Boundaries: April 28, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY APRIL 28, 2017.

BOUNDARIES

DEFINITION:

Rules to enforce standards; something that indicates limits.

SCRIPTURE:

Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Jesus put it right on the line for all believers when He gave us His standard to love the Lord thy God and love our neighbors. This sets up the boundary we need if we are going to honor Him and serve Him. When we love Jesus and our neighbors it puts us in a position of honoring God in all that we do. Boundaries are limits that are set to protect us. The boundaries guidelines are what God has given us: The Ten Commandments, His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The prophet Nehemiah was governor of Jerusalem after he returned from exile. God had spoken to him and directed him to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Nehemiah responded because he understood that the Jewish people living in Jerusalem needed a boundary around them to protect them from their enemies. (Nehemiah chapters 3-4)

Just like those that lived in Jerusalem during Nehemiah’s time needed a boundary in the form of a wall to protect them from invaders, we as believers need a boundary of protection to protect us from the invasion of sin and evil that we face daily.

Take a moment right now and think about the enemies we face as Christians. We live in a culture that basically ignores God and thus we face evil influences everywhere we turn. When we live out our faith we face times when our faith is questioned. We are asked such things as “How can you believe that there is a God when all these bad things are happening?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Everyday our faith is being tested.

We face temptations daily. How many times a day are you tempted to do something that is not honest or at least borders on being dishonest. This is Satan at work in this world and the temptations we face begin with little things and then they get bigger and bigger and soon God is forgotten.

Everyday our children are confronted with the evils of drugs, alcohol, sex, corruption and a philosophy of living for self glorification. Just sit down with a young person and get them to talk to you about the things they face in life and you will be appalled.

A boundary determines limits. In the Christian life it is like a line dividing right from wrong, what is pleasing to God and what is not. When we cross the line and do what is not pleasing to God, it is wrong and a sin and we have breached the boundary that the Lord has set for us. So often we make excuses like: what is wrong if it is only a little white lie, or it will never be missed if I steal it, or if nobody knows about it, how can extramarital sex be bad?

How many drug addicts became addicted because they thought it would never hurt to try an illegal drug just once? How many drunkards started with just one drink? Once the boundary between right and wrong is breached, no matter how small the breach, it is like a tiny crack in a dam. The breach continues to expand until the floodgates are let loose and causes a disaster. We have only to look at the shattered lives all around us and the broken homes with families in total disarray to see the tragic results of crossing God’s boundaries.

This is why we need as believers, for ourselves and our families, to adhere to the boundaries that God has set to protect us from the evils of this world. We need support systems. Let us share with you three simple support systems that all believers need to adhere too.

We need family communication daily to encourage and to hold each other accountable for what we do.

We need time praying, alone and as a family, asking God to give us the protection we need from the enemies we face.

We need time alone and as a family to read God’s Word. This is the only way God can communicate with us. His Word is vital to keeping us spiritually strong and living within God’s boundaries.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 16:3.

Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.

PRAYER:

It is my prayer today that You will help me to set boundaries that will protect me from the evils of this world that I live in. I ask the same for my family and my friends. Give each one of us the strength and courage to resist temptations to cross God’s boundary lines. Protect us from the evils of Satan in this world and give us a new dedication to live for You and to honor You.

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Beginning: April 27, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY APRIL 27, 2017.

BEGINNING

DEFINITION:

A point of coming into existence; a starting point; commence; start; take the first step; origin; source.

SCRIPTURE:

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

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. John 1:1.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

This world and everything in this world has a beginning. Genesis 1:1 states that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning God was there. In John 1:1 it reads that Jesus (the Word) was also there in the beginning.

Down through history no one has been able to document anyone else who was there in the beginning. Only our triune God (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) has existed from the beginning.

We all begin life here on this earth by being born. Birth is a process by which each of us has our beginning. But there is a more important birth for us all to consider in life. God in His Word speaks of our need to be “born again.” There are many people in this world that do not understand what it means to be “born again.”

These words “born again” were spoken by Jesus when He was talking to Nicodemus. Although Nicodemus was a devout Jewish Pharisee, he did not understand what being “born again” really meant. He asked how one can be born more than once. Jesus explained that the first birth is a birth of the flesh, but the second birth is the birth of the Spirit. Our first birth gives earthly life and our second birth gives us eternal life.

In order to be “born again” we must go through the process of realizing that we are sinners and ask God for forgiveness and then after asking God for forgiveness we need to ask Jesus to come into our heart and then accept Jesus as our Savior.

