Every Day with Jesus (6 page)

Thinketh no evil.

Many years ago, Jamie and I sat down to have a “discussion.” We felt we needed to talk some things out. What we did was give each other a list of what we thought the other was doing wrong. Amazingly, this list went back years and included even the smallest acts. It became obvious to both of us that we had been keeping a mental ledger of all the things we thought the other was doing wrong.

This isn’t God’s kind of love. It is not the forgiving love of Jesus we are supposed to enjoy and walk in every day. Therefore, we made a decision to quit keeping score. No more storing up all the things that hurt us so we could use them in our next “discussion.” At first this was scary. It was like taking all the ammunition out of our weapons, but then we realized that we weren’t each other’s enemy! We shouldn’t have any weapons pointed at each other.

We made a decision not to dwell on the things we disliked about each other. We chose to think only on the good and let God take care of the rest. It’s amazing how much of a difference this has made. The love of Jesus worked a lot better than our accusations and indictments to make our marriage a great one.

Thinking on evil only gives fuel to the fires of self-pity, anger, and bitterness that Satan wants to ignite within us. Thinking on the wrongs we suffer from others magnifies the offense until it becomes bigger than it actually is. The devil loves to take a small, splinter-size offense, magnify it to the size of a baseball bat, and then beat our brains out with it. Don’t let him do it to you.

Decide today to quit keeping score of all the offenses that come your way. Forgive and go on, thinking instead on things that are pure, lovely, and of good report. (Phil. 4:8.) Then you’ll enjoy His peace. (Isa. 26:3.)

February 16: God’s Love Rejoices in Truth

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.

Rejoice means “to experience joy or pleasure.” A great indicator of whether or not we are walking in God’s love is what gives us pleasure. God’s kind of love only gets pleasure from things in line with His Word, which is truth. (John 17:17.)

Those who receive pleasure from sin aren’t full of God’s love. It doesn’t matter whether they are personally doing it or just watching others commit acts of sin. God’s love is pure and evokes purity in everyone it touches. Therefore, it shouldn’t give us pleasure to explore all the weird and perverse things that go on in the world today.

Christians should get no pleasure from watching talk shows that investigate every type of immorality in the world. They should never look to magazines and books that glorify relationships contrary to God’s blueprint for their entertainment. Movies that exalt values other than God’s values shouldn’t provide amusement for His children either.

I’m not saying we must quit everything we’re doing and be miserable. This is simply a thermometer for us to take our spiritual temperature. If we are rejoicing in iniquity and all kinds of evil things, we need a healthy dose of God’s love. Once we are full of His love, nothing less will please us. His love will spoil us!

Ask the Lord for a revelation of His pure love for you today. Then let His love redefine what causes you to rejoice.

February 17: God’s Love Can Bear Anything

Beareth all things.

Most people have unquestioningly accepted that there are restrictions on how far to go in loving others. It’s like we build a fence and say, “Anything within this boundary I can take, but there are limits to what I can bear. After all, I’m only human!”

It is true that we are humans, and humans have limitations, but it’s not true that we are only human. The born-again part of us is supernatural and full of God’s love, which can bear all things. Look at Jesus. He loved and asked God to forgive the very ones who crucified Him. Then Stephen proved any believer could walk in the same love when he forgave those who were stoning him to death. God has given all believers the ability to operate in this type of love. (Eph. 4:32.)

God’s love doesn’t have any limitations as to what it can bear, believe, hope, and endure. Its sustaining power is limitless. Those who say they can’t bear any more are simply revealing that they haven’t yet drawn on God’s supernatural love. They have been loving out of their natural, human love.

I want to encourage you today. There is an infinite supply of God’s love within you that will never fail. All you need to do is look beyond yourself to the Lord and receive His supernatural love. He wants you to walk in His love more than you do.

Don’t listen to your flesh, the devil, or other people who justify having limitations to how far you can love others. Instead, draw on the God-kind of love within you that bears all things. If you let His love flow through you, you’ll have an endless capacity to love others.

February 18: God’s Love Believes All Things

Believeth all things.

Did you know that God’s love produces faith? Galatians 5:6 says that faith works by love. When we experience the love God has for us, faith comes as a natural byproduct. If we are struggling to walk in faith, we are actually failing to stay focused on the infinite love God has for us. If God Almighty is for us, who or what can be against us? (Rom. 8:31.)

