God's Cup of Wrath - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) June 16, 2023

God's Cup of Wrath is the Lord's justified retribution meted out to the wicked. It is His justice coming upon those who treat others unfairly without fear of the Almighty. It is the vengeance that comes upon the evil ones for all their works - works that they thought God did not see and/or would ignore. This cup is not for the righteous who walk in the fear of the Lord. Sure, God's children do experience some serious heat in their lives but the Lord reserves His wrath for the wicked. Those who serve others gods, oppress others and cause bloodshed. When God's children experience affliction, it is either His attempt to correct their course, or teach them valuable lessons they will need for their next season.

That said, one righteous person did experience the Cup of God's Wrath but for a selfless and righteous reason - Jesus Christ. He nevertheless pleaded in Luke 22:42 - saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup [of divine wrath] from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done" (AMP). God still allowed His Son to drink so as to become a sacrifice for the sins of the world. A way for humanity to receive God's forgiveness despite how they had turned from Him.

Though a terrible experience, what a merciful blessing that Jesus drank from that cup and died on the cross for others. In the process, He endured disrespect, humiliation, pain, thirst, and more. All so that sinners would never have to drink from the Cup of Wrath. And we would have drank because as sinners, all humans needed salvation to be justified and reconciled with the Lord. We are told in Romans 3:23-24 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Once a person returns to God - having repented, committed to believe in Jesus, and make Him the authority over their life - that Cup of Wrath doesn't come near. Consider Isaiah 51:22 - This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends His people: "See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger, from that cup, the goblet of My wrath, you will never drink again." Apostle Paul also said in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 - For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

But, wait! There's more!

Once someone goes from deserving wrath to salvation, several promises become available. One such promise is contained in Isaiah 54:23 - I will put it [the cup of wrath] into the hands of your tormentors, who said of you, "Fall prostrate that we may walk on you, and you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.'" God will place His Cup of Wrath into the hands of the evil ones. Those who torment His beloveds will drink and become drunk till they stagger. These sorts include all who dare oppress His chosen ones. Those who decide to treat His children unfairly. Those who didn't realize that the blood and the name of Jesus sets every captive free. No longer shall those who believe in Him (believing in Jesus means believing in God and vice versa) suffer at the hands of tormentors.

Are you being tormented in any way? Is your mental health under attack? How are things at your job? Does it seem the devil is hard at work creating setbacks in your career? Could the torment be in your family life? Is your family fractured and in need of God's reconciliatory grace? Is there torment surrounding finances whereby there is never and has never been enough for your needs, talk less of good works? The enemy could also be tormenting your health, constantly attacking so you are in fear of disease or worse.

If you repent, state that you believe in Jesus and receive Him as your Lord and Savior, then you step outside of the enemy's reach. The tormentor has to cease because you become a new creation, transformed by the sacrifice and grace of Christ - the one righteous man who drank from the cup of wrath on your behalf. You get to enjoy this benefit and proclaim God's promise as a wordstone - your enemy has to drink from God's cup of wrath because you have been saved! If you have repented, proclaimed that you believe in Jesus and received Him as Lord and Savior, then wonderful! If not, what are you waiting for? The devil will tell you that the commitment you made to God is irrelevant, that your sins have washed it away. Remember, satan is a liar! Grace and mercy are available. Why do you think Jesus stands at the right hand of God interceding? Hold onto your faith, resist satan and it will flee as God builds you into who He wants you to be. Just let God transform you.

Once you have declared Jesus as the authority of your life, be sure to proclaim over yourself that He already drank from the cup of wrath so you will never need to. Decree that in accordance with the word in Isaiah 51:22 and elsewhere, God's cup of wrath sits in the hands of your enemy - the devil and all who serve it. They must all drink from it, IJN, Amen. Be sure to come back at Noon EST to worship the Lord, pray for other people, then pray in unison, with scripture, to declare and rejoice in our freedom from wrath as children of God!

