God Loves Us This Much

1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 

11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,and he will divide the spoils with the strong,because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Live One Day at a Time by Joyce Meyer

So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.  —Matthew 6:34

Most of us have enough to handle today without worrying about tomorrow. God will give you grace for today, but He will not give you grace for tomorrow until tomorrow arrives.

So often people worry about something that never happens. When you begin to think about the “what ifs,” the door opens for fear and worry. Some people worry so much that their worries become fear, and often the things people fear manifest in their life.

Do not allow yourself to dread tomorrow. Just know that God is faithful. It is comforting to know that whatever tomorrow may hold, He holds tomorrow. His grace is sufficient to meet the need. Do not waste today’s grace by worrying about tomorrow. Live one day at a time and you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish for Christ.

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From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2004 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

God’s Boundaries, by Joyce Meyer

Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of 
the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received 
[as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, You were bought 
with a price [purchased with a preciousness and 
paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God 
and bring glory to Him in your body. 

—1 Corinthians 6:19-20

The word stress was originally an engineering term used to refer to the amount of force a beam or other physical support could bear without collapsing under strain.

In our time, the word has been expanded to refer not only to physical pressure but also to mental and emotional tension. As human beings, you and I are built to handle a normal amount of stress. God has created us to withstand a certain amount of pressure and tension. The problem comes when we push ourselves beyond our limitations, beyond what we were intended to bear without permanent damage. But like so many people, because I have things to do, I just keep pushing myself even though it is causing me physical damage.

Of course, when sickness tries to come on Dave or me, we immediately pray for healing. But if you become sick as a result of running your body down by pushing it beyond the limits God set for you to operate in good health, you need rest as well as prayer to restore your health. The boundaries He has set for us are for our own good.

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From the book New Day, New You by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2006 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

Fear Leads to Worry by Joyce Meyer

And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life? 

—Matthew 6:27

Fear and worry are closely related. You might say fear is the parent of every kind of worry because every worry starts as a fear. The Bible clearly teaches that God’s children are not to worry. When we worry, we rotate our minds
around and around a problem and come up with no answers. The more we do it, the more anxious we feel. When we worry, we actually torment ourselves with a type of thinking that produces no good fruit. Worry starts with our thoughts, but it affects our moods and even our physical bodies.

A person can worry so much that it makes them feel depressed and sad. Worry places stress on your entire system and causes a lot of physical ailments like headaches, tension in muscles, stomach problems, and many other things. It never helps, and it does not solve our problems.

We can worry about hundreds of different things, from what people think of us to what will happen to us as we age. How long will we be able to work? Who will take care of us when we get old? What happens if the stock market crashes? What if gas prices go up? What if I lose my job? Quite often, worry does not even have a basis or a nugget of truth to it. There is no known reason to even think about the things that worry and then frighten us.

The only answer is to stop worrying by placing your trust in God. He has the future all planned, and He knows the answer to everything. What we worry about frequently never happens anyway, and if it is going to happen, worrying won’t prevent it. God’s Word promises us that He will take care of us if we trust in Him.

Trust in Him: What are you worrying about? Cast your cares on Jesus. He wants you to trust Him with every thought, burden, and worry that you’re carrying because He’s fully capable of taking care of you (see 1 Peter 5:7).

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From the book Trusting God Day by Day by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2012 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

God Answers the Prayers of the Righteous

Devotion by Joyce Meyer

...The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].  — James 5:16

When people struggle in their prayer lives, they often think it is because they are unholy and unrighteous so they try to behave better, hoping that then their prayers will be answered.

The truth is that if we are born again, we are righteous. We may not do everything right; but we are 100 percent righteous through Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him (NKJV).

There is a difference between righteousness and “right” behavior. Righteousness describes our standing—our position or condition before God—because of the blood of Jesus. We cannot make ourselves righteous; only the blood of Jesus makes us righteous, as if we had never sinned at all. God views us as righteous even though we still make mistakes. Because He sees us as righteous, we have a God-given right to pray and expect God to hear and answer us.

Always do the best you can to behave properly and do it because you love God, but remember that He hears and answers your prayers because He is good, not because you are.

God’s word for you today: You have been made righteous by the grace of God.

