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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Refuse to live in fear (2)
28 MAY 2023

‘The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.’
Psalm 118:6 NKJV

God has created you for a life of growth, adventure, and acceleration. But you must take bold steps of faith. And you can’t do that if you’re perfectly satisfied to live in ‘the safe zone’. Even when you feel afraid, don’t let it stop you! Feel the fear and do it anyway! You say, ‘Will I ever stop being afraid?’ Yes, when you get to heaven. Feeling fear is part of being alive. You will experience fear when you try something for the first time, or when the obstacles in your path seem insurmountable, or when you feel like your resources are not equal to the challenge. None of this means you’re a coward; it just means you’re human. You are only cowardly when you let your fears control your actions and decisions. Feeling fear is merely the temptation to flee from what you should confront.

Feeling fear is not the same as being afraid, because being afraid means allowing fearful feelings to take control of you. But you don’t have to. You can feel anger yet choose not to act on it, and instead respond with forgiveness and love. In the same way, you can feel fear and not let it make your decisions. ‘He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”’ (Hebrews 13:5-6 NKJV). Note those two phrases: ‘He…has said’ and ‘we may boldly say’. So, stand on God’s Word today and declare, ‘I will not live in fear.’

Luke 9:37-62, Psalms 57-59

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Refuse to live in fear (3)
29 MAY 2023

‘Perfect love casts out fear.’
1 John 4:18 NKJV

When God says, ‘Fear not,’ He is basically telling you, ‘You’re going to have to deal with fear, but you can conquer it. You can act in spite of it.’ The Bible says, ‘Perfect love casts out fear.’ Sometimes we mistakenly think that Scripture means if we love God perfectly enough, we won’t be afraid. No, the only perfect love is God’s love for you. And it’s unconditional.

Knowing that He always loves you, walks with you, defends you, supports you, and has promised to bless you in all that you do is what casts out your fear. And it does one more thing: it strengthens your faith. ‘Without faith it is impossible to please [God]’ (Hebrews 11:6 KJV). When you know that God is pleased with you, you begin to rise above your fears. When fear knocks on your door and finds you full of faith, it cannot enter. That’s why you need to meditate continually on God’s Word and let your conversation be filled with faith.

If you’re used to allowing your mind to go everywhere it pleases, meditating on God’s Word will require making a new habit. Don’t become discouraged if you discover you have good intentions but many failures. The Bible says, ‘We walk by faith’ (2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV). How did you learn to walk? By getting up one more time than you fell down, until you finally did it. When you set your mind to speaking fear-defying words of faith, the Holy Spirit will come to your aid and strengthen you. As one minister says, ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, it is progress in its presence.’ So just keep progressing, and you will get there!

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

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Refuse to live in fear (4)
30 MAY 2023

‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’
Romans 8:31 NKJV

To overcome fear, you must believe that God is with you. It’s the key to your ability to obey what He tells you to do. As you become confident that He is with you, your fear will lessen. When David volunteered to fight Goliath, King Saul said to him, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine…for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth’ (1 Samuel 17:33 NKJV). David replied, ‘The Lord…will deliver me from…this Philistine’ (v. 37 NKJV). You’re not in this battle alone; the Lord is with you. When you’re convinced of that, your fear will subside.

You may not always know what God will do, but you can relax in knowing He will do what needs to be done at the right time. When you think about the future and all the things that are unknown to you, it’s easy to feel afraid. But you can view it two ways. You can either be pessimistic and fearful, or you can say to yourself, ‘The battle is the Lord’s, and He has never lost a battle!’

You may not always know what to do in a tense situation, but God does. He knows everything prior to it happening, and He has planned your deliverance in advance. Just put one foot in front of the other, confident that He is guiding you. You don’t have to see God or feel Him in order to believe that He is with you. Faith is a matter of the heart instead of the natural senses. God is with you! Believe it and refuse to live in fear.

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

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Prepare in advance
31 MAY 2023

‘Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not…’
Daniel 1:8 NKJV

Are you continuing to do things you don’t want to do and indulge in thoughts that lead you astray? Are you being constantly overcome by the same old temptations? Here is the bad news: the new birth doesn’t do away with your old nature; it actually intensifies the struggle between your flesh and your spirit. Here is the good news: you can live victoriously! How?

