School of Hard Knocks

Life often sends us through a crash course at the School of Hard Knocks. We feel overwhelmed and hopeless, because of the weight of disappointment smothering the life right out of us.

As authentic Born Again Believers, we have Father God, Brother Jesus and their Holy Spirit - who defend, protect, advise, guide, provide for and love us so much that Jesus laid down His own life for us (1 John 2:1; John 14:16, 15:13).  

We can have faith in God's faithfulness, because He proves His love for us each moment of every day. He provides a miracle to accompany every trial, such as: spiritual growth, lessons learned, or blessings, which come in spite of our suffering.

In our trials, God surrounds us with His ministering angels, provides for our needs, builds our faith, gives us wisdom to share with others, and uses us as an example of one who maintains faith in God (Hebrews 1:14; Philippians 4:19; 1 Peter 1:7; Luke 22:32).

God's Spirit uses trials to shape in us the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, faith, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith (Galatians 5:22-23; James 1:3).

God also teaches us contentment, which fills our heart regardless of the severity of the circumstances (Philippians 4:11-12). God continually abides in us through everything we ever experience (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27).

At times, Satan tempts us to blame God for our losses and to feel anger towards Him for what we perceive as Him letting us down. However, God sees the big picture and He allows trials for our ultimate good.

Prayer:

Father God, as we live through the school of hard knocks, remind us to adopt an attitude of joyful acceptance and thanksgiving. Help us to focus on Your sovereign purpose in everything we experience (Romans 8:28). Remind us to trust in Your foreknowledge and grace (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 4:16).

Your infinite ways exceed our finite human understanding; therefore, we can always trust that You have our good at heart. We trust in Your faithfulness to fulfill all of Your promises, even when the circumstances appear hopeless.

Thought for the Day:

Praising God in and through trials helps us to feel contentment in spite of them and gratitude for His presence in us through each one of them. 

- 1 Thessalonians 5:18; John 17:23

Wise Wisdom

At times, we stay up all night with our mind whirling with issues that need a wise solution (Ecclesiastes 2:23). Solomon, the wisest man in the world, realized that following the world's wisdom is like following the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:17). 

He pursued God's wisdom instead. God's wisdom is the opposite of the world's wisdom, and it often takes faith to walk in it. The Apostle Paul tells us that the rationale of this world is futile. 

He advises us, when directed by God's Spirit, to dare to be unwise in certain temporal matters. This way we may truly become wise in eternal matters (1 Corinthians 3:18-20). 

Heavenly wisdom is not tainted by the world. It is pure, serene, tender, steadfast, sincere, sensible and full of mercy and the fruit of God's Spirit (James 3:17).

So many people miss the opportunity in their life to come to Christ, because they are so dependent on the wisdom of the world, that they miss the simplicity of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:21).  

Jesus Christ became the wisdom of God for us (1 Corinthians 2:24, 30). An intimate, personal relationship with the Son of God gives us wisdom of which unbelievers have no concept.

Mankind throughout the ages spent countless generations attempting to figure out the meaning and origin of life. All along, the answers to mankind's most perplexing issues are already described and answered in God's Word. 

God reveals His deep wisdom to anyone who seeks Him with all of his or her heart (1 Corinthians 2:10; Jeremiah 29:13).

Prayer:

Father God, Your wisdom instructs us to consider more than what meets the human eye. You want us to read between the lines, to think outside of the box and to envision Your reality instead of what we see in human terms. What we can see is merely temporal and earthly, tied to this finite world. That which is discerned only by Your Holy Spirit is eternal and lasting (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Thought for the Day:

God gives us His wisdom through natural events (Romans 1:19,20), the miracle of His Son (Luke 10:22; Galatians 1:16), His written Word and personal revelation, which He only gives to authentic Christians.

Wings of the Wind

 

God covered the earth with water as a garment. In the beginning, water even covered the mountains; but at His word, it fled. At the sound of His thunder, the water hurried away and flowed over the mountains and into the valleys, which is where He designed for it to reside. The water cannot cover the earth any longer, because God set a boundary, which it cannot cross (Psalm 104:5-9 NKJV).

God covers Himself with light as His garment. The heavens are His tent. The beams of His upper chambers are in the canopy of water above the earth. He set the earth on its axis, so that it can never be moved, unless His chooses. He travels on the clouds as His chariot and strides on the wings of the wind. The winds are God’s messengers and the flames of fire are His servants (Psalm 18:10, 104:2-4 NKJV).

