Month: June 2022

6/30/22

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:” John‬ ‭1:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬. This verse equates receiving Christ with believing on His Name. To truly believe is to receive Christ for Who He is. And when we do this Jesus Christ promises to give us power to become children of God. Because of our sin, we had made ourselves children of hell and the devil was our father. But thank God, when we receive Christ, we get a new family and a new Father! But what does it mean to receive Jesus Christ? The reality is, He offers to us Himself. But, do we then have the choice to receive that part of Him we desire and reject the rest? Can we receive Him as Saviour but not as Lord? Can we receive Him as Healer but not as Counselor? Do we think that we can divide Christ as we choose? Paul asked the question, “Is Christ divided?” And the resounding answer is “No!” So when we receive Christ it must be as He is in His fulness. We can only receive Him on His terms, not ours. Let us make the choice to open our hearts and lives fully to receive Jesus Christ. Only then, will we experience His life changing power to make us true children of God. Our choice is to believe and receive Jesus Christ for Who He is.

6/29/22

“And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew‬ ‭1:21‬ ‭KJV‬. The Angel’s message to Joseph describe one of the greatest reasons for Jesus coming into this world. Even though modern religion has tried to change this message and tell people that “Jesus saves us in our sins”, the truth of Jesus’ coming remains the same. He never saves a person to leave them in sin! He never saves a soul so they can continue in their sin with some kind of religious covering. Jesus always saves so that souls can be delivered out of a life of sin! How sad it is that people choose to believe the unbiblical ideas that are being promoted by modern religion. Salvation through Jesus Christ still makes us new creatures in Christ. We do not remain the same sinful people we used to be. Jesus Christ paid an incredible price for this great salvation. What a blessing it is that ‘whosoever will’ may come and receive Him as Lord and Saviour of their lives and experience the life changing, sin cleansing power of true salvation! Let us never try to water down the greatness of what Jesus has done. As the songwriter said, “It is truly wonderful what the Lord has done. Glory to His Name!”

6/28/22

“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of His correction: For whom the LORD loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”Proverbs‬ ‭3:11-12‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the important things for us to learn as God’s children is, that we all need spiritual correction. And the more we realize how much our Heavenly Father loves us and cares for our lives, the more it will help us to be open to His loving correction. But the reality is, our human nature does not easily receive correction. Solomon writes about it here and the Hebrew writer again mentions it in chapter 12. Many times in scripture this truth is brought out about our tendency to resist correction. Every parent recognizes this in raising their children. And yet, because we love them, we continue to give the necessary correction. Even though we may be mature adults in this world, we must remember that in God’s eyes, we are still His children who need to learn many things. May God help us to maintain a humble spirit that is always willing to receive our Father’s correction and to be open to those He speaks through.

6/27/22

“In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Every true child of God desires for our paths to be directed by our loving Heavenly Father. We confess that we are not able to choose the right paths for our feet. We trust Him to lead us and guide us into right ways. But for us to be led by God, we must remember Him and submit to Him in all that we do. Too often, people want to let God direct their ‘religious life’, but then they will make their own choices about ‘secular life’. But this is an un-Biblical way of viewing life. For a child of God, all of life is sacred. Everything we do matters to God. There is no separation between areas of life. This is why Paul wrote in 1 Corinth. 10:31, “whatever you do, do all for the glory of God”. If we want God to direct our steps, we must acknowledge His Lordship in everything we do. We must acknowledge that He is far wiser than we are. We must acknowledge that He knows what is best for us and we do not. By God’s grace, let us humble ourselves to be led by Him.

6/26/22

“Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of His Servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭50:10‬ ‭KJV. How important these words of Heavenly counsel are to us as we pass through the dark places in our lives. Every life is going to be tested in different ways. We will experience times when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes the confusion of unfairness and unjust treatment can bring darkness to our minds. But no matter where the darkness comes from, the answer is always in Jesus Christ! How desperately we need to trust Him in the dark times. We need to have our faith anchored in our God and what we know is true about Him. These words remind us, not that we walk in the darkness of sin, but that we will face days of darkness. This is for the child of God who has a fear and reverence for God and obeys His words. We should not listen to the voice of the evil one who tells us that our suffering or sorrow is always because of personal failure. Sometimes difficult times come for different reasons. But the good news is, if we will keep trusting in God, He will always work it for our eternal good and for His glory.