By our first birth we all were born into this world as sinners because of the fall of Adam and Eve. The penalty for the sins we committed in life is death. Because we are born sinners we need to pay the price for our sins. God has provided a way for us to escape paying the penalty by accepting Jesus as Savior.

By our faith in Jesus, our second birth, we are made a new creation. In II Corinthians 5:17 it reads, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.” As a new creation we have a new beginning and our heart will be changed and our life-style will be changed. This is one of the first things a new believer will experience.

When we make the decision to accept Jesus as our Savior and to begin our new life with Him, we must be ready to expect the unexpected. Your own plan for your life is limited because of who you are. You do not know the future or even what will happen later today. God has His own plan for your life and a new beginning. Your new life in Christ is unlimited because of who He is.

It may be God’s plan to change your plan for your life completely. Paul could never have expected how completely God was going to change the direction of his life. Paul was transformed from being a persecutor of those who believed in Christ into a preacher for Christ. Instead of halting the spread of the gospel he would do more than any other individual to spread the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.

Secondly, we must be prepared to believe the unbelievable. The message of the gospel is the first unbelievable action that we must believe. Jesus did die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus was buried in a tomb. Jesus did rise from the dead. Jesus, as your risen Savior, wants a relationship with you so you can spend an eternity with Him no matter how great a sinner you once were.

Thirdly, in our new beginning with Jesus we must discover the undiscoverable. For example, as one who puts his or her trust in Jesus you will discover that you can experience joy at the moment you are troubled or in fear. You can express worship to God at the moment you are most vulnerable to the evils around you in this world. And you can find purpose at the moment you are the most confused about any given situation that has changed the direction of your life.

Knowing the Lord changes things and when God is in control of our life nothing is impossible.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 16:3.

Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.

PRAYER:

I thank You Lord for forgiving all my sins. I thank You Lord for making me a new creation. My prayer is that You will change me completely so that I will be what You want me to be.

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Neglect: April 26, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY APRIL 26, 2017.

NEGLECT

DEFINITION:

Disregard; fail to carry out or perform; ignore; pay no attention to.

SCRIPTURE:

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Hebrews 2:3

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

James says in the above verse that when we know that something is the right thing to do and we do not do it, it is a sin. This is called a sin of omission. In any sin of omission one basically is neglecting to do right. It is as much of a sin as a sin of commission, like lying, stealing and committing adultery, in God's sight.

We all face issues and situations in life that are difficult to deal with. It is tempting to just put off dealing with them or even to ignore them completely. Unfortunately, neither putting it off nor ignoring it will make the situation go away.

Sin is sin and whether we want to face it or not, we will be held accountable for our sins. This is not an issue to be ignored. All those who neglect to deal with their sin will be judged and punished. The punishment will be severe. We will be eternally separated from God. It comes down to where we will spend eternity. Unless we repent of our sins and accept God’s gracious gift of salvation the issue will not go away no matter how much we ignore it.

The writer of Hebrews asks the question which you must ask yourself: “How will you escape if you neglect so great a salvation?” God does not accept any excuses for neglecting to do what is right.

One may only have one opportunity in life to accept God's salvation. We do not know what tomorrow holds. What we do know is that if you neglect to accept Jesus as your Savior, you will have to stand before the judgment throne without any excuse.

In I Timothy 4:14 the apostle Paul exhorts Timothy and other believers not to neglect the gift that is in him, which was given him by God. We all have been given gifts that God expects us as believers to use for Him. Many never use their gifts as God desires them to and they miss wonderful opportunities to spread the gospel message and to bring glory to God. When we neglect to do what we know we should we miss out on God’s best for us.

Parents have the responsibility first of all to teach their children about God and Jesus and give them an opportunity to accept Jesus as their Savior. Parents, also, must teach their children the difference between right and wrong. Children need to be taught so they know without any doubt what is good so that they understand that neglecting to do the right things in life is as much of a sin as doing the wrong thing.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 16:3.

Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.

PRAYER:

Give me the courage not to neglect the sins in my life and the strength to deal with each one of them and to ask for forgiveness when needed. Help me to be diligent in teaching my children about God and Jesus and how they can be saved. Help me to also teach them to be obedient to God’s commandments and to always strive to do what is right.

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Hand: April 25, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY APRIL 25, 2017.

HAND

DEFINITION:

Help; aid; participation; custody.

SCRIPTURE:

Let Your hand become my help, for I have chosen Your precepts. Psalm 119:173.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

I can still remember when our children were trying to learn to walk. They always were reaching out to hold our hand. But soon when they gained confidence in themselves they no longer would reach for our hand. But almost without fail they would fall and sometimes even hurt themselves. Their over-confidence in themselves taught them a lesson that a strong helping hand could have kept them from falling and helped them gain confidence faster.

