Today we are going to feast on a meal that all of us at one time or another has found to be bitter. It’s a place that I find myself in at the present time and feel that some of you may be there also and don’t know it. Let the message bless you.
Today’s Prayer
Father, we don’t ever want to be PTW’s “Professional Tongue Waggers.” Your Word tells us in James 3 that the tongue is a fire that corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire and is set on fire by hell; a restless evil, full of poison. We have seen how PTW’s can ruin other people’s lives, damage testimonies and hurt the body and cause of Christ. Please help us to never be that kind of person. Please, set our tongues on fire from heaven, purifying and controlling our tongues to lift people up, lead them to You, build the church, and glorify You. Please, may our tongues be controlled by You and full of Godly, positive power, rather than being an uncontrolled fire that generates destruction. Thank You Father, for giving us strength, wisdom, and power for Your glory and Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Tested for Abundance
We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. – Psalm 66:12.
It’s nice to hear that God desires to bring us into abundance. In fact, many a preacher has promoted the goodness of the Lord and His ability to prosper His children. Unfortunately, my experience is that this gospel of material abundance has little to do with the gospel of the Kingdom as our Lord works in the realm of the sanctified soul. The passage above tells us that God does in fact bring us into places of abundance. However, if you take a closer look at the entire passage, we learn the route to this abundance.
For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:10-12).
God’s economy of abundance often has little to do with material blessing. In God’s economy, abundance is often measured in wisdom and knowledge of Himself. It’s then that we are truly blessed. Wisdom can’t be gained through intellectual pursuits. Wisdom comes only through experience. Real wisdom comes from the kinds of experiences that come only through the deepest tests. Lessons of refinement, including prison accompanied by burdens, leads us through the fire and water. This is the territory that must be traveled to reach that place of abundance. It would seem strange that a loving God would use such means with His children. What we often fail to realize is that God’s measuring stick is the character and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself in each of us. This can’t be gained through a life of ease and pleasure. Ease and pleasure fail to refine.
Is God using your life experiences to refine you today? Has He placed you in a prison of some kind or laid burdens on your back? Take heart if this is the place you find yourself and realize that if you are faithful through the tests, you will enter a place of abundance that few will ever attain. The darkest hour is just before daybreak.
Quote of the Day
When we really are living close to God we know the reality of the Spirit’s guiding. When our spiritual life grows dim we do not appreciate His guidance so much. It is not, I think, that He ceases to guide. Rather we cease to be in a condition to apprehend His guidance. But the guidance is very real. There is the alternative danger of interpreting our own feelings and opinions as the Spirit’s guidance. Our best defense against this temptation is a real humility joined with a genuine readiness to hear and obey the Spirit. ~Leon Morris~
WITH HOPE AND FAITH
REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY