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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you feel drained
09 MARCH 2023

‘He makes me to lie down in green pastures.’
Psalm 23:2 NKJV

Even when you’re living right and doing all the right things, life can still be draining. We have all received post addressed simply to ‘The Occupant’. Sometimes you’re drained not because you did anything wrong, but because you happen to ‘occupy’ the planet. The combination of the world, the flesh, and the devil will suck the spiritual vitality right out of you if you let them. You try to pray, but no words come. You know you ought to read your Bible, but when you try to, the letters on the page all run together and none of it makes sense. And you don’t want to listen to spiritual people, especially when you suspect they may be faking their positive viewpoints. You’re just going through the spiritual motions, nodding and saying amen; yet in your soul, you’re running on empty.

David, who had been a shepherd, said that God ‘makes’ us lie down. Why? Because just like sheep, we would keep on wandering all over the place and wearing ourselves out. Note two things David says:

1) ‘He makes me to lie down in green pastures.’ The word ‘green’ means ‘fresh’. Each day you need a fresh encounter with God through prayer and a fresh intake of His Word. Bread is not the only thing that can go stale; your spiritual life can, too.

2) ‘He leads me beside the still waters’ (v. 2 NKJV). The word ‘still’ means you need times of quietness and reflection. ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10 KJV). The only way to know God intimately, sense His leading, and draw on His strength is to ‘be still’.

Numbers 13-14, Mark 6:1-29

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

How is your giving?
10 MARCH 2023

‘The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn.’
1 Corinthians 16:2 TLB

Jesus said, ‘If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?’ (Luke 16:11 NIV). In other words, if you are not faithful to Him with your finances, He will not trust you with greater blessings. What does it mean to be faithful in your finances? Paul writes: ‘On every Lord’s Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn.’ That means three things:

1) Regular giving. Note the words ‘every Lord’s Day’. This is systematic giving, not sporadic giving. It is not, ‘I feel good today, so I’m going to give to God.’ If you try that with your mortgage lender, you will be without a house! You’re not supposed to give by impulse, but by a commitment to obey God’s Word.

2) Planned giving. ‘You should put aside something from what you have earned.’ If you’re married, sit down and discuss it with your partner and decide the amount you feel God wants you to give each week. If you don’t plan it, you will not give consistently.

3) Proportional giving. ‘The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn.’ If God blesses you financially, you should prayerfully consider increasing your giving. Bottom line: you are to return to God a percentage of what He enables you to earn. When you do, He promises to increase you abundantly (see Malachi 3:10; 2 Corinthians 9:6-10).

Numbers 15-16, Mark 6:30-56

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Your overflowing cup of blessing
11 MARCH 2023

‘My cup runs over.’
Psalm 23:5 NKJV

David said: ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over’ (vv. 4-5 NKJV). Notice, God didn’t promise that you wouldn’t have to deal with death, or fear, or evil, or enemies. He simply said that in spite of them, and sometimes in the midst of them, your cup will still overflow with His blessing.

Next time you pour a cup of tea or coffee and it overflows onto the saucer, you have an ‘overflowing’ or a ‘surplus’. Your God is a God of surplus. Paul writes, ‘God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others’ (2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT). He saturates you with joy and peace ‘so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 15:13 NIV). He bestows a surplus of joy – He causes you to ‘rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory’ (1 Peter 1:8 NKJV). He also provides a surplus of peace – He gives ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7 NKJV).

So when you’re struggling to make ends meet, or you fear the future, look in the mirror and say, ‘God is my source; I have more than enough, my cup overflows.’ And don’t just do that in times of need or crisis; make it a habit you practise every day.

Numbers 17-19, Mark 7:1-16

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Steps to overcoming your worries
12 MARCH 2023

‘I know that you can do all things.’
Job 42:2 NIV

Job lost his wealth, his health, and his children. The book he wrote is a conversation between himself and God. At the beginning of it, Job says, ‘Hear now my argument’ (Job 13:6 NIV). He is asking, ‘Why has all this happened to me?’ At this point he is totally self-focused.

But by the middle of his book, Job has grown spiritually and now he takes a different approach. Instead of reasoning, he decides to stand on God’s Word: ‘But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread’ (Job 23:10-12 NIVUK).

By the last chapter in his book, Job has decided to trust God completely: ‘I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted…My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you’ (Job 42:2, 5 NIV). Job has finally arrived at the place where he can say, ‘I trust God; there is no need to worry!’

After nine months of worrying, questioning, and reasoning, he decides he doesn’t need answers to all his questions, he only needs to know that God cares for him. And his story ends in these words: ‘The Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before’ (v. 10 NIV). There you have it; the steps to overcoming your worries!

Luke 5:1-16, Psalms 29-30

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Focus on your God-given vision
13 MARCH 2023

‘I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.’
Acts 26:19 KJV

When God gives you a vision of what He wants you to do, you will have to go against the flow of the world. Society wants to keep you in a box. Most people are married mentally to the status quo. They want what was, not what can be. They seek safety and simple answers. So, you need to give yourself permission to go a different way, to break new ground.

Paul said, ‘I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.’ It was his consuming passion and the central focus of his life. He got up every morning thinking about it and went to bed every night thinking about it. And at the end of his life, he could say, ‘I have finished the race…Finally, there is laid up for me the crown’ (2 Timothy 4:7-8 NKJV). No one achieves greatness by becoming a generalist. Whether your vision is to build a great family, or a great church, or a great business, or a great ‘anything’, you must focus.

Author Harry A. Overstreet observed: ‘The immature mind hops from one thing to another; the mature mind seeks to follow through.’ Does every area of your life deserve focused thinking time? No. Be selective, not exhaustive in your thinking. What has God called you to do? What’s your role in it? What skill sets do you need to sharpen? What knowledge do you need to acquire? What relationships do you need to build? The first question Paul asked when God gave him his vision was, ‘What do You want me to do?’ (Acts 9:6 NKJV). And today that’s the question you need to ask God, too.

Numbers 20-22, Mark 7:17-37

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The story of your Bible
14 MARCH 2023

‘“The word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.’
1 Peter 1:25 NKJV

In the fourteenth century, there was not a single copy of the Bible in English! It was available only in Latin, the language of the clergy, and those were chained to the podiums of the cathedrals. Then a prominent professor of divinity at Oxford University said, ‘This is not right. People should be able to read the Bible in their own language.’ Church leaders branded him a heretic and an instrument of the devil. Like Noah who pounded the nails into the ark while people ridiculed and scorned him, John Wycliffe began translating the Scriptures as a flood of persecution emerged around him.

When he finally completed his translation of the Scriptures, he wrote this in the flyleaf of the first copy of the English Scriptures: ‘This Bible is translated and shall make possible a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ Five hundred years later, President Abraham Lincoln borrowed that statement for his famous Gettysburg Address. Thirty years after Wycliffe died, he was again proclaimed a heretic. Consequently, his body was exhumed, and his bones were burned to dust, and his ashes cast into a river.

A contemporary historian describes the scene like this: ‘Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes into (the river) Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the ocean. And thus ashes…are the emblem of his doctrine…now…dispersed the world over.’ Hence Peter writes, ‘“The word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.’

Numbers 23-25, Mark 8:1-21

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How God leads us
15 MARCH 2023

‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’
Psalm 119:105 NASB

The words ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet’ mean you’re supposed to walk according to God’s will and not your own thoughts, wishes, or impulses. The words ‘and a light to my path’ mean you can’t go in any direction you choose; you must follow the path that God has planned for you. You will never go wrong consulting the Scriptures for direction, but make sure you keep the Scriptures in context.

Don’t use the ‘open-window method’, allowing the wind to blow across the pages of your Bible, then shutting your eyes, pointing to a verse and saying, ‘This is God’s leading on this.’ If you do that, you could end up with the verse, ‘Judas went away and hanged himself,’ as the verse for your day! Would you want to go to a doctor with an illness and hear him say, without ever examining you, ‘It’s your gallbladder’? You would ask, ‘How do you know?’ And he would say, ‘Well, I sat by the window a few moments ago and trusted God to blow the pages of my anatomy book to your problem – and the topic on the page was “gallbladder”.’ You would run out of there pretty fast, wouldn’t you?

