FREE FROM SATAN’S POWER: 29/4/2020

Colossians 1:13 – God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of His Son, whom He loves. 

Satan loves to manipulate people. He does it all the time. Temptation and condemnation are Satan’s two favorite methods to do so.

First, he tempts us by minimizing sin before we do it. He’ll whisper phrases to us like, “It’s no big deal” and “Everyone is doing it.” Then, when we commit the sin, he turns on the condemnation and tells us, “Well, God will never love you again.”

Satan minimizes our sin before we commit it and maximizes it afterwards. Through temptation and condemnation, Satan tries to control us.

But thanks to Jesus, you don’t need to let him. On the cross, Jesus died to destroy Satan’s power to control you. There is a cosmic battle going on between good and evil. When Jesus was on the cross, it looked like Satan had won. But on the cross, Jesus shouts out, “It is finished,” not “I am finished.” Three days later he rose from the grave. Jesus wasn’t finished. Satan was! With Jesus’ work on the cross, he defeated forever Satan’s ability to control us.

If you have accepted God’s offer of salvation and have the Holy Spirit in you, Satan only has power that you yield to him. Through fear, bitterness, and anxiety, you can give power back to Satan. But when you trust God and choose forgiveness and hope, Satan is powerless in your life.

Because Jesus destroyed Satan’s power to control you, you don’t need to fall victim to his manipulation. You can live in freedom—the way God made you to live.

PRAYER:
Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for rescuing me from the power of darkness and adopting me as Your son, making me a coheir with Christ. I stand no longer condemned, so I choose to live with the consciousness and exercise the power that I have over the deceptive schemes of Satan. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

GOD’S LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING: 28/4/2020

Jeremiah 31:3 – The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness”.

Nothing you’ve ever done or will ever do can stop God from loving you. God says,  “I love you with an everlasting love”.

Do you know how long everlasting is? It’s forever. You can’t make God stop loving you; He will love you forever. His love isn’t based on what you do. It’s based on who He is.

That’s why God sent His Son:  “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God wants you to know His love. Even more, He wants you to feel His love.  God’s love will transform you when you feel it. It turns somebody who is hateful, bigoted, or racist into a kind, gentle, and loving person. When God’s love hits your heart, it changes you.

If your life hasn’t changed, then you don’t know God. You can’t have somebody as big as God come into your life and not be changed by it.  When God’s love comes into your life, it changes how you react to everyone else, you can’t help but pass it on to others.

The most amazing conversion in the Bible is of a guy named Saul, who was a religious extremist that killed Christians. One day, on his way to Damascus, he encountered Jesus. The man who had once been a religious extremist became the apostle of love. Saul, now known as Paul, wrote most of the New Testament, including some of the most beautiful words on love ever written, 1 Corinthians 13.

The everlasting, completely free love of God will do that. It changes lives. Has it changed yours?

PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your everlasting love. You loved me while I was still a sinner and sent Your only Son to die for me. Father, I open my heart to Your love. I want to receive, feel and experience more of Your love. Let my wholebeing be transformed more and more by Your love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Hitch Free Marriage

A Heart For God: 27/4/2020

_ Deuteronomy 5:29 – Oh, that they would always have such a heart for me, wanting to obey my commandments. So that it may go Well with them and their children forever._

You get a heart for God by developing convictions. And you develop convictions by getting to know God’s Word.

A conviction is a belief that shapes your behavior. It’s something you believe so strongly that it determines the way you act. While an opinion is something you’ll discuss or even argue about, a conviction is something you’ll die for.

The people who’ve made the greatest change in this world—for good or bad—were those with the deepest convictions. The truth is that if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

Is it possible to know good from evil? Of course it is. Some things are absolutely right. Some things are absolutely wrong. Hebrews 5:14 says, “Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”.

People who know truth are the ones who feast on the solid food of God’s Word. The Bible helps them know right from wrong. You don’t have to know everything that’s false. You just have to know the truth of the Bible. Then, when falsehoods come along, you’ll see that they don’t square up.

As you get to know the truth, you’ll develop a deep conviction. You’ll share God’s values and have a heart for God.

