He's coming back!

John 14:1-3

[Jesus said,] "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

 

Thoughts on today's verse

 

He's coming back! As much as the world likes to remember Jesus' first coming during the Christmas season, we need to remind people that his Second Coming will be even greater. 

We want to be prepared -- lives dedicated to his glory and hearts full of expectation at his coming.

 

Prayer:

Loving God, I know Jesus will come again. May I be found faithful and expectant when he returns. Thank you for sending him the first time to live in my world and take away my sin. Thank you even more for his next coming to take me to live in your world and share in your victory over sin. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.

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THE LIGHT FOR THE NEW YEAR’S PATH

John 1:1-13

THE NEW YEAR’S PATH titles of our Lord are set forth in royal fashion. As speech reveals the hidden thoughts of men, so does our Lord utter the unseen God. God spake and it was done. His words preceded the act of creation, but Christ was the Word or utterance of God. 

He who created time preceded time, and that which is before time is eternal and divine. Christ is the organ or medium by which God goes forth in creation, providence, and redemption. The life of God was stored in the human nature of Jesus, when the Word became flesh, that it might more readily pass into us.

True life is always light, as the minute infusoria of the ocean are phosphorescent. When we receive Christ’s life, we shine.

Men are still sent from God, as John was, to bear witness to Jesus; but there is also a witness to Him in the breast of man. We call it conscience, or the inner light. 

The blinded world knew Him not. Indeed, Joh 9:1-41 is a parable of mankind’s condition, 2Co 4:4. 

Believing and receiving are the same thing. Let Christ in, and you have instantly the right to call yourself a child of God, Gal 3:26. 

Only God can impart to us the germ of that life, which we share with the Son Himself, Jas 1:18.

Talk to Him who is everywhere tonight with a sincere heart, ask Him to show you that He is real by asking Him to come into your life and make a difference. 

To change you for the better. To turn you around and begin again with Him in all things in life. He is trustworthy and full of compassion, who is on your side to help you!

Walking with Jesus “the Way We Received Him - So Walk In Him”

As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. (Col 2:6-7)

The manner in which we received the Lord 

is the very same manner in which we are to walk in Him. 

"As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." 

We received Him by grace, we must walk by grace. 

We were born again by the Spirit, we must walk by the Spirit. 

Furthermore, when we first received Christ, He was our only hope. 

Now, we are to walk with Him the same way.

It is good to recall how Jesus was the comprehensive focus of our beginning with Him. When we received Him and His forgiveness, we knew He had to provide all that was needed for our salvation. We agreed with the word of God that there was no other hope than Jesus. "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through Me' . . . Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Joh 14:6 and Act 4:12). We knew that we could supply nothing ourselves. We were spiritually dead, having no righteousness at all: "dead in trespasses and sins . . . all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Eph 2:1 and Isa 64:6). We had entered the blessed condition of being convicted of our own spiritual bankruptcy. 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 5:3). Jesus was our comprehensive focus, our only hope.

This is how we are to walk in Him today. 

We need the Lord Jesus as much now for living the Christian life, as we needed Him at the beginning to be born again into it. For growth and victory and fruitfulness, He is the one we must focus upon. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." 

We need to be rooted in Him, having our faith reaching out to Him for nutrition and strength, even as the roots of a tree reach into the soil. We need to be built up in Him, having our lives developed by His work in us. We need to be established in the faith, allowing Him to stabilize us through the study of His word. This will lead to lives of overflowing appreciation, grateful that "Christ is all and in all" (Col 3:11). Truly, we need the Lord Jesus as much now for living the Christian life, as we needed Him at the beginning to be born again into it.

Lord Jesus, my all in all, You were my only hope for beginning a new life with You. Today, You are my only hope for growing in this life with You. Please remind me that my need for You never diminishes. It is constant and comprehensive. Thank You for always being available!

That I May Know HIM!

