| Today’s Scripture | |
| “‘…I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the LORD Almighty.” (Haggai 2:23, NIV) |
|
|
|
|
| Sealed By God | |
|
We don’t often hear about signet rings anymore; but in Bible times, they were very significant. The signet ring was used to identify the message or messenger and the authority they had. In other words, you knew something was from the king because it was marked by his signet ring. It was representative of power and authority. This verse is saying that you are the mark of authority of Almighty God. You have been chosen and set apart to be identified with Him.
When you have someone’s power and authority, you have access to everything they have. It’s like having power of attorney; you have the authority to act on behalf of that individual. As a believer in Jesus, you are marked with His seal. Think of all you have access to today! Think about the authority you have. Everything He has is available to you—healing, provision, strength, peace, joy. You have been given authority to “sign His name” in order to receive His blessings. You are God’s seal, and you are marked to live the abundant life He has in store for you!
|
|
| A Prayer for Today | |
| “Father, thank You for choosing me and calling me Your own. Help me to fully understand the authority You’ve given by Your Son, Jesus. I receive all You have for me in Jesus’ name. Amen.” |
MIND WHO YOU FOLLOW Today: 2015-09-22
MIND WHO YOU FOLLOW
Today: 2015-09-22
Who you follow determines what follows you.
The company you keep determines the accomplishment you make.
How far you follow determines how far you will go and how well you see.
How well in touch you are determines quality of what you touch.
Sow Success – Joel Osteen Ministries daily devotional 20 September Sunday
| Today’s Scripture | |
| “Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1, NLT) |
|
|
|
|
| Sow Success | |
|
God has a system in place in order to bless you and it works on the principle of sowing and reaping. What you pour out to others, it will come back to you in increased measure. When you give generously, a generous harvest will return to you. When you help others succeed, you will find abundant success on your own path, too.
There are people in your life who hold the keys for you to reach your full potential. These are people that God has placed in your life for you to help along. The higher they rise up, the higher you will rise up, too. When you give generously of your time, talent and resources, you are setting yourself up for greater success.
What are you doing to invest in the lives of the people around you? Are you helping others get ahead? Step out and sow a seed. Look for ways to help others. As you sow success, you’ll reap success and move forward into the abundant life He has in store for you!
|
|
| A Prayer for Today | |
| “Father, I open my heart to everything You have in store for me. Use me to be a blessing in the lives of others. Show me where to invest my time, talent and resources to help others succeed for Your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.” |
ENDURING HARDSHIP – Monday September 21st 2015
ENDURING HARDSHIP
Memorise: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Matthew 5:11
Read: Matthew 5:10-12, 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Bible in one year: Leviticus 6:8-7:38, 1st Corinthians 5:1-6:11
MESSAGE
The devil knows the glorious tomorrow that awaits every believer in Christ when they cross the finish line of the Christian race. This is why he fights tooth and nail to derail us from reaching our goal. He was a part of the heavenly bliss that will be our reward, but he lost his place due to evil thoughts (Isaiah 14:12-15). He does not want us to taste what he lost; hence he works through wiles to bring us down (Ephesians 6:11). One of the wiles that Satan uses in making believers in Christ abandon the Christian race is hardship. Some people have pulled out of heaven’s marathon before getting to the finish line, due to their inability to endure hardship. Our Lord Jesus Christ described such people in Mark 4:17
“And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”
The expectations you had when you entered the Christian faith matter a lot. The Christian faith is not a bed of roses. The way of the cross that leads to Heaven is not a path laden with gold and easy to take. If anyone tells you that once you believe in Jesus, all your problems will disappear and everything will always go well, you are being deceived. The day you signed up as a believer in Christ, the die was cast and the battle line was drawn between you and the kingdom of darkness. From that day, you become a sworn enemy of the forces of darkness. They will surely attack you and try to make you feel miserable.
