A Precious Promise of God's Provision

A Precious Promise of God's Provision
By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises . . . And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  (2Pe_1:4 and Phi_4:19)

In recent meditations, we have looked at two differing categories of promises: 
"exceedingly great and precious promises" and "unpopular" promises. 
Both play a vital role in God's plan. The first category of promises brings encouragement, comfort, and hope. The second category warns, convicts, and awakens. Both types are equally certain of fulfillment. Both types are to be heeded and embraced. For awhile now, let's alternately consider promises from these two categories.  
Our present verses contain a promise of the first type. "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 
The context of this promise concerns material provisions. 
"Now you Philippians know . . . no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities" (Phi_4:15-16). 

The saints at the church in Philippi regularly gave of their financial resources that the Apostle Paul might concentrate on ministering the gospel. "Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God" (Phi_4:18). 

Their recent gifts left Paul abundantly supplied. This generosity was also a pleasing spiritual sacrifice in the eyes of the Lord.  
As He did with Paul, the Lord promises to meet the physical needs of all of His children. We can rely on His promised care for us. We do not need to worry or fret. 
"Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things" (Mat_6:31-32). 
Our faithful and loving Father is fully aware of our material needs, and He has committed Himself to supplying them. 
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Mat_6:33). 
Our heavenly Father wants us to give our attention to seeking after Him, not after our needs. He wants us to be on a quest to know Him. He desires that we seek after His holy rule and His righteous ways. He will be faithful to 
"supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 
He may typically use a paycheck to fulfill His promise, but He will supply our needs. Even if we are flat on our backs and unable to work, God is our faithful source.
Dear heavenly Father, I thank You for Your faithfulness in supplying my material needs through the years. Forgive me for doubting You at times, when it looked like the provision was not coming. Help me to seek You and not my needs, Amen.

John Shows the Greatness of Humility

John 3:22-30  After this conversation, Jesus went on with his disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there. He was also baptizing. 
At the same time, John was baptizing over at Aenon near Salim, where water was abundant. 
This was before John was thrown into jail. 
John's disciples got into an argument with the establishment Jews over the nature of baptism. 
They came to John and said, "Rabbi, you know the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan? The one you authorized with your witness? Well, he's now competing with us. He's baptizing, too, and everyone's going to him instead of us." 
John answered, "It's not possible for a person to succeed--I'm talking about eternal success--without heaven's help. 
You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. 
The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom's friend, his 'best man'--that's me--in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start? "That's why my cup is running over. 
This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines. 

John 3:22-30

John Shows the Greatness of Humility 

It is expressly stated in John_4:2 that Jesus baptized through His disciples. This controversy arose with a Jew, who was comparing the respective baptisms of John and the Lord. Perhaps he stirred John’s followers with jealousy as he contrasted the crowds that gathered round the new teacher with the waning popularity of the old. 
But the Baptist had no sense of being aggrieved. His answer is one of the noblest ever made by human lips: “My work has been definitely assigned to me. It has been enough for me to fulfill it. The rapture of the Bridegroom and His success in wooing hearts is not for me. It is enough to behold His joy. He must increase, and I must decrease, but I sorrow not. 
Indeed, my joy is filled to the brim because of His success.”

What a blessing it would be if we could enshrine in our hearts this immortal maxim: A man can receive nothing except it have been given him from heaven! What we have is God’s gift; let us hold it reverently. What another person has is God’s gift to him; we have no right to find fault with His dealings with another of His servants. Our orbits are distinct; all we have to do is to shine our brightest where He has placed us, confident that He knows best.

