Tag: Scripture

He Promises Exceedingly More

Luke 5:5
And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

It is important to realize that there is power for us in the Word of God. The power that we can access is held in the promises that are revealed to us in the Holy Bible. The promises are the keys to our victory over all the forces of this earth and all the forces of evil that might try to come against us. No matter what we think the promises of this world hold in store for us, the Word of God promises exceedingly more.

Peter exhibited faith in the spoken words of His Master, Jesus. Even though his instincts told him that it was highly questionable to expect a worthwhile catch, he dropped his nets. He had faith that Jesus’ words were more powerful than the forces of nature that he knew were unlikely to deliver a decent catch at this place and time of day. His faith was rewarded. His nets were filled beyond the point of bursting.

Whether we are toiling in a ministry that is not fruitful, laboring in a vocation that is not productive or simply struggling with the issues of life, we should look toward the promises in God’s Holy Word and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our victory is guaranteed and is waiting upon us if we have faith in the Lord.

Let us dig into the Holy Word of God and find those scriptures that best fit our time of need. If we are diligent in our search, we will find the promises that will provide the power that we will need to overcome what the world has laid upon us. Let us rejoice in knowing that His Word is more powerful than anything that the evil one or this world can bring against us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Holy Word to teach us the things that we are promised as inheritors of Your kingdom. We pray that the Holy Spirit shows us how to live our lives in accordance with Your Word and in reliance upon Your promises. We ask that the Holy Spirit strengthen us to stand against everything that comes against us, knowing that through Our Savior we have victory over every circumstance. We ask all these things in the name of the One who gave us victory over all things when He died on the Cross, Jesus Christ.

Believing in the Fullness of Our Redemption

Luke 4:18
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

The words in Luke 4:18 were spoken by Jesus himself in the synagogue. He was confirming all the things that the Scripture said that He was anointed to do on earth. Later, before He left them, Jesus told the disciples that they would be able to do and should do more than He did. He let them know that where they were weak in the flesh that He would send the Holy Spirit to perfect His strength in their weaknesses. As Jesus instructed His disciples, He was also instructing us. All these things have been set aside for us as well.

How shortsighted we are when we accept Our Savior’s invitation for salvation, but do not believe in the fullness of our redemption. Not only did Our Lord come to redeem us from our sins, but He also came in His power and grace to free us from all the bondages of this world. Though we may currently suffer in the flesh, He released us into the world with freedom and joy in the spirit so that the world may know Him through our living testimonies.

The fullness of our redemption is not just for our own benefit. We have each been anointed in different ways to do all the things that Jesus Himself was called to do as the Son of Man.

Let us boldly seek the Holy Spirit to guide us in joining Jesus in carrying out His work for the Father. Let us experience the fullness of our redemption. Let us allow the world see the love and power of Jesus through our daily lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for anointing us to do Your good work. We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to receive our anointing. We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit dwells within us to insure that where we are weak in our flesh, we will be made strong in Christ. We pray, Lord, that You show us how to take claim of the fullness of our redemption. Whatever our current situation may be, may we take on the joy and comfort of Your completed promises. May we find peace knowing that Your power is working in us. May the world see the anointing that is upon us because Our Savior is within us. We pray all these things in the name of our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Understanding How God Intends to Rule and Reign in Our Lives

Luke 24:21
But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.

For the two men on the road to Emmaus, dejection had set in. They had heard the reports that Jesus had risen from the grave and was alive, but they were perplexed as to why Israel had not been redeemed. Their expectation was of a redemption of a temporal kind – a redemption that would free Israel from bondage to Rome. Jesus reproved them for the weakness in their faith and their lack of understanding of the prophetic Scripture.

For all of us that have grown up in an era where instant gratification has become the norm, waiting on the Lord to answer our prayers is one of the most difficult challenges that we face. We often feel dejected, perhaps even feel rejected, when we have not seen our prayers answered quickly or in a manner that we wished for. We suffer the same weakness as the men on the road to Emmaus. We are weak in our faith and we lack understanding of how God intends to rule and reign in our lives. We tend to seek things from the hand of God without fully seeking the presence of God in our lives.

