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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Staying Power (4)

‘Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him.’

Genesis 37:5
The UCB Word for Today - 24 Sep 2016


Staying power overcomes misunderstanding and rejection. Sometimes the people you count on to support you will actually try to undercut you.

When God gives you a vision too big for them to handle, they’ll say, ‘You’re getting too big for your boots,’ and then try to cut you down to size - their size! Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, then went home and told their father he’d been killed by a wild beast.

Can you imagine how Joseph felt when someone asked, ‘Tell me about your family’? General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, ‘There are no victories at bargain prices.’ And sadly, betrayal happens as often in church as in secular society.

When Charles Spurgeon was in his early twenties, such large crowds came to his church that the building couldn’t accommodate them.

So he met with thirty of his church leaders and suggested they build an auditorium that would seat 5,500 people.


Allegedly, he told them that if any of them doubted the possibility of accomplishing this, they should leave. And twenty-three did! But Spurgeon held true to the vision God had given him.

He had the ‘stickability’ to see it through, and for over thirty-five years crowds packed the Metropolitan Tabernacle morning and night, making it one of the most influential churches in history. ‘Got any rivers you think are un-crossable? Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specialises in things thought impossible; He can do just what no other can do.’


Is 41-42, Phil 2

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Five All-Important Answers

‘If God is for us, who can ever be against us?’

Romans 8:31

The UCB Word for Today - 25 Sep 2016


Paul asks five all-important questions: 1) ‘If God is for

us, who can ever be against us?’

The assurance of God’s presence tilts the scales in your favour.

So whatever you’re facing today, remind yourself, ‘God is for me.’ 2) ‘Since [God] did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t [God] … give us everything else?’ (v. 32 NLT). Think about it: would God save your soul, then leave you to fend for yourself?

Or address your eternal needs and not your earthly ones? No! 3) ‘Who dares accuse us…? No one - for God himself has given us right standing with himself’ (v. 33 NLT).

Every accusing voice, including your own, counts for nothing in the court of heaven.

God’s acceptance trumps everybody else’s rejection - and He accepts you because He sees you ‘in Christ’. 4) ‘Who then will condemn us? … Christ Jesus died for us … he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us’ (v. 34 NLT).

When your accusers rise up and speak against you, Jesus, your defence lawyer, silences them. Why? Because His blood covers you! 5) ‘Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?’ (v. 35 NLT).

Paul answers his own question: ‘Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love … nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (vv. 38-39 NLT).

Knowing these five truths will help you enjoy your day and sleep better at night!


Is 43-44, Phil 3

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Be an Esther

‘These things happened to them as examples for us.’

1 Corinthians 10:11

The UCB Word for Today - 26 Sep 2016


It’s a mistake to think the great achievers in the Bible were somehow different from us and say, ‘In my situation a life like that isn’t possible.’ Esther was born into slavery, and because of her beauty a pagan king made her one of his wives.


Talk about feeling out of place! But no place is out of place, when you’re in the place God wants you to be! When Haman plotted to have the Jews exterminated, Esther was strategically positioned by God to save them.


She discovered her life’s purpose when her uncle Mordecai told her she had ‘come to the kingdom for such a time as this’ (Esther 4:14 NKJV).


And what was her response? ‘I will go to the king [on behalf of my people] … and if I perish, I perish!’ (v. 16 NKJV). But instead of perishing, she prevailed! So what can we learn from Esther? 1) When you first start out, God won’t give you all the details.


That doesn’t mean He doesn’t have a plan. It’s in seeking Him that you discover His plan and draw on His strength. 2) Knowledge is power.

Whether you’re a slave or a sovereign, when you know God has called you it enables you to overcome each obstacle as it arises. 3) Knowing God’s in control gives you boldness.


When Esther said, ‘If I perish, I perish,’ she was simply putting herself into God’s hands, knowing that even death can be faced with confidence when you trust Him.

Not only does God have a place for you here on earth, He has an even better one for you in heaven. And that puts you in the ultimate win-win situation.


Is 45-46, Phil 4

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Enjoy Each Day

‘Each day is God’s gift.’

Ecclesiastes 9:9

The UCB Word for Today - 27 Sep 2016


Solomon writes: ‘Seize life! Eat bread with gusto … Oh, yes - God takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning.

Don’t skimp on colours and scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love … every day of your precarious life. Each day is God’s gift.

It’s all you get in exchange for the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily!

This is your last and only chance … for there’s neither work to do nor thoughts to think in the company of the dead, where you’re most certainly headed’ (vv. 7-10 MSG).


So, what are you waiting for? To graduate? To get married? To have children? To retire? Life is about the journey, not the destination! Your life is here and now, your family is here and now, your marriage is here and now, your career is here and now.


The journey takes place every day, and you can find meaning when you search for a greater purpose.

You can find small joys every day if you have eyes of faith. Solomon recognised that ultimately we all end up at the same destination - the grave.


The only difference lies in how much we enjoy the journey. Instead of obsessing over the things you can’t control, focus on what you can control and leave the rest to God.


Phil Cooke writes: ‘I have to believe that God’s in control, and for me to always demand answers is to assume His role.

I’ve decided to sit back and let Him be God and let me be me.’ That’s a philosophy you would do well to adopt!


Luke 18:18-43, Ps 100-102

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Prepare Yourself

‘We rebuilt the wall … for the people worked with all their heart.’

Nehemiah 4:6

The UCB Word for Today - 28 Sep 2016

To succeed, Nehemiah needed favour with his boss, the king.

So he prayed that this heathen potentate would finance the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. It was a bold prayer and it wasn’t answered overnight.


But Nehemiah didn’t sit around waiting. In the meantime he put together a plan, assembled a team, and scheduled a date to begin the work. That way when the king said yes, he was ready to move.


Some people think if God’s going to do something, why should we do anything? Then there are those who think they don’t need God at all, so they try to do it on their own. But both extremes are wrong.

Sometimes God has to balance what He’s doing in your life with what He’s doing in somebody else’s life, so that ‘all things work together for good’ (Romans 8:28 KJV).

In Nehemiah’s case, waiting for a letter of authorisation from the king and funding for the project was like waiting for a government grant - it can take a while.

But the Bible says, ‘The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes’ (Proverbs 21:1 NASB). Nehemiah exercised bold confidence in God’s willingness to provide.


He also understood that while he was waiting, it was his responsibility to prepare and set things in place so that when God gave him the green light he was ready to move.


He exercised faith - and wisdom. He knew he couldn’t do God’s part and that God wouldn’t do his part. So the word for you today is: ‘Prepare yourself!’


Is 47-49, Col 1

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

How to Improve Your Relationships

‘Let us not love with words … but with actions.’

1 John 3:18

The UCB Word for Today - 29 Sep 2016


Here are five scriptural ways to improve the quality of

your relationships: 1) Always show appreciation.

Who are the people that really matter in your life? Let them know you love them, and do it often.


Practise the ten-to-one rule: ten compliments to every one criticism! Many of us think the best way to help people is to ‘straighten them out’. No, the best way to help others is to look for the best in them.


Dr John Maxwell calls this ‘the 101 Percent Principle’. Look for one thing you admire in somebody, then give them 100 percent encouragement for it.


That’ll help you to like them and vice versa. 2) Put others first. ‘Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men’ (Ephesians 6:7 NIV 1984 Edition).


If you adopt that mindset in your dealings with others, you will go far in life. 3) Serve others gladly.


Talking about how difficult it is to hire and train people, an airline executive said, ‘Service is the only thing we have to sell, but it’s the toughest thing to teach because nobody wants to be thought of as a servant.’ 4) Forgive it, resolve it, and move beyond it. If someone has hurt you and you need to address it, do it immediately.


Then forgive it, resolve it, and move beyond it. And if it’s not worth bringing up, forget it and move on. 5) Make time for the people who matter.

Don’t give away your time on a first-come-first-served basis.


Don’t devote so much energy to ‘the squeaky wheel’ that you short-change the people in your life who matter most.
Is 50-52, Col 2

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Is it You?

‘Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said,

“Surely not I, Rabbi?”’

Matthew 26:25

The UCB Word for Today - 30 Sep 2016


In a sermon about commitment to Christ, the great preacher Charles Spurgeon said: ‘I’ve known some who preached the gospel with power, but lived to depart from it altogether.


I’ve known others who discharged the duties of deaconship and eldership with considerable diligence, who have afterwards given way to their evil passions.


I’ve thought some of them to be the holiest of men. While they’ve been praying I’ve been lifted up to the very gates of heaven; if anyone had said these would one day fall into gross sin, I wouldn’t have believed it.


I’d sooner have believed it of myself. Those who seemed stronger than we have fallen, so why not we? Our Lord’s disciples who sat at the table with Him, when they were told that one of them would betray their master, each enquired: “Lord, is it I?” That was a very proper question. There wasn’t one who asked, “Lord, is it Judas?” Probably not one of them suspected him.


