Abiding TV

2 Timothy 3:10-17

Why should you read the Bible? To some people, it’s just an archaic book that has little relevance today. But for believers, God’s Word is essential and life-changing. Christians living in countries where Bibles are illegal would love to have the access to Scripture that you and I take for granted.

Consider what the world would be like if God had not given us His Word. Though we would still have the testimony of creation to tell us who He is (Rom. 1:20), our understanding of God and how to follow Him wouldn’t be as clear. The Bible’s pages contain everything we need for life and godliness through the true knowledge of God (2 Peter 1:3).

Reading God’s Word has many benefits. The apostle Paul describes four ways Scripture is profitable for believers (2 Timothy 3:16).

Teaching. The Bible has all the divine truth that God wants us to know. From Scripture, we deepen our relationship with the Lord, see life from His perspective, and understand how He wants us to live.

Reproof. God’s Word is a light that reveals our sins and a sword that pierces and convicts so we can confess and receive forgiveness.

Correction. Scripture restores and points us to godly living and obedience.

Training in righteousness. The Word of God trains us to stay on the path of righteousness and mature spiritually.

The end result of teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness is a life adequately equipped to live as the Lord desires. With so much to gain, why would we ever neglect this most precious gift from God?

Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 7-9

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (Romans 4:5 NKJV).

Only when you see yourself the way God sees you, can you begin to expect success.

As long as you are depending on your own merits and your own works, you will always experience an element of self-doubt. This doubt will cause you to question whether or not God is going to show His favor in life.

Who you are and what you have done has nothing to do with favor and success. This is good news because without Jesus you are nothing.

God’s favor and honor cannot be earned; they can only be given to you by God. Jesus is the one who earned them for you, but it is your responsibility to walk in God’s favor and success by faith so that they will become reality in your lie.

When you are in Christ, God sees you as righteous, above reproach, and worthy to be blessed with success. He delights to crown you with glory and honor. You are His child; why wouldn’t He give you abundant favor and success in life?

Believe who the Word says you are and do what the Word tells you to do: “You shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8 NKJV).

In other words … expect success!

Confession: My God is a good God who delights to give me good success, not because of my works, but because I believe Jesus made me righteous and earned it for me. Therefore, I expect success.

Author: Jerry Savelle

Revelation 1:8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord…

The doctor has just told you that you have an incurable disease. The X-rays and blood tests confirm it. Your worst fears have come true and you feel like your future has been sealed.

My friend, the doctor’s report is not final. Jesus declares to you, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 1:8). He has the first word as well as the final word in your situation. The experts and medical reports don’t!

Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. But Jesus did not speak Greek. He spoke Aramaic or Hebrew. So He would have said, “I am the Aleph and the Tav.” Aleph and tav are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So what Jesus is declaring to us is this: “I have the first word in your situation. And I have the final word in your situation!”

Each Hebrew letter has a corresponding picture. Interestingly, aleph is associated with an ox and tav, a cross. Together, they make up a beautiful picture of what Jesus did for us—He is the sacrificial “animal” on the cross. It was for us that He suffered, bled and died.

When Jesus hung on the cross, He took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses (see Matthew 8:17). That is why your sickness does not have the final word in your life. Jesus does, because He took your sickness upon His body and paid for your healing with His blood.

When Jesus hung on the cross, He took our curse (see Galatians 3:13). We were supposed to be cursed because of our sins, but He took our place and the curse fell on Him. Today, we take His place and His blessings fall on us!

So why settle for the curse of sickness or even poverty when the price for your healing and provision has been paid by Jesus? Sickness and poverty do not have the final word in your life. Jesus does because He redeemed you from every curse!

Beloved, when man says that it is impossible, Jesus says that it is possible. The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, has the final word in your situation!

Only a fool would say to himself, ‘There is no God.' And why does he say it? Because of his wicked heart, his dark and evil deeds. His life is corroded with sin.
—Psalm 53:1 (TLB)

We live like a little ant on this little speck of dust out in space. We get a Ph.D. degree and we strut across the stage and say, “Well, I don’t know whether or not there is a God.” And we can’t even control ourselves. We can’t even keep from blowing ourselves apart. We can’t even keep from manufacturing nuclear weapons that could destroy the world.

