Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
We have much for which to be thankful. Expressing our gratitude to the Father improves our quality of life. I pray you have a very blessed time with family and the Lord.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
When your confidence is in God and in His promises, it yields its own great reward. Why? Confidence in God by another name is faith. When you are living in faith that He is well able to perform all of His promises, then you are actually exercising spiritual power. Your faith and trust in God’s ability will move mountains. One of the things that happens when you are living in your confidence is that you automatically get out of God’s way. When you do that, there is room for Him to work. He cannot work on something until you let go of it and give it to Him. Your trust and confidence in His word is the spiritual material God uses to fashion the miracle you need. And by the way, they are not miracles to God. What is a miracle to us is just everyday business to him. So put your confidence in Him and in His word because that confidence is the substance of your breakthrough and it will bring forth the answers you need. When you are tempted to worry, just remember this verse and get yourself back over into trust.
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
Many people recognize these words as having been spoken by Jesus from the cross. When the sin of the world hit him, he was isolated from his father. Did you realize, though, David penned the same words and that they are recorded in the 22nd Psalm? Appreciating that fact made me think that other people have likely felt the same way at some time in their lives. I know I have. Yet, if you read the rest of David’s psalm, you hear how his attitude changed. The end of the psalm is written in confidence and gratitude for God’s delivering power.
David went through some challenges in his life but he well knew that the Lord was his strength. No matter how bad things got; no matter how worried David became, in his depths he knew God would deliver him. From deep within him, the strength of the Lord would rise up. David’s trust and confidence in the Lord would overwhelm the greatest of problems. Before long, he would be writing a psalm of praise extolling the Lord’s delivering grace.
No matter how alone you feel and how desperate your situation appears, know for a fact that the Lord has not abandoned nor forsaken you. I know it feels like you are alone but just like David, when you take your eyes off of the enormity of the problems surrounding you and put them back on your Father, you will find that He was standing right beside you the whole time. He is well able and willing to deliver you from this present trouble. Trust his love and power.
Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls.
Dr. Jim Richards of Impact Ministries teaches the ultimate expression of Christianity is putting off the old person and receiving the new one Christ created for us. He calls this the Ultimate Put Off / Put On experience. That concept is exactly what is expressed in today’s verse. Put off your old self with all of its flaws, weaknesses and brokenness and receive Jesus, the Word, implanted into your very soul.
These ideas touch on the very core purposes of my ministry as well. You will have noticed that I frequently encourage your participation with the Word of God. My hope and prayer for you is that you have a personal encounter with the Lord. We all need his touch. I know if I continue to encourage you in the Word and show you how important it is to Jesus, the chance of you having a rendezvous with Jesus increases. James taught in this verse the implanted Word can save your soul. Mountains of theology can be built on that one brief statement. I wish for you to live an outrageously abundant life. Jesus came so that you could. I want miracles, health, wealth, beauty, peace, ease and glory flowing through your daily existence. The best way I know to facilitate that kind of overflow in your life is to impart the Word of God to you.
I wish to encourage you today. I realize you are busy and at times overwhelmed. Allow me and the ministry Jesus gave me to help you. Read the Word of the Day EVERY Day. If you do not have time to read my commentary, okay. Just read the Bible verse. I am sending you life because I send you the Word of God. I send you a bit of Jesus every morning since he is the Word. There is a huge revelation in that last statement. Even if that is all of the Word you get each day, at least you have some Word implanted in your soul and the implanted Word is seed which will germinate. Receive it, plant it and let it grow within you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
So Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word [continually obeying My teachings and living in accordance with them, then] you are truly My disciples.
We looked at abiding in Jesus yesterday. I posited that a key way to dwell in him was to meditate in his word. This idea is not new. Over 2000 years ago, Jesus taught that we should abide in his Word. The road to becoming a disciple of Christ is paved with Jesus’ words.
Discipleship programs are very popular. Churches host week and month long programs on discipleship. The crux of all of those programs must be abiding in Jesus’ Word. Today’s verse reveals there is more to discipleship than only reading the word. The Amplified Version highlights the active component of discipleship. We must be doers of Jesus’ Word just as Jesus’ brother, James, intones in James 1: 22. In fact, James taught those who are not doers of the Word delude themselves.
Jesus instructs us through today’s verse that we must continually apply his teachings. Disciples of Jesus live according to his Word. Meditating on the scriptures helps us to abide in Christ. The natural result of abiding in Jesus is that we follow his teachings. Our lives begin to reflect his ways when we abide in and obey his teachings. All of these ideas fit together to give us the abundant life that Jesus came to earth to give us (John 10: 10). Jesus did not come down to the earth to give us a bunch of rules. He came to give us life. One of the key ways he imparts life to us is through his Word. There is life in the Word. Let’s go get some.
Abide in Me.
We know that we supposed to abide in Jesus, and we accept the idea fairly easily. However, how do you abide in him?
One of the easiest ways I know to abide in Jesus is to meditate on his Word. Meditation is dwelling mentally and spiritually with Jesus. Some of us were raised with the idea that meditation was a “new age” practice and thus forbidden to us. Well, it is only new age if you consider the Old Testament times “new age.” The first mention of meditation is in Genesis. Joshua 1: 8 records the advice God gave Joshua as he was about to take over leadership of the nation of Israel from Moses. It reads, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.” Since this is the advice God gave Joshua, it must be good advice for us too.
Jesus is the Word (John 1: 1,14). What better way to abide in Jesus than to abide in the Word? As you ponder the Word of God, you are also effectively searching the heart of God. As you dwell on those words and thoughts, your heart and mind dwells in Jesus.
Sometimes we make Christian Theology way too hard. Christianity is really as simple as hanging out with Jesus. As we dwell with him he becomes our friend, then our best friend and finally the love of our lives. If you want to be a friend of God and a close friend to Jesus, then hang out in The Word. You will find Father, Son and Holy Spirit there and have fun at the same time.
Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word!
We often limit our mental pictures of angels to those little cherubs we see around St. Valentine’s Day. It is good to realize that angels are mighty in strength.
We each have guardian angels, and those angels accompany us everywhere we go. How beneficial would it be if your angel is a fat little baby? We need mighty spirits guarding us and that is exactly what the Father has provided. We read here that these spirit beings are mighty in strength but I believe they are mighty in size as well. People who have seen angels report them as large beings. In addition, you are not limited to one angel. There may be ten standing around you at this moment. Can you picture that? What would you say to them? They can hear you. Feel free to talk with them. I have a friend who even knows her three angels’ names. What are the names of your angels?
I want you to notice the last phrase of today’s verse too. Besides protecting us, angels also bring God’s Word to pass. They listen for the Word of God. When they hear it, they go into action fulfilling it. It does not matter if the Word is spoken by God, or by you. When they hear God’s Word spoken, they leap into action.
It is in our best interest to learn how to cooperate with our angels. It begins by simply acknowledging their presence. Be aware of their presence with you. Recreate the angelic image you hold in your mind. See them as mighty warriors, full of strength and the Word. Then begin to utilize them to bring God’s Word to pass in your life. Speak the Word and give the angels something to do. They are magnetized to the Word of God so surround yourself with the Word and you will be surrounded by angels. Get to know your angels. Befriend them and then give them missions to accomplish by speaking God’s Word over your life.
