Pain: February 6, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2015.

PAIN

DEFINITION:

Physical, mental or emotional suffering. Suffering of body or mind; to cause suffering to.

SCRIPTURE:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:5-6.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

As we are growing older we have aches and pains we never had to deal with before. We learn to live with these aches and pains, understanding they are just part of getting older. We give thanks to God that we have not experienced the extreme pain that some of our friends have experienced.

We are well aware that pain profoundly affects us. Doctors tell us that it causes depression and anxiety. On the positive side pain can make you more sensitive to the pain that others are going through. Pain can help you grow in the Lord because it forces you to lean on the Lord for His comfort and healing.

Often in life when a person goes through a time of suffering and pain he or she might refer to it as going through a deep valley in their life.  When everything is going well in a person's life they might refer to it as though being on a mountain top of blessing.

In the Bible, valleys symbolize periods of hardship and suffering. In Psalm 23:4, the Psalmist evokes a particular dangerous and painful image by referring to "the valley of the shadow of death." Physical and spiritual valleys are inevitable in our lives. Even those believers with great faith in the Lord will experience them.

In times of great pain many feel like they would just as soon die rather than endure more pain. Job experienced such a feeling. Even though Job had strong faith in God, his great pain and suffering brought him to such a depth of despair that he said, "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came out of the womb." Job 3:11

People rarely think of suffering or pain as profitable. But we need to learn that God can use the hardship and pain of a valley experience to mature us spiritually. We make discoveries about ourselves when we face pain and trials that point out clearly who we truly are. When our life is interrupted and altered by pain, it often tests our faith. Pain can make us wonder if the Lord cares or has forgotten us. The Psalmist assures us that the Lord never forgets us. He tells us that God’s mercy and goodness fill us “all the days of our lives.”

Valley experiences, like pain, reveal our priorities. God's purpose for us during our pain is to take away from us everything we depend on, our spiritual crutches included, until nothing in our lives competes with Jesus' reign in our lives. When we are down and out the only way for us to look is up.

Crutches and our personal bravery, that we usually depend on, are to be replaced by a real dependence on God. In the verses we have printed above, believers are encouraged to recall that He provides for our needs. He “prepare(s) a table before me in the presence of my enemies (trials), His rod and staff comfort us (in our pain) and He "anoint(s) our head with oil. (He blesses us).

A good shepherd, in Jesus day, rubbed oil onto the scrapes his sheep while in the fields. In doing this the healing began before the animal left the valley floor. When we rely on our Shepherd, Jesus, we experience healing from our pain and a renewed intimacy and a sense of peace that only the Lord can give us. This peace will sustain us through the present trial and far beyond.

Many people are facing pain in their lives today from various causes. It may be physical pain; it may be the pain of a dysfunctional marriage or family. It may be the pain of a lost job, home or some other material item. It may be the loss of a close relationship with God because of the "things" of life taking priority in one's life. Whatever pain we are suffering we can be assured Jesus understands because of what Jesus Himself suffered in His life here on earth and in His death on the cross. He is waiting for you to come to Him so He can show His goodness and His mercy to you.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 3:14:

Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

Thank You for the words of the Psalmist that have served as a reminder in my life to reach out to You when I go through the valleys of life. Thank You for being my Shepherd and watching over me with such great and loving care.

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Pleasure: February 5, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2015.

PLEASURE

DEFINITION:

A feeling of enjoyment or delight; a satisfaction derived from something that is to one’s liking;  a cause or source of gratification; one's will or desire.

SCRIPTURE:

Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power. II Thessalonians 1:11.

There will be terrible times in the last days, people will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. II Timothy 3:1-4.

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We are spending ever-increasing amounts of money each year on pleasure. Statistics tell us that Americans give $35 billion each year to churches and spend $150 billion on pleasure. That is over 4 times more spent on worldly pleasure than income to churches and ministries.

