2021-10-15
1 Samuel 3:9 NCV
When Samuel was a boy and was working in the temple, he didn’t recognise God’s voice when He spoke to him. But later, as a prophet, God spoke to an entire nation through him. Learning to recognise God’s voice isn’t a skill that we develop overnight, because He speaks to us at different times, in different ways, and in different settings.
Recognising God’s voice: 1) Calls for spiritual maturity. Jesus said, ‘The sheep follow him, for they know his voice’ (John 10:4 NKJV). Notice that He said His sheep know His voice, not His lambs. Lambs follow adult sheep until their senses are trained and they’ve learned what to listen for. That means there’s grace for young people, immature people, and those who are His new followers. If our spiritual ears aren’t developed yet, God will work with us until they are.
2) Means not being limited by your previous experiences. When God spoke to Moses, a mountain shook, whereas He spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice. Don’t limit God, and don’t try to figure Him out. He can speak to us through the Bible, through pastors and those who teach His Word, through a song, through a painful situation, and through our thoughts and desires when we’re submitted to Him. The key is to stay close to God and keep focused and listening.
3) Means being obedient: David said, ‘I take joy in doing your will’ (Psalm 40:8 NLT). When it comes to recognising God’s voice, our response shouldn’t be ‘When I get around to it,’ ‘If I can fit it in,’ or ‘I’ll think about it.’ ‘If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures’ (Job 36:11 NKJV).
2 Sam 20:1-22:30; John 4:1-12; Ps 100; Prov 23:22-28
2021-10-14
Matthew 23:12 NLT
Paul had one of the greatest ministries the world has ever known, but he said of himself, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the worst of them’ (1 Timothy 1:15 GNT). When people told Paul how great he was, he stayed humble by remembering what he used to be. If we believe God has called us, our response should be to bow down in humility before Him.
When the Angel of the Lord told an ageing Zacharias he would father a son named John the Baptist, Zacharias hit the floor and didn’t move, to the point where people wondered if he was dead. Ezekiel had a book in the Bible named after him, but when God called him, he collapsed on the floor and God had to tell him to get up, saying, ‘Stand up, son of man…I want to speak to you’ (Ezekiel 2:1 NLT). When John the Revelator saw Jesus standing in the midst of the seven churches, he wrote, ‘When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man’ (Revelation 1:17 NCV).
Paul wrote, ‘Walk…with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering’ (Ephesians 4:1-2 NKJV). Think about the phrase ‘walking with God’. There’s no higher calling than that, and the higher our calling, the lower we must become in our own estimation. Humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself; it means thinking of yourself less. Jesus summed it up like this: ‘Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’ So today, practise humility.
2 Sam 17:14-19:43; John 3:22-36; Ps 89:38-52; Prov 23:19-21
2021-10-13
Deuteronomy 1:38 NIV
When it comes to being an exhorter, notice these two things: 1) Exhortation is a neglected gift. A ministry of encouragement is so needed in the church today. It’s so easy to find discouragement and so difficult to find encouragement, even in the church. Wherever we go, whatever we’re involved in, there are people who are always ready to tell us why something won’t work and point out how something went wrong. They seem to talk louder and longer than the encouragers.
Which leads to the next point: 2) Exhortation is a needed gift. No matter how well things may be going, or how well someone looks on the outside, every one of us can use some encouragement. In fact, encouragement is so important that the whole church should be involved in it. ‘Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near’ (Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT).
Church is a place where people should be picked up, not knocked down. We should take every opportunity to encourage people, even when they don’t need it, instead of waiting until they do. If we wait too long, our encouragement may be too late. Don’t wait until something good happens to speak an encouraging word; make it a regular habit. If we’re unsure what to say and how to say it, we can ask God for wisdom, and He’ll provide it. ‘The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary’ (Isaiah 50:4 NIV).
