TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Keep persevering
‘Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’
Hebrews 12:1 NIV
The UCB Word for Today - 02 MARCH 2021
Before you were born, God anticipated your arrival and had a specific plan for you. And that plan involves dealing with problems and overcoming obstacles because that’s how character is developed.
The mark of a successful person is his or her ability to see problems as opportunities instead of obstacles. And the most important lessons take place not when you celebrate the good times but persevere during the bad ones.
Indeed, that’s why the bad times make the good times so good! If you know anything about the birth of baby giraffes, you’ll know that the first parts to emerge are its front hooves and head.
Then the entire calf appears, tumbles ten feet to the ground, and lands on its back. Within seconds the baby rolls over and stands, struggling to move those gangly, untried legs.
Then sometimes, an amazing thing happens. The mother giraffe positions herself directly over her newborn calf, looks it over, kicks it, and sends it sprawling.
If it doesn’t get up – she kicks it again! And when it grows tired of the struggle, she kicks it again to stimulate its effort to stand. In fact, every time the baby manages to get to its feet, the mother kicks it again.
Her actions may seem cruel to us, but she’s preparing her child for survival. Unless that little calf learns to get up quickly and run with the herd when danger comes, it won’t survive.
So what’s the lesson here? When life knocks you down – get back up (see Proverbs 24:16).
During difficult times you learn some of your greatest life lessons through sheer determination and perseverance.
Numbers 1-2, Mark 3:1-19
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
When your family doesn’t understand you
‘The person who obeys God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’
Mark 3:35 MSG
The UCB Word for Today - 03 MARCH 2021
The Bible says: ‘[Jesus] was surrounded by the crowd when he was given the message, “Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside looking for you.” Jesus responded, “Who do you think are my mother and brothers?”
Looking around, taking in everyone seated around him, he said, “Right here, right in front of you – my mother and my brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood.
The person who obeys God’s will is my brother and sister and mother”’ (vv. 31-35 MSG). One of your greatest tests of faith will be family members who don’t understand you or share your values and vision.
And it calls for wisdom and grace on your part. Despite His family’s inability to understand Him, Jesus continued to care for them and respect them.
However, He refused to let them dictate to Him or alter the assignment He believed God had given Him. His priority was the people who had gathered to hear what He had to say.
Are you feeling misunderstood and rejected by your family today? Then pray this prayer: ‘Father, help me to live as Jesus lived; facing head-on those who misunderstand me, hearing their words and feeling the sting of their accusations, yet learning to live above them.
Help me to be gracious towards the one whose life is being consumed by resentment and crippled by fear. Bring me full circle to a place of peace, so that no matter who may misunderstand me, I’m able to go on like Jesus went on – all the way to the cross, the resurrection, and the prize. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.’
Numbers 3-4, Mark 3:20-35
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Be creative (1)
‘So God created human beings in his own image…male and female he created them.’
Genesis 1:27 NLT
The UCB Word for Today - 04 MARCH 2021
Why do we celebrate the birth of our children? Because like God, we helped to create something.
The famous American football coach Vince Lombardi said, ‘The joy is in creating, not maintaining.’ It’s a mistake to believe that God is only interested in ‘spiritual things’ and not ‘secular’ things.
Yes, you must grow spiritually. But you must also use the gifts He’s given you to fulfil His purpose here on the earth, and to bless others.
You don’t have to be rich or have a high IQ in order to be creative. You could be a creative hairstylist, or come up with a new recipe, or create a job opportunity for prisoners by which they rebuild their lives.
That’s not just secular, that’s spiritual! You’ll notice that the cross has two posts: vertical and horizontal.
The vertical post represents your relationship with God, what He wants to do for you and what He wants you to do for Him. The horizontal post represents what He’s called us to do for each other.
You say, ‘But I’m not very creative.’ Once you discover your God-given gift, it will release your creativity. Paul writes, ‘Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them’ (Romans 12:6 NKJV).
Stop putting yourself down just because you are not as creative as you’d like to be. Creative thinking isn’t necessarily original thinking.
In fact, people mythologise original thought. Most often, creative thinking is a composite of other people’s thoughts discovered along the way.
So the word for today is: be creative.
Numbers 5-6, Mark 4:1-20
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Be creative (2)
‘God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.’
Philippians 2:13 NLT
The UCB Word for Today - 05 MARCH 2021
You will only have good ideas if you value ideas. Otherwise you’ll drift through life living off other people’s ideas.
Creative thinkers: 1) Explore every option. Exploring a multitude of possibilities helps to stimulate your imagination, and imagination is crucial to creativity.
Albert Einstein said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ Why? Because it looks for new ways to put your knowledge to work.
