Abiding TV

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
—Acts 1:8

It is possible to fill a glass with water without filling it to full capacity. Likewise, when you are born again you have the Holy Spirit in you, but you may not yet be totally filled with the Spirit. Many Christians are very busy doing things for God but don't have enough power in their lives to be what God wants us to be.

Going through the motions and following religious formulas is a waste of time. You must have the revelation that Jesus is alive within you and allow Him to change you and make you a new creature in Christ. Don't tuck God away for emergencies and Sunday mornings. Allow Him to work freely in every area of your life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 121:1-3

In Psalm 121, David describes the safety that he found in the Lord. Over the next two days, let’s look closely at several verses to better understand our security.

• “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth”  (Ps. 121:1-2). When this was written, robbers dwelled in the mountains, waiting for innocent travelers to become their unsuspecting victims. Needless to say, journeying through these hilly roads must have caused anxiety. David’s work as a shepherd took him into dangerous areas, where not only thieves but also wild animals posed a threat.

Our lives can be like mountainous territory. Do you look into the future and wonder what dangers lurk? The Lord is our helper; He is the only one able to protect us. Friends and relatives can offer limited assistance, but God knows everything and has all the power necessary to rescue us.

• “He will not allow your foot to slip” (Ps. 121:3). God has provided everything we need in order to avoid sin. The Holy Spirit directs and empowers us; the Word lights our path so we do not slip. Yet at times, we choose to sin. Almighty God could stop us from disobeying, but He doesn’t interfere with our free will. Instead, He upholds us, enabling us to walk in His way.

These opening verses of the psalm focus on the Lord’s ability to protect us in treacherous times. Whether trouble originates with others, external circumstances, or our own sin, we can find ourselves in danger and afraid. Thankfully, we have a loving God who leads us to safety.


Bible in a Year: Psalms 95-102

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers (Ephesians 4:29).

As Christians, we have the Spirit of Christ. We’re the light of the world. We’re to live, love, talk, and conduct all our affairs in life like Him. Your words should minister grace to the hearers always.

Some people, aren’t conscious of this reality. They’re controlled by their senses: they do the things they want to do and say what they want to say according to their feelings. Such people pride themselves in having terrible, abusive, and insulting words. When they’re angry, they don’t hesitate to speak words that could make the hearers lose sleep. They’re proud of what they should be ashamed of. The Bible says of them, "their God is their appetite." If only they knew the dire consequences of their actions. Philippians 3:18-19 says, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."

Never be happy that you made someone else sad. Don’t be like the man who was happy to talk the usher down just because the usher asked him to sit somewhere in church. That’s inconsistent with your nature of love. The Bible says, "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth" (1 Corinthians 13:6 NIV). We’re ministers of the Gospel, called to minister life and grace. B Called To Minister Life And Grace by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome e like Jesus of whom the Bible says, "And the common people heard him gladly..." (Mark 12:37). When people hear from us, they should be glad, because we minister gracious words to them; words of life. Glory to God!

Prayer

Dear Father, I thank you for your Word that fills my heart with good, excellent, edifying, and uplifting thoughts. I consistently bless and inspire those you’ve placed in my path, encouraging them in the Lord, because my heart is replete with treasures from your Word, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.


further study: 1 Peter 4:11; Proverbs 16:24; Colossians 3:8
: Nehemiah 11-13 Acts 14:1-28

: 2 Corinthians 10:8-18 Isaiah 18

Memorise: 
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Psalms 150:4
Read: Psalms 150:1-6, (KJV) 1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.


Bible in one year: 
Acts 12:6-13:52,
Song of Solomon 3

Message:
There are many people who think that it is only when they pray to God that help comes down. The greatest victories that the children of Israel experienced manifested in an atmosphere of praise. There is always a point where you don’t know what to do again, especially when you have done all you can. This is the time when you should begin to dance to the Lord and praise Him. Paul and Silas were unjustly thrown into the prison, when they did not know what to do next, they turned to praise. The next moment, all the doors leading into the prison flung open, not for them to escape, but for the people to know the potency of the God they were praising. Are you in prison? Do you think there is something the enemy has stolen from you? Have you just lost something very precious to you? Have you just received a sack letter or a negative medical report? Whatever your case is, just begin to dance before the Lord. This is a way of committing God to rise on your behalf.

The moment you begin to dance in the midst of your situation and circumstances, you are simply telling the whole world that you are not a victim. You are provoking God to action and when He rises on your behalf; you become the talk of the town. There are some people who cannot mind their business, they are always wondering why people dance the way they dance. When they see a rich man forgetting his wealth and dancing before His Maker, they continue to wonder why the man has forgotten who he is. The question is who are you before the Almighty God? You are nothing. If we remove God from your life, there is nothing else to see.


 David understood this and he danced and praised God. Dancing shows gratitude to the Almighty God. Dancing is loaded with blessings, when we dance unto the Lord; He turns our mourning into joy. There are people who only dance when the Lord has given them a testimony to share, but those who understand better will continue to dance even before the arrival of their miracles.


When you dance before God and you praise Him with the whole of your heart, you will begin to enjoy divine favour and there will be a divine acceleration of your place of celebration. When you praise God, all your enemies become silenced because your dance will provoke God to rise in your defence.

It is not the dance of everyone that God will rise for. It is only the dance of those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Sin is the only thing that can stop Him from rising on your behalf because He is too pure to behold iniquity.

Prayer Point
Father, please remove everything that will stop You from rising on my behalf.

Open Heavens written by Pastor E.A Adeboye

"No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit."
1 Corinthians 2:11, NLT

TODAY'S WORD:
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God's Spirit becomes one with us and makes His home in us. His thoughts and power dwell in us. One of the ways God empowers us is through our thinking and our imagination. He wants to direct our thoughts because our thoughts set the direction for our lives. If we think God's thoughts, we will get God's results.

