Afternoon Ti: Holy Help

 

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

We were given this hope when we were saved.

(If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.

But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Romans 8:23-26a (NLT)

 

At times it can be tough to hold on to our faith in the Lord here on this earth. There is so much injustice, sin, and temptation blatantly running rampant in our world today. It can be hard at times to hold on to our faith in the face of so much.

 

In these verses, Paul shares that the Holy Spirit is our help for these times. He is to be our strength when we are weak. He is our present example of our future heavenly joy.

 

How often do you take advantage of having the Holy Spirit? Do you listen to His voice? Do you follow His promptings? When He reminds you of God's Word, do you obey?

 

The Holy Spirit is there for you. He is there to help you patiently and confidently wait on the Lord's promises for your life. Don't leave Him out of the equation. Don't allow yourself to suffer without His help. When you are weak, He is strong. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you.

Wednesday's Word: True Righteousness

Today's word comes from Isaiah. Right now my church is meditating on this whole chapter, and it has been ministering to me. As you read, think about your life's witness, consider how you treat others, really investigate the motives behind your actions toward both God and man.

“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!

 

Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.

 

‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.

 

What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.

 

You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?

 

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.

 

Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

 

“Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.

 

Isaiah 58:1-8 (NLT)

How Does God See You?

When the angel of the Lord visited Gideon, he greeted him as a "mighty man of valor". (Judges 6:12) Gideon did not hold this sentiment. He saw himself as the youngest son of a poor man in Israel. One of the lowest on the totem pole. But God didn't see Gideon that way. God saw Gideon as a valiant warrior who would lead Israel to crush their enemy.

Abram had no children. Not one solitary child to carry on his name. But God saw him as the father of nations, and changed Abram's name. (Genesis 17:4, 5) For years, Abram was called a "father of nations" while he had no children. God saw that Abraham's future was filled with descendants who would become God's chosen people.

When Gabriel visited Mary, he called her a blessed and favored woman of God. (Luke 1:28) Mary was puzzled with the greeting. She didn't see anything particularly special about herself. But God knew she was destined to give birth to the Messiah.  The Lord knew that she was worthy to raise the Son of God.

How does the Lord see you? What name does He have for you?

So often we allow our present situations the authority to dictate how we see ourselves. But we need to begin to see ourselves the same way that God sees us. While we are noticing our lack, our need, and our failings, God sees our victorious, prosperous, destined selves.

Today, go before the Lord and ask Him to show you how He sees you. Allow your Heavenly Father to minister to your inner man the great person that you really are. You are God's special creation. You're not ordinary. You're not average. You're not plain.

You're unique. You are one of a kind. You are God's spectacular child!

Verse of the Day: Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! Psalm 139:14-17

Motivation Monday: The Gift of Life

Today you have been blessed with the gift of life. God has you on this earth for a reason. You have a purpose.

God has placed you in this moment for you to make an impact for His Kingdom. There isn't a task too small or a move too insignificant if it is a part of God's plan for your life. All you need to do is step out and do what God has called you to do!

Too often we put off for tomorrow what needs to be addressed today.

We consistently allow fear to hold us hostage.

We trick ourselves into thinking that we don't have anything left to offer.

We look at others and reinforce the lie that we aren't as good as they are.

God's purpose for you is just that: for you. There is no one else on this planet who can achieve God's plan for your life other than you. If you don't fulfill what He has purposed for your life, that plan that He designed for you falls to the side. If you don't go after the destiny that the Lord created you to achieve, that you're purposed to accomplish, that you're assured to obtain.... why are you here?

Don't let today go by without going after what God has for you! Don't allow the hours to slip past without you embracing God's will for your life! Don't let frustration, complacency, or procrastination steal another minute of your destiny!

Today you have been blessed with the gift of life. What are you going to do with it?

Verse of the Day: You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. Psalm 16:11 (NLT)

How to Love

Despite receiving great love, it’s difficult at times to show love to others consistently. Let’s be honest: our first instinct is not to show love but to be selfish. If we feel like it, if it’s the right person, if it’s easy to do… then we’ll show love. If things don’t line up just so, we’ll be hard pressed to show any kind of love.

