AFTERNOON DEVOTION

[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Matthew 13:47-52

Gift of Grace: "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." (v. 52)

The teachers of the law had so separated themselves from the people and placed such heavy burdens upon them, that the people couldn't possibly live up to the expectations of the law. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to" (Matthew 22:13). They had piled onto the Mosaic Law strict and oppressive rules and regulations which had nothing to do with helping the people "...you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them" (Luke 11:46b). Jesus called them out for their hypocrisy. "So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach" (Matthew 23:3).

The scribes were supposed to preserve the law so that it could be applied to daily life, but over time religious tradition took precedence over the needs of the people. Obedience to God's commandments are meant to enable us to live abundant and productive lives, but the Pharisees and scribes had made obedience to the law of God an impossible burden to bear. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). Jesus came to fulfill the law so we could be set free from the bondage of sin and live a life of victory and freedom in Christ. Today, we have the precious Word of God at our fingertips to study, meditate, and feed upon so that we will be nourished, strengthened, equipped and empowered to walk in the fullness of the new life of liberty He has given us, and to continue His kingdom work in this world. It is important for the health and wholeness of the Body of Christ that every believer seek a balanced lifestyle of learning God's Word as well as living God's Word. May it be our priority each day to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit to guide us to discover deep and hidden things in the Word of God, and then to share what we have learned by serving and ministering to those around us in need. May our lives speak a consistent message in what we say and what we do; and may the things that we learn from the Lord each day be a blessing in another person's life.
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Mark 4:26-29

Gift of Grace: "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how." (vv. 26-27)

In His parables about the kingdom of God, Jesus answered the concerns His disciples had about the growing opposition to His work. He reassured and encouraged them as He described the small and seemingly insignificant beginnings of the kingdom being like a seed that is planted; and while most of the seed would fall on unfertile soil and be choked and persecuted by weeds, it would continue to expand and grow, and eventually a great harvest would be reaped. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

Despite our weakness and failings as His children, God's kingdom work is not hindered, it will continue as He has promised and the harvest will come. Just as a seed has within itself power to produce a harvest, the gospel of Jesus Christ is its' own power; and while persecution and trials are to be expected, the kingdom of God will prevail (Proverbs 19:21). Our look into the lives of the hall of fame of the faithful this week has revealed a great cloud of witnesses who, despite their circumstances, fixed their faith on God's promises. They may not have received what was promised while they lived, but they were more than conquerors and received their eternal reward. "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57). May the walk of faith of these ordinary men and women, whom God has said "the world was not worthy of them," encourage us as we continue along our journey of faith with the Lord. May their testimony remind us that, while God may not deliver us from our difficult circumstances, He will give us the grace we need to persevere and endure, so we can finish the race and give glory to the Lord. "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Let us pray for those who may be enduring a long and difficult battle, that they will not be discouraged, grow weary, or give up. Take time today to send a note to someone who could use God's encouraging Word to refresh them in their journey. It may be just the pick me up they need!
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: John 21:15-23

Gift of Grace: "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin" (Exodus 34:6-7a).

Our God is a God of restoration and reconciliation. The Lord restored Peter to fellowship and communion with Himself and then restored him to his original commission and entrusted him to feed His flock. Before we can truly forgive others from our heart, we need to personally experience the forgiveness of God in our own heart. Because Peter experienced the Lord's forgiveness, he was set free to do God's work. He understood the greatness of God's forgiveness because of the extent of his own failure. When Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" The magnitude of the mercy he had received, only multiplied his love for the Lord, and showed itself in obedience to God's call on his life. "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little" (Luke 7:47).

