[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Teaching children patience (2)
‘Bring forth fruit with patience.’

Luke 8:15
The UCB Word for Today - 23 Mar 2017

Here are five more teaching tips: 1) Teach by experiment. Toddlers through ‘tweens’ can appreciate the time it takes a plant to grow, so involve them in planting a seed and watching it grow. Explain how everything in life takes time to change and develop.

Teach the meaning of Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV: ‘To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.’ 2) Make use of visuals.

Younger children especially need visuals when waiting for an event to happen. If it’s 4:30 and dinner is at 5:00, use a timer. If it’s eighteen days until the family holiday, let them mark the days off on a calendar.

Often their problem with waiting is not knowing when it will end. 3) Don’t interrupt and don’t tolerate interruptions. Toddlers to teens - kids interrupt! Adults, too. Interruptions are usually a rude and frustrating display of impatience.

Unless it’s an emergency, be clear: Kids - and adults - are to wait their turn to speak. It’s more than good manners - it’s obeying God’s Word. ‘There is…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak’ (vv. 1, 7 NKJV). 4) Make use of board games. Most board games require taking turns, which means waiting.

Your kids will hardly realise they’re practising patience! Chess and draughts are good for tweens. Scrabble educates teenagers and teaches them patience. 5) Reward their patience.

When your toddler waits for his sippy cup to be filled while you feed the baby, thank him for waiting so well.

If your teen saves her money to buy a new phone, compliment her wisdom and reinforce it by perhaps donating the last few pounds to her purchase.

Deut 13-15, Mark 12:28-44

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Teaching children patience (3)

‘For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.’

Hebrews 10:36
The UCB Word for Today - 24 Mar 2017

Do these three things: 1) Don’t be Mr or Mrs Quick-Fix-It. Your kids need to learn to respond the right way to difficult conditions.

That means dealing with frustrations, not being rescued from them. Overprotecting produces a sense of inadequacy and powerlessness in them.

By quick-fixing everything, you’ll rear children who cannot handle life. They’ll expect to be rescued from all trouble, and become overly dependent on others. The Bible says, ‘Troubles make us more patient’ (Romans 5:3 ERV).

Allow your children to experience age-appropriate challenges, and they will thank you later for the strengths and coping skills they’ve developed. 2) Prepare them to wait.

When you know in advance that your child will have to wait (for instance, in a doctor’s office or an airport), help them prepare for it. ‘Make the best use of your time’ (Ephesians 5:16 NLV).

Have them pack items they enjoy. Because they chose the items, they’ll feel they invested in the process. 3) Keep a positive attitude.

If you constantly complain while waiting in traffic, or for someone who’s late, your children will do the same.

Instead, try saying, ‘This delay gives us time to tell each other about our day.’ Or, ‘Even when we feel frustrated about waiting, God’s timing is always perfect!’ Teach them God’s perspective on patience: ‘You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong’ (James 5:7 MSG).


Deut 16-18, Mark 13:1-20

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Enjoy each season of your life!
‘Which yields its fruit in season.’

Psalm 1:3
The UCB Word for Today - 25 Mar 2017

Your life is lived in seasons, and to be fruitful you must recognise the season you’re in and maximise it. ‘How can I tell when a season is ending?’ you ask. Because the grace that accompanied that season will lift, and what was once rewarding will start to feel unrewarding.

The Bible says a successful man or woman is like a tree planted by streams of water ‘which yields its fruit in season’. You can only be fruitful in your season! That’s where blessing and success occur.

You can’t just do it whenever you want to; it has to be in your appointed time. When the right season comes, it’s effortless for a tree to produce what’s stored within. And there’s fruit within you that will be produced when you understand what season you’re in.

But there are rules for each season; let’s look at them. Spring - is for training and discipline. That’s when you begin to see God’s purpose for your life and prepare for it. Summer - is for maturing what spring started.

The seeds you sowed and nurtured then will grow and multiply now. Autumn - is when you no longer have the passion of youth but the steady calm of the seasoned veteran. If you’re wise, you’re now working smarter instead of harder. It’s time to transition and prepare for the upcoming winter.

Winter - is when you assess your accomplishments, enjoy your rewards, pass on your counsel, and take your bows.

You have fought the good fight, kept the faith, and finished the course (see 2 Timothy 4:7). If you do it right, each season can be the best season of your life!

Deut 19-21, Mark 13:21-37

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
A praying mother
‘Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart.’

