Abiding TV

Your stone may be a need to complete your college education or obtain some other type of technical or professional certification. It may be a drastic change in your diet or you may need to go on a solemn fast. You may be required to sever certain friendships or associations or establish new ones.

The Holy Spirit may be leading you to pack your bags and move to a new city, country or church. Your stone may be your job. You may need to start a business or switch careers, companies or positions…

I don’t know what you stone is, but I do know this; until you obey the voice of the Holy Spirit and roll away that stone, you will be trapped in a cave! When they obeyed the command to roll away that stone, it was no easy task.

You can rest assured they were gritting their teeth and grunting as they pushed that seemingly unmovable mass of bedrock as hard as they could. Your stone won’t be any easier to move, but when you push it with every fiber of your being, it will roll away. It will become a thing of the past! (See Mark 11:23 and Zechariah 4:6-9 and keep pushing!)

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap..."

Luke 6:38, NIV
TODAY'S WORD:
God is a God of abundance! He wants to pour out His blessing on you until you are so full that you are running over with His goodness. Notice how this verse starts. It says, "Give, and it will be given to you." Your giving is what sets the blessing of God into motion in your life.

Your giving is a spiritual seed. In the natural, when you plant an apple seed, it doesn't just grow a single fruit. That one seed grows into a tree that has an abundance of apples. The same thing happens when you obey God in your giving. You get an abundant harvest in return. You are so blessed that you can't even contain it! You just have to keep giving, and the cycle just keeps repeating itself.

Is there something the Lord is telling you to give today? What do you have in your hand that you can use to be a blessing to someone else? Take a step of faith and set the blessing of God into motion. Open the door to His blessing all the days of your life!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:
"Father, I receive Your Word into my heart today. Thank You for choosing to bless me so that I can be a blessing to others. Show me where to plant my seed so that I can receive the harvest You have for me in Jesus' name. Amen."

Memorise: 
But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto, and I work. John
5:17

Read: Genesis 2:8-11, 
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;


Bible in one year: 
John 8:31-10:21,
Job 31:16-28

Message:
It is amazing to know that even though the work of creation ended millions of years ago, the creator is still working on His creation. The father has not gone to sleep like many biblical scholars and theologians believe. The trinity is still very much at work. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have not ceased to work amongst men. God, through redemption, is still working today in order to fulfil the reason for which the world was created.

There are many people who in the name of having faith have refused to do anything productive with their hands. They resign to fate and live their lives by chance. That was not the example God laid when He created the world. Despite His sovereignty, His work was still threatened by darkness and it was in the process of still working, that He pronounced the appearance of light. God went through the process of forming man and breathing into his nostrils, before man could become a living soul. God had to grow every tree in the garden before asking man to tender it. If God worked and is still working, what excuses do you have not to work?

Life is beautiful when you are committed to your work. Moses, Daniel and Paul were men who worked for the intellectual good of their time. They had to work hard to know a great deal about the world and the times they were in. through hard work they knew what their contemporaries did not know and this was why they remained relevant till the end of their lives. We should be ready through hard-work to contribute to the church and our immediate environment. There is so much beauty in working. Jesus did not avoid work and it sustained Him. He said that His food was to do the will of God and to accomplish His work (John 4:34). Philippians 2:12-13 enjoins us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

People are not ready to work any longer. They want to loaf around and settle for overnight miracles, but God does not operate that way. There are principles that must be followed for certain blessings to come your way, and stay permanently. Hard-work does not kill, and those who avoid hard-work at the time they are supposed to embrace it will end up with a hard life. Have you not seen people who at the age when they are supposed to be retired, still struggled to get menial job? Before Jesus healed that man who was born blind in John 9:1-3, Jesus rubbed clay on the man’s face which he had to wash off before the physical laws could be set aside in order for him to experience the supernatural law of God. If he had not followed the instructions of Jesus, he would not have been healed. Paul also said

“Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Colossians 1:29
I want to assure you that as you obey this divine instruction, things will begin to work for you.
Key Point
He who does not work hard now, will retire into hardship later.

Acts 2:14-36

When Jesus called him to a life of discipleship and service, Peter left his fishing career to become a leader in the church at Jerusalem. We can learn much from both the high and low points of his transformation.

Peter publicly acknowledged that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. When the Lord asked the disciples who they believed He was, Peter spoke up and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). He boldly confessed his faith in front of the other disciples and didn’t hold back for fear of their opinion. In a similar way, the basis for our identity—in public as well as in private—ought to be that we are followers of Christ. Our words and actions should proclaim to those around us that we belong to Him.

After Christ’s arrest, Peter’s faith faltered. When he was challenged about having been with Jesus, he denied it. Just as the Lord had predicted, the apostle refused three times to acknowledge their relationship. How bitterly the disciple wept about what he’d done (Matt. 26:69-75). But following the resurrection, Jesus forgave Peter and then called him to love the lost “sheep” of the world (John 21:15-17). After being filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter began his ministry by sharing the gospel with thousands of people. (See Acts 2:6-11, 41.) Through God’s power, many were saved.