1) Through prayer. Jesus told His disciples, ‘Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak’ (Matthew 26:41 KJV). If you’re tired of praying for forgiveness after you have failed, start praying before the temptation comes. No, you can’t pray temptation away, but you can prepare yourself in advance to overcome it. And if you need help, call in reinforcements. Find someone who knows how to stand with you in prayer. The Bible says, ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour’ (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NKJV).

2) By making up your mind. ‘But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.’ The way to subdue your impulses is by activating your will – in advance. When you do that, God empowers you by His Spirit. Where did Daniel’s strength of purpose come from? God. He prayed three times every day (see Daniel 6:10). Don’t set yourself up for failure; keep yourself out of harm’s way. When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, he ‘fled and ran outside’ (Genesis 39:12 NKJV). Both Joseph and Daniel had prayed and made up their mind what they would do before temptation came knocking. You must do that too.

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

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

GOD BLESS YOU MORE AND VISIT YOU IN THIS NEW MONTH, JUNE!



What can I do?
01 JUNE 2023

‘To set at liberty those who are oppressed.’
Luke 4:18 NKJV

UNICEF estimates that as many as 2 million children and young people are exploited in the worldwide sex trade every year – that’s four every minute. Can you imagine what the governments of the world would do if a city of two million people was taken captive and exploited and abused every day? If you think that’s bad, here is a statistic that should break your heart and bring you to your knees: only 1 per cent of those who are abducted into the sex trade are being rescued from it! You say, ‘What about the other 99 per cent?’ When they get too old to have value to their pimps, or too sick to work, or become pregnant, or diseased, they’re thrown away like rubbish. These are the ‘walking wounded’ who carry emotional and mental scars and struggle with the effects for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘It’s sad, and it’s shocking, but thank God it’s not my children or grandchildren.’ Thank God, indeed! But as a redeemed child of God, you have a responsibility to care about it. Jesus said He came to ‘heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives…to set at liberty those who are oppressed’ (v. 18 NKJV). That means instead of avoiding the problem, you must become aware, alarmed, and activated. Only when enough people speak up do politicians start to act. So speak up! Start praying about it. Support ministries that are involved in it. That way, you will be able to stand before God one day and say, ‘Lord, I did what I could about it!’

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

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Your position and your condition
02 JUNE 2023

‘We have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ.’
Romans 5:9 NLT

The Bible says: ‘God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation…So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God’ (vv. 8-9, 11 NLT). God loves and accepts you just as you are.

And it gets better. He sees you as blameless. How? ‘God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). Note the words ‘in him’. Imagine yourself placing a letter in an envelope, then sealing it. No longer can you see the letter or read its contents because it’s ‘in’ the envelope. Getting the idea?

Always remember there is a difference between your position and your condition. When you put your trust in Christ, you’re positioned before God as being ‘righteous’. You say, ‘But what about my condition? I still fail.’ The job of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to bring your condition up to the level of your position. ‘The Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image’ (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT). How does the Holy Spirit do this? He draws you back to the place of repentance where you are cleansed. Notice, your position in Christ doesn’t change, but your condition is constantly changing as you become more like Christ.

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

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Today God is calling you (1)
03 JUNE 2023

‘Paul…called to be an apostle.’
Romans 1:1 NKJV

God reached into a part of Paul’s background that had been formed before he became a Christian, and He found some very useful things there. And they weren’t all spiritual things. They were also academic and cultural. Even though Paul seemed unqualified because of his monumental hatred for Christians, his background actually qualified him in a unique way. As a former Pharisee, he understood the Scriptures and the mindset of those who would oppose him. And his former spiritual blindness gave him compassion for the lost. God used both the good and the bad experiences in Paul’s life. And He can do the same for you too!

Think about it: when God looked for a man to be an early leader in His church, to write down the theology of His church, to debate religious leaders who argued against His church, to advance the cause of Christ in academic and social arenas, to carry the message all the way from the lowest person on the street to the throne of Caesar, God found a man who already had the necessary qualifications – and that man was Paul.

