Words of Encouragement and Thoughts (6)

HOW TO BOLSTER OUR FAITH

Colossians 2:6-7

Once we have made up our minds to obey God, we gather courage around us like a cloak and proceed. That is, until something causes us to hesitate and question the wisdom of this decision. Our faith is wavering. What do we do now?

Ask yourself questions about God. Has God promised to meet all my needs? Has He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in me, guide me, and equip me to obey Him? Did God promise to be with me at all times? Is anything too hard for Him? Search the Scriptures for answers, and let truth fill your mind.

Meditate on God's Word. Ask the Lord to help you find Bible verses that relate to what you are facing. Then study the passage and apply its lessons to your personal situation.

Recall the Lord's past faithfulness. God by His very nature is faithful, and He always acts true to His character. The enemy would have us forget all that God has done for us.

Assess the situation. Ask, How critical is this decision, and whom might it affect? Is this one of those forks in the road in which my unbelief could cause me or another person a lifetime of regret?

Choose to trust the Lord. Make the decision to believe God and obey, no matter how you feel.

As you take a step of faith, God will strengthen you through His Spirit and enable you to continue on. Before you know it, your faith will become steady, joy will return, and you will be moving ahead once again.

InTouch Daily devotionals by Charles Stanley

Pouring Out the Water of Satisfaction

He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. —2 Samuel 23:16

What has been like “water from the well of Bethlehem” to you recently— love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing (2 Samuel 23:16)? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out “to the Lord.” You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God— something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.

How can I pour out “to the Lord” natural love and spiritual blessings? There is only one way— I must make a determination in my mind to do so. There are certain things other people do that could never be received by someone who does not know God, because it is humanly impossible to repay them. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful for me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and that it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out “to the Lord.” Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as “rivers of living water” all around me (John 7:38). And until I pour these things out to God, they actually endanger those I love, as well as myself, because they will be turned into lust. Yes, we can be lustful in things that are not sordid and vile. Even love must be transformed by being poured out “to the Lord.”

If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you had poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything “to the Lord,” other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6). The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L

Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

I am waiting for you.

Luke 15:11-24
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
(NIV Bible)

This is a story of a lost son's return home to his loving father. In the culture in which this story takes place, the son's request for his share of the inheritance before his father had died was an incredible insult to the father. It was as though the younger son was wishing that his father was dead. But as the story goes, his father gave him what he asked for and let him go. It wasn't until he had spent everything he had and ended up in a pig pen, that he realized what he had lost and decided to return home. While he was still far away, his father who had been waiting for him, saw him and ran to meet him.

Instead of a reprimand for his disobedience, the son received hugs and kisses from his loving father. Instead of being treated like a servant, his father affirmed him as his son by giving him a family robe, his ring of authority and sandals for his bare feet. Instead of demanding a season of penitence, his father cooked the best calf on the farm and threw a huge party to celebrate his son's home coming.

At one time or another, we have all been like this lost son. We have all gone our own way. But God is not looking to condemn us but is waiting for our return to Him. He can't force us to come because that would violate our freedom of choice. But He is waiting anxiously for the return of every lost child who is wandering aimlessly without hope and without a Father's love.

He has been misrepresented to us by people who have had a twisted view of who He is. He is not distant and angry, but tender and compassionate. And He is not like our earthly fathers, for He is the perfect father and He loves us perfectly. If we come home, we won't find rejection and punishment, rather hugs and kisses.

If you have strayed away from the Father's love, He is waiting for you with arms outstretched. He has a special robe with your name on it. He wants to put His ring of authority on your finger and sandals for your tired road-weary feet. Father is waiting for you to come home so He can throw you a party! So don't waste any more time, come home to the love that you have been looking for all your life.

PRAYER
Father, I acknowledge that even though I have sinned and turned away from Your love, You continue to call me home. I am not worthy to be even a servant, yet You call me Your beloved child. Your love has won my heart, so I return into Your loving arms. This is where I have always belonged and where I will stay for the rest of my life. Thank You for sending Jesus, so that He could help me find my way home. It's good to be home. In the name my Savior and big brother Jesus I pray, Amen.

Father's Love Letter devotional

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38 NKJV)

LET THE RIVERS OF LIVING WATER FLOW

When a weary and thirsty soul turns to the Lord Jesus Christ, he will drink the living water freely and abundantly to his satisfaction. But much more, he will never thirst again. Why? Because the water Jesus gives will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life!

The Lord Jesus clearly said, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14 NKJV).

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35 NKJV).

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38 NKJV).

