“The Holy Spirit gives gifts”

Friday, July 19.

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith,” (Roman 12:6 NIV).

People find all kinds of excuses when it comes to serving the Lord. Moses made excuse. Many others made excuse. One of the excuse is that they are not adequate to serve the Lord. Rejecting the call of God to serve can affect the work of God on earth. It can also rob us of the blessings that comes from disobedience. It can also keep us from getting eternal blessings that comes from God.

Jesus being omniscient knew of the excuse we would offer. Therefore, he said he would send a helper (the Holy Spirit), who would come and abide with us. The Holy Spirit will guide us. The Holy Spirit enables, energizes, and equips us to serve. One way the Holy Spirit equips us is by providing spiritual gifts which are capabilities given to believers.

God plans these gifts for us. At salvation, these gifts are given to us. The Holy Spirit then comes to manifest his power in us and enhanced these gifts. Let us obey God and the Holy Spirit.

Memory verse: John 14:16.

“When we have the Holy Spirit, we have all that is needed to be what God desires us to be,” (Aiden Wilson Tozer).

“Baptism: Our Faith in the Resurrection”

Thursday, July 18.

“And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him” (Acts 8:38).

Baptism is our salvation in picture. When we preached the gospel, we are saying Jesus died for our sins, was buried and raised to life on the third day. Baptism served as a reminder of what the Savior did for us.

We also showed what happened to us through salvation (Romans 6:3-4). When we are pinged under the water, we are buried with Christ. When we are taken out, we are raised with Christ into our new life. As God has done for Christ, Christ also has done this for us spiritually. Baptism is a public recognition of our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and in our own future bodily resurrection. Have you publicly identified yourself with Jesus through the act of baptism?

Memory verse: Romans 6:1

Baptism is faith in action” (Watchman Nee)

“It is good to walk by faith”

Wednesday, July 17.

“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, “you of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31)

Faith is something that really pleases God. Without it, it is impossible to please him. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he always approved of people who had faith. Jesus rebuke those who had little faith. Faith is important. To have salvation, we must have faith.Having faith is staying focus on Jesus. We take our eyes off him and look at the circumstances of life, we will waiver in our faith.

It is good to focus on God and not our circumstances because sometimes we do not see God in our circumstances. Let us focus on God.

Memory verse: Romans 8:28

“Faith can move mountains” (Matthew 17:20)

“Clinging to the Lord”

Tuesday, July 16.

“By faith Moses parents hid him for three month after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23).

Hebrews 11:27 tells us how Moses endured. Moses, a murderer chosen by God to lead the children of Israel had his shortcomings. He had many uncertainties in his life. How could he address Pharaoh when he was slow in speaking (Exodus 4:10)? How could this murderer become God’s chosen?

Moses knew for sure what the Lord expected of him. What he did not know was what the future had in store for him. But by faith, Moses moved forward. Moses trusted in the power of the Lord to guide, protect and make him victorious.

Like Moses, we too wonder about things. We wonder if we will ever get married, finish college, or be able to own a house. Fortunately, our source of security has not change in life. God is still the only certainty in life. Let us us trust him.

Memory verse: Ephesian 2:4

“The only way we will learn to trust God is by getting to know God,” (Lydia Brownback).

“Do you cry out to God?”

Monday, July 15.

“Have mercy on me , my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed” (Psalm 57:1 KJV).

There is never a period in our lives when we don’t face crisis of some sorts. We do. When we do, our first response naturally is to find solutions on our own. But God has another way. He provides another way to handle difficulties.

In our sermon yesterday at Newton First and Walton UMCs, we talked about David fleeing from his son Absalom. David first response was to acknowledge God as his shield, his glory, and the lifter of his head (Psalm 3:3). David was no stranger to pressure. When he wrote Psalm 57, he was facing danger from Saul who wanted to kill him.

What was David response? His response was to cry out to God. Do you cry out to God when faced with eminent danger? It is important for us to shift course and let God hear our plead.

Memory verse: Psalm 23:3.

“My heart sobbed a lament that was hard to ignore” (Katie Macalister).

“Spiritual Thirst”

Friday, July 12.

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guilt, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings. As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the world, that ye may grow thereby,” (1 Peter 2:1-2).

Have you observe a time in your life when you were very thirsty. You yearned for a drink at that time. You wanted water or anything that could quench that thirst. It is the same as spiritual thirst. A thirst for fulfillment. Only the Lord knows those needs and only he can fulfill it.

