Author: admin

Society is always just one generation away from being reduced to paganism. Each generation must carefully pass on its faith to those who follow. It matters not how amazing our walk with God may have been if we fail to pass on that faith to our children.

The Israelites had experienced the amazing deliverance from God as well as His daily provision. Yet they had not set their hearts to respond properly to God. Despite the innumerable blessings God showered upon them, they continued to doubt God’s word and to rebel against His leading.

The truth is that all the miracles and answers to prayer in the world will not strengthen our faith if our heart is not open and sensitive to God. If any people in history should have had a vibrant, unshakeable faith in God it was the nation of Israel. Yet, no quantity of miracles could assure a people whose hearts were not committed to God.

What does the generation below you witness as they watch your walk with God?

God expects us to raise our children so they place their hope in Him. However, people do not hope in those they do not trust. And trust is based on past performance. When someone repeatedly proves himself to be trustworthy, we learn by experience that they are reliable.

The reason we repeatedly remind our children and those around us of God’s actions in our life is because people must see how absolutely dependable God is in every circumstance. The reason many young people today are turning away from God and the church is because they have never seen how faithful and practical God is. These young people may witness their parents attending church but they never see how God makes a practical difference in their lives.

It isn’t that God is untrustworthy, but that we often fail to bear witness to His faithfulness. It is our divinely appointed responsibility to glorify God by telling others of what He has done. Do not let today go by without telling someone of God’s goodness to you!

The primary source of spiritual growth and learning for the next generation is not the school, the local youth programs, or even the church. It is our homes. God expects parents and grandparents to pass on to the next generation the teaching, instruction, and reverence for the Lord.

Too often we inadvertently hide God’s activity from our children. God answers our prayers for provision and, though we are delighted, we fail to sit down with our offspring and explain to them what God just did. Or the Holy Spirit guides us to make an important decision. However, though our children may witness the results of God’s guidance, they are not shown the way God directed us. Or God blesses us. While our children experience the benefits of divine blessing, they have no idea why and how God caused His face to shine upon us.

If the generation that follows us is to walk with God as we have, then they must be taught how to walk with God, as we have. That means regularly talking about God’s activity with them. It entails that we are careful not to hide God’s activity from others. How clearly and compellingly are you sharing with those around you what God has done in your life?

As Isaac approached the end of his life, he requested his favorite meal before he blessed his older son and died.    Isaac’s desire to fulfill his physical appetites gave his younger son Jacob an opportunity for deceit.

With his mother’s help, Jacob prepared the stew, disguised himself as Esau, and received the blessing that was rightfully his brother’s.  As soon as Isaac pronounced the blessing, a hungry Esau returned from his hunting, made the meal his father had requested, and learned that his father had blessed his brother.

Throughout his life, Esau–like Jacob–was tempted to take control of his own life and destiny, and it’s undoubtedly a temptation you have also faced.  It takes steady faith to leave our lives and future in God’s hands.  Too often we tire of waiting on God or something else compels us to turn from the Lord.  Yet when we seize control of our lives, disaster inevitably follows.  Ask the Lord to help you release your hold on your life and entrust it to His capable hands instead.

All it takes is one visit to your doctor to put your life in perspective! Hearing you have cancer, or a terminal illness immediately helps you evaluate your life’s priorities. If you have been working feverishly to gain a new position at work or to grow your retirement investments, or to accomplish certain projects, then you may be greatly disappointed at how quickly they evaporate before you.

We live in a physical world, but what really matters in life occurs in the spiritual realm. The earth is deteriorating and will one day come to an end. Our physical bodies are wearing out. Death awaits us all. While we can ignore that reality and resist it with all our might; it is inevitable.

Some people approach death with horror, knowing they failed to set aside treasures for the life to come. Their focus was on the temporal, even though they knew it would not lost for long. At death, their life’s investments must be surrendered with nothing to show for it in the life to come.

Others wisely choose to invest their brief life in eternity. They recognize that their life on earth is fleeting and brief at best. Like a farmer who fervently collects hay while the sun still shines, so these wise people collect eternal treasures while they can. For them, death is not loss, but gain. It is a celebration of what God did through their ordinary life on earth.

Are you worried and troubled about things that will not last? Is your focus and energy consumed with activities and objects that are even now fading away? Invest your life well!

Lest we forget, Jesus instructed His disciples to affirm before God, each day that our life is to be focused on God’s kingdom, power, and glory and not ours.

Our lives will inevitably come to an end. Our projects, company, positions, and investments will be no more. Whatever fame or recognition we may have achieved will fade away. But God and His work will advance from glory to glory. His name and fame will increase. His kingdom will expand. His power will remain undiminished.

