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Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6, NIV

TODAY'S WORD:

Learning to walk in the destiny God has for you is a process. The first step is to get a vision, a clear picture from God that you can see. The next step is to trust Him—to believe in faith that it will happen. And then finally, you take a step of faith and live out what God has promised no matter what your circumstances or people around you have to say. First you dream it, then you believe it, and then you live it. We see in Scripture that the great men and women of the Bible walked through this same process to receive their dreams from God. They had to overcome doubts, they struggled on their journey, but they held fast to what God said, knowing that He is faithful to complete what He started in us!

Today, if you are having a hard time believing what God has promised will come to pass, understand that you are in a process. Don’t empower doubt with your words. Instead, keep declaring that He who promised is faithful! Keep the vision in front of you, knowing that it is for an appointed time. Dream it and believe it because it won’t be long until you are living the blessed life God has prepared for you!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father, thank You for choosing and equipping me to fulfill my destiny. I receive Your promises by faith knowing that You who began a good work will be faithful to complete it in my life. Thank You for Your peace and guidance every step of the way in Jesus’ name. Amen.

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

— James 3:2

According to this scripture, the one thing proving our level of spiritual maturity isn’t how religious we are—whether we can quote Scripture, or the good works we do—it is the words from our mouths.

James 1:26 says, If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren) (AMP).

No matter how religious you think you are, the true test proving your spirituality is whether you bridle your tongue or not. Bridle means “to restrain or control.” If we aren’t controlling our tongues, we are not operating in the level of maturity God wants us to have.

Prayer Starter: Holy Spirit, please help me with my words today. I can’t do it on my own, but with Your help, I can speak words of life and encouragement to those around me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

John 6:26-71

This world is impressed with numbers. Businesses aim for increased sales and customer base; politicians vie for more supporters; and even churches continually want attendance to grow. But Jesus was never impressed with the crowds that followed Him, because He knew what was in their hearts (John 6:64).

The events in today’s passage took place after Jesus had miraculously fed a multitude. As a result, more people paid attention to Him, but when He claimed some difficult truths, many just as quickly abandoned Him.

Jesus told them not to seek Him for benefits in this life but to come to Him for eternal life (John 6:26-27).
He asserted that the Father sent Him to give life (John 6:28-36).
Jesus claimed He would resurrect all those whom the Father gives Him (John 6:37-45).
He professed to be the only one who had seen the heavenly Father (John 6:46).
Jesus said He would give His body and blood for those who believe in Him (John 6:47-55).
He stated that only those who accept Him will have eternal life (John 6:56-58).
In essence, Jesus was claiming to be God and the only way of salvation. But verse 66 says “many of His disciples withdrew” as a result of this challenging message. We see the same phenomenon today. Many people are drawn to Jesus because they want a better life but quickly fall away because His exclusive truth claims seem offensive. According to Jesus, the solution is not to water down the message but to speak the truth boldly and trust God to open hearts.

Bible in One Year: Job 5-8

Proverbs 28:20 says, “A faithful man shall abound with blessings.”

Abounding would imply that increase has taken place. But notice it didn’t take place overnight. It was the result of faithfulness and faithfulness takes time.

Let me define faithful for you. It means:
1) Sticking with God and His Word no matter what happens in your life
2) Being steadfast in your allegiance to God
3) Unwavering loyalty
4) A firm resistance to the temptation to give up, draw back, or to compromise.

God promises that if you will stick with Him and His Word, then you will abound with blessings.

God promises that if you will be steadfast in your allegiance to Him, then you will abound with blessings.

God promises that if you have unwavering loyalty to Him, then you will abound with blessings.

God promises that if you will develop a firm resistance to the temptation to give up, draw back, or compromise then you will abound with blessings.

Hebrews 10:39 says, “We are not of them who draw back.”

The Message Translation says, “We’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it . . . trusting God all the way.”

I want to encourage you today, don’t get discouraged if you don’t see things happening in your life immediately, have faith that God is working behind the scenes on your behalf. Your due season will come. It will happen.

Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” The key word there is “IF.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing there is a season…”

According to God, there is an appointed time to reap the harvest. So don’t be discouraged. Your harvest time will come. Our part is to not become weary and quit.

Confession: “I will not grow weary in well doing. My harvest time is coming in Jesus name!”

Author: Jerry Savelle

John 19:30

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

What do you see when it comes to healing for your sick body, restoration for your failing marriage or breakthroughs for your financial woes? Do you see a finished work or a work that is yet to be completed?

God wants you to know that what you desperately need Him to do for you has already been done! Jesus’ finished work at the cross so satisfied the Father’s heart that from heaven’s throne came the pronouncement, “It is done!” (Revelation 16:17) in response to Jesus’ cry, “It is finished!” on earth. So God wants you to have this revelation that whatever you need Him to do for you has already been done because Jesus has accomplished it all for you.

If you need healing, know that your healing has been accomplished. If you need restoration for your marriage, know that your restoration has been accomplished. You are not going to die from any lack—you have been abundantly supplied. All these things have been accomplished, not by you, but by Christ alone!

