Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. - Isaiah 43:19 REFERENCE Isaiah 43:15-19 As you begin a new month, God wants you to know that whatever He has done for you up to this point is now in the past. This suggests that He plans to do something new. He wants you to have present testimonies that will swallow up your past miracles. God is never stagnant, He is a progressive God, that...
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. - Ephesians 6:13 REFERENCE Ephesians 6:10-17 When Jesus won the victory over the devil, it was a once-and-for-all-time thing. It is the same way He wants your victory over the enemy to be. A lasting victory is one in which you have defeated the enemy, and kept him in a place of defeat that he can’t overcome you again no matter how hard he tries. Today’s passage admonishes you to stand your ground...
For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. - Job 14:7 REFERENCE Job 14:7-9 & 14 Continued from yesterday… While some people fail backwards, others fail forward because they know how to handle failure. Common traits of those who fail backwards is: they often blame others for their failures, they repeat the same mistakes, they think they are failures, they limit themselves by their past mistakes and they quit trying. On the other hand, those who fail forward (use failure as...
So David inquired of the LORD, saying, 'Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?' And He answered him, 'Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.' ~ I Samuel 30:8 REFERENCE I Samuel 30:1-8 Many fear and hate the word “failure,” they misunderstand and don’t talk about it, and so are most times not prepared for it. Thus, when they fail, the result is usually devastating. Unknown to these people, most successful people are failures who bounced back. Failure is defined as a falling short in performing any expected action, or...
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. - John 15:13 REFERENCE John 15:9-14 Yesterday, we talked about love not just being in our speech but in our actions. Today’s text further buttresses that truth. True love (God’s kind) can only be measured by the sacrifices you are willing to make for the people connected to you. A sacrifice means you are ready to give up something of value (money, time, comfort, etc), for the sake of others. The account in Mark 2:1-12 is a good point of...
Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was… - Mark 2:3-4 REFERENCE Mark 2:1-12 Jesus Christ became the embodiment of love by dying for us. And He commanded us to show this same love to others. So, as Christ-like ones, we ought to live and show love to others in deeds and not in speeches. Love, as an action word, must be demonstrated. It is not enough to theorize about love in our...
…That man was telling his friend about a dream that he had. He was saying, 'I dreamed that a round loaf of bread came rolling into the camp of the Midianites. That loaf of bread hit the tent so hard that the tent turned over and fell flat.' - Judges 7:13 ERV REFERENCE Judges 6:3-6 & 7:1-22 In today’s passage we see a time in history when the Israelites were reduced to poverty because their strong enemy – the Midianites oppressed and plundered them. Gideon, whom God called to lead an army against the Midianites, was able to...
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! - Psalms 133:1 REFERENCE Psalm 133:1-3 Continued from yesterday… The advantages of being in fellowship with other believers are unquantifiable. For starters, it gives you a platform to experience the love of God from others, because sooner or later, you will need a body of believers to console you in your ‘low’ times, and also to rejoice with you in times of celebration. Again, because of the pressures around, being in company of other believers will always keep you refreshed in the Word,...
So the five men left. They came to the city of Laish and saw that the people of that city lived in safety… Everything was peaceful and quiet… Also they lived a long way from the city of Sidon, and they did not have any agreements with the people of Aram. - Judges 18:7 (ERV) REFERENCE Judges 18:1-10, 27-29 This story about the people of Laish further buttresses the point we made yesterday, about the enemy seeking that stand alone Christian, who doesn’t want to associate with any group (church), so he can easily devour them. Sometimes, people don’t...
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. - Hebrews 10:25 REFERENCE Hebrews 10:24-25 Man is a spirit, he possesses a soul and lives in a body. This means, man is a spiritual as well as a social being. So as man feeds his spirit, he also needs to meet his social needs, which is where as a believer, the place of fellowshipping with others comes in. Fellowship simply means companionship. It is a friendly association of...