VIDEO God Speaks Through His Word

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

After flying thirty bombing missions during World War II, Tom Landry returned home to a career in professional football. In time, he became coach of the Dallas Cowboys. About that time a friend invited Landry to a Bible study breakfast. Though Landry attended church, he had little interest in the Bible; but he went because of his friend. The lesson was about the Sermon on the Mount, and Landry was intrigued by Matthew 6 and 7. He realized that despite his personal success, his heart was still restless. “I wondered if that was all there was to life,” he said.

Over time, Landry studied what God said in His Word about sin, death, salvation, and eternity. “I had always figured I was a pretty good person. Now here was the Bible saying I was as much a sinner as anyone in the world.” After months of pondering, Landry gave his life to Christ and, as he later said, his priorities changed from football, football, football, to God, family, football. His life came into focus.

Maybe you can invite someone like Landry to a Bible study. When people hear the Bible, they hear God loud and clear. Get out of the pocket and look for a receiver. And ask God to help you connect someone with His Word.

My relationship with Christ gives me a source of power I would not have otherwise…. power, and love and self-control. Tom Landry

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Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant – Thy Word

Living in Tents

From there he went on towards the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent. Genesis 12:8

Growing up in Minnesota, a place known for its many beautiful lakes, I loved to go camping to enjoy the wonders of God’s creation. But sleeping in a flimsy tent wasn’t my favorite part of the experience—especially when a rainy night and a leaky tent resulted in a soggy sleeping bag.

I marvel to think that one of the heroes of our faith spent a hundred years in tents. When he was seventy-five years old, Abraham heard God’s call to leave his country so the Lord could make him into a new nation (Gen. 12:1–2). Abraham obeyed, trusting that God would follow through on His promise. And for the rest of his life, until he died at 175 (25:7), he lived away from his home country in tents.

God gives us a solid foundation for our lives.

We may not have the same call as Abraham did to live nomadically, but even as we love and serve this world and the people in it, we may long for a deeper experience of home, of being rooted here on earth. Like Abraham, when the wind whips our flimsy covering or the rain soaks through, we can look with faith for the city to come, whose “architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). And like Abraham, we can find hope that God is working to renew His creation, preparing a “better country—a heavenly one” to come (v. 16).

Lord God, You are our shelter and our foundation. May we trust You in the big things and small.

What are you trusting God for today? Share it with others on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.

God gives us a solid foundation for our lives.

By Amy Boucher Pye 

INSIGHT

Abraham is included in the list in Hebrews 11 of those who were “commended for their faith,” but did not receive “what had been promised” (v. 39). This chapter is a reminder that the only way to live and to please God is by faith (v. 6). Those living by faith were those who chose to live as “foreigners and strangers on earth”—people who had refused to return to the life they had left behind and who “[longed] for a better country—a heavenly one” (vv. 13–16).

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we “are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Eph. 2:19).

Ponder the way Jesus changed our status from foreigners and strangers to citizens of heaven and God’s children.

For additional study listen to “The Daily Life of Faith” at discovertheword.org/series/the-daily-life-of-faith/.

Sim Kay Tee

No Condemnation in Christ

Mark 16:5-7

Peter was devastated when he realized he’d denied Christ not once but three times, as Jesus had foretold (Luke 22:61-62). This was the man who just hours earlier had bravely vowed to die for his Lord (Luke 22:33). I doubt he ever forgot the horror of such utter failure. He probably spent the next few days suffocating under a weight of guilt.

Maybe you know exactly how heavy that burden feels. The weight of your sin goes everywhere with you, dragging your heart into a pit of despair. God’s disfavor seems to bear down on you. In a word, you feel condemned. However, for all who have trusted in Jesus’ atoning death on their behalf, the feeling of condemnation is just that—a feeling. It isn’t the truth.

The fact is that believers are not condemned for iniquity, no matter how terrible or habitual their transgression may be (Rom. 8:1). Condemnation is reserved for the unbeliever, who is declared guilty of sin and punished (John 3:36). We may judge ourselves harshly because our actions and motives fall short of a holy standard. But when God looks at the Christian, He sees only the righteousness of Christ, which clothes us the moment we say yes to the Savior’s sacrifice on our behalf. No one can do enough good to merit his own salvation. Jesus alone removes the believer’s sin and guilty verdict.

God understands our heart’s burdens, even self-inflicted ones. That’s why the Lord sent Peter a message: The disciple needed to know Jesus had risen—conquering sin and death—and was waiting in Galilee (Mark 16:7). God’s hope is for all believers to understand there is no condemnation in Christ.

Singing Garments of Life

“The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.” (Psalm 65:13)

This is the concluding verse of the beautiful 65th Psalm, climaxing a remarkable series of testimonies about God’s providential care of His creation. In this final figure, the lands are pictured as clothed in beautiful, living garments—garments that shout and sing in joyful praise to their Maker.

