Time: July 21, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY JULY 21, 2017.

TIME

DEFINITION:

A system of measuring a limited period or interval of duration; a particular period.

SCRIPTURE:

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastics 3:1.

Blessed is he that reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. Revelation 1:3.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

God has given us time to first come to know Him and then time to be a witness for Him in the world we live in. In the verse above from Ecclesiastics we are reminded that there is a time for every purpose under heaven.

When Jesus was looking for His disciples He was looking for men who would give their time to Him. He was asking for a life-long commitment that began by believing in Him (accepting Him as their Lord and Savior).  The disciples followed Jesus wherever He went and spent day after day with Him listening to His words and learning from Him what Jesus wanted them to be and do. This is what God desires from us today.

A study taken about 10 years ago reported that the average person in America will spend 20 years (365 days --- 7,300 days and 24 hours a day -- 175,200 hours) of their life working at a job, 10 years watching television and music in their home, 6 years of eating, 7 years watching entertainment events outside of their home, 5 years dressing, 1 year on the telephone or cell phone (with all the new gadgets on the cell like texting etc. this figure would be much higher today), 1 year in church (attending and volunteering), and finally 3 years doing nothing or just waiting.

Do you notice that there is no time allotted to reading the Bible and prayer in this study. How can we expect God to protect us, bless us and guide us if we do not take time to let God communicate to us or us to communicate to God? God is never too busy for us and He always is waiting for us to give back to Him a portion of the time He has given us. Plan your time wisely and put God first in your life and in your family and you will see God working in your life. Time spent with God is never wasted time.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 95:6.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

PRAYER:

Help me to schedule my time daily to communicate with You and to be productive in serving You. Give me the leadership to guide my family and friends to serve You, communicate with You and to Love You with all their hearts, soul and mind.

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Resolution: July 20, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY JULY 20, 2017.

RESOLUTION

DEFINITION:

A formal statement of intention and determination upon a course of action.

SCRIPTURE:

Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will act. Psalm 37:5.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

As we shared with you yesterday, we celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary. Many people begin a New Year by making what they call “New Year’s Resolutions.” We thought it would be interesting to talk about Resolutions the day after our anniversary as we begin a new year of married life.

The majority of those that make resolutions break them before a week has gone by. We know because we have been there and done that.

We all desire to improve ourselves and our way of life. Many people make resolutions such as a desire to lose weight, improve family relations, handle problems better and spend more time reading the Bible and communicating with God. An unknown author once wrote that “A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the next.”

There are two problems with resolutions. One is that most people that make physical resolutions only do not realize that it is not the outward appearance that counts. The Lord does not look at the things that man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

The second problem with resolutions is that most people do not understand that resolutions cannot change us. Only God can change us and that is why we suggest to spend more time reading the Bible and communicating with God. God not only is able to see what is in our heart, but He can change the desires of our heart.

The greatest resolution one can make any day of the year is to set a goal to seek a closer relationship with the Lord. James 4:8 tells us that as we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. If you are reading God’s Word, meditating on what you read, and spending time in prayer than God can work in you to change you. Philippians 2:13 reads: “For it is God who works in you both to will and act according to His good purpose.”

Yes, the Psalmist tells us in the verse we have put above to “Commit your way to the Lord and to trust in Him.” If we submit our all to God, He will do what we cannot do. We can trust Him to work out what is best for us. This is a resolution we all can be blessed with.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 95:6.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

PRAYER:

Help our family to commit to having a closer relationship with You, dear Lord. Help me to release all that I have into Your hands so You can direct my life. Help me to lead my family to read Your Word daily, meditate on what they read and pray to You with a purpose each day.

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True Love: July 19, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY JULY 19, 2017.

TRUE LOVE

DEFINITION:

A profoundly tender, passionate affection that is real and genuine and conditional.

SCRIPTURE:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. I John 4:7-8.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

It is hard for us to believe, but 60 years ago today we began our life together as we took the oath in marriage to love one another through all circumstances.

