From Christmas to the Cross

On December 15, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 12: 10        (Amplified)

Love one another with brotherly affections [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.

This is a tall order to fill. Nonetheless, God would not have given us this directive if He had not also empowered us to do it. This, being the season of ultimate love, it is worthwhile to look at love from the author of love, our own dear Father. Even as we celebrate the birth of Christ, our sight drifts forward to the sure knowledge of Calvary. While the angels sang and the shepherds rejoiced in pure delight for the arrival of the Messiah, God in heaven knew the destiny of the babe, though men did not know. They did not realize that the Messiah would save all by sacrificing himself. Men thought of a conquering Lord of war. Little did they know that Jesus would overcome by his stripes and it was his deep and abiding love for you and me that gave him the strength to receive those stripes. It was love that brought him into the earth and it was love that put him on that cross. And it is love that will carry us all home.

He now lives inside of us. Because of that, his love also lives inside of us. We are able to love in a holy, self-sacrificial way because love has come and made its abode with us. Because He first loved, we love. And not because anyone deserves our love. Many do not deserve yours or God’s love, but He showed us how to love even when we were undeserving and unworthy. Now by his grace and because of His love and mercy, we love others, even the unlovely; those who are difficult to love. He loves them so we allow His love to work through us. Because He first loved a people; a person, who was unworthy of love and even unwilling to be loved, we allow him to express himself through us. During this season, His love is more touchable than ever. Let your heart be soft allowing him to fill you to overflowing with His goodness and love. Then pass it on. In his name.

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Big Turn-out

On December 14, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Acts 13: 44

And the next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of God.

I often wonder why we, as Americans, do not seem to honor the Bible greatly. In the passage above, nearly the whole town turned out to hear the Word of God. One reason may be that Bibles are so readily available to us; we have such easy access to them. Looking up from my keyboard I can count eight Bibles of various translations, formats and languages. And that only represents the ones in this room. There are others in different places in the house. Does this sometimes make us complacent? Do we esteem lightly those things which are easily obtained?

I also hear people talk about the Bible being written by men although it is inspired by God. Their point is that they think the Bible may be flawed because God had to pen it through a person’s hand. So I wonder, have we become arrogant in our age of individualism and intellectualism? Are we so impressed with our own great intellect that we do not feel that we need take direction from another? Do we believe that the Apostle Paul cannot inform our lives? If not that, are we just lazy? Do we forsake the reading of our Bibles because we have televisions to entertain us? Or maybe fear plays a role in our indolent attitude towards the Bible. Maybe we are afraid that it will in some way require something of us. Perhaps we fear it will require something we are unwilling to give. Maybe we think we can plead ignorance when we face God so we keep ourselves intentionally ignorant of the Bible’s passages.

I do not know all the answers to these questions but I do have observations. And I have observed that a great many Christians give short shrift to the Bible. The scriptures and teaching of them does not even always hold a primary position in Christian services. Whether we believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God or not, most of us do believe it is the Word of God. It is the only word of God we have.

I want you to develop a lifelong love affair with the Word because it is the power of God. There is comfort in the Word. There is healing. I know the best thing I can give anyone is the Word of God. There is so much security and help in the Word and all I can bring you is a little dose. God talks to us through his Word. He leads us through his word. It is your sword and your shield and your very constant companion.

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Word Power  

On December 13, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 4: 1 – 13

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.  And He ate nothing during those days; and when they had ended, He became hungry.  And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”  And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”  And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment.  And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore if you worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”  And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”  And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give His angels charge concerning You to guard you.’ And ‘On their hands they will bear You up lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”  And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

This is an important story because it shows how the devil tempts and how Jesus fought those temptations.  Ephesians 6: 17 says that the weapon we have is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.  Jesus, being our model, demonstrated how to defeat the enemy.  I want you to see and recognize the weapon of His warfare.  Jesus defeated Satan with the Word of God.  Notice that after Jesus fended off two of Satan’s attempts with the Word, Satan quoted from the 91st Psalm to try to deceive Jesus.  But Jesus knew the Word.  He knew it so well that he could see the perversion of the word that the devil attempted to sneak past Him.

There is no other weapon that would have defeated the devil then, nor is there any other weapon that will defeat him now.  The Word, is the sword that the Father has given us.  It is well able to defeat the enemy but you have to know how to wield it.  Each time the devil threw a temptation at Christ, Jesus countered that temptation with, “It is written.”  It is a good thing, then, that Jesus knew the Word.  He used the Word itself, not just his knowledge of the Word, to combat the devil.  Jesus did not rely on His own strength, His own knowledge or His own wit to defeat the devil.  No, He used the Word of God.  He did not argue with the devil.  He just quoted the scripture to him.

