VIDEO “I’m Hungry”

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6

 

Why are we hungry so often? Well, it’s simple. After we eat, our stomachs pass the food along through our gastrointestinal tract, and then they are empty again. And the process only takes about two hours. Our now empty stomachs send messages to our brains saying, “Give me something more to do!” The brain switches on our hunger pangs, and we start looking forward to our next meal.

In the same way, we should have a recurring craving for the spiritual food God provides the soul. The Bible talks about hungering for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). The psalmist says, “My soul thirsts for God” (Psalm 42:2). And Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

We need a constant diet of heavenly manna, and we need to pass the blessings on to others. Our world is hungering for the Bread of Life. As we share the Living Bread—Christ—with others, we provide them with the opportunity to be inwardly satisfied.

For me, opening up God’s Word [is] like a banquet feast…. Nourishment for my soul. Charles Swindoll

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 Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness – Matthew 5:6

You Are Heard

He turned his ear to me. Psalm 116:2

In the book Physics, Charles Riborg Mann and George Ransom Twiss ask: “When a tree falls in a lonely forest, and no animal is nearby to hear it, does it make a sound?” Over the years, this question has prompted philosophical and scientific discussions about sound, perception, and existence. A definitive answer, however, has yet to emerge.

One night, while feeling lonely and sad about a problem I hadn’t shared with anyone, I recalled this question. When no one hears my cry for help, I thought, does God hear?

Facing the threat of death and overcome by distress, the writer of Psalm 116 may have felt abandoned. So he called out to God—knowing He was listening and would help him. “He heard my voice,” the psalmist wrote, “he heard my cry for mercy. . . . [He] turned his ear to me” (vv. 1–2). When no one knows our pain, God knows. When no one hears our cries, God hears.

Knowing that God will show us His love and protection (vv. 5–6), we can be at rest in difficult times (v. 7). The Hebrew word translated “rest” (manoakh) describes a place of quiet and safety. We can be at peace, strengthened by the assurance of God’s presence and help.

The question posed by Mann and Twiss led to numerous answers. But the answer to the question, Does God hear? is simply yes. 

By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

What do you do when you’re feeling alone or abandoned? What will you ask God, who hears your every cry and cares for you?

Father, thank You for always hearing the cries of my heart. Your help and presence are my rest.

Above All Else, Be Kind

The love of Christ is best understood through actions that reflect His attributes Galatians 5:22-23

Think back to a time when someone treated you with kindness. Don’t you warmly recall that moment in detail? Likewise, others will remember when you respond to them that way.   

Kindness isn’t supposed to be something we express only when we feel like it. It is fruit of the Spirit and should be a defining characteristic of who we are as God’s children. Just as the Lord pours out His kindness on us, He expects us to be kind as we interact with others (Romans 2:4; Ephesians 4:32). 

The apostle Paul tells us, “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience …  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12; Colossians 3:14 NIV). Notice how he describes these traits as clothing—something we can put on, something we can grow into. 

Kindness may not be innate, but thankfully, it can be learned. Ask the Holy Spirit to point out moments where a kind touch is needed from you. And always remember that it not only blesses others but also delights our heavenly Father. 

Judging Error

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Romans 16:17-18)

In order to mark and avoid those professing Christian teachers and leaders who are promoting doctrinal heresy (thus causing divisions among Christian believers), it is obvious that we must exercise sound biblical discernment and judgment. This judgment must be based on “the doctrine which ye have learned” from God’s Word. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

Such decisions are not to be based on supposed scholarship, tolerance, or eloquence, for such teachers “by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Instead, we must know and apply God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures. We must be like the Bereans, who, when they heard new teachings, “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

It is sadly true today that many who call themselves Christians have compromised with the pseudo-scientific worldview of evolutionary humanism that controls all secular schools and colleges, hoping thereby to avoid the “offence of the cross” (Galatians 5:11) and to remain on good terms with “the princes of this world” and “the wisdom of this world” (1 Corinthians 2:6).

They do this for their own personal gain or prestige, however, not serving Christ “but their own belly” (Romans 16:18). Those who are simple Bible-believing Christians are, therefore, not to be deceived by their “good words” but to “mark” and avoid them. HMM

Principle Or Expediency?

Which do you choose when your survival is at stake: Principle or Expediency?

