God’s Provisions for Your Success

English: Joshua commanding the sun to stand still (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read | Joshua 1:1-9

Whenever our goals align with the Lord‘s, we can count on His help in achieving them. This truth is vividly confirmed in the story of Joshua. Since God gave him the huge responsibility of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, He also provided everything Joshua would need for success. He will do the same for us every time we believe Him and step up to fulfill the goals He’s set for us.

His Promises: God assured Joshua that He would give him the land and that no one would be able to stand against him. In the same way, the Lord will enable you to achieve whatever He’s called you to do, and neither man nor the Devil will be able to thwart His purposes when you stand firm in faith.

His Power: Be strong and courageous, because you will encounter obstacles that challenge your obedience. Such boldness isn’t something we muster within ourselves. It’s developed through reliance upon the Lord. Courage comes when our faith isstronger than our fear.

His Word: Joshua’s success depended upon his obedience to God’s Word. The same is true for us. If the Scriptures aren’t shaping our thoughts, words, and actions, we will just naturally go our own way and miss the path God has planned for us.

Everything you need to succeed in life is provided for you by God. But these provisions are available only when you choose to follow His plans. If you ignore the Lord and set your own goals without guidance from the Scriptures, you may get what you want, but it won’t be genuine success.

Dr. Charles Stanley

Wavers

English: A reed shaken by the wind More than one reed, and bent rather than shaken. The lack of navigation as yet on the restored section of the Grantham Canal means that there is significant growth of vegetation, including these 2-metre tall reeds. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ere’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? - Luke 7:24

 

The picture is of a man wavering and unstable, easily swayed and bent from uprightness. That is what a good many men are. A reed grows in soft mud by the water’s edge. Then it is so frail and delicate that every breeze bends it and shakes it. Jesus did not intimate that John was a man of that stamp, but meant just the reverse. John was not like a reed shaken with the wind. He was a man whom nothing could bend or sway. Rather than preach soft words to please Herod, and keep quiet about sins that the king was committing, John charged home the sins without quailing, losing his head at last as reward.

Yet there are some persons who are like reeds. Instead of being rooted in Christ, their roots go down into the soft mud of this world, and of course they are easily torn up. Then they have no fixed principles to hold them upright and make them true and strong; and they are bent by every wind, and moved and swayed by every influence of fear or favour. The boy that cannot say no when other boys tease him to smoke, or drink, or do a wrong or mean thing, is a reed shaken by the wind. The girl who is influenced by frivolities and worldly pleasure, and drawn away from Christ and from a beautiful life, is likewise a reed bent and swayed by the wind.

They are growing everywhere, these reeds, and the wind shakes them every time it blows. Who wants to be a reed? Who would not rather be like the oak, growing in soil as solid as a rock, which no storm bends or even causes to tremble?

There is one apparent advantage in being like a reed: one seems to escape persecution. John would hardly have met the fate he did meet if he had been easily shaken. People who are like reeds do not often lose their heads on the martyr’s block. But they are in danger of losing their souls; and that certainly is worse.

The Friend of Sinners

Pharisee and Publican – Tewkesbury Abbey (Photo credit: Walwyn)

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine..

Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee‘s house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment. – Luke 7:37

It is wonderful how genuine goodness draws to itself the unfortunate, the troubled, the friendless, the outcast, the fallen. Wherever Jesus went, these classes always found him out and gathered about him. It was because he was the true, disinterested friend of all men. They found sympathy in him. He would listen to their story. Though he was the sinless One, there was yet no air of “I am holier than thou” about him. He was just as gentle to an outcast sinner as to a spotless Nicodemus. No matter who reached out a hand for help, he was ready to grasp it. One of the truest things ever said of Jesus was the prophetic word concerning him, “A bruised reed shall he not break.” He dealt always most gently with sore spirits and with bruised hearts.

Those who want to be useful in this world must have the same qualities. There is a kind of human “holiness” that draws nobody to itself, but rather repels; genuine holiness, however, wins its way everywhere into men’s hearts. The secret of it all is in living “not to be ministered unto, but to minister;” in considering one’s self not too good to serve the unworthiest of God‘s creatures. If we stay in this world to be served, we shall be of no manner of use. But if we live to minister to others, yearning to be of service to every one we meet, our life will be something worth. The hungry-hearted and the soul-needy will be drawn to us, and God will love to put work into our hands.

We need, too, to train ourselves to exceeding gentleness in dealing with human souls in their spiritual crises. many earnest people, in the excess of their zeal, so incalculable harm to those whom they greatly desire to help. People with sore and bruised hearts usually need loving sympathy and strong, kindly friendship much more than they need theology.

Comparing Ourselves to Others

By David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

In my younger years, I compared myself to certain others who appeared to be
holy. These people seemed to be aglow — always upbeat, smiling, seeming much
more Christlike than I. I never thought I measured up to their holiness, so I
prayed, “Lord, make me righteous like Brother So-and-so. How wonderful it must
be to live that way for You.”