We can’t even keep from hating each other, and fighting with each other, and killing each other. We can’t even keep from stealing from each other. We can’t even keep from dying, because all of us are going to die. No wonder the Bible says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God,” because a man that would deny the existence of God is a fool.

It’s a mistake to leave God out of our lives. Read more in Billy Graham’s ‘My Answer.’

Prayer for the day
Almighty God, help me to live in such a way, that when I tell others of Your existence, they will be drawn to acknowledge and receive You.

And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?

Luke 12:42

We often praise God for His faithfulness. We’re thankful that we can always count on Him to be there for us. But we rarely consider the fact that He needs us to be faithful too.

It’s true. God needs people He can count on. He needs faithful and wise stewards He can trust over His household. In this final hour, He needs faithful believers to team up with, so He can manifest Himself in the earth more than ever before.

“Oh Gloria, God doesn’t need me!”

Yes, He does. Ever since the Creation, when He gave man dominion over the earth, He’s needed people to work with Him to get His will done here. You can see that all through the Bible. When the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt and He wanted to lead them out, He teamed up with a man, Moses, to get the job done. Moses’ responsibility was to stretch out his hand in the earth and command the will of God to be done.

Why did He choose Moses? Because He needed someone who was faithful and would dare to act on His Word. He needed someone He could count on, and He knew Moses was that kind of man.

Psalm 103:7 says, “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” If Moses hadn’t been faithful to know God’s ways, the children of Israel would never have seen God’s acts!

God needs you just as He needed Moses. He needs you to be faithful and alert to spiritual things. He needs you to be someone He can trust to know His Word and be obedient to it. He needs you to be a steward who will stretch out his hand like Moses did so that He can perform signs and wonders before the people.

Will you be faithful? It’s a decision you have to make. No one can do it for you. Right now, commit yourself to be that wise and faithful servant. Say in your heart and with your mouth, “God, You can count on me.”

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 105:23-45

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

You might have heard some people say, “No one is perfect; so don’t say you’re perfect.” Ask them why they say that, and you’d discover it’s the result of their own experiences or other people’s experiences. What does the Bible say? It says, “Be ye perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” God will never ask us to do something He knows we couldn’t do. If He demands perfection of us in the earth, it means it’s possible.

When you study the Word, there’s no place that suggests to us the impossibility of perfection. Everything about God calls for perfection—excellence. The reason most people don’t think perfection is possible is that they don’t know what perfection is. Perfection is like success, which can be measured at different stages of your life, according to the set objectives, purpose, and goal. Perfection is measured according to the light, instruction or information that you have with respect to the underlying objectives.

In our opening verse, the word “perfect” derives from the Greek word “teleios” which is full-grown in maturity, blameless, unspotted; wanting nothing; a completeness. It refers to measuring your heart with the heart of God; and the way to do this is through the Word. This means that you do things as God would have you do them; you let your heart be like God’s. You think, love, and forgive as God does, because you have His heart.

Furthermore, another reason many believe perfection is unachievable is that they use their religious minds to judge or measure what it is. Think about it: if in Christ Jesus, we’ve been qualified to become sharers and partakers of His life, His grace, and His righteousness, it means our perfection is also of Him. Jesus was the perfect One; the Bible says He obeyed God even unto death. He qualified before God and gave us His qualification.

So, our qualification for righteousness and perfection is of Him. All you have to do to be perfect in His sight is to accept and affirm His qualification. His vicarious death was to make you perfect: present you holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight (Colossians 1:22). Now, live accordingly.

PRAYER

Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for qualifying me to be perfect, righteous, holy, unblameable and unreproveable in your sight. I’m yielded to the Spirit of perfection and excellence that’s at work in me. Therefore, my words, thoughts, and actions are detailed and flawless. I think, talk, and exude excellence, to the glory and praise of your matchless Name. Hallelujah!

FURTHER STUDY:
1 John 4:17; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 2 Corinthians 13:11

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Luke 24:36-53 & 2 Samuel 12-14

2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Mark 7:1-13 & Numbers 5

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