Have you ever really stopped and considered the love of God.  Here John exclaims 'How great is the love that the Father has shown to us!"  In the Amplified translation it says: "See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us".  The Love of God is the cement that holds our whole existence together, it never fails.  Without it we are nothing, it is the greatest of the three virtues (1 Corinthians 13.13).  I remember hearing a song many years ago by Claudia Lehman Mays, which is etched in my spirit.  She could pen these words:  'The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell, It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell... O love of God, how rich and pure, How measureless and strong, It shall forevermore endure, The saints’ and angels’ song... To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky'. How great is the love of God, it is measureless, strong, we cannot exhaust the love of God, nor can the world contain the books that would be written about it.  God has shown us His great love - He did that by sending Jesus to be our Saviour.  'For God so loved the world', Jesus said to Nicodemus, 'that He gave His only begotten Son' (John 3.16).  When you look at Jesus, you are looking at the love of God manifest.  Just meditate today on that thought, how great the love of God is, what an incredible quality of love that the Father has shown to us.

Suggested Additional Reading:  1 John 4.7-11

I want us to consider again the theme that we started yesterday, the Love of God.  God has shown and revealed to us His love.  Yesterday we noted that Jesus is God's love made manifest to us.  Here is another verse that says the same thing.  One thing the world keeps asking, and you probably have heard it said; "If God is a God of love why does He allow all the suffering".  There is no doubt whatsoever that God is love.  The Bible says so in 1 John 4.8, you would have read that verse yesterday as part of the additional reading.  Our text verse says that God shows and clearly proves His own love for us - we do not need to prove that God is love, He has already done that.  While we were still in our sin, enemies of God, without strength to live, He sent Jesus to die for us.  His death justified us, saved us and reconciled us to God.  Jesus said that the greatest act of love a man can show is to lay down his life for his friends (John 15.13), but God didn't just lay down His life for His friends, He did it for His enemies.  How much do we love God?  Do we love Him enough to lay our lives for Him, or are there things that we love more?  Wait on the Lord today, listen to the promptings of the Spirit, repent of anything that comes before God in your life, then move on to a higher level in your walk with Him.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Romans 5.1-11

There are many Christians who always push off into the future, normally until we get to Heaven, the blessings of God.  "Oh Brother Peter, it will be worth it all when we get to heaven and receive our inheritance. Worth all the heartache and troubles".  Yes it will be a really great time but we can enjoy the blessings of God now.  Don't keep pushing the blessings off into the sweet by and by when you can enjoy them in the here and now.  Some time ago somebody challenged me about my stand on healing and prosperity and why I speak so confidently that the Lord will bless and heal. Their reasoning behind what they said was because they knew someone close to them that "hadn't been healed after prayer" but had in fact died.  At the time I didn't know why that person didn't receive their healing or why they had died (things are a little clearer to me now).  So afterwards, I went to God about what the person had said.  The Lord spoke to me and gave me several Scriptures that confirmed my stand, one of which was this one.  The Lord has laid up His great goodness for those who fear Him, these aren't laid up waiting for us to get to heaven.  This verse says that they have been prepared for us to enjoy in the presence of the sons of men.  That means here and now, we can receive and enjoy the Blessing now.   Yes the goodness has been laid up for us, it's already been provided, so don't push them off to the future, all you need to do is receive them, now.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Psalm 31. 1-24

Back in the early sixteenth century, a German monk was studying the Scriptures and lecturing on the passages. As he studied God began to speak to him and illumine the words he was reading, today we would say he had  revelation knowledge.  His name was Martin Luther, as he read the words that we have before us today (more probable the New Testament quotations of this verse) he soon realised that what he had believed and been teaching was wrong - salvation through works. He began proclaiming this 'new' doctrine, justification by faith.  The just person lives by his faith.  There are many Christians that attack faith, as some new doctrine, but here we see Habakkuk was preaching this message 600 years before Christ.  We live by faith, we cannot earn anything we receive from God.  We do not earn salvation, it is the gift of God received by faith.  We do not earn the blessings of God, they are received by faith. Yet many Christians still think that by their righteous acts, good works, long prayers and fastings that they can get God to do something.  Everything we have from God is by faith - we live by faith.  The writer to the Hebrews, quoting this verse (Hebrews 10.38) goes on to say that "if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him" (Amplified).  The opposite of faith is fear, if any man draws back from faith and shrinks in fear, God has no delight or pleasure in him.  No wonder he could say a few chapters earlier that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrew 11.6).  Let me urge and encourage you to believe God (be in faith), it is the only way to please Him and it is the only way to live.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Hebrews 10.31-39