Luke 2:19
The UCB Word for Today - 26 Mar 2017
Max Lucado writes: ‘Some things only a mum can do…like powdering a baby’s bottom with one hand while holding the phone with the other…Spending the day wiping noses, laundering socks, balancing a cheque book, and still mean it when she thanks God for her kids. Some things only a mum can fix…like the cabinet doors her husband couldn’t, and his bruised ego when he found out she could! Broken shoelaces…broken hearts…breaking up with your sweetheart. Some things only a mum can know…like how long it takes to drive from piano lessons to football practice…how many pizzas you need for a sleepover…the number of days left in a term. The rest of us can only wonder… “Mum, what was it like when that infant’s cry first filled the room? Or the day the school bus pulled to a stop, you placed a kiss on a five-year-old’s cheek, waved goodbye and then saw the tricycle - silent and still? How did you feel? Did you cry? Did you smile?” Were you like Mary who “quietly treasured all these things in her heart?”’ A mother who loves and prays for her children is a force to be reckoned with. When a preacher stopped by a house and asked to speak to the mother, her little boy said, ‘You can’t see her right now, she’s praying.’ That’s because Susanna Wesley spent one hour every day praying for each of her seventeen children. Eventually two of them, John and Charles, were used by God to bring a spiritual awakening to Britain and America and establish the Methodist Church. Such is the influence of a praying mother.

Luke 5:17-39, Ps 31-32

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
How do you affect others?
‘Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.’

Romans 1:12
The UCB Word for Today - 27 Mar 2017
We’ve a tendency to adopt the attitudes of the people closest to us.
That’s why Paul wrote, ‘Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.’ The truth is that doubters get what they expect - and so do believers!
Looking for God’s best in every situation isn’t just scriptural; it helps you identify opportunities you’d otherwise miss.

Seeing people through God’s eyes causes them to be attracted to you and open in how they react. Is that important? Absolutely! Why? Because often your attitude will touch them before your message does.


Management consultant Fred Smith points out that there are two kinds of people in any organisation: polluters and purifiers.

The polluters are like smokestacks, belching out dirty smoke all the time. They hate clear skies, and no matter how good it gets they find a way to make it gloomy.

When the people around them breathe their toxins they feel sicker and sicker.

Purifiers, on the other hand, make everything around them better. It doesn’t matter what kind of rotten atmosphere they encounter.


They take in the toxic words of polluters just like everyone else does, but they filter them before passing them on. What goes in gloomy and negative comes out fresh and clear.

The question is: when you spend time with people, do they walk away feeling better or worse? Do you clear the air by giving them encouragement and fresh perspective, or do they leave feeling downcast and discouraged? Observe how people respond to you and you’ll know which group you belong to.

Deut 22-24, Mark 14:1-26

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
To be kind is to be godly
‘That…he might show…his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.’

Ephesians 2:7
The UCB Word for Today - 28 Mar 2017

The Bible says: ‘God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms…that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus’ (vv. 6-7 NIV 2011 Edition).

God sent Jesus from heaven to earth, so that we can leave earth one day and go to heaven. This is evidence of God’s kindness, even to those who aren’t yet believers.

Beyond that, enjoying the presence of Christ in heaven will remind us of God’s great kindness for all eternity.

God places so high a premium on kindness that He never wants us to forget it. So if you want to be ‘godly’ you must endeavour to be kind.

Sometimes Christians are so committed to the tenets of their faith that they come across sounding harsh, and end up turning people off. Be careful; you can have the right doctrine - and the wrong spirit! God’s grace attracts people, it doesn’t repel them.

In The Lion and the Mouse, Aesop said, ‘No act of kindness, no matter how small, ever is wasted.’ It costs to be unkind, but it pays to be kind.

So take every opportunity today to be kind to others. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.’ The apostle Paul puts it like this: ‘Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves’ (Romans 12:10 NIV 1984 Edition). Today remember that to be kind is to be godly.

Deut 25-27, Mark 14:27-52

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Christ is in you (1)
‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.’

Ezekiel 36:26
The UCB Word for Today - 29 Mar 2017

When God said, ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you,’ you could call it ‘a spiritual heart transplant’. Tara Storch understands this miracle. In 2010 a skiing accident claimed the life of her thirteen-year-old daughter, Taylor.

What followed for Tara and her husband, Todd, was every parent’s worst nightmare: a funeral, a burial, a flood of questions and tears.


They decided to donate their daughter’s organs to needy patients. And few people needed a heart more than Patricia Winters. Her heart had begun to fail five years earlier, leaving her too weak to do much more than sleep.

Taylor’s heart gave Patricia a fresh start in life. Taylor’s mum had only one request: she wanted to hear her daughter’s heartbeat. She and Todd flew from Dallas to Phoenix and went to Patricia’s home, where the two mothers embraced for a long time.

Then Patricia offered Tara and Todd a stethoscope. The question is: when they listened to the healthy rhythm, whose heart did they hear? Did they not hear the still-beating heart of their daughter? It indwelt a different body, but the heart was still the heart of their child.

