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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Relationships (2)
23 JANUARY 2022

‘He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.’
Proverbs 13:20 NKJV

Not everyone who starts out with you is capable of going where God wants to take you. Sometimes they don’t have the emotional capacity required. Other times their vision differs from yours. So how can you know when it’s time to exit a relationship? Avoid relationships that leave you depleted. This calls for establishing clear boundaries for the relationship up front. You don’t have time to spend your life straightening out misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and injured egos. How far are you willing to go? How much are you inclined to invest? When you overspend your budget, you go broke. Bankrupting yourself emotionally and physically to make someone else feel needed might sound noble, but it’s not. Emotionally and physically bankrupt people end up with everything from nervous breakdowns to extramarital affairs. And even when they don’t, they fail to reach their God-given destination in life because they’re dragging too much weight. When you feel a relationship is not working, pause and take a look. View the situation objectively instead of emotionally, examining all the facets of it. Sometimes certain aspects of a relationship should be terminated, and other areas maintained. It’s possible to have relationships that work in one area but not in another. Compartmentalising will save many important relationships because it requires you to see them in sections. It’s possible to remove a section and still have a lot left to enjoy. Yes, it takes work and communication, but it is often worth it. There may be common interests that need to be maintained, while others need to be invalidated before all is lost.

Luke 1:57-80, Psalms 10-12

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Relationships (3)
24 JANUARY 2022

‘Don’t participate in the things these people do.’
Ephesians 5:7 NLT

Letting go of a person doesn’t mean you no longer love them; it just means the relationship is not right for you. How should you handle it? 1) A gradual separation is sometimes the best solution. There are relationships you need to get out of for your own good. But because you have a cord to cut, doesn’t mean that it should be ripped. Dissolving a relationship is stressful, so try to end it graciously. If the cord that binds you is constant phone calls, emails, and visits, that’s a good place to start. 2) Don’t keep going back. Some of us are just so ‘nice’ that we can’t end the relationship and move forward. We keep going back, second-guessing ourselves and re-evaluating our decision. Make it one time, make it right, and make it decisive. Often people will come back to entice you by suggesting you were wrong the first time. That’s why you must resolve any doubt before you make the decision in the first place. If you find yourself in a pattern of going back to old, unhealthy relationships, you may be drinking from the wrong well. You may be trying to fill an emptiness in your heart that only God can fill. When Jesus met the woman at the well, she had been through five failed marriages and was living with man number six. He told her: ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life’ (John 4:13-14 NKJV).

Genesis 49-50, Matthew 13:31-58

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Build on your strengths
25 JANUARY 2022

‘Who makes you different from anyone else?’
1 Corinthians 4:7 NIV

Your success isn’t found in your similarity to others, but in your difference. Instead of comparing yourself with somebody else and competing with them, try to discover your point of God-given difference, for that’s where you will excel. Singer Pearl Bailey said, ‘There are two kinds of talent, man-made and God-given talent. With man-made talent you have to work very hard. With God-given talent, you just touch it up once in a while.’ Paul writes, ‘God has…given each of us different gifts’ (Romans 12:6 CEV). Would you rather fight to develop skills where you have a small natural gift, or run with the talent God has given you to find out where it takes you? Dreams don’t come true because you do something well every once in a while. They’re fulfilled because you perform with excellence day after day. And that happens only if you work within an area of strength. You can’t be like the high school home-run hitter who received an invitation to spring training from a major league baseball team. After the first week, he emailed home to say, ‘Leading all batters. These pitchers aren’t so tough.’ The second week he boasted, ‘Hitting .500. Looks like I’ll be starting in the infield.’ The third week he wrote, ‘They’re starting to throw curveballs today. Will be home tomorrow.’ You can’t achieve success without consistency, and you can’t achieve consistency working outside your God-given strengths. It will take all the talent you have to achieve your God-given dream. Following that talent will give you the best chance to be consistently good at what you do. So the word for today is – build on your strengths.

