Accomplish: August 26, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 26, 2016.

ACCOMPLISH

DEFINITION:

Bring to pass; do; complete; achieve; gain; finish.

SCRIPTURE:

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11.

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I THIRST.” John 19:28

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

In the verse above from Isaiah the phrase, “it shall accomplish what I please,” shows the power of God’s Word. Isaiah was God’s prophet and God called him to deliver a message the people did not want to hear. Isaiah called the people to turn from their sinful ways and warned them that if they did not repent of their sins God would bring judgment and punishment. Like most of us they chose to ignore what they didn’t like to hear.

The first 39 chapters of Isaiah proclaim God’s message of judgment for sin. It is a call for repentance and return to God. In contrast the last 27 chapters present God’s message of forgiveness and redemption through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Although His message was being ignored, Isaiah kept preaching because he had God’s assurance that God’s Word would accomplish what God intended it to accomplish and every word would be fulfilled. Our Savior, Jesus Christ will come and He is coming again.

All of us want to be successful and accomplish things during our lifetime. We are successful in some of the tasks that we attempt, and that gives us the satisfaction of accomplishment. All of us like to successfully accomplish what we start but sometimes we fail. Isaiah must have felt he was not accomplishing a thing because the people ignored his message. God works in ways we do not see. It is often in our failure that God is able to accomplish His purpose for us. Failure can make us realize our need to rely on His power and not ours.

The Hebrew word in this verse in Isaiah for accomplishment is ASAH. In Hebrew it makes the point that God is able to bring out of Himself the power, the victory, the solution to problems and the comfort needed anywhere and anytime. In other words, our God can accomplish whatever He desires and no one can prevent God from accomplishing His purposes. He is eternally the Almighty.

When we became parents we realized we had the responsibility to teach our children God’s message from His Word. It was our prayer that they would not ignore it or reject it. We believe, as did Isaiah, that God’s Word would not return void, and that God through His Word would accomplish His purpose in each of their lives (Isaiah 55:11).

God has a purpose and a plan in everything He does. Jesus came into this world to accomplish what God pleased. It pleased God to give His only Son to die a cruel death on the cross to save all of us lost sinners from eternal death and give us eternal life.

Jesus always knew what His purpose was in coming to earth. At the age of twelve He said, “I must be about My Father’s business” Luke 2:49. In John 4:34 He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and finish His work.”

In the verse above that we have given you from John we need to note that when Jesus was on the cross He did not respond to His need until He knew that all had been accomplished to fulfill what had been prophesied in the scriptures. And at that point he said, “I THIRST.”

God will not quit on us until he has accomplished His purpose for our life. Make sure that you do not limit God’s power in your life by your lack of faith. There is nothing God cannot accomplish through your life if you will seek to do His will. We all need to wake up, step up and let God perform in and through us what He wants to accomplish.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 57:1.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.

PRAYER:

I yield my will to You, dear Lord, and pray that You might accomplish what You want through me today. Thank You in advance for the blessings that You have for me today as I seek to obediently serve You and do Your will.

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Enlarge: August 25, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY AUGUST 25, 2016.

ENLARGE

DEFINITION:

Make bigger; extend; augment; increase in capacity or scope.

SCRIPTURE:

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. Isaiah 54:2.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The prophet Isaiah in this passage (above) is talking about the nation of Israel and God’s covenant promise to Abraham to make of him a great nation. As a growing nation God is challenging Israel through Isaiah to make the place of their tent larger.

God chose the nation of Israel to be His treasured possession. They were God’s chosen representatives to the rest of the world. God wanted them to spread out and possess the land He promised them.

This verse refers not only to Israel but applies prophetically to the future Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the need for the church (all believers) to enlarge its tent by spreading the good news of the gospel. This includes each and every believer and this is our challenge to you today. Join us as we enlarge our tent to reach out to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please go to our web site (www.thehungersolution.org) and see the many opportunities that are available for you to enlarge your tent.

The verse we have written above goes on to tell us to “Lengthen your cords.” God is challenging us as believers to increase our influence throughout the world. Jesus commanded that we, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

The illustration of a tent is understood by all. When you put up a small tent you tighten the cords and it will house a few people. But when the need arises to hold more people we must enlarge the tent. We do this by lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes that hold the cords in the ground thus making the tent cover larger.

In the Hebrew dictionary the word for “enlarge” is RACHAB. It means to become wide like chambers, like the chambers of a heart. It also has the meaning of increasing the size of a city’s borders or the size of a church.

To enlarge our tent we must enlarge our heart by filling it with more of God’s love and enlarge our capacity to love others. It is only as each one of us has more love for the Lord that our individual church “tent” will be enlarged.