Today’s passage brings us a very important message.  If we are to defeat the devil and his minions we must first give attention to the Word.  If you don’t study the Word then you are unarmed and you really don’t want to fight the enemy unarmed.  Further, we need to understand that Jesus did not fight with or argue with the devil.  He did not rely on His position as the Son of God.  He was a man and in all ways tempted as are we and he had to resist the devil with the same tools that are available to us.  He simply quoted the Word to the devil.  He did not enter into a debate with him.  Jesus made the Word of God the final authority and the wielding of that Word defeated the devil.  We must all learn to do this too.  Read the Bible.  Arm yourself with the living sword of the Spirit.  Then when the devil gets in your face, just start quoting scripture.  You will see for yourself that the devil cannot stand up to the Word.  He will have to flee from you just like he did from Jesus.

 

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Revealer

On December 12, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Corinthians 2: 12

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God.

One of the things I have done in my Bible is to underline in blue every place that teaches about the Holy Spirit. Why? Because I want to know and understand this third person of the trinity.

John 16: 13 teaches us that the Holy Spirit will lead us in all truth. He will reveal to us the things of God. Whatever he hears God speak, he will reveal to us. He is a revealer. His role is, in part, to show us all that God has already prepared for us. God, our Father, does not wish that we would be ignorant of all the good things He has already made available to us. God has freely given us good things to enjoy. The Holy Spirit shows us this abundant provision. He is tasked with leading us to all things which God had created just for us. Now, don’t you want to know, personally, the guy whose job is to point you towards provision?

We should be clear, however. This is not the spirit of the world. The Holy Spirit is, himself, a gift of God. He was promised to the children of God and poured out at the Pentecost. This pouring out was foretold and we are the blessed generation. Paul indicates in today’s verse that this Spirit from God is a gift we receive. Why is that important? The reason we need to recognize the word “receive” is that one can just as easily refuse a gift.

God has freely given us many things. We can easily be unaware of these gifts and never receive all that God has already done for us. This is not the will of God. Therefore, He has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we will always have a guide and teacher. You can talk to the Holy Spirit just as you would Jesus or the Father. Get to know him. Allow him to lead you in truth and revelation. Expect him to show you the Father. There is a universe of truth he longs to share with you. You are going to enjoy the show.

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The Spirit

On December 9, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Corinthians 2: 10

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

We are only beginning to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This powerful scripture shows us part of the function of the Holy Spirit. He reveals knowledge, wisdom and insight to us from God the Father. There is nothing hidden from the Holy Spirit. Since God knows all things, the Holy Spirit knows all things. He searches the deepest parts of God’s being so nothing is barred from Him. Then He discloses to us these deep things.

John 16: 13 tells us that the Spirit will disclose to us those things which He hears from the Father. The Spirit was sent here to guide us into all truth. He is the Spirit of Truth. So you have a very present helper who can bring you help from the very heart of God.

You can talk with the Holy Spirit just as you talk with the Father or the Son. Invite Him to be in your life. Ask Him to lead you and teach you. He will be a mentor and a friend to you.

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No Disappointment

On December 8, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 10: 11

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

You never have to be disappointed. Now wouldn’t that be great to live a life where you are never disappointed? Do you believe that possible? Probably not, and that is where we all lose it. It is a challenge believing we can live a life without disappointment. There is the rub; if we can’t believe it, we can’t achieve it. Anything we cannot believe for, we cannot attain. God works through our faith to bring those things to pass that we need. He performs the miracles but He needs us to do the believing.

We all need to work on our belief level. We need to trust God with some small matters so that we can prove to ourselves that He is true to His word. We need to hear about the miracles He has performed in other people’s lives, and, we need to become familiar with the promises He has made us. If we can really “believe” in Him, then we truly can live without disappointment.

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The Currency of Faith

On December 7, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 9: 28 – 30

And after he had come into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes saying, “Be it done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened.

We know what the faith of the two blind men. They must have had faith that Jesus could and would restore their sight. Jesus prayed that they would receive according to their faith. It was not his own faith Jesus used to heal the two men. It was their faith. Isn’t that interesting? This may account for the limitation in miracles we see these days.

When the two blind men approached Jesus about restoring their sight, He had a pretty surprising response to them. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Why did He question them about their belief? Why wasn’t his own knowledge enough for him? When Jesus was in his hometown the scripture says “He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13: 58).

Many people don’t understand why things happen or why God does not intervene in certain situations. What many of us fail to recognize is that God needs some faith to work with. Our faith is the material that He uses to fashion our miracles. Hebrews 11: 1 says “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” KJV Faith is the substance of our answered prayers. We give God our faith and He creates with it. We are in partnership with God and faith is one of the main things we bring into the partnership.

How do you develop faith? By reading God’s word. Nothing is going to replace getting in the Word and letting Him talk to you. Romans 10: 17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” That’s the base, the foundation. Then the other thing we can do is get around faith people. When you are around other people who are building their faith, it helps you build your own. We become more faith minded and are pulled up into higher levels of faith. And you can go from zero to hero faith in a very short time, but begin with the word and pray for help in growing in faith.

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