A young child in their father’s arms isn’t worried about anything. They trust their father completely and don’t have a care in the world. They don’t struggle to believe for their meals, clothes, or future needs. Their loving father takes care of it all. That’s the exact comparison Jesus made to encourage us to trust God for our needs. (Luke 11:11-13.) A loving relationship with our heavenly Father is the key to a life of faith. If we have a problem trusting God in any area of our lives, that is an indicator that something is wrong.

When the warning light on the dash of your car flashes, you don’t disconnect the warning light. Instead, you fix the problem that caused the light to come on in the first place. Then the light will automatically shut off. Likewise, a lack of faith is a warning light that indicates you aren’t properly focused on the love of God.

If you want more faith to believe God today, attend to the place of intimacy with Him, where you are fully aware of His great love for you. Then your faith will be so abundant that you will just naturally believe all things.

February 19: God’s Love Hopes

Hopeth all things.

Hopelessness is a terrible thing. God’s Word says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). Lack of hope is behind most, if not all, of the self-destruction we see in the lives of people today. Those who don’t have a strong faith in the future throw today away without any consideration of the consequences. The destructive habits of people are rooted in despair or hopelessness. Jesus used the fool who said, “Let’s eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19) as an example of someone without vision for his future. Those who don’t live with one eye on the future are headed for disaster.

Why is it that most of society is without hope? It’s because God’s love is the source of true hope, and there’s a genuine famine in the world today of the truth of God’s love for us. On the whole, religion tells us of God’s holiness and our relative unworthiness, but the true love of God is not a reality in the hearts of most people—even most Christian people. Luck and fate don’t generate hope. Only knowing a personal, loving God is working all things for our good (Rom. 8:28) gives us true and lasting hope. God’s kind of love hopes all things.

God has a perfect plan for your life. Regardless of where you are now—no matter how far off the track you may have strayed—God has a perfect course plotted for you to where you’re supposed to be. (Jer. 29:11.) He loves you in spite of what you have or haven’t done. As you believe this today, hope will spring up in your heart.

February 20: God’s Love Endures

Endureth all things.

People are in a constant struggle to feel good about themselves, yet it seems life is full of pressures that repeatedly drive them to and beyond their ability to cope. They go past what they know to be the boundary of a proper response. Their drive to maintain self-worth excuses their actions. They say, “There are limits. I’m only human. How much can one person take?” Those who haven’t tapped into God’s limitless power supply will readily agree and let them off the hook for their selfish attitudes and actions.

The truth is that where our limits end, God’s power begins. He does not abandon His children to their own resources. He lives in them, and He’s placed His supernatural love and joy in them so they can endure all things. That means believers have no excuse for blowing up and giving up. We have God’s ability to endure all things because we have His love which never fails.

This truth isn’t meant to condemn; it’s a liberating truth that will set you free. (John 8:32.) The temporary solace that comes from giving up or giving in will soon be swallowed by the harsh realities that arise from inappropriate behavior. As the apostle James said, “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Regardless of how good it may feel to give in to your carnal emotions, that surrender will only bring you grief.

Today if you will draw upon His love, God will empower you with supernatural ability so that nothing will be impossible for you. You can change the things that can be changed and endure the things that can’t be changed. Live in His enduring love.

February 21: God’s Love Never Fails

Charity never faileth.

How could Paul say this? In his day hatred, selfishness, oppression, and many other evils prevailed as much or more than today. Paul experienced the sting of persecution and had administered it to others before his conversion. Certainly, he had heard of the Christians who were burned at the stake and thrown to the lions by the Romans. In A.D. 70 the Romans completely destroyed Jerusalem, plundering everyone and everything in the city. Would Paul have changed what he wrote if these things had taken place before this letter to the Corinthians? Certainly not!

God is love (1 John 4:8), and He never fails. In our single frame view, it may appear that God doesn’t always prevail, but that’s not so. For example, take the persecution of the Christians in Paul’s day. The 20/20 view of history shows us that many Romans embraced Christ and jumped into the theatre to die with the Christians who were being martyred. Christianity spread at a phenomenal rate under Roman persecution. In less than thirty years the Roman world was evangelized. In just three hundred years, the seemingly undefeatable Roman Empire was conquered by God’s love, and Christianity became the official religion.

God never fails, and His love never fails. Individuals may fail to respond to His love and thus bear the consequences, but love never fails. It will always prevail in the end. We just need to give it time. We need to walk in all its attributes of contentment, patience, endurance, rejoicing in truth, believing all things-The Lord doesn’t force everyone and everything into compliance because it isn’t time for that yet. Now is the time of mercy, when the Lord is longsuffering and gives everyone ample opportunity to repent (2 Peter 3:9,10.) As we act in love, we use the strongest force in the universe. History has proven the power of love. If we just believe and exercise patience, love will never fail us.

