2020-02-19
2 Chronicles 20:3 NKJV
When we’re facing a battle, one of the most important things we can do is to take our problems to God. In the midst of his crisis, Jehoshaphat ‘set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast.’ Prayer is often the last thing we think of. But when we’re facing a battle, prayer should be our first resort, not our last. When we’re praying, we also need to be listening to God. It can be easy to cry out to God about our situation, but sometimes we forget to take the time to listen to what He wants to say to us about it. Sometimes God can lead us to fast alongside our times of prayer. Fasting isn’t something mystical and mysterious; it’s about focus. It helps us to turn to God and be focused on Him. Maybe we need to give up social media for a while, and use that extra time to pray. Maybe we need to fast from TV or a certain type of food which we go to for comfort. Fasting is a way of acknowledging that we need God’s help to win our battle, rather than seeking help and comfort in other things. It’s a way of focusing on God until He shows us the answer to our problem. In the Bible, Cornelius fasted and prayed for four days, asking God for direction. As a result, God sent Peter to his house to preach the gospel and in the process changed the course of history (have a read of Acts 10). When we turn to God through prayer and fasting, He’ll show us the way we can win our battle.
Rom 15-16; Matt 15:15-28; Ps 28; Prov 5:3-6
2020-02-18
2 Chronicles 20:12 NIV
If we want to win our battles, we need to make sure we have a humble attitude. So we need to admit our own inadequacy. It might seem a little strange to be focused on our weaknesses when we’re facing a battle, but if we don’t think we need God’s help then He can’t help us. He doesn’t force anything on us, but responds when we come humbly to Him. King Jehoshaphat said, ‘We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.’ Often our eyes are on everything and everyone – except God, the One who can solve our problems. We need to keep our eyes on God if we want to win our battles. God says it’s ‘not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit’ (Zechariah 4:6 NIV). We can’t live the Christian life in our own strength because we designed to need God’s strength. We need the power that comes from letting God’s Spirit live through us. Jesus said, ‘You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you’ (Acts 1:8 NKJV). Jesus often spoke of the Holy Spirit as ‘the Helper’, so when we don’t know what to do, we need to stand on His promise: ‘The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name…will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you’ (John 14:26 NKJV). We need to acknowledge that we need help; we can’t do everything on our own. If we fight in our own strength, we’ll lose. But when we rely on the power of God’s Spirit that’s within us, we’ll win.
Rom 12-14; Matt 15:1-14; Ps 5; Prov 5:1-2
2020-02-17
2 Chronicles 20:12 NIV
With God’s help, King Jehoshaphat overcame not just one army, but three. And his victory teaches us how we can win life’s battles too. Firstly we need to identify the enemy. It can be quite challenging to work out what or who the real enemy we’re facing is. Sometimes it’s other people coming against us, sometimes it’s spiritual attack, but many times the real enemy is actually our own attitude. It’s not so much what’s happening that gets us down, it’s our response to the situation. When Jehoshaphat heard ‘a vast army’ was coming against him, he was ‘alarmed’ (vv.2-3 NIV). It’s a fairly typical human response. We see a big problem, panic, and become fearful about what’s going to happen to us. Fear isn’t always a bad things, unless we deal with it in the wrong way. We can use it to motivate us to conquer the problem and drive us closer to God. It’s when we get discouraged, give up, get angry, and start asking, ‘Why me, God?’ that fear defeats us. If we’re facing a situation that’s filling us with fear and anxiety, we need to remember that God responds to faith. Let’s have faith in His unshakeable Word and stand on His promise: ‘So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10 NIV). He will never leave us to face our battles alone. He can help us identify our enemies, when our vision has become clouded by fear and uncertainty. And when we have unshakeable trust in God’s Word, we have the strength to deal with the battle we’re facing.
