[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

How to negotiate well (2)

‘Both riches and honour come from You.’
1 Chronicles 29:12 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 30 AUG 2020

To negotiate well, you should do these three things:

1) Talk to God before you talk to others. Involve Him in all your decisions.

The Bible says, ‘Both riches and honour come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.’

‘Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, and the power to enjoy them and to accept his appointed lot and to rejoice in his toil – this is the gift of God [to him]’ (Ecclesiastes 5:19 AMPC). If God can negotiate the price of our salvation at the cross, don’t you think He’s qualified to help you negotiate successfully in business?

2) Think long-term. When someone feels ‘burned’ in their business dealings with you, you may make a sale but you’ll lose a repeat customer.

Billionaire Sam Walton said he rarely invested in a company because of where it would be in eighteen months. Instead he invested in companies that would still be successful ten years down the road.

You may be irreplaceable today – but you won’t always be. And if you pressure your boss for a raise by threatening to leave, your short-term gain may result in long-term loss.

3) Don’t be pressured into anything. Run from the salesperson who insists, ‘This is the last day of this sale!’

Generally speaking, when you return a month later they’ll still do a deal! In many instances they need your purchase more than you need their product.

Your opinion deserves to be heard and respected. Just make sure it’s at the right time, in the right atmosphere, and with the right attitude.

Luke 16:16-31, Psalms 89-90

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Your dream house (1)

‘We have…an eternal house in heaven.'
2 Corinthians 5:1 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 31 AUG 2020

Few things in life compare to the excitement of moving into your dream house. But if you’re a redeemed child of God, here’s the score: no matter how beautiful your dream house on earth may be, it’s nothing compared to the one you will have in eter­nity.

That’s why Jesus said, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you’ (John 14:2 NKJV).

When it comes to the house we want to live in, certain questions arise. First, what’s the price?

Answer: more than you could ever afford! In order to redeem you and take you to heaven, God gave ‘his only begotten Son’ (John 3:16 KJV). Nobody in heaven will ever say, ‘Look what Jesus and I accomplished.’

That would make you a co-redeemer with Christ. It would be an insult to the cross.

You’d be guilty of a level of pride that would make it impossible for you to live there. Hymnist Horatius Bonar wrote, ‘Upon a life I have not lived, upon a death I did not die; another’s life; another’s death, I stake my whole eternity.’

The Bible speaks of ‘labouring’ and ‘working’ for God, but don’t get it mixed up. You don’t work to be saved; you work because you are saved.

You don’t labour for your redemption; you labour for your reward. That’s so ‘God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us’ (Ephesians 2:7 NLT).

Ecclesiastes 10-12, 2 Corinthians 7

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Your dream house (2)

‘I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number.’
Revelation 7:9 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 01 SEPT 2020

When it comes to moving into your dream house, here’s another important question: what kind of people live in the neighbourhood? Describing the joys of heaven, John the Revelator wrote: ‘After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [who is Jesus]!”’ (vv. 9-10 NKJV).

Author Max Lucado tells the story of his friend Joy, who was a Sunday school teacher and had a timid nine-year-old girl named Barbara in her class. She was an underprivileged child from an impoverished area of town, and Lucado writes: ‘Barbara’s difficult home life had left her afraid and insecure.

For the weeks that my friend was teaching the class, Barbara never spoke. Never.

While the other children talked, she sat. While the others sang, she was silent.

While the others giggled, she was quiet. Always present. Always listening.

Always speechless. Until the day Joy gave a class on heaven.

Joy talked about seeing God. She talked about tearless eyes and deathless lives.

Barbara was fascinated. She couldn’t release Joy from her stare.

She listened with hunger. Then she raised her hand.

“Mrs Joy?” Joy was stunned. Barbara had never before asked a question. “Yes, Barbara.”

Nine-year-old-Barbara asked, “Is heaven for girls like me?”’ The answer is yes!

Heaven was made for Barbara – and for you.

Song of Songs 1-3, 2 Corinthians 8

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Your dream house (3)

‘They are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night.’
Revelation 7:15 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 02 SEPT 2020

When you think about your dream house, two more questions arise. How close is it to where I work?

Have you ever wondered what we’ll actually do in heaven? Since heaven will be Paradise regained, read this: ‘God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…over every living thing that moves on the earth”’ (Genesis 1:28 NKJV).

The Bible doesn’t provide specific job descriptions for what we’ll do in heaven, but the first Paradise gives us two important clues.

a) ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’ You won’t struggle to make ends meet.

You won’t live with crushed hopes and disappointments. Every dream and creative idea you have will be fulfilled.

b) ‘Have dominion over…every living thing that moves.’ The word ‘dominion’ means ‘to rule over’.