Jesus is the Tender One (Ezekiel 17:22). When the tenderness of God touches our hearts, we are enabled to tenderly care for others and express His love to them the way it has been shown to us. The Lord desires that we dwell in and walk in His love. Our highest duty as Christians is to maintain our love relationship with the Lord. It is out of this vital relationship that we are able to tenderly express God's love and care for others. He only entrusts His work to those who truly love Him, because only those who love Him supremely will truly love and care for the lost and needy in the world. The Lord wanted Peter to not only catch people for His kingdom, but also to care for them. Only by having the fullness of God's forgiving love deposited in the depths of his heart could Peter "take care of" and "feed" God's sheep. Everything grows out of our love for God. The more deeply we love Him and desire to grow in His love, the more we are able to tenderly care for and bear with other people. When we are restored to a right relationship with the Lord we become a powerful force to advance His kingdom in the world. Let us pray and ask the Lord to reveal anything in our heart that is hindering our ability to serve Him whole-heartedly, taking time to confess areas of unforgiveness, and then be willing to forgive those who have hurt or offended us. "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity" (Colossians 3:13-14)
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Isaiah 5:1-7

Gift of Grace: "Sing about a fruitful vineyard: I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it." (Isaiah 27:2-3)

The vine spoken of in the Old Testament is the nation of Israel. They are God's chosen people, and as such, the Lord provided them everything they needed to succeed. He provided Israel with great things so that they would be protected and prosper. The Lord planted Israel "on a fertile hillside;" a land flowing with milk and honey. He fenced them in and cleared away all the stones of reproach from the nations, and placed them under the strong tower of His protection. He built them a winepress through which the wine would never cease to flow. The Lord had been good to His people Israel and planted them to be a fruitful vineyard. Instead, they defiled His land with their sin, and rather than produce the fruit that He expected, they produced nothing but wild grapes. "Then He looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit" (v. 2b).

Rather than faithfully tending to the vineyard of the Lord, His people Israel had rejected the goodness and blessings of God and aroused His anger. The winepress of His blessing would now be used for the treading of the fury of His wrath (Revelation 19:15b). The Lord had looked for a harvest of justice and righteousness, but instead the people disobeyed God's holy law and yielded a crop of wickedness and oppression, so now He would lay His sickle to the field and they would suffer His hand of judgment. "Now I will tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it" (Isaiah 5:5-6). When the Lord plants His people He intends for them to bring forth the fruit He has purposed. A good tree will produce good fruit, but a bad tree will only produce bad fruit (Matthew 7:17). We are known by the fruit that we produce (v.20). Our fruit reveals our nature, and our nature is to be the same as Christ. This afternoon let us take some time to take stock of where the Lord has planted us and what He has planted within us, and then look for the evidences of the kind of fruit that is being produced in our life. Let us repent of anything that is coming out of our lives that doesn't bring glory to the Vine in which we are meant to abide. May the Lord find reason to bless us more with Himself so we can be a blessing to others.
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Matthew 10:34-39

Gift of Grace: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." (Matthew 16:24)

The heavenly Vinedresser works to prune and cleanse away all new growth that is of the original fleshly nature and self, and cuts us all the way down to the tiniest stem, so we will be close enough to the Vine to receive the life of the Spirit. Anything in the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ that hinders the work of His Holy Spirit in our lives must be cut away and cleansed. Our lives are to be entirely taken up with Christ, and He will keep us very low so that He alone gets the glory for our work. The pruning He does in our lives is not entirely about sin, it is also about all the religious activity that produces confidence in ourselves and robs God of His glory. Sometimes after we have enjoyed a season of productive ministry we can grow overly confident in ourselves or our abilities. God has given us our gifts and abilities to be used for His glory; however, when these get in the way, or we begin to trust in them rather than God, it becomes necessary for the Vinedresser to apply His pruning knife to bring us back to that place of utter helplessness and dependence on God. He will not allow anything to get in the way of our wholehearted devotion to the Lord. This is when He will apply the pruning knife and perform a circumcision of the heart. "...and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God" (Romans 2:29).

When Jesus taught His disciples, His words convicted and cleansed them and prepared them to receive the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is living and active. It is a sharp double-edged sword that cuts and divides - exposing our hidden thoughts and humbling our pride. The life of a disciple is one of self-denial. These seasons of fasting are meant to keep us before the pruning knife, so that our lives will be uncluttered and unhindered by those things that rob us of our spiritual life in Christ. We submit to the Lord with prayer and fasting, not so that He will take notice of us, but so that we will be in a position for God to do His work in and through us. The spiritual discipline of fasting is God's instrument in the time of His grace to cleanse us and consecrate us to Himself, so that all new growth will be sanctified by His Word, and the way opened up in the inner life for the Holy Spirit to come with power. When the trials come to test the character of that growth, it will be shown to be: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD" (Zechariah 4:6). May we continue to yield to the cleansing power of the Word of God during this season and lay ourselves completely at the disposal of the inner working of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to fill us with all that is lacking in us, so we can produce His heavenly fruit and bring glory to the Father.

