Abiding TV

God was showing me this morning, how people are like fine china. And as it ages each piece has its own chips, cracks, holes, weak places and loose handles. With China we can see where the weak places are and handle that piece with care, so we don't cause further damage. Unfortunately, with people it is much harder.

We all work so hard to hide our holes, cracks and imperfections. Then when we get mishandled, we look for someone to blame. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. When was the last time you were really transparent with someone.

Receiving the prayer you really needed. We are all sinners saved by grace. Maybe if our scars were a little more obvious, friends and family would handle with a little more care. If they could see our broken handle, they would grab us from the other side. Guiding us straight to Jesus, our firm foundation, a solid place to lean.

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: See I lay a Stone in Zion, A tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic (Isaiah 28:16). O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted. Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay and sapphires (Isaiah 54:11). Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed (1 Timothy 6:19).

Having been built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Though the waves and billows blow over me, I will not be shaken. I know who I am, and whose I am; a child of the most high God....
Tammy Lang Jensen

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

In life, never be afraid of your adversaries or critics, because they don’t count. Irrespective of the conditions, keep growing; keep winning; keep making progress. Let nothing stop you. The more powerful your critics, the more glorious your life really is. No one would bother about you if you were a failure.

When your detractors or adversaries spend time, money, or other effort, in an attempt to get at you and derail you, have no fear. It’s evidence that you’re making an impact. If you remain focused, you’ll keep succeeding, while they keep stumbling, because “no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). 1 John 4:4 says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Our opening scripture says, “…If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

David had a beautiful revelation about this. You know he had lots of enemies. In Psalm 27:1-2, he said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.” Everyone has their place in the Word; that of your detractors is “they stumbled and fell!”

Never try to avenge or get back at your critics, or those who have set themselves up as your enemies; they’re in trouble with God. What you should rather do is what Jesus said—pray for them and bless them: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

Keep making impact for the Lord. Keep winning, and refuse to care about the resultant criticisms and adversities, for they don’t count. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Glory to God!

PRAYER Dear Father, thank you for your glory in my life, your indwelling presence that assures me of success and victory every day! I count it all joy to face diverse tests and trials, because they’re for my promotion; they work for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, as I keep my gaze on you, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Philippians 2:19-3:1-11
Isaiah 38-39

2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
John 3:22-36
1 Kings 9

FURTHER STUDY:
Isaiah 54:17
Romans 8:35-39

Memorise: Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth lest, I make my brother to offend. 1st Corinthians 8:13

Read: 1st Corinthians 8:8-13 (KJV)
8:8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

8:9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.

8:10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;

8:11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

8:12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

8:13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Bible in one year: 
Romans 11-13,
Daniel 2:46-3:7,

Hymn: 
Sing hymn 1

Message:
God redeems us from the unfaithful works of darkness through His mercy and grace. When people become newly saved, though they have genuinely surrendered their lives to God and are committed to going all the way in pleasing Him, they are often not immediately well grounded in the things of God. These young converts need special care and attention from mature believers. It is the responsibility of those who have grown deeper in Christ to encourage those who are making efforts to have their faith established in Him. As their predecessor in the faith, young converts are watching and following you as an example. They must be followed up with love and shown good examples of how to live out their faith in Christ.

As an older believer, you must show them compassion and understanding, remembering that Christ came to save us all because of His compassion for us. Mature believers have certain roles to play by deliberately denying themselves of certain things that are lawful but not helpful to the growth of these young converts. Like Paul who became all things to all people so that he might win many to Christ, mature believers must also be willing to become all things for the sake of those they want to establish in the knowledge of the truth. 1st Corinthians 9:22 says,

“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might be all means save some.”

If you are grounded in Christ, you are not to use your liberty to harm those who are growing in the faith. Some of these people are already experienced a lot of disappointments outside the Church of God. Some of them have been defrauded, while some others have been unduly taken advantage of because of their vulnerability. Some lost precious things before coming to the knowledge of Christ. The moment they give their lives to Christ, they are full of great expectations because they’ve heard that the Name of the Lord is a strong tower. They believe the brethren will care for them, unlike what they experienced in the hands of unbelievers. We must therefore do all that is within our power not to make them regret their decision to come to Christ, which will be the case if we don’t extend hands of love to them. We must not give them occasion to stumble; neither should we allow them to stray away by our actions. We must avoid all circumstances that will grieve our fellow brethren and ensure that the word of God remains our standard in our dealings with them. Let us be careful not to offend the weak ones or lay a stumbling block on their way, because we are going to be accountable to God for all those He brings across our path.

Prayer Point:
Father, deliver me from errors that will cause others to stumble.

Open Heavens Daily Devotional Lessons was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical Church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.

iOpenHeavens is the electronic version of the Hard Copy. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth.—Matthew 28:18

Have respect for authority. Jesus Christ was under the authority of His Father in heaven . . . He lived for one thing: to fulfill the will of the Father. Everyone is subject to some kind of authority. There is one chain of command and the ultimate authority at the top is God.