Even though we have gone through valleys of sorrow and struggle and been to the mountain tops of joy and blessings, we can look back and see God’s hand in all of our ups and downs. God has been so good to us. Our love for one another has grown over the years and our love for the Lord, which is true love, has never been greater.

God has blessed us first of all with salvation. Both of us found the Lord at a very early age, before we were even teenagers. We have been blessed with a wonderful heritage as our parents taught us to put Christ first in our lives from as far back as we can remember. He has blessed us with six wonderful children and their spouses, twenty grand-children (three are married to wonderful spouses) and also two great grand-children and another on the way.

God called us both to the ministry before we were married and oh, how He has blessed us down through the years. And today, we refuse to retire until the Lord takes us home, God is blessing THE HUNGER SOLUTION. Go to our website www.thehungersolution.org and you will see how God is blessing.

Today we want to discuss what true love is and what is the nature of love?

In today’s world people are confused about love. For most people love has come to mean a relationship based on sexual attraction. True love is the most important of all human qualities and the most needed to have a fulfilled life. True love involves the giving of oneself in service to someone else.

Love is a commitment to the satisfaction, security and development of the person who is loved and a commitment to the fulfilment of their needs, whatever they are, always asking what is best for the other person.

Love is a commitment to another person that requires faithfulness and is motivated by a desire to see the one loved become who God wants him or her to be. Affection and desire are often equated with love but they are not necessarily the same thing. Only God can fill our empty souls looking for affection or a desire for love.

There is only one true genuine love, and it is the love of Almighty God. God’s true love is unconditional; God demonstrates His love for us in this: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8. He is the source of love and He desires to fill our empty souls with His love.

God’s love is active and powerful and it brings healing, builds a sense of self-worth, produces a feeling of emotional completeness and gives a feeling of security. God’s love helps us to love those who have wronged us, enables us to be kind to those who have misunderstood us, and empowers us to serve others joyfully. True love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I Corinthians 13:6.

This kind of fulfilling love is only found when one has a personal relationship with Christ. At the moment of salvation, He plants His love in our hearts. Then as we grow spiritually, His love within us matures and we are able to show true love to others.

Our prayer for our family and for each of yours is found in the prayer that Paul prayed for the believers in the church at Ephesus. “May you grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3: 18-19.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 95:6.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

PRAYER:

Help our family to share Christ’s love to others. Help us to encourage those that are hurting and lonely to come to Jesus and experience the love of Christ in their hearts and lives.

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Worship: July 18, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY JULY 18, 2017.

WORSHIP

DEFINITION:

Reverent honor paid to God; adoring reverence or regard; to express praise and devotion to God.

SCRIPTURE:

Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name. Psalm 29:2

Jesus declared, yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

“Worship at the church of your choice” has become a common invitation here in North America, and believers and unbelievers alike are urged to join in a public service in a specially designed building called a church or a synagogue. But we ask you the question: “what is this worship”. Can a person who does not believe in God have any idea of what true biblical worship is? The answer of course is NO!

If we go to the average church, including the average Bible-believing church, we will normally see a sign, “WORSHIP SERVICE 11:00 A.M.” We will find that the main part of the service is a sermon. But is sermon worship? NO! Listening to a sermon, or even preaching a sermon, is not worship.

But then you might ask the question, “What about prayers?” Most prayers are petitions and are meant to be that. Some prayers are filled with worship and most good prayers include worship, but a prayer itself is not necessarily worship.

We are getting closer to worship when we talk about church music especially when the music is addressed to God in adoration. But music in itself is not worship. All of the above are important for our spiritual nourishment and pleasing to God. So, what is worship?

A wonderful example of worship by a former pagan gentile is recorded in the book of Daniel (Daniel 4: 34-37). The words of Nebuchadnezzar, after he came to know God as his God and Savior, were clearly worship. Worship comes from the heart. Nebuchadnezzar expressed to God what he was feeling in his heart. He was not in a church service; it was just God and him.

“I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, compared to His greatness; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down”.

This is pure worship. He certainly was not preaching; he was not even praying, but was praising the Most High God in humble adoration. His heart was overflowing, bubbling over with a consciousness of the greatness, love, and goodness of the sovereign God, his Savior.