PRAYER:
Lord thank You for Your Word which is TRUTH. Thank You for the Holy Spirit, the Revealer of all truth. Lord I yearn to share Your values and develop a heart for You. Holy Spirit of God, help me understand and accept the truths of God’s Word so I can build strong convictions on what is right and what is wrong. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL? : 26/4/2020

John 5:6 – Jesus saw him lying there, and He knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so He asked him, “Do you want to get well?

In John 5, Jesus encountered a crippled man who had not walked in 38 years. Every day, his friends carried him to the Pool of Bethesda in hopes of being healed—they believed an angel of the Lord periodically stirred the waters in the pool, and if you got in first, you were healed.

Jesus asked this desperate, pitiful man, “Do you want to get well?” It seems like a strange question, perhaps even cruel. Of course he wanted to get well, why else would he be coming to the pool each day?

In this crippled man’s case, his excuse was that no one would help him get into the water first. It was someone else’s fault. So, he just laid there in his sickness day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade. “Hey Mister, do you want to get well, or do you want to keep wallowing in your misery and misfortune?”

The truth is that many people in our world today are just like the crippled man in John 5. They have a glaring problem, but they are not doing anything constructive to address it. They blame others. They play the pity card. They keep doing what they are doing even though it is not making one bit of difference. The question still stands today, “Do you want to get well?”

So, what does it take to get well?

1. Honesty: You and I will never see God work in our hearts unless we get honest with Him about our situation and circumstances. If you want to fix it, you must face it, and face it honestly.

2. Humility: God hates pride. If you are going to continue to walk in pride, He is not going to be free to help you. If takes humility to experience His help.

3. Help: Deep problems require outside assistance. A godly, wise, loving and objective friend or counselor is often needed to help us through the mental, emotional, marital, spiritual, or relational difficulties of life. Help comes from the Lord as we trust Him, but He uses people to assist us in experiencing His help.

Listen, we all need Jesus and we need one another to keep us going and growing in the Lord. So do you want to get well, or do you want to keep wallowing?

PRAYER:
Lord thank You for You’re my ever present help and You’re all knowing. Father help me to honestly admit my situation, to walk in humility and bless me with helpful friends so I can keep growing from wellness to wellness and from glory to glory. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.

God Knows Best: 24/4/2020

Proverbs 20:24 – A person’s steps are directed by the Lord . How then can anyone understand their own way?

God providentially leads His Children, ordering their every steps.

Some people will talk of coincidence, but the mature believer understands that God is at work in every detail of his life. Nothing escapes His attention, and our circumstances are never happenstance. He threads grace through every single strand and seams each element together with His redemption.

Nothing in our lives is wasted. In God’s economy, every detail has value and purpose. A seemingly random event that takes place today will one day serve a grander purpose. It’s when we look back at our lives that we note how God used a difficult season to create beauty in our lives later.

Let’s cooperate with God’s leading – even though the work may be grueling and have little returns or acknowledgement, our faithful obedience will be rewarded abundantly.

What field have you landed in right now that is hard work for you? Bloom where you are planted. God sees you, and He is cultivating beautiful fruit in your heart as you labor.

PRAYER:
Lord thank You for directing my steps. Help me to follow wherever You lead me. Grant me the grace to keep working and serving even when it’s painfully hard. Help me to trust that You are at work. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

I’m All In : 23/4/2020

Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

To be ALL IN, is to be fully committed to a task or endeavor; to give or be prepared to give all of one’s energy or resources toward something. Being All In requires belief, faith, and action. If you don’t put what you believe or trust into action, it’s meaningless.

Being All In will push you out of your comfort zone and your ability to control every circumstance. Many things in life will be beyond our control, so it’s a good idea to get used to it and start developing your faith.

We will do almost anything for what we believe in deeply. We will make sacrifices, work harder, and do whatever it takes for something we truly believe in. In Colossians 3:17, Paul talks about being All In.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

In our culture, it can be challenging to be All In for Jesus. For some reason, people who are sold out for their faith are seen as soft. But being All In for Jesus takes incredible strength. It doesn’t mean we lose our competitive edge; it means we want to win in ways that really matter.

Jesus is telling us to be All In. Our homes and communities need men and women who are All In. When we believe deeply that Jesus gave His all to save us, we will give our all to live for Him.