Philippians 3:10[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [ N1 which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

That I may know him,.... The Ethiopic version reads "by faith"; and to the same sense the Syriac. The apostle did know Christ, and that years ago; he knew whom he had believed; he knew him for himself; he knew his personal interest in him; nor did he know any but him in the business of salvation: but his knowledge of Christ, though it was very great, it was, imperfect; he knew but in part, and therefore desired to know more of Christ, of the mystery and glories of his person, of the unsearchable riches of his grace, of his great salvation, and the benefits of it, of his love, which passes perfect knowledge, and to have a renewed and enlarged experience of communion with him. The apostle here explains what he means by winning Christ, for the sake of which he suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but dung; it was, that he might attain to a greater knowledge of the person and grace of Christ:

and the power of his resurrection; not that power which was put forth by his Father, and by himself, in raising him from the dead; but the virtue which arises from it, and the influence it has on many things; as on the resurrection of the saints: it is the procuring cause of it, they shall rise by virtue of union to a risen Jesus; it is the firstfruits, which is the earnest and pledge of their resurrection, as sure as Christ is risen, so sure shall they rise; it is the exemplar and pattern of theirs, their bodies will be raised and fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ; and this the apostle desired to know, experience, and attain unto. Christ's resurrection has an influence also on the justification of his people; when Christ died he had the sins of them all upon him, and he died for them, and discharged as their public head and representative, and they in him: hence it is said of him, that "he was raised again for our justification", Rom 4:25. Now, though the apostle was acquainted with this virtue and influence of Christ's resurrection, he desired to know more of it, for the encouragement of his faith to live upon Christ, as the Lord his righteousness. Moreover, the regeneration of men is owing to the resurrection of Christ; as to the abundant mercy of God, as the moving cause, so to the resurrection of Christ, as the means or virtual cause; and therefore are said to be "begotten again by the resurrection of Christ from the dead", 1Pe 1:3. This power and virtue the apostle had had an experience of, yet he wanted to feel more of it, in exciting the graces of the spirit to a lively exercise, in raising his affections, and setting them on things above, and in engaging him to seek after them, and set light by things on earth, and in causing him to walk in newness of life, in likeness or imitation of Christ's resurrection, to all which that strongly animates and encourages; see Col 3:1.

And the fellowship of his sufferings; either his personal sufferings, and so signifies a sharing in, and a participation of the benefits arising from them; such as reconciliation for sin, peace with God, pardon, righteousness, nearness to God, &c. or the sufferings of his members for him, and with him, and which Christ reckons his own: these the apostle was willing to take his part in, and lot of, knowing, that those that are partakers of his sufferings in this sense, shall reign with him, and be glorified together. What the Jews deprecated, the apostle was desirous of; namely, sharing in the sorrows and sufferings of the Messiah, and which they reckon the greatest happiness to be delivered from,

"The disciples of R. Eleazar (y) asked him, what a man should do that he may be delivered מחבלו של משיח, "from the sorrows of the Messiah?" he must study in the law, and in beneficence.

And elsewhere they say (z),

"he that keeps the three meals on the sabbath day shall be delivered from three punishments, מחבלו של משיח, "from the sorrows of the Messiah", and from the damnation of hell, and from the war of Gog and Magog.

But our apostle rejoiced in his sufferings for Christ, and was desirous of filling up the afflictions of Christ in his flesh, for his body's sake, the church:

being made conformable unto his death; either in a spiritual sense dying daily unto sin, 1Co 15:31, having the affections, with the lusts, crucified, Gal 5:24, and the deeds of the body mortified, Rom 8:13, and so planted in the likeness of his death, Rom 6:5; or rather in a corporeal sense, bearing always in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, 2Co 4:10, and being continually exposed to death for his sake, and ready to suffer it whenever called to it,

CHRIST’s ETERNAL EXISTENCE

"Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay a foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands; they will perish, but Thou remainest; and they all will become old as a garment. And as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; as a garment they will also be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years will not come to an end" (Heb. 1:10-12).

Christ existed before the beginning of the world; thus He is without beginning.

