Category: 2018 Blackboards

1 Peter 5:7

casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

It does not matter how close our families are or how many friends we have. When we go through a difficult time or trial, we still feel alone and wonder if anyone really cares or understands.

Martha knew that feeling. She had on one occasion cried out to Jesus, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” (Luke 10:40). Jesus’ disciples also knew what it was like to feel small, alone and in trouble. They cried out, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” when they were swept up in a terrifying storm (Mark 4:38).

Today, maybe the cry of your heart is also, “Lord, do You not care that I am left all alone…that I am going under…that I am perishing?”

The Lord does care for you. He loves you so much that He wants you to cast all your cares upon Him – not just some but all your cares. He wants both your big cares and small cares. There is nothing too small or big for Him. If it is a care in your heart, He wants you to cast it upon Him.

When the apostle Peter wrote “casting all your care upon Him,” he was talking about the continuous act of casting all your cares upon the Lord. As a care comes, God wants you to cast it to Him. That is the lifestyle He wants you to live every day. Why? The verse gives us the reason – “for He cares for you.” You are casting all your cares upon the One who loves you, and who left all of heaven to come and die for you. That is who you are casting your cares to. It is not just any person, but it is the One who gave His life for you!

When you are going through a difficult time, God wants you to believe that you are never alone because He Himself has said that He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). As the object of His care, He will take care of you for the rest of your life. You are never alone and always cared for!

Romans 4:17

…God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

When you look at yourself, do you see who you are, or do you see what you can become? When God looks at us, He always sees what we can become by His grace.

When Jesus first saw Simon, whose name in Greek means “reed,” He changed his name to “Peter,” which means “rock.” But did Peter instantly become someone with the characteristics of a rock – solid, stable and unshakable? No, for a long time, he continued to act like a reed that bends every which way the wind blows.

Once, when Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he took a bold step of faith and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Then, as he was walking on the water, he saw the boisterous wind, got scared and when he began to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:28-30). Another time, he said, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). Then, a few hours later, he denied knowing Jesus not once, but three times (Luke 22:54-62).

Yet, throughout his reed-like behavior, Jesus kept calling him “rock” until one day, how Jesus saw him began to take root in him. That day, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter stood up to preach and 3,000 people were saved (Acts 2:41)! Peter had indeed become a rock, a pillar in the early church. That was how Jesus transformed Peter. And that is how God wants us to change the people and situations in our lives.

God did not tell us to call those things which exist as they exist. What is the point of stating the obvious? It is not going to change anything. No, God tells us to call those things which do not exist as though they did, and they will!

Hebrews 2:17

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites’ standing as a nation before God was wrapped up in the standing of their high priest. What the high priest was before God, so was the entire nation before God. If the high priest sinned, he brought guilt on his nation, and God would reject the entire nation no matter how law-abiding the people were or how faithful they were in bringing their sacrifices. If their high priest was without fault and acceptable to God, God would accept the whole nation even if the people were sinful. Unfortunately, the high priests of Israel often failed because like any human being, they were imperfect.

Thank God that today, you and I have Jesus as our High Priest, who is 100% Man and 100% God. As our High Priest, His standing before God is always right. Jesus is always acceptable and pleasing to the Father. Therefore, we can never lose our acceptance with God because as our High Priest, Jesus only brings righteousness on His people.

In heaven right now, Jesus our High Priest is seated at the right hand of God the Father. (Romans 8:34) This means that God does not look at you. He looks at Jesus. If Jesus is good, you are good. If Jesus is accepted, you are accepted. If God sees Jesus perfect, then He sees you perfect. If Jesus is righteous, then you are righteous. And we know that Jesus our High Priest is good, accepted, perfect and righteous, which means that that is how God sees us! You cannot lose your right standing because Jesus Christ is your High Priest. To lose your standing, Jesus has to lose His standing first. But we know that we have in Jesus a High Priest who is perfect and who cannot fail.

So you do not ever need to be afraid or conscious of your faults when you come before God. Because your standing is completely wrapped up in Jesus your High Priest, you can come to God boldly and receive all that you need from Him!

Mark 11:23

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

God says that we will have whatever we say. So whatever we want to have, we can say it and have it. Unfortunately, we often say what we don’t want to have. For example, we say thing like, “I don’t know why I go through my money so fast every month. Even when I try to cut back on spending, there never seems to be enough money.” And true enough, we see a lack of money at the end of every month.

You see, you will have whatever you say, good or bad. So why not change what you have been saying to, “From now on, I will have more than enough because Jesus became poor at the cross, so that I might be financially supplied – 2 Corinthians 8:9. So lack be gone in Jesus’ name!”

