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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Dress for success
23 MAY 2022

‘Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.’
Romans 13:14 NIV

Since first impressions are important, we’re encouraged to ‘dress for success’. And that’s a good thing. But as a redeemed child of God, your first concern shouldn’t be how you look to others, but to God.

Just like a mirror reflects your physical appearance so that you can make adjustments, the Bible reveals your spiritual condition and tells you what to do about it. James writes: ‘Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do’ (James 1:23-25 NIV). You must spend time each day in the Scriptures; otherwise, you will run around spiritually threadbare. Paul writes, ‘Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh’ (Romans 13:14 NIV).

As Chuck Swindoll observes: ‘The number one enemy of change is the hard-core, self-satisfied sin nature within you. Like a spoiled child, it has been gratified and indulged for years, so it will not give up without a violent temper tantrum…The flesh dies a slow, bitter, bloody death – kicking and struggling all the way down.’ Lasting change takes place in first gear, not overdrive. So expect occasional setbacks, and don’t let them derail you. When you feel like throwing in the towel, get down on your knees and ask God to help you get back on track. He will do it.

1 Kings 10-11, Acts 5:1-20

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Feeling good about yourself
24 MAY 2022

‘We have this treasure in earthen vessels.’
2 Corinthians 4:7 KJV

When you don’t feel good about yourself, you live with a sense of insecurity. You keep looking to others for approval, and when you don’t get it, your sense of worth shrivels. As a result, you can spend your life living far short of your God-given potential. You are the only person you can’t get away from, and until you learn to accept yourself based on the fact that God loves and accepts you as you are, you will always battle insecurity.

Stop and think about the last time you were around somebody you didn’t particularly enjoy. How did it feel? Not too good, right? Good or bad, we project onto others the thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves. So if you want people to think well of you, you must have a good opinion of yourself – one based on God’s Word.

Now, the Bible cautions about having an over-inflated opinion of yourself – but don’t go to the other extreme. Living in continual self-rejection is an open invitation to Satan, whom the Bible says is like a roaring lion who goes about looking for someone to devour (see 1 Peter 5:8). You say, ‘But didn’t Paul write, “Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature”?’ (Romans 7:18 NLT). Yes, but that means the good qualities you do possess are evidence that God is at work in your life.

The Bible says, ‘We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us’ (2 Corinthians 4:7 KJV). Today, instead of focusing on your flaws and feeling bad, recognise the ‘treasure’ of God’s presence, power, and potential that live within you.

1 Kings 12-13, Acts 5:21-42

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Conquering selfishness
26 MAY 2022

‘Consider others more important than [yourself].’
Philippians 2:3 CEV

Paul writes, ‘Consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought’ (vv. 3-5 CEV). That kind of thinking goes against our natural instincts, but Jesus showed us how to do it. Hanging on the cross, He took time for the condemned criminal hanging next to Him (see Luke 23:39-43).

As he was being stoned, Stephen prayed for those who were killing him, asking God not to lay the sin to their charge (see Acts 7:60). Beaten and wrongly imprisoned, Paul and Silas took time to minister to their jailer. Even after God sent a powerful earthquake that broke their chains and opened their prison doors, they stayed for the sole purpose of ministering to their captor. How tempting it must have been to escape while the opportunity was there. How easy it would have been to look out for themselves and not worry about anybody else. But their act of love moved the jailer to ask how he might be saved, and as a result, he and his entire family were won to Christ (see Acts 16:25-34).

In a world whose philosophy is ‘look out for number one’, selfishness is an instinct you will need God’s help to overcome every day. And when you do, people will take notice. You will never win others by being just like them, so here is the question you need to answer: how many of your friends and loved ones may come to know Christ if you demonstrate that you genuinely love them instead of ignoring, judging, and rejecting them? Go ahead – try it! ‘Consider others more important than [yourself].’