Jesus Christ is no creature. To be able to lay the foundation of the earth and create the heavens in the beginning implies that He must have existed before the beginning. The apostle John testified to this when he said, "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). Christ is eternal.

Jesus is also immutable, which means He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever." We need to hang onto this truth as we approach a day when much of what we know will change drastically.

One day what looks so permanent will fold up. Like the people Peter warned, we are tempted to think that "all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation" (2 Pet. 3:4). But Hebrews 1:11 tells us that one day Jesus will discard the heavens and the earth, just as we would a useless garment.

Even more amazing, verse 12 specifies that Christ will roll up the heavens. Revelation 6:14 says, "The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." During the time of the tribulation, the heavens, as if stretched to all corners, will roll right up like a scroll.

But we can be confident that although creation will perish, Jesus will not, and He will create a new heaven and a new earth. Living creatures, worlds, and stars are subject to decay, but not Christ. He never changes and is never subject to change. What confidence that should give us for the daily issues of life we face each day!

Suggestion for Prayer

Thank the Lord for His unchanging plan for your life and His ability to keep it.

For Future Study

Read 2 Peter 3 and develop an approach to answering charges unbelievers make about biblical prophecies regarding the end times.



From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

Additional Resources

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 • John MacArthur's complete sermon archive

 • The MacArthur Study Bible

 • The complete MacArthur New Testament Commentary series

GOD CONTINUES TO SPEAK TO THE WORLD

He revealed Himself to the world through His prophets

Then Heb 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son ...The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. 

Creation Prophets Signs/wonders Then came Jesus

https://youtu.be/EjnwldgqN8c

G. Campbell Morgan When God spoke to humanity in Jesus, He said the last thing He has to say.

J.C. Ryle said No man ever thought too much of Christ 

God Freely Giving, Man Humbly Receiving

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? . . . What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it? (Rom 8:32 and 1Co 4:7)

The Lord's plan for rescuing and transforming lives by His grace is established upon the Son of God being given for us as a sacrifice for our sins: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." This gift of God's Son assures us that God will also give us with Christ everything we need. "How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? " God's giving is to be coupled with man's receiving. As God is freely giving to man, He wants man to be humbly receiving from Him.

Every blessing that we have was received from God. "What do you have that you did not receive? " There is no other source from which we can receive true spiritual benefits than the Lord above. "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven" (Joh 3:27). The joy of having Jesus dwelling in our lives as the children of God became true by us receiving Him. "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God" (Joh 1:12). The fact that we are now reconciled to God and are no longer His enemies is based upon us receiving the gift of reconciliation. "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation" (Rom 5:11). The privilege of serving the Lord in ministry is a gift of grace to be received: "the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God" (Act 20:24). The spiritual gifts that we need for enablement in our ministries is another blessing received from the Lord. "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another" (1Pe 4:10).

From initial salvation to growth and service, all that is needed must be received from the Lord. This is an encouraging reality. Yet, it is also a humbling truth. It leaves no room for us to glory in ourselves. "Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?"

Dear Lord, I confess that every blessing I have ever received was given by You from above. I bow humbly before You, admitting that I do not deserve even one of Your innumerable benefits. Lord, I praise You for freely giving to me. I want to humbly receive from You day by day, in Your gracious name, Amen. (DayByDayGrace)

The Land Of Perfect Holiness

“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

1 Thessalonians 5:24

Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall cease our constant watch against an indefatigable enemy, because there will be no tempter to ensnare our feet. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Heaven is the “undefiled inheritance;” it is the land of perfect holiness, and therefore of complete security. 

But do not the saints even on earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The doctrine of God’s word is, that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the righteous shall hold on their way; that those who have committed their souls to the keeping of Christ shall find him a faithful and immutable preserver. Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who believe in him shall ever perish, but shall be with him where he is. Believer, let us often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and honour the faithfulness of our God by a holy confidence in him.