So let’s show our love for Jesus by being All In and holding no part of our lives back.

PRAYER:
Gracious Heavenly Father, please help me to be All In, to grow boldness within me to share my growing faith and in serving others. Help me use everything I’ve got – my time, energy, money, words, gifts, intellect, knowhow, etc – holding nothing back for the benefit of others and to build Your kingdom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

ARE YOU A VRP?: 22/4/2020

2 Timothy 1:16-17 – May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.

They’re 2 types of persons we come across; a VDP and a VRP. VDP stands for “Very Draining Person”. They exhibit negative, pessimistic, complaining, and “life sucking” behaviors. They criticize, complain, make excuses and find faults. Their words are poison to anyone who dares to listen.

On the other hand is a VRP or “Very Refreshing People”. Large numbers of faith-filled, positive, right-living, energized VRPs are needed to combat the devastating effects of VDPs. They speak words of life into the ordinary and transform it. They re-fill your energy tanks emotionally, morally, relationally, spiritually and otherwise. They breathe encouragement, blessing, and hope into your soul and remind you that nothing is impossible with God.

In the Bible, Onesiphorus was a VRP. He brought hope and healing to Paul. In fact, his name actually means “to bring help or profit-bearing”. From Onesiphorus’ example, we learn three key characteristics of VRPs:

1- Refreshment is Repeated: Paul writes, “he often refreshed me”. This was not a one and done refreshment, but he did it time and time again. Refreshing needs to be regular and repeated.

2 Refreshment is Risky: Paul says that Onesiphorus “was not ashamed of my chains”. He was willing to associate himself with Paul’s sufferings in prison. We need to step out of our comfort zone to refresh others.
 
3 Refreshment is Relentless: Onesiphorus “searched hard” for Paul. He was relentless to find his friend and refused to stop until he “found him”. VRPs are persistent.

The question is – Are you a Very Refreshing Person? The challenge is not whether you have VRPs in your life, but are you one? Do you bring life to people?

Your words can unlock God’s greatness in others. You need to be committed to infusing life into others through intentional words of nourishment. Let them feast off your encouragement. Become a VRP for each other.

PRAYER:
Father, there is fresh power at the foot of the cross. I want to be a lifter, an encourager, a refresher. Help me to be a VRP every day. Too often I get focused on myself and my problems and do not see the opportunities to bless others with words and actions. Thank You for loving me and refreshing me all the time.

Be Different: 21/4/2020

Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Every young boy or girl feels this tension of fitting into the crowd or going with the flow. So many will compromise their standards and stop “doing the right thing”._ It eventually moves into the area of alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. This tension doesn’t stop when we grow into a man or woman.

Following the crowd is easy. We instantly feel accepted and part of the group without struggle. God calls us to do things differently. When we do what everybody else is doing, we are destined for mediocrity! In the crowd are missed opportunities, unrealised potential and regrets.

The cool thing is that being different can actually build your strength of character. Being different and choosing the higher road – pleasing to God makes you stronger.

Don’t do what everybody else does. Make key decisions that set you apart – like not drinking or choosing to spend time with God instead of out with “the guys.” Invest that time reinforcing your strengths and striving to be a better person.

The godly life requires that we go against the flow.

PRAYER:
Father, help me to find ways to go against the flow. Give me the courage I will need to do the right thing and be different, especially when it requires that I stand alone. Lord I want to build a bond of intimacy with You that will make me different and doing life your way. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE NO WAY: 20/4/2020

Isaiah 43:19 – See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Have you ever faced a situation and said, “There is no way this can ever be?” Maybe some of these thoughts weigh on your mind:-

• There is no way I can handle the pressure at work.
• There is no way I can pay my bills.
• There is no way to save my relationship.
• There is no way I can get that job. Etc, etc, etc.

With God’s help, there is always a way. This is a beautiful truth to be grateful for. It may not be easy; it may not be convenient; it may not come quickly. You may have to go over, under, around, or through difficulty—but if you will simply keep on keeping on, you will find a way. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.”He is the Way, and He will help you find a way even where there doesn’t seem to be one.

Prayer:
Father, I thank You that You have “made a way in the wilderness.” Help me to focus on You and not on my circumstances. Thank You that You are making a way for me today.