Be Imitators Of God In Love

Be Imitators Of God In Love

WALK IN LOVE

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2

How much do we really know about love? We’ve talked about it. We’re familiar with all the scriptures about it. And we’ve heard so many sermons about it that, if we’re not careful, we’ll just let them flow in one ear and out the other. But in spite of all that, most of us don’t know the first thing about the real power of love. For instance, researchers have found that hostility and the stress it causes are physically damaging, but walking in love is good for your health. And the benefits don’t end there.

Agape love, God’s love, is a new kind of power. It makes you the master of every situation. As long as you walk in love, you cannot be hurt and you cannot fail. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper. No one even has the power to hurt your feelings, because you are not ruled by feelings but by God’s love. You walk in the image and likeness of God who is love.

This agape love is completely selfless. It constantly seeks the well-being of the beloved. Though it does not seek its own, it lacks nothing. The more it gives the more it receives. This love is revolutionary. If we fully understood the great return from living in God’s love, we’d probably be competing with each other, each of us trying to love the other more. And without a doubt, everyone would emerge from that competition a winner! Think about that. When you’re yielding to love, you’ll be enjoying the best God has to offer: love, joy, and peace. The whole world is chasing after those things. People are trying to reach out and get them through drugs and alcohol and immortality. But they can’t. They are reserved for those who walk in the love of God.

Prayer: Pray for grace to love God and others more and more.

Scriptural Reading: Ephesians 5:1-20

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;

4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.

Walk in Light

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),

10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

Be Imitators Of God In Love

Time For Your Harvest

Time For Your Harvest

IT’S HARVEST TIME

That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that I may fill their treasuries. Proverbs 8:21

The most abundant harvest into the Kingdom of God the world has ever seen is about to take place. It’s time for us to lay claim to our harvest. This is the time we must learn how to reap all that we have sown and see the multiplying impact of God’s laws for harvest in all areas of our lives. It is time to put in the sickle and reap abundantly. This is time for an unprecedented transfer of both souls and wealth from the world to the church.

First we must understand what this harvest is all about. The biblical principle of harvest primarily refers to the winning of souls into the Kingdom of God. But there are other aspects of harvest, and those who will reap are those who understand and apply the principles for reaping.

One of the basic conditions for reaping is sowing. The problem is that many times people are sowing their seeds with their tithes and offerings, but they are not reaping.

To see the increase become a reality, we must allow the same Word that stirs us up to sow also stirs us up to reap. We must not only understand how to sow in faith but reap in faith as well. We must believe this is the time for our harvest. We must begin to boldly confess and appropriate this prophetic declaration that this is our harvest time.

God’s desire is clear; He wants us to plunder the world the same way the children of Israel plundered Egypt. We have to prepare and position ourselves to take part of this harvest.

Prayer: By faith destroy every stronghold that is withholding your harvest, and command your harvest to come to you now!

Scriptural Reading: Proverbs 8:12-21

12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion.

13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.

14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.

15 By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice.

16 By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth.

17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.

18 Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver.

20 I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,

21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.

NKJV

Time For Your Harvest

Be Clothed With Humility

Be Clothed With Humility

HUMILITY

Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5b

In our day the call is to esteem yourself, believe in yourself, promote yourself and reward yourself. But God’s word calls us to humility.

God hates pride and has always resisted the proud. He brought devastation to the land of Egypt after Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” He put king Nebuchadnezzar down on his all fours to eat grass like an animal after he boasted of his accomplishments. And Herod was eaten up with worms when he failed to give glory to God.

As you search your own heart to see if there is pride that needs to be rooted out, consider that humility is an acknowledgement of unworthiness. Jacob declared that he was unworthy of the least of God’s mercies. The publican cried out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Humility is submission to God. You may not understand some of the providences unfolding in your life, but you bow in submission and know God is working His will and accomplishing His purposes. It means believing what God says, accepting what is in His Word and making no attempt to explain it away.

Humility recognizes the need for grace. The humble have a great sense of their own weakness and know they must come to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. They know they need grace to pray, grace to overcome the world and grace to minister to others.

How is it with you? Are you clothed with humility?

Prayer: Lord, clothe me with humility.

Scriptural Reading: 1 Peter 5:1-6

Be Clothed With Humility

Forgiving One Another

Forgiving One Another

FORGIVE

Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

What soft comfort and what hard conviction are contained in this one admonition! First, we are told that God has, for Christ’s sake, forgiven you.

Not only has He forgiven you, but He has done so with kindness and with tenderness of heart. This is no begrudging, reluctant forgiveness. God’s heart is tender toward us. His love toward us is genuine and His forgiveness is complete.

However, the more we marvel at the undeserved and kindly affectioned love of God for us, the more we convict ourselves by the standard that is here set before us. We are to be kind, and tenderhearted, and forgiving toward one another in the same way that God was kind, and tenderhearted, and forgiving toward us.