[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Luke 15:11-32

Gift of Grace: "See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what He promised us - even eternal life." (1 John 2:24-25)

Jesus demonstrated how absolutely dependent He was upon the Father in the years of His earthly ministry. He lived a life of prayer; and His life was one of continually waiting on the Father. Everything He needed to fulfill the will of the Father was received moment by moment. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, to your amazement He will show Him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it" (John 5:19-21).

The parable of the prodigal son reveals the heart of a young man who rejected the life of dependence upon the Father. The son lived his life after the flesh, and he demanded the entirety of his inheritance, which he went and squandered in pursuit of the world. He lived entirely for himself and produced nothing of lasting value that would please God or profit anyone. The prodigal's story shows the sad results of a life disconnected from the vine, and the effort and work that is needed to sustain a fruitless and unproductive life. The prodigal needed to be brought to the very end of himself before he realized the riches that were waiting on him if he returned to the Father. This afternoon, let us offer praise to our heavenly Father, the tender Vine-dresser, who is ever-watchful over our union with the Vine, and offer our thanksgiving for all the love and power that He gave to His Son is the same power that is now working in us. May this day not end until we yield ourselves completely to the work of His hand to supply moment by moment all that we need to produce the fruit of His spiritual life. "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9).

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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: John 4:1-26

Gift of Grace: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:37b, 38)

Jesus wants us to take on His heart for the lost souls in this world. It is this burden that should lead us to unceasing, fervent prayer; and it is in praying much that we are able to bear much fruit that will feed this spiritually starved world. Everything hinges on the fruit of prayer, which is a product of the abiding life. Jesus demonstrated the importance of one soul won to Christ when He made a pitstop at a well in Samaria to share His living water with a woman that was there. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). The woman Jesus was talking to definitely had her share of the world and knew what it meant to be unsatisfied. It was through His words of conviction that she was led to repentance, and her heart was opened to the truth that Jesus was offering her, and she was finally satisfied to the depths of her soul.

The testimony of this one woman opened the door for her community to come to Christ. The disciples had gone to the village to find food to feed their hungry belly's, but Jesus stayed at the well to offer divine food to a spiritually starved soul. When the disciples returned they found their Teacher was fully satisfied, because He had been filled by doing the Father's will. "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work" (John 4:34). The discipline of fasting enables us to understand this truth, for we have learned that nothing else the world has to offer can satisfy like the delight of spending time in God's presence and feeding on His life-giving Word, and the joy of knowing we have done the Father's will by being obedient and bearing much fruit as we spend more time with Him in prayer. When we live on Christ alone we experience true lasting nourishment for our soul, and learn to worship Him in spirit and truth. "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" (vv. 23-24). When we are empty of all the flesh, self, and the world, we are able to relate on a deeply personal level to the true condition of the world - a world that is empty, desperate, weak, confused, angry, and starved without Christ. Let us ask the Lord today to empty us of anything that may hinder us from being completely full of His abundant life, so that we can offer the world the only One who will satisfy. May we be able to say of ourselves, that in Christ Jesus alone are we satisfied, and that our lives bring glory to the Father.
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[Godbetheglory]

AFTERNOON DEVOTION

Glean the Word: Mark 5:24b-34

Gift of Grace: "And the people all tried to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all" (Luke 6:19)

Jesus wants us to experience the fullness of the abiding life - the abundant life of close and intimate fellowship with Him. He wants us to move inward from the crowds that gather to simply observe at distance, to become one of His dearest and intimate friends. The Lord invites us to experience the life He experiences with the Father - one of intense, personal love and affection. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you" (John 15:9a). Jesus wants us to know Him as more than just Savior, provider, healer, deliverer - He desires that we come to know Him as friend. He wants to take us into the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies of deepening intimacy with Himself, where He can share His heart and reveal "deep and hidden things we do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).

