Grand Parents: March 6, 2015

TODAY'S WORD FOR FRIDAY MARCH 6, 2015.

GRAND PARENTS

DEFINITION:

A parent of a parent; Grandmother and grandfather.

SCRIPTURE:

Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. Proverbs 17:6.

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is within you as well. II Timothy 1:5

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The American family is changing more rapidly today than at any time in history. We are told that over one million children in America are living with their grandparents without either parent in the home.

At a time when many grandparents were considering retirement suddenly they have found themselves thrust into a new role of parenting their grandchildren.

The one good news item concerning this problem is that numerous studies show the enormous influence grandparents have on their grandchildren. Some of these studies show that when a grandchild spends time with their grandparents the result is a better social behavior with fewer behavior problems among adolescents.

A new study by the AARP finds that 90% of grandparents feel that they have an important role to play with their grandchildren by encouraging, giving emotional support and a perspective on life. It is also noted that when a grandchild becomes an adult the ones that have had a strong relationship with their grandparents tend to be much more positive to the value and importance of older citizens.

In the verse above from II Timothy the apostle Paul makes note of the strong Christian influence that Timothy’s mother and grandmother had on him.

We have been blessed with 20 grandchildren and we learned early in our grand-parents life to pray daily for them and we have. We have always tried to support them, let them know that we are praying for them and communicate with them as often as possible.

We must gain their respect as grandparents and that respect cannot be bought, it must be earned. Our actions and words are watched carefully by a grandchild from a very early time in their lives.

Being a grandparent is not only an honor and a privilege but an opportunity and a responsibility to lead them to a close relationship with Jesus.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 4:6.

Be anxious for nothing, but in every-thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

PRAYER:

It is our prayer that every grandparent that reads this devotional today realizes the important spiritual role they play in their grandchild’s life. Direct us all to put a priority on our love for our grandchildren.

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God: March 5, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY MARCH 5, 2015.

GOD

DEFINITION:

The creator and ruler of the Universe. The Supreme Being.

SCRIPTURE:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other Gods before me. Exodus 20:2-3.

O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below. You who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants who continue whole heartily in Your way. I Kings 8:23

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Many families teach their children to pray when they are young at meal time. The most used prayer is, “God is great, God is good; and we thank Him for this food. Amen.”

Reciting this type of prayer is usually no more than a ritual and not from the heart. But let us take a moment to see how we could build on the simple truth of the childhood prayer.

“God is great.” God, being God, and as much as He reveals of Himself to us we can see that He is surely great. Our understanding of God is imperfect. No one has seen God but God reveals Himself to us through the scripture and in the person of His Son, Jesus. We have but the smallest impression of who and all that God really is. The scripture tells us that we see (Him) through a glass darkly and someday we will understand Him more. The fact is that if we were to know Him fully, we would be as God, and that will never be.

His mysteries are to be wondered at and not jealousy coveted. The assignments given to us in the scriptures as a believer is to seek to know Him better, desiring to please Him by the way we live, and seeking His will so that we may live in obedience to him.

Not only is God great but He is good. God is without sin. In Genesis 1 we read of God’s creation of the world. “God saw all that He had made and it was very good” Genesis 1:31. David said, “The Lord is good to all, He has compassion on all He has made” Psalm 145:9.

So good is God and so compassionate that while we were still sinners He sent His only Son Jesus, to die for us and to give us eternal life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16.

We are living in an increasingly anti-Christian society where many people ask the question, “Is God dead?” When God is no longer the motivating force behind a civilizations standards and judgments, and when man ceases to acknowledge God, He is very much dead to that culture.

Believers in God now must do all we can to get God back into our society. Not that God needs our assistance, but so that we assert His rightful place in our affairs as believers. He is our creator and the foundation of our faith. When we let our foundation stones crumble, think what happens. We do not have to be an architect to know that houses can fall when the foundation breaks down.

As believers we have the responsibility and duty to fight back against the creeping secularizing of our society. Remember the childhood prayer and the words, “God is great.” He is great and the masses still know that there is a God and He is great.

When you talk today to skeptics, agnostics, atheists and secularists, they always begin their argument with statements like “How can there be a god who ---?” or “Why would a loving God permit ---?” When they begin a discussion with these words they are not denying the existence of God but questioning His goodness and greatness. We, as believers, must talk to these people and then pray for them because the God we serve is not only great and good but He is loving and compassionate and forgiving.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 4:6.

Be anxious for nothing, but in every-thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

PRAYER:

Help me to live my life today letting people see through my words and actions that I am serving a great God. Open doors for me today so that I can share with others the joy that I have in serving a personal Savior who loves me and cares for each and every day that comes my way.

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Religion: March 4, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY MARCH 4, 2015.