There is nothing evil or wrong with wholesome relaxation and recreation, but there is something wrong when the pursuit of pleasure becomes a major obsession to a person or a family. It is so easy to get caught up in the frenzies of this life and forget that heaven will be a place for "pleasures forevermore."

Personally we enjoy the times we set aside for pleasure. Sometimes we are with family and other times we are alone just with the two of us. These are always important times in our lives because it gives us time to relax, regroup, and get to know family and each other better. It is also valuable time when we can look clearly at what we consider our priorities and reevaluate them.

There is pleasure to be found in meeting new people, seeing new sites and going to new places. There is pleasure in doing what is to one’s liking. Some people find pleasure in playing golf. For others playing golf is frustrating. Whatever we find pleasure in it must not interfere with our relationship with God. We must not become lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God II Timothy 3:4.

Henry David Thoreau once said: "The pleasures of the intellect are permanent; the pleasures of the heart are transitory." He spoke of the mental and emotional pleasures but he left out the spiritual. He never considered eternity where our pleasures will be forever with the Lord.

We are reminded of the account recorded in the book of Nehemiah of the building of the wall around the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was a common man but he led a comfortable and secure life. He was the cupbearer to the king of Persia. He was in the position where he had opportunity to take advantage of all the pleasures of the world, but that was not his desire. He was a man of God who wanted to be used by God. When he heard from others who had been to Jerusalem, that the wall and gates of the city had been broken, it distressed and saddened him.

Nehemiah was a man of action and vision and when he saw a need he took the responsibility to do something about it. The first thing he did was to go to the Lord in prayer. Then he went to the king and asked for permission to go to Jerusalem so that he could rebuild the walls. With the king's approval and help he went to Jerusalem. He organized the people and assigned them specific sections of the wall and completed the project in just 52 days.

Nehemiah is known as a man of prayer. Eleven times in this book of Nehemiah, we find Nehemiah praying for direction and guidance. His pleasure was doing the will of God. Nehemiah was a man that was willing to sacrifice and give up his easy life style and forego the pleasures of life to do the pleasures of the Lord.

Nehemiah was also a man that lived his life according to the "Law of Moses.” In Nehemiah 8:8, he informs us that he read and explained the book of the Law of God to the people. Nehemiah did God's work and did it God's way. He was a master builder that clearly followed the plan of "THE MASTER BUILDER."

Later in Nehemiah 8:9-10 it is written that Nehemiah was governor and Ezra was the priest and scribe of that day. After the people had the scriptures read to them and explained by Ezra they were told to go eat, give portions to those that had nothing prepared and then have pleasure by rejoicing in the Lord. They had reason to celebrate. They had not only completed the hard work of rebuilding the wall, but they now understood the words from the “Law of Moses” that were declared unto them.

We should learn that when we communicate with God by reading His Word and praying then we should have pleasure in rejoicing in what the Lord is doing through our lives.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 3:14:

Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

Thank You Lord for all that You have given me that enables me to enjoy the pleasures of this life, but help me to realize that lasting and true pleasure is found in serving You as my Lord.

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Backsliding: February 4, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2015.

BACKSLIDING

DEFINITION:

To relapse into bad habits; sinful behavior or undesirable activities; the abandoning of religious principles or practices.

SCRIPTURE:

Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me, declares the Lord, the Lord almighty. Jeremiah 2:19

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

A backslider is a person who made a decision to follow Christ but then relapsed into bad habits that God considers sin. A backslider will soon fall victim to his or her sins and will soon start to fully abandon his or her spiritual beliefs.

Backsliding brought on the downfall of Israel. God sent the prophet Jeremiah to confront the people of Judah with their sins and to warn them of the coming destruction of their nation if they did not repent. In Jeremiah 7:23-24, Jeremiah reminds them of God’s command to them to “obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you that it may go well with you.” But they did not listen or pay attention. Instead they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward not forward.

