2022-06-12
2 Timothy 2:13 NIV
Here is something you should be very glad about: God’s faithfulness to you doesn’t depend on your faithfulness to Him. The Bible says, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.” Your mistakes may take you out of God’s will, but they will never place you beyond His reach.
Catherine Marshall tells of a great personal struggle she experienced after writing a novel titled Gloria. She began the book in 1969 and abandoned the project two-and-a-half years later. To her, the shelved manuscript was like “a death in the family.” Attempting to reconcile her conflicting thoughts and feelings, she spent time at a retreat house. And while there, she reread the Bible story from Numbers about a time when poisonous snakes filled the Israelite camp. The people recognized the snakes as punishment for their sin, and cried out in repentance. The Lord told Moses, “Make a [bronze] snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (Numbers 21:8 NIV).
Catherine realized that just as the Israelites took that which had hurt them, lifted it up to God, and were healed, we can take our mistakes and sins, lift them up to God in prayer, and trust Him to heal us. She writes, “When any one of us has made a wrong (or even doubtful) turning in our lives through arrogance, lack of trust, impatience, or fear – God will show us a way out.” Even when you stray, God loves you so much that He will draw you back to Himself again. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.”
Soul food: Ezek 37:1-14; Matt 27:50-53; 1 Thes 4:13-18; Eph 1:19-20
2022-05-22
1 Timothy 2:1 NIV
Paul wrote: ‘I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (v.1-4 NIV).
Intercession means ‘to mediate between parties with a view to reconciling those who differ or contend’. It happens every day in the court system when lawyers intercede on behalf of their clients. It also happened in Scripture. When Israel made a golden calf and worshipped it, Moses interceded with God on their behalf, saying: ‘Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! …But now, please forgive their sin – but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written’ (Exodus 32:31-32 NIV).
And it worked. God told Moses, ‘Go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you’ (v.34 NIV). Later when Israel turned again to worship false gods, Samuel said, ‘Assemble all Israel to Mizpah, and I will intercede with the LORD for you’ (1 Samuel 7:5 NKJV). So that day, God sent a loud thunder over the Philistines and confused them so much, they were defeated (see 1 Samuel 7:10).
Interceding for others can be lonely, and it’s also hard work. Epaphras was described as ‘wrestling in prayer’ for the people of the Colossian church (see Colossians 4:12 NIV). But there’s so much value in intercessory prayer. Could you be an intercessor for someone today?
Gen 24:1-51; 2 Cor 6:14-7:1
2022-04-12
Romans 12:3 NIV
We have exaggerated ideas about our capabilities. We like to think we can do it all. But no matter how disciplined you are or how hard you try, without a “sane estimate of your capabilities,” you’re setting yourself up to fail.
John Ortberg says: “Willpower is… finite… You don’t get separate stockpiles for different areas… That’s why a long list of New Year’s resolutions is almost certainly doomed… It takes a whole lot of willpower to get on an exercise… program to lose weight… If you add on the list: get on a budget… keep your office clean, and read Calvin’s Institutes every week, you set yourself up for failure… For most of us… our wills get depleted… more quickly than our bodies.”
Ortberg suggests these: (1) Schedule your most important tasks for when your willpower is strongest. For many people, that’s the morning. One study shows prisoners have a better shot at parole if their case is heard in the morning when the judge has a higher reserve of willpower and is more inclined to take a chance.
(2) Spend willpower wisely by not taking on too many tasks at once, even after you have prayed about them. Generally, God works through your will, and He seldom gives you a free pass to disregard the laws of finitude He created.
(3) Set goals – but not too many. Lacking a few, we drift, but having an overabundance means we worry about them, accomplish less, and suffer emotionally and physically.
(4) Remember that the one act of your will that replenishes willpower instead of depleting it is surrender. God meant for prayer, solitude, worship, and meditation to be done in a way that restores us.
Soul food: Lev 20-21; Luke 23:1-7; Ps 25:16-22; Pro 10:3
2022-03-16
Luke 13:12 NKJV
This woman tried religion, but it couldn’t help her. She tried doctors, but they couldn’t cure her. And the people around her thought her problem would never be solved. Even she did! But not Jesus. His promise is: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will… [relieve and refresh your souls]” (Matthew 11:28 AMPC).
What a relief; you can give your burden to Jesus. No matter how hard life seems, relief is just a prayer away. Regardless of the obstacles standing in your way, reach out to Jesus. You may have an out-of-wedlock infant cradled in your arms, but keep pressing toward Him. You may have been abused and molested and have never been able to tell anyone, but don’t stop reaching out for Him. You don’t have to tell everyone your whole past. Just know that Jesus is calling you. He knows your past, but He is calling you anyway. He doesn’t see you as you are but as you will be when His grace has wrought a work in your life.
Mary Magdalene may have been a prostitute before she met Jesus, but she became one of His closest disciples. Matthew, who wrote the first book of the New Testament, was a despised tax collector working for the Romans when he met Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t examine your past in order to decide what He will do with your future. Saul of Tarsus, the murderer of Christians, became Paul the Apostle, author of half the New Testament. The good news is, when Jesus saves you, you no longer have a past. You only have a future.
Soul food: 2 Thes 1-3; Luke 17:11-19; Ps 115; Pro 8:1-3
2022-02-16
Proverbs 8:9 NLT
King Solomon wrote: ‘Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception. My advice is wholesome. There is nothing devious or crooked in it. My words are plain to anyone with understanding’ (v.6-9 NLT).
We usually embellish the truth because we want these two things from our audience: their attention and their approval. But eventually, it backfires. Over time, people discover our willingness to stretch the truth, and we end up losing credibility. And once we lose that, it takes a long time to get it back – if we ever do. Using a lot of sweeping, generalising statements like ‘Everybody does it,’ or ‘They never,’ or ‘They always’ can cause people to doubt our sincerity and trustworthiness. There’s nothing wrong with saying something with enthusiasm, but we mustn’t let it slip into exaggeration. We should stick to the facts and resist the temptation to bend the truth in order to be the centre of attention.
Joseph’s brothers resented the favour of God that was on his life. So, they threw him into a pit, dipped his coat in blood, then took it back home and showed it to their ageing father. They didn’t say a word. They simply let the old man conclude that his son had been devoured by a wild beast. And what’s more, they allowed him to live with that cruel lie for years.
In Revelation 22:15, people ‘who love lies and tell lies’ are lumped together with ‘the evil people, those who do evil magic, who sin sexually, who murder, [and] who worship idols’ (NCV). That’s a good incentive for always being truthful! Today make your prayer the words of Psalm 120:2: ‘Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all deceitful people’ (NLT).
Isa 38-41; Luke 9:57-62; Ps 149; Pro 4:25-27