And when God hears your heart, does He not hear the still-beating heart of His Son? Paul said, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20 NKJV).

The apostle sensed within himself not just the philosophy, ideals, and influence of Christ, but the person of Christ. Christ moved in - and He still does. ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Colossians 1:27 NKJV).


Deut 28-29, Mark 14:53-72

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Christ is in you (2)
‘The mystery in a nutshell is…Christ is in you.’

Colossians 1:27
The UCB Word for Today - 30 Mar 2017

Paul writes, ‘Christ lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20 NKJV). No other religion makes such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in his followers.


No wonder Paul refers to it as ‘the mystery’. We comprehend the idea of Christ for me, or with me, or ahead of me. But Paul said it’s better than that - Christ in me! In his writings Paul refers to this union with Christ 216 times. John mentions it 26 times.


They describe a Christ who not only woos us to Himself, but actually ‘ones’ us with Himself. John writes, ‘Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God’ (1 John 4:15 NKJV). Just as you own the home you live in, so the Christ who lives in you owns you. And when you own a home you rearrange it the way you want it. Likewise, Jesus moves in and commandeers your hands and feet, requisitions your mind and your tongue.

Do you sense things being rearranged in your life today? That’s ‘Christ in you’! Eugene Peterson paraphrases Paul’s words this way: ‘He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son’ (Romans 8:29 MSG).

Ever hear the old saying, ‘Making a silk purse out of a pig’s ear’? That’s what Jesus does when He takes up residence in your heart. He has a plan for your life, and He also provides the power to fulfil it. And what’s your part? To surrender and cooperate fully with Him.

Deut 30-31, Mark 15:1-24

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Confront them!
‘Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”’

2 Samuel 12:7
The UCB Word for Today - 31 Mar 2017

Can you imagine the courage and integrity it took for Nathan the prophet to challenge King David about his affair with Bathsheba? Most of us tend to avoid confrontation because we fear being disliked and rejected.

But when you avoid confrontation it often makes things worse. By hiding his sin, David was robbing himself of the blessing of the Lord.


Looking back, he wrote, ‘If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my…prayer’ (Psalm 66:18-19 NIV 1984 Edition).

The tiny growth you don’t want to deal with now can end up becoming a cancer that consumes you in the future.

That’s too high a price to pay. If you love someone, you’ll take your courage in your hand and confront them in love.

Confrontation is an opportunity to help develop that person - provided you do it respectfully and with their best interest at heart.


Here are ten guidelines to help you confront someone in a positive way: 1) Do it ASAP. 2) Address the wrong action, not the person. 3) Address only what the person can change. 4) Give them the benefit of the doubt. 5) Be specific. 6) Avoid sarcasm. 7) Avoid saying ‘you always’ and ‘you never’ because they are not true. 8) When it’s appropriate, tell them how you feel about what was done wrong. 9) Give them a plan to fix the problem. 10) Affirm him or her as a person and as a friend.

The Bible says, ‘The LORD corrects those he loves’ (Proverbs 3:12 NCV). So if you love someone, you’ll confront them in the right way.

Deut 32-34, Mark 15:25-47

[ebankole]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Pets are a gift from God
‘The godly care for their animals.’

Proverbs 12:10
The UCB Word for Today - 1 Apr 2017

A man wrote to a hotel where he wanted to go for holiday and asked, ‘Could I bring my dog? He’s very well behaved.’ The hotel owner replied, ‘I’ve been operating this hotel for thirty years and in all that time I’ve never had a dog steal towels, bedclothes, silverware, or pictures off the walls.


I’ve never had to evict a dog in the middle of the night for being drunk and disorderly, and I’ve never had one run out without paying the bill.

Yes, your dog is welcome. And furthermore, if your dog will vouch for you, you’re welcome too.’ Solomon writes, ‘The godly care for their animals.’ Ever consider godliness from that perspective? Maybe you’re thinking, ‘This doesn’t sound too spiritual.’ Think again! ‘Every good gift…is from above, and cometh down from the Father’ (James 1:17 KJV).

Many a grieving heart is comforted by a pet whose love and loyalty makes their loss more bearable and helps them to go on.

Did you know people with pets live longer, stay healthier, recover faster, and experience less depression? Who will ever forget the dogs on 9/11 as they searched through the carnage of the World Trade Center, howling in distress because they couldn’t rescue those who perished? And how about the skilled dogs that give sight to the blind and visually impaired? That sounds pretty spiritual, right?

When God created our pets He said, ‘It [was] good.’ Why did He say that? Because they have the virtues of mankind without its vices. So let’s recognise them as a gift from God, be grateful for them, and take good care of them!


Josh 1-3, Mark 16