The apostle John was the only person who God has given a glimpse of worship in heaven. In Revelation, chapter 4, John describes worship in heaven.

“The twenty-four (they represent the redeemed), fall down before Him (Jesus) who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things and by Your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:10-11

Worship exalts God and humbles man; there is no room for pride, arrogance, or hypocrisy in worship. Psalm 95:6-7 reads: “Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for He is our God.” John 4:24 tells us that, “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth”.

What Jesus is saying is that to worship in the spirit is true biblical worship and is more than just attending church or performing religious rituals. True worship comes from the heart. It is the feeling of deep love and adoration for our God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. To worship in truth is to worship God consistent with the truth of God’s Word.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 95:6.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

PRAYER:

I humbly come before You today to worship You with my whole heart. You are the one and only God. You are my maker, the Lord of all, and the rock in whom I take refuge. You are everlasting and all Your words are truth. Thank You that You loved me so much that You sent Jesus, Your only Son, to die for me and save me from all my sin.

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Rebellion July 17, 2017

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY JULY 17, 2017.

REBELLION

DEFINITION:

Defiance; a spirit of resistance to authority; disobedience; revolt.

SCRIPTURE:

An evil man seeks only rebellion. Proverbs 17:11.

These people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. Jeremiah 5:23.

For I know how rebellious and stiff necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am alive and with you, how much more will you rebel when I die? Deuteronomy 31:27-29.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We are rebellious by nature all the way back to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve’s downfall was rebellion against God.

Every parent knows about the terrible “two’s.” Two year olds do not like the word “NO.” Just tell a two-year-old that he cannot do something or that he cannot have something and he will rebel -- guaranteed. None of us like to be told that we cannot have or cannot do something.

We are all rebels by nature just like Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve found out quite quickly how God regards rebellion against Him. Because they disobeyed God and took from the tree that was off limits they forfeited a life blessed by God. Today, we all must deal with God’s penalty for Adam and Eve’s rebellion that came as a consequence for their sin.

The toughest job of Moses’ job in leading the children of Israel was dealing with their rebellion against God. They repeatedly rebelled against God. The consequence was severe. They spent 40 wasted years wandering in the desert. Even after all the miracles they had seen God do, Moses knew the rebellious nature of the Israelites had not changed. Just before handing the leadership of the children of Israel over to Joshua he said he knew how stubborn and rebellious they were and he knew they would rebel even more when he was not with them.

In Deuteronomy chapter 32, we read the song of Moses which was his last message to the Israelites. He reminded them of God’s blessings to them and warned them against rebelling against God and then commanded them to love and honor God and obey His commandments.

Rebellion is caused by pride. We think we know better than God and everyone else. It is especially arrogant to think we know better than God. Adam and Eve found that out the minute they sinned and rebelled against God’s authority.

We also rebel because of our lust. We desire something we do not have because it appears better than what we have.

We all know the story found in Luke 15:11-31 about the prodigal son. He was rebellious and took his share of his inheritance and left home. After he squandered away all he had, he recognized the folly of his rebellious nature and headed home. His father saw his starving son coming and despite the rebelliousness of his son he went out to welcome him back.

This is what God wants to do for us if we have been rebellious in our words or deeds. He is waiting with open arms to accept us back. All we have to do is recognize the sin of our rebellion and welcome him back.

Many parents today are concerned because of the rebellion they are witnessing in their children. If this is a problem that you are facing you need to show your children at all times that you love them and you are willing to forgive them, but that you will not tolerate their rebellion. Make sure you always set the standard you expect from them and then give them a fair and just punishment if they rebel. They must learn there is always a consequence.

Be consistent in keeping the boundaries and standards you have set for them. No matter how rebellious they are, always love them but be firm. The children of Israel were rebellious against God but He never stopped loving them. But He did punish them and they had to suffer the consequences of their sins and rebellion against God.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 95:6.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

PRAYER:

Help me this day to keep my heart tender and open to Your leading so that I will not let pride and lust lead me into a life of sin. Make my family aware that rebellion is sin. Forgive me of my rebellion and let my life be an example to my family of being obedient to God.

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