So we’ll be promoted to positions of leadership and management. But here’s the difference!

In Paradise Lost, God said to Adam, ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life’ (Genesis 3:17 NKJV). But in Paradise Found, God said, ‘There shall be no more curse’ (Revelation 22:3 NKJV).

Gazing up at the stars one night, a little boy said to his dad, ‘If the wrong side of heaven is so wonderful, what must the right side be like?’ So here’s the question: are you going to heaven when you die?

Are you sure? You can be.

John said, ‘These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know…you have eternal life’ (1 John 5:13 NKJV).

Song of Songs 4-5, 2 Corinthians 9

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Your dream house (4)

‘There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’
Revelation 21:4 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 03 SEPT 2020

Dave Dravecky pitched for the San Francisco Giants baseball team in the 1980s. In 1988 doctors discovered a tumour in his pitching arm, and in 1991 his arm had to be amputated.

In his book When You Can’t Come Back, he writes about his sense of loss. ‘I miss doing things with my own two hands, and – of course – I really miss baseball.

There’s a scene in the movie Field of Dreams where Shoeless Joe Jackson – one of the eight Chicago White Sox players banned from baseball for conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series – said, “Getting thrown out of baseball was like having part of me amputated. I’d wake up in the night with the smell of the baseball park in my nose and the cool of the grass on my feet. Man, I did love this game.

I’d have played for food money…The sounds – the smells. I’d have played for nuthin’.”’

Dravecky continues, ‘That scene had a powerful effect on me. I missed those feelings too.

The feeling of stitched seams as you cradle a new ball in your hand…the sound of a bat cracking out a base hit. I’d have played for food money.

I’d have played for nuthin’.’ We live in a fallen world where we lose limbs and lose loved ones.

But heaven will make up for all we’ve lost. We’ll be reunited with our redeemed loved ones, and we’ll have bodies free from sickness, pain, and every form of limitation.

‘There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ One day you’ll live in your dream house!

Song of Songs 6-8, 2 Corinthians 10

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Reason for hope

‘I…will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.’
Hosea 2:15 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 04 SEPT 2020

Biblical references to valleys generally symbolise a state of hopelessness. The Valley of Achor [judgment] got its name when Achan’s family was stoned to death and Israel’s armies were defeated (see Joshua 7:25-26).

Feeling hopeless is part of the human condition, and many of history’s most notable heroes experienced it. William Penn said, ‘There is scarcely anything around us but ruin and despair.’

Lord Shaftesbury announced, ‘Nothing can save the British Empire from shipwreck.’ Benjamin Disraeli declared, ‘In industry, commerce, and agriculture there is no hope.’ And Lord Grey lamented, ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see the light again in our lifetime.’

There are naysayers and prophets of doom everywhere, and if you buy what they’re selling, you’ll end up convinced there’s no hope for your situation. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Paul said, ‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope…He who promised is faithful’ (Hebrews 10:23 NKJV). God can transform your ‘Valley of Achor [into] a door of hope’.

It’s the same promise He made to His people even after they’d turned their backs on Him. He said in Isaiah 65:10, ‘The Achor Valley will be a resting place…for my people who search for me’ (GWT).

As Henry Blackaby observes: ‘Optimists don’t ignore the difficulties, but the knowledge of God’s presence prevents them from becoming discouraged…It’s impossible to stand in His presence and be a pessimist. If we focus on our problems they’ll seem gigantic.

But as we focus on God we see our situation in perspective and are assured that all things are possible.’

Isaiah 1-2, 2 Corinthians 11

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

An honest question

‘How long will you hide your face from me?’
Psalm 13:1 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 05 SEPT 2020

When Kelly James and two climbing buddies died on Oregon’s Mount Hood in the USA, his brother Frank, a professor of theology, admitted: ‘It’s one thing to talk about death in the abstract.

It’s another to cope with the death of someone you love…Death is ugly. We can’t – and shouldn’t – try to make it palatable with pious platitudes…One question haunts me, “Where was God when Kelly was freezing to death?”

For me not to ask would be a failure to take God seriously…I’m not suggesting mere mortals stand in judgment of God…God doesn’t report to me. But an honest question from a broken heart is a good and righteous thing.’

David wasn’t afraid to ask God, ‘How long will you hide your face?’ Then a few verses later the same distressed David declares, ‘But I trust in your unfailing love’ (Psalm 13:5 NIV).

Frank James continues: ‘Amid all the spiritual consternation God manifested Himself in my grief. Somehow He’s found in the disappointment, confusion, and raw emotions.