How wrong I was! These people were not who I thought they were. Indeed, I have
learned that nothing is as it appears; no one is quite as evil or quite as good
as he may seem. Rather, there is only One who is truly righteous — Jesus
Christ our Lord — and His righteousness is perfect.

If we are in Christ, we have His righteousness and it is not attributed to us
by degrees. No one receives more or less of it — rather, by faith we receive
it in its fullness.

We are to measure ourselves by His righteousness alone and not by anyone else’s
supposed righteousness. “But they measuring themselves by themselves, and
comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. . . . According to the
measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even
unto you” (2 Corinthians 10:12-13).

Paul is saying here, “There’s a rule you can use to measure yourself. It is
this: Everyone who truly repents and believes in the perfect righteousness of
Christ — who comes to Him in faith, believing in His work on the cross — is
made perfectly righteous in the sight of God. You may not have everything worked
out yet. There is still a daily work of sanctification through the power of the
Holy Spirit. But you are accepted in the beloved, imputed with the very
righteousness of Christ.”

Dearly beloved, it is time you stopped putting yourself either up or down as
measured against others. God has imputed to you the full measure of the perfect
righteousness of Christ: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature
of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).v

Jesus Ransomed Us

The Pharisees Question Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

By Adam’s sin, we all were made sinners and by Jesus’ sacrifice, we are made
righteous. Jesus ransomed us, paid the price, so that the devil would have no
claim on those who repent and trust in Christ and His completed work.

All along God knew that man could not keep or fulfill His divine law. He had
instituted the law to bring order to the human race, lest we destroy ourselves.
The law was for our own protection; it was to make us realize that in our own
strength and righteousness, we could not stand before a holy God. The law was a
mirror God held up to us, saying, “Let me show you what I expect, what My
justice requires. Here is My law and here is where you’ve failed, where you’re
living in sin. You have failed at this point . . . this point . . . and this
point. No one is righteous enough to fulfill My law!”

The Pharisees tried to fulfill the law. They observed more than 600
regulations, from the washing of hands and pots to refusing to touch a Gentile.
They tried to keep all the law, believing that one day they could stand before
God and say, “I kept all Your laws. I did this, this and this. Now You are
obligated to save me.”

But no one can expect his good works to merit justification. God’s Word
answers, “If you’ve failed just one point of the law, you’ve failed the whole
law!” If you expect God to accept you for your good behavior, forget it! You’ll
never be able to keep the whole law.
Because we couldn’t meet justice’s demands to fulfill God’s law, Jesus came to
earth and perfectly fulfilled the law of God. He never failed one point of it
and He did it all out of pure motives of love. “Think not that I am come to
destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil”
(Matthew 5:17).

When Jesus ascended to the Father, His perfect obedience had fulfilled all the
demands of the law and His blood was presented in full payment for our sin.
Here stood a Man in the presence of God whose righteousness was perfect and
therefore acceptable to the Father.

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Word for Today…

 

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. Romans 15:1-2 I heard about a church in California back in the 1970s that opened their doors to some kids on Friday night. So the street kids, the beach kids, and the hippies flocked in, many of them barefoot and dirty. And as they came in, many were encountering Christ in powerful, life-changing ways. Well, that was fine until the church decided they were going to put brand new baby blue carpet on the floor of their sanctuary. And as you could imagine, it wasn’t long before these kids with their dirty feet were staining that beautiful baby blue carpet. So in a deacon’s meeting one afternoon, the deacons said, “Pastor, we’ve got to do something about these kids. They’re messing up our baby blue carpet!” So the next Saturday, the pastor went in there and started ripping up the carpet. Somebody stopped him and said, “What are you doing?” He responded, “We don’t need this carpet but we must reach those kids!” A church’s programs and everything they do shouldn’t be for comfort, but for the purpose of bringing people to Jesus Christ. That’s why the Church exists. Humble yourself, then, and put others first so that they can be led to Christ! DON’T ALLOW COMFORTS TO HINDER OTHERS FROM COMING TO CHRIST. PUT OTHERS FIRST AND MAKE IT A PRIORITY TO LEAD THEM TO JESUS! Pastor Graham

How You Can be Sure the Battle is Won

 

