APRIL 21 2012. GEMS OF ENCOURAGEMENT.
PROVERB: Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3.
PROMISE: And whatever you ask in My name that I will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:13.
PRAISE: Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me. Psalm 66:20
April 22, 2012
Choices: April 20, 2012
TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY APRIL 20, 2012.
CHOICES
DEFINITION:
The act or instance of choosing; carefully selected; decisions; preferences.
SCRIPTURE:
I have chosen the way of truth. Psalm 119:30
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
Life is about choices. We all make them and sometimes unconsciously. All of our choices have consequences. Choices determine the direction we go with our lives so they should never be made casually.
The most important choice we make in life is to choose or not to choose the “way of truth.” (Psalm 119:30 above) We all have the choice to choose between the deceitful ways of Satan or the “way of truth.” Satan’s way leads to death and destruction. The “way of truth” is the right way, God’s way, and leads to life eternal. (Matthew 7:13-14)
When we choose the “way of truth” we are choosing to be obedient to God and obey His commandments. We want you to memorize and learn the Ten Commandments. That is why we are giving you one each week to memorize (below).
Today we want to look at the Sermon on the Mount again. Jesus took the time to speak to his disciples about the “way of truth” and taught them choices that they needed to make in life. These same choices must be made by us.
Jesus was not only speaking to the masses in His day but to each of us. In Matthew chapters 6 and 7 Jesus lists for us 8 different choices that we need to make and also gives us the right (the way of truth) and wrong way (Satan’s deceitful way) to make these choices.
First, is the right and wrong way to give alms or what we call today “charitable gifts.” In Matthew 6:1-4 we are told to make our gifts in secret and we will receive our heavenly rewards. We are not to give for all to see so that we will get our due recognition. Satan’s way seeks the world’s recognition.
The second choice is found in Matthew 6:15-25 where Jesus gives us the right and wrong way to pray. Jesus reminds us not to be like the hypocrites who stand in the synagogues and on the corner so that they can be seen by all as they pray. He says for us to go to your room or a corner and pray in private.
In Matthew 6:16-18 we have a choice given us as to the right way and wrong way to fast. Do not be sad and disfigure your face to impress others. The right way is to wash your face, anoint your head so you do not appear to be fasting to those who see you. Fasting is between you and God.
In Matthew 6:19-21 we are told not to lay up treasures on this earth but the right choice is to lay up your treasures in heaven where neither rust nor moth will destroy and where thieves will not break in and steal.
Jesus continued His teaching discussing making a choice on vision. In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus talks about spiritual vision. Our spiritual vision can become clouded with evil thoughts and evil desires. When the eye is evil we will be full of darkness. When the eye is good we will be filled with light.
We have the choice of serving the right or wrong master. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus makes it clear that we cannot serve two masters. You must make a choice. Will you choose God or will you choose mammon (money and material treasure). You cannot serve both.
Jesus then taught that we had the choice of the right way or wrong way to think in Matthew 6:25-34. We are to not worry about everyday life or what tomorrow may bring. We are to choose to trust in God and seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.
And finally He teaches the right and wrong way to judge in Matthew 7:1-6. Jesus teaches clearly that we are not to judge that we may not be judged.
SCRIPTURE:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20:14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
Help me to make choices in life as You taught when You were here on this earth. Thank You for the sources You have given us such as the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount to help us develop a lifestyle based on the choices You want us to make.
CHOICES
DEFINITION:
The act or instance of choosing; carefully selected; decisions; preferences.
SCRIPTURE:
I have chosen the way of truth. Psalm 119:30
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
Life is about choices. We all make them and sometimes unconsciously. All of our choices have consequences. Choices determine the direction we go with our lives so they should never be made casually.
The most important choice we make in life is to choose or not to choose the “way of truth.” (Psalm 119:30 above) We all have the choice to choose between the deceitful ways of Satan or the “way of truth.” Satan’s way leads to death and destruction. The “way of truth” is the right way, God’s way, and leads to life eternal. (Matthew 7:13-14)
When we choose the “way of truth” we are choosing to be obedient to God and obey His commandments. We want you to memorize and learn the Ten Commandments. That is why we are giving you one each week to memorize (below).