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From the book Hearing from God Each Morning: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2010 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

Everyday Answers

Be Positive by Joyce Meyer

We have thought of Your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of Your temple. 
—Psalm 48:9

Positive minds—minds full of faith and hope—produce positive lives. Negative minds—minds full of fear and doubt—produce negative lives. In Matthew 8:13, Jesus tells us that it will be done for us as we

have believed. This doesn’t mean that you and I can get anything we want by just thinking about it. God has a perfect plan for each of us, and we can’t control Him with our thoughts and words, but if we want His plan, we should think and speak in agreement with His will and plan for us.

I encourage you to think positively about your life and be thankful for the good things God is doing and going to do. Practice staying positive in every situation that arises; even if you’re going through a difficult situation, stand in faith, believing God will bring good out of it as He has promised in His Word.

Prayer of Thanks: Father, help me to keep my thoughts and my words focused on You. I thank You that You have good things in store for my life. I trust You today.

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From the book The Power of Being Thankful by Joyce Meyer. 

Daring to Stand for Truth

The complainer is further embarassed by the moral company in which he finds himself. His is a spiritual affinity with some pretty shady characters: Cain, Korah, the sulky elder brother, the petulant Jews of the Book of Malachi who answered every fatherly admonition of God with an ill-humored "Wherefore have we? Wherein have we?" These are but a few faces that stand out in the picture of the disgruntled followers of the religious way. And the complaining Christian, if he but looks closely, will see his own face peering out at him from the background. Lastly, the believer who complains against the difficulties of the way proves that he has never felt or known the sorrows which broke over the head of Christ when He was here among men. After one look at Gethsemane or Calvary, the Christian can never again believe that his own path is a hard one. We dare not compare our trifling pains with the sublime passion endured for our salvation. Any comparison would itself be the supreme argument against our complaints, for what sorrow is like unto His? After saying all this we are yet sure that no one can be reasoned out of the habit of complaining. That habit is more than a habit--it is a disease of the soul, and as such, it will never yield to mere logic. The only cure is cleansing in the blood of the Lamb.

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Verse

Korah son of Izhar, the sons of Kohath, . . . and certain Reubenites . . . became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.

Numbers 16:1-2

Thought

Korah and members of the council challenged Moses' leadership. They experienced God's judgment as a result. Are there churches experiencing God's judgment because of grumbling and complaint against God-appointed leaders? It is far easier to criticize leaders.

Prayer

Lord, I find it far easier to grumble and complain against leaders than to graciously submit to them. May I faithfully pray for my leaders.

Costs of Complaining

The complainer is further embarassed by the moral company in which he finds himself. His is a spiritual affinity with some pretty shady characters: Cain, Korah, the sulky elder brother, the petulant Jews of the Book of Malachi who answered every fatherly admonition of God with an ill-humored "Wherefore have we? Wherein have we?" These are but a few faces that stand out in the picture of the disgruntled followers of the religious way. And the complaining Christian, if he but looks closely,

will see his own face peering out at him from the background. Lastly, the believer who complains against the difficulties of the way proves that he has never felt or known the sorrows which broke over the head of Christ when He was here among men. After one look at Gethsemane or Calvary, the Christian can never again believe that his own path is a hard one. We dare not compare our trifling pains with the sublime passion endured for our salvation. Any comparison would itself be the supreme argument against our complaints, for what sorrow is like unto His? After saying all this we are yet sure that no one can be reasoned out of the habit of complaining. That habit is more than a habit--it is a disease of the soul, and as such, it will never yield to mere logic. The only cure is cleansing in the blood of the Lamb.

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Verse

Korah son of Izhar, the sons of Kohath, . . . and certain Reubenites . . . became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.Numbers 16:1-2

Thought

Korah and members of the council challenged Moses' leadership. They experienced God's judgment as a result. Are there churches experiencing God's judgment because of grumbling and complaint against God-appointed leaders? It is far easier to criticize lea

Prayer

Lord, I find it far easier to grumble and complain against leaders than to graciously submit to them. May I faithfully pray for my leaders.

The Illogic of Complaining

Among those sins most exquisitely fitted to injure the soul and destroy the testimony, few can equal the sin of complaining. Yet the habit is so widespread that we hardly notice it among us. The complaining heart never lacks for occasion. It can always find reason enough to be unhappy. The object of its censure may be almost anything: the weather, the church, the difficulties of the way, other Christians or even God Himself. A complaining Christian puts himself in a position morally untenable. The simple logic of his professed discipleship is against

him with an unanswerable argument. Its reasoning runs like this: First, he is a Christian because he chose to be. There are no conscripts in the army of God. He is, therefore, in the awkward position of complaining against the very conditions he brought himself into by his own free choice. Secondly, he can quit any time he desires. No Christian wears a chain on his leg. Yet he still continues on, grumbling as he goes, and for such conduct he has no defense.

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Verse

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.Philippians 2:14-15

Thought

The cause for complaint is often a God-given opportunity for growth and praise. What at first appear to be thorns may prove to be divine prods that move us closer to God.

Prayer

Deliver me from complaining, Lord. Rather, teach me to praise You and thank You for the opportunities to grow.

Staying with the Clear Teaching of Scripture

Every believer as well as every minister of Christ must decide whether he will put his emphasis upon the majors or the minors. He must decide whether he will stay by the sober truths which constitute the beating heart of the Scriptures or turn his attention to those marginal doctrines which always bring division and which, at their best could not help us much on our way to the Celestial City. No man has any moral right to propound any teaching about which there is not full agreement among Bible Christians until he has made himself familiar with church history and with the development of Christian doctrine through the centuries.
The historic approach is best. After we have discovered what holy men believed, what great reformers and saints taught, what the purest souls and mightiest workers held to be important for holy living and dying--then we are in a fair position to appraise our own teaching. Humility is the only state of mind in which to approach the Scriptures. The Spirit will teach the humble soul those things that make for his salvation and for a holy walk and fruitful service here below. And little else matters.
Verse - Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, 'Do not go beyond what is written.' Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.
Thought - There is the danger of embellishing the written, even ranging beyond it, in order to serve up the new, the exotic, the innovative. Oh, for preachers who open to us the meat of God's Word with contextual accuracy, clarity, sound exegesis and meaningful application.
Prayer - Thank You for access to Your Word, Lord. There are many in the world without the Word in their language. May I receive it and live it to Your glory. Amen.
 A. W. Tozer, a modern day prophet, was a key figure in The Christian and Missionary Alliance. His legacy reaches through time and has impacted countless millions. A prolific author and pastor, Tozer was known for his emphasis on the deeper life movement. His message, informed as it was by A.B. Simpson the founder of The Alliance, brought the missionary call to a massive audience.

ACTS - Acronymn to Pray

Prayer should always move us to who God IS.  What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.   – A.W. Tozer 

         There is an acronym, ACTS, that many of us learned as new Christians when we struggled with learning how to pray to an invisible God. ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (which...basically means “asking”). Whether we’ve heard or used the acronym, notice that the very first thing we are to do is adore God. Why?

    Does God need us to tell Him how wonderful He is? Is He insecure in His divinity, or His self-image, or His place as Creator of everything? Sounds silly, but why does He need us to pray and move upward? The truth—God doesn’t need us to do anything, it’s that we need to recognize and remember daily who He is, what He has promised, and that He is able to accomplish anything.  

When we think and pray the names and attributes of God, worshipping Him, it reminds us, strengthens us and encourages us. As we continue to adore Him first, we come to think about Him as He truly is, the great I AM. When we believe that this awesome, holy God loves us, cares for us and provides for our every need, our ideas about Him, and ourselves, begin to change. In prayer, as we adore Him, we move upward and begin to grasp the enormity of His love, power and grace that surrounds us because of who He is, not who we are.   

READ and THINK… What does the Bible say?   

Moses has been called by God to return to Egypt to free His people from slavery, but Moses was worried about how the message would be received coming from him.

Question: What did God tell him to say?   

Exodus 3:13-14 (New International Version)

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you."

Answer:   

Jeremiah was experiencing some doubts and fears after purchasing a field, so he prayed.

Question: How did Jeremiah describe God in his prayer?

Jeremiah 32:16-17 (New International Version)

¹⁶ After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord: ¹⁷ “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”

Answer:

LIVE… What will you do now?

What do you think is the significance of God telling Moses that His name is I Am? What does it mean to you?

What about Jeremiah praying when he experienced doubt? How did his prayer move him closer to God?

Look through these names that capture the attributes of God, or write them each out:

Abba Father – Galatians 4:6

Comforter – 2 Corinthians 1:3

Deliverer – Psalm 18:2

Everlasting God – Isaiah 40:28

Good Shepherd – John 10:11-15

Holy One – Proverbs 9:10

Intercessor – Hebrews 7:25

King Eternal – 1 Timothy 1:17

Never-failing One – Hebrews 13:5

Offering for sin – Hebrews 10:14

Teacher -John 14:26

Upholder of all things – Isaiah 41:13

Ever present help – Psalm 46:1

The Way – John 14:6

Exalted – Psalm 148:13

Now, choose one attribute in the list and look up the Scripture where it is found. Read it, write it out and pray it by using the prayer below and see if your heart is not encouraged.

PRAY… God, what do you want me to know and do?

God, You are _________________________. (attribute)

Bring ____________________ to my heart and mind. (fruit of spirit or internal help)

And now help me _____________________. (practical, physical, typical prayer request). Select a Psalm to close your prayer.

Digging Deeper with this week’s teaching pastor:

Click here to go deeper using the Life Group DVD by the teaching pastor or view the message, including bonus discussion questions.

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It Starts and Ends with Jesus

Big Point: Our day may be filled with what we don’t have, but we can start and end with the one thing we do have.

Matthew 1:23 (NLT):  Look! The virgin will conceive a child!     She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God is with us.”

It’s Christmas Eve!  Depending on where you are, today may be or already has been, a day filled with peace and quiet, or frantic rushing and running from one place to another.

If you’ve ever been at the mall on Christmas Eve, you know the pandemonium that pervades every space. People from all walks of life rush from one store to the next carrying all kinds of excuses for why they left last minute details for the last shopping day before Christmas.

“I didn’t have enough time.”

“I didn’t have enough money until now.”

“I didn’t have any idea of what to buy.”

Notice the words “I didn’t have…” Even if you aren’t out shopping, you may still identify with the sentiment that something is missing from your Christmas experience and your heart is longing to find it. Perhaps you don’t have family and friends to celebrate Christmas with you. Maybe you don’t have the presence of a loved one. Some of us don’t have peace or joy because of one life situation or another.

Yet, on this Christmas Eve, we DO HAVE Jesus. We do have the one who came to be with us and to walk among us. And we do have what he wants – our heart. Jesus understands our broken world and he knows the feelings that come with our broken hearts and he wants them all anyways.

Best of all, Jesus came because he had something that we can’t find last minute on Amazon: Hope. We can celebrate today because Jesus came to bring each one of us HOPE. Think of it – we can have hope and know that God loves us! We don’t have to despair over our present day circumstances, rather we can look forward and know that Jesus’ great love for us fills in – and overflows – all of the empty places in our lives. And that hope isn’t just for the 24 hours of Christmas, rather Jesus’ hope can flow through into our daily lives and with us for all eternity.

Jesus came to make his home in our hearts. Jesus came to make his home in YOUR heart.

Remember the refrain in the classic song “Joy to the World”?

Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

Let earth receive her king.

Let every heart prepare him room.

REFLECTION:

If you’ve made room for Jesus in your heart, that’s great! Are there any areas of your life where you’ve been struggling to let Jesus in? What do you think Jesus could do in that area of your life if you’d let him?

There’s so much that we can celebrate tomorrow on Christmas. List a few things that you’ll be celebrating

Jesus Came for the Shepherds

REFLECTION: We live in a time where we have an even greater advantage than the shepherds – we know the whole story! With all of that in mind, in what ways can that change these last few days before Christmas for you?   What did you learn today by looking closer at the shepherds and their response?

Beyond Christmas, do you offer glory and praise to God in your everyday life for all that you have seen and heard? How can this part of the Christmas story transform your heart and...
change your purpose for all of your days?

Big Point: Jesus came for all people, including those who had no home.

How many of you were waiting for the new “Star Wars” movie to finally come out? Before the public release of an anticipated movie, there is usually a red-carpet, star-studded premiere. How many of you will get to attend the Hollywood premier for “Star Wars”? Unless you are one of the stars, the director or a mover-and-shaker associated with the movie, you’ll be out of luck. Sorry. Invitation only, for the privileged few.

