God's Word is Sweet

As new Believers we desire the milk of the World. With a voracious appetite, we devour whole chapters, eager to read more and more about God and His plan for us.

As we mature in Christ, we get more familiar with God's Word and we start to focus on verses rather than chapters. We read a few verses, until one grabs our attention.

Then we meditate on that verse all day long. We look up similar verses when we get a chance to focus our thoughts more specifically. We chew around on the passages and slowly digest them, savoring each morsel.

We taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). His Word is like honey on our lips, sweeter actually than the honey comb (Psalm 19:10). God illuminates our thoughts to see the deeper meaning of the verses on which we are meditating. 

His Word is more precious and valuable to us than the finest of gold and refined silver (Psalm 12:6, 19:10, 119:103). The scriptures are sweet to our soul and healing to our bones (Proverbs 4:22, 16:24).

God's Spirit enlightens us to apply the verses to our everyday life. He gives us a chance to share the verse in conversation or on our blog or social media site that day, inspiring others to read and meditate on God's Word as well.

Our heart is glad as we meditate on God's life-giving Words. They bring life to a broken spirit and to our bones in the dessert of life (Proverbs 17:22).

In the prison of depression and a broken spirit, we cannot find anything to focus on that brings us joy; yet, when we enjoy God's Word, our face reflects the joy in our spirit and soul regardless of our circumstances (Proverbs 15:13).

Prayer:

Father God, it is easier for us to endure physical ailments than wounds to and in our soul, which break our spirit and pull the rug right out from under us (Proverbs 18:14). This depression causes physical ailments that have no real physical source. We are emotionally afflicted and needy due to the wounds within our soul.

Heal our many afflictions - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Help us to change our focus to the innumerable blessings you provide for us each day. Open our eyes so that we may taste and see that You are good (Psalm 109:22, 34:8). We worship You and give You praise in the good times as well as the trying events in our life. You are the source of our strength always.

Thought for the Day:

When our soul is discouraged, it breaks our will to live, our productivity, our courage and our desire to walk in God's will for our day; if we allow Him to, God will always give us a joyful heart, which is the best of medicine for troubles and trials. - Proverbs 15:13, 17:22

The Big Lie

We are born into a world with expectations, regulations and pressure to excel. We are taught to succeed regardless of the cost to our own soul and to those we love.

By example, the adults in our life instruct us that material gain is paramount for our happiness. Many parents work more than one job to afford more for us than their parents provided for them.

The big lie is that we only have one life to live; therefore, we have to accumulate wealth, stature and expensive material possessions in order to have status and fulfillment.

No matter how much we gain in this world, it is never satisfying; so, we force our self to work harder and longer hours in order to acquire more.

We feel incomplete, but we do not understand why. Satan blinds our eyes to the reality that our spirit is dead within us, and we are only limping through life with a body and soul (Ephesians 2:1).

God originally planned for us to live in Paradise with Him; but Adam and Eve fell for Satan's temptation, and our spirit died with theirs. Yet, God made a way for our salvation, and He will never fail to meet our needs.   

He planned the sacrifice of His perfect Lamb on Calvary's cross before the creation of the world. Due to His foreknowledge, He knows the end from the beginning (1 Peter 1:2; Acts 2:23; Revelation 13:8).

There is only one reason that God knit us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13-18; Jeremiah 1:5). It is to give us new life in Christ, which includes His nature and the fruit of His Spirit (2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 5:22-23).

These treasures are worth more than fine gold (Psalm 19:10). Once we come to Christ, our spirit is Born Again. We finally feel complete and whole inside. We are no longer handicapped with a spirit dead in sin.

We desire nothing more than our relationship with our Lord and Savior (John 15:11, 16:24). With each day, we feel His love more deeply and we hear His Spirit more clearly.

Prayer:

Father God, open our eyes to the fact that Satan dupes us into believing that the purpose for our life on this earth is to work for the advantage of our self and our loved ones. Help us to see that You create us for Your glory, rather than for our own glory.

Teach us to simplify our life, to downsize rather than to upgrade, and to budget our income to meet much simpler earthly needs. Remind us to make You our priority in life and to cheerfully tithe for the work of Your ministry and to obey You in meeting the needs of those Your Spirit prompts us to help (Luke 21:1-4 Malachi; 3:10; Proverbs 3:9; 2 Corinthians 9:7; John 12:8).

Thought for the Day:

Authentic Believers will realize that our life on this earth is not for the purpose of building our own kingdom, but rather to advance the Kingdom of God.

The Value of Riches

Most human beings look at riches from a different light than the Bible talks about them. We want to get rich quick, without any effort. It does happen for some. They win the lottery or receive an inheritance or make money in the stock market. Some people do well until the interest rates fall, or they lose their family and friends because greed over the money forces them to part ways. The money only lasts for a lifetime, if that long; and in the scheme of eternity, that is a very short time.

In fact, gold in heaven is so common that God paved the streets with it (Revelation 21:21). Jesus said that we can buy gold from Him, so we can be rich for eternity; however, it is gold that is formed in us though our trials (2 Timothy 2:12). We can also buy white cloth from Him with our righteous deeds, to use for our wedding dress. If we do not have any righteous deeds, we will appear naked and ashamed at our wedding feast between Christ and us (Revelations 15:16).

Loving money traps us with all kinds of evil, some of which causes us to stop serving God (1 Timothy 6:10). Our life does not consist only of the abundance of things, which we possess (Luke 12:15). Otherwise, possessions end up possessing us. Riches tend to bring us more misery than blessings (James 5:1-5; 1 Timothy 6:10). The only good thing about having money is that we can share it with those in need (1 John 3:17). Truly, Godly riches outshine anything this world has to offer. 

We cannot serve God and money at the same time, because they both require all of our time (Luke 16:13; 1 Timothy 6:10). Jesus calls us to repent and to live a zealous life for Him (Revelation 3:18-19). God is a righteous God and He corrects and disciplines those He loves (Proverbs 3:11-12). We gain wisdom in life by realizing what a totally awesome Lord and Savior we have in Jesus Christ (Proverbs 2:1-11, 9:10). He is the fountain of life, and the light of the world (Psalm 36:9).

Prayer:

Father God, it does not matter if we have worldly riches, because You see to it that every person, who is faithful to You, will abound with blessings (Proverbs 28:20). You exalt the one who is lowly (James 1:9-11). We do not want to gather earthly treasures, because moths and rust will just destroy them, and thieves will steal them (Matthew 6:19-21). We do not need to build an empire on this earth (Isaiah 5:8), because You already prepared a mansion for us in heaven (John 14:2).

Thought for the Day:

Our life does not consist of what we possess. – Luke 12:15:21