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.

Are you part of the problem? - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) June 9, 2023

When last did you read the Book of Titus? I have to confess it's a part of the Bible I need to study more. Like the rest of the Good Book, it has practical instructions that, if applied, serve to make life more straightforward and enable me to serve the LORD as He requires.

Consider Titus 2:7-8 - In everything, show yourself to be an example by doing good works. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.

The bolded section jumped out at me recently as it highlighted a responsibility that is easily ignored by most of us Christians. We are expected to carry ourselves a certain way so that others will have nothing bad to say about us as well as the larger body of Christ.

You're likely thinking that even if you behaved like a saint, someone would find something bad to say about you. You're right. The reality is that people who do not believe in Jesus, and who do not submit to God, cannot have anything good to say about those who follow the Lord. We need only look at the experience of Jesus who was without sin and yet the people of His day chose to save a murderer from death instead of the Son of God.

Yet, a responsibility remains. We Christians must not behave in a way that gives others ammunition to accuse us and thereby, insult the Lord. In Romans 2:24, Paul lamented saying, As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” He was talking to believers who failed to observe God's instructions. We cannot claim to be Christians and not even try to behave in a Christ-like manner. Remember that the first Christians earned that title because of how they carried themselves. They didn't call themselves Christians, it was non-Christians who had heard the story of Christ that looked at His believers and could identify them as such.

Can someone randomly look at you and tell from your behavior that you believe in Christ Jesus? When you do the things you do ordinarily, are they Christ-like? When you speak to or about people, do you speak from a place of love or otherwise? When you leave comments online, are your words salted with grace as we are commanded in Colossians 4:6? Or, are they peppered with gossip, insults, ungodly ideology and vile language?

There is a standard God wants His people to keep. The question is do we? Or are we content to live no differently from unbelievers? Are we happy to ignore God's word and then give ammunition to those who then dismiss the Lord when they look at our behavior?

We each need to look at ourselves and be honest, do the things we do give Jesus, God and our faith a bad name? Don't worry about what others are doing or not doing as this is not the time to point fingers at others. This is about you and I and how we carry ourselves.

May the Lord help each of us to be honest and introspective. In childlike humility, may we see our flaws and allow God to help us overcome them, so we lead holy, blameless lives that give Him glory and cause others to praise Him, IJMN Amen.