February 22: Drawn by His Power

Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-44

And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.

Mark 1:37

Jesus’ ministry was only a few months old and masses of people were seeking Him out. This is astonishing when you realize that Jesus did not use any of the conventional methods of publicity. He had already rejected publicity during His first ministry in Jerusalem. (John 2:24,25.) There was no natural explanation for Jesus’ success.

God is the one who promoted Jesus, and He used supernatural means to do it. It was not the slick techniques of Madison Avenue that brought the crowds; it was the awesome manifestation of God’s power. Just the day before, Jesus had cast a demon out of a man at the synagogue in Capernaum. (Mark 1:21-28.) This caused the whole city to gather at Peter’s house where Jesus healed every one. (Luke 4:40.)

Jesus’ display of the miraculous power of God was the spark that the Holy Spirit used to light a fire in the hearts of these people. Jesus had this power because of His intimate relationship with His Father. He was in continual communion with Him. When He wasn’t ministering to the people, He was in prayer with His Father.

As you seek to touch others with the new life you’ve found in Christ, understand that God will bring them to you if you allow Him to work supernaturally through you. Decide today that you will open your mind and heart to the power of the Holy Spirit, and let God confirm His Word with signs and wonders and miracles through you. It is easy to lead people to Jesus after they are healed, delivered, and given the wisdom they need in His name!

February 23: Only the Hungry Are Fed

Matthew 5:1-9

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6

In the natural world, we often eat even when we aren’t hungry. All we have to do is turn sideways and look at ourselves in the mirror to prove this! In the spiritual realm, however, we must be hungry to be fed. One of the worst things that can happen to us is to become spiritually complacent.

Being hungry for the things of God is one of the best things that can happen to you. Most believers don’t feel that way. They would rather have the feeling of being full and content all the time, but Jesus promised us fullness if we would first hunger. He said, “No hunger, no fullness.”

Therefore, what many of us dislike is actually a sign of spiritual health. Longing for more of God is a healthy sign. We never hunger for God on our own. That is not a function of our fallen nature. Only our born-again spirits can hunger for more of God under the unction of the Spirit of God in us. (John 6:44.) It is the Spirit in us who draws us by giving us an insatiable appetite for everything God is and has for us.

Hungering for God doesn’t cause God to move in your life; it is a sign He is already at work in you. Today, praise Him for spiritual hunger, and be encouraged and excited when you experience it. He won’t make you hungry and then let you starve. He will make you hungry so He can fill you with His wisdom and blessings and love.

February 24: He Will Share His Reward

Matthew 5:10-12

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:12

Jesus said persecution should actually cause us to rejoice. There are many positive things about persecution, but one of the best reasons to rejoice is because of the reward awaiting us in heaven after we endure it, refusing to lose our faith in Him.

Jesus takes the persecution of His saints seriously, as can be seen during the Damascus road experience of the apostle Paul. The Lord asked Paul (then Saul), “Why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). He didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting my people?” but “Why are you persecuting Me?”

It is not actually us that people are rejecting; they are rejecting the One we represent. We are the body of Jesus Christ on this earth. Whatever people say or do to us, they are saying it and doing it to Jesus. Therefore, Jesus promised to share His reward with us. Jesus will share all His glory and honor with those who have suffered shame for His name’s sake. (Rom. 8:17.) What a great reward.

Focusing on the reward instead of the persecution can actually make you rejoice when people speak against you or mock you because of your faith. (Acts 5:41.) Paul actually longed to experience the fellowship Jesus provided to those who suffered for His sake. Paul knew he would not only know Jesus more intimately but also walk in His resurrection power. (Phil. 3:10.)

For all these reasons, if you encounter persecution for your faith in Jesus Christ today, lift up your head and rejoice! His reward is infinitely greater than any suffering you endure.

February 25: Salt Shakers

Matthew 5:13-16

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Matthew 5:13

What is it that will be cast out and trodden under foot of men? Is it the salt, or is it possible Jesus is speaking about the world? If we as believers lose our preserving influence, if we fail to walk in the power of our redemption in Jesus, then there is no way He can reach out to the lost. The lost will be dominated by people who don’t know Him or His salvation.

God works through His people. Another way of saying that is that Jesus works through His body. Although it is not our power that saves and heals and delivers people, it is His power in us. He cannot do anything without us. We are in a partnership.

Many believers spend a lifetime praying for God to move, not understanding that He is going to flow through them. It is not God who is failing to intervene; it is His people who are failing to cooperate and let Him flow through them.

Today you have Jesus living in you, and He wants to do amazing things through you. That means you are carrying around other people’s miracles. Do not hinder or stop the miracles-big and small-that Jesus wants to do in you and through you. You are His salt. You preserve and give flavor to this putrefying world. So get out of the shaker, and let His life and love flow to someone who needs Him.

February 26: Exceeding Righteousness

Matthew 5:17-22

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20

What did Jesus mean? Since the Pharisees fasted twice a week, does He mean we have to fast three times a week? Since they paid tithes on everything, including spices, does He mean anyone who fails to tithe is doomed to hell? No, definitely not. The Pharisees’ righteousness was based on their actions. Jesus is advocating a righteousness that is based on faith in what He did for us.

Trusting in our own actions will never grant us access to God. We may be better than others, but who wants to be the best sinner in hell? We have all sinned and come short of perfection, which is what God requires. (Rom. 3:23.)

The only One who was ever good enough to earn right standing with God is Jesus. His righteousness is offered as a gift to anyone who will put his faith in Him as his Savior.

Jesus offers us a righteousness by faith that is so far superior to the self-righteousness that the Pharisees had, that there is no comparison. This is the righteousness that we need, and it is available to us only through faith in Christ.

February 27: Spiritual Fitness

Matthew 5:23-30

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Matthew 5:29

Is Jesus advocating dismembering your body? Quite the contrary. To make a point, He is drawing on the universal drive of self-preservation that is inside every person. If you value your body so much that you would never sacrifice one of its parts, then you need to esteem your spiritual fitness much more.

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, our priorities have been misplaced. Great effort is put into preserving our physical lives while our spiritual conditions are often overlooked. They constantly get put on the back burner while we tend to more urgent matters of this life.

The physical body is just temporary. If we live seventy years or more, that is just a fraction of a second in all of eternity. Our spirits live forever, and the state in which they will exist eternally is determined by the choices we make in this life. If we choose to reject Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our spirits will spend eternity in hell, separated from God forever.

On the other hand, if we choose to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, it means we have obtained eternal life with God. Our spirits will be alive to Him in this life and throughout eternity. This decision means we have put everything second to our spiritual wellbeing.

Today, choose to make your spiritual condition your top priority. Spend more time in the Word and praying and communing with the Father than you do in the gym working out. You will find that exercising your spirit brings greater health to every part of your being, including your physical body.

February 28: The Best Defense

Matthew 5:38-48

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5:39

Would you rather have God defend you or defend yourself? That’s the choice Jesus offers here. “Turning the other cheek” is not a prescription for abuse but rather the way to get the Lord involved in your defense.

Many people believe these instructions of Jesus guarantee that others will take advantage of them. That would be true if there was no God! However, when we follow His commands, we know He is on our side. He said in Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

When we fight back, we are drawing on our own strength; but when we turn the other cheek, we are invoking God as our defense. Once we understand this, it becomes obvious that these instructions are for our own good.

James 1:20 says that the wrath of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Regardless of how appropriate our anger may seem or how much we think our wrath could make a person or situation change, we will never achieve God’s best that way.

When you defend yourself, you stop God from defending you. When you turn the other cheek to your enemies, you are releasing the power of God on your behalf. Let God defend you today.

February 29: What’s Your Motivation?

Matthew 6:1-4

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 6:1

The motive behind your gift is more important than the gift itself. Paul said if he gave all of his goods to feed the poor, or if he made the ultimate sacrifice of giving his own life for someone else, but it wasn’t motivated by love, then his gift would profit him nothing. (1 Cor. 13:3.)

Many Christians give faithfully, but never see the hundredfold return Jesus promised because their motives are wrong. (Mark 10:29,30.) Paul said God loves a cheerful giver—not one who gives grudgingly or out of obligation. (2 Cor. 9:7.)

Jesus gave us the key to purifying our motives in this same teaching. He said, “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” (Matt. 6:3). Giving in a manner in which you will not receive recognition for your gifts guarantees your motives are right and grants you the true joy that comes through selfless giving. (Acts 20:24.)

Ask the Lord to show you an opportunity today to give a kind word or a helping hand to someone who will not be able to repay you and where others will never know about it. This could be a motorist in a traffic jam, a co-worker, a spouse, a child who won’t even notice your kind deed, or any number of other people. You will find that when you look for them, these opportunities are all around you.