How do we know which thoughts are God's? Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God will make it clear. When your thoughts line up with His promises, you can be sure that you are thinking His thoughts!

Today, choose to focus on God's Word which is His thoughts. Let Him empower you through your union with Him. Meditate on the Word and confess His promises over your life. Think God's thoughts and see His results in your life!


PRAYER:
"Father, today I submit my mind, will and emotions to You. I choose to align myself with Your Word. Thank You for filling me with Your Holy Spirit and empowering me to live the life of victory You have in store for me in Jesus' name. Amen."

“You should live in a way that proves you belong to the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12 GW).


The Kingdom of God is a present reality. It’s what we’re to be doing on the earth right now. The power of God is the present resource. It’s the energy you get to do what God wants you to do once you’re surrendered and submitted to his will.

God’s glory is the reason. It’s not the reality or the resource. It is the present reason for everything. It’s all for God’s glory.

Romans 11:36 says, “Everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory” (NLT, second edition).

I talk to people all the time who say, “I have so much, and yet I feel unfulfilled. I’ve got a good family. I’ve got a good job. I’ve got great kids. I’ve got good friends. I’ve got a good congregation to be a part of. Why am I so unfulfilled?” It’s because you were made for more than this! You were made for more than survival. You will never find fulfillment in life until you begin to live in God’s Kingdom, by God’s power, and for God’s glory.

How do you live a fulfilled life — the kind of life that you were designed by God to live?

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 2:12, “You should live in a way that proves you belong to the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (GW).

What does it mean to live in God’s Kingdom? It means you make God’s agenda your agenda. You make God’s will your will. You care about what God cares about. Whatever you want God to bless, put him first in that area.

What does it mean to put God first in your life? I made up a little acrostic, FIRST, to give you five things you need to put God first in.

Finances. If you want God to bless your finances, even during a recession, you must tithe. Sorry! There’s no other alternative.

Interests. Put him first in your hobbies, your career, and your recreation. Give God first consideration in every decision.

Relationships. Put him first in your family, your marriage, and your friendships.

Schedule. That means you give him the first part of every day. You get up and sit on the side of your bed every morning and say, “God, if I don’t get anything else done today, I just want to love you a little bit more and know you a little bit better.”

Troubles. You need to turn to God first when you have a problem. Prayer should never be your last resort. It should be your first choice.



Talk It Over

What do you need to change so that God is first in your finances, interests, relationships, and schedule?
What is your first reaction to trouble?
How can you develop a habit of prayer in your life?

If one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12


There’s power in unity. The devil knows that. That’s why he’s continually fighting it. He takes the differences between us, differences God put there to make us stronger, and tries to use them as a wedge to drive us apart.

Take men and women, for example. He’s deceived us into fighting about which one is superior to the other. But I can settle that argument right now. Women are superior to men. If you don’t believe that, you boys try having a baby. But then, men are superior to women. If you don’t believe that, you women try having one without us.

It’s the differences combined that make us strong!

People have even argued about whether God is male or female. But the Bible itself tells us that. He’s both! That’s right. In the Hebrew language, all words have gender. They’re either male or female. But the Hebrew word Jehovah is both masculine and feminine. He’s as much female as He is male and as much male as He is female.

Originally, mankind was that way too. When God first made “man,” he was as much female as he was male. Then God separated the female part out and made “wo-man” or, “the man with the womb.” After that, man and woman had to come together to be perfectly whole.

That’s still true today. For example, when He puts together husband and wife teams, He often puts people together who have major personality differences. Where one is weak, the other is strong, and vice versa. So, when they become one, they’re more powerful than they ever were apart.

There was a time when I didn’t understand that. I got aggravated with God for calling me a wife who didn’t care for so many things that I liked. But I finally realized God knew what He was doing. If He’d given me a woman who was as nuts about flying as I am, we would have spent the rest of our lives in the clouds. We wouldn’t be preaching the Word. We’d be in some silly air show flying upside down. “The Copeland Team!” or something.



Do you have people in your life who are irritatingly different from you? Don’t let the devil use those differences to drive you apart. Thank God for them! Let Him teach you how to appreciate them. Let Him show you just how powerful you can be...together!

Scripture Reading:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

by Kenneth Copeland

Acts 24:24-27

We like to think that our delay tactics are no big deal. After all, we tell ourselves, no one is really getting hurt by the things we put off. Over time, however, our choices to postpone action can develop into a lifelong pattern of procrastination. In today’s reading, the ruler Felix delayed making a decision about Christ and eventually turned away completely.


To get on track, we must change our attitude about procrastination, admitting it is a serious problem and noticing where we consistently put off action. It’s important to identify any feelings of doubt and discomfort that we may have, confess that procrastination has a hold in our life, and then decide in our heart to turn away from it. Tell God, “I want to live by Your schedule and please You by my obedience.”

Repentance should be joined by a commitment to actively embrace new ways of decisive living. Use God’s Word to fight against feelings of doubt and discomfort whenever they arise. Who we are in Christ and who He is to us are the truths needed to overcome bad habits. The Bible says that we are new creations, indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit, and we are no longer slaves to sin (Gal. 5:1). Jesus, our Savior, is also our Lord. He provides all we need through His resurrection power (2 Pet. 1:3), and His grace turns our weakness into strength (2 Cor. 12:9). Victory is ours through Him (Rom. 8:37).

When we order our life on the basis of Scripture, we will live by faith rather than feelings. Jesus offers to set us free from the bondage of procrastination. Don’t put off accepting His invitation!



Bible in a Year: Psalms 90-94