One day while Jesus was ministering in Capernaum, an anonymous woman decided to get up close and personal with the Lord. She was a poor woman who had spent all that she had on doctors to find a cure for the bleeding she had been experiencing for twelve years. She endured not only the debilitating pain and suffering of her affliction, but also the isolation from the community that the law demanded for her ceremonial uncleanness. But on that day, with nothing left in her possession but a few fragments of faith, she reached out and touched Jesus' garment, and immediately she was set free from all her suffering. "At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched My clothes?" (Mark 5:30). God responds to faith, and faith lays hold of God's power. He rewards those who seek Him. Jesus honored the faith of this woman by calling her out from among the crowd to experience a deeper relationship with Himself. "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering" (v. 34). Jesus invites us, as His intimate friends, to lay hold of His healing and saving power for the perishing world around us. All around us are people who are bleeding and bankrupt, who desperately need the tender touch of Christ upon their lives. Let us spend a little longer at the feet of Jesus today to pray for those around us who need His touch today. May He turn His face towards us with delight because we have touched Him and grabbed hold of His power today.
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Gift of Grace: "...with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left..." (2 Corinthians 6:7b)

The kingdom of God has suffered opposition from the beginning. The allied forces of the world, the flesh, and Satan have been waging war against the kingdom of God seeking relentlessly to destroy the work of God, but have failed in their efforts to stop the kingdom from advancing. Jesus defeated these opposing forces by His death and resurrection, and has made us overcomers. Today we walk in the victory of Christ. "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

We are engaged in an epic spiritual battle against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Our human resources and efforts are inadequate in spiritual battle, therefore we need the power of God to stand against these invisible forces. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). We are not engaged in a flesh and blood battle with people, instead our battle is a spiritual battle against dark forces that unite with the flesh and the world to cause people to oppose the work of God. Behind all this work is Satan and his evil army. In order to stand against this constant assault we need to be equipped with proper spiritual weapons to fight and win this war. "For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). May we humbly and obediently look to the Word of God, prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit as our weapons of warfare to defeat the forces of evil that are keeping men in bondage to the world and the flesh, and therefore serving Satan rather than the kingdom of God. Let us join in unceasing intercession for the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere to be broken open to experience the saving grace and healing power of Jesus Christ. "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Gift of Grace: "...with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left..." (2 Corinthians 6:7b)

The kingdom of God has suffered opposition from the beginning. The allied forces of the world, the flesh, and Satan have been waging war against the kingdom of God seeking relentlessly to destroy the work of God, but have failed in their efforts to stop the kingdom from advancing. Jesus defeated these opposing forces by His death and resurrection, and has made us overcomers. Today we walk in the victory of Christ. "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

We are engaged in an epic spiritual battle against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Our human resources and efforts are inadequate in spiritual battle, therefore we need the power of God to stand against these invisible forces. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). We are not engaged in a flesh and blood battle with people, instead our battle is a spiritual battle against dark forces that unite with the flesh and the world to cause people to oppose the work of God. Behind all this work is Satan and his evil army. In order to stand against this constant assault we need to be equipped with proper spiritual weapons to fight and win this war. "For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). May we humbly and obediently look to the Word of God, prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit as our weapons of warfare to defeat the forces of evil that are keeping men in bondage to the world and the flesh, and therefore serving Satan rather than the kingdom of God. Let us join in unceasing intercession for the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere to be broken open to experience the saving grace and healing power of Jesus Christ. "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Ephesians 4:11-16

Gift of Grace: "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ." (v. 15)

The Lord rebuked the religious leaders of His day for their formal and hypocritical devotion towards God, which lacked God's truth, and His love and concern for others. He rejected the religious traditions of men, because their hearts were alienated from God and were empty of His love. Love without truth is hypocrisy. In vain they worshiped God - their worship was not of the Spirit, therefore it was not in truth, and so it amounted to nothing. The Lord's great concerns are truth and love. The truth of God is constant, and His work will be done in His way. "For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth" (2 Corinthians 13:8). Without love in our hearts, we easily wander away from God's truth, and then we become subject to God's discipline so we can be restored to the right path. "...our prayer is for your perfection. This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority - the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down" (vv. 9b, 10).

