The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9)
Our God is in the blessing business, and let me assure you that He wants to do much more than bless your food. Yet for far too many brothers and sisters in our family of faith, that is as far as they go when it comes to seeking the blessings of God. We serve a big God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and we ought to be looking to Him each day for big blessings!
You see, God wants us to come to Him with open minds, open hearts, and open hands, ready to receive all that He has in store for us. God wants us to trust more, seek more, believe more, wait more, expect more, pray more, and depend more. God wants us to pour out our lives out in service to Him for His glory and the good of all others. As we engage in advancing the cause of His big Kingdom (rather than our own little kingdom), God will bless our efforts beyond our wildest imaginations!
Perhaps you are facing a challenge right now that seems impossible to overcome. It will serve you well to remember that with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). Hudson Taylor, who spent more than 50 years working as a missionary to China, said this about God doing the impossible in our lives: “There are three stages to every great work of God; first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.” Remember, even when circumstances argue against all hope, we are still to have hope. Because Jesus is our Living Hope, we have a hope that nothing in this world can affect.
What would you like God to bless in your life right now? Come into His Presence and share what is on your heart and prepare to be blessed. You have our Lord’s Word on that!
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11)
Jesus told us that we are to always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1). Did He say that so that we would ask and then be frustrated and discouraged when we don’t get the answer we want? That would be cruel, and the God-Man who died for us on a cross is anything but cruel! No, Jesus told us to keep asking, seeking, and knocking so that He could do immeasurably more than all we can ask or even imagine (Ephesians 3:18). Think big, Christian! Pray big!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:26-27)
In this segment of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was teaching about worry, and He made it clear that the reason why we are not to worry is the fact that He has promised to meet our every need. Now, don’t confuse the word worry with concern. To be concerned is to be moved to action through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Worry, on the other hand, keeps you from moving at all. Worry paralyzes any meaningful forward progress.
Jesus pointed to the birds and their lack of any concern whatsoever for their daily needs. Birds neither sow, nor reap, nor store away in barns, yet their every need is met. We are image-bearers of the Most-High God; we are much more valuable to God than the birds; therefore worry makes no sense at all!
Here is a lovely thought that was provided to us by an anonymous author:
Said the robin to the sparrow, “I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so.”
Said the sparrow to the robin, “Friend, I think that it must be That they have no heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me.”
Only by pressing in to the presence of our Lord Jesus each day will our lives begin to reflect the attitude of the birds. Worry will be as far as the east is from the west as we look to Jesus, knowing that our God has promised to meet all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). And He has always made good on every one of His promises. You have His Word on it!
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Christian, let the next bird you see be a reminder that God cares for you completely.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV)
The Bible tells us that we play a vital role in deepening our faith. I call it “fitness for your faith.” Did you ever wonder why the Word of God contains so many athletic metaphors for growing and maturing in our faith? It is because our faith is like a muscle; the more we use it, the stronger it becomes. The opposite is also true; the less we exercise our faith, the weaker it becomes.
D. L. Moody, the great 19th-century evangelist and founder of the Moody Bible Institute, shared profound insight into this truth. Moody wrote, “I prayed for faith, and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, ‘Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.” Spending time in God’s Word was the key that unlocked the door to Moody’s ever-increasing “faith fitness.”
Every time we read a passage of Scripture, we gain greater insight into both the Word of God and the God of the Word. As we read the Word, the Word reads us. This process strengthens our resolve to put into practice what we are learning. Never forget that faith without works is dead. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). Fitness for your faith is the desire to do what Jesus wants us to do, when He wants us to do it, and how He wants us to do it. And when we mess things up, we must remember that we are secure in our relationship with Jesus — not because of our faithfulness to Him, but His unwavering, eternal faithfulness to us.
When the apostle Paul exhorted us to “work out your salvation,” he was not telling us our salvation is in jeopardy. Scripture is crystal clear on that fact; nothing can snatch us out of our Savior’s hand (John 10:28-29). Paul was encouraging us to actively pursue — to work out — our obedience by going to the supernatural Source of our salvation and our sanctification: the Word of God.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 