What is the authority in your life? Is it your selfishness? Your lust? Your greed? Or have you turned it all over to God and said, “Lord, You are going to be my authority?” When you are under authority, you are then able to assume authority.

Listen to this 5-minute sermon from Billy Graham about Jesus as the authority of your life.

Prayer for the day
There are still areas in my life that need to come under Your authority, Lord Jesus. Give me Your grace and strength to yield everything to You.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.Matthew 18:16

You've been there many times, standing in the valley of decision. Perched precariously between victory and defeat. On one side of you is the word of the world authored by Satan that says, for example, "You're not going to get healed." On the other side of you, the Word of God is saying, "My Word is yea and amen" and "By whose stripes, ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Who will determine how it all turns out? You will. You're the establishing witness.

I remember a fellow once who wanted me to pray for him. I said, "Now the Word says you're healed." He interrupted me and said, "Yeah, I know it says that, but I've got this terrible pain here...."

I looked him in the eye and said again, "The Word says, 'By His stripes, you were healed.'"

"I know it," he answered, "but I've got this terrible...."

I shook my head. "Listen, the Word says you're healed!"

He turned beet red. "I know it says that, but I've got this...."

Finally, he stopped and stared at me. He didn't realize it, but he'd allowed his physical symptoms to become his evidence. It was what he believed. No matter what the Word said, he believed the thing he could see and feel.

But when he got quiet, I said to him, "Look, you're wanting me to agree with you and you're mad because I won't. But if I agree with you, you're going to die. Now if you'll agree with me and the Bible, we can get you healed."

Suddenly he saw it. His eyes lit up. "Oh, praise God! I see what you mean. I agree with the Word of God!"

I put my hands on his head and God healed him instantly.

You see, when he finally decided to get in agreement with God, he could have received in his bedroom or driving down the road or anywhere else. He could have received any time he decided to become the establishing witness.

You pray and establish your witness. That's your part. If you'll do it, God will back you—and when He backs you, everything else either has to get in line or get out of the way.

You're the deciding witness. What do you say?

Scripture Reading:
Matthew 18:15-20

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12 NIV).

Education is vitally important to all of us. It’s one of the few parts of our lives that should never end. We should always be learning. The Bible describes it as a key to a successful life (Proverbs 19:8).

But like anything so important, we have to guard it. We have to ensure that our learning draws us closer to God and doesn’t pull us away from him.

That starts with a decision.

You have to decide in advance to stand for God.

The time to think through your loyalty to God isn’t when you’re learning something new. It’s before you even start.

The Bible tells us, “In the world you have tribulation” (John 16:33b NASB).

This verse doesn’t say “you might” have troubles. It doesn’t say “if” you have troubles. It says you will have troubles. And that includes your education. Your faith will be tested by your education. No doubt about it.

In 2 Timothy 3:12 we read, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (NIV).

If you’re not suffering any persecution in your life, it may indicate you’re not living an entirely godly life. It may mean you’re trying to be a chameleon where some people don’t know you’re a Christian.

Count on being tested in your education. You can fail a big math test. But you can’t fail the most important test you’ll ever take — the test of your faith. It has eternal consequences.

When your education tests your faith, you have three choices.

You can take a dive. You withdraw and just drop your faith.

You can withdraw. You simply compartmentalize your life, and you don’t let God’s Word impact what you’re learning.

You can determine to thrive. You choose to run what you’re learning through the filter of God’s Word.

That’s what Daniel and his friends did in the first chapter of Daniel. Before going through the king’s indoctrination program, Daniel “made up his mind not to defile himself” (Daniel 1:8a NLT).

Daniel and his friends didn’t let phony ideas blow up their faith. Neither should you.

Decide from the start you’ll protect your mind. Decide you’ll run everything through a biblical filter. That’s how you thrive in your education — and your faith. And use this filter no matter how old you are or where you are in life — God wants you to be a lifelong learner, which means you’ll face lifelong challenges to your faith.

Remember that God is for you, not against you, when you’re being tested. He’s guiding you into a deeper faith and a closer relationship with him.

Talk It Over

Think of a time you saw someone “take a dive” or “withdraw” when education tested their faith. What did you learn from their experience?
How have you used the filter of God’s Word to process something you’ve learned? How did you grow from that experience?
How can you help another person learn the principles in this devotional and guard their mind properly throughout their education?

Isaiah 48:10
The world’s way is to choose the strongest and smartest individuals to accomplish tasks. In contrast, the Lord often selects the weakest, who have nothing to offer except total reliance upon Him. This dependency on God is what characterizes the mature in faith.