This doesn’t exactly make sense to me, and I don’t like it. But my concept of faith has become Abrahamic…I must trust God even when I don’t understand…as Christians have confessed for centuries, “We look for the resurrection of the dead” (see 1 Corinthians 15:42)…Amid enough tears to fill an ocean…we’ve had to bury loved ones.

But we bury them with this promise, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22 NIV). It doesn’t indemnify us against grief…It does, however, take faith to depths where hope begins to poke through the heartache, like a sunbeam piercing a cloudy sky.’

Isaiah 3-4, 2 Corinthians 12

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Don’t ‘suffer fools gladly’

‘Fools despise wisdom and instruction.’
Proverbs 1:7 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 06 SEPT 2020

Three Hebrew words are used to define the word ‘fool’ in Proverbs.

1) ‘Kesil.’ This refers to a hard-headed person who thinks he or she needs no advice.

2) ‘Ewil.’ This word has a root meaning of ‘growing thick of fluids’. It refers to a thick-headed person who refuses to listen to counsel.

3) ‘Nabal.’ This refers to an empty-headed person who demonstrates his or her lack of wisdom through a foolish lifestyle.

So the fool is an empty-headed, thick-headed, hard-headed person who gets a failing grade when it comes to the school of wisdom. They may be intellectually brilliant, financially successful, and socially admired, but they’re morally and spiritually bankrupt.

Solomon warns, ‘Fools die for lack of wisdom’ (Proverbs 10:21 NKJV). Just as a body will die from lack of oxygen, a man or woman will ultimately and eternally die from a lack of wisdom.

Then Solomon bottom-lines it: ‘Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge’ (Proverbs 14:7 NKJV). The message is clear: only a fool hangs around with fools!

So when you’re forming a friendship, here are some questions to which you need answers: Does the other person bring out the best or the worst in you? Do they have a positive or a negative attitude?

What other kinds of friends do they keep? Are they involved in things that violate your values?

Do they exercise restraint and control their temper? Do they draw you closer to God or drive you further from Him?

Luke 17:1-19, Psalms 91-93

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Murphy’s Law or God’s law?

‘Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile.’
Philippians 4:8 CEV

The UCB Word for Today - 07 SEPT 2020

It’s reported that in 1949 Captain Edward Murphy, an engineer working on a project for the United States Air Force, became angry because of a wrongly wired transducer. Scolding the technician responsible, Murphy said, ‘If there’s any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it!’

Over time such thinking became known as Murphy’s Law. Basically it states, ‘Nothing is as easy as it looks.

Everything takes longer than you expect, and if anything can go wrong, it will – at the worst possible moment.’ How negative! Who would enjoy life if they lived it according to that philosophy?

Because they always expected the worst – they’d get it! God’s law disagrees completely with Murphy’s Law.

The world may expect Murphy’s Law to operate in their lives, but as a redeemed child of God, you need to resist that kind of thinking and embrace God’s law. In essence, here’s what it says: ‘If anything can go right, it will.

Nothing is as difficult as it looks. Everything is more rewarding than it appears, and if anything good can happen to anybody, it’ll happen to me.’

Think how much more you could you enjoy life if your thoughts agreed with God’s law, and not Murphy’s. The fact is, God has a great life for you – one He wants you to enjoy to the fullest.

So instead of blowing everything out of proportion and contradicting God’s Word, stand on this promise: ‘We know…all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose’ (Romans 8:28 NKJV).

That’s what it means to live by God’s law – not Murphy’s!

Isaiah 5-6, 2 Corinthians 13

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

The UCB Word For Today

God has promised to bless you!
08 SEPTEMBER 2020

‘The LORD your God will bless you as he has promised.’
Deuteronomy 15:6 NLT
Sometimes life beats you down so much that you give up hoping and believing that anything good will ever happen for you. If that’s where you are today, read these words: ‘“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord…“plans for good…to give you a future and a hope”’ (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT).

God has a good plan for each of us, but not all of us experience it. Why? Two reasons: 1) We don’t realise we have rights and privileges.

We believe God can save us and take us to heaven when we die, but don’t think He can do anything about our past, present, or future. 2) We live far below the level He intended because we see ourselves in the wrong light.


We believe He can bless anybody – except us – because we’re not worthy. God has clothed you in the righteousness of Christ, so you’re worthy in His sight and He has plans to ‘bless you as He has promised’. In Bible days when a new king came to the throne, he made sure the old king and his family were put to death; that way nobody could rise up against him.


So when David replaced King Saul, Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, fled to the wilderness in fear.

But David was a different kind of king. Instead of seeking to wipe out his predecessor’s family, he asked, ‘Is there still anyone…left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’ (2 Samuel 9:1 NKJV). ‘Why would God bless me?’ you ask. The answer is simple but clear: for Christ’s sake!

Isaiah 7-8, Galatians 1