2) Embrace ambiguity. Creative people don’t feel the need to stamp out uncertainty.
They see all kinds of inconsistencies and gaps in life, and they take delight in exploring those gaps or using their imagination to fill them in. When you find an unmet need, you can either conclude that nothing can be done about it, or pray and look for a way to meet that need (see Philippians 4:19).
3) Celebrate the offbeat. Creativity explores off the beaten path.
Kingman Brewster, former president of Yale University, said, ‘There’s a correlation between the creative and the screwball. So we must suffer the screwball gladly.’
To foster creativity, you must be willing to tolerate originality and oddness.
4) Are not afraid of failure. American philosopher Charles Frankel said, ‘Anxiety is the essential condition of intellectual and artistic creation.’
Creativity requires a willingness to look stupid. It means going out on a limb knowing that limbs often break.
Creative people know these things and still keep searching for new ideas. They refuse to let the ideas that don’t work prevent them from coming up with ones that do.
Numbers 7-8, Mark 4:21-41
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Be creative (3)
‘Be fruitful and multiply.’
Genesis 1:28 NKJV
The UCB Word for Today - 06 MARCH 2021
Your heavenly Father created the world – and you are made in His image. That means you are wired to think creatively.
God finished His creative work in six days, then our work began. God said, in essence, ‘I’ve provided you with all the resources and talents you need to have an abundant life.
Now do something good with it.’ The sheep He made give wool, from which we create beautiful fabrics in differing colours for matching outfits.
God didn’t make cheese; He made cows that give milk so that we can create cheese from it. The Bible describes the beginning of all things in these words: ‘Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply.”’
The word ‘multiply’ means that God wants you to end up with more than you started out with. But to do that you must begin to think creatively!
Instead of simply accepting what is, you need to take what is and make something more out of it. When you do that, you’re following in your heavenly Father’s footsteps.
Sometimes churches pour cold water on any thought or activity that isn’t religious, saying it’s ‘worldly’ and therefore God is not pleased with it. That’s like saying God only works within the four walls of a church.
No, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein’ (Psalm 24:1 KJV). Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you do in life, God wants you to put your creativity to work so that you can glorify Him and bless others.
Numbers 9-10, Mark 5:1-20
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Be creative (4)
‘Speak to all who are gifted artisans.’
Exodus 28:3 NKJV
The UCB Word for Today - 07 MARCH 2021
God told Moses: ‘You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments’ (vv. 2-3 NKJV). Note the word ‘artisans’.
God gives us artistic ability, and when we use it we glorify Him. Clothes ‘for glory and for beauty’ call for creativity.
Stop separating the spiritual from the secular! ‘Whatsoever [you] do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord’ (Colossians 3:17 KJV).
How do you become creative?
1) By acknowledging that God made you to be creative.
2) By asking Him to reveal your areas of talent and creativity.
3) By valuing creative ideas.
No matter what you currently do, or how well you do it, a creative idea will enable you to do it better. Creativity is being able to see what everybody else has seen, and think what nobody else has thought, so that you can do what nobody else has done.
Sometimes creative thinking lies along the lines of invention, where you break new ground. Other times it moves along the lines of innovation, which helps you to do old things in a new way.
But either way, it’s seeing the world through sufficiently new eyes so that new solutions appear. ‘On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made’ (Genesis 2:2 KJV).
Notice that creativity involves work, which is why many people tend to avoid it. But if you’re willing to work at being creative, God will use you to do great things.
Luke 4:1-30, Psalms 23-25
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Why pray?
‘Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.’
Matthew 21:22 NKJV
The UCB Word for Today - 08 MARCH 2021
You say, ‘If God loves me and knows what I need, why should I have to ask Him for it?’ Because prayer means talking to God and listening to God, which leads to building a relationship with Him.
Jesus said, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’ (Matthew 6:33 KJV). When your prayers are based on your relationship with God, your needs get met.
When you love God and spend time with Him, His Word says: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NLT).
Did you get that? God has a level of blessing in mind for you that your natural eye can’t see nor your natural mind can comprehend. And when you pray, He reveals things to you by His Spirit.
When that happens, your faith grows and you’re able to receive what God wants you to have. So develop a lifestyle of prayer – praying all the time, everywhere you go, in the midst of your daily routine.
‘Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you’ (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV). God cares about every detail of your life.
So when you become anxious about something, talk to Him about it. And don’t forget to read His Word.
That way when a problem comes up you can say, ‘Father, you said in Your Word You would do this for me,’ then quote the promise and stand on it.
Numbers 11-12, Mark 5:21-43
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Have you read your Bible today?
‘From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith.’
