Fear Not, I Will Help You!

Who is there who will give ear to this? Who will try to listen and read through these words? In the midst of these plagues we see today – depression, economic melt down, global recession, earthquakes, tsunami, wars, ethnic and religious conflicts, sicknesses as cancer, Ebola; etc – are you scared? In the midst of all the agony and the pain and the adversity, will you give up now?

It has been told that these omens will arise as the end of age draws near: “you will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

“For nation will rise against nation (Palestine and Israel clash where thousands of both innocent and sinful souls have been swallowed by the ground), and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famine and earthquakes in place after place; All these are but the beginning of the birth pangs…” (Matthew 24:6-8), and the world is being consumed by this with dread and misery and despair already conquering people’s hearts.

As children of God (true believers), no matter the havoc and the calamity, the peace of the Lord must not forsake our hearts. For “God did not give us the Spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7), to withstand these storms of life in the world today.

Daily do we hear of murders, assassinations, rape, impacts of terrorism, suicides, afflictions and all, but these I tell you that “the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him” (Psalm 34:7). “Fear not because of evil doers…for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed” (Psalm 37:1-3).

“The Lord knows the days of upright and the blameless, and their heritage will abide forever. They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied…” (Psalm 37:18-19). “Behold, God is your helper and ally; the Lord is ‘your’ upholder (in the midst of trials)… He will pay back evil to ‘your’ enemies; and in His faithfulness will put an end to them for you” (Psalm 54:4-5).

Only “cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow (you) the righteous to be moved.” When you lay your all before the Lord and surrender to His will, He becomes “your Rock and Salvation; your Defense and Fortress, and you shall not be moved” (Psalm 62:6) whether the storms rage and your foes press harder.

Do Something For Others

Many a soul in the battle of life

Trembles with fear at the din and the strife,

Bearing alone, amid trial and care,

Burdens and sorrows God bids you to share.

Do something for others,

Something for others today!...

Duty demands it, and Jesus commands it!

Do something for others today!

Many in doubt or in fear of the way

Mutely appeal for your guidance today;

On your demeanour the choice may depend-

Are you concerned for the stranger or friend?

Many, disheartened by cruel deceit,

Broken and worn by the pangs of defeat,

Doubting, despairing, helplessly stand,

Waiting, perhaps, for your strengthening hand.

Many are turning away from the right

Into the maze of the shadows of night;

Go to them, speak to them, over them pray,

Help them, support them-do something today.

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

Giving Up Everything

TEXT: LUKE 14:25-35

KEY VERSE: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

One day, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman asked General William Booth to reveal the secret of his success. Booth, after some hesitation, had tears dropping from his eyes and said: “I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I have, men with greater opportunities, but from the day that I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of what Jesus could do with them, on that day I made up my mind that God should have all of William Booth there was.” Booth’s total surrender moved Chapman to conviction and he remarked: “I learned from William Booth that the greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender.”

Answering the call to follow Christ always requires a change, but the change may not be in physical location, profession, or status. The change is in our heart, as we take our cross to follow Him. It is a change where we learn the secret of living in righteousness and serving God with eternity in view.

Peter, James and John were partners in a small fishing business on the sea of Galilee. This was their source of support for themselves as well as their families. Yet, when they heard the call to become “fishers of men,” they eagerly responded and followed. Matthew was a tax collector, but he walked away from his life of security when Jesus called. He left everything and followed. Abraham in the Old Testament moved his entire household to follow God without even knowing where he was being sent (Genesis 12:1-5). Moses, at eighty years of age, left the tending of flocks to follow God’s call to lead His people out of bondage to Pharaoh. Elisha slaughtered his yoke of oxen and burnt the plowing equipment as he set out to follow Elijah.

Following Christ is a divine call to lose mundane things to gain eternity of blissful and enduring happiness. As we draw closer to our heavenly Father, we will find His call to be irresistible. 

See more here: <<DAILY MANNA>>

 
THOUGHT FOR YOU: The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his absolute surrender.

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

Life Is A Temporary Assignment

LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. Psalm 39:4 (NET)

I am here on earth for just a little while. Psalm 119:19 (TEV)

LIFE ON EARTH IS A TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT.

 

The Bible is full of metaphors that teach about the brief, temporary, transient nature of life on earth. Life is described as a mist, a fast runner, a breath, and a wisp of smoke. The Bible says, "For we were born but yesterday.... Our days on earth are as transient as a shadow."

To make the best use of your life, you must never forget two truths: First, compared with eternity, life is extremely brief. Second, earth is only a temporary residence. You won't be here long, so don't get too attached. Ask God to help you see life on earth as he sees it. David prayed, "Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more."

Repeatedly the Bible compares life on earth to temporarily living in a foreign country. This is not your permanent home or final destination. You're just passing through, just visiting earth. The Bible uses terms like alien, pilgrim, foreigner, stranger, visitor, and traveller to describe our brief stay on earth. David said, "I am but a foreigner here on earth," and Peter explained, "If you call God your Father, live your time as temporary residents on earth."

