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Life Under The New Covenant Oct 05, 2015

What laws was God referring to when He said, “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts”? He was certainly not referring to the Ten Commandments, known as the laws of the old covenant, since He said that He found fault with that covenant and declared it obsolete. (Hebrews 8:7–9, 13)

The laws that God puts in our minds and writes on our hearts refer to the royal law of love (Matthew 22:37–40), the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25) and the law of faith. (Romans 3:27) These are the laws of the new covenant.

You live according to the laws of the new covenant when you are conscious of how much God loves you. And the more you are conscious of His love for you, the more your heart is filled with love. When that happens, you will love God and the people around you supernaturally and effortlessly. That is God writing on your heart the royal law of love—that we love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Secondly, when you know that you are perfectly accepted by God because of Jesus’ sacrifice, you can have the courage and liberty as a child of God to come boldly into the presence of your heavenly Father. And in His presence, He is able to write on your heart new desires. You will find yourself wanting to do the right thing at the right time. You will live life victoriously from the inside out. This is the perfect law of liberty operating in your life.

Thirdly, when you sense what God is writing on your heart and putting in your mind, and as your faith is activated causing you to trust Him and His love for you, He calls it obeying the law of faith. When that happens, whatever you believe, you receive!

My friend, God has made it easy—and you will find that it is exciting—to live life under the new covenant!

Thought For The Day

You live according to the laws of the new covenant when you are conscious of how much God loves you.

Run to God Kenneth Copeland Ministries daily devotional 2 October Friday

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9
It’s wonderful to know you’ve been set free from the law of sin and death. It’s glorious to know you never again have to submit to the slavery of sin. But what do you do when, in spite of those wonderful, glorious truths, you still miss the mark? What do you do when you stumble and fall into sin?
Run to your Father and repent!
That sounds simple. But oddly enough we often do just the opposite. Instead of running to God, we let fear and guilt drive us further and further from Him. We start thinking things like, Well, I’ve missed it now. I might as well forget the rest of it and live like the devil.
Don’t make that mistake. Don’t let Satan talk you into sinning in one area of your life just because you missed it in another. When you get off track with God, just confess it and get right back on.
“But, Brother Copeland, I feel so guilty when I tell God what I’ve done that it’s hard for me to make myself do it.”
I know. I used to feel that way too. Then, one day, God said to me, Kenneth, when you confessed that sin wasn’t when I found out about it. I knew about it all the time! When you confessed it is when you got rid of it, when you were cleansed of its effects in your life.
When you make a mistake, when you miss the mark, remember, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1). Run to Him! He knows what you are going through. You don’t need to be afraid. He didn’t tear you apart for the sins you committed before you made Him Lord of your life, did He? Then how much more merciful and loving do you think He’ll be now that you’re His own? Now that you’re reaching out for Him and have a heart for Him?
Don’t run from God. Run to Him. Receive His forgiveness. Receive His cleansing. No matter how badly you’ve sinned, He’s eager to forgive and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

Scripture Reading:

2 Samuel 11:1-5, 12:1-13

STEALING FROM GOD

STEALING FROM GOD 

Memorise: For ye are brought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1st Corinthians 6:20

Read: 1st Corinthians 6:18-20, 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

 

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

 

Bible in one year: Leviticus 25:8-26:13, 1st Corinthians 14:26-15:11

MESSAGE!

The Bible makes it clear that aside from stealing from men, it is also possible to steal from God. Malachi 3:8 says:

“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.”

Your tithe is one tenth of your income, increase or profit. It belongs to God and should be set aside for God immediately after the provision comes. Not paying your tithes can introduce a curse from God into the blessing He has given you. If a man curses you, someone with a higher spiritual authority can break the curse. For example, if your pastor curses you, the general overseer with a higher spiritual authority can break it; but if God curses you, to whom will you run? It is important you pay back to God 10% of everything He gives to you. It is also important you do it the way He expects it to be done. Your tithe must be brought into God’s storehouse, and God must be given a free hand to spend it as He directs. Some people believe that as children of God, they can use their tithes to rescue someone who is in need or in critical condition in the hospital. No! You don’t have the right! If you spend your tithe like that, in God’s record, you will still be a debtor.