2 Timothy 3:15 NKJV
The UCB Word for Today - 09 MARCH 2021
People are intimidated by the Bible for any number of reasons. For some, it’s such a big book that it scares them, and they don’t know where to start.
Others think because it’s such an ancient book, spans such a long historical time period, and includes so many themes, that they could never figure it out. So let’s try to simplify it.
Think of the Bible as a library of books that includes sixty-six volumes of widely varying length, written over a period of fifteen-hundred years, by more than forty people from all kinds of cultural and educational backgrounds. It’s extraordinarily unique and cohesive in that the words of each book were ‘given by inspiration’, or literally ‘breathed out’ by God (v. 16 NKJV).
Taken together, the books of the Bible tell the story of God’s amazing love for us, culminating at the cross. As Paul wrote to Timothy: ‘You must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus’ (vv. 14-15 NKJV).
The Bible is principally the story of God’s love for you. So every time you read it, allow it to unfold in your heart as a love letter written to you by God. As you read and meditate on it your fears and worries will be resolved, your questions will be answered, and you’ll find strength and guidance for daily living.
Numbers 13-14, Mark 6:1-29
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Learn to wait
‘At the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’
Galatians 6:9 NIV
The UCB Word for Today - 10 MARCH 2021
There’s no such thing as instant success, with either people or problems. Whether you need to lose ten pounds or one hundred pounds, the weight can only be shed one pound at a time.
Standing on top of the mountain is a thrill, but you can only get up there one step at a time. Nothing great is created suddenly; almost every significant success in life comes at the end of a long, arduous wait.
And unless you accept that truth, you’ll give up too soon and settle far short of the success God has in mind for you. The American company Jell-O celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary in 1997, but if the inventor were still alive, he would probably take little comfort in his product’s success.
In 1897 Pearl Wait wore many hats. He was a construction worker who also experimented in patent medicines, and he went door to door selling his therapies.
In the midst of tinkering and experimenting, he hit upon the idea of mixing fruit flavouring with granulated gelatin. His wife promptly named it Jell-O, and Wait had one more product to peddle.
Unfortunately, the initial sales of his jiggly snack were not as strong as he hoped, so he ended up selling his Jell-O rights to Orator Woodward for the paltry sum of $450. Woodward was a savvy businessman.
He knew the value of marketing, and within eight years he turned a $450 investment into a million-dollar business. Today, not a single relative of Pearl Wait receives one penny from the one-million-plus boxes of Jell-O sold every day.
Why not? Because Wait couldn’t wait!
Numbers 15-16, Mark 6:30-56
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Where can you find peace?
‘The LORD blesses his people with peace.’
Psalm 29:11 NIV
The UCB Word for Today - 11 MARCH 2021
Increasing our pace has decreased our peace. There’s an old joke about a stressed-out personal assistant who told her boss, ‘When this rush is over, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.
I’ve earned it, I deserve it, and nobody’s going to take it from me!’ We smile, but chances are you can relate.
Not long ago we marked the passing of time in seasons. But seasons begat monthly calendars, which begat day-timers, which begat one-minute managers, which begat handheld personal organisers.
And what does it all lead to? As our productivity goes up, our quality of life seems to go down. An article in USA Today describes how therapist Ofer Zur staged a conference called ‘Speed.com: The Search for Meaning in the New Millennium’.
And guess where he staged it? In the heart of stressed-out Silicon Valley, California!
As the attendees gathered, Zur noted the drawn faces, worried looks, and preoccupied demeanour of his audience. He said his personal alarm sounded when he noted they had brought cell phones and laptops – and began using them during the session.
Here’s what he said about it: ‘We’ve become obsessed with speed. We end up with lots of plans that we can’t execute and a full schedule that can’t be followed.
The paradox of our time-saving tech gadgets is that we’ve wound up with no free time.’ Sound familiar?
So where can you go to find peace? To the One whose name is ‘Prince of Peace’.
Today He’s saying to you: ‘If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea’ (Isaiah 48:18 NIV).
Numbers 17-19, Mark 7:1-16
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Trust God’s saving and keeping power
‘Kept by the power of God through faith for salvation.’
1 Peter 1:5 NKJV
The UCB Word for Today - 12 MARCH 2021
If our salvation is assured when we place our trust in Christ, might not some people take advantage of this assurance? Yes, they might, for a time.
But as grace goes deep, and as God’s love and kindness sink in, they change. Grace fosters obedience.
‘The grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age’ (Titus 2:11-12 NIV).
God’s grace does more than comfort you in your troubles; it convicts you in your disobedience. Let it convict you.
If you ever catch yourself thinking, ‘I can do whatever I want because God will forgive me,’ then grace isn’t happening to you. Selfishness, perhaps. Arrogance, for sure. But grace? No.