How did God forgive you? Did He wait until you deserved His forgiveness? Did He make you grovel, or earn, or beg for it? Does He bring your past sins up over and over again in order to shame you? Did He wait for you to pursue Him, or did He pursue you in order to bring about healing and reconciliation in your relationship with him?

The overwhelming teaching of Scripture—and especially the first half of this book Ephesians—is that God sought us out and forgave us in Christ without any conditions, or qualifications being met by us. We, therefore, ought to be just as kind, just as tender, just as forgiving toward each other.

Prayer: Lord, help me forgive others as I have been forgiven.

Scriptural Reading: Ephesians 4:29-32

Forgiving One Another

Bless The Lord Always

Bless The Lord Always

GIVE THANKS

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalms 103:2

How easily, in the clamor and distractions of life, we seem to forget the Lord’s many blessings to us. If we pray at all then our prayers are largely taken up with requests for family and friends and health and blessing. But how often do we pause to bless the Lord, to praise Him for the many benefits He has given to us already?

Thousands of people struggle daily with discouragement and frustration, or at least with discontentment, even though they are surrounded by prosperity and property. Why is this? Why does there seem to be so little contentment in the midst of such enormous wealth? Perhaps it is because we have neglected to develop grateful hearts.

But we are here encouraged to develop the habit of gratefulness — forget not all His benefits. Not a single blessing of God should be taken for granted. Not a single benefit should come to us without our carefully marking it as yet another unmerited favour from our Heavenly Father.

It is also interesting that this admonition is an entirely inward one. The psalmist is actually speaking to himself, addressing his own soul. He is keeping a close check on his spirit and correcting trends that he sees there toward ingratitude, complaining, or dissatisfaction.

We ought, also, to stir ourselves up to habitual, genuine, God-centered gratitude; which will then lead us to habitual, genuine, God-centered praise.

Prayer: Thank You Lord for all Your benefits in my life.

Scriptural Reading: Psalm 103:1-5

Bless The Lord Always

Walk As Children Of Light

Walk As Children Of Light

CHILDREN OF LIGHT

Walk as children of light: proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. Ephesians 5:8b,10

What criteria do you use in order to decide for or against a particular action, ambition, or way of life? Do you weigh the financial benefit, the career advancement, or perhaps the physical pleasure that any given opportunity may afford?

Paul tells us, first, to walk as children of light. In other words, our lives ought to be radically, fundamentally, unmistakably different from those who do not claim Christ as their Lord and Savior. Light is glaringly different than darkness.

We should not be asking the same questions that any one in the world would ask in our same situation. We should not be making decisions that reflect the priorities and self-seeking ways of sinful, unsaved individuals. We should not have the same goals as those who don’t have an eternal perspective.

In short, Paul says, we should be testing everything to see, not whether it is pleasing to our palate or to the world, but what is acceptable to the Lord. Is this thing in agreement with His Word? Will this draw me closer to Christ? Does this further the cause of Christ in the world, through me?

Thankfully, God has not left us in the dark regarding how to walk as children of light. We do not have to guess about what is pleasing to Christ. He has given us all we need to know about his desires and pleasures by communicating them to us in his Word.

Therefore, take his Word, discover what is acceptable to the Lord, and walk in it as a child of light.

Prayer: Lord, help me live a life worthy of a child of light.

Scriptural Reading: Ephesians 5:1-20

Walk As Children Of Light

Godly Marriage

Godly Marriage

MARRIAGE

They are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19:6

When a man and woman marry, the two individuals then become one. This marvel of marriage implies both a new and tremendous liberty for them both and a vital and voluntary constraint upon them both.

On one hand, a tremendous liberty: two individuals working together in unity are able to accomplish and enjoy far more together than they ever could alone. Every good marriage is made up of more than just the sum of its two simple parts. Marriage multiplies the pleasures, the accomplishments, and the opportunities of life.

On the other hand, their new oneness implies restrictions — they are no longer free to make their own decisions or set their own goals as individuals, without consideration for each other. Go to any three-legged race and you will quickly see the awkwardness and bondage of two individuals, who are joined together, still trying to make their own way and rely on their own strength.

Although the decision to marry is made by the two individuals, once they commit themselves to the God-invented institution of marriage, it is in effect God who has joined them together. They are therefore responsible to God for their commitment to each other.

What God has joined together in the holy bonds of matrimony is not to be lightly or selfishly or wrongly separated by any mere mortal. Therefore, strive to make yourselves, and those loved ones of yours who are married, more unified for the glory of God. Never seek to divide was God has glued together.

Prayer: Lord, help me as I strive to honour You with my marriage.

Scriptural Reading: Matthew 19:1-12

Godly Marriage