Soul food: 1 Cor 9-11; Matt 4:12-17; Ps 90:13-17; Prov 1:8-9
2020-01-03
Isaiah 1:19 NKJV
In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria became tired of his responsibilities as king, the pressures of international politics, and the mundane worldliness of court life. He made an application to Prior Richard at a local monastery to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in prayer and meditation. Prior Richard responded, “Your Majesty, do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That it will be hard, since you have been a king?” Henry said, “I understand. The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you.” Prior Richard said, “Then I will tell you what to do. Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you.” After Henry died, this statement was written in his honor: “The king learned to rule by being obedient.” Today, and every day, you have these decisions to make: (1) Live by your own impulses, or live according to the instructions God has given you in His Word. (2) Go according to your own best thinking, or submit yourself to the rule and the leading of the Holy Spirit who lives within you. When you think about it, the answer is clear! Obeying God leads to peace, progress, protection, and promotion. His Word says, “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” Note the words “willing and obedient.” Obedience is an act of your will, not a reflex of your emotions. So this year – do what God says, for He has “good” things in mind for you.
Soul food: 1 Cor 5-8; Matt 4:1-11; Ps 90:7-12; Prov 1:5-7
2020-01-02
Judges 6:12 NKJV
The story’s told of a man who put an eagle’s egg into the nest of a barnyard chicken, and the eaglet hatched and grew up with the brood of chickens. All his life he did what the chickens did: scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects, clucked and cackled, and never flew more than a few feet off the ground. Then one day he saw a magnificent bird soaring gracefully above him and asked, “What a beautiful creature. What’s it called?” The chicken next to him said, “That’s an eagle, the king of all birds. But don’t give him any mind, because you could never be like him.” So the eagle returned to pecking in the dirt, and died thinking it was a barnyard chicken. Who told you that you don’t have potential? Who told you that you won’t succeed in life or make an impact? Certainly not God! When the Angel of the Lord called Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites, he responded with a litany of excuses about why he wasn’t qualified for the job. But the angel told him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!…Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel…Have not I sent you?” (vv. 12-14 NKJV). Notice two important things in this story. First, God spoke to the destiny within Gideon, not to his present circumstances. Second, God reminded him that it was not the power of the one being sent, but of the One sending him that would win the battle. Today you are “mighty” because God is with you.
Soul food: 1 Cor 1-4; Matt 3:11-17; Ps 90:1-6; Prov 1:1-4
2020-01-01
Nehemiah 8:10 NIV
When you listen to a great choir sing the Hallelujah Chorus, you realize that Handel was inspired by God. He wrote the entire Messiah in three weeks. He said the music literally “came to him” in a flurry of notes and motifs. He wrote feverishly, and as if driven by an unseen composer to put pen to paper. Yet he wrote it when his eyesight was failing, and he was facing the threat of dying in a debtors’ prison because of a mountain of outstanding bills. Most of us find it difficult to create under stress, especially when physical or financial problems are at the root of that stress. And yet Handel did. How? He credits the completion of his masterpiece to one thing: joy. He is quoted as saying that he felt as if he would “burst with joy” at what he was hearing in his mind and heart. Instead of dying, as he thought he would, he lived to see his oratorio become a cherished tradition and a popular work. And he also saw it succeed in raising vast sums of money for the poor and destitute. The Bible says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” And one of the first things Satan will attack is your joy. He knows it’s the spiritual and emotional fuel you run on. Jesus said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). Note the words “remain in you.” So: No matter what happens this year, keep your joy!
Soul food: Rom 13:12-14:19; John 1:1-14
2019-12-31
Deuteronomy 2:2-3 NLT
A biologist experimented with what he called “processional caterpillars.” He lined up caterpillars on the rim of a pot that held a plant so that the lead caterpillar was head-to-tail with the last caterpillar, with no break in the parade. The tiny creatures walked around the rim of the pot for a full week before they died of exhaustion and starvation. Not once did any of them break out of line and venture over to the plant to eat. Food was only inches away, but their follow-the-crowd instinct was stronger than the drive to eat and survive. The same thing happened to an entire generation of Israelites. They walked in circles in the wilderness for forty years, even though they were only eleven miles from the Promised Land. If you’re in a rut today, ask yourself these three questions: (1) Is this rut of my own making? We choose a rut because it’s comfortable and requires no risk. And getting out of it requires courage and a willingness to make table, tough choices you follow through on. (2) Who am I following? We adopt certain patterns because someone has taught them to us directly, or by example. Instead of mindlessly following the crowd, seek God’s will for your life and commit yourself to doing it. (3) Where am I going? The Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). If you want to get out of the rut you’re in today, ask God to give you a vision for your life – He will! And when He does, pour yourself into it.
Soul food: 1 Thes 4:1-5; 2 Cor 5:14-21; Ps 77:11-20; Prov 9:10-12
2019-12-30
2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT
Paul writes: “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (vv. 8-10 NLT). Paul didn’t get the answer he was looking for until he quit praying and started listening. Sometimes we’re so busy telling God what He ought to do for us, that we can’t hear God telling us what He wants to do in us. If you have a stubborn problem in your life, maybe it’s time to quit talking and start listening. God taught Paul lessons at the best time he could learn them – during difficulties. So the bad news about tough times turns out to be the good news after all – that you learn more about God in the valley than you do on the mountaintop. C. S. Lewis describes how God uses pain to communicate with us: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pains.” Before God spoke, all Paul wanted was to remove his problem. After God spoke, he realized that in his problem he had found something better and greater – supernatural strength reserved for those tough times when we realize God’s presence is greater than our problems and His purpose is greater than our pain.
Soul food: 1 Cor 16; Matt 3:7-10; Ps 75; Prov 31:31