The Lord is like an eagle, using the winds beneath His wings. He teaches us to fly in the Spirit, like the eagle teaches its young to fly. The eagle stirs up the nest and hovers over its young. If they falter in flight, the eagle spreads its wings and swoops down to catch them and carry them aloft (Deuteronomy 32:11). In this same way, God speedily comes to our rescue in any time of need (Psalm 40:13).

This same Lord is our dwelling place throughout every generation. He birthed our earth and created the mountains on it, proving that He is God from beginning to everlasting. At our death, He turns us back to the dust from which He created Adam. He has power and dominion over the whole earth and all of its inhabitants. God does not dwell in finite time (Psalm 90:1-3 NKJV). He is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:2, 103:17; Isaiah 40:28).

Prayer:

Father God, in Your sight, a thousand of our years passes like one day, or as quickly as a single night watch (Psalm 90:4). We are but grasshoppers in Your sight; yet, you care for us as Your own children. You walk on the wind; yet, You control every aspect of our life on the earth. You are rich in mercy and great in Your love toward us. Even when we were dead in sin, You loved us. By Your grace, You made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Thought for the Day:

In God’s wisdom He creates and casts down, and the earth is full of His possessions. - Psalm 104:24

Our Calling in Christ

The Jews and Romans put Jesus’ body to death, but God brought Him to life again by His Spirit. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, once and for all generations. The perfect and righteous One died for the unrighteous. Jesus makes us acceptable, so that we can approach God with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). In Christ our humanity is dead and hidden with Christ in God.


Jesus is now in heaven and is at the right hand of our Father. The angels, authorities and powers both in heaven and on earth are all subject to Him both now and in eternity (1 Peter 3:18, 22).  Christ is our only life, and when He appears, we will appear with Him in His Glory (Colossians 3:1-4). We are raised in new life with Christ, so that we can seek eternal and infinite pursuits.


God wants us to relinquish any aspirations to be conformed to the pattern of this world. He invites us to be transformed into Christ, by the renewing of our mind, so that we can prove the good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). We set our mind on timeless aspects rather than on the finite issues of life on this earth. We live our life to share the gospel with everyone who will listen.


God enlightens the eyes of our heart, for us to comprehend the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance for His Saints and the incomparable greatness of His power toward all of us who believe in Him (Ephesians 1:17-19). The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give us His spirit of wisdom. He also gives us the revelation of and the full knowledge of Himself.


Now we can share this discovery with the world around us. God calls us to walk in the Spirit on the narrow road of salvation, and to influence for Him the generations, which walk on the wide road leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). He calls us to use our relationships to point people to Jesus and away from sin’s harm. Let us dedicate our life to His service until our dying breath.


Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we take our refuge in You. You keep us from shame and You deliver and rescue us from our oppressors. You turn You ear to our cries and You save us. You are our rock of refuge to which we can always go in our time of need. Your commandments save us from reaping destruction in this life. You are our Rock and Fortress forever (Psalm 71:1-3). We will arise to serve You, both now and throughout eternity.


Thought for the Day:
We are forever redeemed from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light in Christ Jesus. - 1 Peter 1: 18-19

Demons Believe and Tremble

To believe in God is not enough. Even the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). In these modern times, much of God’s army is slumbering in apathy and ineffectiveness. The persecuted church worldwide understands the true nature of Christianity. No hypocrites attend those churches, because they have to lay their life down for Christ every day. Will casual Christians ever arise from their spiritual siesta and allow God’s Spirit to set them on fire?

Few Believers actually focus solely on God’s will for them (Ephesians 2:10). These dedicated individuals listen to His Spirit’s prompting and obey His voice all day long. They reside in the moment with total righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Having no reservations, they share Christ’s gospel with anyone who will listen, at any time of the day or night. They use any form of media possible to communicate God’s love to the world (2 Timothy 4:2).

Devoting their life to prayer, these authentic Believers walk in the Spirit and deny the flesh (Galatians 5:15-25). They are effective and accomplish much for God’s Kingdom (James 5:16). They understand that Jesus died to pay the price of every sin, for every sinner, for all of time (1 Peter 3:18, 22); and that His Spirit remains alive and united with His immortal body at the right hand of our Father. Now, all angels, authorities and powers are subject to Jesus (1 Peter 3:18, 22).