Whatever mountain of difficulty you have, be it a mountain of debt or serious health condition, Jesus says, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

Jesus highlights the importance of saying by mentioning the word “say” three times, but the word “believe” only once. Our problem today is that there is more preaching on believing than saying. So the reason people find it hard to walk in faith is that they are not saying enough of the Word. So if we would focus more on saying God’s Word, faith will come. That is how God quickened Abraham’s faith. He changed Abraham’s saying when He changed his name from Abram to Abraham, which means “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5). From then on, whenever Abraham introduced himself, he would say, “Hi, my name is Father Of Many Nations.”

Declare your abundance, saying, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). Speak forth your healing, saying, “By Jesus’ stripes I am healed!” (Isaiah 53:5). And you will have whatever you say!

Ephesians 4:32

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Have you ever heard people say, “I can forgive, but I can’t forget.” Now, in the first place, nowhere in the Bible does God tell you to forgive and then to forget. It is not in the Bible! The devil is adding something here to make the whole thing burdensome. God only tells us to forgive because God in Christ has forgiven us a debt we cannot pay. When we do this, we do ourselves a favor because harboring bitterness and unforgiveness can contribute to destroying our health!

So just forgive and let God take care of the rest. When you really forgive, sometimes, He makes you forget. But sometimes, you still remember the incident because it was a major thing in your life. Yet, when you look back at it, the pain is no longer there. The sting is gone and you are not bitter.

Joseph had forgiven his brothers before they came and bowed before him. He remembered what they did to him, but he did not remember it with bitterness. (Genesis 50:15-21) So you may remember the incident, but the bitterness is gone because you have put the cross in the picture – “God in Christ forgave me. Daddy, I forgive you. Mama, I forgive you. My cousin, I forgive you.”

When you forgive, forgive by faith, not by your feelings. We walk by faith, not feelings. (2 Corinthians 5:7) Some people are waiting for feelings – “I am waiting, Father, for the right emotion to come on me to forgive that person.” That “right emotion” may never come! So, forgive by faith, and do it once and for all. Spend time in prayer. Take out your diary and write it down: “Father, I bring this person before you. You know what he did to me. Father, as You forgave me through Jesus’ cross, even though I did not deserve it, by faith, I now forgive this person and I let my anger against him go in Jesus’ name. Amen!”

Once you forgive by faith, you will see the sting of bitterness removed from your heart. You will experience the peace and joy of God filling your mind, and see a greater measure of wholeness in your body!

Romans 4:13

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

God promised Abraham that he would be the heir of the world. Now you might be thinking, “Well, that promise was made only to Abraham and not me.” The verse clearly says, “For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” So the promise was not just made to Abraham, but to “his seed” as well, that is, you and I who belong to Christ – “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Notice that God did not say that you would be the heir of the country you are living in, but heir of the world! The Greek word for “world” here is kosmos, which means the universe as well as the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, advantages and pleasures. All these are yours to inherit through the righteousness of faith in Jesus and His finished work at the cross. This righteousness is given to you as a gift from God, so you don’t have to earn it through good works.

For God to fulfill His promise, He has to prosper you. You can’t be the heir of the world and be in lack or in debt! Not only that, He must keep you healthy because you can’t inherit the world when you are sick and always flat on your back.

Don’t listen to people who tell you that you will only get to enjoy these blessings when you get to heaven one fine day. Why would you need riches in heaven? There, even the streets are made of pure gold (Revelation 21:21). And why would you need healing in heaven? There is no sickness there. So you need the health and provision in the here and now!

God wants you to be the heir of the world today. So lay hold of your rich inheritance today. Jesus paid for it with His blood. Don’t push it all to the sweet by and by!

Psalm 91:1

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

In the Old Testament, there was a place where God met with His people. In Exodus 25:22, God said, “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony…” This place was above the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant, under the wings of the two cherubim. The psalmist calls it “the secret place of the Most High…under the shadow of the Almighty.”

The mercy seat covered the ark which contained the three emblems of man’s rebellion: the golden pot of manna – man’s rebellion against God’s provision, two tablets of stone on which God wrote the Ten Commandments – man’s rebellion against God’s standard, and Aaron’s rod – man’s rebellion against God’s authority. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrificed animal on the mercy seat to make propitiation for the sins of Israel.

Today, it is not the blood of animals that makes propitiation for our sins, but the holy blood of the Son of God (Romans 3:24-25). The word for “propitiation” in the original Greek text is hilasterion, which actually means “mercy seat.” So Christ is our mercy seat. His blood speaks for us and puts God on our side. God does not see our rebellion. He sees the blood of His Son and accepts us!