2 Sam 14:21-17:13; John 3:1-21; Ps 89:15-37; Prov 23:15-18
2021-10-12
Acts 14:22 NKJV
An exhorter has the ability to do three things: 1) Confirm. ‘When they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God”‘ (v.21-22 NKJV). An exhorter is a pillar of strength in difficult times. They know how to motivate the tough to get going, when the going gets tough. They throw a life jacket of faith to a believer who’s drowning in a sea of doubt.
2) Console. ‘So when they came out of jail, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw some of the believers and encouraged them’ (Acts 16:40 NCV). Here the gift of exhortation is demonstrated in its finest form. Paul and Silas had been falsely accused, beaten with rods and thrown into a dungeon with their hands and feet locked in stocks. When word of it reached the church, the believers were really depressed. Remarkably, after they were supernaturally released from prison, instead of looking for consolation and comfort, Paul and Silas went to church and offered it to others.
3) Confront. ‘I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord…these women who laboured with me in the gospel’ (Philippians 4:2-3 NKJV). These two prominent women in the church couldn’t get along with one another, so Paul took on the role of a peacemaker and confronted them. He was friendly, he was fair, but he was firm. And we must be the same.
2 Sam 12:1-14:20; John 2:12-25; Ps 89:1-14; Prov 23:10-14
2021-10-11
Hebrews 3:13 NIV
The Greek word for ‘encourage’ or ‘exhort’ is parakalew. It comes from two words, one meaning ‘alongside of’ and the other meaning ‘to call’. This is the root of the Greek word paraclete, which is the name Jesus gave the Holy Spirit. The real ministry of the Holy Spirit is to exhort and encourage us in our walk with God. So we are never more like the Holy Spirit, and never more in tune with His ministry, than when we’re exhorting and encouraging others.
An exhorter can turn a loser into a winner, a shirker into a worker, and a pessimist into an optimist. They inspire others with renewed courage, spirit, and hope. They have a ministry of affirmation and appreciation.
It’s important to remember the difference between appreciation and affirmation. We appreciate what a person does, but we affirm who a person is. Appreciation comes and goes because it’s usually related to someone’s achievements, but affirmation goes right to the heart of a person because it’s directed at that person’s individual worth. An exhorter has the ability to make you feel good about yourself. They uplift, inspire, motivate, and make you feel better just by being around you.
The Bible says that Barnabas was an exhorter. ‘Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord’ (Acts 11:22-23 NKJV).
So today, be an exhorter.
2 Sam 7:18-11:27; John 2:1-11; Ps 110; Prov 23:6-9
2021-10-10
Galatians 5:24 MSG
It’s estimated that the average person speaks about nine million words a year, and more than half are, ‘I, me, my, mine.’ But following Christ means dying to self, and self-centredness doesn’t give up without a fight. ‘Everything connected with getting our own way…is killed off for good.’ Self-interest is a daily battle, because we tend to try and cling to our own interests with a grip of steel.
Jesus told His disciples, ‘Whoever wants to become great among you must serve the rest of you like a servant (Matthew 20:26 NCV). A servant had to carry out the instructions given to them, putting aside their own wants and needs and looking only to the wants and needs of the people they were serving. And we’ve been called to give up our own interests in order to serve others.
If He has to, God will leave us with ‘a reminder’ of what it took to get through to us in our particular areas of stubbornness and self-centredness. For example, after his encounter with God, Jacob walked with a limp, but it was a constant reminder of his total dependence on God. The Message paraphrases the apostle Paul’s words: ‘So I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations’ (2 Corinthians 12:7 MSG).
Maybe there’s a habit you need to battle, a problem that keeps recurring, a person in your life who you find difficult to get along with, or even a physical condition that slows you down. God doesn’t always take things away from us straight away, because He wants us to learn that we need to depend on Him and that we can trust Him to help us in our areas of weakness.
Eze 37:1-14; Matt 27:50-53; 1 Thes 4:13-18