The believer’s born-again spirit is completely and eternally satisfied in Christ!

Every born-again believer has in his recreated spirit a fountain of living water springing up into everlasting life. Sadly, many believers today don’t know there is a fountain of living water in them and how to appropriate or draw from the fountain of living water in their regenerated hearts.

This is why many believers today are drifting or floating from one church to another and from one miracle service to another, seeking passionately for what God has already put in their recreated spirits.

The fountain of living water God has planted in your born-again spirit is not intended only for your personal satisfaction, to quench or satisfy the thirst of your soul and body, but also to make your life a blessing to others.

God’s ultimate plan and purpose of blessing you with the fountain of living water is to make you a blessing to many nations and generations (Gen. 12:2).

God’s desire and expectation is that you will not only draw from the fountain of living water in your spirit to meet your personal needs, but that you will also let it flow out of you to meet the varied needs of souls around you.

This is what Jesus meant by saying, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38 NKJV).

The rivers of living water in your regenerated heart are expected to flow out to quench or satisfy the thirsty and wearied souls around you and draw them to Jesus Christ, the fountain of living water.

The overwhelming number of thirsty and wearied souls around us searching desperately for living water in man-made cisterns (religion, institution, relationship, etc.) is a sufficient proof or indication that many believers today are not letting the rivers of living water in them flow out freely and abundantly to satisfy the thirsty souls.

Many thirsty and fainting souls in our generation may die of thirst while searching for living water if you continue to hold back the rivers of living water in you from flowing out abundantly to meet their needs.

Apostle Paul was certainly one of the believers who didn’t hold back or contain the rivers of living water in his recreated spirit. It was not only Paul’s generation that benefited or drank from the incessant flow of the fountain of living water God placed in his spirit, many generations after Paul also drank from it and many will still continue to drink.

It is indeed wisdom to learn from such a man!

How did Paul let the rivers of living water flow out unceasingly from his regenerated heart to be a blessing to many generations?

Simply by letting Christ live in him and through him!

Paul states, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20 NKJV).

That is Paul’s secret!
That is all it takes to ensure a constant flow of the rivers of living water!

Letting the rivers of living water flow constantly, consistently and continuously out of your born-again spirit does not require you knowing or doing many things. It does not require much study, much learning, rigorous preaching and teaching, or protracted fasting and praying.

What then does it require?
It only requires you being dead to self!

For the rivers of living water to flow uninterruptedly out of your heart, you must die and give way for the fountain, Christ Jesus, to live in and through you. That is the only condition or requirement!

Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sin on the cross died with Christ and also resurrected with Christ.

Paul clearly presents this truth in Romans 6:
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. (NKJV).

Like Paul, if you are born-again, you also have been crucified with Christ. The Scripture testifies: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3 NKJV).

Why then are the rivers of living water not flowing out unceasingly from your heart like that of Paul?

Simply because it is not mere head knowledge or mental assent of your death or crucifixion with Christ that is needed! You need to walk in the revelation knowledge of this spiritual truth.

Until the Holy Spirit supplies to you the revelation knowledge of your death and resurrection with Christ, you cannot walk in the reality and blessing of this spiritual truth.

Beloved, if you desire to see the rivers of living water flow out constantly or uninterruptedly from your heart to be a great blessing to many generations and nations, you must seek to have and walk in the revelation knowledge of your death and resurrection with Christ.

This truth must translate from being a mere knowledge in your head to a revelation in your heart that will affect and transform your mind, will, thoughts, mindsets, emotions, perception, vision, values, attitudes or character in life.

Self is the greatest impediment, obstacle or blockage to the constant flow of the rivers of living water from your born-again spirit to be a blessing to others. The rivers of living water in your born-again spirit are not flowing out freely and abundantly as they should because you are still self-driven, self-focused, self-inclined, self-centered, and self-pleasing.

The rivers of living water will begin to flow out freely and unceasingly from your heart as you learn to reckon yourself dead indeed to sin and self, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11).

As you yield yourself increasingly to the Holy Spirit, you will see the rivers of living water flowing out increasingly from your heart to be a blessing to the people around you.

Friend, let Christ begin to live in you and through you daily and watch the rivers of living water flow out from your heart, thereby making your life a continuous channel of blessings to many nations and generations.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for planting in my heart a fountain of living water. I want to see the rivers of living water in my regenerated heart flow out freely, abundantly and unceasingly to bless many nations and generations. Help and teach me Holy Spirit to deny myself daily, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD

Isaiah 61:10-11

The word delight means “to gain great pleasure, satisfaction, and happiness.” Wouldn’t you like those to be the words that describe your relationship with God—one where both you and He enjoy time spent in each other’s presence? If that sounds good to you, then I have great news. God also wants that kind of delightful friendship, which develops through commitment, trust, and patience.