RELIGION

DEFINITION:

A set of beliefs concerning the cause and purpose of the universe; a particular set of beliefs and practices; something a person believes in; the service and worship of God or the supernatural.

SCRIPTURE:

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their time of trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from this world. James 1:26-27

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God; and that is what we are. I John 3:1

Now if we are children of God then we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Romans 8:17

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

If we read the newspapers and magazines or watch the television we will hear much about religion in our world especially from the middle-east. We continue to watch and see the turmoil in the middle-east and hear dialogue on the good and bad of religion in that area of our world.

The Islamic extremists believe they must die for Allah. Theirs is a religion of death. Jesus died for all who will believe on Him and gives us eternal life. It is important that everyone understands that Jesus died to pay the penalty of sin for every person who ever lives. One only needs to ask God for forgiveness and accept Jesus as your Savior.

Recently we received an e-mail message from a young man living in Afghanistan. He had been reading our devotionals for several weeks and said he finally had to write and ask us why we felt knowing Jesus was the only way that he could get to heaven. He went on to say that he had studied many religions and that they all said that one would go to some sort of heaven.  He went on to tell us that he was a Muslim but was searching and was considering trying Jesus as his new religion.

Many people are very confused, as is this young man, and even defensive when we talk about religion. This is because there are so many "religions" in our culture today and one hears so many conflicting concepts and ideas. It is also a fact that most people just do not care about getting involved in a religion.

A non-believer in Jesus gets confused and does not know how to respond concerning their belief in religion. So the normal response is that religion does not concern them. When we talk to someone about our "religion", we make it clear that we are talking about a "relationship" not a religion that is a series of concepts and "do's and don'ts". This is what we explained to our friend in Afghanistan.

Very simply we have a personal relationship with Jesus. This relationship began when we accepted Jesus into our hearts as our personal Savior. God sent His Son to this earth to pay the penalty for our sins and we accepted His offer of redemption. There is no other religion that makes this offer. All other "religions" offer a set of rituals such as doing good works, church attendance, penance, etc. The difference is the "RELATIONSHIP."

A relationship with Jesus changes us. Knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior changes our heart and our desires which is what religious rituals cannot do.

We have with Jesus a family relationship grounded in love. It was because God loved us that He sent His Son so that by believing in Him we could become children of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. There is a reason that it was necessary for God to send His Son to this earth.

As a result of the sin of Adam and Eve, we are all born sinners. This is a fact and not a theory. God is completely holy and entirely without sin. Sin is what separates us from God. There is no amount of good works or any amount of spiritual rituals that will cleanse us from our sins.

We are sinners and the penalty for our sins must be paid. This is why God sent His Son to this earth, to pay the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross. We must be willing to admit that we are sinners, confess our sins, and ask for God's forgiveness and then acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Savior and redeemer. The shed blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL our sins and restores us into a right relationship with God.

All who believe and receive Jesus as Savior become children of God and will spend an eternity with God and His Son Jesus. What a privilege to be the recipient of such great love and to be able to call God "Our Father." And just think of all the untold and unseen riches that will be ours as joint heirs with Christ.

In the verses that we have written above from the book of James, we read that the fruit of our religion is in what we do and what we say. Our relationship with Jesus is a heart relationship and not, as many think, a head religion. When we have a relationship (our religion) with Jesus we will watch what we say, bridle our tongue, and our deeds will be a commitment to honor our Lord by helping those in need, including widows and orphans.

When we have a relationship with Christ it is important that the people around us are able to see evidence of our relationship with Christ by the way we live our lives. When we do not live by God's Word and practice what God teaches James tells us that "our religion is useless."

Is your "religion" just a series of rituals that you do your best to try to honor? In your "religion" do you have a certainty that you will spend eternity with God? Is your "religion" a relationship with Jesus that gives you the certain hope for an eternity with God?

You can know about God, but you cannot know God until you have entered a relationship with God and become a "child of God." It is our prayer that you will become a "Child of God" if you have not done so already.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 4:6.

Be anxious for nothing, but in every-thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

PRAYER:

Help me today to live a God-honoring life so that others will be aware of my relationship with Jesus. Help me to watch what I say so every word that proceeds out of my mouth glorifies Your name. Give me today a caring attitude that compels me to reach out and help those in need.

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Fear: March 3, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY MARCH 3, 2015.

FEAR

DEFINITION:

An emotion of dread or apprehension; profound reverence and awe toward God.

SCRIPTURE:

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
II Corinthians 7:1.

Blessed is every one that fears the Lord; that walks in His ways. Psalm 128:1

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Godly fear is not dread or apprehension nor is it the fear we feel at times of danger. Godly fear is awe and reverence of God because God is Holy and all powerful. Godly fear brings joy to our lives. Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom to those that believe on His name. Godly fear not only brings knowledge and wisdom but it makes us hate evil and helps us to be righteous, holy and reverential. Godly fear results in righteousness (right-living), and reverential worship of God. Psalms 33:5 says God loves righteousness and Hebrews 12:28 says that reverential worship is acceptable to God.