My friend, if you are bothered by a pain in your body, God wants you to see your healing finished or accomplished for you by His Son’s death on the cross. If it is a loss or debt you face, or a certain sin that you are struggling with, believe that your provision, restoration and deliverance have been accomplished for you.

Don’t worry about what you see or feel, or the presence of contradicting reports. These are lying symptoms and though they may seem very real, they are temporal and not the truth. God’s Word is the truth and it will remain because it is eternal. And when you believe that only what God’s Word says about your situation is the truth, all the lying symptoms will eventually have to line up with His Word.

God the Son says, “It is finished!”

God the Father says, “It is done!”

What do you say?

A Dry Stick At A Religious Meeting by Pastor Carter Conlon
A Dry Stick At A Religious Meeting by Pastor Carter Conlon
A Dry Stick At A Religious Meeting by Pastor Carter Conlon

I was waiting on the Lord this morning, when he grabbed my hand and we walked up to a river. It was a mighty rushing river, with strong rapids. 

He said,”If you bent over here, to try and catch a fish with your hands, in all likelihood you would be unsuccessful.”

The water is moving too fast and visibility is limited. However, if you wade into a shallow lake, with crystal clear peaceful still water, you would have great success.

It was then the Lord said, “To be a fisher of men, you can’t run around like a mighty rushing river.” In the quiet, and the still, is when you will see the needs of My people. When is the last time you just sat in a room and quietly observed. Watching expressions, body language and attitudes. Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, my Savior and my God (Psalm 43:5). If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also.

If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also (Luke 6:29). Give to everyone who ask you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back (Luke 6:30). Are you more worried about fishing for souls, or demanding your rights. Are you willing to suffer for the sake of Christ, even if it cost you money? Are you willing to say, not my will but your will be done. Can you trust God as your benefactor to return all that was lost or stolen? Cry out today,”Lord, help me to help your people!” What do I need to lay down to truly know you? Break my heart, for what breaks yours. I know you came to Ransom me from the enemy. You have my days planned out for good and not for evil. And when the whole world turns away, you press in even closer. The separating has been hard, but necessary; and I thank you for it. Let us reflect Christ to a hurting and dying world....

As we waded out in the lake together, me totally trusting Christ. He said,”Look down into the water.” As I did as my Master commanded, it was Christ looking back at me. As you are in your “Becoming” season, be Christ looking back at the world. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). So don’t resent the days of small beginnings. This is your season of transformation....
My Fishers of Men....

Tammy Lang Jensen

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery (1 Timothy 4:14).

In the scripture above, the Apostle Paul gave an important admonition to young Timothy, to take advantage of the grace of God. He emphasised the same thought in 2 Timothy 2:1, saying, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

When God gives you a responsibility, He gives you the grace to accomplish the task. To neglect that grace or not to know that you have it could render your work ineffective. For example, if you’re called of God to be a pastor, there’s the grace for that office; it’s the pastoral grace. Once you recognise and acknowledge that you’re called into that office and graced for it as well, it’ll produce results for the glory of Christ, as you walk in that light.

Some people struggle and experience frustrations in ministry because they’re working and walking outside of God’s grace. Working with the Lord and for the Lord is a walk in glory when you lean on His grace to pilot you.

If you’re a pastor, an evangelist, cell leader or you lead in whatever capacity in the Church, and you’ve been experiencing difficulties carrying out that ministry, it’s time to take advantage of His grace. The gifts of God and the power of God work by the principle of recognition and proclamation (Philemon 1:6). Recognise that His grace is on you to function in that office, and keep proclaiming accordingly. This is also true for everyone who is called of God to fulfil any specific or significant role in the Kingdom.

Even now, activate the grace and power of God in your life. Affirm in faith, “I’m graced to excel and fulfil my destiny in Christ. I’m sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency, and His superabundant grace upon my life is sufficient for me in all things. I’m an able minister of the Gospel, because the grace and wisdom of God are at work in me mightily, to carry out the work of the ministry, in the Name of the Lord Jesus”. Hallelujah!

PRAYER
Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for your superabundant, overflowing and infinite grace that’s at work in me. I thank you for the advantage this supernatural power of promotion and unending success brings to my life. I live an extraordinary life of excellence, victory, and dominion, and reign as a king in this life, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

FURTHER STUDY:
John 1:16-17; Hebrews 4:16; 2 Corinthians 12:9

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
John 17:1-26 & 1 Chronicles 9-10

2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Mark 14:43-52 & Numbers 36  

Sunday June 2nd 2019
Memorise: Let everyone of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. Romans 15:2

Read: Romans 15:1-6 (KJV)
1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Bible in one year: 
Leviticus 19-20,
Jeremiah 48:21-39,

Hymnal: 
Sing hymn 5

Message:
Love and sympathy are the proportion of genuine Christianity. Our Lord Jesus Christ accentuated this by distinguishing the instruction to cherish God as the first and most prominent law, after which He pronounced the order to low individual people as the second most significant law (Matthew 22:35-40).

