2021-10-06
Exodus 24:2 NIV
It’s essential to be alone with God in order to hear clearly from Him. For a texting/Twittering generation hooked on cell phones and bombarded by round-the-clock media, this can be a tough concept to grasp. But until you do, you’ll get nowhere spiritually.
Are you serious about following Jesus? He “often withdrew…and prayed” (Luke 5:16 NIV). He “went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23 NIV). How did Jacob the deceiver become “Israel, a prince with God”? (See Genesis 32:28). The Bible says he “was left alone, and a man (the Angel of the Lord) wrestled with him till daybreak” (Genesis 32:24 NIV).
The greatest spiritual victories come from the battles God calls you to fight when you’re alone with Him. He outlines and clarifies His plans for your life when there’s nobody else around. That’s because He wants you to be more influenced by Him than them. When God is grooming you for a special assignment, you’ll be required to spend time outside the company of others.
In Exodus God said, “Moses alone is to approach…the people may not come up with him.” After Elijah spent the night alone in a cave, God told him, “Go out and stand on the mountain…for the Lord is about to pass by” (1 Kings 19:11 NIV). Daniel, “was left alone, gazing at this great vision” (Daniel 10:8 NIV). Jeremiah wrote, “I sat alone because your hand was on me” (Jeremiah 15:17 NIV).
Learn the difference between loneliness and solitude. When God sidelines you, glean all you can from the experience and move to the next level.
Soul food: Eph 1:1-4:16; John 1:1-13; Ps 92; Prov 22:24-25
2021-10-05
John 14:27 NIV
God rarely sends us into situations where our comfort level is high. Instead He promises to be with us in spite of our fear. It’s God’s presence, not comfortable circumstances that strengthens our faith and brings out the best in us.
God told Abraham to leave a wealthy, well-known family, and go to a land he didn’t know. He explained that Abraham would give birth to a new nation that would bless the world. Abraham went, and a nation was born. God told Moses to confront Pharaoh, the most powerful man on earth, and that God Himself would use Moses to deliver His people. Moses confronted, and God delivered. God told Joshua that if he’d be strong and courageous when everybody wanted to return to slavery, God would go with them and give them the land. Joshua was strong and courageous, and God Himself went with them and gave them the land.
Over and over we see this pattern repeated in Scripture. David faced the giant Goliath, Elijah faced the prophets of Baal, Daniel faced a den of lions – and always there was God in the midst of their fear. And lest you think these stories of courage are all in the past, historian Everett Ferguson calculates that more Christians have been killed for their faith in the past fifty years, than in the first three hundred years of the church’s existence. So here’s Jesus’ Word to you when somebody doesn’t like you, or you get a bad review at work, or you face illness, or the economy dips and your retirement takes a 50 percent hit: “My peace I give you.”
Soul food: 1 Sam 27-31; Luke 24:45-53; Ps 63; Prov 22:17-23
2021-10-04
Luke 15:20 NKJV
Good parents try to love all their children equally. But it’s the child who needs us most, that becomes the special object of our love.
Author and humorist Erma Bombeck once wrote: “Every mother has a Favourite child. She cannot help it. She is only human. I have mine – the child for whom I feel a special closeness, with whom I share a love that no one else could possibly understand. My Favourite child was the one who was too sick to eat ice cream at his birthday party, who had measles at Christmas, who wore leg braces to bed because he toed in, who had a fever in the middle of the night, the asthma attack, the child in my arms at the emergency ward. My Favourite child is the one who messed up the piano recital, misspelled committee in a spelling bee, ran the wrong way with the football, and had his bike stolen because he was careless. My Favourite child was selfish, immature, bad tempered and self-centered. He was vulnerable, lonely, unsure of what he was doing in this world – and quite wonderful. All others have their Favourite child. It is always the same one: the one who needs you at the moment. Who needs you for whatever reason – to cling to, to shout at, to hurt, to hug, to flatter, to reverse telephone charges to, to unload on – but mostly just to be there.”
Or as Jesus said about the Prodigal Son: “When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion.”
Soul food: 1 Sam 24-26; Luke 24:36-44; Ps 51; Prov 22:12-16
2021-10-03
2 Corinthians 9:7 NLT
We each give for different reasons. (1) Some people give out of guilt. They give to God’s work because they would feel bad if they didn’t.
(2) Some people give out of greed. They give only to get. They stand on Scriptures such as: “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38 NKJV). What’s wrong with this kind of thinking? It’s “me-centered,” rather than “us-centered.”
(3) Some people give to get glory. Jesus said, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1 NKJV). God is not just interested in what you give, but in why you give. He looks beyond the measure of your giving, to the motive behind it. If you give to God out of greed, guilt, or glory, He writes a big zero over your account. Jesus said: “When you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly” (vv. 3-4 NKJV).
(4) Some people give out of gratitude. These are the folks who ask, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12 NKJV), and they give out of gratitude. That’s the kind of giver you should be.
Soul food: Gen 1:1-2:3; John 1:1-18
2021-10-02
Romans 12:8 NIV
The Bible says; “We have different gifts…If a man’s gift is…contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously” (vv. 6-8 NIV 1995). Every believer receives grace for giving, but some of us have the gift of giving. Who are these people? They have a gift of making money. Everything they touch turns to gold. They have the Midas touch. They know how to make wise investments and recognize a good deal. Indeed, good deals are drawn to them like iron to a magnet. They know how to get the best return on their money.
If you’re one of these people, you must realize that your ability to accumulate wealth is actually a gift from God: “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18 NKJV). God also says, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go” (Isaiah 48:17 NKJV).
But don’t let prosperity lead you into pride. You’re not wealthy because of your ability to wheel and deal, but because God has blessed you. And He has done it for a reason; so that you can be a blessing to others. God told Abraham, “I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2 NKJV). That means when God taps you on the shoulder and tells you to write a check, don’t argue with Him. Just say, “How much?” You say, “Why should I do that?” Because God can not only add, He can subtract.
Soul food: 1 Sam 20:30-23:29; Luke 24:25-35; Ps 60; Prov 22:7-11
2021-10-01
2 Corinthians 8:7 NKJV
Paul writes, “As you abound in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us – see that you abound in this grace also.” What’s Paul talking about here? Giving! God has not called you to be a reservoir that stores up all His blessings for yourself, but a river that carries His blessing to others. Many Christians have learned how to get, but not give. If you get into a posture of being a getting Christian without being a giving Christian, your life of faith will wither and die on the vine.
There are two seas in Palestine, and both are fed by the Jordan River. One sea is fresh, brimming with life. Fish are in it, splashes of green adorn its banks and trees spread their branches over it, stretching out their thirsty roots to sip of its nourishing waters. But the other sea has no life at all. No fish can live in it. No one can drink of it for the water is foul and putrid. Yet both are fed by the Jordan River.
What’s the difference? The Sea of Galilee receives water from the Jordan, but it also gives. For every drop that flows into it, another drop flows out. But the other sea hoards its water. Every drop it gets, it keeps. The Sea of Galilee gives and lives. The other sea gets and keeps, and it’s called the Dead Sea.
Don’t miss the point here! When you hoard and keep your blessings to yourself, you die spiritually. But when you give generously, you come to life spiritually.
Soul food: 1 Sam 18:1-20:29; Luke 24:13-24; Ps 68:19-35; Prov 22:6