Our tents include our ministry, our vision and our testimony to others. When a tent is enlarged the cords must be lengthened and stronger stakes are needed to keep it from collapsing. We need to strengthen and lengthen our cords by looking for new and fresh ways to serve our Lord. The stakes anchor the tent to hold it in place. The stakes must be strong and go deep into the ground. Before we can enlarge our tents we must strengthen our stakes by growing our faith through studying God’s Word and prayerfully seeking His direction.

God has put us here on this earth to spread abroad His message of saving grace and His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Messiah’s future kingdom is to be worldwide.

You may feel. As many people do, timid about witnessing for Christ, but if you grow your relationship with Christ He will provide both the inner strength to tell His message and the opportunities to be a witness.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 57:1.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.

PRAYER:

Strengthen my faith by giving me a better understanding of Your Word as I read it daily. Help me to communicate with You daily through prayer in a new and fresh way. Enlarge our family’s spiritual vision so we can be used by You to spread the “Good News” of Christ’s gift of salvation.

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Perfect: August 24, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY AUGUST 24, 2016.

PERFECT

DEFINITION:

Complete in every detail; without defect; flawless; exact; precise; conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type.

SCRIPTURE:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. Job 1:1

Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless (perfect) and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Psalm 19:13.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

No one is perfect for we are all born in sin and we have a sin nature that we inherited from Adam and Eve when they sinned in the Garden of Eden.

Job was not without sin but it can be said that he was as perfect as they come. Job was a blameless and upright man (the scripture tells us) so completely devoted to God that God upheld him as a model of trust and obedience. In the verse above from Job we looked at the Hebrew word for “perfect” as used in this verse. It is TAMAN and has several meanings. First, it means consumed. Job was in deep sorrow and exhausted after losing all of his family and his possessions but he remained consumed (perfect) in his trust in God.

Job is a wonderful example for us. Often in times of great loss or suffering, doubts about God creeps in and our perfect trust in the Lord grows weak. Just when we need the Lord the most, we turn away from the Lord. Job’s faith in God never wavered. When our faith grows weak the first thing we should do is get back to reading God’s Word and praying. When we seek the Lord we will find Him.

TAMAN also means upright. The psalmist writes in Psalm 19:7: “The law of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul.” God’s law is perfect because it keeps us away from sin and directs us to conform to God’s will which is to do His work of righteousness in us to make us perfect. TAMAN also means to be complete, without blemish and blameless. This was Job’s status when we read about him in Job 1.

Our Lord and Savior is perfect and as believers He has set the standards in life that we need to strive for in our lives. In Psalm 18:30 we read that as for God, His way is perfect; the Word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust Him. What a wonderful promise of assurance this is for us as believers. We are not perfect nor has anyone in our world been perfect after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. It is only by the blood of Jesus that we can be made perfect. When we get to heaven we will be made completely perfect.

In Matthew 19:16-22 we read when Jesus counsels the rich young ruler. In verse 21 Jesus tells him, “If you want to be perfect, go, and sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and then come and follow Me.”

This might seem to be an unreasonable request. Jesus knows our true heart and saw that the man’s god was his wealth. He loved himself and his possessions more than God. Jesus said we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” Matthew 22:37.

To be perfect we must follow Jesus’s commandments and give God first place in our life. We must not let anything, any sin, or anyone stand between us and God. If there is something in your life today that stands between you and God, are you willing to give it up and allow God to do His perfect work in you? Ask the Lord to “Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ” Hebrews 13:21.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 57:1.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, I desire to be found perfect and upright in Your sight as Job was. Keep me from allowing sin to have dominion over me and enable me to always give You first place in my life so that You can do Your perfect work in me.

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Music: August 23, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY AUGUST 23, 2016.

MUSIC

DEFINITION:

Sounds organized to have melody, rhythm and harmony. The combining of sounds and tones as a form of artistic expression; the art of sound that expresses praise of someone or something as in verse or song.

SCRIPTURE:

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Psalm 100:2

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Ephesians 5:18-19.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We have often said and have heard many people say over the years that when we get to heaven we will be able to sing so much better than we are able to now. Have you thought how thrilling it will be just to join with the angels, and sing psalms and hymns of praise most likely with words and music like we have never heard before?

Both of us love music, especially wonderful choir music sung in churches. Many churches today do not have choirs and we miss the music that they once sang.

We have mentioned several times in prior devotionals the experiences we had in Kenya. Each year the 75 churches that the ministry we were part of helped to sponsor, had a three day conference somewhere in the middle of where their churches were located. We will never forget the singing that we heard at these conferences.