One of the weapons that the enemy uses to hinder our faith is fear.  Fear about what others might think of us, Fear that our prayers will not be answered, fear that things will actually get worse rather than better.  There are many occasions in the New Testament where Jesus gave this direct command - do not fear.  This wasn't something that He said we ought to try and do if we can,  this is an order, don't do it.  You see, fear and faith cannot work with each other, you are either in one or the other.  "But we can't help it Brother Peter, it's a natural instinct", it may be natural to the body but it's not natural to the spirit.  We can choose not to fear in a given situation. There is a verse in Psalm 112.7 that says: 'He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord'.  When you hear bad news, let faith rise up in your spirit, don't let your body quench that faith with fear.   Something else that the devil uses to cause us to fear is our past.  'It didn't work for you last time' - the devil plays on your past experiences, those times of defeat or failure, those old sins.   God, by the prophet Isaiah, has something to say about that: "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old".  Don't even consider the past - they are gone, forgiven and forgotten by the Lord, therefore you have no business bringing them up, they are not relevant to your current situation.  Choose not to fear, stand in faith, victory will be yours.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Isaiah 43.16-21

Joseph Scriven in his hymn wrote these words, "Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care; Precious Saviour still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer".  One of the secrets of living a victorious life is casting all your burdens and cares on to the Lord.  A burden is something heavy, weighty, something that concerns and weighs you down, overloads you with troubles and concerns.  It could be the care of the bills, concern over a sick loved one, or some other pressing need which troubles you.  When we take the care, concern, the weight of them on our shoulders, we are actually doing what God tells us not to do - worry!   We have a great promise here, it says, 'Cast your burden on to the Lord and He will sustain you'  When we do our part and cast those burdens on to Him, He strengthens, refreshes, nourishes and sustains us, He does us good.  In the New Testament, Peter urges us to do the same, 'Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you' (1 Peter 5.7) - cast your burdens, cares and worries on to the Lord (and leave them with Him), He will take care of them and sustain you.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Matthew 6. 24-34

Jesus was in a meeting where many of the Scribes, Pharisees and Lawyers had gathered to hear Him.  The Bible tells us that the power of the Lord was present to heal.  There was brought to that meeting a paralysed man who was carried by four of his friends.  As there was no way in to the house through the crowds, they went up on to the roof and broke a hole through so that they could lower their sick friend to Jesus.  Jesus forgave his sin and healed him.  This sort of thing happened all the time, not that people tore open roofs of houses, but that He ministered to the sick, needy and those that came to Him.  There are many verses in the Gospels that tell us that all who came to Him received a healing or their needs met.  Do we see the same things taking place today?  I believe there is a connection between the results of verse 17 and the secret of verse 16, 'He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed'  Jesus was a man of prayer, He went often to a place to be alone with His Father.  Those who really know how to pray, I'm not talking about asking God to meet your needs, but those who touch the throne and have that audience with the Father.  They are the ones that will hear God's direction and see the mighty works manifest in their lives and ministries.  Are you longing to see the miracle power of God active in your life - then withdraw from your surroundings to the throne in prayer and listen to what Father says.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Luke 5.12-26

"His mercy endures forever"; this phrase occurs over forty times in the Scripture; twenty-six times in this chapter alone, one in each verse.   According to most lexicographers, mercy is defined as kindness (in particular loving-kindness) and compassion.  However mercy is much more than that when attributed to God.  As can be seen from this Psalm, mercy is God's great love and compassion in operation to free mankind from the clutches of the devil.  Ever since man sinned and fell from glory, it was the mercy of God that looked beyond his sin and was the driving force behind the restoration plan for His creation.  The mercy of God intervenes on man's behalf to destroy the work of the devil in our lives.  It was the mercy of God that brought about God's salvation plan and sent Jesus to be the Saviour.  It was the mercy of God that brought healing to the sick and deliverance for the oppressed.  It is the mercy of God that redeems the sinner, and it is His mercy that ensures the blessing is at work in our lives.  Mercy looks beyond sin in order to bring restoration.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Psalm 136.1-26

The two key qualities to receiving the promises of God are faith and patience.  We teach much on faith in this ministry, without faith we cannot please God, faith is fixed on the Word of God.   Equally important as faith is patience, the two go together like hand and glove.  This verse tells us that we are to imitate those who inherit the promises through faith and patience.  Faith isn't faith if it's not accompanied with patience.  Unfortunately we live in an instant society, we drink instant coffee, use microwave ovens to cook 'instant' meals from the freezer.  This instant mentality has drifted into our spiritual lives, we want instant answers to prayer and instant answers to our questions.  In His mercy and by His grace, God may grant that on occasion, but it certainly isn't the norm.  The next few verses of this chapter draw an illustration from the life of Abraham.  God made a promise to him when he was 75 years old that his descendants would be blessed.   Twenty-five years later Abraham and Sarah received their promised son.  They endured with patience and received the promise.  In 1984 God gave me some promises and a vision of what He would do through the ministry that He had entrusted me.  Many of these have still yet to come to pass and that was nearly twenty-five years ago, but we are patiently waiting, expecting and believing God, because they will come to pass.  God's Word says that we inherit the promises through faith and patience. So when you haven't seen the manifestation of your promise after two weeks, or seven months or even ten years, hang in.  Keep believing, keep standing on the Word of God and be patient - you will receive the promise.   

Suggested Additional Reading:  Hebrews 6.1-20

This verse has been a real blessing to me for some time, this verse was also a particular blessing to me in 2007, and we used it as the theme for a series of meetings we were holding at that time.  It says that He will give to us grace and glory - grace, His love and favour and glory, manifestations of His goodness and power.  It also contains the great promise that the Lord will not withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly.  He will not withhold any good thing but will supply all that we need and more out of the abundant riches of His grace and glory.   The Bible has the word 'thing' in italics this means it was not in the original language and the English translators put it in at their discretion to help give clarity to the meaning.  However this verse does not require this additional word.  If we take it out so that it reads: '..no good will He withhold from them that walk uprightly'.  He will not withhold any good from us - good things, Himself or anything else that can be called good.  He gives us His grace (favour) and He gives us His glory (goodness and power); His grace and glory produce manifestations of the blessing for those who walk uprightly.   

Suggested Additional Reading:  Psalm 84.1-12

These two verses, which come from that great Messianic chapter in Isaiah, tell us that healing is our right because of the finished work of Calvary. There are some Bible teachers that deny healing is part of the atonement and that the promise of verse 5 is only for the healing of sin.   If we examine the verse in the original languages we see that the words used here griefs and sorrows literally mean sickness, maladies, diseases and pains.  He hath borne our sicknesses and maladies, and carried our pains.  We can see this very clearly from another translation, "Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains--he hath carried them...  And by his bruise there is healing to us" (Youngs Literal Translation 1898).  When Jesus went to the cross and died, He didn't just die to forgive you your sin, He bore all your sicknesses, maladies, diseases and He carried all your pains and afflictions.  Yes, His stripes brought healing of your sin, but also healing for sickness and pain.  Don't ever let anyone tell you that you have to suffer sickness when Jesus died to free you from sickness.  Did you notice that the verse says He bore your sicknesses, He carried your pains - if He carried and bore them for you then you do not have to bear them.  One of the secrets of receiving healing and walking in health is how you see yourself - do you see the image of a sick person desperate to be healed, or the image of a healed person which the devil is trying to attack with sickness. Jesus has already provided healing for you, so let that image become strong on the inside - believe it, talk it, act on it - the physical manifestation of healing won't be long coming.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Matthew 8.1-17