Let us learn from the men on the way to Emmaus. Let us refuse to have our hopes dashed because God’s work in our lives does not meet our expectations of immediate gratification. Let us separate ourselves from our old ways of living in the flesh and not in the spirit. Let us learn to move away from dealing with the issues of our day through our own strength alone. Let us move to higher ground where we rely on Almighty God to settle our issues. Let us graduate to the highest ground where we seek the continual presence and impact of Our Savior in our lives and we experience the anointing of living in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to live among us so that we could learn about who You are. We praise the name of Jesus for making it possible for us to enter into Your presence here on earth and forever in Your eternal kingdom. We pray, Father, that You open our eyes so that we can see You in all the commonplace things that surround us. We call upon Your Holy Spirit to give us the strength to overcome the depression and oppression that we find in our world. May we always be mindful of all that is promised to us because of the price that was paid by Your Son, Jesus. May the world see our joy as we live in Your constant presence. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord and Our King, Jesus Christ.

Becoming a Repository of God’s Truth

2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

The Bible is the infallible Word of God. The Bible is a repository of God’s truth. The truth is held there for us to absorb and apply to our lives. But we have to persistently study the Word of God to find the truth. Or as the scripture indicates, we must rightly handle the word of truth. To rightly handle the word of truth requires study and hard work. It is good work but it does require industry, diligence and application.

It is work that cannot be done without the grace of God. The grace of God is extended to us as we strive to arm ourselves with the truth. His grace provides the Holy Spirit to insure our understanding of His Word and to show us how to apply it to our lives. Keenly aware of our need for His truth in our lives, Our Heavenly Father encourages us with the promise of comfort through our struggles when we seek His truth. He then delivers on His promises by comforting us as He shines divine enlightenment on our lives even when we are going through the darkest of times.

Through yet another extension of His grace, He will use us to comfort others as we have been comforted. We will find this play out in every area of our lives. When we struggle with anything, we might as well look around because there will be someone near us who is struggling with the same thing. As the Holy Spirit directs changes in our lives through the application of God’s Word, we should prepare ourselves to comfort others with what we have learned and experienced. As we receive revelation, we should be alert to passing the truth on to others in need. It is all a part of rightly handling the truth.

Let us build ourselves up through the diligent study and application of God’s Holy Word in our lives. Let us look to comfort others with the divine comfort and inspiration that we have received through our right handling of His truth.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Word is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, constantly drawing us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus. We thank You that Your Word enlightens us and comforts us in our struggles. We pray, Father, that the Word that we have received from You will be at work within us. May that good work in us pour forth, as we become founts of the Living Truth for the thirsty that surround us. We ask all these things in the name of the True Light and the Truth, Jesus Christ.

God Orchestrates His Will on Earth through His Obedient Servants

Judges 3:31
After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

For most of us, Shamgar is another one of the Bible characters that goes by mostly unnoticed. It is so easy to breeze right by Shamgar when reading in Judges. Today’s passage and one brief mention in Judges 6 contain all that the Bible reveals about Shamgar. But God’s inerrant Word wastes nothing. Every person mentioned in the Holy Scripture is worthy of study. So it is with Shamgar.

Shamgar was in a line of judges who served Israel. Some of the judges were disobedient to God, bringing defeat and misery upon the Israelites. Some of the judges were obedient to God, bringing victory and peace upon the Israelites. Shamgar was an obedient judge. We know that because he saved Israel from their enemies.

We can surmise a few things about Shamgar that should be inspiring to us. He was probably a simple man, a farmer (as implied by his use of the oxgoad as his weapon). Because he was obedient to God, he was given the supernatural power to slay the Philistines using his cattle prod.

God used Shamgar to save the nation of Israel from the Philistines. God is not limited by our abilities nor our resources. He delights in using the obedient to orchestrate His will on earth. He is waiting to use us.