Exodus 1-3, Matthew 14:1-21

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Remember what you used to be like? (1)
26 JANUARY 2022

‘Look…to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.’
Isaiah 51:1 NKJV

If you want to win people to Christ, you won’t do it with a holier-than-thou attitude. Sadly, this is how society sees many Christians; their hearts are in the right place, but their ability to relate with compassion to those outside their immediate circle does God no favours. If you want people to respond to the gospel, take a leaf from Paul’s book. He ‘voluntarily [became] a servant to…all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious…moralists…immoralists, the defeated, the demoralised – whoever’ (1 Corinthians 9:19-21 MSG). Now before you get bent out of shape about Paul being soft on sin, he adds: ‘I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ – but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become…every sort of servant…in my attempts to lead those I meet into a…saved life…I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!’ (vv. 22-23 MSG). Paul could relate to unbelievers without endorsing their lifestyle because he remembered what he himself was like before God transformed him on the Damascus road. It’s the kind of humility that only comes from looking back and remembering ‘the pit from which you were dug’ (Isaiah 51:1 NKJV). Being the recipient of God’s grace enabled Paul to write (paraphrased): ‘Here’s a word you can take to heart…Jesus…came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof – Public Sinner Number One – of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy’ (1 Timothy 1:15-18 MSG). Today, remember what you used to be like.

Exodus 4-6, Matthew 14:22-36

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Remember what you used to be like? (2)
27 JANUARY 2022

‘I entered their world…to experience things from their point of view.’
1 Corinthians 9:22 MSG

It’s easy to develop ‘spiritual amnesia’. You forget what you used to be like. And that attitude affects the people you deal with each day. One author writes: ‘I’ve a workplace acquaintance who embodies all the negative stereotypes of evangelical Christians. She’s judgmental…her behaviour borders on bizarre…she’s completely (and purposefully) out of touch with culture. She considers any attempt to tone down her evangelism as persecution…None of us wants to be like that so we hop on the pendulum as it swings in the other direction and our efforts become so subtle, they’re imperceptible.’ How can we share our faith, while maintaining a high level of integrity? 1) Ask sincere questions and listen with a caring spirit. 2) When appropriate, tell others you’re praying for them – then do it! 3) Pray driving to work and ask God to help you see your workplace as a mission field. 4) Don’t downplay the importance of your faith. When it naturally fits a conversation, talk about church, prayer, Scripture, and Christian community. Let others see joy and purpose in your life. 5) Demonstrate God’s love for all people by initiating a company food collection for charity…or organising a blood donation campaign. 6) Strive for excellence. Be the person that your manager and co-workers rely on to do a solid job. 7) Invite co-workers to events with your Christian friends. Non-churchgoers are often open to going on holidays like Christmas or Easter. 8) When you’re not sure about when to speak, check in with God and ‘when the time comes…the Holy Spirit will make his witness in and through you’ (Mark 13:11 MSG). 9) Above all – maintain a humble attitude!

Exodus 7-8, Matthew 15:1-20

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Speak words of healing
28 JANUARY 2022

‘I would strengthen you with my mouth.’
Job 16:5 NKJV

Even when a surgery is successful, the patient can carry within them scar tissue that causes lingering pain and discomfort. And it’s the same in life. Some people around you wear a mask of success, but within, they carry wounds they’re unable to talk about. Comedian Jonathan Winters said in an interview that his life was scarred by cruel things his parents said to him as a child. ‘I’m no cry-baby, but I remember things with almost total recall – there’s a lot of pain there.’ His father said to him, ‘You’re the dumbest kid I know.’ And when he joined the Marines and travelled to the South Pacific during World War II, he received no support from his mother. When he returned home, he discovered she had given away his special, personal things he had stored in the attic. He was distressed, but her reaction was, ‘How did we know you were going to live?’ Winters went on to become one of the world’s most popular entertainers and comedians, but the emotional scar tissue remained. Understand this – your words can wound or heal. They can inspire someone or reinforce their sense of failure and worthlessness. Job, who suffered greater loss than most of us will ever know, said, ‘But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief’ (v. 5 NKJV). How can you help someone who is hurting? By giving them your opinion? No, by giving them the only opinion that matters – God’s! And here is what God says, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’ (Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV).

Exodus 9-11, Matthew 15:21-39

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Speak life to their spirit (1)
29 JANUARY 2022

‘We regard no one according to the flesh.’
2 Corinthians 5:16 NKJV

Paul writes, ‘From now on, we regard no one according to the flesh…anyone…in Christ…is a new creation; old things have passed away…all things have become new’ (vv. 16-17 NKJV). Here is an important spiritual principle. When you’re trying to help a believer who is battling adversity, addiction, or physical affliction, speak life to their regenerated spirit. Speak to the part of them that’s capable of rising up in faith and responding to God’s Word: ‘Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ (Romans 10:17 KJV). How does faith come? By hearing what God thinks, says, and can do. Until God has been heard, the last word hasn’t been spoken. God instructed Ezekiel to stand in a valley full of dead bones and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life’ (Ezekiel 37:5 NIV). And guess what? It happened! Ezekiel said, ‘As I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together’ (v. 7 NIV). Now let’s be clear; you can’t hold on to a loved one when God in His sovereign wisdom decides it’s time to take them home to heaven, which Paul describes as ‘far better’ (Philippians 1:23). But until that happens, speak God’s Word to their regenerated spirit. Faith doesn’t deny the reality of the circumstances, but it refuses to be intimidated, limited, or ruled by them. ‘Spirit can be known only by spirit’ (1 Corinthians 2:14 MSG), so when someone is a redeemed child of God, don’t speak to their human intellect – speak life to their spirit.

