God, Put Your Hand on Me

Scripture: 1 Chronicles 4: 9-10

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

Scripture Commentary: Humble yourself under God’s almighty hand

The Hebrew word Jabez means ‘pain.’ During Jabez’s time, a person’s name had meaning. Perhaps the mother’s pain was emotional. Maybe his father died, or perhaps the family had fallen into financial straits. Only God knows for sure what caused the pain of this anguished mother. Jabez cried for God’s hand to be upon him and free him from pain.

Jabez cried out to God, “Oh, that you would bless me …”

To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.

We, too, are crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness of God.

Proverbs 10:22 reads, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.”

Jabez also entreated God to “enlarge my territory!”

Your business is the territory God has entrusted to you. He wants you to accept it as a significant opportunity to touch individual lives. Asking Him to enlarge that territory brings Him great delight.

Oh God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that I touch more lives for Your Glory. Let me do more for you!

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Chronicles Chapter 4

Additional Reading:
Proverbs Chapter 10

How Many Times Will God Need To Call You?

Scripture: 1 Samuel 3: 9-10

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Scripture Commentary: … And when you hear His call, how will you respond?

The Lord called Samuel three times before he answered. Why did it take Samuel so long to answer God’s call? It’s because Samuel didn’t know God’s voice. If the Lord called you, would you known his voice?

God talks to us everyday. He tells us when we are doing right and when we are doing wrong. It is vital to our relationship with God that we both listen and respond to Him.

Although God does not always use the sound of a human voice, He always speaks clearly through His Word. To receive His messages, we must truly walk, talk and listen to him.

We cannot hear Him if we are not in His Spirit. To be in God’s Spirit, we must study His Word and live a life that we know is pleasing to God.

If you are His child, you will hear and feel His spirit. Like Samuel, be ready to say, “Here I am Lord.”

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Samuel Chapter 3

God Gives Us a Little Space for Grace

Scripture: Ezra 9: 8-9

And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Scripture Commentary: God gives us a little space for grace to rest in Him

After learning about the sins of the people, Ezra fell to his knees in prayer. His heartfelt prayer provides a good perspective on sin.

He recognized the following:

That sin is serious
No one sins without affecting others
God’s love and mercy had spared the nation although they did nothing to deserve it

It’s easy to view sin lightly in a world that sees sin as inconsequential, but we should view sin as seriously as Ezra did. With weeping, he expressed shame for sin, fear of the consequences, and desire that the people would come to their senses and repent. His prayer moved the people to tears.

Ezra demonstrated the need for a holy community in our local churches too. Even when we sin in the worst imaginable way, we can turn to God with prayer and repentance.

How fortunate we are that God gives us mercy and grace rather than only justice!

The next time you ask God for fair and just treatment, pause to think what would happen if God gave you what you really deserve. Plead instead for His mercy.

Jesus’s love for us is all that we need.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ezra Chapter 9

Backbiters: There Is a Price for Being Disobedient

Scripture: Romans 1: 30-32

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Scripture Commentary: Being disobedient may feel good, but it comes with a price.

We know that it’s wrong to be spiteful, a boaster, and disobedient. But why does wrong feel so good?

God allows us to choose. He won’t stop us from making choices that are against His will. He lets us declare our supposed independence from Him although He knows that in time, that “independence” will make us slaves to our rebellious choices.

We tend to believe lies that reinforce our own selfish desires. Today, more than ever, we need to be careful about the input we allow to inform our beliefs.

TV, music, movies and other forms of media often favorably present sinful lifestyles and unwholesome values . We are constantly bombarded with attitudes and beliefs that are totally opposed to the Word of God.

Paul says that nature itself is eagerly awaiting its own redemption from the effects of sin. So, knowing that everything comes at a price, live like a christian.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Romans Chapter 1

Then Shall I Know God Will Save

Scripture: Judges 6: 36-38

And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

Scripture Commentary: Trust and know that God has your back

Are you like Gideon in that when God tells you to do something, you question it? Are you constantly asking God for a sign? Gideon asked God three times to give him a sign so that he would believe God. Gideon believed when he saw the miracles of the fire from the rock, the fleece being wet, and then the ground wet and the fleece dry.

Was Gideon testing God or was he simply asking God for more encouragement? Was Gideon’s motives right or was his methods less than ideal? Are you trusting God or do you need more signs?

When you go to God and ask for His help, don’t always look for a sign before believing. Although you may not get the answer you were looking for, God will always guide you in the right direction.