May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May he assure you that your name is graven on his hand; and whisper in your ear the promise, “Fear not, I am with thee.” Look upon him, the great Surety of the covenant, as faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the throne of God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced wine of the Lord’s pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that “faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

God is still seeking Intercessors

{John 3:16. For God so greatly loved and dearly prized His World that He even gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to, relies on, Him shall not perish or come to destruction, be lost, but shall have eternal everlasting LIFE!}

He saw that there was no one, 

He was appalled that there was no one to intervene.

Isaiah 59:16

Thank you Father, for Your invitation to take part in the extension of Your Kingdom by unceasing prayer and intercession.

From the earliest ages God had among His people intercessors to whom He listened and through whom He gave deliverance.Here we read of a time when He searched in vain for an intercessor. And He was “appalled that there was no one to intervene.”                                 

Think of what this means.  God could not find even one who loved the people enough to intercede on their behalf, or who had sufficient faith in His power to deliver.  If there had been an intercessor He would have given deliverance without an Intercessor. His judgements came down (see Isaiah 64:7,Ezekiel 22:30,31).

Of what infinite importance is the place the intercessor holds in the Kingdom of God! Is it not indeed a matter of wonder that God should give men such power, and yet that there are so few who know what it is to take hold of His strength and pray down His blessing on the World?

After Christ had taken His place on the throne, the work of the extension of His Kingdom was given into the hands of men.  Christ lives to pray. God rules the World and His Church through the prayers of His Children.  That God made the extension ofHis Kingdom largely dependent on the faithfulness of His people in prayer is a stupendous mystery and yet an absolute certainty.  God calls for intercessors, and in His grace He has made His work dependent on them. He waits for us.

ALL THESE THINGS!

Mat 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Mat 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

1. The possession of the Kingdom carries with it every needful thing. All values are included in the Divine. Within the Kingdom is absolute beauty, “the altogether lovely,” and if you seek for that the beautiful must come to you. Within the Kingdom is absolute truth, and if you seek for that the true will come to you in the process. And if you do with all your might whatsoever your hands find to do, and do it for the highest end, those necessaries of life which money can buy will also come to you. Good workers who live for the Kingdom never lack bread. It is true that often the very best of them get nothing but bread, or “bread and salt,” whilst those who care nothing for the Kingdom get bread and many things besides. But as Lewis Morris puts it, “Strong souls need little more than bread and truth and beauty.” (From “Great Texts”)

Mat 6:33 But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

Mat 6:34 So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble. AMPC 

Why can’t we trust our feelings!

Watch Now!

The Master comes with thousands of holy angels

Jud 1:14 Enoch, the seventh after Adam, prophesied of them: "Look! 

The Master comes with thousands of holy angels

Jud 1:15 to bring judgment against them all, convicting each person of every defiling act of shameless sacrilege, of every dirty word they have spewed of their pious filth."

Jud 1:16 These are the "grumpers," the bellyachers, grabbing for the biggest piece of the pie, talking big, saying anything they think will get them ahead.

To execute judgment upon all,.... Quick and dead, small and great, high and low, rich and poor, good and bad, righteous and wicked, sheep and goats; to pass the definitive sentence on each, that of absolution, life, and happiness, on his own people, and that of condemnation, death, and misery, on the wicked; which will be done in the most strict and righteous manner:

and to convince all that are ungodly among them; those who are without God, the fear of him love to him, or faith in him; who have lived without the worship of him, or in a false worship; and particularly false teachers are here meant, the same as in Jud 1:4; who will then be convicted in their own consciences, by that clear evidence, and full light, in which things will be set:

of all their ungodly deeds; both against law and Gospel:

which they have ungodly committed; which they lived in the commission of, and continually practised in a vile manner, publicly, and in defiance of heaven, and with seared consciences:

and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him; either "against" God, as the Vulgate Latin version reads, against his being, his perfections, his providence, his purposes, his word, and worship; or rather against Jesus Christ the Lord, who will come to judge them, against his person and offices, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; his ministers and people, his truths and ordinances.

Pro 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his sons' sons, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just and the righteous (those who are doing right In Almighty God!)