Springs in the Desert From LB COWMAN

Springs in the Desert From LB COWMAN John Francis <disciplejohn@outlook.com> Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4).When a shipwright builds a vessel, does he build it to keep it upon the stocks? Nay, he builds it for the sea and the storm. When he was making it, he thought of tempests and hurricanes; if he did not, he was a poor shipbuilder. When God made thee a believer, He meant to try thee; and when He gave thee promises, and bade thee trust them, He gave such promises as are suitable for times of tempest and tossing. Dost thou think that God makes shams like some that have made belts for swimming, which were good to exhibit in a shop, but of no use in the sea? We have all heard of swords which were useless in war; and even of shoes which were made to sell, but were never meant to walk in. God's shoes are of iron and brass, and you can walk to Heaven in them without their ever wearing out; and His life-belts, you may swim a thousand Atlantics upon them, and there will be no fear of your sinking. His Word of promise is meant to be tried and proved. There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for His people to make a show-thing of Him, and not to use Him. He loves to be employed by us. Covenant blessings are not meant to be looked at only, but to be appropriated. Even our Lord Jesus is given to us for our present use. Thou dost not make use of Christ as thou oughtest to do. O man, I beseech you do not treat God's promises as if they were curiosities for a museum; but use them as every day sources of comfort. Trust the Lord whenever your time of need comes on. --C. H. Spurgeon Go to the deeps of God's promise, And claim whatsoever ye will; The. blessing of God will not fail thee, His Word He will surely fulfill. How can God say no to something He has promised?

death and life are in the power of the tongue

George Evans

Shared: DEVOTIONAL - The Bible tells us that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), which suggests that with one’s mouth an individual can speak death into his or her life or the

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George Evans

Shared publicly  -  22:44

Kingdom Worker Ministries originally shared:

DEVOTIONAL - The Bible tells us that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), which suggests that with one’s mouth an individual can speak death into his or her life or the same individual can speak life into his or her life.  Interestingly, the words that you speak will produce a crop much like that of the farmer who plants a field.  Scripture tells us “a man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows” (Galatians 6:7 TLB)!  The words that you speak are like seeds that are planted in the ground and from those seeds, you will reap those things for which you have sown or in this case spoken.  We wonder from what kind of harvest would one reap, if he or she only spoke those things found in the word of God.  Now that is something to ponder.

Today’s inspirational message might offer some guidance in answering that thought.  As always, we pray that you will be blessed, informed, and all the better for having read both, the commentary and the message.  If this message is a blessing to you, please share it so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.


God's Word Acts Like A Seed
aDevotion.org





LUKE 8:11 NKJ 
11 "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

A seed is much smaller than what it produces.

The problem you face may seem huge. In comparison, a scripture may seem very small. But when planted, that Word will grow in you and overcome the problem.

A seed always produces after its kind.

Whatever you need, or desire, find scriptures relating to that. Then plant those scriptures inside you in abundance. Those seeds will grow up and produce a harvest of what you need or desire.

A seed is alive: it contains life.

Your physical senses are incapable of judging whether a seed is alive or not. You cannot see, feel, hear, smell, or taste the life in a seed. There is only one way to prove a seed is alive -- plant it.

A seed does nothing until planted.

Seeds do not grow sitting in a sack on your shelf. They must be planted in the proper place.

If you desire the Word of God to produce in your life, you must decide to plant the Word in your heart and mind.

The best way to plant the seed of God's Word in your life is by speaking the Word. Hearing others speak the Word is good -- but will not produce as bountiful a harvest as speaking the Word yourself.

Speaking God's Word with your mouth is essential. As we speak God's Word we are planting the seed in our heart for the harvest of results we desire.



ROMANS 10:10 NKJ 
10 For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.

Whatever you need to be saved or delivered from, confession (what you say) is essential.

SAY THIS: God's Word is a seed that will produce blessing in my life, so I will plant it in my heart and mind by hearing it, reading it, and speaking it.

#KWMinistries #God #Jesus #dailydevotional#enjoy #remember #blessing #faith #Godbless#Christians

Something Worth More than Gold

Something Worth More than Gold

“A good name is to be desired above great riches.” (Pro_22:1)

There is a man in the Bible whom we know much about — but we do not know his name. He is simply referred to as “the rich young ruler.” And here is what we know.

He was rich; secured with financial stability, and free from the anxiety of want. And he was young. His whole life lay before him; and, coupled with his wealth, the sky was the limit on what he could become, and achieve.