The figure would be better appreciated in biblical times or in certain lands (e.g., New Zealand) today where flocks of sheep are so abundant that they literally seem to cover the pasture lands in wool. The flocks first provide a metaphorical garment for the pastures, then literal clothing for men and women. Similarly, the fertile valleys are everywhere arrayed in golden grain, which later provides food for both the animals and human beings.

And “the sounds of the earth are like music,” as the song so eloquently expresses it. For those with ears to hear and eyes to see, praise is everywhere being offered up to our great Creator and faithful Sustainer by the very creation itself.

Jesus also spoke of the beautiful garments of creation: “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:28-30).

The verse following our text, therefore, appropriately exhorts, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands . . . All the earth shall worship thee” (Psalm 66:1, 4). HMM

Have mercy upon us, O Lord

2 Samuel 12:1-10, 13, 14

2 Samuel 12:1

Such a sin could not remain unpunished. The Lord sent the same messenger to rebuke who had formerly come to bless. It was great mercy on God’s part to send a faithful preacher to David; if he had not loved him, he might have left him to his own hardness of heart. We ought to bless. God much for those who will honestly deliver the divine message to us, whether it be sweet or bitter.

2 Samuel 12:6

Little did he think that he had pronounced sentence on himself. We are ready enough to condemn others, but, ah! how slow to see sin in ourselves.

2 Samuel 12:7, 8

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

The parable was full of wisdom, and the application full of courage. How thunderstruck was the king! How his colour must have changed! How loudly did his conscience say “Amen” to all that the prophet spake. Nathan went on to set forth David’s sin, that he might see more of its blackness, and repent the more heartily.

2 Samuel 12:10

Here was sharp medicine for a foul disease. If we sin, we must smart for it. The Lord’s beloved cannot escape the rod if they transgress. In this case, as in most others, the chastisement was of the same nature as the sin. He had slain Uriah with the sword, and the sword was now to waste his family.

2 Samuel 12:13

A child of God may sin, but he cannot continue in it. If there had been no grace in David, he would have been angry with Nathan, but the spiritual life within him brought him into the dust of repentance at once. Many sin, as David did; but never repent, as he did.

2 Samuel 12:13

How quickly the pardon came! “Confess, and live” is God’s word to the erring. The Lord our God delighteth in mercy. Let us go to him and acknowledge our transgressions at once, and find immediate pardon.

2 Samuel 12:14

Though David shall live, he shall smart in a tender place. God forgives his children, but he will not suffer them to think lightly of sin; he will smite them heavily, though not mortally. O Lord, keep us from sin.

 

Mercy, mercy, God the Father!

God the Son, be thou my plea!

God the Holy Spirit, comfort!

Triune God, deliver me!

 

Not my sins, O Lord, remember,

Not thine own avenger be;

But, for thy great tender mercies,

Saviour God, deliver me!

 

How To Respond To a Financial Attack

Galatians 6:9

One area where many people struggle is in the realm of finances. Financial stress is one of the most difficult pressures that can be experienced in life. If you’ve ever experienced the stress that comes from financial pressure, you know how difficult it is when you are so strapped that you don’t have enough money to pay your bills.

But I want to tell you that God is always faithful! If you are living for God, walking in holiness, doing what the Holy Spirit has told you to do with your life, and sowing your financial seed into the soil of God’s Kingdom, then you are promised a harvest to meet the needs in your own life. Sowing and reaping is not a fantasy or a fairy tale. This is God’s promise to you, and it always works.

But what should you do when the devil is assailing your finances? I’m talking about those times when you’ve done everything you know to do, but you are still being financially hassled.

During those times when my family or our ministry experiences a financial shortage, we always evaluate several areas to see if we are doing anything that would hinder us from receiving the resources God wants to give us. In such moments, I always carefully examine my own heart, and I ask myself:

• Am I harboring any unforgiveness that would block me from receiving God’s blessings in my life?
• Am I walking in holiness before the Lord, or am I allowing any sinful thoughts or actions to have a place in me that would block me from receiving from the Lord?
• Am I doing what God has told me to do with my life, or am I disregarding His instructions and going my own way instead?
• Am I being faithful to sow my tithes and offerings into the Kingdom of God, or have I gotten behind in my giving or forgotten to sow a seed that the Spirit of God told me to sow?
• Am I under attack because the devil is against my dream or my mission and is therefore trying to turn off the valve of blessing so I become drained of what I need to fulfill the assignment God gave me?

If I am at peace and sure that I have done nothing to hinder God’s blessings from flowing into my life or ministry, I then proceed to deal with these shortfalls as devilish attacks. I take authority over the devil and tell him to take his hands off my finances. I press deep in prayer until I know inwardly that the blockage has been removed. Often I literally feel that barrier move out of the way as the Spirit of God shoves it aside and makes an avenue for His blessings to flow into my life and ministry. When this occurs, it is never long before my wife and I see a manifestation of God’s blessings.

As we are commanding the devil to move out of the way, God’s Spirit often speaks to our hearts and tells us that we need to sow an extra, sacrificial financial seed into someone else’s ministry in order to break the stranglehold the devil is trying to put on us. For instance, once when we needed a new building and were desperate to find the money to pay for it, the Holy Spirit instructed us to sow a seed into someone else’s building project. “If you have a need, sow a seed” is the message I always share with our congregation and partners.