Word of His Grace

 Continuing in the Word of His Grace

https://youtu.be/TDPC14FjTkU

I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance . . . receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (Act 20:32 and Jas 1:21)

Paul's exhortation to followers of Jesus Christ was to "continue in the faith" (Act 14:22). "The faith" (in which we are to continue) is the word of God. Paul later called it "the word of His grace." Since God's word is permeated with His grace, it is able to do glorious things in our lives.

James wrote of "the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." God wants to plant His word into human hearts that the word might bear fruit therein. This is how the Lord began His work in us: "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1Pe 1:23). By communicating His word to us (through preaching, teaching, witness, or evangelism), God sowed the incorruptible, eternal seed of "the word of His grace" in our lives. As we believed on Him, the seed of the word germinated in our hearts unto everlasting life. Now, the Lord wants to continue sowing His life-giving seed into our lives that we might grow, mature, and abound in Him.

Our role involves a humble receptivity of His word. "Receive with meekness the implanted word." We are to continually take in the scriptures with a sense of urgent, personal need. Such an attitude would indicate agreement with the words of Jesus. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4). We cannot truly continue in grace without regularly partaking of "the word of His grace." If we humbly take in God's word consistently, the grace of God at work through the word will demonstrate the transforming power of the Bible: "which is able to save your souls." This delivering work of the scriptures is not limited to justification (that is, saving us from the guilt and condemnation of sin). It also includes sanctification (that is, saving us from the tempting and controlling influence of sin in daily living). Jesus prayed for His followers concerning this sanctifying work of the word of God. "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (Joh 17:17). God's word is able to make our lives all that He wants them to be: "the word of His grace, which is able."

Lord God, giver of life, I thank You for planting in my heart the life-giving seed of Your word. I praise You for the changes Your word has already brought into my life. Now, I long to continue partaking of the word of Your grace, which is able to deliver my soul from all that is diminishing and destructive to all that is edifying and sanctifying, Amen.

PROVING OF YOUR FAITH

James 1Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

http://bit.ly/2zE4pyv

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings ([a]rejoice)!

2 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of [b]the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.

6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.

7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,

8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God],

10 And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed (happy, [c]to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.

14 But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).

15 Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.

16 Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect ([d]free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].

18 And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].

19 Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry.

20 For man’s anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires].

21 So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].

23 For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;

24 For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

25 But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).

26 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).

27 External [e]religious worship [[f]religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

Footnotes:

James 1:1 Literal translation.

James 1:5 Literal translation.

James 1:12 Alexander Souter, Pocket Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.

James 1:17 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament.

James 1:27 Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown, A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments: “Religion in its rise interests us about ourselves; in its progress, about our fellow creatures; in its highest stage, about the honor of God.”

James 1:27 G. Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament.

The Mystery Of His Will

Ephesians 1:9-10

He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

 

Thoughts on today's verse

 

Jesus is Lord! God's plan was purposed in Christ. It centered on Christ coming at the right time. 

God's plan was to bring unity in Christ by making him Lord of all! What's more, this plan that brings our salvation brings God great pleasure. 

God is the only saving God and Jesus is both our Savior and Lord. So the real issue we face today is this: 

What area of our lives, our hearts, our secrets, our sin, our rebellion, have we not submitted to his lordship?

 

Prayer:

 

O Precious Father, I know my heart can be deceitful. At times I can even fool myself. But when I kneel in your presence and am convicted by your Word, I find myself reminded of the areas I have not yet fully submitted to your control and Jesus' lordship. Please, dear Father, use the Holy Spirit to gently show and convict of my self-deception so that I may be wholly lost in your will. Through Jesus, Lord of lords, I pray. Amen.

