Monday
It Is Not About Your Condition
Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
When you read the Word, God spends little time talking about where we have been or where we are. His focus seems to always be on where He is taking us in spite of where we have never been. That is why you cannot claim the Word as you quit and remain where you are for it is impossible not to grow. It is impossible not to move forward and walk with the Lord and stay where you are or give up because God’s promises to us is directed toward the future, not the past—never digressing, but always progressing. When God makes a promise, your conditions are against you. God never makes a promise that agrees with your present conditions. When God makes a promise, it is against the backdrop of impossibility. When God makes a promise, your condition says, “You are not supposed to have what God is promising you.” When God makes a promise your condition says your promises, are not supposed to be able to go where God is leading you.
One reason I believe that God does that is to test the maturity of your faith, because it does not take a lot of faith when you are receiving what your condition says you are supposed to have. It does not take much faith when you can see it right before your eyes and just walk into it. It does not take faith to pay a bill when the money is already in the bank. It does not take faith to claim He is a Healer when you are well. It takes faith when your condition says, “No, but I will move forward anyhow.” It takes faith to move forward when your checkbook and your ATM machine hold a conference call. It takes a maturing faith to keep moving anyhow. You can move anyhow when anyhow and somehow work together.
It takes faith to shout when your month is longer than your money. It takes faith to shout about your healing while you are still taking medicine. God declares in His Word that He is looking for some people who will move forward when they cannot see it. When we read the story of the thief that was crucified with Jesus we can see his condition but, it did not matter where the thief had been or where he was, the thief did something that even Jesus’ disciples did not do at His time of need. He acknowledged Him as the King Messiah and defended Him against the accusation of another. Peter failed but the thief did not. Because of this the man’s best day of life was the day of his death. The thief found that the Kingdom was today. He did not enter the Kingdom when he died, he entered when he repented and believed. In the end his current condition did not matter . . . . it was his change in position.
Tuesday
Remember The Covenant
Read Deuteronomy 9:27; Judges 16:18
A covenant is a binding agreement, or a contractual relationship. It must of necessity be between at least two or more parties. In purchasing a house the buyer and seller come to an agreement. This agreement may also depend on the approval of a bank or some other lending institution. A covenant can be among two equal parties or a superior and inferior party. For instance, in purchasing a car the buyer and seller are two equal parties. They can haggle over the price and terms of the sell. An example of superior and inferior parties could be parents telling their children they promise to take them to grandma’s house if they clean up their room. The children are in no position to debate or bargain and say they will clean up part of the room. In a marriage covenant, the man and woman entering the relationship are equals, but God is superior to both parties. It is God and not the man or woman that sets the conditions of marriage. As we read throughout the bible God made covenant with man. God made man with the intention of relationship, but man destroyed that with sin.
The New Covenant and the Holy Spirit: inaugurated by Jesus Christ, defined and determined by His sacrifice. The Spirit is the key player here, as prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit unites those who believe, to Christ. Life in the New Covenant is lived out by the power of the Holy Spirit; this doesn’t mean that believers can now live perfect lives, because the struggle with sin is still ever-present. However, Christ is both our perfect sacrifice, and our High Priest who intercedes on our behalf in the midst of our sin. Therefore, when we sin, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins. The New Covenant is our bond to God, through the Spirit.
Wednesday
Our Message Is The Kingdom
The central message of Jesus Christ was the message of "the Kingdom of God" or "the Kingdom of Heaven". This message, when understood, is the most relevant message for the needs of humanity. It is a highly attractive message, and will produce the greatest results of any message one could give. When the message of the Kingdom of God is given correctly, the results will be dramatic, just as they were for our Lord and for the apostles of our Lord. For with the proclamation of the Kingdom comes the power of the Kingdom. Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 4:20 "for the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power". Anyone who dares to produce theological tomes on the subject of the Kingdom of God without demonstrating something of the reality the power of the Kingdom has missed the mark and does not know as they ought to know. The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
When Jesus spoke of entering the Kingdom he was not merely saying "going to heaven when you die". He was talking about entering into the Kingdom life here and now. This includes heaven later on, and whatever plans God may have for us on the new earth, but it is far more than that. The Kingdom of Heaven is not about "pie in the sky when you die". The Kingdom of God is the place where Jesus is King. It is a spiritual, invisible kingdom which has made its presence felt to a degree in the affairs of this earth, but only to a limited extent. It is not confined to a particular geographical location, nor to a particular religious organization. The Kingdom is truly present in a place to the extent that Christ is honored as Lord and his will done there. Jesus preached the Kingdom message when he was here on earth and he commissioned us to do so. We are not only to tell the world of the God’s Kingdom but we are to demonstrate the Kingdom here on earth.