In yesterdays reading we saw that healing is part of the atonement, that is Jesus died to heal us - heal us of our sin and our sicknesses too.  Forgiveness and healing were not the only things that the death of Jesus procured for us.   The Scriptures say that anyone that is hanged on a tree (a means of execution and an obvious reference to the cross) is cursed.  Christ Jesus became a curse for us by being hanged on the tree.  Paul argues therefore that Christ redeemed us from all the curse of the Law.   The Law made certain demands, which if not followed, resulted in curses coming upon the people.  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, this does not mean that we do not have to keep the Law, but because of the atoning work of Christ we do not have to suffer the curses that were the consequences of failing to keep it.  The curses that would come upon the people are listed in Deuteronomy 28.  They include sickness, poverty, famine, drought, defeat by their enemies, oppression, relationship problems, family break-ups and a whole host of other things.  As a child of God, Christ has redeemed you from all these, He has paid the price to deliver and free you from them.  With His stripes you are healed - from sin, sickness, poverty, oppression, relational problems.  We noted yesterday that half the battle is how you view yourself, get that image right according to God's Word and the devil will not be able to trick you into receiving these curses.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Deuteronomy 28.15-68

I really like this passage of Scripture, it tells of a tremendous miracle which not only resulted in a great number of fish, but also provided the means for Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow Jesus on the road.  Yes, the Lord prospered their business in just one night that enabled them to be able to leave the business to serve God.  Peter and his crew had been working all night, trawling the Sea of Galilee for fish.  Having spent all night on the water, they hadn't even caught a shrimp yet alone a fish.  With no produce to show for their nights work they decided to bring the boat to shore and pack up and go home to bed.  They washed and cleaned the nets and had started to pack them up ready to go home when Jesus came by and got into one of the boats and asked Peter to push it back into the water.  How Peter wanted to go home and sleep, but he had to wait until Jesus had finished speaking.  When Jesus had finished His teaching, He said to Peter "Launch out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch".  'But Jesus, we've been out all night, 8 hours working hard, and we've not caught one thing. We've cleaned the nets and now we're ready for home..'   All of what Peter had said was true but listen to his next statement, 'but because you say so we'll go out again'.  "On the ground of Your Word" the Amplified says.  Their experience that night was not fruitful, but because of the Word of Jesus, they did what He said and that proved to be very fruitful.  Don't let your past experience dominate you but rather what God's Word says.   You may have done it before, you may be tired and ready to quit, but because God's Word says so, you'll do it again.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Luke 5.1-11

I Love You.  These three words will be spoken today hundreds of thousands of times across the 'western' world as lovers and couples declare their love to one another.   In our text today, Jesus asks Peter a direct question, "Do you love me?".  It has been suggested, and I believe rightly so but not exclusively, that Jesus asks him this question three times to counter the three denials that Peter made a few weeks earlier.   Of course the correct answer to that question is 'Yes, I love you'.  How many times have you heard that question asked of you, how many times have you asked the question.  There are times that we can take the love of someone for granted, we don't tell them enough that we love them, we assume they know.  Men are particularly bad at this, as somehow we tend to think it belittles our manhood.  There was a time many years ago that I would not say 'I love you' to my wife in public.  There have been many occasions when she had telephoned me and ended the conversation with those words, and I would reply 'me too' - I'm much better at it now.  God would ask us the same question, 'Do you love Me?' - what is our response to Him.  We may like to think that we would say 'I love You' back to Him, but very often our actions speak far louder.  The Scripture says in John 14.15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments".  Are we keeping His commandments - that's the measure of our love for Him.

Suggested Additional Reading:  John 21.1-25

There are many Christians that are anti prosperity, they don't like us who preach prosperity and they are against those who are prosperous.  But this verse tells us that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.  God takes pleasure in prosperity, it pleases Him to prosper His children.  The word translated prosperity in this verse is actually the word shalom, the word often used for peace.  Shalom is wholeness in every area, having nothing missing.  If you look up shalom in a Old Testament word lexicon you will see that it's meaning includes "completeness, soundness, welfare (health, prosperity, peace, safety and rest), favour and peace."  Completeness, to be whole and made complete in every area; are you coming short in some area, not able to function to your full potential, then the shalom of God makes you whole. Soundness, of spirit, soul and body; another word meaning to be entire and whole, unbroken and functioning as it should.  Welfare; the shalom of God looks after your welfare, it provides you health and healing, prosperity and wealth, it keeps you safe, at peace and rest.  No wonder the Jews use shalom as their greeting to one another, a pronouncing of the blessing of God upon each other.  Don't let anybody tell you that prosperity isn't of God, the Lord takes pleasure in prospering His people.  Look at this prayer of David, in it he tells God what is going on in his life.  He is being pursued by his enemies, folk are out to trap him and destroy him, evil was hunting him down like a wild animal. But he finishes the prayer giving thanks to God, "let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in prospering His servant".  Give thanks today to the Lord who has pleasure in your prosperity, your healing, your deliverance - you will open up the channels for the shalom of God to work for you.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Psalm 35. 1-28