The church choirs would come and everyone would join them in singing songs and praising God through music. It was an experience that we will never forget and we commented at the time that this experience might be somewhat like the singing we anticipated in heaven.

But when we get to heaven John tells us in Revelation 5:11 that there will be thousands upon thousands singing praises of honor and glory to the Lord. In the verses we have put above we see in Psalms that we are to come before our Lord singing as we enter into His presence. Can you imagine the thrill of that happening for an eternity?

In Ephesians (above) the apostle Paul reminds us that while we are here on this earth waiting for our Lord’s return we are to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Our Lord wants us to honor and glorify His name through music. Songs of praise to the Lord ministers to our hearts and lifts us up.

When we think of music we often think of hearing the Halleluiah Chorus sung by a mass choir of hundreds. What a thrilling experience that is. We all have heard wonderful singing honoring God in our churches and at Christian concerts. Yes, over the years music has changed but we personally have our hearts moved when we hear the old hymns that were sung years ago.

Our family would sometimes sing when we were in the car to keep the children occupied. Those songs sung in childhood years are never forgotten. When my (Dottie) sister was ill and bedridden and really did not have much memory, we started singing some old favorites from our childhood days. One of her favorites was “Jesus loves me.” As she sang along with us she remembered every word. Now she is with Jesus and honoring Him with songs of praise.

Music has a profound effect on our lives. Parents must recognize this and be aware of the type of music their children are listening to.

It is important that we make music part of our daily lives. We need to listen to music that honors God. We need to sing songs that honor God, even if we really cannot sing. God listens to the heart knowing that when we are with him we will all have wonderful new heavenly voices.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 57:1.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.

PRAYER:

May my heart be filled with music that honors and glorifies Your name today.

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Chastisement: August 22, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2016.

CHASTISEMENT

DEFINITION:

Fatherly correction; discipline; training.

SCRIPTURE:

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His correction: for whom the Lord loves He corrects. Proverbs 3:11-12.

As a man chastens his son, so the Lord thy God chastens thee. Deuteronomy 8:5.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The Word chastisement as used in the scriptures may be better understood as correction. In the verse above from Proverbs we are told that as children of God we are not to despise the correction nor get weary of the correction that God gives us.

In the above verse from Deuteronomy we are reminded that God corrects us just as fathers do who love their children. Children and adults alike do not like to give correction or receive correction. In fact most parents and children do not understand the purpose of correction or the necessity of it.

So many parents allow their children to do whatever they want and also give them everything they ask for. This is not showing love because it is not in the best interest of the child. Parents also need to learn today that discipline is necessary to teach a child the difference between right and wrong. Chastisement or discipline was designed by God to correct us and to prevent us from sinning and finally to bless us.

There is a passage from the Old Testament found in Jeremiah 24:5-6 that tells us the story of two baskets of figs. One is a basket of good figs and the other a basket of bad figs. God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Jehoikim, the king of Judah because of the sin and disobedience of the Israelites, God’s chosen people. The basket of good figs represented the exiles that were taken from Judah to Babylon which was God’s chastisement on His people for their disobedience. The bad figs represented those who escaped to Egypt or remained in Judah.

The good figs represented the exiles taken to Babylon, not because they were good but because their hearts were responsive to God’s chastisement. God used the captivity to bring them back to a right relationship with God. God blessed them and eventually brought them back to Judah. When God disciplines us it is never without a reason and it always is to accomplish His purpose in our life. The lesson for us is to keep our hearts responsive to God’s fatherly correction to bring us back to a right relationship with Him, and then He will bless us just as He blessed the good exiles.

We read in II Corinthians 12:7-9 how Paul was tormented by Satan with what Paul called a “thorn in the flesh.” Three times Paul prayed and asked God to remove this “thorn in the flesh.” When the Lord did not remove it Paul realized that it was with him to keep him humble and showed him he must depend on the Lord and not on his own abilities. It kept him from the sin of pride. God has designed correction to prevent us from sinning.

In Psalm 94:12 we read that correction comes our way so that we will be blessed. It reads, “Blessed is the man whom You discipline and whom You teach out of Your law.”

Here are three verses to help us further. First, in II Chronicles 6:24-31 we read that God desires that we repent in response to correction. Secondly, In II Corinthians 12:7-10 we are told to show submission to God our Father when we are corrected. Thirdly, in James 4:10 it says to “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.”

Discipline is far from pleasant, but be encouraged --- God corrects those He loves. God loves you as His own child.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 57:1.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shower of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.

PRAYER:

Help me to be open to the corrections that You have for me today. May I learn to respond to Your corrections with repentance and submission.

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