Three Times Impossible

On April 8, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment


Luke 1: 36 – 37

And behold, even your relative, Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.

These were the angel Gabriel’s words to the virgin Mary when he appeared to her to inform her that she would become pregnant with the Holy child. Mary knew her Jewish history. Gabriel’s statement would have immediately put her in remembrance of Abraham and Sarah. Although they were old and Sarah barren they had the word of God, His promise that they would have a child and they clung to that word and gave birth to the nation of Israel.

Mary thus understood that the seemingly impossible becomes possible when we believe God. She accepted that a virgin can have a child because God said it and she conceived and bore Jesus, the son of the Almighty.

I wonder what impossibilities you are facing today. Perhaps you would be encouraged to think of Sarah, Elizabeth, and Mary. They learned how to believe God for what appeared to them impossible. Consider this though; do you think there is any such word as “impossible” in heaven? Why would there be? To God all things are possible so He and all the heavenly beings only think in terms of possibility. So when Sarah was told she would have a child, it seemed impossible to the human mind but clearly it was not. Nor was it impossible for the aged, barren Elizabeth to conceive or the virgin Mary. Some say it is impossible for a person to walk on water too. Well, someone forgot to tell Jesus and Peter.

If we can but believe God then there is nothing which really is impossible. Can you stretch yourself just a little farther today and believe with your heart? What would you have, what would you do if you could reach just a bit further? What is that thing which seems just beyond your reach? If we will partner with God in these impossible projects then all things really do become possible.

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Thirsty

On April 7, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 55: 1

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters.
 
One thing amazes me above all things; we live in a world full of people who thirst deep down in their souls and Jesus is right here offering them the coolest, most refreshing water and yet most don’t avail themselves of this life giving offer. Jesus has everything we need and he is standing calling and offering. Do people love their pain so much? Spread the word that Jesus is our substance and is longingly giving all that is needed. He is calling out. All who are thirsty, come drink!

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Bad Press

On April 6, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

James 1: 13

Let no on say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
  
God gets a lot of bad press these days. We all know that, but what is disturbing is how much of it comes from Christians. Well-meaning Christians blame God for a myriad of problems. They say God is tempting them in order to test them or that he is bringing this or that challenge to make them strong; grow their faith. That is just blatantly untrue. We have been told lies and we must correct ourselves with the truth. The Word is truth. Jesus said that we would know the truth and the truth would make us free (Matthew 8: 32). The word says that God is love and that he cannot tempt. He does not have evil to tempt us with. God wants good for his kids. Every good thing comes from him. Let’s put the correct party on trial here. It is the devil who comes to “steal, kill and destroy” (Matthew 10: 10). Let’s start giving him the bad press he deserves and give honor to our Father.

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The Character of God

On April 3, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Galatians 5: 22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

We saw yesterday from 1 John 4: 8 and 1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8 that God’s essential nature is love. Today’s verse reveals the characteristics of God’s personality. As you look at them you can see that first is love but moreover that all the rest flow from love. The best way to get the full revelation of this verse is to put “God is” in front of each word i.e. God is love, God is joy….

These characteristics determine how God behaves and how He interacts with others just the same way as our personality traits predict how we will behave. So, God is always patient with us, always loving, kind and gentle. He exercises great self-control. Most of us can testify to the latter one.

Conversely, we can know what God is not by acknowledging His qualities. For example, we can deduce that God is not unkind or unfaithful. Can we not deduce a great deal more though? He is not cruel, vengeful, harsh, intolerant, hateful, spiteful or mean-spirited. He is all things which are good and none of those traits which are painful to us. He is ultimate goodness and kindness. He is neither over-bearing nor a punitive spirit. His intent, therefore, is not to punish us but rather to guide us with loving hands. And He is not scary. He is beautiful. He is warmth and sunshine.

We can know the Father of all personally, intimately and as we do we perceive greater and greater levels of His great kindness and affection. He is completely predictable in His goodness towards all creation. He loves us.