Expediency… of course! Isn’t survival the name of the game? Few of us, after all, have the “gift” of martyrdom!

Only a fool would die for a principle… Unless he had grasped the fact that a holy God will ultimately hold him accountable for his actions:

“Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that… God will bring you to judgment.“(Ecclesiastes 11:9b)

The other evening my wife and I were interacting with a couple whose business is in a free fall. As we discussed options to rescue their company, it became apparent that without batting an eye they had already chosen a path for survival that was in clear violation of Biblical values.

Patently, they had opted for EXPEDIENCY OVER PRINCIPLE.

In reflecting on this couple’s unwillingness to trust God in a time of crisis, I was reminded of Christ’s question:

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?“(Luke 18:8b)

I wonder.

Because, when push comes to shove, only a man with a deep abiding faith in God and His promises would even consider choosing PRINCIPLE OVER EXPEDIENCY.

Daniel was one such man, as he chose to live a Biblically principled life amidst unprincipled, hostile pagans. Often his decisions were made at great personal risk:

“The administrators and the satraps (governors) tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.“(Daniel 6:4)

Like Daniel, we are confronted daily with choices between PRINCIPLE OR EXPEDIENCY.

How we choose will be determined by whom we trust and fear the most:

God or man.

“Underneath are the everlasting arms.”

Deuteronomy 33:18-29

Deuteronomy 33:18

Here is a blessing for the traveller, and a blessing for the stayer at home. In both cases it is given to the children of God to rejoice, for the Lord is with them. If we go only where we ought, and dwell only where we should, we have the Lord for our companion, and, therefore, may constantly rejoice.

Deuteronomy 33:19

It is a happy office to call others to worship the Lord, and a happy providence which makes the salt sea and the sandy waste minister to the supply of our needs.

Deuteronomy 33:21

It is a blessing from God to be decided and vigorous in executing the will of the Lord. Too many are weak and undecided.

Deuteronomy 33:22

Strength and courage show themselves in bold enterprises. Dan leaped and increased his territory. We ought to be bold for the Lord Jesus, and enlarge the boundaries of his kingdom.

Deuteronomy 33:23

What richer words were ever spoken of mortal men. He has a fulness indeed who is full with the blessing of Jehovah.

Deuteronomy 33:24

A sweet prayer for our minister. Let him have thousands of spiritual children, let him furnish the saints with acceptable teaching and edification, and may he practically manifest that he is abundantly anointed of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 33:25

Blessed promise. A rough road needs strong shoes, and they shall be given us; weary days need plenteous grace, and it shall be afforded us. Our strength shall always be equal to every emergency. Hitherto, the saints of God have proved the promise to be true, and they need not fear that it shall ever fail them. Moses now turns his thoughts to his God, whom he magnifies in glowing language.

Deuteronomy 33:25

None in earth or heaven is so good, so ready, and so able to bless his people.

Deuteronomy 33:27

Very sweet is that word, “underneath are the everlasting arms,”—they will break our fall, or prevent us from falling; they will embrace us, give us repose, and finally lift us up to everlasting glory.

Deuteronomy 33:28

God’s people must maintain the separated condition if they would be safe:

Deuteronomy 33:28

Earth’s fountains and heaven’s dews both bless the chosen. All things are full of benediction to those whom the Lord sets apart for himself.

Deuteronomy 33:29

As there is none like the Lord, so there are none like his people. They are happy in the present, and secure for the future—since this God is their God for ever and ever.

Afflicted soul, to Jesus dear,

Thy Saviour’s gracious promise hear;

His faithful word declares to thee

That, “as thy day, thy strength shall be.”

Let not thy heart despond, and say,

How shall I stand the trying day?

He has engaged, by firm decree,

That, “as thy day, thy strength shall be.”

The Great Unseen Reality Is God Himself

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. John 14:1

At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The object of the Christian’s faith is unseen reality.

In the world of sense around us, the visible becomes the enemy of the invisible; the temporal, of the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member of Adam’s race.

Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real; but actually no such contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never! The spiritual is real.

If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of truth we must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen.

For the great unseen Reality is God! “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” This is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to unlimited heights.

“Ye believe in God,” said our Lord Jesus Christ, “believe also in me.” Without the first, there can be no second.

God and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them with as much assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world around us!