That is why we can come boldly to the secret place of the Most High, in Christ, and feel secure that we have every right to be in God’s presence. We can come boldly to Him to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

And because Christ, our mercy seat, covers us with His blood, we are under God’s protection. We are in the secret place of the Most High, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. Here, no evil will befall us, nor will any plague come near our dwelling (Psalm 91:9-10). In the secret place of the Most High, we are favored and kept safe from all harm!

1 Corinthians 3:7

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

Sometimes, we think that the increase or success which we enjoy is the result of our own efforts or hard work. Now, I am not saying it’s OK to be lazy, but the truth is that God is the one behind our increase.

We see this truth when we read the story of Ruth, a young widow from Moab, who worked as a gleaner in a barley field from morning till evening. Now, we could attribute the entire ephah, which is a substantial 10 day supply of barley she collected at the end of the day to her hard work. After all, she did work all day in the field. But when we read about how Boaz, the owner of the field, had secretly told his reapers to “let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean” (Ruth 2:16), we know that it was because of Boaz’s intervention that Ruth ended up with so much.

I believe that Jesus, our heavenly Boaz, does the same thing for us today. He causes people to favor us and “drop” blessings on us because He loves us. Then, He causes us to “pick up” these blessings. Sometimes it seems so natural that we forget that it is the Lord who has blessed us with the increases.

Your hard work is not behind your increase. The Bible tells us that it is “God who gives the increase.” He is the one who is behind your increase and He delights in blessing you because He loves you!

Exodus 15:27

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.

Would you like to know an important biblical key to divine health? It is found in the above verse, which comes right after God says, “I am the Lord who heals you.” He said this to His people after He brought them out of Egypt (see Exodus 15:26).

The wells of water and palm trees speak of refreshment. They paint a picture of an oasis in the desert. The Israelites rested and were refreshed there. But why the numbers 12 and 70?

There are no insignificant details in the Bible. The 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees represent anointed ministries that refresh you with God’s Word. So if you want to know Jesus as the Lord who heals you, sit under anointed preaching of God’s Word, because when His Word goes forth, it will heal you. His Word is medicine to all your flesh (Proverbs 4:22)!

So how do we make that connection? Let the Bible interpret the Bible. Matthew 10:1 says that when Jesus had “called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.” He sent out the 12 and said to them, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons…” (Matthew 10:7-8).

Then, in Luke 10:1, the Lord “appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.” He also said to the 70, “And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you'” (Luke 10:9).

In other words, Jesus anointed the 12 and then the 70 disciples to preach God’s Word and heal the sick. Today, if you want refreshment, if you want health and healing, don’t sit under ministries that tell you that God doesn’t always want to heal and that He sometimes gives you diseases to teach you lessons. Instead, sit under anointed ministries that preach the good news and practice healing the sick. Believe God and begin to walk in divine health!

James 3:10

And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right.

Most of us have experience the impact of negative words on our lives. Even a person that seems to brush it off on the surface, feels the impact deep down inside. On the other hand, we also know how good it feels when someone complements us and says something positive or uplifting.

So if we know how it feels to be the recipient of negative words, they why do we say negative things to, or about others? Words are powerful! God spoke the Universe and even the earth into existence with words. Jesus spoke to a fig tree and cursed it, and it never produce fruit again. (Mark 11:13-14) Be careful about what you speak out of your mouth, even about yourself!

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21)

So what do you do when someone speaks a negative word to you? You have two choices. You can lash back and allow the hurt to embed deep inside and take away all of your joy and peace, or you can forgive. Forgiveness will bring you a total release from the pain. Forgiveness allows you to move forward casting that pain out of your life. Dwelling on those words will stir up anger which can cause you to lash out seeking revenge. But more importantly, it will cause you more pain and hurt.

If we understand the influences that cause people to be who they are, it will become easier to forgive them. People today are influenced by what they watch on TV, social media, call phones, text messages, the news, just to mention a few. When people get influenced by all of these things it will cause them to act the way they do. Having a clear understanding that you are dealing with something that is out of your control allows you to give it to God through forgiveness and let Him deal with it.

Forgiveness is the key to enjoying your life when situations like this occur. Prayer is powerful, and praying for your enemies is a sign of maturity. Never underestimate the power of prayer. Prayer causes God to take action. I believe that God answers every prayer. I also believe that when you don’t get what you are praying for, God’s answer was no. So pray for those who offend you, and lift up yourself and others with positive words of encouragement. God will take care of the rest.