Burden: December 12, 2014

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY DECEMBER 12, 2014

BURDEN

DEFINITION:

Something carried; a load; something borne with a difficulty as a care or a grief.

SCRIPTURE:

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Romans 15:1

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The word “bear” in the verse above means “to pick up and carry a weight.” It is used in the carrying of a pitcher of water, carrying a man, and figuratively of bearing an obligation.

The Bible instructs us as Christians to bear one another’s burdens. Doing this requires three things. First, it requires awareness. If you are not sensitive to the struggles of those around you, how can you help them? Every day we see and talk to people who hurt intensely. Have you asked God to sensitize you to the needs of the people around you?

Secondly, we need to have a spirit of acceptance. We are not to bear burdens on the basis of how we feel about a person or a situation. If we are going to be like Christ in our actions we need to be willing to share in the pain of others, no matter who they are or where they are.

Finally, we must be available. It is so easy for us to delegate a situation to somebody else. It may be to another friend, a family member, someone in the church or work place. God blesses people who will be available and will bear someone else’s burden with them.

The Apostle Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:14 to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak and be patient with everyone. We can do this by being present when someone needs help. We need to listen to a person so we can fully understand the need. Allow the experience of your own pain and failures enable you to help others.

Take the time to pray with a person who is carrying a heavy burden and be willing to give to help meet that person’s need in any way you can. A hand shake or a hug with the words, “I will pray for you” is not enough.

Next to loving the Lord with all your heart we are given the commandment to love our neighbor. Do you help carry the burden of others? If not, God is expecting you to do it and He will enable you if you are willing.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 15:9.

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you, abide in My love.

PRAYER:

Help me to focus on what is important to You and not to me. Keep me from being indifferent to the need of others and help me to be willing to carry the burden of others. Help me to learn to share someone else’s heartache in their time of sadness.

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Peace: December 11, 2014

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 11, 2014

PEACE

DEFINITION:

Freedom from anxiety, annoyance or mental distraction; state of calm: tranquility, without conflict.

SCRIPTURE:

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The world is filled with unrest, conflict, and hostility, in fear, uncertainty and anxiety. We have heard people say they don’t watch the news because it is so disturbing. There certainly isn’t much news that gives peace.

People look to pleasure for peace. There is lustful pleasure and scripture tells us that the lust of the flesh is sinful and wrong. There is legitimate pleasure, which is not wrong, but for most people they become so preoccupied by legitimate pleasure that it takes place of God in their life, so they have received no real or lasting peace.

In our day much of the world believes little or nothing. Such things as anxiety, emptiness, meaninglessness, have gripped much of the world including the church. Young people are searching for a purpose and a meaning in their lives. They are looking for some sort of peace in their lives but without knowing Jesus they will never find real and lasting peace.

As believers we can be certain that we have peace with God. This peace is not a feeling but a permanent state into which believers are brought into through the finished work of our Savior and is secured for us by Jesus Christ. With the peace of Christ, we do not have to fear the future nor do we have to fear the present although we live in an evil and turbulent world.

We experience the peace of God in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. We learn this through the verse we have written above for today. Believers experience the peace from God which is the full expression of grace from God. The unmerited favor of God is the source for all good we receive here on this earth and in the hereafter. This peace from God includes all the blessings we need for time and eternity.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 15:9.

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you, abide in My love.

PRAYER:

Thank You for the greatest gift You could ever have given me. That is the assurance of eternal life spending an eternity with you. Thank You for the peace You give that gives me the assurance that I do not have to be fearful of the future, nor the present because You are with me.

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Eternal Life: December 10, 2014

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10, 2014

ETERNAL LIFE

DEFINITION:

Without beginning or ending; endless; everlasting.

SCRIPTURE:

And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. I John 1:2.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Yesterday we shared with you some thoughts on excuses. This included excuses people give for not accepting Jesus as their Savior, who alone has the power to give eternal life.

Today we will share with you some thoughts about eternal life. The verse above from I John tells us what the source of eternal life is. Jesus is the life that was manifested in John 14:6. Jesus testified of Himself that He was the way, the truth and the life and that no one can enter the Kingdom of God (Eternal life) without believing in Him. Jesus is the source of eternal life.

Eternal life can be claimed only one way. John 1:11-13 tells us that only those who receive Christ as their Savior become part of the family of God. John 6:47 tells us that all who believe receive eternal life. These are explicit statements. There are no “if’s” or “maybe’s” in them.

John in his book (John 3:14, 16) tells us that whoever believes in Jesus can have eternal life. So any one and every one can have eternal life. It is our choice. Eternal life is received when one believes on Jesus and asks for forgiveness of their sins and accepts Jesus as Savior. Jesus will forgive each and every sin, and will give eternal life to all, each and every one, who receives Him.