Today we want to look at the Sermon on the Mount again. Jesus took the time to speak to his disciples about the “way of truth” and taught them choices that they needed to make in life. These same choices must be made by us.
Jesus was not only speaking to the masses in His day but to each of us. In Matthew chapters 6 and 7 Jesus lists for us 8 different choices that we need to make and also gives us the right (the way of truth) and wrong way (Satan’s deceitful way) to make these choices.
First, is the right and wrong way to give alms or what we call today “charitable gifts.” In Matthew 6:1-4 we are told to make our gifts in secret and we will receive our heavenly rewards. We are not to give for all to see so that we will get our due recognition. Satan’s way seeks the world’s recognition.
The second choice is found in Matthew 6:15-25 where Jesus gives us the right and wrong way to pray. Jesus reminds us not to be like the hypocrites who stand in the synagogues and on the corner so that they can be seen by all as they pray. He says for us to go to your room or a corner and pray in private.
In Matthew 6:16-18 we have a choice given us as to the right way and wrong way to fast. Do not be sad and disfigure your face to impress others. The right way is to wash your face, anoint your head so you do not appear to be fasting to those who see you. Fasting is between you and God.
In Matthew 6:19-21 we are told not to lay up treasures on this earth but the right choice is to lay up your treasures in heaven where neither rust nor moth will destroy and where thieves will not break in and steal.
Jesus continued His teaching discussing making a choice on vision. In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus talks about spiritual vision. Our spiritual vision can become clouded with evil thoughts and evil desires. When the eye is evil we will be full of darkness. When the eye is good we will be filled with light.
We have the choice of serving the right or wrong master. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus makes it clear that we cannot serve two masters. You must make a choice. Will you choose God or will you choose mammon (money and material treasure). You cannot serve both.
Jesus then taught that we had the choice of the right way or wrong way to think in Matthew 6:25-34. We are to not worry about everyday life or what tomorrow may bring. We are to choose to trust in God and seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.
And finally He teaches the right and wrong way to judge in Matthew 7:1-6. Jesus teaches clearly that we are not to judge that we may not be judged.
SCRIPTURE:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20:14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
Help me to make choices in life as You taught when You were here on this earth. Thank You for the sources You have given us such as the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount to help us develop a lifestyle based on the choices You want us to make.
Persecuted: April 19, 2012
TODAYS WORD FOR THURSDAY APRIL 19, 2012
PERSECUTED
DEFINITION:
Harass persistently; make suffer; to oppress; torment; torture.
SCRIPTURE:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
This Beatitude is a beautiful and vivid description of mature Christians. They are reviled and persecuted because they love the Lord Jesus Christ, and have been given the righteousness of God. How are mature Christians to respond to such persecution? They are to rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because when Christians are persecuted it is proof that they are being a testimony to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s truth is offensive to the world. Christians who are persecuted can rejoice because they also know that a great reward awaits them in heaven where there will be no more persecution.
In this Beatitude Jesus was saying that we will be blessed when our commitment to God provokes persecution. Jesus also tells us that persecution brings us into God’s kingdom.
The Christian church was persecuted from its beginnings. The apostles were arrested and tried for preaching Christ and for doing miracles in His name. Even though they were beaten and even threatened with being put to death they remained firm in their commitment to preach the gospel. They did not let anything stop them from preaching the gospel. Instead they kept on preaching and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. (Acts 5:33-42)
Jesus understood and knew persecution because He was persecuted. He knew that those who followed Him would endure suffering for Christ. Some would be mocked, ridiculed, criticized, ostracized, and treated with hostility and even some be martyred. Some would be slandered, cursed and lied about. These are all forms of persecution and Jesus experienced them all.
The one who lives and speaks for righteousness and lives and speaks for Christ can expect to be persecuted for the sake of the gospel. Persecution is a paradox. Think about it. The person who cares and works for the true love, justice and salvation of the world is actually hated and fought against. How deceived is the world to rush onward in its madness for nothing but to seek the worldly pleasures of life on this earth for maybe 70 years, if that long.