Let us surrender all that we are and all that we have to Almighty God. Let us come to serve Him in ways that we cannot even imagine.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing to us in Your Holy Word how You use your obedient children to carry out Your plans on this earth. We rejoice in knowing that You will release Your supernatural power through anyone of us as we surrender to Your calling on our lives. We exalt the name of Jesus who has made us worthy to serve You. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will inspire us to join You in Your work on earth. We pray that You will provide the grace and strength that we need to gain the victory that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of Our Omnipotent King, Jesus Christ.

When We Are Weak Our Wonderful Counselor Stands Ready to Provide Perfect Strength

Matthew 26:56
But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophet might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.

When the time of testing comes in our lives, where will we stand? Will we stand on the promises of Jesus or will we try to stand on our own strength and capability? Scripture reveals to us that we will be just like the apostles if we rely on our own strength.

The men who had lived with Jesus for three years, sat under His teaching and witnessed all the signs and wonders of His ministry abandoned Him in His time of trial and their time of testing. How could this happen? It is the weakness of the flesh that failed the disciples. They did not yet have the strength of the Holy Spirit to overcome their weaknesses. What a dramatic difference the Holy Spirit made in their lives. After their baptism of the Holy Spirit, all of the apostles boldly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ. All but one, John, died as a martyr while sharing the salvation plan.

We can be sure that in the flesh we are no stronger than the apostles. If we try to live by the flesh without calling on the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us, we will fail in following Our Savior. Thankfully, God promises us in His Holy Word that He will perfect His strength in our weakness if we abide in Him. He secures this promise through His Holy Spirit who continuously stands with us so that we will not fail in the times of our testing.

Let us be strong when the world tries to weaken us. Let us be bold when the world tries to shut us down. Let us stand on the promises of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your Wonderful Counselor to be with us, to guide us and to strengthen us in our weaknesses. We proclaim our weakness before You, Lord. We ask forgiveness for straying from You. We boldly claim Your promise to perfect Your strength in our weakness as we surrender to Your reign in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the One who gives grace to the humble, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Necessary Enlightenment of God’s Word

Psalm 119:125
I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.

Discernment is one of the greatest gifts that we receive from the Holy Spirit. It is surely discernment that allows us to function properly in this out-of-control world that we live in. Without discernment we cannot recognize what is true and what is false. With the enemy working overtime to make what is right appear wrong and what is wrong to appear right, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to provide the understanding that we need to make good spiritual decisions.

It is by the grace of God, and not by our experiences in life, nor in any human teaching that we are able to understand the Word of God. We have the necessary enlightenment of God’s Word through our prayers, our study of the Scriptures and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. It is in this manner that God allows us to discern the gradual shades of evil that are introduced into to our lives everyday by the media and the gullible public.

Do not be fooled. We are all part of the gullible public. We accept our small doses of re-written history and contrived teaching via the media until we wake up one day and we find that we have accepted things to be true that simply are not in accordance with God’s Word. Lord, please provide us with the clarity of mind to know Your truths.

Let us guard against believing the supposed truths that the world is trying to deceive us into accepting as the new standards. Let us pray that we may see the truth through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the reading of the Scriptures.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of discernment that You provide through Your Holy Spirit. We bless the name of Jesus who has given us victory over the evil that tries to change our understanding of Your truth. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will fill us with the understanding and discernment that we need to walk according Your statutes. May we seek Your truth daily. As we serve You, may the world know us by our living testimony to Your ways. We ask all these things in the name of the Word and the Truth, Jesus Christ.

Bringing Victory and Peace Through Obedience

Judges 3:31
After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

For most of us, Shamgar is another one of the Bible characters that goes by mostly unnoticed. It is so easy to breeze right by Shamgar when reading in Judges. Today’s passage and one brief mention in Judges 6 contain all that the Bible reveals about Shamgar. But God’s inerrant Word wastes nothing. Every person mentioned in the Holy Scripture is worthy of study. So it is with Shamgar.

Shamgar was in a line of judges who served Israel. Some of the judges were disobedient to God, bringing defeat and misery upon the Israelites. Some of the judges were obedient to God, bringing victory and peace upon the Israelites. Shamgar was an obedient judge. We know that because he saved Israel from their enemies.