I John 5:13 gives us the assurance that we can know that we have eternal life and I Peter 1: 4-5 assures us that God will keep His promise and we will not lose our Salvation.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 15:9.

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you, abide in My love.

PRAYER:

Help my family to understand that our soul will live forever and where we live is based on what we do now. Help us to be certain of our Faith in Jesus and assurance that we will spend an eternity with you in heaven.

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Excuses: December 9, 2014

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY DECEMBER 9, 2014

EXCUSES

DEFINITION:

Reasons given to explain why you cannot do something; alibis, justification, defense; seek to remove the blame for ones actions.

SCRIPTURE:

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have not sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. John 15:22.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

How many times in life have you heard excuses? Children constantly have excuses when something they said or did is not acceptable. Spouses give excuses, many times for minor situations that end up major.

What about in the work place or even in church. Hardly a day can go by without someone close to you, possibly it is you, offering an excuse to justify something they should not have done or for something they should have done but did not.

But the excuses for not receiving Jesus as one’s Savior are inexcusable. How many excuses have you heard from one who does not know Jesus when they are invited to accept Him as their Savior?

Do you relate to any of these excuses if you do not know Jesus? How about, “I am a good person, I live an honest life, and I help the poor so how could a just God condemn me.  God would never forget me so why do I need to accept Jesus as my Savior and change my lifestyle?”

Others say, “I just do not understand the whole concept. Why should I have to pay a penalty for those two people in the Garden of Eden?” The apostle Paul when he was writing to the Church at Corinth wrote in I Corinthians 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

How many times have you heard the excuse, “I have Christian friends who live their lives so inconsistently. They go to church on Sunday but on Monday they live under the rules of the world.” Many Christians live their lives with inconsistency.

We know many people do not want to accept Christ because it will hurt their business. They have a love of money that dominates everything they do. The treasures on this earth far outweigh the treasures in eternity for these people.

One of the major excuses that we hear is that the pleasures in life a person has is more important that worrying about their spiritual status. Worldly pleasures are for today but tomorrow they will cause confusion and unhappiness.

Do you know Jesus as your Savior or are you using excuses as to why you do not know Him. Do not kid yourself. The Bible is clear. When our life here on this earth is over and we must stand before God all of our excuses will not be accepted. We will have no more chances to change our mind and accept Jesus.

If you are saying no to God and rejecting Jesus, today is the day to reject your excuses and give your life, your devotion and your worship to God, your Heavenly Father, and to Jesus, your Lord and Savior. Life on this earth is short. Life that comes from knowing Jesus will last for eternity.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 15:9.

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you, abide in My love.

PRAYER:

Help me to reject the excuses I face in life and allow me to be drawn close to You. May my life shine a bright light in a dark world to those who need to know You as their Savior.

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Free: December 8, 2014

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY DECEMBER 8, 2014.

FREE

DEFINITION:

Enjoying personal rights or liberty exempt from external authority or interference; without payment required; not in bondage.

SCRIPTURE:

Jesus replied “ I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in a family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The God of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of men to the extent that they believe those who sin are free and that the Christian, the believer in Jesus, is the one in bondage. But God says very clearly in His Word that our position before Him, as believers, is the exact opposite.

Sin is always by choice. No one makes us sin but when we allow sin into our life it has a way of taking control and dictating our actions so we become a slave to sin. When sin becomes our master there is only one person that can break sin’s power over us, and that is Jesus Christ.

One who does not believe in Jesus is in captivity to Satan, to self and to sin. The believer is free because he has accepted Christ as his or her Savior who has made us free. Jesus defeated the power and penalty of sin when He died for us on the cross.

YES, we are free as believers in Jesus. We are free from present judgment. Romans 8:1 tells us that we have “no condemnation” thus that makes us free from present judgments.

We are free from future judgments. Romans 5:9 tells us that we are “saved from wrath” and I Thessalonians 1:10 tells us that we are “delivered from the wrath to come”.

As believers we are also free from the bondage of sin (Romans 6:18). We are free from the law of sacrifice. In Romans 10:4 we are told that “Christ is the end of the law” so when we accepted Christ we were no longer under the law, because Jesus gave His life to be the perfect and complete sacrifice for all our sin.

As believers we are free from care. I Peter 5:7 tells us to “Cast all of our care upon Him and He will care for us.” And finally we are free from fear. II Timothy 1:7 says that “For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and discipline.

While we were slaves to sin we had no place in the family of God, but because of God’s love and grace He has given to all those who believe and receive Jesus the right to become children of God (John 1:12). He has not only made us a part of His family but a joint heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 15:9.

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you, abide in My love.

PRAYER:

Thank You for the freedom You have given me and my family because of our trust and faith in You. May our lives shine brightly to others who are fighting to find freedom in their lives.

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