When we do not listen to God and pay attention to what He tells us, we will become backsliders just like the Israelites. Instead of going forward with the Lord, we will go backward following our evil desires. Jeremiah warned the people to repent and return to God or they would be punished. The Israelites did not repent and Jerusalem was destroyed and taken captive to Babylon.

This is where America is today and we believe God is warning our country to repent or be punished. Think about it!

When we think of a Biblical example of a backslider we think of Jonah. God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach repentance to the Assyrians. He fled because he did not want this assignment. Jonah was fleeing on a ship when in the midst of a storm he was thrown overboard by the crew and was swallowed up, as the scriptures tell us, by a big fish. We assume that this was a whale. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights. To say the least he was soundly rebuked for his backsliding.

In Jonah 2:1-9 the MESSAGE translation reads that there is a very vivid and clear report of what Jonah did while inside the fish. He cried out to God asking for forgiveness and God heard him. In his prayer to God from the belly of the whale he said, “I will sacrifice to You with a voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”

The Lord then spoke to the fish, the scripture says and the fish vomited up Jonah. Once again the Lord said to Jonah that he must go to Nineveh and preach the message God would give him. Jonah went to Nineveh and cried out to the people warning them that in 40 days Nineveh would be overthrown unless the people repented. The people of Nineveh heeded Jonah’s message and believed in God and God did not destroy them.

God gave Jonah a second chance. He backslid and paid a severe penalty. When he was at his lowest point he prayed to God and repented. God heard his prayer and responded by giving him a second chance. Jonah responded in obedience and went to Nineveh with the message that God wanted them to hear.

From the scripture text above, we are reminded that our own wickedness punishes us and our back-sliding rebukes us when we turn away from the Lord. When we as individuals backslide life becomes evil and even bitter for us and that is bad news. The good news is that if one confesses his sin, God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse one from all unrighteousness. Even when we are backslidden God loves us and wants us to come to Him so He can forgive us and make us righteous. We really do serve a wonderful and patient God.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 3:14:

Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

Help me today not to backslide away from my relationship with You. Keep me from relapsing into bad habits or sinful behavior that brings dishonor to You. May those that are not following You see the joy that I have in my life because of my faith in You.

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Inadequate: February 3, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2015.

INADEQUATE

DEFINITION:

Not equal to the requirement; insufficient.

SCRIPTURE:

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. II Corinthians 3:5.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Everyone has times in their life when they feel inadequate. No one likes the feeling of inadequacy because it causes us to fear we will fail.

Feeling inadequate is not a sin, but using it as an excuse is. When the Lord challenges you to do something that you feel is beyond your abilities you have two options. You can focus on Christ and proceed with unwavering faith or you can focus on yourself and withdraw in defeat.

No one is adequate to do the Lord’s work in their own ability. It can only be done with God’s help and through the power of His Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul never claimed that he was capable of accomplishing all that God called him to do. In his letter to the church at Corinth Paul acknowledged that if he was left to his own abilities, he would be useless to God. He clearly recognized that his ability to reason, judge or assess truth was dependent on divine revelation and the power of the Holy Spirit.

This was a lesson Paul learned in a very dynamic and extraordinary way. When Paul was still Saul, before his conversion, he was determined to destroy the church. Full of his self-sufficiency he went from house to house dragging off followers of Jesus and putting them in prison because of their faith (Acts 8:3).

Paul even volunteered to travel to Damascus to capture the believer’s there (Acts 1:9). He felt quite adequate for this task. However, while on the way to Damascus Paul unexpectedly met Jesus. What a change there was in Paul from that moment. All the self-sufficiency he thought he had was gone in the light of God’s glory and might.

Only God can make a person adequate to do His work and Paul realized it so clearly. As Paul did, we also need to do, and that was to look beyond our own adequacy to the sufficiency of Christ. If we do this we can discover the hidden blessings in our own experiences of inadequacy. Look at these few thoughts that come to our minds.

