God's Faithfulness

 

Our faith in God's faithfulness is never disappointed. He will not give us the lusts of our flesh, but He always abundantly provides for more than our needs (Ephesians 3:20).

If we pray anything according to His will, he hears us and supplies (1 John 5:14). We cannot live fully without Christ living within us. Paul realized this truth in his life (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Jesus’ disciples knew the truth of this statement too (John 15:5). Joseph exemplified this when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41:16). Rebellious Jonah learned to trust the Lord, as the God of heaven who made the sea and earth (Jonah 1:9).

God is always ready to listen to those who worship Him and are willing to live in His will for their life (John 9:31). Blessed and happy is everyone who worships the Lord and walks in His ways (Psalm 128:1).

Due to God's great faithfulness, His steadfast love never ceases; His mercy never ends and is actually fresh with the dawn of each new day (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Even when we fail in our faithfulness, it does not negate the faithfulness of God; although, our poor witness does tarnish His name and ours (Romans 3:3).

Our God is gracious and merciful, patient and full of love and faithfulness (Psalm 86:15). He loves and protects those who keep His commandments, and honors His covenant with them through a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalms 119:90).

Prayer:

Father God, You are our God. We earnestly seek You; our soul thirsts for You, our body longs for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. You always provide us with everything we need to live Godly in Christ Jesus.

I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands" (Psalm 63:1-4).

Thought for the Day:

True disciples long for God more than life itself and seek His love and grace as we glorify Him in all that we think, say and do.

The Miracle of Prayer

Prayer is communication between God and His people. The Bible encourages us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We do not need a kneeling position in order to pray. We can pray throughout every activity of our day.

When we do, we find that we are communicating with God's Spirit on the best way to perform the task at hand. We walk in the Spirit rather than in the flesh, and we find our self in the center of God's will all day long.

Miracles happen when we pray. Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still so the Israelites could win the battle, and God did just that. Gideon prayed for the animal skin to be wet and then dry, and God used that prayer to confirm His call on Gideon's life.

Daniel prayed and the angel Gabriel appeared in less than three minutes as an answer to that prayer. But another time Daniel prayed, and due to spiritual warfare, it took weeks before the angel was able to deliver his answer (Daniel 10:12). 

Satan attempts to hinder the answers to our prayers; but Matthew reminds us that everyone who asks receives, those who seek will find; and if we knock, God will open every door that we need in order to perform His will for our life (Matthew 7:8).

God always answers prayers, even if His answer is "wait" or "no"; and we can be assured that His answer has our best interest at heart. With faith in God's faithfulness, nothing can stop us from accomplishing God's will for our life.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that when we build our life on the rock of Christ, no storm shall prevail against us. We know that even if our enemies fight against us, or if Satan turns out all the demons of hell to stop us, greater is Christ within us than the god of this world (1 John 4:4). You have a perfect plan for our life, and we flourish with success and fulfillment as we walk in Your will (Ephesians 2:10).

We may fight a formidable enemy; but You triumph in every instance by making us overcomers who enjoy the victory of a life spent in Your presence, regardless of where we live or the circumstances around us. Remind us to pray without ceasing and to stand still and wait on Your salvation (Exodus 14:13).

Thought for the Day:

Prayer is not therapy for the soul, but a connection of our spirit to the Spirit of God; prayer transcends human power, wisdom and ability and moves mountains in the spiritual world, and if necessary, in the physical world as well. 

Enoch Walked with God

"And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." - Genesis 5:22-24

Police statistics estimate that one person disappears per minute in the UK and USA. In Australia one person every 18 minutes is reported missing. It is the same around the world. Then there are those who disappear and are never reported as a statistic. Many are kidnapped, or die unnoticed and undiscovered. How many of those who disappear, like Enoch, walked with God and God translated them home? In His foreknowledge, God prepared a destiny and a destination for the soul of every person before He ever created the earth.

Enoch was the father of Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived; and the great grandfather of Noah. His claim to Biblical fame is that after his son was born, he “walked with God” for about three hundred years. This paints a portrait for us of two intimate friends unhindered by the lusts of the flesh and the world around them and totally immersed in one another’s fellowship (Amos 3:3). Scholars tell us that many of Enoch’s writings had the poetry of the Psalms and the wisdom of Proverbs.

Enoch was honorable, he loved mercy and He walked humbly with our God. (Micah 6:8). With his will totally submitted to his Lord, Enoch learned from God. As a man of faith, Enoch knew it was impossible to please God without trusting in Him. He also pleased God in his thoughts, words and deeds (Hebrews 11:5). This was the testimony he exhibited before God and his neighbors. He saw great visions from the Lord about heaven, Satan’s rebellion, worldly nations throughout the ages, as well as the consequences of wickedness and the rewards of the just. Enoch instructed his family in the ways of God.

Jude tells us that Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam and that he prophesied about the Lord returning with His Saints and executing judgment on the ungodly for their unbelief (Jude 1:14-15). Enoch walked in the ways of the Lord and all went well with him and his descendents (Deuteronomy 5:33). He lived to the age of 365. He saw a vision of the great flood and told his children about it. Noah lived by his great grandfather’s example, and walked with God as well (Genesis 6:9). The more Enoch knew God, the more he loved Him, and his love for the world dwindled (1 John 2:15).

