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GOD

THE GOD-ADVANTAGE

“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” – John 5:6    REFERENCE: John 5:1-9   Life can sometimes be ruthlessly mean. How do you explain that life detained this man in one spot for 38 years? This situation can break the stoutest hearts and wear out the strongest of men. The race of life left this lame man behind for 38 years. Someone always outsmarted him, outran him, outperformed him, and outwitted him. He lacked the network of...
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GREATER GLORY

“What once was glorious no longer holds any glory because of the increasingly greater glory that has replaced it.” – 2 Corinthians 3:10 REFERENCE: II CORINTHIANS 3:8-10 God is a progressive God. He plans to take you from glory to glory in every area of your life until your future looks better than your past. Paul calls this greater glory. He means you will experience God’s honor, dignity, or beauty in tangible degrees. Greater glory is a call to a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. It means God is giving you the capacity to handle greater riches, influence, position, and responsibility;...
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THE GLORY OF GOD

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18   REFERENCE: II CORINTHIANS 3:12-18 New Testament believers have no veil over their faces, unlike Moses, who wore a veil to hide God’s glory reflected on his face (Exodus 34:29-35). You and I can look at God’s face as we study His word (which reflects His image like a mirror) and reflect the image of His glory to our world. We can share unhindered...
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LEAH’S LONGING: IRONIES OF LIFE

“Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!” ~ Genesis 30:31 REFERENCE Genesis 29:31-30:2 Humans are mostly needing beings, preoccupied with things they desire, and spend time praying about things they lack. Leah desperately wanted her husband’s affection; she longed to hear him say, “I love you,” and if it meant bearing several sons to get it, so be it. However, it was not on record that Jacob loved her. It seems the more sons she birthed; the more aloof Jacob was from her. She finally...
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LEAH’S LONGING: PERFORMANCE TRAP

“She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore, his name was called Levi.” ~ Genesis 29:34   REFERENCE: Genesis 29:30-35   Leah was a woman unloved by her husband; this created a great gap (her husband’s attention and affection) that she needed to fill. Although God compensated her by making her prolific in child-bearing, she lived her life trying to gain her husband’s love, as we can see in our main text. Leah saw child-bearing as a way of getting her husband to love...
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LEAH

LEAH’S LONGING: GREAT GAP

“When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.” ~ Genesis 29:31   REFERENCE: Genesis 29:30-35   Leah was a wife of fraudulence forced on Jacob by Laban, her father. Jacob loved her younger sister Rachel instead, and worked to pay for her dowry. But Laban tricked him into marrying Leah because he said it was improper for the younger sister to marry before the older. Jacob had to work for a second seven years for the dowry and still married Rachel. Hence, Jacob loved Rachel and ‘tolerated’ Leah. How emotionally crushing would this have...
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DELIVERANCE

ALL-ROUND DELIVERANCE (2)

“He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes; in seven no evil shall touch you.” – Job 5:19 REFERENCE: Job 5:19-27 God delivers His children from all troubles, no matter the size or kind. For example, He said, “I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit,” Zechariah 9:11. If you have found yourself in a situation where everything around you is dry, God’s got you. David said, “He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me,” Psalm 18:17. If those with authority and power over you are oppressing you, God has the power to break...
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ALL-ROUND DELIVERANCE

“He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes; in seven no evil shall touch you.” – Job 5:19 REFERENCE: JOB 5:19-24 God is a very present help in trouble. That is, in trouble, He is with you to deliver you. In our text, Eliphaz said about God, “He will deliver you in six, and indeed, in seven troubles.” No matter the kind or size of the trouble you find yourself in, you are assured of God’s deliverance. There is nothing that will confront you in this life that God cannot confront, there is no trial that comes your way that...
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RIGHTEOUS

THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS (2)

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” – Psalms 34:19. REFERENCE: PSALMS 34:17-20 Life comes with its many twists and turns, but there is a God who delivers. David echoes this in our text; bad things happen to the good and godly ones, but the Lord will save them and not let them be defeated by what they face. As a believer, you will experience trials, persecutions, and afflictions sometime in your life journey, but that should not be your focus. Your focus should be on the victory that is assured....
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THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS (1)

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” – Psalms 34:19. REFERENCE: PSALMS 34:17-20 Affliction is anything that causes persistent pain, harm, distress, suffering, or agony. Affliction can manifest in the form of diseases, terminal illnesses, and recurrent loss, be it physical, spiritual, or financial. Isaiah 53:4 says of Jesus, “Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Jesus also suffered affliction! He was rejected by His own, called a devil, nailed on a cross, bore all the sins (present and future) of the world, and finally, His Father...
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