1 Kings 16-18, Acts 7:1-22

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you die! (1)
27 MAY 2022

‘If a man die, shall he live again?’
Job 14:14 KJV

After ad 616, the first Christian missionaries came to the courts of King Edwin in Northumbria, England. In his great hall, ablaze with the light of numerous torches, they presented the gospel. The king listened, then consulted his advisors. One nobleman said: ‘Life is like a banquet hall. Inside is light…fire…warmth and feasting, but outside it is cold and dark. A sparrow flies in through a window at one end…and out through a window at the other end. That is what life is like. At birth we emerge from the unknown, and for a brief while we are here…with a fair amount of comfort and happiness. But then we fly out into the cold…dark…unknown future. [Can] this new religion…lighten that darkness for us[?]’

We who believe in the resurrection can answer, ‘Yes!’ A faulty heartbeat, a malignant cell, or a tragic accident can end life as we know it. But that’s not the end. And unless you believe that, here is what you’re left with: ‘If Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries’ (1 Corinthians 15:17-20 MSG). For the believer, the end of life on earth is the beginning of a glorious life with Christ in heaven!

1 Kings 19-20, Acts 7:23-43

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you die! (2)
28 MAY 2022

‘These bodies…will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven.’
2 Corinthians 5:1 MSG

When you die, you simply leave a lesser form of life and enter a greater one. Consider the first law of thermodynamics: neither energy (as in your soul and spirit) nor matter (as in your body) can be destroyed. They can be transformed into other forms, but they can’t be annihilated.

Burris Jenkins said it this way: ‘No single atom in creation can go out of existence, according to the scientists; it only changes in form. We cannot burn up anything; we simply change it from a solid to a gaseous state. Neither is any energy or force ever destroyed; it is only changed from one form to another.’ If a person ceases to exist, they will be the one thing in the world that does. So when you die, what happens?

The Bible says: ‘When these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven – God-made, not handmade – and we’ll never have to relocate our ‘tents’ again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move – and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less’ (vv. 1-5 MSG).

Think of it like this: your last day on earth will be your best day ever! How awesome is that?

1 Kings 21-22, Acts 7:44-60

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you die! (3)
29 MAY 2022

‘Some days I can think of nothing better.’
Philippians 1:23 MSG
In his Analogies of Nature, William Jennings Bryan wrote:

‘Christ gave us proof of immortality, and yet it would hardly seem necessary that one should rise from the dead to convince us that the grave is not the end. If the Father deigns to touch with Divine power the cold and pulseless heart of the buried acorn and to make it burst forth into a new life, will He leave neglected in the earth the soul of man, made in the image of his Creator? If He stoops to give to the rosebud whose withered blossoms float upon the autumn breeze, the sweet assurance of another springtime, will He refuse…words of hope to the sons of men when the frosts of winter come? If matter, mute and inanimate, though changed by the forces of nature into a multitude of forms, can never die, will the spirit of man suffer annihilation when it has paid a brief visit like a royal guest to this tenement of clay? No, I am as sure that there is another life as I am that I live today!’

Paul tells us: ‘As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better’ (vv. 22-23 MSG). So no matter how difficult or blessed your life is here and now, your best days are ahead; days without end, experiencing the joys of heaven. Make sure you’re ready to go when your time comes!

Luke 10:1-24, Psalms 57-59

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you die! (4)
30 MAY 2022

‘I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.’
Psalm 17:15 KJV

There has never been a race of mankind that didn’t believe in some kind of future life; whether it’s reuniting with ancestors as some Native Americans believe, or the sensual abode of bliss of the Muslim. How do you explain that?

Long before any evidence for this worldwide belief had been gathered, Cicero said, ‘In everything the consent of all nations is to be accounted the law of nature, and to resist it is to resist the voice of God.’ On the night Socrates died, Crito asked him, ‘In what way would you have us bury you?’ He replied, ‘In any way that you like, only you must get hold of me, and take care that I do not walk away from you.’

In his Phaedo, Plato presented powerful arguments in favour of immortality. Others argued for it, too; great thinkers like Thomas Carlyle, Thomas Jefferson, and the German poet Heinrich Heine. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s most famous poem goes like this: ‘For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place the flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crost the bar.’ And Byron writes, ‘I feel my immortality o’ersweep all pains, all tears, all fears, and peal, like the eternal thunders of the deep, into my ears this truth – “Thou liv’st forever!”’