In our society, many people are dissatisfy. But in Christ Jesus, we can be complete, content, and fulfilled.Why aren’t people being pointed to Christ? The reason is that people are being pointed to another means of satisfaction. People seek after wealth and emptied dreams. These things are temporary things. They only last for a while.

Our God is all we need in this world. He will provide everything else for us. John 6:34=35, John 7:37-38 and many other Scriptures tells us a lot about the sufficiency of our God. Let us turn to Jesus and trust him to give us fulfillment.

Memory verse: 1 Peter 2:2.

“The mystery of human existence lies in not just staying alive, but in finding something to live for,” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky).

“How do you conquer jealousy?”

Thursday, July 11.

“Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity” (Psalm 37:1)

When we have displeasure about the success of someone else, then we are being jealous. This is harmful to the spiritual growth of a believer. it is harmful because it causes a person to act out of hostility and bitterness towards another person. The jealous person suffers a lot in this because he or she carries a burden in their heart.

This is a negative emotion which cause a person to harbor ill feelings. People find it hard to confess that they have such feelings. The Lord already knows we have those feelings. Harboring those feelings is like objecting to the blessings of God on the life of others.

The way to get rid of such emotions is through prayer. It is important that we offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for blessing the other. Then we must also pray that God put love in our heart for the other. In this way, we will get connected to God and we will produce good fruits.

Memory verse: Psalm 37:3

“Go ahead. Judge me. Just remember to be perfect the rest of your life,” (Quoteideas.com).

“The struggle with Envy”

Wednesday, July 10.

“Saul has slain his thousand, David his ten thousand” (1 Samuel 18:7).

In this passage, Israel sing a song to the honor of David. Saul was not pleased. Jealousy came into the picture. Jealousy is poisonous because it leads to a hosts of other sins. Therefore, envy should be dealt with immediately before it turns to other emotions and attitudes.

It was envy that warped the thinking of King Saul that he began blinded to reality. Envy made Saul suspicious. The king began to think that David was trying to take his royal position. Saul had no evidence. Envy clouded his thinking that he took every success in this young soldier’s life as a reason for resentment.

Fear and bitterness fester in the mind of Saul. It fester to the point where Saul wanted to take David’s life. Can we go as far as Saul did? Yes certainly, jealous is a powerful emotion and can lead us to do very bad things. If there is any feelings of bitterness, resentment, and hostility, let us prayerfully submit those feelings to our heavenly father to help us.

Memory verse: Proverbs 3:5

“Jealousy is a strong emotion that can break any relationship,” (Your tango)

“Walk in the Spirit”

Tuesday, July 9.

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”(Romans 8:13 KJV).

Sometimes we feel inadequate in our Christian walk. We feel that others have done things are doing things that we have not done. Maybe they have solve the mystery of rejoicing in suffering. Maybe they have learn to forgive others. Perhaps they have learn to conquer sin. Or yet still, they have shown love to others that you have not discovered. Do you wonder how they do this?

There is no hidden secrets in these believers actions. They do all they do because they lived a life of walking in the Spirit. They do all these wonderful things by the direction of the Holy Spirit. These believers produced all these fruits by walking in the Spirit, rather than walking after the flesh.

Living by the Spirit is not reserved for a selected few believers. It is available to those who walk by the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We can know the Spirit intimately.

Memory verse: Galatians 5:16

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit come upon you” (Acts 1:8)

“Learning through Experience”

Monday, July 8.

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted;That I may learn thy statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

It is true that it is good to learn the things of life through experience. As Christians, we learn a lot of things through the Word of God. Yet, we go through life’s trial and learn from the harsh reality of life.

The trials we go through are not always the due to sin. it plays a role of correction in our lives. These trials occurred so that our attentions are drawn to the sins we have tolerated, overlooked, or accepted as normal. These sins could be our habits, attitudes, or anything else that is not God’s best for us. No sin should have a place in the life of a child of God.

Any hardship that drives us to God is good for us. It is true because what we gained in knowing the Lord is worth more than all the wealth, power and fame the world has to offer us. This why the Psalmist says, “it is good that am afflicted, that I may learn you statutes,” (Psalm 119:71)

Memory verse: Psalm 119:70.

“Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing” (Oscar Wilde).