Trust: August 7, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 7, 2015.

TRUST

DEFINITION:

Having reliance or faith in.

SCRIPTURE:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

God has a plan and purpose for each of us that He wants to reveal to us. It is a pathway He has designed specifically for each one of us. Unfortunately, many of us fail to consider this and walk down our own unproven pathway.

If we do not fully trust God, we may be reluctant to follow the path He has chosen for us. Proverbs 3 tells us what is required to follow the Lord and what the benefits will be.

God commands us to trust Him. Trust is a strong belief in someone’s integrity, ability, and character. This is the kind of confidence we are to have in the Lord. If we lack trust we will not follow Him. But if we spend a lifetime trusting Him, we can testify without a doubt that He has never let us down.

We are commanded to trust God as believer’s in Him with all of our heart. We do what God says to us because we trust Him to guide us the right way. We cannot pick and choose areas to trust in Him. God’s understanding is complete and eternal and if we start picking and choosing from our personal desires we will come to the place of trusting in ourselves and not in God.

 Proverbs 3:6 says we are to acknowledge God in all we do. This is not a partial agreement but it says in all that we do. If we acknowledge Him, he will make our paths straight. He will protect us from side roads, eliminates obstacles that may come our way, and confusion as to what is right and what is wrong.

To trust God is to fear Him. To fear God is to recognize and honor Him as not only the only sovereign Ruler of the Universe, but the Lord and Master of our lives.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 19:17.

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.

PRAYER:

It is my prayer today that You will show me how to trust You fully. Keep me from leaning on my own abilities. Help me to keep my eyes on You and lead me on the right path.

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Clever: August 6, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY AUGUST 6, 2015.

CLEVER

DEFINITION:

Mentally bright, having sharp or quick intelligence; able; the ability to find a way to accomplish a purpose.

SCRIPTURE:

The serpent was clever; craftier than any wild animal God had made. Genesis 3:1.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

A person that has the positive capabilities to accomplish the unusual is often thought of as clever. Today we will not deal with being clever in this manner.

We want to share with you the fact that Satan has many clever ways to deceive. Satan is clever as to how he presents himself. In I Corinthians 11:14 we read that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

We are all aware of what happened in the Garden of Eden between Eve and the serpent (SATAN). Satan cleverly deceived Eve in thinking maybe she misunderstood God in what He said to her. He basically was asking her, how could it be that a good God would withhold something good from you?

Satan convinced Eve to doubt God and His goodness. Satan’s lie was that God was withholding something good from Eve by forbidding her to eat the fruit from this one tree.

Have there been times in your life when a still small voice within you tries to be clever with you by tricking you into second guessing God? Possibly something comes your way that you are considering but you know it is something you should not do. When you say no, Satan puts a positive spin on whatever you were considering and makes it appear you are missing out on something.

We urge you to watch out because Satan, the Devil, is alive and well today in this world. He is looking for every opportunity to lead you to sin. He knows exactly where you are vulnerable and he will pounce on you if you just slightly open the door. In I Peter 5:8 we read that Satan is a hungry lion seeking someone to devour. Make sure it is not you.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 19:17.

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.

PRAYER:

Give me wisdom today to watch out for the cleverness of Satan in my life. Draw me closer to you as I read Your Word and communicate to You through prayer so that I will be able to resist all of Satan’s temptations. Help me to lead my family to live a Christ honoring life and to look out for the temptations of Satan that they will face.

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Church: August 5, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY AUGUST 5, 2015.

CHURCH

DEFINITION:

A building or place for religious worship; the fellowship of a whole community of believers.

SCRIPTURE:

They continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship. Acts 2:42.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The word “Church”’ was first used when Christ told Peter that He would build His church upon him. Matthew 16:18. When Jesus used the word “church’ He was referring to all those who believed in Him. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven He commissioned His disciples to be His witnesses and to add to the body of believers.

Today we use the word “church” not only for believers but also to identify a building where people meet to worship. It does not matter to God how big or how ornate a church is that we worship in. What matters to God is first, the people inside the church and secondly, what is being taught in the church and finally, the sincerity of faith and worship of those in the church.

It was on the day of Pentecost that Peter and the disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit and began to carry out the commandment of Jesus to preach Christ’s message of salvation. The result that day is that the number of believers grew from 120 to 3,000. The believers were excited about having received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their life and to be able to spread the gospel message.

Although the early Christians were under the threat of persecution, they continued to gather together to pray and teach others about Jesus. As a result the Lord added daily to their numbers and the early church continued to grow. The new believers listened to Peter and the disciples and began to live like Jesus had taught the apostles.

This excitement and sincere devotion does not prevail in our churches today, among the believers. Many people today, outside of the church, think church people are hypocrites. In ancient times the Greek word “hupokrites” referred to actors who displayed changes of emotion by changing the masks they held against their face. Their real self was hidden by the mask.