One of the fundamental beliefs that we have as faith people is that the Bible in its' entirety is the Word of God and that includes this verse.  Even though John wrote it down he received it by revelation of God.   Therefore this is God's heart beat for you and me.  One translation puts it like this: "Beloved, concerning all things I desire thee to prosper, and to be in health, even as thy soul doth prosper"  God's desire for us is that we prosper and be in health.  Do you think that God changed His mind?  We saw yesterday that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His children, how then can we think that He doesn't get pleasure in prospering us today when we live under a better covenant, with better promises than that which David enjoyed.  It is God's will to prosper us materially and financially.  It is God's will to heal you (prosper you physically) and it is God's will to prosper you spiritually.  The prosperity of God comes to you the same way as forgiveness of sins did, it is according to 'as your soul prospers'.  How did you get saved?  Through faith in Jesus, well that's just how you receive prosperity.  So if you are lacking in prosperity, get your faith in line with the Word of God, do whatever is necessary to put your faith into action and expect God to prosper and bless you.

Suggested Additional Reading:  3 John 1. 1-14

The system by which the world operates says that we need to work in order to be prosperous.  If I can do a few extra hours here and there that will get me by.  When things get tough the world looks to doing overtime, maybe get a second job.  We've seen over the last couple of days that God wants us to be blessed, He wants us to prosper, He gets pleasure when His children prosper.  We are not subject to the system of the world though.  The Scripture gives us some instruction for us to prosper.  Give, and it will be given unto you.  That sounds foreign and strange to the world's system.  We have been taught that if we want to get we need to save, hoard, work, earn - giving is the last thing we think of.  But God says if you give, it will be given back to you.  Many Christians, when they run into financial pressures, like to quote Philippians 4.19, where it says "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" but they fail to see the context of where that promise was made.  If you read through the chapter you will see that Paul was supported financially by the Philippian church, they gave to him time and again, sent aid to help him in the ministry.  Then when he wrote to them he said that because of their faithful giving that God would supply all their need.  "Give, and [gifts] will be given to you" (Amplified).

Suggested Additional Reading:  Philippians 4.10-23

When we give to God we open up the channels for God to prosper and bless us, we saw yesterday that if we give, the same will be given back to us.  The Philippian church had given support to the apostle, they had sent gifts and aid to him, and because of that they received the promised that God would supply all their needs.   It is right and proper that we, like the Philippians, support those who teach us and preach the word.  We should support our Pastors and Ministers, they are God's anointed vessels for your growth and instruction and they should not be in want.  Other ministries that teach you the Word should be supported as well and as God leads you, you should support them too.  There are many Christians that are supporting various ministries and works, not because God has spoken to them, but because they received a mailer in the post asking for gifts.  We should not give to needs but to those that God specifically instructs us to give.  My wife and I have been sharing with certain ministries for some time and I've heard it said, "Why are you giving money to them?, they don't need it.  There are far more needy causes out there".  It has nothing to do with need, it is because of the Scripture that we read today and because of the leading of the Spirit in our lives.  Those people that criticise giving have the spirit of Judas: "Why the waste, this could have been sold and the money given to the poor".  Judas didn't care for the poor, he was a thief, he was money orientated, he was a taker not a giver.  Mary gave to Jesus the most costliest thing she had, and she was truly blessed because of it.  Open up a channel for God to bless you today, be a giver.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Matthew 26.6-16; John 12.1-8

Did you know that the Bible declares you to be a world overcomer. You may not feel quite like an overcomer, your past may remind you of defeats and failures, but the Word says you are.  Whatever is born of God overcomes the world.   If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God, verse 1 tells you that.  Then verse 4 tells you that if you are born of God then you are world overcomer.  You are victorious over the world, so whatever the world throws at you today, you have already overcome it.  You are not an overcomer based upon your status or standing in your community, it has nothing to do with what works you can do or have done.  It is based entirely on what God says about you - and I would rather believe Him any day than any other person.  How do we overcome the world and all that it throws at us; well this is what overcomes the world - our faith.  You are born of God, born-again of His Spirit, you are victorious over the world. So use your faith today, believe God, put your trust in Him, there is nothing that can come across your path that is too much for you.