God's Word & Good Works - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) June 13, 2023

When we look at the Book of Acts and elsewhere, we see that the earliest Christians went about introducing people to Jesus via the preaching of the Gospel and miraculous healings. This was in line with what Jesus did while on earth because He was not only concerned with the spiritual state of people, but also their physical condition. This is why He healed and fed people's bodies and souls. The earliest members of the Body of Christ equally spent a lot of time helping others, including sharing their wealth with the group and taking care of widows, for instance. These were some of the good works they did for their fellow believers as well as strangers.

That duty to help people continues today for those who believe in Jesus Christ and consider Him to be the Son of God. In fact, it is for this reason some Christian groups and individuals give food and finances to the needy where they can. This is also why some allow the Lord to guide them to people in need of healing so they can lay hands on them. Or, the reason why God would prompt one of His children to pray consistently for someone to be delivered from whatever is keeping them from God's promise of the fullness of life.

However, did you know that to truly do good works as a believer you have to be rooted in the word of God? To learn more, look at today's anchor scripture, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This verse teaches us that scripture is essential for many things including equipping God's people for every good work. In essence, we need to spend time in and with the word of God in order to be prepared to do good works that glorify Him. It is no wonder then that satan wants people to think they don't need to study the Bible. Or that devotionals and bite-sized inspirational messages are enough to truly feed a child of God on a regular basis. It is why so many people hear that lying voice that tells them they can never understand or enjoy scripture directly from the source but should settle for God's word aggregated by someone else. Many don't realize how they limit themselves by failing to consistently meditate on God's word as instructed in Joshua 1:8 and elsewhere.

Let me frame things differently to provide another perspective on the point we all need to learn. How many of us have heard another person pray that they want God to bless them so they become a blessing to others? Have you possibly said that prayer yourself? Well, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 essentially states that nobody can be blessed to become a blessing to another person if they are not familiar with God's word. This is not to say that God is not blessing folks who make this petition. It is also not to say you must know the Bible inside and out. However, an individual's lack of intimacy with God's word will always limit their access to the fullness of blessings that can be showered upon them from on high. The type of blessings whereby they become not only a blessing to others but a reason why people rejoice and glorify God (2 Corinthians 9:11). Also consider that God wants us to have all we need for ourselves and more to be of help to others in a multitude of ways (2 Corinthians 9:8). Thus, failing to spend time with God's word keeps us from receiving this promise and truly doing good works.

Please do not be mistaken, the terms "fullness," "blessing" and "good works" do not merely mean money or things tied to money. The fullness of blessings a person needs to do God's good works for others is multifaceted. The foundation, though, will be wisdom, which comes from the word of God. That wisdom will guide an individual to discern whether a person needs money, prayer, a helpful phone call to set things in motion or something else. The more we study the word, the more of God's wisdom is released to us so we can use the blessings He's given to us to glorify Him all the more via the good works He will call us to do. In addition, the more of the word we consume, the more of His promises we receive such as healing (Proverbs 4:20-22), deep insight into the hidden things of this world (Proverbs 2), spiritual strength (Psalm 119:28) and life itself (Proverbs 3:8) among other things.

Do you want to do God's good works on earth? Do you want to truly help others? Then it's time to commit to God's word and let Him build you into the more He's created you to be.

Join us for Praise & Pray (for others) today at Noon EST when we will worship then pray for other people. The Lord will continue to teach us in His word and we will be equipped to do good works that please Him by His grace and to His glory, IJMN, Amen.

Struggling vs Submitting

I just watched this short message from (late) Minister Derek Prince and thought I'd share it here as well. It's only 5 minutes long and I pray it blesses you as it blessed me on the issue of submitting instead of struggling against God's grace and mercy for us.

One key statement - "The Christian life is not a life of struggle. It's a life of yielding to the Holy Spirit within us."

God bless and keep you and yours!

PS: If there is anything in this video that doesn't make sense, please do not hesitate to drop a question. By God's grace He will guide us to understanding as we discuss the question through scripture.

PPS: This video reminded me to go read and old P&P post called 'The Pruning'. Boy, was it helpful. Take a look in the event it could be helpful to you too! Especially if you feel you're in a bit of a tough season.