When we cautiously consider love in accordance with Genesis 1:28, it in a flash means an ethical commitment. We as a whole along these lines have a commitment under God to another, regardless of whether as pioneers, ministers, wedded couples, guardians, kin, neighbours or essentially as individuals. Sacred writing further anxieties a more grounded and higher obligation regarding Christians and the Church because of our uncommon advantaged association with God. Numerous Christians don't have a reasonable comprehension of the obligations that God has put on us in connection to our kindred people. Some are as yet asking, "Am I my sibling's manager?" If you should know, the appropriate response is yes. God anticipates you, as Christ's diplomat in this world, to be your sibling's and sister's guardian. We have an obligation to our brethren in the Lord and to the world everywhere, to be the salt of the earth and reference points of light in this universe of obscurity. We have to carry on with an actual existence that is consistent with the thing the Lord said about us in Matthew 5:13-14, which says:

"Ye are the salt of the earth: yet on the off chance that the salt have lost his relish, wherewith will it be salted? It is thereupon garbage, however to be cast out, and to be trodden on the ground of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is determined to a slope can't be covered up."

Each Christian has the duty to speak to Jesus Christ on the planet, living as channels of celestial leniency and thoughtfulness, both inside the Church and out on the planet. Philippians 2:4-5 says,

"Look few out of every odd man individually things, yet every man additionally on the things of others. Give this mind a chance to be in you, which was additionally in Christ Jesus:"

We should not close our ears to the calls of the individuals who are poor in common merchandise or to those poor in soul (Luke 4:18; Proverbs 21:13). Many are frantically needing sustenance, some are suffering differing afflictions and different types of neediness, while some others are in subjugation to sin and are being controlled by the fiend. We should connect with them all with the good news of affection. Give us a chance to attempt to address, fortify, and support each other in adoration en route, making a point not to annihilate any individual who falls into blunder because of one shortcoming or the other. Our light should sparkle so much that the reflection would light up the ways of others in murkiness and along these lines carry magnificence to God.

Prayer Point:
Father, strengthen me to manifest as a problem solver to my generation, in Jesus’ Name.

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 Churches in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.

If we are living now by the Holy Spirit's power, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.
—Galatians 5:25 (TLB)

When Bill Borden, son of the wealthy Bordens, went out to China as a missionary, many of his friends thought he was foolish to “waste his life,” as they put it, trying to convert a few heathens to Christianity. But Bill loved Christ and he loved men! He hadn’t been out there very long before he contracted an oriental disease and died. At his bedside they found a note that he had written while he was dying. It read, “No reserve, no retreat, and no regrets.” Bill had found more happiness in his few years of sacrificial service than most people find in a lifetime.

Prayer for the day
Help me not to count the cost of serving You, Lord Jesus, but let me be completely yielded to Your leading.

Rejoice in the Lord, O you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you upright, in right standing with God]; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart].

Psalm 33:1, The Amplified Bible

Praise. According to the Word of God, that’s the most appropriate, becoming thing that you as a believer can do.

Let me warn you though, God’s idea of “appropriate” praise and your idea of appropriate praise may well be two very different things. The praise He calls for is joyous and uninhibited. And, at times, it’s just plain loud!

If you don’t believe it, look in the Bible and see the kind of praise that goes on in heaven. Read Isaiah 6 and find out how they act in the throne room. The seraphim shout in there until the doorposts shake! And when they do, the glory of the Lord fills the house.

When you get to heaven, you’re going to be praising like that too. You’re going to be leaping and praising God with every part of your being. But don’t wait until then to start. Begin now.

Decide today that instead of praising God the way you like, you are going to start doing it the way He likes. Begin to release those praises joyously, uninhibitedly. Don’t wait until you get to heaven to praise God with all your being. Do it now. He deserves it!

Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 6:1-8

“I’m eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other” (Romans 1:12 NLT).

We can’t live for ourselves if we want God to bless our lives. God will bless your life if you participate in fellowship. You need to be a part of a church family and develop relationships with other believers.

The Bible says, “I’m eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other” (Romans 1:12 NLT).

In other words, Paul tells the Christians in Rome, “I’ll encourage you in your faith. You can encourage me in my faith. And we will bless each other in the process.”

Most of the blessings God has in store for you in the coming months and years will happen through other people. If you never build those relationships, you will never get the blessings.

The most important thing God wants you to learn in life isn’t how to be rich or how to be successful or even how to make the world a better place.

God wants you to learn to love. You learn love by being in relationships. Whether it is at school, at church, in your neighborhood, or in the workplace, you need relationships to help you become who God wants you to be.

If you’re not a part of a local church, you need to find one. It needs to be one of your top priorities. If you’re in a church but disconnected from other people, get involved in a small group or Sunday school.

You can’t be blessed by living an independent, isolated life. We’re better together.

Talk It Over

How have you been blessed through relationships in a local church?
What are some ways you can build deeper, closer relationships within your church?
How can you be a blessing to someone else by helping him or her find meaningful fellowship within a church family?