In California, where I live, many people have moved from other parts of the world to work here, but they keep their citizenship with their home country. They are required to carry a visitor registration card (called a "green card"), which allows them to work here even though they aren't citizens. Christians should carry spiritual green cards to remind us that our citizenship is in heaven. God says his children are to think differently about life from the way unbelievers do. "All they think about is this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives." Real believers understand that there is far more to life than just the few years we live on this planet.

Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is heaven. When you grasp this truth, you will stop worrying about "having it all" on earth. God is very blunt about the danger of living for the here and now and adopting the values, priorities, and lifestyles of the world around us. When we flirt with the temptations of this world, God calls it spiritual adultery. The Bible says, "You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.'

Destined For A Fall

There was a people long ago

Who had great riches, wealth untold;

They built a city with a wall,

A kingdom they thought would never fall.

How they labored unceasingly

To lay up treasure increasingly;

They gave no thought to what lay beyond,

That their kingdom would someday be gone.

But one by one the stones came down;

The city was leveled to the ground,

No more fortune to be found,

No one left to wear a crown.

The mighty kingdom fell at last;

Its beauty's gone, its pleasure's past;

All was lost they sought to gain,

Their lives were wasted, their labor vain.

You can build a kingdom with a mighty wall,

But like the kingdom long ago, it is destined for a fall,

Unless Christ the Lord becomes your King

And ruler of everything.

==Written by: Perry Boardman ==

THE TRUTH MEDIA
...building the body of Christ.

Where Is He Not?

“Where was God when my mother died of cancer? Where was He when I was abused and raped? Where was He when my son was killed by a drunk driver? Where was He when I broke my leg, spinal cord and now paralyzed? Where was He when I lost my job, my house got burnt and my business crashed? Where was He when earthquakes and typhoons destroyed my community and took my friends away? Where is He now that I barely survive in poverty? Where is He with all the murder, assassination and terrorism? Where was He? Where is He?”

You can imagine these questions begging for answers all day long from depressed, despaired, weary and broken-hearted people all around the world, who have gone through or are still going through terrible and catastrophic phases in their lives. I have no answers to all these questions myself but these I can boldly say: God sees it all and knows it all. He knows you are hurting and won’t leave you helpless.

However, when He called you to repentance and asked that you heed His word, did you obey? When he told you to lean on Him and rely not on your understanding, did you hearken to His voice? Thus, He says: “because He called you and you have refused to answer, have stretched out His hands and you didn’t heed, and you treated as nothing all His counsel and would accept none of His reproof, I (God) also will laugh at your calamity; I (God) will mock when the thing comes that shall cause you terror and panic – when your panic comes as a storm and desolation and your calamity comes as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

“Then will they call upon me but I will not answer; they will seek me early and diligently but they will not find me… But whoso hearkens to me shall dwell securely and in confident trust and shall be quiet, without fear or dread of evil.” (Proverbs 1:24-33) Amplified Bible.

Far from it to even nurture the thought of saying God is wicked. He isn’t. He is a loving, just and righteous God. He shows no partiality and all He does are out of His love for you and I. “Truly, God would not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice. God is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of His hands.” (Job 34:12, 19). Amplified Bible.

It Pays To Be Humble

TEXT: LUKE 14:1-11

Key verse: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

William Carey, who is considered as the father of modern missions, was said to have spent his early years as a cobbler. He later became one of the greatest linguists the Church has ever known, having translated parts of the Bible into about 24 Indian languages. However, when he first went to India, some people regarded him with dislike and contempt. At a dinner party, a distinguished guest, in an attempt to humiliate Carey, said in a loud voice: “I suppose, Mr. Carey, you once worked as a shoemaker.” But Carey responded humbly: “No, your lordship, not as a shoemaker, only a cobbler.” Carey could not claim to make shoes, but only to mend them. That is humility.

From Jesus’ remarks, in our text, it is equally clear that high spiritual or social attainment does not violate humility or personal disposition and good manners toward those who may appear to rank below us in life. The fact that a person is born again does not give him license to breach normal civility or to be rude or despise others including sound protocols.

In most of our churches, it is the norm of some Christians to resist ushers’ directives and be bent on having their way in choosing the place they want to seat. In public places and in traffic, there are others who would resist everyone, including law enforcement agents, and ignore procedures just because of their position in society.

Jesus is teaching us today to imbibe humility. We do not need grab honour or arrogate it to ourselves; God honours and gives place of importance to the one He chooses according to His will and divine evaluation. There is no place for the proud because God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). To continue in sin is to resist God, which is an expression of pride. Confession, genuine repentance and faith in the atoning blood of Jesus will bestow upon you the saving grace.

THOUGHT FOR THE YOU: Pride goes before a fall.
- See more by clicking: <<DAILY MANNA>>

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

The Truth About Our Hearts

Text: Jeremiah 17:1-18

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9

In those two lines you have the explanation of all the misery and heartache and injustice and evil of life. It all stems from that. The heart, the natural life into which we were born, has two things wrong with it. First, it is desperately corrupt. This means it never can function as it originally was designed to do. It can never fulfill all you expect of it. It will never fulfill your ideals, or bring you to the place where you can be what you would like to be. It is corrupt. It is infected with a fatal virus. It cannot be changed. There is nothing you can do about it, ultimately. It is useless and wasted. Therefore there is only one thing it is good for — to be put to death. That is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did with it when he died some centuries later. He took that fatal nature, human nature, and he put it to death.