Visible signs aren’t necessary if it only confirms what you already know is true. The greatest means of God’s guidance is His Word, The Bible. If you want more of God’s guidance, put your life in His hands, and study The Bible.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Judges Chapter 6

Being Saved Is Being Under Grace

Scripture: Romans 6: 1, 14-18

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?(1) For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Scripture Commentary: God places us under grace and mercy when we chose to be saved

We are under grace, and this grace has removed us from legalistic religion. Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Jesus said that he came not to change the law, but to fulfill it. Matthew 5:17-18 says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

Jesus was crucified and on the third day was raised from the grave and ascended into heaven to sit by His Father. When Jesus ascended, He sent the Holy Spirit to us. Because of God’s love, grace and mercy, we are saved.

If it wasn’t for God’s grace, we would still be lost in the wilderness. When we become saved, our old self dies, and our new self, through His grace, is raised up in His spirit to begin a new life in Jesus Christ.

When we become saved, we move out of darkness into His light.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Romans Chapter 6

Additional Reading:
Romans Chapter 10
Matthew Chapter 5

The Son of Man Came to Serve

Scripture: Mark 8:31-35

And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

Scripture commentary: Jesus as the Son of Man is the human agent of God

Jesus refers to himself as the ” Son of Man.” The expression comes from Daniel 7:13. Also, it refers to Jesus as the Messiah, the human agent of God who is vindicated by God.

In Mark 8, Jesus begins to speak plainly and directly to His disciples about His death and resurrection. As a result, He began to prepare them for what was coming, telling them three times that He would soon die.

Peter wanted Christ to be king, not the suffering servant. In addition, he was ready to receive the glory of following the Messiah, but not the persecution. He saw only part of the picture, not seeing God’s plan for Jesus’ life, and he was thinking of his own natural human desires and feelings.

Like Peter, we often do not see the plans that God has for our life because we are focusing only the things that we want, here and now. Do not hold on to the things of this world. Now is the time to deny the the things of this world and follow Jesus.

Note: The expression “the Son of man” occurs 81 times in the Greek text of the four Canonical gospels.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Mark Chapter 8

Come Unto Me, All Ye That Labour

Scripture: Matthew 11: 28- 30

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Scripture Commentary: Accept the invitation to come unto Jesus

Jesus invites us to rely on Him when He says, “Come unto me…” Accept him as Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten son and He will free us from the earthly burdens that we carry. When we put ourselves in Jesus’ care, the problems we thought we had are no longer important.

God gives us a peace that is so relaxing that it gives us the answers we need. Jesus mentions two kinds of people in his prayer: the “wise” who are arrogant in their own knowledge, and the “little children” who humbly open themselves to receive the truth of God’s Word.

Are you wise in your own eyes, or do you seek the truth in childlike faith, realizing that only God holds all the answers?

Christ’s death and resurrection gave us direct access to God the father. We are so fortunate that Jesus has clearly revealed God to us. He gives us His truth and tells us how we can know The Father.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Matthew Chapter 11

Man Judges the Outward Appearance While God Judges the Heart

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16: 6-7

And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him. But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Scripture Commentary: We concentrate on our outward appearance but remember to also check the inside

What suit and shoes will I wear today? And how does my hair look? All of us concentrate on our outward appearance; we want to look our best when we go out.

That’s not a bad thing, but how many of us look at ourselves on the inside? We need to ask ourselves if we look good on the inside.

Am I a Christian, inside and out? We are to be loving, kind, helpful, and giving. The outside shell should be a mirror to the inside.

When God told Samuel to go and anoint the new king, Samuel was looking for a man who was tall and handsome like Saul. God warned Samuel against judging by appearance alone.

When we judge by outward appearances we overlook qualities that are on the inside. God sees all of us, both inside and out. God judges by faith and character, not appearances.

If you love God, it will show. Check yourself. What steps are you taking to improve your attitude and to show your love for God?

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Samuel Chapter 16

All Things Are Possible to Him That Believes

Scripture: Mark 9: 23-24, 29

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.(23-24) And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.(29)

Scripture Commentary: All things are possible with God

Do you really believe that prayer can answer your needs? The important word is “needs,” not wishes, wants, or desires. All things are possible through prayer.

God knows our needs, and He will take care of them. Faith is a gift from God, and prayer is the key that unlocks our faith. We are asking God to put our life in His hands when we pray. It is then that we are completely dependent on Him.

Prayer demonstrates our reliance on God as we humbly invite Him to fill us with faith and power. There is no substitute for prayer, especially in circumstances that appear to be impossible.

There’s a hymn by Bill and Gloria Gaither that sums it up well, saying, “I believe help thou my unbelief. I walk into the unknown trusting all the while.” We need help with our unbelief. Believing in Jesus means that anything is possible. Nothing is too difficult for God.

We cannot have everything we pray for as if by magic, but with faith, we can have everything we need to serve God. Put your faith in His hands and leave it there.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Mark Chapter 9