He was also a ruler. That means he held a position of power and influence. He was in charge, on top of things; always ready with a plan, an answer, a solution, or a new idea. We also know that he was devout. He was a good and decent man; a man of principle, and high morals. A man whose sense of duty to God and country kept him conscientious of his words and deeds.

So far, we know that he was rich, young, in charge, and devout. But we do not know his name. We do, however know two more things about this man.

First, despite the fact that he was rich, young, in charge, and devout — we also know that he was unsatisfied with his life.

“Good Master,” he said to Jesus, “what is it that I am lacking?”

What a self-revealing question. And how true it is of so many who today possess wealth and position, that ever-present in the depths of their hearts is the gnawing realization that something is still missing.

When Jesus told the young man to give up everything he had and to come and follow Him, the nameless fellow could not do it. This brings us to the last thing we know about him — He walked away from the Lord filled with sadness.

This was his life’s defining moment — an opportunity to walk into history with Jesus Christ. But he turned the offer down. And in so doing gave up a good and great name, which we surely would have known to this day had he said yes to Jesus. He would have been named among the favored followers of the Lord, and the exploits of his life would live on in the telling of the gospel story though all generations.

But he said no.

Well, I will leave you with this — the offer is still on the table. Though this rich, young, ruling, devout, and unsatisfied man said no and walked away sad — YOU can say yes. And we are all standing on tiptoe hoping that you will.

The Number of the Hours

The Number of the Hours
Are there not twelve hours in the day?— John_11:9

The Disciples' Misunderstanding of Christ
These words were spoken by Jesus at the time when news had been brought Him that Lazarus was sick. For two days Jesus had made no move, but had abode with His disciples where He was. The disciples would be certain to misconstrue that inactivity—they would whisper, "Our Master at last is growing prudent"—and therefore their amazement and dismay when Christ announced He was going to Judea. They broke out upon Him with expostulation—"Lord, it was but yesterday that You were stoned there. It is as much as Your life is worth to think of going—it is the rankest folly to run that tremendous risk." And it was then that Jesus turned upon the twelve with a look which they never would forget and said to them, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" It is on these words that I wish to dwell a little. I want to use them as a lamp to illumine some of the characteristics of the Lord, for they seem to me to irradiate first, the earnestness; second, the fearlessness; and third, the fretlessness of our Savior.
The Earnestness of Christ
What first arrests us, reading the life of Jesus, is not His strong intensity of purpose. It is only gradually, and as our study deepens, that we feel the push of that unswerving will. If you put the Gospel story into the hand of a pagan to whom it came with the freshness of discovery, what would impress him would not be Christ's tenacity, but the variety and the freedom of His life. Never was there a career that bore so little trace of being lived in accordance with a plan. Never were deeds so happily spontaneous; never were words so sweetly incidental. To every moment was perfect adaptation as if that were the only moment of existence. This hiding of intensity is mirrored in the great paintings of the face of Christ. In the galleries of the old masters I do not know one picture where the face of Christ is a determined face. For the artists felt with that poetic feeling which wins nearer to the heart of things than argument, that the earnestness of Jesus lay too deep to be portrayed by brush upon the canvas.
But when we reach the inner life of Christ, there passes a wonderful change over our thought. We slowly awake, amid all the spontaneity, to one tremendous and increasing purpose. As underneath the screaming of the seabirds we hear the ceaseless breakers on the shore, as through the rack and drift of driving clouds we catch the radiance of one unchanging star, so gradually, back of all stir and change and the varied and free activity of Christ, we discern the pressure of a mighty purpose moving without a swerve towards its goal. From the hour of His boyhood when He said to Mary, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business," on to the hour of triumph on the cross when He cried with a loud voice, "It is finished," unhasting and unresting, without one check or falter, the face of Jesus is set in one direction; and it is when we come to recognize that unity hidden amid the luxuriance of freedom that we wake to the sublime earnestness of Christ. I think that the apostles hardly recognized it till He set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem. Before that, they were always offering suggestions: after that, they offered them no more. They were amazed, we read; they were afraid. The eagerness of Jesus overwhelmed them. At last they knew His majesty of will and were awestruck at the earnestness of Christ.
Christ's Certain Knowledge of His Limited Time
There were many reasons for that wholehearted zeal which it does not fall to me to touch on here. But one was the certain knowledge of the Lord that there were only twelve hours in His day. Before His birth, in His pre-existent life, there had been no rising or setting of the sun. After His death, in the life beyond the grave, the day would be endless, for "there is no night there." But here on earth with a mighty work to do and to get finished before His side was pierced, Christ was aroused into triumphant energy by the thought of the determined time. "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." That must—what is it but the shadow of sunset and the breath of the twilight that was soon to fall? A day at its longest—what a little space! Twelve hours—they are ringing to evensong already! Under that power the tide that seemed asleep moved on "too full for sound or foam."
It is always very wonderful to me that Christ thus felt the shortness of the time. This Child of Eternity heard with quickened ear the muffled summons of the fleeting hours. It is only occasionally that we hearken to it; far more commonly we seek to silence it. Most men, as Professor Lecky says, are afraid to look time in the face. But Christ was never afraid to look time in the face; steadily He eyed the sinking sands, till moved to His depths by the urgency of days, the zeal of the house of His Father ate Him up. Have you awakened to that compelling thought, or do you live as if your sun would never set? There are but twelve hours in the day, and it will be sunset before you dream of it. Get done what God has sent you here to do. Wait not for the fool's phantom of tomorrow—Act, act today, act in the living present!