When the biggest event in the history of mankind rocked this earth, who heard about it first? Kings and emperors? Nope. The powerful religious leaders of the day? Wrong again. God first revealed the birth of His Son — Jesus, the King of kings — to some of the lowliest people of the culture at that time: sheep herders.

Shepherds are always a part of any Christmas pageant. But who were they, really? In reality, shepherds were farm hands. They lived, ate and slept amongst smelly (although cute), waste-producing sheep. Shepherds lived outside, often sleeping in the grass or cave, if they were lucky. This means that they didn’t own much and personal hygiene was likely a challenge; of course, the sheep probably didn’t complain.

So why did God share the greatest story of human history with simple, nameless, seemingly insignificant sheep farmers?

God’s ways and wisdom are drastically different from ours. God often uses the unlikely, those perceived as weak even, when human thinking would have called on the strongest or most skilled. For example, who killed the enormous and powerful Goliath in the Old Testament story? Not the trained military warriors of the day. Nope. Instead, God used a young boy with a slingshot to take out an intimidating giant. Throughout Scripture, there are examples and illustrations of God’s ways, perhaps most especially at Jesus’ birth. God’s own Son, the King of kings, was not born into plush surroundings befitting royalty, but rather to a young couple who were staying near family.

Again, why did God tell lowly shepherds of His Son’s birth before anyone else? The great news of a Savior for mankind is for EVERY ONE OF US, not just the elite or rich and powerful!

So, what did the shepherds do with this news? Luke 2:20 says “they went back.” Where did they go back to? They went back to being shepherds. They went back to their home towns. They went back to their same families. They continued on in their same lives, but with one big difference: They had a new passion burning in them. They were glorifying and praising God. They had a new purpose and a new hope for themselves and their families.

Those simple, nameless shepherds were changed. Their hearts were altered, changed and transformed with the news they received from the angel and the personal experience they had with God. While the shepherds’ career paths, bank accounts and social standings remained unchanged, they were new people with a new purpose. They took their story back to the people in their lives, offering glory and praise to God for all they had seen and heard.   

Consider Jesus’ Birthplace

Big Point: Where Jesus was born may not be what you always pictured.

Luke 2:4-7 (ESV):  ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was...

with child. ⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

If you’ve been around a woman preparing to have a baby, you know that her focus and thinking shifts almost exclusively to preparing for the birth of her child as the time grows near. All activities, big or small, are influenced by the ever-present question: “What will happen if I go into labor today?”

Even though Jesus was born over 2,000 years ago, his mother, Mary, would have been thinking that same question. You don’t have to be a pregnant woman to imagine the discomfort and anxiety Mary experienced while traveling a speculated distance of 70 miles. Mary’s condition meant that their trip took much longer than it would have for others traveling back to Bethlehem. So it’s not a surprise that when they arrived, all available housing would have been taken. But, was Jesus really born in a barn? Were they really alone and rejected with no place to go? While our Christmas images today often show a wooden manger (food trough) filled with hay and baby Jesus plopped atop, is that really accurate? And, what does the phrase “there was no room in the inn” really mean? It’s time to get a fresh perspective on Luke 2:4-7.

 In ancient times in this part of the world, hospitality was a huge cultural value. This means that Bethlehem residents would have tried to accommodate as many visitors as possible. While Mary and Joseph arrived for the census after all available regular housing was taken, they weren’t necessarily banished to some random, remote outdoor barn most of us imagine. Chances are they took shelter in a cave-like stable attached to a distant relative’s dwelling. They would have been out of the elements and likely still connected to a family member’s home. Joseph was, after all, part of the lineage of King David so he would have had family close by. In addition, this meant in the days after Jesus’ birth, family and friends would have looked after the young couple and helped them with food and necessities while Mary recovered from childbirth. And, about that manger – yes, baby Jesus would have been placed in a manger since they didn’t have cradles, but it would have been clean and they would have had items to keep him warm.

Even though Jesus’ birth surroundings may not have been ideal, God used that environment to remind us that Jesus came humbly into our world, not to be above us or better than us. Jesus came to be with us, right where we are.

REFLECTION:

What is the most surprising thing you learned today about Jesus’ birth surroundings?

Think about Luke 2:4-7 through Mary and Joseph’s eyes. How would their situation challenge their faith in God’s plan for their lives? How would they celebrate God’s provision in their circumstance?