Believers are forewarned that they will suffer persecution because they are not of this world. We are different and we just do not fit into the world, and we should not desire to do so. We are not part of the sinful behavior of the world; therefore, the world reacts against us as believers in Jesus.
The world is full of evil and sin but the believer is stripped away from this cloak of sin and the righteousness of God is revealed through the believer to the world. The world does not know God so they want no other god than themselves. The world conceives God to be the one who fulfills earthly desires only but believers know God as a supreme being and their Father who fulfills all of our desires.
The believer’s attitude toward persecution needs to be one of joy and gladness, a feeling of special honor, a special consolation, and a fulfillment of the effectiveness of the Lord’s presence in their life.
Count yourself blessed every time people put you down because of some word you spoke or deed you did in the name of Jesus. Count yourself blessed when you are persecuted because of your belief. Count yourself blessed if people speak lies about you concerning your faith. When the truth of the gospel comes too close for comfort, the non-believer is uncomfortable around you. All heaven will applaud when we stand up for what we believe and show to others our belief in God.
LEARNING:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20: 14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
Thank You for teaching us through these beatitudes the significance of persecution and how we need to be prepared to face it when it comes our way. Keep me close to You as I study Your Word and communicate to You in prayer so that I can face whatever situation that comes my way.
PERSECUTED
DEFINITION:
Harass persistently; make suffer; to oppress; torment; torture.
SCRIPTURE:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
This Beatitude is a beautiful and vivid description of mature Christians. They are reviled and persecuted because they love the Lord Jesus Christ, and have been given the righteousness of God. How are mature Christians to respond to such persecution? They are to rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because when Christians are persecuted it is proof that they are being a testimony to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s truth is offensive to the world. Christians who are persecuted can rejoice because they also know that a great reward awaits them in heaven where there will be no more persecution.
In this Beatitude Jesus was saying that we will be blessed when our commitment to God provokes persecution. Jesus also tells us that persecution brings us into God’s kingdom.
The Christian church was persecuted from its beginnings. The apostles were arrested and tried for preaching Christ and for doing miracles in His name. Even though they were beaten and even threatened with being put to death they remained firm in their commitment to preach the gospel. They did not let anything stop them from preaching the gospel. Instead they kept on preaching and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. (Acts 5:33-42)
Jesus understood and knew persecution because He was persecuted. He knew that those who followed Him would endure suffering for Christ. Some would be mocked, ridiculed, criticized, ostracized, and treated with hostility and even some be martyred. Some would be slandered, cursed and lied about. These are all forms of persecution and Jesus experienced them all.
The one who lives and speaks for righteousness and lives and speaks for Christ can expect to be persecuted for the sake of the gospel. Persecution is a paradox. Think about it. The person who cares and works for the true love, justice and salvation of the world is actually hated and fought against. How deceived is the world to rush onward in its madness for nothing but to seek the worldly pleasures of life on this earth for maybe 70 years, if that long.
Believers are forewarned that they will suffer persecution because they are not of this world. We are different and we just do not fit into the world, and we should not desire to do so. We are not part of the sinful behavior of the world; therefore, the world reacts against us as believers in Jesus.
The world is full of evil and sin but the believer is stripped away from this cloak of sin and the righteousness of God is revealed through the believer to the world. The world does not know God so they want no other god than themselves. The world conceives God to be the one who fulfills earthly desires only but believers know God as a supreme being and their Father who fulfills all of our desires.
The believer’s attitude toward persecution needs to be one of joy and gladness, a feeling of special honor, a special consolation, and a fulfillment of the effectiveness of the Lord’s presence in their life.
Count yourself blessed every time people put you down because of some word you spoke or deed you did in the name of Jesus. Count yourself blessed when you are persecuted because of your belief. Count yourself blessed if people speak lies about you concerning your faith. When the truth of the gospel comes too close for comfort, the non-believer is uncomfortable around you. All heaven will applaud when we stand up for what we believe and show to others our belief in God.