Enoch was a man of integrity and a pure heart. He saw righteousness flowing like water, and mercy scattered like dew over the whole earth. He longed to dwell with the righteous. He realized that the Lord strengthens the spirit of the righteous for the sake of His own righteousness, and that many see Heaven without tasting the sleep of death. He saw Christ as the light of the nations, the hope of troubled hearts, the name by which we are saved and the one, which the righteous lean upon without falling. He foresaw the destruction of the wicked and the peaceful dwelling place of the righteous.

Therefore, rather than allowing Enoch to enter heaven through the gates of endless sleep, God translated Him to Heaven and he did not see death (Ephesians 5:10; Hebrews 11:5). Like Enoch, Adam and Eve enjoyed the cool of the day in the garden walking with God (Genesis 3:8). God revealed Himself to Moses and the face of the deliverer of God’s people shone with the glory of the Lord (Exodus 34:35). Abraham walked with God (Genesis 24:40). Jesus walked with God and embodied God personified (John 14:7-9). God loves to walk with all of His Saints. We are His Temple and He communes with us every moment of the day by His indwelling Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Prayer:

Father God, we want to walk with You, commune with You, listen to Your wisdom and direction, and walk by Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day. Reveal Yourself to us in Your secret places, and teach us to walk in Your ways (Palm 91:1). Your mercy is great as is Your patience with us. All of your powerful works are wondrous for us to behold. You reveal all things to Your Saints, to Your elect. You write all of our deeds in Your journals and nothing we do escapes Your sight. Let us walk in justice and righteousness for Your name’s sake now and forever, and if our ways please You, translate us to Heaven as well.

Thought for the Day:

If Enoch can walk with God in this devoted intimacy, we can too.

 

 

 

Thank you, Stephanie Bentley, for the use of your photo.

Children - Our Heritage from the Lord

Read: Exodus 2

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.” - Psalm 127:3

God formed each of us individually, knitting us together in our mother’s womb. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Even before we were born, His eyes saw our unformed substance and wrote the number of our days in His book (Psalm 139:13-16). I learned as a young mother that when God gives us children, it is for a short season of time. We are to dedicate them to Him as His children from the day of their birth. He loans them to us to enjoy and then He wants us to release them back to Him. We may think we know what is best for our children, but He reminds us that He is their Heavenly Father and He knows what is truly best for them.

In the Bible story of Moses his mother, Jochebed, built a bulrush basket, daubed it with slime and pitch and put baby Moses inside. Pushing it into the flags growing by the river, she sent her daughter Miriam to watch what happened. God immediately took control and floated the basket toward Pharaoh’s daughter’s bathing place. Jochebed knew that if she kept her son with her, the soldiers would surely kill him. She obeyed God and put her son into God’s hands to do what was best for him. The wonderful plan God had for Moses also included his mother. She was chosen as the baby’s nursemaid and she watched him grow up in the palace as a privileged son of the Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2).

If we are not careful, we allow our will, purpose and plans for our children to override God’s will for them. We have to remind our self to pray for our children and to understand what His will, purpose and reasons are for creating them. We need to teach our children that they each have definite gifts and callings on their lives. We can cultivate, sustain and build up those gifts and callings as we see them in our children’s lives. This way they will grow up, not to live as we think they should or how they want to live, but to fulfill God's will and direction for their lives.

When my daughter grew into a young woman, she disowned me for sharing Jesus and Bible verses with her and some of her friends. She felt that I was trying to convert them and was offended with me. People ask me all the time how I can possibly deal with my daughter’s rejection of me. I remind these caring people that humans have a soul, but once we are born again, we also have a spirit. My soul – my mind, will and emotions – do miss fellowship with my only daughter.

However, my spirit rejoices that she realizes my strong commitment to Christ and recognizes that I am not a hypocrite. I know that one day she will be encouraged and strengthened by the same convictions, which I cling to at this time in our life. Paul complimented Timothy because he shared the same faith as his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5). I look forward to the day when my daughter enjoys the same faith in Christ that her mother and grandmother do (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

God has a plan for each of our children. God fills our quiver with them and then shows us in which direction to aim them as arrows into the future (Psalm 127:4-5; Proverbs 29:17). For the glory of God, we impart to them the wisdom of Biblical precepts and knowledge (Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 4:9; 6:6-9). Then we surender them to His care and purpose for their life. God teaches our children and imparts His peace into their lives (Isaiah 54:13).  Ultimately, however, we must release them into His care, protection, direction and provision (Psalm 127:3–5). Even though she does not realize it, I know my daughter is safely tucked into the palm of God’s hand.

Prayer:

Father God, lead and guide my children by Your Spirit. Teach me never to hug them too loosely or to tightly, so they will not feel neglected or fearful when they grow beyond my nurture and care. Help them to grow in Your wisdom and stature, in Your grace and knowledge, in Your compassion and love. Draw them ever closer to Your heart as they serve You with their lives in the profession and location in which You call them to function. Help them to come to the saving knowledge of Your Son, Jesus, and to live in full devotion to You. Allow their lives to testify of Your greatness and glory to all of those who know them.

Thought for the Day:

"Train up a child in the way he should go and in keeping with his individual gift or bent, and when he is old he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6 (Amplified Bible)