Christ's Fearlessness
In the next place, our text illuminates Christ's fearlessness, and that indeed is the textual meaning of it, for it was when the disciples were trying to alarm Him that Jesus silenced their suggestions so. "Master," they said, "It is a dangerous thing to show Yourself at Bethany. Remember how You were stoned on Your last visit; it will be almost certain death to go thither again." And it was then, to silence all their terror and with a courage as sublime as it was simple that Jesus asked, "Are there not twelve hours in the day ?" What did He mean? He meant, "I have my day. Its dawn and its sunset have been fixed by God. Nothing can shorten it and nothing can prolong it. Till the curfew of God rings out, I cannot die." It was that steadying sense of the divine disposal which made the Christ so absolutely fearless and braced Him for every "clenched antagonism" that rose with menace upon the path of duty. When Dr. Livingstone was in the heart of Africa, he wrote a memorable sentence in his diary. He was ill and far away from any friend, and he was deserted by his medicine-carrier. But he was willing to go anywhere provided it was forward, and what he wrote with a trembling hand was this: "I am immortal till my work is done." That was the faith of Paul and of Martin Luther, the faith of Oliver Cromwell and of Livingstone. They had caught the fearless spirit of the Master who knew there were twelve hours in the day.

The Strength in Knowing That God Appoints Our Times
Now it is always a source of buoyant strength when a man comes to see that his way is ordered. There is a quiet courage that is unmistakable in one who is certain he is led by God. But remember, according to the Master's doctrine, our times are fixed as surely as our ways; and if we are here with a certain work to do which in the purposes of God must be fulfilled, no harm can touch us nor is there power in death till it draws to sunset and to evening star. What is it that makes the Turk such a brave soldier that with all his vices we cannot but admire him? It is his conviction of a relentless fate which he cannot hasten yet cannot hope to shun. In the name of freedom, Christ rejects that fatalism; but on the ruins of it He erects another. It is the fatalism of a love that is divine, for it includes the end in the beginning. Never shirk dangers on the path of duty. On the path of duty one is always safest. Let a man be careful that he does his task, and God will take care of the task-doing man. For always there are twelve hours in the day, and though the clouds should darken into storm, they cannot hasten the appointed time when it is night.
And just here we ought to bear in mind that the true measurement of life is not duration. We live in deeds, not breaths—it is not time; it is intensity that is life's measurement. Twelve hours of joy, what a brief space they are! Twelve hours of pain, what an eternity! We take the equal hours which the clock gives, and we mould them in the matrix of our hearts. Was it the dawn that crimsoned in the east as Romeo stood with Juliet at the window? It seemed but a moment since the casement opened, and—"It is my lady, O it is my love." But to the sufferer tossing on her sickbed and hearing every hour the chiming in the dark, that night went wearily with feet of lead, and it seemed as if the dawn would never break. "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" said Jesus—yet Jesus died when He was thirty-three. The dial of God has got no minute hands; its hours are measured by service and by sacrifice. Call no life fragmentary. Call it not incomplete. Think thee how love abbreviates the hours. If God be love, time may be fiery-footed, and the goal be won far earlier than we ever dreamed.
Christ's Fretlessness