LEARNING:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20: 14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
Thank You for teaching us through these beatitudes the significance of persecution and how we need to be prepared to face it when it comes our way. Keep me close to You as I study Your Word and communicate to You in prayer so that I can face whatever situation that comes my way.
Peacemaker: April 18, 2012
TODAYS WORD FOR WEDNESDAY APRIL 18, 2012.
PEACEMAKER
DEFINITION:
One who promotes harmony in human relations; conciliator.
SCRIPTURE:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
To become a peacemaker, as Jesus taught at the Sermon on the Mount, we must first make our peace with God. To make peace with God we must be justified by God’s grace through the redemption that is found in Christ Jesus. For God to declare us just, we must believe that Christ died on the cross to bear our sins, that He was buried in the tomb for three days and nights, and that He rose again on the third day according to the scriptures.
We must repent of our sins and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. A peacemaker is one that shares the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ to those who are lost, showing them how they can have peace with God.
Those who remain separated from God by their sin can never have peace with God. Who is the peacemaker? A peacemaker not only seeks to help the lost make peace with God, but seeks to make peace with others, seeking to solve disputes and erase divisions, reconcile differences and eliminate strife in relationships.
Jesus tells His disciples, and us, in this Beatitude that we will be blessed when we show people how to cooperate instead of competing or fighting. Nothing is more divisive than arguing. Wars begin with arguments.
As believers we are to become peacemakers, not troublemakers, because we are here to show God’s love to the world.
Jesus closed this beatitude by saying that the peace makers shall be called the children of God. As believers in Jesus and as peacemakers we are adopted into the family of God when we accepted Jesus as our Savior and are now called a child of God. What a miracle and what a blessing. We do serve an awesome God.
LEARNING:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20:14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
Help me to become the peacemaker that You want me to be. Help me to communicate the good news of the gospel to all I meet today and may I be in a position to lead people to a saving knowledge of You, my Lord and my Savior.
PEACEMAKER
DEFINITION:
One who promotes harmony in human relations; conciliator.
SCRIPTURE:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
To become a peacemaker, as Jesus taught at the Sermon on the Mount, we must first make our peace with God. To make peace with God we must be justified by God’s grace through the redemption that is found in Christ Jesus. For God to declare us just, we must believe that Christ died on the cross to bear our sins, that He was buried in the tomb for three days and nights, and that He rose again on the third day according to the scriptures.
We must repent of our sins and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. A peacemaker is one that shares the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ to those who are lost, showing them how they can have peace with God.
Those who remain separated from God by their sin can never have peace with God. Who is the peacemaker? A peacemaker not only seeks to help the lost make peace with God, but seeks to make peace with others, seeking to solve disputes and erase divisions, reconcile differences and eliminate strife in relationships.
Jesus tells His disciples, and us, in this Beatitude that we will be blessed when we show people how to cooperate instead of competing or fighting. Nothing is more divisive than arguing. Wars begin with arguments.
As believers we are to become peacemakers, not troublemakers, because we are here to show God’s love to the world.
Jesus closed this beatitude by saying that the peace makers shall be called the children of God. As believers in Jesus and as peacemakers we are adopted into the family of God when we accepted Jesus as our Savior and are now called a child of God. What a miracle and what a blessing. We do serve an awesome God.
LEARNING:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20:14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
Help me to become the peacemaker that You want me to be. Help me to communicate the good news of the gospel to all I meet today and may I be in a position to lead people to a saving knowledge of You, my Lord and my Savior.
Pure: April 17, 2012
TODAYS WORD FOR TUESDAY APRIL 17, 2012.
PURE
DEFINITION:
Genuine; sincere; clean; free from contamination; perfect; spotless; guiltless; chaste.
SCRIPTURE:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
Pure in the Greek means to have a clean heart, to be unsoiled, unmixed, unpolluted, to be cleansed, purged, forgiven, to be holy, and to have a single purpose, that of God’s glory. This is what Jesus was saying as He taught this Beatitude on the Sermon on the Mount.
The person that is pure in heart lives a clean life. A clean life honors God. He keeps himself unspotted from the evils of the world. He obeys the truth found in the Word of God through the working of the Holy Spirit in his or her life. He keeps his hands clean and seeks to be at all times without spot and blameless.