Rom 9:17-11:36; Matt 14:22-36; Ps 149; Prov 4:25-27
2020-02-16
Isaiah 26:3 NIV
When life gets overwhelming, it can be difficult to feel at peace. But we can hand over all our troubles to God, in exchange for His peace. The Bible says: ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ (1 Peter 5:7 NIV). It can be challenging to hand things over to God without taking them back again. We like to feel in control, and handing over our worries means we’re not in control of them anymore. We have to trust God and let Him help us handle the situations rather than trying to do everything ourselves. It’s also important to stop looking at the problems we have, and start looking at the One who can solve them. In Isaiah we’re told: ‘You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.’ We need to keep our minds fixed on our unchanging God, not our changeable circumstances. In the Bible we read about Jesus calming the storm. The disciples were focused on the situation that they were in, rather than trusting the fact that Jesus was on board and could do the seemingly impossible. The Bible says: ‘When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm’ (Mark 4:29 NLT). And He can bring peace and calm to the storms in our lives too. No matter how strong the wind is, or how high the waves are, He can bring peace. We need to pray about all our situations, surrender our need to be in control of everything, and let Him work. Then ‘the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4:7 NIV).
Isa 40:9-11; Isa 42:1-4; Ps 18:31-35
2020-02-15
Philippians 2:14 NLT
Ever find yourself complaining when things aren’t going the way you want them to? Or been in a tough situation and told God that this shouldn’t be happening to you? It’s easy to find ourselves in a negative frame of mind when we’re struggling with something. But the Bible repeatedly tells us to stay away from complaining. In Philippians, we’re told to ‘do everything without complaining’. To stop complaining, we need to be honest with ourselves. Once we’re willing to face the truth about our attitude and do something about it, our lives will start to improve. We need to see the root of the problem. Sometimes our complaining comes from an elevated view of ourselves, other times we complain because it’s easier to moan about our lives with our friends rather than be positive. And sometimes it’s because we’d prefer to hold on to the past rather than believe for a better future. When the Israelites left Egypt and entered the desert, on their way to the Promised Land, they began complaining to Moses. They moaned about what they would eat and drink. They even said that they would have been better off staying in slavery in Egypt (take a look at Exodus 14:12). Once we become negative about one or two things, we can find ourselves complaining about everything. And when God takes us out of our comfort zones, we can even start to think we were better off in the past because it was comfortable. Paul says, ‘Rejoice always…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV). God wants us to be thankful, rather than spending our lives complaining about things. So let’s make sure we’re rejoicing not complaining.
Rom 7:1-9:16; Matt 14:13-21; Ps 145:14-21; Prov 4:23-24
2020-02-14
Matthew 10:14 NIV
There are some people in life we get along well with, and others we don’t. And that’s okay. It doesn’t mean we should be unloving, insensitive, or divisive. After all, Paul says, ‘Do all…you can to live in peace with everyone’ (Romans 12:18 NLT). We’re talking about people God specifically tells us to break away from. There may be people in our lives right now who God doesn’t want us to be connected to. Perhaps they lead us away from Him, change our character, or hold us back from fulfilling our God-given purposes. Paul said: ‘Do not be yoked together with unbelievers…what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?…what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?’ (2 Corinthians 6:14-15 NIV). This doesn’t mean we should never be friends with non-Christians, but we need to be careful who is speaking into our lives, influencing us, and who we spend the most time with. When Jesus was sending out the disciples, He said: ‘If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.’ If people don’t accept us, or don’t accept Jesus, we don’t have to stay around them. Sometimes we can feel like we have to be the hero and fix people’s situations. It’s true that God can use us in people’s lives. But if God’s telling us that it’s not right, we need to let them go. Our relationships with others should lead us to become more like Christ; if they’re not, we need to honestly assess whether it’s a relationship God wants us to have. And when God tells us that a certain relationship is not right for us, we need to listen and obey Him.
Eph 5:21-33; S of Sol 2:1-7; Ps 45; Prov 5:15-19