You are expected to endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ (2nd Timothy 2:3). The inability to endure difficult and trying times makes one a bad soldier of the cross. Even when God blesses you, He still leaves room for you to be persecuted, tried and ridiculed. Your faith in Christ may be tested through lack, hunger, unanswered prayers, false accusations, ill health, and so on. Jesus in our Bible reading taught that if you can take persecution, being reviled by men and false accusation in good faith, you are blessed and on the path to Heaven. On the other hand, if you easily get offended by these, if nothing is done to correct your attitude, you may become derailed from the faith. Are you offended in Christ? Towards the end of his stay on earth, John the Baptist began to doubt if the same Person he had declared to be the Son of God was the true Messiah (Matthew 11:2-6). In His reply to John’s questions, the Lord told him not to be offended in Him. It is a good thing to suffer persecution for your faith in Christ. Never get to the point of being offended in Him.
Prayer Point
Father, let patience have its perfect work in my life, so that I will be wanting in nothing.
Reference: from open Heavens daily with Pastor E.A. Adeboye
ENDURING HARDSHIP
Memorise: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Matthew 5:11
Read: Matthew 5:10-12, 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Bible in one year: Leviticus 6:8-7:38, 1st Corinthians 5:1-6:11
MESSAGE
The devil knows the glorious tomorrow that awaits every believer in Christ when they cross the finish line of the Christian race. This is why he fights tooth and nail to derail us from reaching our goal. He was a part of the heavenly bliss that will be our reward, but he lost his place due to evil thoughts (Isaiah 14:12-15). He does not want us to taste what he lost; hence he works through wiles to bring us down (Ephesians 6:11). One of the wiles that Satan uses in making believers in Christ abandon the Christian race is hardship. Some people have pulled out of heaven’s marathon before getting to the finish line, due to their inability to endure hardship. Our Lord Jesus Christ described such people in Mark 4:17
“And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”
The expectations you had when you entered the Christian faith matter a lot. The Christian faith is not a bed of roses. The way of the cross that leads to Heaven is not a path laden with gold and easy to take. If anyone tells you that once you believe in Jesus, all your problems will disappear and everything will always go well, you are being deceived. The day you signed up as a believer in Christ, the die was cast and the battle line was drawn between you and the kingdom of darkness. From that day, you become a sworn enemy of the forces of darkness. They will surely attack you and try to make you feel miserable.
You are expected to endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ (2nd Timothy 2:3). The inability to endure difficult and trying times makes one a bad soldier of the cross. Even when God blesses you, He still leaves room for you to be persecuted, tried and ridiculed. Your faith in Christ may be tested through lack, hunger, unanswered prayers, false accusations, ill health, and so on. Jesus in our Bible reading taught that if you can take persecution, being reviled by men and false accusation in good faith, you are blessed and on the path to Heaven. On the other hand, if you easily get offended by these, if nothing is done to correct your attitude, you may become derailed from the faith. Are you offended in Christ? Towards the end of his stay on earth, John the Baptist began to doubt if the same Person he had declared to be the Son of God was the true Messiah (Matthew 11:2-6). In His reply to John’s questions, the Lord told him not to be offended in Him. It is a good thing to suffer persecution for your faith in Christ. Never get to the point of being offended in Him.
Prayer Point
Father, let patience have its perfect work in my life, so that I will be wanting in nothing.
Reference: from open Heavens daily with Pastor E.A. Adeboye
KEEP GOD AS YOUR FOCUS Today: 2015-09-21
Maintaining God as your focus is what turns you to a focus among men. When you dance around God he will make men to dance around you.
Place your ultimium value on God and he will enhance your value among men. Don’t let any man take the place of God in your life and he will make you a god among me.
Celebrate God and you will end as celebrity among men.
Carry God on your head and he will make men carry you on their head.
Believe That God Is Your Rewarder
|
21
Sep
|
|
Most people quote only the first part of Hebrews 11:6—“without faith it is impossible to please Him”. Yet, it goes on to say, “for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. In other words, the faith that pleases God is the kind of faith that believes that God exists and that He is a rewarder.
The Bible also says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. (Hebrews 11:1) So even in times of difficulty, when we don’t see good things happening in our circumstances, we are to believe that God will turn things around and reward us.