But, as Christians we are striving to be more like Jesus. We are His ambassadors, and He was the epitome of love. We have to learn how to give the same kind of love that He gave.

First, it starts with prayer. There’s no use trying to do anything without the help of the Holy Spirit! We’ve got to go before God and acknowledge that we want to change, we want to do better, and we want to show love. We have to ask for His help to soften our hearts toward others.

Once we ask Him to help us to change, He’s going to provide opportunities for us to live that change. People will start crossing our paths that need love. Situations are going to arise where we are going to be challenged to show love. God will place requests on our hearts for us to be love to others.

At first you may have to force yourself to do it. You may have to act out love even when you don’t genuinely feel it inside. As you keep practicing love, God will work the change in your heart.

Plus, there’s an added bonus: When you show love, you get it in return. Just like the Bible says, whatever you give out, you’re going to get back. (Galatians 6:7) When you push out love, you’re going to get a whole lot of love coming back your way. That should be a heap of encouragement to keep up the good work. Soon, love will become a habit, and after that second nature. Before you know it, the fruit of love will be evident in every area of your life!

Now, there will be times when you show love and don’t get it back in return. There is going to be that person who, no matter how much you try to show love, is going to throw a whole lot of hate back in your face. It is to those people that you should show the greatest love.

Jesus took the time - in the midst of the excruciating pain He was experiencing while He hung on the cross – to ask God to forgive those who had put Him there. He showed love down to the very person who had hammered the nails into His hands.

Jesus is our hero. He’s the One all of us should be trying to be like every day. If He can show love even to the folks who killed Him, the least we can do is love the people who hate on us. The more love we show, the more we become like Jesus. The more like Jesus we become, the prouder our Heavenly Father will be of us.

Verse of the Day: Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18

Wednesday's Word: Love

I went to a wonderful wedding yesterday and was reminded about the attributes of love. Let's all remember the true meaning of love today and share love with those around us!

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

 

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

 

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

 

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

 

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

 

1 Corinthians 13

The Devil Wants to KILL You!

You are a fabulous being. God created you in an exquisite, perfectly unique way. He made you expressly for His pleasure, and your life is a testament to His great handiwork. (Psalm 139:14) He is proud of each breath you take.

As fine as you are, there is someone who hates every atom of your core. From the time man was created, the devil has been scheming, plotting, and interfering with God’s intended purpose for mankind. The devil’s very existence is now dedicated to thwarting mankind from living the life God chose for him to have.

The devil is one cunning creature, and he has studied you well. He knows exactly where your weak spots are, and he takes every opportunity to tempt you away from God’s chosen path. He offers his “treats” to you daily presenting them in such a way that it’s hard for you to resist. Lying becomes convenient, our flesh cries out to over indulge, our patience grows thin and we give in to harsh, angry behavior…

Each time you partake in the “treats” the devil offers up to you, you ingest something that’s sole purpose is to poison and kill your spiritual life in God. He wants you to get so hooked on his junk that you start neglecting the good fruit the Lord has available to you. As you succumb to the devil’s diet you will eventually stop partaking of the Lord’s bounty. Your spirit will grow sick and weak and your enemy will have prevailed.

You can choose instead to resist the devil, dig in, and go with the fruit of the Spirit the Lord has provided for you instead. The fruit He has for you produces life and brings blessings. It will cause your spirit to grow strong and enable you to live in victory while here on earth. God is your Creator. He takes pleasure out of your well being. Everything He has for you enhances your living experience. As you live according to God’s will, you cannot help but have favor and success.

So the next time you find yourself struggling to resist the devil’s temptations, remember his blatant agenda. He only wants to destroy you. Anything he brings your way is guaranteed poison. Why would you want to continuously partake in something that’s trying to kill you? Grab hold of God’s fruit of the spirit and thrive instead.

 
Verse of the Day: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23