We can surmise a few things about Shamgar that should be inspiring to us. He was probably a simple man, a farmer (as implied by his use of the oxgoad as his weapon). Because he was obedient to God, he was given the supernatural power to slay the Philistines using his cattle prod.

God used Shamgar to save the nation of Israel from the Philistines. God is not limited by our abilities nor our resources. He delights in using the obedient to orchestrate His will on earth. He is waiting to use us.

Let us surrender all that we are and all that we have to Almighty God. Let us come to serve Him in ways that we cannot even imagine.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing to us in Your Holy Word how You use your obedient children to carry out Your plans on this earth. We rejoice in knowing that You will release Your supernatural power through anyone of us as we surrender to Your calling on our lives. We exalt the name of Jesus who has made us worthy to serve You. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will inspire us to join You in Your work on earth. We pray that You will provide the grace and strength that we need to gain the victory that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of Our Omnipotent King, Jesus Christ.

The Wondrous Endowments of Christ

Isaiah 11:2
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

In this passage, Isaiah was prophesying of the nature of our coming Savior. The scripture foretold that Jesus would be given extraordinary endowments through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Because we are indwelled by Jesus Christ when we accept Him as Our Savior, we inherit these same wondrous endowments for ourselves. The inheritance that we receive is not temporary or occasional. It is a permanent and enduring influence on our lives.

With our inheritance, we receive three pairs of spiritual influences to assist us in being holy, pure and wise. Each pairing is made up of a spiritual gift and the resulting impact of that gift in our lives:
1) We are provided wisdom from which comes the understanding to perceive moral and intellectual truths.
2) We are provided counsel from which comes the might that gives us the direction and the power that we need to carry out the plans that emerge from our spiritual insight.
3) We are provided knowledge from which comes the fear of the Lord which establishes the foundation of our relationship with the one true God, Our Father in heaven.

Let us be mindful of all the gifts that Christ made available for us when He died on the Cross. Let us seek the fullness of the Spirit of the Lord to overwhelm us each day. Let us use our gifts to produce great fruit for the Kingdom of Almighty God and bring honor and glory to Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the wondrous nature that You have given us in Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray that the fullness of the Holy Spirit will rest upon us. We seek Your wisdom so that we may have understanding in all matters. We seek your counsel that we may become mighty warriors for Your kingdom. We ask, Lord, that You inspire us to take the knowledge that we have of You and turn it into a reverent awe that changes how we live every moment of our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the One who gives power to the faint and might to those without strength, Jesus Christ.

Standing Firm on the Inerrant Word of God

John 6:67
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

After teaching a particularly difficult lesson, many of the early disciples that had been following Jesus turned away from Him. At that point Jesus inquired of His apostles, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” If the apostles had chosen to walk away from Jesus because His teaching was too hard, where would the church be today? Fortunately, the apostles were grounded in the way, the truth and the life that was Jesus Christ. They chose to stand firm. They went on to build the foundation of the Church for the benefit of all mankind.

Today, pastors and evangelists are being challenged to answer the same question that Jesus presented to His apostles. Unfortunately, too many of them are quick to create new standards when their beliefs are different from the clear directives of God’s Holy Word. The arguments presented by these misguided pastors and evangelists seem so eloquent and enticing. Their teachings provide a pathway that seems easier and more attuned to our fleshly desires or, at the very least, is more compliant with what we are willing to tolerate. Unfortunately, these errant teachers who have decided to listen to the world, instead of the inerrant Word of God, are destroying the foundation of the Church.

We must decide how we will answer Jesus’ question. Are we going to walk away from His Holy Word and seek out and accept our own new version of Scripture? Are we going to choose not to follow God’s Holy Word as it is written? In effect, are we going to walk away from Jesus because His lessons are too hard for us to follow?

Let us stand with the apostles. Let us stand with Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ. Let us cling to the inerrant Word of Almighty God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your inerrant Word for us to follow. We pray that You enlighten us. We ask that You open our minds so that we may understand the exact standard to which You are calling us. We beseech You that You may perfect Your strength in our weakness so that we may be steadfast in following the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of the Rock upon whom we stand, Jesus Christ.