2022-06-30
2 Samuel 23:5 NLT
Have a think about how you are at church, school, or workplace versus how you are when it’s just you and your family. Is there any difference? Do you tend to have more patience or kindness when you’re dealing with people you don’t know? Are you willing to help those outside your home, but inside you tend to ignore or roll your eyes when someone needs a hand with something? Although we love our family, we’re often more inclined to be helpful, cooperative, and compassionate – in other words, show love through our actions – towards those outside our families. We might think it doesn’t matter too much. But God sees who we are in every situation, and expects us to show love to everyone.
In 1 Timothy 5:8 we read: ‘Those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers’ (NLT). God puts a lot of importance on our attitude to our family and how we care for them, and the first place we should be practising compassion and kindness, patience and gentleness, is in our homes.
God designed families to be places of love and support, and we should be able to share our frustrations after a stressful day, find rest when we’re tired, and find encouragement after a disappointment. But it works both ways – we also need to do our part in providing support, giving encouragement, and treating our loved ones with compassion.
If you’re aware that you’ve taken your family for granted recently, pray this prayer: ‘Father, thank You for my family. Help me to contribute to an atmosphere of love and acceptance in my home, and if I become impatient or neglectful of my family, give me a nudge back in the right direction. Amen.’
Jer 7-9; Matt 22:23-33; Ps 59:9-17; Pro 14:23-24
2022-06-29
Proverbs 23:7 NKJV
When we’re young, we’re often told, ‘Mind your manners.’ If we try to get involved in something that doesn’t concern us and cross the line between helping and interfering, we might be told, ‘Mind your business.’ But here’s some advice that applies to all parts of life: ‘Mind your mind.’
Proverbs 23 gives us six principles to live by when it comes to thinking: 1) Your thoughts determine your character. ‘For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.’ Before we tell a lie, we let it come into our mind and think like a liar for a brief time. Before we give in to a temptation, we let the desire to do that thing rule our thoughts for a moment. So if we don’t want to do something, we must try to stop our thoughts dwelling on it.
2) Don’t waste your thoughts on people who don’t value them. ‘Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words’ (v.9 NKJV).
3) The first person you must learn to lead is yourself. ‘Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge’ (v.12 NKJV). We can’t set an example to others if our own self-control is lacking.
4) Be sure your role models are people with good values and integrity. ‘Do not let your heart envy sinners’ (v.17 NKJV).
5) Stay confident that the vision God has given you will happen. ‘Be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off’ (v.17-18 NKJV).
6) Stay committed to what you know is right. Don’t get side-tracked. ‘Hear… and be wise; and guide your heart in the way’ (v.19 NKJV).
Our thoughts have power. Let’s do our best to ensure they line up with God’s thoughts as much as we can.
Jer 4-6; Matt 22:15-22; Ps 59:1-8; Pro 14:21-22
2022-06-28
Psalm 27:14 NKJV
When we become impatient and react without thinking, we can do damage to ourselves and others. Sometimes when we pray and God doesn’t respond quickly enough, we decide to take matters into our own hands and things get worse as a result. When God tells us to wait, He’s saying, ‘Trust me with the timing, the ways and means, and you will get a better result.’ David wrote: ‘I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!’ (v.13-14 NKJV).
It can be difficult to wait for God. It’s much easier in the heat of the moment to lose our calm. But take a moment to stop and look back. How did any hasty and prayerless decisions you made in the past turn out? Probably not very well, and definitely not as well as they could have done if God had been brought into them. A decision made without God’s involvement might give us some temporary relief, but for a permanent solution, we must pray and ask for His guidance and wisdom.
When we act impulsively, we often do things that we end up regretting and having to apologise for. Impulsiveness got King Saul into serious trouble. Instead of waiting for the prophet Samuel to arrive and the priests to offer a peace offering to God, which would ensure their victory over the Philistines, Saul grew impatient, took over the role of the priest, and offered the sacrifice himself. When Samuel asked him why, he replied, ‘I felt compelled’ (1 Samuel 13:12 NKJV). Then ‘Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly… now your kingdom shall not continue”‘ (v.13-14 NKJV). So, make sure you always wait for God.
Jer 1-3; Matt 22:1-14; Ps 21; Pro 14:17-20
2022-06-26
Luke 22:32 NKJV
Jesus said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren’ (v.31-32 NKJV). We all go through times of failure because of our own weaknesses or particular temptations. We might end up doing things we always said we’d never do, and never thought we’d be capable of. But temptation and fear are powerful things, and both can lead us along a path we never intended to take.
But we’re not alone. Even the people who were closest to Jesus made mistakes. Peter swore that he would never deny Jesus, but he did. And not just once but three times. There’s no doubt that Peter loved Jesus, but because his weakness took over, he turned his back on Him. It was a massive load of guilt to carry, and he ‘went out and wept bitterly’ (v.62 NKJV). But Jesus knew in advance it would happen and told Peter that He would be praying for him.
Here’s an amazing thought: when you sin, Jesus prays for you! ‘Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them’ (Hebrews 7:25 NKJV). Picture this: you’re struggling with a sinful habit, but at the same time, Jesus presents His cleansing blood to the Father and begs Him for help and mercy on your behalf. And because we know Jesus’ prayers are totally in line with His Father’s will, His prayer for you will succeed. And however long it takes, He’ll work with you until you’re restored.
Exo 34:29-35; Mark 9:2-27; 2 Cor 3:7-18
2022-06-25
Matthew 6:26 NKJV
Jesus said: ‘Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?… These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need’ (v.26-33 NLT).
And here are some more scriptural promises to stand on when we’re not sure if God will provide for us: ‘Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need’ (Psalm 34:9 NLT). ‘Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house… He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD’ (Psalm 112:1-7 NKJV). God recorded these promises in His Word so that you could read them over and over, use them to rise above worry, and live your life with joy and confidence in Him.
Hosea 6-10; Matt 21:18-32; Ps 8; Pro 14:9-12
2022-06-24
Genesis 22:16-17 NKJV
God won’t ask us for what we don’t have, but sometimes He will ask for the one thing we really want to keep. It reveals if there’s anything we value or depend on more than Him. Abraham was tested like nobody else in history. But he passed the test and was blessed like very few others in history. Imagine God saying to you, ‘Take now your son, your only son… whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’ (v.2 NKJV).
So many questions would swirl through your mind. But Abraham trusted God. In fact, his faith was so strong that he would be described as ‘the friend of God’ (James 2:23 NKJV) and ‘the father of all them that believe’ (Romans 4:11 KJV). When the test was over (and Isaac wasn’t sacrificed), God said this to Abraham: ‘Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld… your only son… I will bless you, and… multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore… In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice’ (Genesis 22:16-18 NKJV).
So now the question is: what’s God asking of you? Are you struggling with giving it? Are you withholding what He wants, or are you handing it over confidently? Isaac was the hardest seed Abraham ever had to sow, but that seed produced a harvest of blessing greater than anything Abraham ever dreamed of or thought possible. What’s God asking you to do today? When you say yes to Him, you’ll get to see the amazing things He can do and just how far His blessing can reach.
Hosea 1-5; Matt 21:1-17; Ps 144:9-15; Pro 14:5-8
