Day 123

GOD’S GREATNESS IS UNSEARCHABLE

Today’s Text: Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.(Psalm 145:3)

Today’s Thoughts: Our God is great and I have no doubts. Our God is good – always good and only good and I have no doubts about that either. Our God deserves our praise. We truly cannot understand His ways and His greatness, but we can definitely trust Him because we know that He loves us.

Today’s Testimony: Today I’m going to share the amazing testimony of how the Lord intervened as my Tutor once again. For one of my modules this semester I was required to conduct an interview for my second assignment. This was a busy semester and I also had three other subjects to see to, so I had to apply for an extension. My lecturer didn’t respond to my application, but I was still unable to complete my assignment by the due date. UNISA then granted all students an extension for all the second assignments for the second semester modules due to a postal strike. I was extremely glad for the extension, but that only helped me to be able to submit another assignment on time. I had two assignments submitted, and two outstanding. There is another amazing testimony concerning the other assignment, but that I’ll share tomorrow. I finally came to the conclusion that I would have to simply submit my assignment late and have it returned to me unmarked and accept the standard mark for late assignments which I think is 50%.
My assignment consisted of interviewing someone who had experienced or was experiencing a crisis and then to compile a report. I firstly couldn’t decide who to interview, and then I had to formulate and conduct the interview. I knew I had to submit something, but especially seeing, as it would be late, my assignment would not be marked and I would only get 50% for it, I was not very enthusiastic about completing it. My assignment was due on the 12th of September and the UNISA website where we go to submit our assignments had a problem around the 19th of September and assignments due then could not be submitted. UNISA gave notification that any assignments that were due on those dates were granted an extension. Mine was however due seven days before that, so that extension didn’t help me. But then a few days later, for some or other “strange reason”, which I know was my God’s intervention, I received notification that all assignments that were due between the 12th (my due date) and the 19th of September were granted an extension until the 7th of October. There was no logical reason why an extension should be granted for assignments due seven days before the 19th, but my God is good and can work miracles for His people.
I then knew that seeing the Lord had intervened for me I had to try my best to get this assignment submitted on time. This blessing also gave me the energy I needed to complete the assignment. I submitted the assignment on time and when I received my results I had gotten a good mark for it. God is so good – always good, and only good!

Today’s Task: God is so great! We truly cannot search and understand His ways and His dealings with His people. Praise Him for His greatness. Trust Him in all things. He cares about you. His love for us is so great – love Him back!

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You are great enough to help Your people. I praise You that You are loving enough to help your people. Your greatness is unsearchable, so we just stand in awe and trust and praise. I thank You for Your love and care. I praise You and thank You in Christ’s name, Amen.

Day 122

GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO FEAR HIM

 

Today’s Text: He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. (Psalm 115:13)

Today’s Thoughts: God will bless those who fear Him. He is not a respecter of persons, He will bless all people if they choose Him as their God. If God will bless people no matter how small or great they are He is also able to and will bless us with blessings no matter how small or great they are. He knows what we need and what we desire, and He will bless us out of His love and wisdom. God cares about all of us so much – make sure He is your God.

Today’s Testimony: One morning a short while before I got up to have breakfast one of our neighbours phoned to ask if we had electricity. We then discovered that our power was out. Seeing it was already light outside we didn’t have too much of a problem with not being able to use electricity.
When I came to have breakfast, however, I popped some toast into the toaster and pushed the button down, and then sadly remembered that I was unable to make toast. Breakfast is usually a sweet meal, and seeing I haven’t got much of a sweet-tooth I usually like to either end on something savoury, or sometimes even eat a savoury breakfast instead. That day was one of those mornings that I decided to have a savoury breakfast, but now I couldn’t have the toast I had planned to.
Firstly, I asked the Lord to please put the power back on because I really wanted some toast, and then I started preparing a bowl of cereal. By the time I had finished eating my fruit and was ready for my main course, the power went back on. My sister said something about it being “unfair” that the power went on in time for my breakfast, but I thought it was absolutely amazing that God intervened for something as unnecessary as the power going on so I could make toast.
I wish I had had more faith and waited on the Lord to intervene as I asked Him to, because seeing I had already put the cereal in my bowl I decided to eat it. I did make and eat toast, but I couldn’t manage to eat all four slices that I’d toasted.
I learned, once again, that we need to have more faith when we ask the Lord to intervene for us, and I also was once again reminded that God is interested in the small things in our lives and loves to intervene for His children. We truly do serve a loving and amazing Heavenly Father who loves to bless us with big things as well as little things.