Down through the ages there have been men who have changed history because they were God-fearing men. In the Old Testament there are wonderful examples of how God worked through those who feared God. These men accomplished great things for the Lord because they feared God.
•Noah and his family were saved from the flood because they obeyed God.
•Abraham became the father of a great nation because he feared God and responded with obedience.
•Joseph became a leader in a foreign nation and saved his family from starvation.
•Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage from Egypt.
•Joshua led two million Israelites to the Promised Land.
•David conquered nations and was the greatest King of Israel.
To fear the Lord is to stand in awe of Him and to worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24) and to serve God acceptably and with reverence. This is what the great men of the Bible learned and lived by daily in their lives. Is there Godly fear (awe and reverence) in your heart?

These statements from scripture will help you evaluate if you are living in awe and reverence of God.
•If we who profess to be believers say that we have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in darkness (un-confessed sin), we lie and do not practice the truth.
•If we walk in the light as He is in the light and have fellowship with other believers and God we are in His righteousness. Godly fear that makes us righteous can only be known by those who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
•If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us of our sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Godly fear will cause you to search your heart every time you read the Bible and go to Him in prayer. If you find sin in your life then judge it, confess it and forsake it.
•Godly fear can also help you to resist temptation in your life. This is why the Psalmist has said "Let all the earth fear the Lord."

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 4:6.

Be anxious for nothing, but in every-thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

PRAYER:

Thank You that the scripture reminds us that Godly fear brings joy to one's life because it is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge that keeps me from sin. Thank You for Your promise in Psalm 128:1, that all those who fear the Lord and walk in His ways will be blessed.

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Testimony: March 2, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY MARCH 2, 2015.

TESTIMONY

DEFINITION:

The statement or declaration of a witness under oath; evidence in support of a fact or statement; proof; open declaration or profession as of faith.

SCRIPTURE:

This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things, and we know his testimony is true. John 21:24.

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I Corinthians 2:1-2.

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. I John 5:10-11.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The word testimony is probably best known in the secular world as statements made in a court session. In the Christian world a testimony usually refers to the words one gives in a group or to an individual concerning one’s relationship with Jesus. This testimony usually contrasts one’s life before accepting Jesus as one’s Savior with the life one is living now.

We can remember as kids going to church and often hearing moving testimonies of life changing experiences. When we were working with Youth for Christ we had Saturday night youth rallies attended by thousands each week. The programs included music, skits, and contests and always ended with the testimony of some speaker, usually a known personality, whose life had been completely changed because they had accepted Jesus as their Savior.

A testimony is of no value unless it is based on truth. That is why when a testimony is to be given in a court of law, the person testifying must swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. In John 21:24 the Apostle John is speaking of himself as the one who is testifying that Jesus was God. John's testimony is true because he was an eye witness and his account was based on his personal relationship with Jesus. John walked with Him, talked with Him, and worked with Him daily while He was on this earth. John's words verify that Jesus is the Christ and that He was the Son of God.

In the passage we noted above from I Corinthians chapter two, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth verifying the testimony that Jesus is Lord and Savior and available for them. Paul always looked for every opportunity to give his testimony that Jesus was his Lord and Savior. Paul was a learned scholar and could preach with eloquence. In this passage Paul says he preached a simple testimony of Jesus and wants us to understand it is not the eloquence of the words of a person’s testimony that brings others to faith and a relationship with Jesus, but it is by God's power. We should never fear to give our testimony because of its simplicity because God will use our testimony no matter how eloquent or simple.

And finally in I John 5:10-11, John tells us that whoever believes and receives the testimony that God has given us, will receive His promise of eternal life. These are just three examples from the scriptures that give us the assurance that the Bible is a true testimony that God is who He says He is and Jesus is His Son and the Savior of all who believe.

If you ever doubt personally or talk to one who doubts the certainty of your faith and your relationship with Jesus, just remember you have the testimony of Jesus Himself that He is God's Son. You have the testimony of the disciples who walked, talked and lived with Jesus while He was on this earth. And you have the testimony of God’s Word, the Bible, and those that were led by the Holy Spirit to write down for us the testimonies of those who lived during Jesus time here on earth and had a personal encounter with Him.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 4:6.

Be anxious for nothing, but in every-thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

PRAYER:

I rejoice today in the certainty that I have of knowing You and the anticipation of spending eternity with You. Thank You for the TESTIMONIES that You have given us to confirm that You are the very Son of God and the Savior of all who believe in You. May my life be a TESTIMONY of my love for You and the life-changing power of the salvation I have received through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.

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