Exodus 12-13, Matthew 16

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Speak life to their spirit (2)
30 JANUARY 2022

‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’
Genesis 28:16 NKJV

We have all heard people say, ‘The Lord told me,’ and it turned out not to be so. As a result, we have become doubting and cynical. What a loss! God speaks through people, and your fear of someone ‘getting it wrong’ can rob you of vital input – in some cases, the very input you need. One night, God appeared to Jacob in a dream, saying: ‘“I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and…bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke…and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”’ (vv.15-17 NKJV). In order to hear from God, you must 1) desire it above all else, 2) eliminate mental clutter, slow down, and take time to understand what He is saying to you, and 3) believe that God will actually speak to you. If you don’t believe, you will be left to the mercy of your own best thinking – or be influenced by others who think just like you. Seven times in chapters two and three of the book of Revelation, God said, ‘He that hath an ear [a spiritually developed one], let him hear what the Spirit says.’ The question is this: how can you know what you’re hearing is actually from God? Because it will always agree with His Word, and your spirit will say, ‘Amen!’

Luke 2:1-24, Psalms 13-15

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Taking in and giving out
31 JANUARY 2022

‘Go, and tell this people.’
Isaiah 6:9 NKJV

When you’re involved in God’s work, it’s easy to get out of balance and end up enjoying the work of the Lord more than the Lord of the work. First, Jesus called His disciples to Him; then, He sent them out from Him. The power you need to succeed in your God-given assignment comes from the time you spend with the Lord, not people. One day Jesus took three of His disciples to the top of the Mount of Transfiguration. ‘His face shone like the sun…there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus’ (Matthew 17:2-3 NIV). Peter was elated by the experience: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters’ (v. 4 NIV). Peter wanted to stay, but God spoke from heaven and said, ‘This is My beloved Son…Listen to Him!’ (Matthew 17:5 AMP). Afterwards, Jesus took His disciples back down the mountain and they began to minister to needy people. It’s good to have periodic ‘mountaintop experiences’ with God, but you can’t stay there. There is work to be done at the foot of the mountain, and we have been called to do it. There must be a balance between taking in and giving out. One day a year, the high priest entered the holiest of holies and had the privilege of seeing God’s glory. What an honour! But the rest of the year was spent outside, ministering to the people. After an encounter with God during which the building shook, Isaiah cried, ‘I am undone’ (Isaiah 6:5 NKJV). Then God touched his mouth and said, ‘Go, and tell this people’ (v. 9 NKJV). Are you getting the idea?

Exodus 14-15, Matthew 17

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Overcoming rejection
01 FEBRUARY 2022

‘Think how much the Father loves us.’
1 John 3:1 CEV

When you struggle with a sense of rejection, it will manifest itself in things like these: 1) Perfectionism. But it doesn’t work, because other people’s needs and expectations vary so much that it’s impossible to make everybody happy. 2) Settling for less. You put up with neglect and abuse because you think it’s what you deserve. Or you’re concerned this may be your only chance at ‘love’. 3) Becoming aggressive. Rejection can feel like you’re being attacked when you’re not, so you put on your boxing gloves and come out swinging. 4) Putting up a tough front. You tell yourself, ‘I can handle it…Who needs other people anyway?’ As a result, you shut yourself off from others and your physical, spiritual, and emotional needs go unmet and you feel lonely. 5) Vowing never again to let anyone get close enough to hurt you. That sounds good in theory, but by closing people out, you close yourself in and all your relationships suffer. 6) Attracting the wrong people. As long as you behave with a diminished sense of self-worth, you will keep attracting the wrong people. The truth is, when your self-worth is based on any opinion other than God’s, you will always be vulnerable to rejection. Criticism will diminish you, failing will keep you from trying again, and what’s worse, you will never discover the unique and wonderful person God made you to be. So, what’s the answer? John tells us, ‘Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are’ (v. 1 CEV). Overcoming rejection starts with understanding and accepting how much God loves and values us.

Exodus 16-18, Matthew 18:1-20