God turned things around for Ruth, the Moabite widow, when she believed the Lord and made Him her God. (Ruth 1:16) The Bible tells us that she was given a “full reward” by the Lord when she came under His wings for refuge. (Ruth 2:12) Not only did He give her protection, He also gave her abundant provision, exceeding favor and a glorious redemption. (Ruth 2:9–17, 3:11, 4:10–13)
When Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, heard reports of how the Lord had opened up the Red Sea for the children of Israel, she believed that “He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath”. (Joshua 2:9–11) Though Rahab had not personally witnessed the miracles, she believed God and hid the Jewish spies from their pursuers. (Joshua 2:4–6) Because of her faith, she not only did not perish with those who did not believe (Joshua 6:25, Hebrews 11:31), but she was also given a place in the “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11.
God was so pleased with the faith of these two Gentile women that He not only blessed them in their lifetimes, but He also put them into the genealogy of His Son Jesus Christ, the great Redeemer and rewarder.
Beloved, when you come to the Lord with your needs, believe that He is God, and that He is a rewarder. God has pleasure in this kind of faith. He wants to be the rewarder of your faith in Him!
Thought For The Day
The faith that pleases God is the kind of faith that believes God exists and that He is a rewarder.
A Gift for Others and for Yourself by Joyce Meyer – posted September 21, 2015
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
– Luke 6:37 NKJV
Do you hold unforgiveness toward anyone for any reason? If so, it needs to be eliminated from your heart and mind right away because it’s keeping you in bondage. You may be thinking, Well, Joyce, that’s easy for you to say. You haven’t been hurt like I have. That is true, but I have been hurt in life to a very deep degree. I was abused, abandoned, rejected, blamed, lied about, misunderstood, and betrayed by family and friends, and I allowed the enemy to fill my heart with hatred for those who hurt me. But when I began to learn about love, I moved from hatred to bitterness to mild resentment and finally to freedom, which only comes through forgiveness. The Lord graciously brought restitution into my life.
God promises to bring justice into our lives and to give us a double reward for our former shame, pain, and unfair treatment (see Isaiah 61:7). When we try to bring justice ourselves through vengeful acts, we only prevent God from working on our behalf.
The absolute key to unlocking the recompense of God for past hurts, however, is to do things His way and not our own. We are to love our enemies, pray for them, and bless them. If you have been hurt, God knows all about it, and He has a plan for your vindication. He, and He alone, is the vindicator (Hebrews 10:30).
Love Others Today: Do you need to extend forgiveness to someone? Make the choice to do so right now. It will be a gift to that person and a gift to you.
Like Father, Like Son
|
18
Sep
|
|
Everything produces after its kind. Dogs give birth to puppies, cats give birth to kittens and tigers give birth to tiger cubs. In the same manner, when you are born again, you are born of God. You are a child of the Most High God. He is your Father and He doesn’t see you in the flesh. He sees you in the Spirit. And His Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are His child.
So when the devil comes to you and says, “Well, your father died of cancer, his father died of cancer and you are going to die of cancer too, just like your father,” just know in your heart that you are like your Father—your Father in heaven! Declare, “I am a child of the Most High God. He doesn’t have cancer, so neither do I!”
My friend, when you are born of God, you are born to win. Because your Daddy God is a winner, you are one too! When you wake up in the morning, say, “I am a winner because God is a winner!”
When you say that you cannot afford to buy something that you need, you have forgotten which family you now belong to. You have been born again into a very rich family—your Father owns every beast in the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills! (Psalm 50:10) You have a Daddy God in heaven who is well able to supply all your needs. (Philippians 4:19) Even if there are areas of lack in your life now, don’t worry. Just ask God for the supply because your heavenly Father loves you and wants to supply your needs.
When someone talks to you about a problem and asks, “What are we going to do about it?” you should say, “Don’t worry. Let’s talk to Daddy God about it. It is not a problem for Him, so it will not be a problem for us.”
Beloved, even when all around you is going under, your Daddy God is still the same heavenly Father who kept Noah’s world afloat, his loved ones safe and sound, and his possessions intact. Your world will never go under because you are God’s beloved child!
Thought For The Day
Because you are born of God, you are born to win.