Every day we must decide what we will invest our lives in to. We can spend our time feverishly advancing our causes and projects, or we can surrender ourselves fully to the cause of Christ.

Every day we must pray and commit ourselves afresh to the furtherance of God’s kingdom and His glory. Just because we were committed to it yesterday does not mean we are wholeheartedly aligned to it today. So we pray afresh, each day, that God would be glorified by the way we live our life.

How will you invest your life, today?

As we enter each new day, we understand that only God knows what we will face in the coming hours. We may have an agenda of appointments and projects to complete, but only God knows what we will actually experience. There may be a temptation to cheat at work, or to engage in improper behavior, or to gossip about a colleague. We may be tempted to exaggerate certain numbers or to lie about how we spent our time or what our actual expenses were. Life is filled with allurements.

As we seek to follow God’s will, we will inevitably encounter temptations. God never tempts us to evil, but His will may bring us to within close proximity of it! That is why we must regularly seek His will and pray for His guidance. One false step could cost us for the rest of our lives.

Jesus knew that there were evil forces at work to oppose our every act of obedience to God. Satan always offers an alternative to God’s clear instruction. We must daily be cognizant of the fact that there is much at stake for every action we take. God will guide us in the path we must go. But we must carefully heed His voice. Pray daily, and sincerely, for His guidance and protection from temptation, and He will surely give it.

There is an innate desire within each of us for justice to be served. When someone harms us or offends us, we quite naturally want to see them punished for their sins. It is perhaps for this reason that Jesus asked us to pray an extremely difficult thing.

Jesus knew we would regularly offend God’s holiness. Our sins and regular disobedience would be in constant need of divine forgiveness. So, each day, we must ask almighty God to forgive us our debts to Him as a result of our sin. But this is the catch: we are to ask God to forgive us in exactly the same measure that we forgive those who sin against us.

But, you say, that’s different! That person hurt my feelings! They lied about me! They opposed my project! They don’t deserve to be forgiven!

But Jesus said, the same measure we forgive others will be the standard God uses to forgive us. Are there people in your life whom you have not forgiven? If there is, then there is no point in asking God’s forgiveness for your sins. You might argue, “Well I have forgiven them, I just want nothing more to do with them!” Fine, but would you like for God to treat you that way?

The truth is, that once you truly understand how amazing and undeserved is God’s forgiveness for you, you will be unable to withhold that same forgiveness from others. Every day, as you pray, remember that the identical degree of forgiveness you are expressing toward others is the same forgiveness you are asking God to demonstrate toward you.

For many in North America who pray this prayer today, it seems more sentimental than practical. For most people living in the western world, we might wonder what we will eat that day, but we have little doubt that we will eat. Yet Jesus instructed His disciples to ask God daily for their food.

In Jesus’ day, meat was a luxury not often experienced by the common laborer. Bread was the staple that filled people’s bellies and gave them strength for each day. If someone had his daily bread, plus water, he could put in a good day’s labor.

Jesus was instructing His followers never to take their basic provision for granted. We might have plenty of money today, but even extremely wealthy people have been reduced to poverty through financial disasters. Others have suffered debilitating health decline. It is foolish to become proud in one’s own strength and independence, for they can evaporate like the morning dew.

Our problem is that when we become financially secure, we instinctively begin to trust in our money rather than in God. We assume our income can purchase tomorrow’s bread. That is why Jesus instructed us to pray daily to God for even our most basic needs. We must never forget that He is ultimately the supplier of everything we need. Should we lose sight of that, God may choose to remind us of just how desperately we depend upon Him, day by day.

God’s primary concern is not your happiness but His kingdom. John the Baptist came preaching that God’s kingdom was near. Jesus preached that His kingdom was at hand. The early disciples and Paul preached and taught about God’s kingdom. The kingdom, or rule of God, was always central to people in the Bible and it ought to drive our lives as well.

The kingdom of God is the rule of God on earth. God’s purposes are to expand His rule over the hearts of more and more people. His kingdom seeks to exert dominion over every country and people group on earth. Jesus declared that we ought to first seek His kingdom, and then God would provide everything else we needed in life (Matt. 6:33).

God’s kingdom will be completely established only when He is obeyed on earth as quickly and wholeheartedly as He is in heaven. In heaven, there is no delay or excuses or arguing over God’s commands. There, obedience is immediate and total. Jesus instructed us to pray that God’s rule among us would be equally absolute. Of course, while we can only pray for and encourage others to fully submit to Christ’s lordship over them, we have total control over how fervently we obey God’s commands. Every time we pray this phrase, we must stop and ask if we truly are obeying Christ in the same manner as He is obeyed in heaven. Jesus did not intend this phrase to be poetical. He meant for it to be a reality.