Grace creates a resolve to do good, not permission to do bad. And one more thought.
Look to Christ for your beginning and ending. He’s Alpha and Omega.
He will hold you, and He will hold on to the ones you love. Do you have a prodigal son or daughter?
Do you long for your spouse to come to God? Do you have a friend whose faith has grown cold?
God wants them back more than you do. Keep praying, and don’t give up.
The truth is, we don’t always know if someone has trusted God’s grace. A person may have feigned belief but not meant it.
It’s not ours to know. But we do know this: where there is genuine conversion, grace never stops working. So today, trust God’s saving and keeping power.
Numbers 20-22, Mark 7:17-37
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
‘Choice morsels’
‘Words of a gossip are like choice morsels.’
Proverbs 18:8 NIV
The UCB Word for Today - 13 MARCH 2021
Gossip can be a ‘choice morsel’ that’s hard to resist. So what’s the solution?
Catch yourself before you indulge in it! Ask yourself why you’ve decided to be a bearer of bad news.
Is this the only way you know to establish camaraderie with others? Do you enjoy being the centre of attention?
Does it make you feel superior to know something negative about somebody that the listener doesn’t know? Are you envious of the subject’s accomplishments?
Why are you willing to use the temple of God as a ‘rubbish bin’ by receiving gossip? (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). What do you plan to do with what a gossip told you?
Are you bored and need more significant activities? People who know their God-given purpose in life and are committed to it find they don’t have time for gossip.
So if you’re serious about eliminating it from your life, wage an all-out war against it. Let everyone know you won’t be the bearer or hearer of ‘choice morsels’ anymore.
Declare your environment at work, at home, at church, or at play to be a ‘gossip-free zone’, and make every effort to avoid gossipmongers. Solomon writes, ‘A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers’ (Proverbs 20:19 NLT).
When your tongue is used as an instrument of righteousness, your stock in heaven rises. You’ll be able to humbly declare with complete dependence on the Father, ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer’ (Psalm 19:14 NKJV).
Bottom line: don’t be a gossip!
Numbers 23-25, Mark 8:1-30
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
In praise of Mums!
‘Her children respect and bless her.’
Proverbs 31:28 MSG
The UCB Word for Today - 14 MARCH 2021
Throughout history poets and orators have been lavish in their praise of motherhood. George Washington said, ‘My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.
All I am, I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.’
Abraham Lincoln wrote, ‘My mother’s prayers…have always followed me. They’ve clung to me all my life.’
And Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, ‘I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother.’ Centuries ago, people worshipped at their local parish church, but on one Sunday during Lent, known as Refreshment Sunday, they were encouraged to visit their 'mother church' – the cathedral in their diocese or the church where they were baptised.
Apprentices and those who were in service at large estates and houses would be allowed to take the day off to pay a visit to their mothers and families – ‘going mothering’. Then in 1913, a lady called Constance Smith heard about Anna Jarvis' crusade for giving public recognition to the mothers of America through an annual 'Mother's Day'.
Inspired by this, Constance decided to revive Mothering Sunday in the UK, promoting it as a celebration of mothers as well as the mother church. As a result, Mothering Sunday is observed today across the British Isles and the Commonwealth!
The Bible says, ‘A good woman is…worth far more than diamonds…She senses the worth of her work and is in no hurry to call it quits…When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say and…always says it kindly…Her children respect and bless her’ (vv. 1, 9, 17, 28 MSG).
Could there be a more worthy tribute?
Luke 4:31-44, Psalms 26-28
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY
Dealing with fear (1)
‘The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’
Psalm 118:6 NKJV
The UCB Word for Today - 15 MARCH 2021
During the Great Depression unemployment hit 25 per cent of the American population. Savings accounts were wiped out by bank failures, farmers lost their land to repossessions, and people were having trouble just feeding their families.
During this dark time Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation in these words: ‘Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.’ What most people didn’t realise is that the president himself had experienced some dark hours during which fear paralysed him.
Roosevelt was born a child of privilege and educated in Europe, at Harvard, and at Columbia Law School. But at age thirty-nine, he was stricken with a case of polio that left him severely disabled.
During his recovery he developed an extreme fear of fire. He worried he wouldn’t be able to escape because of his disability.
But in time he overcame his fear, regained the use of his hands, and even learned to walk again with the aid of braces. He re-entered the political arena – fearlessly campaigning to become the governor of New York, which he did in 1929.
He then went on to become one of America’s greatest presidents and guided the nation to victory in World War II. In his memoirs Roosevelt recalls how when he turned to God for help, courage, and guidance, he received them.
Are you afraid today? If you are, stand on this promise: ‘The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’
Numbers 26-28, Mark 8:31-38