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The Power of Praying for Your Nation

The Power of Praying for Your Nation

by Debbie Przybylski

“Nothing was more pressing than that the nations and multitudes who are marching to a Christless eternity should be saved. How I saw the agendas of men: so many and varied and all of such vital importance to them, but there was only one paramount agenda to God: The nations. I instantly realized that the entire task of the glorious triune God was completely and utterly devotedto this one supreme purpose for which Jesus had so freely given His life. All else was rather trivial in comparison and we all had majored on the trivial.” - Michael Howard

Dear intercessors,

 

A few days ago most People were fixed on the television as they watched the inauggeration of a new president. It was quite a momentous occasion to say the least - Parades, dinners, ballroom dancing, speeches, prayers, and so much more. So many travelled for miles to watch the transference of power and to possibly get a quick glimpse of the new president as his car drove by. So much is at stake when we think of the nations and as we think of the transference of power on that one day. There were riots and protests with those who were opposed to the new presidency. I was struck afresh in my own heart about the desperate need to diligently pray daily for our nation.

As a young missionary I lived for years on a ship that sailed from nation to nation. Although it was not always easy at sea, it was perhaps one of the greatest privileges of my life. While at sea for days with our ship bobbing up and down in the vast and seemingly limitless ocean, it would be easy to feel low or even seasick. It was during those times that I found it was a prime opportunity to seek to see things from God’s point of view. Undistracted by the busyness of the usual routines, I was able to look at God's world and take time to hear His heart of love for the nations. His heart is full of compassion for the world and the desperation of mankind.

What does this mean to us as intercessors and as a people who want to grow in prayer? Our focus should also include the world, the nations (especially our own), and the cities around us. We are the ones who can impact our nation through our prayers. I've heard it said that history belongs to the intercessors.

 

God is looking to and fro across this whole earth to find those whose hearts are as His heart, those who will intercede for the nations. Will you be one to stand in the gap for your nation? God is looking for intercessors (Isaiah 59:16). Will you let God lay a nation on your heart for the purpose of prayer? God wants to give us His passion for the world. A key to our authority is when our heartbeat aligns with the heartbeat of our Almighty God. He desires to use each one of us in a powerful way to touch our own nation. Let's discipline our lives to include pray for our nation and other nations on a daily basis. But how can we do this?

 

 How to Pray for Your Nation

“The only condition that is to give worldwide power to this Gospel is prayer, and the spread of this Gospel will depend on prayer. The energy that is to give it marvelous momentum and conquering power over all its malignant and powerful foes is the energy of prayer.” - E. M. Bounds

 

I encourage you to pray for your nation every day. As you grow in praying for your nation, let God burden your heart for different parts of the world. Ask Him to lay a burden on your heart for other nations, unreached people groups, and other regions of the world. You may want to pray for troubled areas of the world and people you hear about on the news - the refugees, earthquake victims, war-torn areas, and so on. God wants every one of us to open our eyes, enlarge our vision, and begin to pray for the needy world around us.

There are many ways to effectively pray. Some intercessors like to pray through prayer cards with prayer requests for different nations. Others like to pray over a large map of a country. Some like to use the book Operation World that has detailed requests for every nation. Each way is good, but the main thing is to begin. Adding countries into your prayer life develops your effectiveness in a powerful way. Your burden for the world grows, and you begin to see the world and life in a new way. Our own problems seem smaller when we focus on the needs of whole nations and people groups. 

 

Here are several points of prayer for your nation with Bible verses to help you. During your time of prayer, God may have you focus strongly on one or on a few of these items. Be creative, be led by the Holy Spirit, and use the Scriptures in your prayers. Don’t think you have to pray through the whole list, but let God direct you by His Spirit. Here's how:

Thank God for how He is working in the nations -“How awesome is the Lord most High, the great King is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth! God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:2, 8).

 

Pray for unity in the body of Christ -“I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23).

 

Pray for revival among God’s people - “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6).

 

Pray for your governmental and spiritual leaders -“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

 

Pray that God's people will walk in holiness and obedience -“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

 

Pray for the fear of the Lord in your land - “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).

 

Pray for God to send His workers into the harvest field - “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

 

Pray that the Church will reach out to the poor, needy and imprisoned -“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3).

 

Pray for the salvation of the lost -“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).

 

Pray that God will use children and youth mightily for His glory - “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children’” (Matthew 11:25).