• First, a believer must commit his or her ways to God. This means that we invite the Lord to examine our desires and intentions—and change whatever does not fit His purpose or advance His plan for our life.

• Second, a believer must trust God. Who is more worthy of our faith than the Father, who gave Jesus Christ to save wicked sinners? The One who would not spare His only Son will certainly provide all that His children need (Rom. 8:32).

• Third, a believer must rest in God. When we fret about an issue or something that we consider necessary, we are neither committing ourselves to the Lord nor trusting in Him. Because our human viewpoint is extremely limited, waiting patiently rarely proves easy. God, however, has infinite wisdom and knows when circumstances and timing are perfectly aligned for His will to be done.

A growing relationship with the Lord is not drudgery, though it can be hard work. But the effort is a labor of love, because humans are designed to derive joy and fulfillment from being in God’s presence. The greatest pleasure we can experience in life is walking hand in hand with a Father who adores us.

InTouch Daily devotional by Charles Stanley

His!

They were Yours, You gave them to Me… —John 17:6

A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, “I am not my own,” is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, “Go” (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then, Jesus said, “[You] cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His.

Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me.”

Be entirely His!

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L

Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Love, Your Dad. Almighty God

There are many ways to end a letter. Sincerely …Yours truly … Regards... etc. But there is only one way to end a love letter from our Father in heaven! Love, Your Dad…Almighty God.

This signature expressed both the majesty of a Holy God and the tenderness of a loving Father. Over the centuries, many theologians have struggled to reconcile a concept of God who is both holy and loving, powerful yet intimate. Our natural tendency is to gravitate towards one concept of God or the other. But the truth is that we are infinitely loved by One who is righteous and omnipotent, yet tender and abounding in love.

The Almighty God is also our Heavenly Dad! The One who created the heavens and the earth with the power of His Word, took the time to knit each one of us in our mother's womb. The One who made heaven His throne and the earth His footstool, welcomes each of His little ones to visit with Him in His glorious presence any time, day or night. The One who makes nations tremble and holds the hearts of kings in His hand, wants His children to come close to Him to hear the beating of His heart. What an awesome privilege we have to be called children of God!

But let us never forget that the right for us to become the children of God came at an incredible cost. Jesus Christ, God's only Son, who knew no sin, took upon Himself the full weight of our sin when He died upon a cross two thousand years ago. The shedding of His innocent blood was the only way that we could ever be reconciled to His Father. Jesus' death, burial and resurrection will stand for all eternity as the defining moment that would make it possible for all of us to enjoy the eternal benefits of being sons and daughters in our Father's kingdom.

PRAYER
Father, You are the Almighty God and yet You are the Father that I have been looking for all my life! I thank You that the Bible is Your love letter to me. I receive Your gift of love expressed through the death, burial & resurrection of Jesus Christ. I pray that I will never leave this place of intimacy being rooted and grounded in Your love. Thank You for making me a co-heir with Your Son, Jesus in Your glorious inheritance. It is in Jesus, through Jesus, and by Jesus, that I come into Your throne room with the assurance that I am loved & accepted as Your child. Amen.

Father's Love Letter devotional

Daily Devotional by Derek Prince.

Sharing God’s Pleasures

Psalm 36:7–8
How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings. They feast on the abundance of Thy house and Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights. NASB, NIV

That, to me, is the most beautiful picture of God’s goodness. First of all, we turn to Him out of our need. We come to Him for refuge because we’re oppressed, because we cannot handle our problems. We take refuge in the shadow of His wings, but when we get in there under the shadow of His wings, then we discover that He’s provided much more for us than mere refuge. He’s provided a feast. He’s provided abundance. We feast on the abundance of His house, and not only that, but He gives us to drink of the river of His delights. To me, that’s staggering! God does not give us to drink of a river of our own delights, but of His delights. He shares with us the things that delight Him.

You see, there are so many things that we would naturally take pleasure in that are harmful. For instance, take the practice of smoking. Many people find great pleasure in smoking, but unfortunately we all know today it’s extremely harmful. It’s a potential cause of cancer. The difference with God’s pleasures is they are never harmful, and God wants to share with us His pleasures. He wants to give us to drink of the river of His pleasures, and not only are they pleasant but they are beneficial. They’re never harmful.