Many church people today fall into this category. They faithfully go to church and give the appearance of a sincere believer. Often the next day when they go to their work place they take off their mask and reveal who they really are.

These people cannot give up their worldly desires and submit to the will of God. They do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. They say they do but their actions tell the real story.

What is needed is not beautiful church buildings but groups of united Christians who are alive with the anticipation of meeting God and who have an earnest desire to bring others to the Lord.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 19:17.

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.

PRAYER:

Keep me faithful in worshiping You every day and not just in church. Prepare my heart daily as I worship You so that I may hear Your voice.

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Listening: August 4, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY AUGUST 4, 2015.

LISTENING

DEFINITION:

Hear attentively; pay heed.

SCRIPTURE:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

In the verse above when Jesus says acknowledge He means that we are to consider what He is saying, recognize His great power, trust His guidance, and follow His instructions. He is continually seeking to guide us but if we are not listening, we will miss His instructions and go the wrong way.

When Jesus was on this earth He made it clear many times that He wanted people to listen to Him. In Mark 4:1-3 He taught a large crowd and called for their attention by saying, “listen.” In Mark 4:23-24 Christ also announced, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And then said, “Pay attention to what you hear.” The NIV version reads, “Consider carefully what you hear.” In other words think deeply about what you hear.

In Mark 7:14 Jesus called out, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand.” His goal was that we understand what He is saying and comprehend what He says.

Jesus uses the phrase verily, verily over 25 times in the book of John alone. It was His way of emphasizing what He was saying. His words were the authoritative truth and deserved full attention.

Many people ask how God speaks to us today.  His primary way of speaking to us is through the Bible. The Bible is the authoritative Word of God and the only source of truth. When we read it we are hearing directly from the Lord. This, for some, is a hard concept to understand. It is so simple but we try to make it complicated. Every word in the Bible is from God. Read it and listen. Hear and see what God is saying as you read His Word.

God also speaks to us through prayer. Prayer is our way to communicate to God. But we need to learn that it is a time for us to be still and listen, as we pray, and wait for God to give us guidance. When we wait and listen, God will bring thoughts to our hearts and convictions to our minds of things we need to address in our life. As we wait on the Lord we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

When our situation is painful, God sometimes will speak to us through the circumstance of the time. We need to learn that instead of focusing on why the situation happened we need to ask God what He wants to say to us. God also will speak to us through other people. This can be in a form of confirmation to a thought you have, encouragement or even a warning.

God’s voice is always consistent to His Word. His voice is quiet. He speaks to our hearts through His Holy Spirit. The Lord speaks clearly if we are tuned in and willing to listen. We get tuned in by reading His Word and praying and then waiting and listening.

The Lord gets our attention to communicate with Him by various ways. Sometimes it will be a sense of restlessness. Other times it will be loud and clear because we know the difference between right and wrong and when things are wrong in our life God will convict us.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 19:17.

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.

PRAYER:

Teach me to listen to You daily. Help me to learn to communicate with you including learning to wait. Give me patience and an excitement to expect great and mighty things from You.

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Christian Life: August 3, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY AUGUST 3, 2015.

CHRISTIAN LIFE

DEFINITION:

The principle of living a life like Christ lived when He lived on this earth.

SCRIPTURE:

To know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Statistics tell us that fewer people are committed to living a Christian life then even just one year ago. The reasons are many but none are acceptable in God’s sight. Some say they are too busy with the “things” of life. Others find it too hard because of negative peer pressure. In general life is becoming more and more immoral. People cling to their sinful and immoral life style and are unrepentant of their sin.

Living a Christian life is not easy but God never promised us that it would be easy. God gave us His gift of eternal life and when we accepted His gift of salvation we began our relationship with Jesus – our Christian life began. God at that time expected us to live our Christian life fully committed to God.

In the verse that we have put above under scripture, the apostle Paul prayed for those who had accepted Jesus that they would “be filled with the fullness of God.” The only way anyone can be filled with the fullness of God is by living for Him each and every day. This means turning away from sin, obeying God’s word, and being totally devoted to Him. God desires to fill every aspect of our life to the fullest by the power of His Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

There is a two-sided reality to the Christian life. The minute we receive Jesus as our Savior we are justified through our faith and made right with God and have peace with God. But the second side is that we still must face the temptations and trials of this evil world and the problems of life.

It is through our trials and troubles that we face daily that the Holy Spirit works to help us grow spiritually and strengthens our faith. We learn to call on God and through our communication with God, reading His Word and prayer we are drawn closer to Him.

Are you experiencing part of the abundant life that God promises us as we live our Christian life? If not are you living your Christian life as God expects you to?

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 19:17.

One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.

PRAYER:

Thank You Lord, for the gift of salvation You have provided for me and the sure hope of spending an eternity with You. I commit myself today to making the most of my spiritual journey as long as You leave me on this earth. Help me to grow in my knowledge of You so that I can experience Your fullness in every aspect in my life. Give me opportunity to share Your love with those I meet today.

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