Many times we are sure that you have been in situations, as we have often been, when we needed to take someone’s hand to help us walk on a slippery or treacherous path. As we get older we often welcome having someone’s hand to assist us to keep us from slipping or even falling.

On a trip to Panama we had the opportunity to go to visit a remote Indian tribe. We took a bus to a remote area and then walked down a steep hill to get into a dugout canoe. The mud was very slippery and there was no railing to take hold of. We were not the least bit confident that we could get from the river bank into the canoe safely. There were no steps and the river bank was very uneven, muddy and rocky.

A teenage Indian boy, standing near the canoe with both of his bare feet planted firmly in the mud, reached out with his one hand to grab ours and with his other hand he grabbed our arm. With these helping hands we felt more confident that we could make it into the canoe. We got into the canoe, went down the river, met the tribe and returned knowing that we had a very special day. We also knew that without the helping hands of this teenage Indian boy we may have found ourselves taking an unexpected swim.

Ken remembers holding the hand of a young blind boy in Guatemala helping him to his class at the school our ministry sponsored. He was trying to learn English and spent his time asking questions about America and seemingly not concerned about his blindness. He held my hand tightly knowing that I was leading him in the right direction.

In the verse we have written above the psalmist tells us, “Let Your hand become my help, for I have chosen Your precepts.” God is holding out His hand every moment of everyday for us to hold. And when we live by His precepts He has promised to lead us according to His will. When we read this verse we think back to the many times others have held out their hands to help us and the times we have held out our hands to help others.

In life we all have been in difficult situations, both physically and spiritually, where we have overestimated our feeble abilities. Those are the times we reached out for help and God’s guiding hand was always there to lead us in the right direction.

When we are fearful and discouraged God says, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10.

We were so grateful for the strong and steady hand of the Indian boy on that river bank in Panama but we are so much more grateful that we have God’s hand leading us and supporting us on the slippery slope of life.

When adversity begins to strike you, remember that God is ready to stretch out His hand to strengthen you.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 16:3.

Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.

PRAYER:

Thank You for Your strong hand that is always there for me and my family. Help us to put our complete trust in You and not to succumb to the evils of this world. Just as a child needs his father’s hand so do I need Your hand to give me daily strength and guidance.

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Unity: April 24, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY APRIL 24, 2017.

UNITY

DEFINITION:

The state of being one; harmony among elements; agreement; absence of strife and diversity.

SCRIPTURE:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Psalm 133:1.

Being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:2-5

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Unity does just not happen. It takes work. Just ask any married couple. None of us are ever going to be perfect here on earth so we must accept others, both believers in Jesus and non-believers, as they are in spite of their faults. This does not mean we should compromise in our obedience to God’s commandments.

Jesus and His Father were in perfect unity. In John 10:30 Jesus said of their relationship, “I and My Father are one.” It was the desire of Jesus that there would be unity among His disciples and believers when He said, as recorded in John 17:20-21, “My prayer is not for them alone (His disciples). I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You.”

We all have differences of opinion and ideas but believers in Jesus must not let their differences divide them. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to build unity among believers, but we as individuals must be willing to be led and let the Holy Spirit do His perfect work in us.

If Jesus was concerned about unity among believers in those days, just think how much more so He is now. The whole world is in a state of turmoil and division. God is not the author of turmoil and confusion. His desire is for us to dwell together in unity.

Unity must begin with the body of believers and in the homes of these believers. This is a real challenge for parents today because of the corruption and negative influences of our society today. It is everywhere and television and social media brings it right into our homes. Unity in the home begins with love, love that is Christ-like and love that is unselfish. This love will bring harmony and a desire to work together to accomplish common goals.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2 that as believers the way to bring unity to our family is through humility and a Christ-like attitude. He tells us that we must be like minded and be united in spirit and purpose. We are not to do things out of selfish ambition or conceit. We are to put others before ourselves. Paul’s last but most important word of advice is concerning our attitude. He says, “your attitude should be the same as that of Christ.”

Take time now to evaluate your priorities. Do you love your family? Do you have a Christ-like home? Do you esteem others better then yourself? Is your family in one accord on issues you face together? Is your attitude the same as Jesus Christ?

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 16:3.

Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.

PRAYER:

Help me to be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life so that I will be a peacemaker in my home, my workplace, my church and my community. May I encourage others to live in unity governed by a Christ-like attitude of love and humility.

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