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The Essential Nature of God

On April 2, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 John 4: 8

God is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes al things hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

God is love. It is His essential nature; what He is, what He is made of. Love is not an attribute of God, not one of His characteristics. It is the substance of who and what He is. We cannot separate love from God but many people, even those of the church, have lost the certainty of that statement. We understand with our minds that God is love but in our hearts we still hold onto a God who is vengeful and wrathful.

When we combine the two verses for today we get an accurate picture of God. God is patient, God is kind, and is not jealous; God does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; He does not seek His own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes al things hopes all things, endures all things. God never fails.

Our God is the perfect parent. Love drives everything He does. His love is sacrificial and unselfish. He is everything we want in a friend, spouse or parent and He is all those to us. He is perfect love. There is no fear in His presence because perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4: 18). Our God who is mighty in deed is as gentle as a lamb. 

We really must get a deep revelation of this lover who is our God. We need to hold deep within our hearts the absolute truth of the Father’s love for each one of us individually. There is no power until there is this abiding truth within us. Your Father loves you absolutely and unconditionally. Meditate on that until you cannot be swayed. Then you will soar with wings as eagles.

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On April 1, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

James 4: 7

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

I read something that Gloria Copeland wrote which had a profound effect on my thinking. She was in prayer one day when the Lord told her, “Separate yourself and you’ll be separated.” She went on to write, “[F]ollow God and separate yourself from evil (then) you will be separated from evil.”

That took hold of me. I thought about how applicable that is in an everyday sense. Gloria Copeland was writing on Psalm 91 and the protection God has provided for all of us. So many times bad things happen to folks and thus they are looking for relief. Well, the devil is in this world and he is going to make life difficult, if he can. One of the best ways to cut him off though, is to separate yourself from him and separate yourself unto God. What does this mean?

It really is quite simple and that is one of the things I liked about it. If you want evil out of your life, separate yourself from evil. In other words, bad things come from Satan, not God. As you live to God there is a greater and greater chasm between you and the effects of the devil. If you continue to dally in lies, deceptions, gossip, unkindness, etc., you are allowing evil to maintain a place in your life. As you separate yourself from those things which are not of God, then you are separating yourself from evil and then it is much harder for the evil to get to you to harm you.  It is a two edged sword, you cannot practice ungodliness without it biting you too. Don’t give the devil a place in your life. Separate yourself from the things of the kingdom of darkness.

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Increase of Favor

On March 31, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 11: 27

He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it will come to him.

Here is another way to gain favor. Seek and go after those things which are good. If you look for evil, it will find you. If you look for the good things, the righteous things, then favor is going to follow you.

This is about a condition of our heart as well as a decision of our will. When we set our eyes and our hearts on God we end up seeking His righteousness. When we seek His righteousness, then all that we need will be added to us (Matthew 6: 33). Our Lord taught us that this is a clear way to relieve ourselves of anxiety. Pursue those things which are good. “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude” (1 Timothy 4: 4). Seeking God necessarily means searching for goodness and kindness. The other proverb which speaks so clearly of favor is Proverb 3: 3 – 4 which tells us to bind ourselves to kindness and truth. When we seek good, truth or kindness we are in fact seeking God and His ways. Therefore, unmerited favor finds us.

If on the other hand we toy around with the things which are not of God’s kingdom, then evil will find us. And that is a clearer characterization of what happens because most of us don’t go out seeking after evil but rather we tolerate things that we ought not and we sort of play around with things that we know would not please God. When you play with fire, eventually you will get burned and this has happened to so many of us. We listen to a little music that we probably wouldn’t play if our pastor was in the room. We give in to some movies that we certainly wouldn’t want God to watch with us. A little of this and a little of that and we have paved the way for the things that we don’t want in our lives to come to us. We have all but sent an engraved invitation and then we act all surprised when things happen. 

We are little magnets and we are going to attract that which we set our eyes upon. That is exactly what Solomon was trying to get across to us. If we seek good we shall attract good into our lives but if we look over in the devil’s backyard he is going to make sure that we get what we are seeking. Seek goodness, truth and kindness, bind them around your neck and the favor of God and a good reputation with God and man shall be your prize.

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