And it may be that the worst hypocrite in this assembly is the one upon whom there doesn’t rest at this moment a single shade of suspicion.


He has learned to play his part so well that his true character hasn’t yet been discovered.’ If those words hit too close for comfort, don’t walk - run to the foot of the cross today!

Run to the One who, with full knowledge of your struggles and temptations, loves you unconditionally; the One whose blood cleanses you from sin, whose grace can lift and sustain you, and whose power can help you live an overcoming life.


Is 53-55, Col 3

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[/size]TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY[/size]

‘God Is’ (1)

‘God is … a very present help in trouble.’

Psalm 46:1

The UCB Word for Today - 1 Oct 2016

The Bible says, ‘God is … a very present help in trouble.’ But first you must believe that ‘God is’, otherwise the best you can hope for is good luck or human help.


And how far do you think that’ll get you? When the doctor says he can’t do any more to save you or a loved one, who will you turn to?

When you’ve run out of answers and need guidance, where will you go to find them?

When you’re guilt-ridden and long for peace and forgiveness, who’ll provide them for you? When you do away with God you become your own god, because you recognise no greater power in the universe than yourself.


You can see why the Bible says, ‘The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”’ (Psalm 14:1 NKJV). How foolish to cut yourself off from the greatest source of help in all the universe! For the next few days let’s talk about why ‘God is’, and why you should put your trust in Him.


First, let’s look at astronomy. The Bible says: ‘The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship … night after night they make him known.


They speak without a sound or word … Yet their message has gone throughout the earth’ (Psalm 19:1-4 NLT). Paul writes, ‘For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.


Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature.


So they have no excuse for not knowing God’ (Romans 1:19-20 NLT). ‘God is’ - and you can have a personal relationship with Him.


Is 56-58, Col 4

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

‘God Is’ (2)

‘Lift your eyes … to the heavens; Who created all these?’

Isaiah 40:26

The UCB Word for Today - 2 Oct 2016


Many of the world’s greatest thinkers believe that God not only exists, but that He created the universe and its inhabitants.


So the next time someone tells you that only simple, uneducated people believe in God - don’t buy it. Dr Robert Jastrow, founder and director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, writes in his blockbuster book, God and the Astronomers: ‘The astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the origin of the world … The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same … Science has proved that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment … What cause produced this effect? Who or what put the matter or energy into the universe? Science cannot answer these questions … and for the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream.


He has scaled the mountain of ignorance … is about to conquer the highest peak, and as he pulls himself over the final rock he’s greeted by a band of theologians who’ve been sitting there for centuries.’ Pierre-Simon Laplace, another of the world’s great astronomers, said that proof in favour of an intelligent God was infinitely more probable than that a set of writing implements thrown promiscuously against parchment would produce Homer’s Iliad.


The evidence for God as opposed to the evidence against Him as the creator of this universe, is infinity to one.


It can’t even be measured. So rejoice: ‘God is.’ He’s accessible and available, if you’ll just take time to pray and invite Him into your life.


Is 59-61, 1 Thess 1

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

‘God Is’ (3)

‘The LORD is … the Creator of … the earth.’

Isaiah 40:28

The UCB Word for Today - 3 Oct 2016

Contrary to what we’ve been led to believe, science and Scripture aren’t necessarily opposed.

The ranks of Bible-believing scientists have grown rapidly since the discovery of quantum physics, which demonstrates the amazing symmetry and order that make up the universe.


Did you know that one of the most brilliant scientific books of our time was written by no less than sixty notable scientists, including twenty-four Nobel Prize winners? The book’s title is Cosmos, Bios, Theos, which means Universe, Life, and God. And one of the contributing authors, Yale physicist Professor Henry Margenau, concludes, ‘There’s only one convincing answer’ for the intricate laws that exist in nature.


And what does this brilliant man think it is? Evolution? Coincidence? Happenstance? No! Margenau believes that ‘creation is by an omnipotent omniscient God’.

So to believe in God is to believe in science … and the infallible Word of God. The Bible says: ‘The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth … He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak … those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.


They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’ (vv. 28-31 NIV 2011 Edition).

That means through prayer you can tap into the greatest power and most loving care in the universe.


Amazing! How you face each day depends on Who you’re looking to. So look to God.

Put your trust in Him. ‘Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed’ (Proverbs 16:3 NIV 1984 Edition).


Is 62-64, 1 Thess 2