Suggested Additional Reading:  1 John 5. 1-5

Solomon has gone down in history as the wisest king that has ever lived.  In the early days of his kingship the Lord appeared to him and told him to ask of God whatever he wanted and it would be his.  Instead of asking for wealth, riches, longevity of life, peace or victory over his enemies, he asked God for a wise and understanding heart to judge His people aright.  God granted him what he requested and gave him wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and largeness of heart like the sand of the seashore - and all the things that he never asked for but could have.  Fame of this wisdom and wealth spread far and wide and on one occasion the Queen of Sheba came searching out Solomon. When she saw all that God had done for him she exclaimed that what she had heard wasn't even the half of it.   James tells us that if we lack wisdom we can ask of God and He will give it us.  He expects us to have His wisdom; Proverbs says that wisdom is the principal thing.   As I was writing these thoughts I read these verses from various translations: Listen to what 'The Message' says Solomon asked for: "Here's what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?".  Give me a God listening heart - that's true wisdom, listening to God and then acting upon it.  Incline your heart to wisdom today, listen to God, He will cause you to excel.

Suggested Additional Reading:  1 Kings 4. 29-34; 1 Kings 10. 1-13

"Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers" - Deuteronomy 6.23 (NKJV)

One of the great stories of God's salvation and deliverance in the Old Testament is that of how He brought the Children of Israel up out of Egypt.  I'm sure you are aware of Bible typology, but in case you don't  Egypt represents sin.  Jacob and his family moved down to Egypt in the days when Joseph was Prime Minister. After he had died and a few Pharaohs later, the Egyptians began to oppress the Israelites and forced them to work as slaves.  They were slaves to Egypt and the Egyptians and needed a saviour.  God raised up Moses who eventually led them out with the promise that He would bring them into the Promised Land, their own land where they would be the head and not the tail.   When the time came for them to enter the Promised Land they did not believe they could and consequently they wandered in the wilderness for the next forty years.  Eventually they did enter their land, praise God, under the able leadership of Joshua.  This is a great type of salvation, did you know that you were once a captive and slave of sin, just as God's people were slaves in Egypt.  The Bible says that whoever commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8.34).  But God sent you Jesus who brought you up out of sin and He has promised to bring you to the Promised Land.  So many Christians though, only believe salvation consists of the forgiveness of sins and they use the terminology 'being saved' only as a reference to forgiveness.  Salvation is much more than that, soteria the Greek word for salvation consists of being kept safe, delivered, health and healing, and wholeness.  So many Christians are content to wander in the wilderness where God's blessing is concerned instead of believing God and entering into the fullness of salvation.  Rise up toady in faith and enter the land that God has prepared for you - where you can enjoy the full benefits of your salvation.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Deuteronomy 6.1-25

"And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti" - Esther 2.17 (AV)

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul recalls an occasion where the Lord spoke to him and told him that His grace was sufficient for him.  We have said many times that grace is God's favour and acts of loving-kindness. Grace, like mercy, is a spiritual force that bestows the favour of God upon us.  In this wonderful little book of the Bible, just 9 chapters, we read of a young woman that knew the favour of God upon her life.  Esther had come from a lowly upbringing, she was the cousin of a God-fearing man whose name was Mordecai. He had brought her up as his own daughter since her parents had both died.  On a particular day in the king's court a feast had been made for the women of the royal palace and King Ahasuerus wanted to show-off his wife.  However, Queen Vashti had offended him because she did not hasten to the kings command to come before him.  After hearing the advice of his nobles, it was decided to make another person queen in her place.  Young women from all over the kingdom were taken and brought into the king's court;  Esther was also one of these women. This verse tells us that Esther obtained grace and favour in the sight of the king, actually verse 15 tells us that she obtained favour (grace) by everyone that saw her.  King Ahasuerus chose Esther from among his harem and made her queen instead of Vashti.  She was taken from her home, probably by force into a situation that maybe she didn't like, but grace was upon her.  When you're in a situation that you're not comfortable in, or going through some circumstance, you can count on the Grace of God.  God's love and favour will promote you and exalt you.  Grace promoted Esther to be Queen, grace will promote you, it will lift you up and cause you to rise above the circumstances.  Men will see the favour of God upon you and you will be blessed.  Thank God today for His grace upon you, then believe and expect God's grace to promote and exalt you.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Esther 2. 1-18