Our insufficiency humbles our pride and brings us on our knees to Christ. This will happen when a situation comes our way that we realize is bigger than what we can handle so we quickly open the Bible and read, pray for guidance and power and then wait to see what God says. Now the Lord has us right where He wants us and that is at the end of our rope with no one to go to but Him.

The inability to do something motivates us to rely on divine power. We will never be adequate until we draw strength from the Holy Spirit. He will do through us what God never intended that we do on our own.

God actually delights in choosing unlikely, weak and inadequate individuals to carry out His purposes. The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” II Corinthians 12:9. There is no limit what God can do through someone willing to give Him full control of his or her life.

Our adequacy comes from God and inadequacy will challenge our faith. If we will focus on the reliability of this fact and step out in obedience we will grow in faith.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 3:14:

Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

It is our prayer that You will make our family adequate to accomplish the things that You want us to accomplish while we are here on this earth. Take away our fear, pressure and frustrations that seem to overpower us when we face opportunities to serve and represent You to our friends and neighbors.

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Power: February 2, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2015.

POWER

DEFINITION:

The capability to do, act, or accomplish something; the control or command over others; a Deity; physical and mental strength; influence; might.

SCRIPTURE:

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the world. Acts 1:8.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The machines and mechanized devices we use today in our daily lives make life so much easier for us. All of these devices have something in common. They need a power source. They come equipped with a fuel tank, an electrical plug or a solar cell that provides a power source. And these devices are useless unless they have power. A vacuum cleaner needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet and an airplane cannot fly without fuel. Those who have been through a severe earthquake, tornado or hurricane know what it is like to be without power. Everything shuts down. Without power businesses, stores, gas stations, restaurants and schools cannot function.

People today are searching for a power source for their lives. Some look to money and others look to education or a political office. These sources of power are acquired by our own methods. Political leaders want power to control governing policies. Parents want power to control their children. When the power source is our own limited human abilities it is doomed to failure over time.

God is all powerful and has provided a power source for us that is greater than all other sources because it comes directly from Him. Jesus tells us in the above scripture that the Holy Spirit is that source for our power. It is important for all believers to remember that for power in our lives we need to stay connected to our power source that God provides for us.

When the disciples were with Jesus during His ministry on earth, Jesus was right there with them to be their power source. Jesus knew that when He returned to His Father in heaven His disciples would be left powerless.

The words spoken to His disciples in Acts 1:8 were the last words of Jesus to His disciples before He ascended into heaven. Jesus was placing a huge responsibility on the disciples. They were to be His witnesses. He knew that the disciples could not do this in their own power so He tells them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them.

In Acts 1:4 He told them to wait in Jerusalem for a few days until the Holy Spirit came and baptized them. During those few days they must have felt powerless. Perhaps Jesus purpose in this was to help them recognize their need for the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus told the disciples to be witnesses first in Jerusalem, we are to be witnesses in our Jerusalem. This is our family, our home and our friends. Is your home considered by all that live with you a God-honoring home? Is Christ the head of your home?

Then we are to reach out beyond our home to our Judea and Samaria. This is to our neighborhood and city. And finally we are to reach out to the end of the world. The world is our mission field. God has given us the responsibility to be witnesses of Him wherever we go and has given us power to accomplish this.

As believers we are to be His witnesses. The disciples could not witness in their own power nor can we. We can only do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. This power is freely given to us today but we must be willing to plug into the source. God through His Holy Spirit empowers us to live a God-fearing life and to speak out with authority about our faith.

The power is there for us through the Holy Spirit and is only limited by our lack of faith or lack of vision. The Lord has important work for every believer to do as His representative on this earth.  It is time to dream big dreams and then act by asking God through the power of His Holy Spirit to work through you. Do not limit what God wants from you.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 3:14:

Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

I love You Lord, because You are my strength, my rock, my protection and my Savior. Thank You for being my rock so I can run to You for safety. Thank You for giving me power through Your Holy Spirit to be a witness for You this day.

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