Therefore, at the time of our own need, we knew it was time for us to sow an extra large gift into someone else’s building program. Although the amount of money was huge to us at the moment, we knew that sowing that seed was essential if we were going to experience the financial breakthrough we needed for our own building. After we sowed that seed, it wasn’t long before doors began to supernaturally open and the next facility we needed became available to us.

You see, sometimes you have to do something that requires extra faith in order to break the vice-like grip that the devil is trying to put on you. That extra sacrificial gift the Holy Spirit tells you to give may be the very act of faith that releases the power needed to rip the devil’s hands off your situation. Could it be that this is what you need to do right now in order to make a bold stand of faith?

In Galatians 6:9, the apostle Paul told us, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Do you see the word “weary” in this verse? It comes from the Greek work egkakao, which is a compound of the words en and kakos. The word en means in, and the word kakos describes something that is evil or bad. When these two words are used together, as in this verse, the new word means to grow weary; to give in to evil; or to let something bad defeat you. It gives the idea of surrendering or giving in to bad circumstances.

 

This means the apostle Paul was telling the Galatians:

“Don’t let evil get the best of you….”

“Don’t let the bad circumstances wear you down and wear you out….”

“Don’t give in to the evil that intends to defeat you….”

When hard financial times come, that isn’t the time for you to surrender to circumstances—it’s the time for you to put up a fight! Instead of giving in and surrendering to the attacks that are assailing you, you have to “put up your dukes,” heave backward with all your spiritual might, and throw a knockout punch at the face of the devil! Don’t shrink back in fear or worry; instead, make this a critical moment when you sow an extra financial seed! Do something bold that will break that stranglehold the devil has tried to put on you.

Could it be that this is one of those moments when you need to throw all your spiritual weight against the devil and show him that you’re not going to take any more flak from him by sowing an extra seed?

Do exactly what the Holy Spirit impresses you to do. Once you obey His leading, you must then use your God-given authority and command the devil to take his foul hands off your finances! Boldly declare by faith that God’s blessings are yours. You have every right to expect God’s blessings to come pouring into your life!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, thank You for showing me today how to respond to the financial attacks I am experiencing in my life. Please help me know where to sow an extra financial seed right now. Help me to sow it by faith, confidently expecting it to break the stranglehold that has been on my financial situation. Satan, I command you to take your hands off my finances! I am a giver and therefore a receiver of God’s promised blessings. You have no right to exercise any control over my money and possessions! I tell you to go in Jesus’ name! Father, I thank You for honoring Your Word and causing my situation to turn around. I thank You in advance for the abundance that is going to start flowing into my life!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I am an overcomer! Difficult circumstances do not control my life or my obedience. Instead of surrendering to the attacks that are assailing my finances, I am going to throw a knockout punch at the face of the devil! At this critical moment, I am going to sow an extra financial seed that will break the devil’s stranglehold on my life. Once I obey what the Holy Spirit is telling me to do, I will boldly command the devil to take his foul hands off my finances! It won’t be long before the seed I sow is multiplied back into my life. Then I’ll stand in the manifestation of God’s blessings!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. Can you think of a specific time in your life when you were under great financial stress and the Holy Spirit instructed you to sow an extra large, extra sacrificial gift into your church or into someone’s ministry?
2. What happened to your situation after you sowed that gift? Did you ultimately experience a turnaround in your situation? Did you attribute your financial breakthrough to your bold act of giving in a difficult moment?
3. If you are facing financial stress right now, could it be that you need to sow a special seed to break the stranglehold the devil is trying to force upon you?

 

Spiritual Decline

Are there parallels between Israel’s spiritual decline and ours? She was:

 

Unappreciative — “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Thy wonders; They did not remember Thine abundant kindnesses, but rebelled by the sea… ” (Psalm 105:7)

 

Independent — “They quickly forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel… :” (Psalm 106:13)

 

Sensual — “[They] craved intensely in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.” (Psalm 106:14)

 

Secular — “They exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass… They mingled with the nations, and learned their practices… And served their idols, which became a snare to them.” (Psalm 106:20, 29, 35, 36)

 

Discontent — “They despised the pleasant land… [They] grumbled in their tents… ” (Psalm 106:24a, 25a)

 

Void of Faith — “They did not believe in His Word… They did not listen to the voice of the LORD.” (Psalm 106:24b, 25b)

 

Resistant to the Holy Spirit — “They were rebellious against His Spirit… ” (Psalm 106:33a)

 

Willing to sacrifice her children — “They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan… ” (Psalm 106:37, 38a)

 

We identify with William Bennett’s comment, “We have a real problem in this country when it comes to values. We have become the kind of societies that civilized countries used to send missionaries to.”

 

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34)

 

When God rescues a nation, He always uses a man:

 

“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)

 

QUESTION: What do you think God would have you do on a personal level to make a difference in the Nation? Are you up to the challenge?