In addition, you can also steal from God by denying Him access to, or using inappropriately, whatever part of you He has claimed ownership of. In today’s memory verse, we see that God has claimed ownership of our body and our spirit. He therefore expects that anything we do with our body will be such that will bring glory to His Name. Doing otherwise is stealing from God. For example, overeating, or taking any substance that can destroy your body, makes your body unavailable to its Owner; this amounts to stealing from Him. Anytime you engage your body in any sinful act, you are guilty of inappropriate use of God’s property and therefore a thief. Also, God demands access to your spirit in the place of prayer and meditating on His word. If you deny Him this, you are stealing from Him because He has claimed ownership of your spirit.  If at the time you should be fellowshipping with God in your spirit, you are busy watching television or engaging in any other type of activity that does not connect your spirit to God, you are stealing your spirit away from God. In what ways have you stolen from God? Repent and restitute today.

Prayer Point

 

Father, in whatever ways I have stolen from You, I ask that You forgive me. I repent of these and ask for grace to glorify You with my body and spirit at all times.

GUARANTEE FOR FORWARD MOVEMENT Today: 2015-10-02

GUARANTEE FOR FORWARD MOVEMENT

Today: 2015-10-02

 

There is no plateau in the school of knowledge.

Unless you put behind what you ever know you’ll never access what you ought to know.

And if you don’t know what you ought to know you’ll never attain the height you ought to attain. Stagnation results from obsolete knowledge but forward movement answers to current knowledge.

Currency of knowledge is what validates relevance, being current puts you ahead of others.

It is new things that makes news. Striving to know naturally catapults people forward.

God Is Your Abba, Father Oct 02, 2015

Have you ever realized that God was never known as “Father” until Jesus came to earth and revealed Him as such? In His prayer to His Father, Jesus said, “And I have declared to them Your Name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26) What name was Jesus referring to? It was the name “Father”. If there was anything close to Jesus’ heart, it was to introduce God as “Father” to us.

In the Bible, Jesus said, “Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’…For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” (Matthew 6:31–32) Once, He said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11)

Jesus wants you to always have this image of God in your mind—that He is your Abba, Father. Why? Because He wants you to know that there is nothing more important or too insignificant for the Father when it comes to His children.

Imagine a father playing with his five-year-old son, when he notices a splinter embedded in his little boy’s thumb. The concerned father asks, “When did you get this?”

“A few days ago,” the boy answers.

“Why didn’t you tell Daddy about it?”

“I thought you were too busy and that I shouldn’t bother you.”

If you were that father, wouldn’t it break your heart to hear your child say this to you?

A splinter in one’s thumb may be a small thing, but there is nothing too small when it concerns your child because if it affects him, it affects you too. Now, no matter how old you are today, you are still God’s child, so don’t think that your problem is too small for God. If it is important to you, it is important to your Father too. Beloved, always remember that He is your Abba, Father!

Thought For The Day

If it is important to you, it is important to your Abba, Father!

Focus by Joyce Meyer – posted October 02, 2015

Focus

by Joyce Meyer – posted October 02, 2015

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
—Hebrews 3:1 NIV

Focusing on good things makes us feel good, excited, energized, and enthusiastic. When we focus our time and attention on things we find to be bad, we feel sad, angry, or anxious. That’s why it’s so important for us to “fix our thoughts on Jesus” and keep our focus on Him. God has given us the ability to choose happiness no matter what is going on around us. I am not suggesting we ignore our problems, but there is a big difference between focusing on them—worrying about them—and working to solve or resolve them.

A negative person cannot be happy, and a persistently positive person cannot be unhappy, at least not for any lengthy period of time. Choose to have a happy life by focusing on Jesus. Do what you can do to take care of any responsibility you have with your problem, and while you are waiting for God to do what you cannot do, you are free to go ahead and enjoy your life.

Power Thought: My mind is focused only on Jesus and good things.

Not Satisfied With Just Being Saved

01
Oct

Genesis 12:7

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

I don’t know about you, but I am not satisfied with just knowing that I am righteous by faith. I also want to get to know the One who made me righteous. I want to have an intimate relationship with my Savior!

Abraham was such a man. He was righteous by faith, but he also had a close walk with God and was blessed by God in all things. (Genesis 24:1) His nephew Lot, on the other hand, although righteous too (2 Peter 2:7–8), had no heart for God. He ended up losing a lot when Sodom, the city he dwelt in, was destroyed along with Gomorrah. He was saved by the skin of his teeth!

My friend, do you want to be a Christian like Lot, righteous but always finding yourself in trouble, or do you want to be a righteous-and-blessed Christian like Abraham? Then, like Abraham, have a heart for God.

From place to place, Abraham would build an altar to the Lord. And in between altars, he grew very rich! (Genesis 13:2) There is no biblical record, however, of Lot ever building an altar to the Lord.