All these great minds shared the conviction of the psalmist: ‘As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.’ When you think about it, ‘good night’ here just means ‘good morning’ over there.

2 Kings 1-3, Acts 8:1-25

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you die! (5)
31 MAY 2022

‘Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.’
Hebrews 2:15 NKJV

The Bible says: ‘Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage’ (vv. 14-15 NKJV).

Theologian Adolf von Harnack said this: ‘Christ’s grave was the birthplace of an indestructible belief that death is vanquished and there is life eternal. It is useless to cite Plato…useless to point to the Persian religion and the ideas and literature of later Judaism. All that would have perished; but the certainty of the resurrection and of a life eternal which is bound up with the grave in Joseph’s garden has not perished; and on the conviction that Jesus lives we still base those hopes of citizenship in an Eternal City, which make our earthly life worth living and tolerable. He delivered them “who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage”.’

Good news: you don’t have to be in bondage to the fear of death! Dr Simon Greenleaf, the Royal Professor of Law at Harvard, one of the world’s greatest authorities on legal evidence, shone the searchlight of his immense knowledge on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and revealed every thread of that evidence to the most probing critique. And when he did, he concluded that the evidence was so tremendous that in any unbiased courtroom on earth, it would be proclaimed a historical fact.

So what does all this mean for us as believers? Simply this: Christ’s resurrection guarantees ours!

2 Kings 4-6, Acts 8:26-40

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When you die! (6)
01 JUNE 2022

‘Longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling.’
2 Corinthians 5:2 NIV




Welcome to June!
God bless you all!





Dr Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a leading authority on death and dying, and Dr Raymond Moody Jr, two well-known psychiatrists, examined the case histories of over five hundred people who came back to life after being pronounced dead by their physicians. Their research convinces anyone with an open mind.

The people in the study described either a location of beauty, marvel, joy, and peace, or they described something dreadful. And although their bodies were real, they reported floating outside them. After being confirmed ‘dead’, some who were blind were able to see. They talked about people who came into the room, what they looked like, and what they did while they were there. Yet when these people were brought back, the ones who were blind could no longer see.

In his book Life After Life, Dr Moody writes: ‘A doctor told me of his experience in attending a man who had been pronounced clinically dead. He succeeded in resuscitating the man, who then sued the doctor for bringing him back into this miserable existence from the glory he had experienced. One woman, describing her situation after she had suffered a respiratory arrest, reports that the doctors trying to resuscitate her were pounding on her body trying to get her back while she was over them, looking down, and saying, “Leave me alone!”’

The apostle Paul explains why: ‘For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling’ (vv. 1-2 NIV). Bottom line: when you die – you really come to life!

2 Kings 7-9, Acts 9:1-22

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Begin to say what God says
02 JUNE 2022

‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV

Don’t speak without thinking. And don’t say things that contradict God’s Word. Those aren’t easy principles to live by, but they’re life-and-death issues. The Bible says, ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’ That means you can bless yourself by what you say. ‘He who invokes a blessing on himself…shall do so by saying, “May the God of truth…bless me…because the former troubles are forgotten”’ (Isaiah 65:16 AMPC).

Notice two important things in this Scripture:

1) Your own words have more power to influence you than anyone else’s words. In the final analysis, it’s not what others say that matters, it’s what you tell yourself when they’re finished talking. Bottom line: you always have the last word!

2) You will never enter into what God has planned for your future while you’re still living in the past. You can’t undo your past, so don’t relive it over and over in your head. God said, ‘Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing’ (Isaiah 43:18-19). It’s time to come into agreement with God and start saying what He says about you. That’s no small matter.

What you say from the time you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night not only influences your day; it influences the entire outlook and direction of your life. If you have been praying and asking God for specific answers, you can affect the outcome by making sure what you say lines up with what He says. So when you speak, always keep that in mind!

2 Kings 10-12, Acts 9:23-43