I know that many people have trouble at this point. This is the verse, among others like it in the Scriptures, which divides humanity right down the center. You either believe this verse, and act in these terms for the rest of your life, understanding this fact, or you deny it and say, It is not true; man is basically good. It is either one side or the other. Your whole system of philosophy and of education and of legislation, and everything else, will be determined by which one of those views you take. This is the Great Divide of humanity, right here.

It is amazing, but I think one of the greatest confirmations of the truth in this verse is the Constitution of the United States of America. Our founding fathers were so aware of this great fact — that man, by nature, is desperately corrupt — that they never trusted a single man, even the best of them, with ultimate power. They set up checks and balances by which any man in office, even the most admired of men, would have his power scrutinized and examined by others. They did not trust anybody, and rightfully so! No system of philosophy, of psychology, of education, will ever serve to eliminate the wrongful, evil failing of the human heart. It cannot be done. We have to face life on those terms.

As if that were not bad enough, there is also another quality about the heart: it is deceitful about all things. It never looks quite as bad as it really is. It has an amazing power to disguise itself and look good and hopeful and fair — admirable, even. That is what is so deceitful about it. This explains why, all through the centuries, men continually keep trying to make their hearts seem better. We want to think as if we are just a few steps from success. This is why most of the approaches of humanity are equivalent to taking a well with poisoned water, and improving it by painting the pump!

The heart is clever, crafty; it can appear one way when it is quite another. We know that we have a frightening ability to hide a hateful heart under flattering words, or that we can speak softly and lovingly to someone whom we utterly despise. We do it all the time. We can use a sweet tone, and act and sound as if we are perfectly at ease, when inwardly we are seething with revolt and rebellion. That is the heart. It has that ability. It can appear fair. It can make the most impressive vows to do better. It can promise reform, and suffer hardship.

That is the heart, and the only book in the world which tells you this is the Bible — and those which are based upon it. You will never find that information in any other source. All studies of humanity will never lead you to this revelation. This is God himself, opening up a truth which divides the world, and which men must know if they are going to face life the way it really is.

Copyright 2014 | Ray Stedman Ministry | www.raystedman.org

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

Wisdom Is Precious

TEXT: JOB 28:12-28 

Key verse: “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28).

One day, Henry Ford, an automaker, had a challenge with power supply in his factory and asked Charlie Steinmetz, an electrical genius, to build him some generators. Steinmetz did. But one day, the generators grounded to a halt. The repairmen tried their best to fix the problem, but they could not. Ford, who got disturbed, called Steinmetz, the original builder of the generators. Steinmetz tinkered with the machines for a few hours and they roared into life. But Ford got a bill of $10,000. Surprised, he inquired why the bill was so big. Steinmetz replied: “For tinkering with the generators, $10 and for knowing where to tinker, $9,990.” The major repairs on the generators did not cost much, but the wisdom to know exactly what was wrong and how to effect the repairs was the principal cost.

This was what Job emphasized in today’s text. To him, wisdom is precious, perfect and valuable. In other words, wisdom is much better than anything else. He averred that true wisdom “cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies.”

Job’s explanation and exaltation of true wisdom also suggested that it could not be acquired through educational pursuits or research.  This has led us to the great revelation that true wisdom is to have the fear of the Lord and to depart from evil.

True wisdom, which is the secret of successful living here on earth and having eternal life, is living righteously and godly, having reverential fear for God that leads to true and pure worship, obeying His word and abhorring all manner of evil. It, therefore, requires that we seek the Lord through repentance, restitution and fervent prayer for the impartation of God’s wisdom.

THOUGHT FOR YOU: Whatever makes men good Christians, imbibe it.

See more by clicking: <<DAILY MANNA>>

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

You Are Not An Accident!

I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born. Isaiah 44:2a (CEV)

God doesn't play dice. Albert Einstein

YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT.

Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it.

Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. You are alive because God wanted to create you! The Bible says, "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me."

God prescribed every single detail of your body. He deliberately chose your race, the color of your skin, your hair, and every other feature. He custom-made your body just the way he wanted it. He also determined the natural talents you would possess and the uniqueness of your personality. The Bible says, "You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something."

Because God made you for a reason, he also decided when you would be born and how long you would live. He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death. The Bible says, "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book!"

God also planned where you'd be born and where you'd live for his purpose. Your race and nationality are no accident. God left no detail to chance. He planned it all for his purpose. The Bible says, "From one man he made every nation... and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” Nothing in your life is arbitrary. It's all for a purpose.

Most amazing, God decided how you would be born. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth or who your parents are, God had a plan in creating you. It doesn't matter whether your parents were good, bad, or indifferent. God knew that those two individuals possessed exactly the right genetic makeup to create the custom "you" he had in mind. They had the DNA God wanted to make you.