Here is how God works: first He seeks you out, then He prepares you, then He positions you, then He empowers you to do what He knows you can do most effectively. And God’s call is the only thing that will make you completely happy, although you don’t always know that in advance. So, is God calling you? Is He preparing you? Is He positioning you? Is He empowering you? Your highest level of joy and fulfilment in life will come when you surrender to Him and say yes.

2 Kings 13-14, Acts 10:1-23

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Today God is calling you (2)
04 JUNE 2023

‘I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee.’
Jeremiah 1:5 KJV

The word ‘sanctified’ means ‘to be set apart for the exclusive use of’. The word ‘ordained’ means ‘ordered according to a plan’. Here are two things you need to know: God doesn’t waste anything He created, and He doesn’t waste anything He can use. Before you were saved, God permitted experiences, both good and bad, that were equipping you for what He had in mind. That includes who your parents were, the places they came from, where you were educated, the number of years you spent in school, the jobs you held, and the training you received.

It also includes things God put inside you at the time of your birth, even though some of those things may have seemed to work against you while you were growing up. Do you hold on to ideas like a pit bull? God can use that. Do you enjoy poring through books and research? God can use that. Are you quick to confront, excited to run right at the enemy? God can use that.

Today you may feel like you’re in the wrong place, doing the wrong things, with the wrong people. You may be wondering how you’re going to dig yourself out of the hole or turn your life around. And truthfully, the answer may be that you can’t. But God can! He makes miracles out of mistakes. So, give Him the things in your life that aren’t so good, the things you’re not proud of, and say, ‘Lord, here they are. I wish my life was different, but it’s not. I wish I could change it, but I can’t.’ Then let God go to work.

Luke 10:1-24, Psalms 60-62

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

This year think ‘possible’ (3)
05 JANUARY 2023

‘Then he had another dream.’
Genesis 37:9 NIV

Joseph had two dreams, and the second was bigger than the first. His first dream was a field of sheaves; the second dream was a sky full of stars. So the word for today is – dream one size bigger!

Henry Curtis said: ‘Make your plans as fantastic as you like, because twenty-five years from now they will seem mediocre. Make your plans ten times as great as you first planned, and twenty-five years from now you will wonder why you did not make them fifty times as great.’ There is only one way to keep growing: make your goal a step beyond what makes you comfortable. That will force you to keep growing! And it will also set you up to believe God for greater things. Most people want their lives to keep improving, yet they value peace and stability at the same time. They forget that you can’t improve and stay the same. Growth means change, and that means challenging the status quo.

Thinking ‘possible’ means you can’t settle for what you have now. There will always be people around you who want you to give up your dream and embrace the status quo. Love them, but don’t be led by them. As you begin to believe God for greater things and others try to throw cold water on you, remember that right now, as you read this page, other people around the world are thinking about curing cancer, developing new energy sources, feeding the hungry, improving the quality of life, and winning whole nations for Christ. They are beating the odds and challenging the status quo – and you must, too.

Genesis 10-12, Matthew 4

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Cock-a-doodle-doo!
06 JUNE 2023

‘While he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.’
Luke 22:60 NASB

The Bible says: ‘While he was still speaking, a rooster crowed…The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly’ (vv. 60-62 NASB). Before God entrusts you with a great assignment, He will permit Satan to test you. Why? To reveal your weaknesses and strengthen you in those areas. God will allow you to fail in a smaller sphere to keep you from messing up in a larger one, hurting not only yourself but others too.

One of the wonders of the Christian life is that Jesus can take rubble and build something beautiful out of it. Peter promised never to deny Jesus, but by the time the rooster crowed, he had already done it three times. Repeated failure! Can you relate? You said you wouldn’t lose your temper, but you did. Cock-a-doodle-doo! You said you wouldn’t give in to temptation, but you did. Cock-a-doodle-doo!

When does a rooster crow? Early in the morning. Good news! That means the rooster announces the beginning of a brand-new day. After his worst night of failure, the sun came up for Peter. And it will come up for you too. By God’s grace you can start your life over any day you choose to. Today you can repent of your sin and go on to do great things for the Lord. Peter ended up winning multitudes to Christ and leading the church. So no matter how badly you have failed, God will forgive you, restore you, and redirect your steps.

2 Kings 17-18, Acts 11