Some people practise this kind of theological ’superstition’, then get into trouble and say, ‘Well, God led me,’ when God had nothing to do with their choices. Whenever you read the scriptural phrase, ‘This is the will of God,’ you can be sure that it’s His will. If you disobey Him, you will suffer, and if you obey Him, you will be blessed.

Numbers 26-28, Mark 8:22-38

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How Jesus dealt with sin
16 MARCH 2023

‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’
John 8:11 NKJV

‘The scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery…they said to Him, “Teacher,…Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”…Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”…When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more”’ (vv. 3-7, 10-11 NKJV).

That day Jesus demonstrated three things:

1) The hypocrisy of a double standard. Since this woman had been ‘caught in the very act’, surely they knew who the man was, too. There is still a double standard today that looks down on a woman because of her past while excusing a man by saying, ‘He was just sowing his wild oats.’ The Pharisees used stones, we use words, but the victim ends up wounded regardless.

2) Who alone is qualified to judge. ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’ Who was the only sinless one among them that day? Jesus! So He alone is qualified to judge.

3) You can rise above your past. ‘Go and sin no more.’ Those words could be rephrased, ‘Go, and because you have had an encounter with Jesus, you can rise above your past.’

Numbers 29-31, Mark 9:1-29

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Use your gift
17 MARCH 2023

‘God has given each of you a gift.’
1 Peter 4:10 NLT

The Bible says: ‘God has given each of you a gift from his great variety…Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God’ (vv. 10-11 NLT).

You may not be fortunate enough to work at a job that utilises your gifts, but you should at least be moving in that direction. Paul worked as a tentmaker to finance his calling as a preacher. So if you know you’re a creative person with aptitude for design and visual arts, and you’re currently exasperated by your accounting job, it may be time to reconsider your career goals. If you love to solve problems when your computer crashes, but you’re currently working as a pastry chef, it’s time to step back and reassess. You may not be able to make a living at your foremost passion right away, so you’re working in an unrelated field. That’s okay for now. But your sights must stay set on following God’s calling.

Moses spent two-thirds of his life getting ready for his real assignment leading the children of Israel into the promised land. God never wastes experience. Often the wisdom you glean from a job you don’t want equips you to succeed in the one you do; the one God has chosen for you. So keep growing and keep believing God. Then, when He opens the door, you will be ready to walk through it.

Numbers 32-34, Mark 9:30-50

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Not ‘hopefully’ but ‘surely’
18 MARCH 2023

‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.’
Psalm 23:6 NKJV

The psalmist doesn’t lead off with words like ‘maybe’, or ‘perhaps’, or ‘possibly’, or ‘hopefully’. No, he says, ‘Surely’, which is a term of certainty. ‘Surely’ means absolutely; without a doubt!

There are a lot of things in life you can’t be sure of. You go for a physical check-up and discover you have a malignant growth. You work in the same company for years believing your job is secure, but they downsize and all you’re left with is a P45. You pray for your children, live an exemplary life before them, and teach them what’s right, then you find yourself down at the police station trying to get them out of a cell because they were arrested for drunk driving or doing drugs. As a redeemed child of God, here are two things you can be sure of: God’s ‘goodness and mercy’.

What’s your concept of God? That’s an all-important question, so think about it before you answer. Your concept of God will determine your confidence in Him. David was far from perfect. Indeed, some of his antics would have made the front pages of the tabloids. But he never doubted God’s goodness and mercy towards him: ‘This I know, that God is for me’ (Psalm 56:9 NASB). Jesus said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV). His goodness guarantees every need you have can be met, and His mercy guarantees that every sin you commit can be forgiven. Just as sheepdogs drive strays back into the fold, so God’s goodness and mercy will drive you back into His loving arms every time.

Numbers 35-36, Mark 10:1-31