What is an “altar” in today’s context? It is a place where you know that you have a close relationship with God. For example, when my late father was in the hospital, I was worried and did not know what to do. I remember driving down the road and crying. After a while, I just threw my cares to the Lord. When I reached the hospital, I just laid my hands on my father and said, “Be healed in Jesus’ name.” And he was healed!

Till today, I can remember the place where I had cast my cares to the Lord and leaned on His love for me. That is my “altar”. And it is not the only one.

We have got to have this kind of relationship with God, one full of “altars” that remind us of His love, goodness and faithfulness. Let’s not live the Christian life like Lot, saved by the skin of our teeth. Let’s walk closely with God as Abraham did, and be richly blessed in every area of our lives!

Thought For The Day

Choose to have an intimate relationship with the One who made you righteous.

HOLD THE FORT! – Thursday October 1st 2015

HOLD THE FORT! 

Memorise: Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Philippians 2:16

Read: Philippians 2:12-16,
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

 

 Bible in one year: Leviticus 23:9-25:7, 1st Corinthians 14:6-25

MESSAGE!

Without controversy, the salvation that Jesus Christ has brought to mankind is free and for anyone who will receive Him. The way to receive this salvation is revealed to us in Romans 10:9:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Have you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord? Do you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead? Have you asked that your sins might be washed away by His blood? If you have done these, congratulations, you have received the free gift of salvation. However, you need to know that the salvation you have received his the beginning of a process that will culminate in your living eternally with God in Heaven, with a transformed body which death and sin have no power over (1st Corinthians 15:50-56). This is the same type of body our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected with and has right now in glory (1st John 3:2). It is at the event where this transformation will take place, referred to as the rapture, that the ultimate experience of the salvation in Christ Jesus will be revealed and received by you. Apostle Paul speaks of this in Hebrews 9:28, while Apostle Peter further expounds on it in 1st Peter 1:5:

“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

  

While awaiting the revelation of the ultimate experience of salvation, the devil, the world and the flesh will work to derail the salvation experience you have received by trying to lead you back to sins you have been saved from. That is why Jesus in Matthew 24:13 says:

“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

You therefore need to endure and not give in to them. You need to continue living in the reality of the salvation from sin which you have received by enforcing your victory over sin. If you return to your former sins, you will not partake of the ultimate salvation experience which shall be revealed and received at the appearing of Christ. Enforcing your victory over sin everyday involves a lot of work. It involves the use of God’s word against temptations, the renewing of your mind, praying for grace and fasting to keep the cravings of your body under check. Apostle Paul refers to this work in Philippians 2:12. The Lord will sustain you as you work at it to the end in Jesus’ Name.

Prayer Point

 

Father, grant me grace to keep at the work required to sustain my salvation in Jesus’ Name.     

HOW TO ENJOY DIVINE BACKING Today: 2015-10-01

HOW TO ENJOY DIVINE BACKING

Today: 2015-10-01

God is committed only to what he commits to you.

When you are on his mission you enjoy his backing.

God lends his weight only to those who follow his ways.

When you are backed by God no man can face you.

When God is behind you no man can stand before you.

The almighty cannot be your defence and a mortal man become to you an offence.

No man can offend you when he is allowed to defend you.

When he raises you no man erase you.

Be intimate with him and no man shall be able to intimidate you.

Just “Be” with Him by Joyce Meyer – posted October 01, 2015

Just “Be” with Him

by Joyce Meyer – posted October 01, 2015

And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here.
– Exodus 33:12, 14, 15

When God called Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him, “Let My peo¬ple go,” he asked the Lord, “Who am I going to say sent me? Pharaoh is not going to listen to me and set the children of Israel free.” Moses was afraid; he was upset. But God said to him, “My presence will go with you.” I love Moses’ reply: “Okay, but if Your presence is not going to go with us, then don’t send me!”

We need to really understand the awesomeness of God’s presence. Why in the world would we not want to spend time with God? We spend time staring in store windows at the mall; we spend time on the Internet. But most people admit it is hard for them to spend regular time with God. The devil fights us when it comes to spending time with God.

Why not begin dedicating a portion of time for that purpose? Try to be as regular about it as you can. Read the Bible and any other Chris¬tian books that minister to you. Talk freely to God about anything you would talk to a good friend about. Listen to Christian music and wor¬ship; or just sit there and enjoy the silence. If you will do that, you will begin to feel and sense the Presence of the Lord and you will begin to see wonderful changes in yourself and your life.

I guarantee you, there is nothing in life you need more and nothing He would enjoy more than spending time with you.

Love God Today: Take time today to do nothing but sit in God’s presence.