Such maturity isn’t automatic. Our Father patiently meets people where they are but lovingly refuses to let His children stagnate. Instead, He helps us to grow more and more like His Son (2 Corinthians 3:18). As followers of Christ, we must let go of old ways, ideas, and motivations. The Holy Spirit illuminates our understanding and lets us see from God’s perspective. Then, the Lord can build in us a dependence on Himself and a submission to His Spirit. Transformation is often gradual, but God sometimes will allow difficulty and pain to develop our reliance upon Him.

Consider biblical models of faith. Sarah and Abraham dealt with infertility for many years prior to receiving the promised child (Gen. 21:1-2). Joseph was sold into slavery and wrongly imprisoned before he spared his nation from the effects of famine (Gen. 45:5). To take on God’s assignment of raising the baby Jesus, Mary risked accusations of immorality (Matt. 1:18-19), and her husband Joseph followed God’s inconvenient command to flee areas of danger (Matt. 2:13, Matt. 2:22). These people all faced hardships and brokenness, which allowed them to recognize both their own inability and God’s ability.

What’s standing in your way of full submission to the Lord? His desire for you is to learn to depend on Him so that in your weakness, He will be strong.

Bible in One Year: Matthew 1-4

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you…

In Israel, Jews greet each other with the words “shalom, shalom”. Unlike the English word “peace”, “shalom” does not just mean peace of mind, but also wholeness for your entire being—spirit, soul and body. It means having a sense of completeness and soundness. In other words, shalom encompasses your provision, health and total well-being.

When Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 14:27, He did not use the English word “peace”. He would have used the Hebrew word “shalom”, saying, “Shalom I leave with you, My shalom I give to you…” Interestingly, the word “leave” here actually means “bequeath”, the way a rich man bequeaths his estate to his beneficiary.

The disciples must have been excited when they heard that Jesus was bequeathing them His shalom. They must have known that to receive His shalom was to have His health because they had never seen Him sick. To have His shalom also meant never being in lack because He was never broke. Whenever He needed money, money was there. Once, money to pay the temple tax came in the mouth of a fish! (Matthew 17:24–27)

The disciples also understood that having Jesus’ shalom meant having His abundance because they had seen Him meeting the needs of thousands with plenty of leftovers. They saw him feeding 5,000 men (not counting the women and children) with 12 baskets full of leftovers! (Mark 6:34–44)

Jesus wanted His disciples to know that His peace was different from the peace that the world offers. His peace would change whatever trying circumstances that beset them. Even if it was a mega storm, it would have to bow to His peace. The Prince of Peace merely spoke, “Peace, be still!” and the winds and the sea obeyed Him. (Mark 4:39) His peace changed the mega storm into a perfect calm.

Beloved, that is the kind of peace that Jesus has bequeathed to you. Therefore, believe that His shalom which He has left with you will change all your difficult situations, bringing you from sickness, lack and mental anguish to health, provision and total wellness!

Thought For The Day

Jesus has bequeathed you His shalom, which does not just mean peace of mind, but also wholeness for your spirit, soul and body.

What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.— Psalm 56:3

One day as I was going into an office building, a man standing nearby opened the door for me. I thanked him and smiled.

“You’re the fifth person I’ve held the door for,” he said, “and you’re the first one to smile and the second to thank me.”

I thanked him a second time, with a smile on my face. Afterward, I thought how much we take others for granted, even in simple things, such as opening a door for a stranger.

We often commend people when they do big things for us, but how often do we appreciate the little things?

When someone does something nice for you and you thank them, it builds them up and encourages them. It means a lot to them, just like it did to that man at the office building.

Did your bus arrive on time today? If so, did you thank the driver? The last time you ate at a restaurant, did you thank the waiter for filling your coffee cup a second time without being asked? This is the point I want to make: Develop an attitude of gratitude toward the people in your life. 

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him…"(Psalm 37:7, NKJV)

TODAY'S WORD:
Are you struggling with trying to make a dream come to pass? Are you frustrated in a relationship, trying to make someone else change or live right? You may mean well, you may have good goals, but if you are trying to orchestrate things to happen your way, on your timetable, you are only going to frustrate yourself. At some point, you have to turn those circumstances over to God and trust that He has your best interest at heart.

How do you turn things over to God? Start by making the choice and declaring your resolve. Simply say, “Father, I choose to let You be God of this situation. I take my hands off. I trust You.” Then, choose to worship Him. Worship is one of the best ways to set your heart and mind in the right place. You can’t worry and worship at the same time! Worship is a sign that you are trusting God; worry is a sign that you are trying to control things.

Today, take the pressure off yourself and turn things over to God. Give Him control and let Him take your setbacks and turn them into comebacks. Remember, the God who holds the universe holds you in the palm of His hand. Trust Him and let God be God in every area of your life!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Father, today I choose to release every care and concern into Your loving hands. I refuse to worry and choose to trust. Fill me with Your peace. Show me Your ways as I surrender every area of my heart and life to You in Jesus’ name. Amen.