As children of one heavenly Father, we share one heart. Because we share one heart we are to be motivated by love and concern for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We should display the tenderness of the Father's heart for the building up of one another, and not for tearing each other apart. "Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed? Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high" (Isaiah 58:3-4). We belong to one another in the same body, and we need each other, to encourage and edify one another, so that we be deeply rooted in the things of God, growing in the knowledge of Christ, depending on Him more fully, and loving Him more deeply. This requires that each of us, as members of the body of Christ, be individually healthy, so we will corporately be strong. We are to use our spiritual gifts and graces for the benefit and blessing of the whole body; in this way the body will grow up towards maturity and be unified in truth and love. Let us pray today that every believer would recognize the vital role they play in the proper working and functioning of the body of Christ, and the absolute necessity of their feeding on the Word of God as the source and supply of their strength and health, as well as the importance of ministering to other members of the body through the power of the Word. May we work together as a body to grow up into the Head, which is Christ. "From Him [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:16).

[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Matthew 6:25-34

Gift of Grace: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (v. 33)

In all things and in all ways we are to begin with God first. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13). He is "the First and the Last", and He deserves the first in our lives (Revelation 1:17b). From our first thought in the morning to our last thought before we go to bed at night, our mind should be fixed on Christ. Everything else will fall in place when Jesus has the priority position in our life. Jesus taught us to seek Him more than the things of this world. We are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). His kingdom and His righteousness are to be the highest priorities of our lives. His purpose for focusing first on our righteous character is so that we will be kept morally clean and pure, separated from the pollution of the world and set apart to Himself, so that we can experience all the blessings that a holy life brings. If we give our full attention to seeking these, then He promises to give us everything we need to walk in His righteousness and experience the fullness of the kingdom life; He will guide us along the path that leads to security and prosperity in His kingdom.

God knows how easily distracted we can become by the cares of this life. It is our human nature to depend on things rather than on God, while all of nature depends fully on God. "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (v. 26). Living for the things of this world is sin, and the pursuit of them robs us of our joy and peace in the Lord. Our Creator gave us this world and everything in it to enjoy, but He is also a loving Father who continues to watch over us and make sure we are well taken care of. He wants us to experience the best of His kingdom, but we rob ourselves of His best when we run after and store up the things of this world in our hearts and leave no room for Him there. The more time we spend with our Lord, in His Word and in prayer, the more we are taken up into that purified atmosphere of His holy presence and able to catch our breath and breathe more freely there; and all worry and anxiousness disappears. Let us spend time in prayer and thanksgiving today for all the good gifts and rich spiritual blessings we have received from the gracious hand of our loving heavenly Father. May we use all that we have been given to build up the body of Christ and bring glory to His holy name.
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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: 1 Peter 1:1-25

Gift of Grace: "...who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." (v. 5)

Faith is the door that is opened to us, but it is also the door that shield us. Jesus is that door. He keeps us safe. He is constantly guarding us and shielding us and guiding us. He will faithfully lead us to our eternal destination. The trials that we face as we press on in the spiritual race are meant to prepare us for our final destination. Trials are meant to test and try our faith to see if it is sincere. Sometimes a difficulty will be used by God to show us how much we have learned from His Word and grown in our dependence upon Him. Other times, we will endure a season in the fire to purify us and cleanse us of any impurity and sin in our life that is keeping us from being wholly, and holy unto the Lord. Our trials are meant to strengthen us and deepen our faith and trust in the Lord. The testing of our faith will prove if we are truly willing to be taught of the Lord. Many cannot endure the heat and end up falling away from the Lord; proving that theirs was a shallow faith and not deeply rooted in the Lord. "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all" (Isaiah 7:9b).