Then lastly, and in a word or two, our text illuminates Christ's fretlessness. For never was there a life of such untiring labor that breathed such a spirit of unruffled calm. We talk about our busy modern city, and many of us are busy in the city, but for a life of interruption and distraction, give me the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Some of us could hardly live without the hills—a day in their solitude is benediction; but when Jesus retired to that fellowship of lonely places, even there He was pressed and harassed by the crowd. Every day was thronged with incident or danger. There was no leisure so much as to eat. Now He was teaching—now He was healing—now He was parrying some cruel attack. Yet through it all, with all its stir and movement, there is a brooding calm upon the heart of Christ that is only comparable to a waveless sea asleep in the stillness of a summer evening. Some men are calm because they do not feel. We call it quiet, and it is callousness. But Christ being sinless was infinitely sensitive—quick to respond to every touch and token. Yet He talked without contradiction of His peace—"My peace that the world cannot give or take away"—and down in the depths of that unfathomed peace was the thought of the twelve hours in the day. Christ knew that if God had given Him a twelve hours' work, God would give Him the twelve hours to do it in. To every task its time, and to every time its task, that was one great method of the Master. And no man will ever be calm as Christ was calm who cannot halt in the midst of the stir and say, "My peace"; who cannot stop for a moment in the busiest whirl and say to himself, "My times are in Thy hand." God never blesses unnecessary labor. That is the labor of the thirteenth hour. All that God calls us to and all that love demands is fitted with perfect wisdom to the twelve. Therefore be restful; do not be nervous and fussy; leave a little leisure for smiling and for sleep. There is no time to squander, but there is time enough—are there not twelve hours in the day?

GOD'S EVEN-HANDED GOODNESS

GOD'S EVEN-HANDED GOODNESS
"Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." "Is thine eye evil, because I am good?"-- Mat_20:7-15.

YES, GOD is good! Our eye may be evil; the thick atmosphere of this earth-sphere makes our vision oblique, but our warped judgment avails nothing against the verdict of the Universe. So good is God that He will give full wages to those who would have been glad to fill their lives with helpful service, if only they had had the opportunity. All day long they may have waited for their chance, but the sun slowly crept from horizon to horizon, and no opportunity was offered to them. Or, if finally their chance came, it lasted but for one brief hour! Nevertheless, their reward will be counted not only for the service of the hour, but for what they would have done if they had been called in the early dawn.
This is not after the manner of men, but it is God's way of dealing with men. He gives of "His own" to those labourers who have been faithful to their opportunity, whether the hours were longer or shorter. "His own!" His own Love! His own Joy! His completed Satisfaction!
But all who are admitted to that inner circle must be prepared to drink of His cup, and to be baptized with His baptism (Mat_20:23). Those who shall sit on the right and left of His throne in glory are the ones who have stooped lowest in bond-slave service. The followers of Jesus are not to be ministered to, but must be willing to follow their Lord even to the giving up of their lives. They must resemble their Master who, when He was on His way to redeem mankind, was willing to stand still and relieve the misery of two blind beggars (Mat_20:34).

PRAYER
Oh, Son of God, pour Thy gentleness into our hearts, Thy compassionate touch into our fingers, Thy tender sensitiveness to human need and sorrow into our cold and callous human senses. AMEN.