Jesus raises us to walk in this powerful new life, which God prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10). Through salvation, our carnal nature dies and is buried with Christ in baptism (Colossians 2:12; Romans 6:4). Jesus, who is our whole reason for living, hides our humanity with Him in God. We live with Jesus in glory, even now on this earth (Colossians 3:3-4). Since Jesus lives in us, His precious and powerful name gives us His authority, so that all powers and principalities are subject to us as well (Luke 10:17).

Prayer:

Father God, we are Your blood-bought children and we trust in Your faithfulness. You rescued us from hell’s fire and You freely give us all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). Satan’s only power over us comes from our unbelief. He is our accuser (Revelation 12:9-11). Some of Your children forget all about the victory You won for us on Calvary’s cross (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). They lose their freedom, which Jesus gave His life for us to enjoy. Remind them of Your love for us; so they will seek first Your Kingdom (Matthew 6:33) and set their mind on the eternal, infinite aspects of life (Colossians 3:2).

Thought for the Day:

We are forever redeemed from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light through Jesus Christ. - 1 Peter 1:18-19

Our Glorious King

God chooses the foolish of the world to confuse the wise and the weak to confound the mighty. He uses the lowly and the despised to walk in His Spirit in order to bring down strongholds and lift up everything that pertains to Him (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). Our life is in God’s complete control. We may not always understand His ways or purposes; but as we maintain our faith in Him and obey His Spirit’s directives, eternity will reveal the reasoning behind His actions.


Our temporary struggles here on earth cannot even compare to the glory that God prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). His powerful hope sustains us in trials and temptations. God gives His Saints citizenship in heaven, and we will reign with the Lord Jesus Christ. We eagerly wait for our Savior’s return. Since all things are subject to His power, He will transform our humble, finite body and conform it to the infinite, immortal glory of His body (Philippians 3:20-21).


God’s works are vast and spectacular. All of His ways are holy and trustworthy. He is the King of all the nations and everyone will fear Him and glorify His name. Upon His return, every nation will come and worship before Him. Everyone will see and understand all of His mighty acts throughout the ages (Revelation 15:3-4). He provides heaven for all of those who receive Jesus as their personal Savior (Luke 20:26). Even in death, Believers have a refuge in Christ (Proverbs 14:22).  


Those who die without a regenerated spirit experience physical death along with the second death in hell (Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14-15; 21:8). However, when an authentic Born Again Believer dies physically, his/her body is buried to await the resurrection, but their soul and spirit, their essence, immediately join the Lord in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8). It is said that we are sleeping in Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:18), and the day of our death is better than the day of our birth (Ecclesiastes 7:1). 


Prayer:

Father God, as surely as You live, every knee of those on the earth, in the earth and under the earth, that includes everyone, will bow to Your Lordship (Philippians 2:10). I pray that anyone reading these words who has not surrendered their life to You, will indeed believe that Jesus is our only Savior, so they will repent of their sins and walk in Your ways. Thank you for Your gracious plan to redeem all mankind and for making Your glory so evident in nature all around us (Romans 1:20). I pray that people will see the fallacy in Satan’s lies and come to the truth of Your written Word, so they too will worship You as their Lord and King.

Thought for the Day:

Come believe in Christ and live in the presence of our glorious King, both on this earth and eternally in the grandeur of heaven.

Fairytale or Reality

Read: Acts 19:8-10

“As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything." - Ecclesiastes 11:5 (NKJV)

Paul appealed to the people in his day, and quite successfully convinced many of them about God’s reality. Others refused to believe the Gospel, and some even mocked it. The same is true today. Since scientists cannot examine God under a microscope they explain Him away. They have no proof of the origin of electricity, the wind or magnetism either; yet, they accept these assumptions as facts. With God, however, since they cannot prove Him scientifically, they dismiss Him as a fairytale. This is not consistent, nor is it logical.

Not only can we see the handiwork of God in our universe, we can also see the consequences of His work in a Believer’s life. The miscreant transforms into a productive citizen, the selfish woman considers her family first, and the wandering husband spends his time at home every night.

I thank God that He is not finite and measurable; but that He dwells in infinity. I would not want to serve a God, which I can categorize, allegorize and automatize. I much prefer serving a God that I can apotheosize.

Prayer ~ Lord Jesus, Your Spirit creates a difference in our thoughts, words, and actions. Till the soil in the lives of those around us, so that we can successfully plant the seed of Your truth.

Thought For The Day ~ As long as Believers live in our universe, there is absolute proof that God is real!