Category: July 2017

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

People might have said to you, “Why are you so lucky?” or “You seem to be looking younger and younger,” or “There is so much bad news these days, yet you seem untroubled.”

Now, the people of the world don’t have spiritual discernment. They can only go by your physical appearance, behavior and what happens to you. In other words, if they notice something different about you, it is because they see the evidence of God’s glory on your life – in your family and work life, health and finances. Your friends and colleagues may have told you that you stand out from the rest as though a spotlight were on you. Indeed, this is so because of Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) When God’s glory rises upon you, your words carry weight, even if you are not eloquent.

You don’t have to be a straight-A student or someone able to speak the Queen’s English. You may be foul-mouthed like the disciple Peter, but when God changes you and His glory rises upon you, and you stand up and preach, 3,000 people get saved! (Acts 2:14-41) What is important is that God gives weight to what you say.

You might be a nobody like Joseph, a slave cast aside and forgotten in a dungeon. Yet, the greatest king on earth at that time sought Joseph out to have him interpret his dreams. In other words, God will give to you answers that the people of the world do not have.

Maybe it is your hands. When you lay hands on the sick, they recover. Maybe it is your ability to give counsel that is spot on, or your ability to speak into their future with a word of knowledge or word of wisdom from God. “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isaiah 60:3) When you see this happening, it is because the people of the world are drawn to the glory of the Lord which has risen upon you!

Ecclesiastes 8:4

Where the word of a king is, there is power…

In Bible times, a king’s word carried tremendous power. What he decreed would come to pass. It would be done. For example, if he said, “Raise the taxes,” the taxes would be raised.

Do you know that we, as Christians, are kings? The Bible tells us that Jesus has washed us from our sins with His blood and made us kings. (Revelation 1:5-6) And as kings in Christ, our words carry power too. When we place our hands on a sick person and say, “Be healed,” the person is healed. When we lay hands on our children and say, “Be blessed,” our children are blessed. There is power in our words because they are the words of kings!

Since our words carry power, can you imagine the harm we do when we say to our loved ones things like, “You are always so careless”, “You are good for nothing” or “You are so stupid”? We are cursing them! The devil is happy when you use the power of your words against yourself and your loved ones. He wants to see you defeated. So instead of saying, “I am always short of money,” say, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1) Instead of saying, “I am so useless. I can’t do anything,” start saying, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Remember that as a king, what you say will come to pass because where the word of a king is, there is power. So learn to say what God says about you in His Word and see His promises come to pass in your life!

Hebrews 4:9

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

In the healing of the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-16), Jesus knew that for 38 years, the man had been flat on his back, unable to do anything for himself or others, no matter how hard he struggled.

In the case of the woman oppressed with a spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:10-13), Jesus knew that the woman had been bowed over for 18 years. And in that condition, she saw very little that was beautiful in life, only the dusty ground, dirty sandals and bruised feet.

What about the man with a withered hand? (Luke 6:6-10) Jesus knew from His carpenter days how a useless hand could have easily given the man a very poor sense of self-worth.

All three of them must have struggled for so long to get back on their feet, to try to lift themselves up, to attempt to do something about their situations, only to be disappointed each time they failed. In fact, they got so frustrated with striving to get better that by the time they met Jesus, they had probably given up trying to change their situations.

It was then that Jesus came and extended His offer to turn their situations around. And when they embraced His offer, they received the miracles that they had sought for so long.

You may be struggling to get back on your feet, or to lift yourself out of a problem that has sorely weighed you down. You might have attempted to do whatever you could, hoping that it would amount to something, but have been frustrated time and again. God wants you to cease from all your struggling and accept the offer He extends to turn your situation around.

It is no coincidence that all three of the mentioned people above received their miracles on the Sabbath, the day of rest for the Jews. God’s Word says, “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” The day you cease from your own laboring and striving, and rest in the finished work of Christ, is the day you will receive your miracle. Jesus has done all the work. Whatever you need has been provided for at the cross. So just be at rest and receive your miracle!

2 Corinthians 10:5

…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Have you ever felt condemned because of the bad thoughts you have had? You could be in the middle of a meeting when suddenly a dirty thought enters your mind. Actually, it is the devil who puts such thoughts in your mind. Then, he steps back, looks at you and knocks you on your head, saying, “How can you call yourself a Christian and still think such thoughts?” God wants us to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. Now, whose obedience are we to focus on? Christ’s obedience and not our own obedience!

What is “the obedience of Christ”? It is His obedience at the cross, where “by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous”. (Romans 5:19) Jesus shed His blood for us at the cross. This means that when our thoughts condemn us, we are to focus our thoughts on Jesus’ obedience at the cross.

The devil can only make inroads into our minds when he gets us to focus on our own obedience instead of Christ’s obedience. His strategy is to point us to our obedience or the lack of it to determine our standing before God. But just as our position as sinners is not based on what we do, but what the first Adam did, in the same way, we are forever righteous today not because of what we do, but because of what Christ, the last Adam, did on the cross.

So the next time your thoughts seem to condemn you, say, “I am righteous whether I have good or bad thoughts. My righteousness has nothing to do with my obedience. Jesus’ obedience at the cross made me righteous.” Then, go ahead and pray, knowing that you have access to God and His favor, and that He hears the prayer of the righteous. (Proverbs 15:29)