6/25/22

“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands…” Isaiah‬ ‭49:15-16‬ ‭KJV‬‬. This verse reminds us of how important we are to God. It is truly amazing, that the Holy and Sovereign Creator would pay such close attention to unworthy creatures like us. And yet, this is what the Bible declares! God places great value on us. We are precious in His eyes. God never forgets us because He never ceases loving us. People may forget us. We may get ‘lost in the shuffle’ of this busy world. The government may forget us. Even family and friends may forget us. With the passing of time we all forget many things. But God never forgets those He loves. He remembers why He created us and is always working towards that goal. He remembers our weakness and need, and remembers always to make provision for us. The words about being ‘engraved upon the palms of His hands’ reveal to us that the eyes of our Loving Father are always upon us. What a joy and comfort it is to know that we are never forgotten, we are always on His mind.

6/24/22

“Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.” Isaiah‬ ‭49:13‬ ‭KJV‬‬. The prophet is so inspired by God’s incredible mercy that he sees nature itself rejoicing in God’s goodness to His people. In this chapter there is a beautiful prophecy of Christ coming and doing marvelous things for all of His people, both Jew and Gentile. He brings comfort to the suffering. He shows mercy to the afflicted. He shines His light upon those in the darkness of sin and confusion. He is Strength for the weak and weary. He lifts us up from our old sinful ways to walk in a new way, which is the highway of holiness. He leads our thirsty souls to springs of living water. With all of this in mind, is it any wonder the prophet was so filled with praise to God? And certainly our hearts should be filled with praise as well. In addition to all of this, we know the story of Jesus! We know of His atoning work, His New Covenant and so much more! Every day we should praise Him for His incredible goodness to us. Every morning we should thank Him for His everlasting love and long-suffering mercy to us.

6/23/22

“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?…”John‬ ‭21:15‬ ‭KJV‬. When Jesus asked this question three times of Peter, we know there was a specific purpose in his spiritual restoration. But let us also realize, that Jesus still asks this question of each of us. Because He knows the extreme importance of our love to Him, He wants us to know that our love to Him must be greater than any other love in our lives. He tells us very clearly that our love for Him must be supreme or we are not worthy of Him. One of the reasons that so many in religion today are failing and living sub-standard Christian lives is, they still love other people or things more than Jesus Christ. It may be someone very close to us, or it may be the things we are striving for, like personal success or material gain. Many people love their own religious ideas more than they do Jesus. But one of the keys to truly successful Christian living is, to have a supreme love for Christ! Can we answer as Peter did? Can we say, “Yes Lord, You know I love you above all others”? May God help us to love Him as He deserves, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

6/22/22

“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:” Proverbs‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the important things we all need to develop, is the ability to listen. Many people are so interested in talking and expressing their own thoughts, that they have very little ability to learn from what others are saying. And most of all, in our relationship with God, we should learn to listen to what He is saying to us. Prayer and communion with God is not all about us bringing our petitions to our Father. Certainly there is a time for that, and as children we need to do that. But the far more important aspect of our communion with God is what He wants to say to us. Every time we open our spiritual ears to listen to our Lord, we will increase in learning and understanding. And even in our relationships with people, if we will truly listen, we will learn about their needs and how God can use us to help them. By God’s grace let us be among the wise who “will hear when God the Lord speaks” (Psalm 85:5). As we do, we will increase in learning and understanding.

6/21/22

“For the LORD taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation.” Psalm‬ ‭149:4‬ ‭KJV‬‬. We live in a society that is obsessed with outward beauty. But what God desires and what He created us for is to live a beautiful life that glorifies Him. And this is what true salvation does, it adorns our life with the beauty of a Christlike spirit. But this verse makes clear who receives this beauty. It is not the proud and vain who are obsessed with what the outside looks like. Rather, it is the meek and humble, who understand that in themselves there is nothing good, nothing lovely, and nothing beautiful. And so, they humbly surrender their hearts to Jesus Christ and ask Him to make them into a person whose life can honor and glorify Him. It is sad that in their pursuit of outward beauty, most people become ugly in their spirit. But when we receive the Meek and Lowly Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Saviour, He adorns our life with the beauty of true salvation. By God’s grace, let us strive for the true beauty of a Christlike life and spirit.