"That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." – Ephesians 2.7 (AV) 

We made the comment yesterday that grace will exalt and promote you; it will cause you to rise above every circumstance and situation that you face.   This verse tells us that God will show us what is the abundant wealth of His grace, and He does that through the acts of kindness that He does.  We see the grace of God on every page of the Bible, especially in the New Testament and the Gospels in particular.   You may have noticed that the Bible very often uses the word compassion in relation to Jesus when He approached someone in need.  This compassion is His love in action.  Grace puts into operation the love of God and the result is what we call compassion or kindness.  The Bible often compounds these two words to give ‘loving-kindness’.  We see the context of this verse by reading the chapter from verse 1.   We once were dead in sin but the grace of God made us alive, and raised us up (or promoted us, as we said yesterday) and caused us to sit with Him in heavenly places.  Grace is revealed in us through His kindness toward us.  The love and favour of God, for that is what grace is, is made manifest through the kind acts that He does – forgiving us, healing us, prospering us, delivering us and blessing us.  We’ve been created so that God can perform these acts of kindness and goodness in us. Verse 10 tells us that we are supposed to walk in (enjoy) these good works, so go ahead today and enjoy His acts of kindness.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Ephesians 2.1-10

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" – Matthew 5.7  (AV) 

You will probably be aware that the few short verses from which this text verse comes today are called the Beatitudes.  Many may think that they are just a bunch of one-liners, similar to a proverb, but they are actually godly characteristics which we are meant to possess – these characteristics cause us to be blessed.    They are the characteristics of God Himself.  Mercy is one of these great characteristics of God.  It is mercy that was the driving force behind the plan of salvation.  Just imagine if you can what God must have felt when man, His perfect creation that He enjoyed fellowship with, sinned.  It wasn’t so much the fact that they had eaten of the fruit but that they had disobeyed Him, rebelled against Him and then tried to deceive Him by covering their sin.  What would you have done in that situation, probably not what God did.  Even though they had done that to Him, He didn’t destroy them but wanted to bring them back into that fellowship – that was mercy.  This verse tells us to possess that quality, to be merciful (full of mercy).  In actual fact it says that person who possesses mercy is a blessed person – the Blessing is at work in their lives and it will produce mercy.  Mercy works with her two brothers love and grace, all three go together and it really is difficult to have one without the others.   We do not really have the space here today to go deeper but this also puts into operation the spiritual law of sowing and reaping – you sow mercy and you will reap mercy.  Sow some seeds of mercy today, you’ll be glad you did.

Suggested Additional Reading:  Matthew 5. 1-12

James writes that when our faith is put to the test it produces patience.  Generally speaking we don't like to be patient, we live in an instant society that has become obsessed with getting things now.  We drink instant coffee because we don't want to wait for it to be filtered. We have available instant ready prepared meals that take just a few minutes to heat in a microwave so that does away with time consuming preparations.  This kind of lifestyle does not cultivate patience in us.  If our faith is going to be used to believe God for something we need to be prepared to be patient.  Some things are not going to happen in just a couple of minutes, you need to let patience have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  Abram had a promise from God that he and Sarai would have a son, he waited 25 years for the fulfilment of that promise, trusting God, letting his faith work.  On one occasion when he became impatient and tried to help God fulfil the promise, mistakes were made, Ishmael was born of the bondwoman and not Sarai.  How much do you really want God to do something for you? The first lesson to learn is to trust God, put your faith to work.  The next lesson is to continue in that faith with patience.  She will perfect and complete your faith so that you lack nothing. 