In our spiritual arsenal, the shield of faith is our first line defense against the enemy; it is like a large door. It is big enough cover our entire body and protect us from all the flaming arrows of the enemy. "...You are a shield around me, O LORD..." (Psalm 3:3a). No arrow can get past the door of faith as long as we take it up each day. "We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). When we link our shields together with our brothers and sisters in Christ we create an opposing wall that the enemy cannot penetrate, and we are able to advance more rapidly on the battlefield. With faith as our shield we can move forward in the battle with courage and confidence knowing the Lord is our protector and defender. "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one" (2 Thessalonians 3:3). Let us praise our wonderful Protector for His shield which keeps us eternally safe. May we trust Him each day to keep us safe and secure for whatever comes our way, and pray fervently for our brothers and sisters that we would come together so we can be strengthened and advance the kingdom of God.

[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Gift of Grace: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (v. 5)

Our thought-life is the where the real spiritual battleground is. It is in the mind that the enemy wages his strongest, dirtiest and bloodiest battles. If he can control our thinking, then he can take us captive and lead us away from Christ. When we give the enemy a piece of our mind, we give him a piece of our mind - and if he can get us to relinquish even a fragment of our thought-life to his purposes than he can easily lead us astray. If we entertain even a little doubt or a dirty thought, the walls of resistance come down and the enemy is able to lay claim to that sacred ground which belongs to God. This is why it is essential that we guard our minds. The Lord has placed in our spiritual arsenal the helmet of salvation which we take up to remind us that Jesus is our Savior and that He is always with us to save us from the enemy.

When our mind is left unguarded we become susceptible to all kinds of influences and persuasions. The helmet of salvation is necessary to guard our head, our brain, and our mind, so that we can keep as our foremost thought the saving grace of Jesus Christ - this is the foundation of our faith. He is the one who rescues us and delivers us from the evil of this world. "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ" (Colossians 2:8). Our life is controlled by the Spirit and we have been given the mind of Christ; therefore our thought-life should be taken up with heavenly things and not be captivated by the pollution and carnality of the world. This afternoon let us take time to praise God for delivering us from the power of sin, and freeing our minds to rest on heavenly things, so that we are not weighed down by worry or held captive by the past. May we learn to yield to the holy influences of the Holy Spirit each day so that our every thought is taken captive and made holy to the Lord. "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2).

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[Godbetheglory]

Glean the Word: Hebrews 4:12-13

Gift of Grace: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (v. 12)

It's been well said that we can't lead others where we haven't first been ourselves. God has given us His Word and His Holy Spirit to accomplish His work within us first before we can become a useful vessel for His kingdom's purposes. "Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). The Lord uses His Word, much like a physician uses a scalpel, to penetrate and expose our hearts, and to cut out the tumors of sin and unbelief that are making us sick and weak and destroying our lives. The time we spend with the Lord in His Word is of utmost importance, for He uses it to do His transforming work in our lives. "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13).

The spiritual tools we have been given for the field work of the kingdom must first be applied to us before they can be useful for any other. All that is flesh, self, sin and the world must come under the precision knife of our Great Physician. His sword alone has the power to penetrate into the deepest places of our heart and find hidden and concealed secrets; and it is vital that we submit to God's sacred surgery and allow Him to turn us completely inside out and expose all that is not of Him. Just as Jesus turned over the tables in the temple declaring that His Father's house is to be a house of prayer, so also, our Lord wants to turn over the tables of worldliness and carnality in our hearts, so that we, as His temple, can become a house of prayer. He wants to fit us for the work that we have been called to, and there is no higher calling than that of intercessory prayer. The Holy Spirit of God has set up residence inside believers to make us holy and to equip us to lay hold of the blessings of heaven for the world through prayer; but He must first make us humble, holy and obedient so we can become a proper channel for His grace to flow through us to the earth. He cannot fill a vessel that is already full; we must first be emptied before the filling can begin. When we submit to the spiritual discipline of fasting we are opting for elective surgery and placing ourselves willingly under the knife for God to do His necessary cutting and exposing work in our life. May we be willing to honestly address those areas in our life that He has been bringing to the surface during our time with Him in His Word and in prayer. Let us not use His Word to point the finger at the weaknesses and failings of other people in our life, but rather allow Him to ***** our hearts and bring us to repentance and transform us more into the image of Christ. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail" (Isaiah 58:9b-11).