Jesus tells us in this beatitude that we will be blessed when we get our inside world, meaning our mind and heart, cleansed and purged of the pollution of sin. Then we will see God in our outside world do His will in our life.
A person’s very best behavior is seldom, if ever, free from some mixture of self. Because of our sinful nature it is questionable if we can be perfectly free from mixed motives. The believer is to constantly search his heart and cleanse it of impure motives.
There are two wonderful promises made to the pure in heart. Presently, on this earth they shall see God by faith, and then, eternally the pure in heart shall see God face to face.
The unsaved man cannot have a pure heart as long as he rejects the Lord Jesus as his Savior. The natural (unregenerate) heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked and the things of God are foolishness to him. (Jeremiah 17:9)
Who are the pure in heart according to the scripture?
• In Psalm 24:3-5 we read that they are void of hypocrisy.
•
• In Matthew 6:25 it reads that they have room for only one master.
•
• In Psalm 42:1 it says they thirst for God as a deer thirsts for the water brook.
•
• We read that they have a newly created heart in II Corinthians 5:17.
•
• The pure in heart forsake and confess all known sin. Proverbs 28:13.
•
• They are able to sin but are not happy in sin. When they sin, they repent and seek forgiveness. I John 1:9.
•
• They are spiritually minded and discern what is God’s truth because they have the mind of Christ. I Corinthians 2:15-16.
•
LEARNING:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20:14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
My prayer is that You will create in me a clean heart and help me to be pure in heart so that I may discern Your truth and have the mind of Christ. Although for now I can see You as through a glass darkly, I thank You that in eternity I will see You face to face in all Your glory. (I Corinthians 13:12)
PURE
DEFINITION:
Genuine; sincere; clean; free from contamination; perfect; spotless; guiltless; chaste.
SCRIPTURE:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8.
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
Pure in the Greek means to have a clean heart, to be unsoiled, unmixed, unpolluted, to be cleansed, purged, forgiven, to be holy, and to have a single purpose, that of God’s glory. This is what Jesus was saying as He taught this Beatitude on the Sermon on the Mount.
The person that is pure in heart lives a clean life. A clean life honors God. He keeps himself unspotted from the evils of the world. He obeys the truth found in the Word of God through the working of the Holy Spirit in his or her life. He keeps his hands clean and seeks to be at all times without spot and blameless.
Jesus tells us in this beatitude that we will be blessed when we get our inside world, meaning our mind and heart, cleansed and purged of the pollution of sin. Then we will see God in our outside world do His will in our life.
A person’s very best behavior is seldom, if ever, free from some mixture of self. Because of our sinful nature it is questionable if we can be perfectly free from mixed motives. The believer is to constantly search his heart and cleanse it of impure motives.
There are two wonderful promises made to the pure in heart. Presently, on this earth they shall see God by faith, and then, eternally the pure in heart shall see God face to face.
The unsaved man cannot have a pure heart as long as he rejects the Lord Jesus as his Savior. The natural (unregenerate) heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked and the things of God are foolishness to him. (Jeremiah 17:9)
Who are the pure in heart according to the scripture?
• In Psalm 24:3-5 we read that they are void of hypocrisy.
•
• In Matthew 6:25 it reads that they have room for only one master.
•
• In Psalm 42:1 it says they thirst for God as a deer thirsts for the water brook.
•
• We read that they have a newly created heart in II Corinthians 5:17.
•
• The pure in heart forsake and confess all known sin. Proverbs 28:13.
•
• They are able to sin but are not happy in sin. When they sin, they repent and seek forgiveness. I John 1:9.
•
• They are spiritually minded and discern what is God’s truth because they have the mind of Christ. I Corinthians 2:15-16.
•
LEARNING:
This week we are memorizing the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20:14.
You shall not commit adultery.
PRAYER:
My prayer is that You will create in me a clean heart and help me to be pure in heart so that I may discern Your truth and have the mind of Christ. Although for now I can see You as through a glass darkly, I thank You that in eternity I will see You face to face in all Your glory. (I Corinthians 13:12)
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