 

Pray for just laws and righteous moral standards -“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

 

Pray that the Word of God will be given its rightful place -“Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them” (Psalm 119:129).

 

Pray that Houses of Prayer and worship will start in every major city in your nation - “These will I bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7).

 

Pray that God's people will know how to effectively wage spiritual warfare - “Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”(Ephesians 6:10-11).

 

Pray the promises of God in His Word over the nations - “The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory” (Psalm 102:15).

Praying for the nations has rewards that will endure throughout all eternity. This may be one of the most strategic things we ever do. One day we will worship God around the throne in heaven with people from every tribe and tongue and nation (Revelation 5:9). We will then realize the value of every prayer we prayed for a nation while we were on the earth. Are you willing today to pray daily for your nation? Are you willing to invest your time in a task that is so rewarding? 

11 Breakthrough Prayers to Empower Your Life in 2017!

"While I am very excited about what is happening, yet as an intercessor, I can never forget that over half of the world’s population has never heard of Jesus. The task ahead is still enormous. As darkness covers the earth in the last days and darkens the people, the glory of the Lord will shine brighter and brighter in the face of a people who love Him absolutely and uncomprisingly. In this way, the whole world will know that there is a God who reigns in the Heavens and man will be left without excuse on the day of Christ’s appearing. The Spirit is still heralding a call for watchmen to join the great choir of intercessors.” Michael Howard

Together in the Harvest,

 

Debbie Przybylski

Intercessors Arise International

International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC)

deb@intercessorsarise.org

www.intercessorsarise.org

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THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT

"Teach me to do Thy Will; for Thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness." — Psa 143:10.

TEACH ME to do Thy Will, i.e. throw the responsibility of your life back on God. The one important thing for you to be absolutely sure about is that you desire, at all costs, to do God's Will. If you do not so desire, at least you must be willing to be made willing. Cast on God this burden of making you willing, and believe that He undertakes it. His people shall be made willing in the day of His power. When this point is settled, then God by His Holy Spirit will sooner or later teach you what He wants to be done, and enable you to do it. Like Samuel, if you say: Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth, you will hear the Voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it; this must be said, say it; this needs to be done, do it; and as you endeavour to obey the gentle promptings of the Spirit, you will discover that adequate strength and grace are being poured into your soul.

"Thy Spirit is good." There is our only hope. If it were not for the infinite goodness, the patient gentleness, the loving forbearance of the Holy Spirit, we could have no chance, for nothing but infinite Goodness could bear with our frailties and backslidings, our lapses into coldness and indifference, our perverseness and obstinacy. But because God's Spirit is good, we may reckon on Him pervading us with His holy influence till our evil nature is overcome by His goodness, and we also in our measure become good. It is said of Barnabas that he was a "good man," because he was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.

"Lead me." The Psalmist's prayer is—Teach me, lead me, quicken me. Let us make this prayer our own. What better guarantee of being led aright than for us to yield ourselves to our gentle gracious Guide. We are like little children that require to be led, as the mother or nurse takes the child by the hand and leads him to the school-house, and fetches him again. Some of us are blind, and need a kindly hand to guide us as we grope in the dark. Let us walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and be very sensitive to the Spirit. Then we shall instinctively know God's Will, and do it.

PRAYER

I need a hand to lead me through the darkness,

For I am weak and helpless as a child;

And if alone I have to take my journey,

My feet will stumble on the mountains wild.

AMEN.

JESUS, THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT

"The first Adam became a living soul; the last Adam became a Life-Giving Spirit." — 1Co 15:45.

ARE YOU, my friend, in the first Adam or the second? It is a vital question, and it would well repay you to put aside all else in order to give a considered answer to this question. You ask for the fundamental difference between the first Adam and the second. The Apostle states it clearly in this chapter from which our text is taken. The contrast between the two is the soul-life of the first and the Spirit-life of the second. This is the distinction which Jesus made at the beginning of His ministry, and it pervades the New Testament. The sphere of Christianity is the realm of the spirit. Its object is to lift man from the soul-level to the spirit-level.