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 I remember back in the early 1990s after the Gulf War when, several days and even weeks after the war was concluded, there were still Iraqi soldiers who were fighting and resisting. Why was that? Well, the coalition of forces had so badly damaged their communications infrastructure that they weren’t able to receive the message that the war was over. It reminds me of many people in the world today who don’t know that the war against condemning sin is over. They’re still fighting and struggling, trying to overcome sin on their own, but the mission has already been accomplished. You see, when Jesus went to the cross, He didn’t die for a possibility of salvation. He didn’t give His life on the outside chance it would work. No, He came to earth, humbling Himself, and died willingly in your place so that for all who know Him, there would be a guarantee of eternal salvation. All you have to do is accept the victory of Jesus Christ—what He accomplished for you upon the cross. When you do, peace will come into your heart and the war will be done. Just as He proclaimed on the cross, “It is finished,” that battle over condemning sin will be eternally finished in your life! IN CHRIST, THE BATTLE AGAINST CONDEMNING SIN IS OVER! SO TRUST FULLY IN HIS SAVING WORK FOR YOU ON THE CROSS. Pastor Graham

Our Iheritance

By David Wilkerson

English: Jezabel and Ahab Meeting Elijah in Naboth’s Vineyard Giclee. Print by Sir Frank Dicksee. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

When Elijah went up to heaven, he left Elisha his cloak (2 Kings 2:13).
Likewise, when Jesus went up to the Father, He left us His own garment — His
perfect righteousness. He cast it upon us, as surely as Elijah cast his garment
upon Elisha. The prophet’s action was a type and shadow of what was going to
happen when Jesus was translated to the Father. Indeed, we are heirs to a
wonderful garment of righteousness that covers us completely, making us
acceptable in God‘s holy presence!

This garment is our inheritance and God expects us to value it. He expects us
to seek after it, to be willing heirs to His legacy. You may remember what
happened when King Ahab came against Naboth, coveting his vineyard. Naboth
valued his vineyard so much, he rejected Ahab’s offer to buy it, saying, “The
Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee”
(1 Kings 21:3). He was saying, “God forbid that anyone should take my
inheritance from me. It’s mine!”

I believe the most important thing you can seek from God is the understanding
that this inheritance is yours and it is waiting to be claimed. The knowledge
of the perfect righteousness of Jesus will put you on a rock that is
unshakable. It will end all your useless struggles and put you in God’s
presence justified and accepted.

If God has provided you with an inheritance whereby you can stand before Him
with perfect righteousness in Jesus Christ, then you should want it. It should
be an inheritance nobody can take from you. No lie of the devil should be able
to remove it from your spirit, no man should be able to steal it from you, and
no emotion should drain you of it.

Because God said it, you must lay hold of it! You need to seek it, go after it,
allow your soul no rest until you get your hands on it. “Seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you” (Matthew 6:33).

The Difference Between Faith and Works

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Isn’t it funny how there are basically two kinds of religions in the world? There are those religions of works, which are false religions. And then there is religion by faith, which is true religion. Those are the only two categories: works-based religion and faith-based religion.

Now, a religion of works says do. It tells you that if you accomplish XYZ in your life, you’ve done well. If you haven’t, then you’ve done badly. That’s how works-based religion determines the success of the follower.

But the faith-based religion, the religion of Christ (which is not a religion but a relationship) has already been done. It takes into account the fact that God is so holy and man is so sinful that there’s no amount of good works we can do to even come close to success. That’s why Jesus came… to live the life we couldn’t and give us His righteousness as He took away our sin.

When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” He said, “Done!” The work of salvation has been accomplished. And because of His faithful obedience which took Him to the cross, you can now have life in His name by placing your faith in Him!

CHRIST DID THE WORK YOU COULDN’T DO SO THAT YOU CAN HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. SO THANK HIM TODAY FOR THAT WONDERFUL GIFT!

Pastor Graham

Needless Doubts

 

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine..

John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?” - Luke 7:19

 

John did not doubt the Messiahship of Jesus that day beside the Jordan, when from the cloven heavens the radiant dove descended upon Him and the Father’s voice was heard in loving approval. Nor did He doubt in any of the bright days that followed. It was only when it grew dark for John himself that he doubted.

That is just the way yet with many people. When everything is bright and sunny they think they have surely found Christ, and they believe He is their friend, and their hearts are full of joy. But when troubles come and things begin to go against them, they wonder whether, after all, they have really found the Savior. They begin to question their own experiences. “Am I really a Christian? Was that really conversion when I thought I was saved? or is there some other experience that I must yet have?” Christ does not do just the things they thought He would do for them. Their religion does not support them as firmly as they supposed it would. If they are indeed Christians, why does Christ let them suffer so much and not come to relieve them? So they sink away down into the Slough of Despond, some times losing all hope.

See how unnecessary was John’s doubt. Jesus was indeed the Messiah. John’s active work was done, and he was now to glorify God by suffering and soon by martyrdom. Just as needless is all anxiety of Christian people in their times of darkness. Of course we must have some earthly trials. Christ does not carry us to heaven on flowery beds of ease. We must expect to bear the cross many a mile. The true way for us is never to doubt Jesus. Suppose there are clouds, the sun still shines behind them undimmed. Suppose we have failures, trials, and disappointments; Jesus is the same loving friend as when there was not a speck of trouble for us in all the world.