Thursday
Never Too Late
Read Luke 23:38-43
Well it is a new year and most people take time to self exam and reflect on our choices in life. So you’re looking at your life. I don’t know what you see but I do know what the people in Ezekiel’s time saw. They saw dry bones, desiccated and disconnected remnants of a once mighty and prosperous people. They saw lifelessness and hopelessness. They saw a bleak future in which they were cut off from everything that had been meaningful. Inside there was emptiness, a void, a null space that said, “You are a zero. Your hopes are nothing. Your future is nil.” Not a pretty sight, is it? A once fertile valley is now an abandoned and lifeless desert. But they’re not the only ones who have ever felt this way, are they? Too many of us have looked inside only to find the same dryness and emptiness, a similar hopelessness and despair. But then, there is a stirring. A voice calls out in that quiet, dead place. Bones which had been torn apart begin to come together. Flesh that had wasted away is rejuvenated. The parts are beginning to come together but the most essential factor is still missing. The structure of a life can be rebuilt, but until God breathes spirit into the structure, it is still inanimate, lifeless. Just as God breathes life into the first human being, we must be re-animated and re-connected if we are to truly come alive. God promises resurrection for the living dead. Even when we are old and dried up, God offers to do CPR for our souls, breathing fresh life and spirit into us and giving us a new purpose and promise. It’s never too late for God. We cannot be buried so deep that God will not be able to reach us and bring us forth from the pit. Just take a look at the thief that hung on the cross with Jesus. He recognized even at death’s door that it was never too late to ask for Jesus to come into your heart and transform you. Leave behind your dead and dried up expectations and embrace the unexpected. Let Christ unbind you from your grave clothes so that you can be set free for life. Allow the wind of God’s spirit to wash over you, blowing away the stench of past failures and leaving you fresh for new beginnings. Live. Live again. Live for God.
Friday
Repentance And Faith
Read Mark 1:14-15
Repentance is not always easy. We are very apt to confuse two things—sorrow for the consequences of sin and sorrow for sin. We are at times desperately sorry because of the mess that sin has got us into, but we very well know that, if we could be reasonably sure that we could escape the consequences, we would do the same thing again. It is not the sin that we hate; it is its consequences. Real repentance means that a man has come, not only to be sorry for the consequences of his sin, but to hate sin itself. Repentance means that the man who was in love with sin comes to hate sin because of its exceeding sinfulness. Then take the word faith. We must have faith in Jesus and in the good news. This simply means to take Jesus at his word, to believe that God is the kind of God that Jesus has told us about, to believe that God so loves the world that he will make any sacrifice to bring us back to himself. We must have faith that what sounds too good to be true is really true. Jesus FIRST task was to preach the good news. What’s the good news? That the kingdom of God is near, and that people can enter into it by trusting that this is so, and repenting for their sins. Faith is a spiritual substance. When you have this spiritual substance in you, it communicates to you a certain inner knowing that the thing you are hoping for is certainly established, even before you see any material evidence that it has happened. In summary, faith is something that God requires of us. It is the beginning step in a meaningful relationship with Him. By having faith in God, it helps our love for Him to grow. As our love for God grows, so does our commitment to Him. Faith in God and love of God go hand-in-hand. Our faith can be measured by the amount of courage that we have, and the depth of our commitment to God.
The Weekender
Always Seek The Kingdom
Read Luke 12:32; 23:38-43
God wants us to know there is a way of living that we should enjoy as citizens of heaven. Matthew 6:33 in¬structs us to seek out, learn, understand, and take time to know the kingdom of God. We are to seek out God’s kingdom and His righteousness above anything else. This means seeking out His ways of doing, being, and operating. How does God’s kingdom work? Jesus describes this for us in Matthew 6:10 when He says, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God desires you and me to experience His will here on earth, exactly as it is done in heaven. Whatever is God’s will in heaven, it is supposed to work that way on earth too. That means it’s vital for us to know how God operates, and for us to operate as He does. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus makes it clear that the things we need and desire to live well on earth will be added to us when we oper¬ate according to God’s kingdom principles. We are to adopt God’s way of being and doing. Then the things we all seek—homes, debts paid, good jobs, cars, peaceful relationships with family and friends, and every other good thing in life—will be added to us. A key is a tool that empowers us to open and shut doors, or bind and loose chains. The kingdom of heaven is God’s royal power, His dominion, the right and authority to rule. Jesus gave us the tools to exercise His right and authority to rule on earth, as it is exer¬cised in heaven. Since there’s no fear in heaven, then God doesn’t want you to be afraid here on earth. You don’t have to live with fear. No! You can resist the devil, according to James 4:7, and say, “I refuse to accept your work, Sa¬tan. Stop it! That’s enough! According to God’s Word, you have to flee from me!” You can also use the authority Jesus has given you to open up the doors to heavenly blessings. Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive” (Matthew 7:8). It is time for us to ask for the things of the kingdom—heavenly blessings such as health, provision, peace, joy, and love. God wants us to operate according to His kingdom principles and bring forth a good harvest for Him. And as we do, He’ll add to us all kinds of good things and meet our every need!
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