The soul is the centre of our personality. It is you, or I, or any other person! From it we look on two worlds. To the material world we are related by the organs of touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing. To the eternal world we are related by the organs of the spirit, which are probably identical with the lower. We have the option of descending by the spiral staircase downward to materialism, or of ascending upward to fellowship with God. Alas, that too often we descend to the lure of the savoury pottage, instead of climbing the ladder which reaches to Heaven.

It is clear that we must die to the self-life, to the promptings, suggestions and solicitations of the ego, which is entrenched in the soul. Self is the root of our alienation from the Life of God. All the evils of fallen angels and man have their birth in the pride of self. On the other hand, all the blessedness of the heavenly life is within our reach, when the self-life is nailed to the Cross of Jesus.

How is this self-life to be brought to death? Only by our identification with the Cross on which Jesus died. We were nailed there in the purpose of God, and we must accept that position and extract its help by a living faith. It was by the Eternal Spirit that Jesus offered Himself unto God, and it is by that same Spirit that we, too, may say: "I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." There must be an exchange of lives, from the self-life to the life of the Crucified and Ascended Saviour, communicated by the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER

Behold, O Lord, I am Thy servant, prepared for all things; for I desire not to live unto myself, but unto Thee; and Oh, that I could do it worthily and perfectly! AMEN.

IF! You have Faith (firm relying trust ) on GOD

Matthew 21:21

(Matthew 21:18-22)

Mat 21:18 In the early dawn the next morning, as He was coming back to the city, He was hungry.

Mat 21:19 And as He saw one single leafy fig tree above the roadside, He went to it but He found nothing but leaves on it [seeing that in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. And He said to it, Never again shall fruit grow on you! And the fig tree withered up at once.

Mat 21:20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled greatly and asked, How is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?

Mat 21:21 And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.

Mat 21:22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.

Jesus answered and said unto them,.... His disciples wondering at his power, in causing the fig tree to wither so suddenly:

verily I say unto you, if ye have faith; that is, in God, in his power, which reaches to all things: the object of faith is expressed in Mark, and by way of exhortation, "have faith in God", that he will enable you to perform whatsoever ye shall desire; which must be understood, not of spiritual faith in the promises of God, and person of Christ, but of, the faith of miracles, or faith in the power of God to perform things that are above the strength of nature:

and doubt not; either of the power, or will of God to do for you, and by you, the thing desired; for this kind of faith would not admit of the least degree of doubting: there must be no hesitation in the mind, no reasoning upon the thing, how it can be performed; the mind must not be divided between the power and will of God, and the difficulties and discouragements which attend the case, but must believe in hope against hope, with a full persuasion of accomplishment: for want of this faith, without doubting, the disciples could not cure the child that was lunatic.

Ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree; cause one to be dried up, and wither away by a word, as Christ had done to this, which, comparatively speaking, was but a lesser sort of miracle;

but also, if ye shall say to this mountain; the Mount of Olives, where Christ and his disciples now were, and were passing over, or, at least, were very near it; or any other mountain wherever they might be, to which they should, upon any occasion, think fit to say,

be thou removed, and cast into the sea; which was many miles off from Mount Olivet, and must he a very surprising performance for a mountain to be rooted up, so large as that was, and be carried several miles from its former situation, and be thrown into the sea; and yet, as difficult and amazing as this may seem,

it shall be done: that is, provided the person doubts not; or, as it is said in Mark, "shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things, which he saith, shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith": for this must not be confined to the particular instances of drying up a fig tree, or removing a mountain, but the doing of any sort of miracle, how great soever. Nor is it our Lord's meaning that they should do these particular things; nor is it certain that they ever did: but his sense is, that, had they faith, they should be able not only to do such lesser miracles, as, comparatively speaking, the withering of the fig tree was, but they should be able to perform things much more difficult and surprising, whenever the good of the souls of men, the propagation of the Gospel, and the glory of God required them.