Peter is a good example of the type of person our heavenly Father can use—someone with strengths and weaknesses, who learns from mistakes and is surrendered to the Lord for His purposes. Have you committed yourself to following God’s plan for your life?

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 26-28

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! - 2 Corinthians 5:17

God’s Word teaches us that when we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, He gives us a new nature (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). He gives us His nature. He also gives us a spirit of discipline and self- control, which is vital in allowing us to choose the ways of our new nature. And He gives us a sound mind (see 2 Timothy 1:7). That means we can think about things properly without being controlled by emotion.

Every believer can be thankful that the way we once were passes away, and we have all the equipment we need for a brand-new way of behaving. With God’s help we can choose spirit over flesh and right over wrong. Our renewed spirits can now control our souls and bodies or, to say it another way, the inner person can control the outer person. Then we can live out God’s plan for our lives.

Prayer of Thanks Father, I thank You that I am a new creation in You. I am so grateful for a fresh start and the new nature You have given me. Help me to leave the old ways behind today and live a brand-new, joy-filled life of victory in You.

For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning...to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness].

Romans 8:29, The Amplified Bible

As a believer, you're destined to be molded into the image of Jesus, to grow in spirit until you look just like Him. God's supernatural power began that process the moment you were born again. You were changed on the inside instantly. How successful you are in allowing this change to progress to the outer man is mostly up to you. We grow up spiritually just like we grow up physically.

What can you do to speed this growing process along?

Spend more time pursuing the things of the Spirit than you spend pursuing the things of the flesh. Become dedicated to the Word of God and to fellowship with Him. Be willing to pull aside from the busy things of life and get alone with Him, so He can guide you, teach you and share His likeness with you.

Have you ever noticed that if you spend time around people who have strong personalities, you will automatically be affected by them? You'll find yourself doing the things they do. Their mannerisms will rub off on you. You can't help it. They just influence you, especially if they are people you respect and admire.

The same thing is true in your relationship with God. If you spend enough time with Him, He's going to rub off on you! His ways will become your ways.

So make yourself available to Him by praying in the spirit and worshiping and loving Him. Hang around His Word and the people who love His Word and live it.

Before you know it, you'll begin to notice yourself changing. You'll find your character becoming more like His. You'll begin to think like He does and talk like He does and even act like He does. His image will begin to shine forth in you!

Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 3:5-18

1 Corinthians 1:26
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

You may think that you are a nobody, maybe even a has-been or a loser in the eyes of the world. Take heart because God’s Word says that if you are not wise, not mighty or not noble according to the flesh, then you are a prime candidate for Him to call on! And when He begins to use you, you will see His favor, power and increase change your life.

In the eyes of the ancient world, Moses was the rising star of Egypt. The Bible tells us that in the first 40 years of his life, “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds”. (Acts 7:22) But God could not use him then because he was too smart, strong and full of himself.

It was only 40 years later, after having been in the unglamorous desert of Midian, emptied of himself and thinking that he was a has-been, that God sent him to confound the might of Pharaoh.

The world may pass them by—the weak, the small, the forgotten and the losers, but God chooses them to confound those mighty in the world.

I know this to be true. As a little boy, I grew up facing rejection and ridicule because of my Indian-Chinese racial mix. And as a teenager, I was the butt of many jokes because of my stammering and stuttering.

When I was in my teens, I remember praying to God, “I don’t know what I can do for or give You, but You got me—spirit, soul and body.” I don’t know how many times I prayed that prayer. But I knew that God heard me because He called me. Only God would dare choose me, a stammerer and stutterer, to pastor a church for Him that has since grown to more than 30,000 members today.

I know what I was and where I came from. I know I have done nothing and can do nothing apart from His anointing and grace in my life.

My friend, when you think that you are weak and small compared to others in the world, that is when God can use you to do great and wonderful things for Him!

Thought For The Day
God chooses the weak, the small, the forgotten and the losers to confound those mighty in the world.

Watch Me, Beloved. I am your Peace in the midst of the storm. See what I will do on your behalf. Though oppression and evil and sorrow threaten to destroy you, I am pouring out contempt upon the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness.

I shall cause these evil spirits to wander in wastelands and I shall SHUT their mouths. I raise the needy out of your affliction and make your family My flock. I shall still your storms and bring peace to that situation. You are the Redeemed of the Lord and I shall bring you to your desired haven.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue that rises up against you, you shall condemn. This is your heritage, Dear One. When the righteous cry for help, your Lord hears and delivers you out of all your troubles. I am near to the brokenhearted and save the crushed in spirit. Do not let your heart be troubled, Little One. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but I shall deliver you out of them all. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which I will show to you today.

2 Chronicles 20:17 You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf.

Exodus 14:13 Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will shew to you to day.

Psalm 107:1Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble.

Psalm 107:28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and He brought them to their desired haven.

Mark 4:39 And Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Matthew 8:26Then Jesus rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of Man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?”
Psalm 107:39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow,40 God pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; 41but He raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.42 The upright see it and are glad,and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

Psalm 34:17-20 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
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