Suggested Additional Reading:  Romans 4.16-24

One of the key qualities of David's life was that whatever situation he found himself in, he knew what to do -  he went before the Lord and inquired of Him.  If everyone of us would be more like David, we would not have half the problems and difficulties that we've got.  Many of these problems are brought on because we storm ahead with what we think we should do in the situation, or we do what we think God wants us to do without even asking Him.  David and his men had gone to fight a battle against the Philistines, but while they were gone the Amalekites invaded their village and burnt it to the ground.  They took captive the women and children including David's wives.  On return to the village, even though David was distressed, not just because of their loss, but also because his men were considering stoning him.  Most of us would now put on our size 9 boots and storm off to get the Amalekites, but not David.  He took time to inquire of the Lord and get His direction, sometimes God will confirm to us that we should do what we would expect to do, as was the case here - God told him to go and pursue them and overtake them and he would recover everything that was taken.  However there was an occasion where God told him to do something completely different.  The Philistines were raiding the valley (1 Chronicles 14.13-16) and David wanted to go out after them, so as was his custom he inquired of God.  This time God told him 'You shall not go up after them' but God gave him a completely different strategy, to circle around them and wait for the sound of movement in the tree tops.  They were to wait for God to move ahead of them and then the battle would be won.  What are you going to do today?, whatever it is be sure to take time to inquire of the Lord.

Suggested Additional Reading:  1 Samuel 30.1-10

"Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God’" – John 11.40 (NKJV)

Lazarus was sick, the brother of Mary and Martha and close friend of Jesus.  Immediately the two sisters sent for Jesus to come and heal him.  But the Bible tells us in this chapter that Jesus stayed two more days where He was before leaving to go to Bethany, the village where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived.  When He arrived He was greeted with the news that Lazarus had died, which of course He already knew, as He had told His disciples this in verse 14.   When Jesus stood at the tomb, He asked them to move the stone from the entrance. Martha protested loudly ‘Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days’.  When faced with challenging situations our response is not be one of protest, as was the case with Martha, but one of faith.  If we believe we will see the glory of God - it doesn’t get any simpler than that.  We often hear people ask ‘why don’t we see many miracles’, the answer is quite plain, if you believe you will.  The reason many don’t see miracles or experience the manifestations of the Glory of God is that they simply don’t believe.  Believing is not a head or mind affirmation but a heart one.   If you believe, rely on, cling to with all your heart, you will see the glory of God.  Seeing always follows believing, never the other way around.

Yesterday we began looking at the account where today’s verse comes from.  We noted then that manifestations of the Glory of God always follow those who believe.  We also saw that when Jesus told Martha to take the stone away that she protested loudly that her brother had been dead four days already and would now be stinking as decay had begun to set in.   This stone that was across the entrance to the tomb was an obstacle for Martha which needed moving.  If we are going to believe God for a breakthrough in our lives we need to move the stones that become obstacles for us.  What obstacles to our faith do we face :  (1) Fear, this will contaminate our faith. We cannot be in fear and faith at the same time. (2) Doubt, or double-mindedness will prevent us from receiving from God.  You know what double-mindedness is ‘maybe it will, maybe it won’t.  (3) Current Situation, get your eyes off what you are going through and fix them on to Jesus.  (4) Experience, your past experiences can hinder your faith. Do not consider your past defeats, failures, or past experiences that you cannot explain.  (5) Unbelievers, don’t listen to those Christian brothers or sisters that don’t walk in faith and don’t believe.  Instead get around those who are faith people, a true faith person will know what to say to encourage you.  Look what happened when Martha rolled the stone away – Lazarus, who was dead, came out the tomb.  If you believe, you will see the glory of God, so move those obstacles today.  Notice you have to move them, ‘take ye away the stone’, they won’t move themselves and God will not move them for you.

Suggested Additional Reading: Hebrews 11.39 – 12.3

Love – it is the greatest commandment.  Here Jesus teaches us that we are to love the Lord with everything that we have.  Have you ever wondered why love is so frequently shown as a heart.  It is not a commercial thing dreamed up to sell a few cards or for cake decorations etc., It is a God thing - It is because the heart represents the entire being of man, the word heart literally means the centre.  When we say that something has our heart, we mean the very centre of our being, our all,  and that’s what the Bible means here.  Loving God with all that we have and are, our whole being, our whole life, our whole mind and our whole strength.   What do you spend all your time doing, whatever it is that’s where your heart lies.   God demands first place in our lives, He demands our all.  Isaac Watts puts it like this in his well known hymn: ‘Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all’. 

Suggested Additional Reading:  Deuteronomy 10.12- 11.1