Today’s Task: Fear the Lord. Make Him your God today. He loves you and longs to bless you. He knows what we need and what is best – ask Him. He blesses both small and great and He can bless us with blessings that are small and great too – trust Him. He also knows what will make us smile. God loves to bless His children. Choose to fear the Lord and make Him smile.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You love each of us the same and love to bless all of Your children. Help us to fear You and make You our God. Help us to come to You and ask no matter how small or great our needs and desires are and then help us to trust You to do what’s best. I thank You for Your great love. Please help us to live to please You and make You smile. We love You Lord. Amen.

Day 121

MY HELP COMES FROM THE LORD

 

Today’s Text: My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:2)

Today’s Thoughts: Where is the first place that we run when we have a problem, decision to make or other need? Do we run to the Lord or to someone or something else? God made heaven and earth – He is in control. He has the power to intervene in every situation. We need to learn to turn to Him for help. Our greatest source of help will definitely come from the Lord who cares about us more than anyone else ever will, and not from any other source. I invite you to place your trust in Him alone and, like the psalmist, confidently say, “My help comes from the Lord”.

Today’s Testimony: Have you ever heard people say that God has given us the wisdom to make simple decisions for ourselves? They say we don’t need to ask the Lord what we should wear, eat or drink, or small issues like that, on a particular day, provided that all the options will be pleasing in his sight. If they aren’t, I suppose we shouldn’t be asking anyway, because we would already know the answer. I agree totally with the fact that God has given us the wisdom we need to make our own simple decisions, but sometimes I will wake up in the morning, go to my cupboard and say, “Lord, what should I wear today”. Not that I “need” Him to make the decision for me, but I like inviting Him to be a part of my decision-making anyway. And on top of that, I “can” decide for myself, but He might know better what I should wear that day. I ask and He helps me decide. Now if this is sounding odd to you, let me share a story of how it really helped one day.
I went to my cupboard one morning and that day I asked the Lord for help deciding what to wear. I knew what I wanted to wear, but I have two different colours of the top I wanted to wear. “Should I wear the pink one or the black one?” I decided to wear the black one, but I know that God’s wisdom was involved in my decision because I’d ask Him for help. A bit later that day when our family was getting in the car to go out on a picnic and walk at a nature reserve, my top got hooked on the picnic basket as we tried to move it from its seat next to me and my top got a little hole in it. If I had been wearing the pink top that shade of pink would have been very difficult to match in order to stitch, but the black one obviously would be easy to match and fix. God knew what would happen in my day, and He therefore guided me to wear the right top that day. God is so good! He can help us with anything and everything – the little things too!

Today’s Task: Make the Lord your helper. Let all your help come from the Lord. He is willing and waiting for you to ask Him for help. Allow God to be a part of every aspect of your life – you will not regret it. Invite Him to help you with even the small decisions you have to make. God cares about you!

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You are willing to help us with all our problems, decisions and needs. Please teach us to turn to You and You alone when we need help. I praise You for the help You have blessed us with in the past and I praise You for help that You are still willing to give us. Please help us to trust You more. I thank You for being our Helper. Amen.

Day 120

GOD CARES ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS

Today’s Text: But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matthew 10:30)

Today’s Thoughts: Does it matter to you that every hair on your head is numbered? Does it matter to you when one or two fall out? God often included the hairs on the head in His promises of protection saying that not even a hair on their heads would perish. What a way to promise protection! If even our hairs are safe – then the rest of us has nothing to fear. God knows how many hairs you have on your head and he knows when one of them falls out. A friend once said that this statement tells us that God even knows which hair fell out, seeing they are all numbered. Such a tiny and insignificant thing to us, but God cares. If God cares about the little things in life that we may even see as unimportant, how much more does He care about the big things in life that do matter?! We truly serve an amazing and loving God!

Today’s Testimony: Today I’m going to share a strange story, but it tells that God cares even about the little things.
Toothpaste usually comes with one of two different types of caps: a flip-top cap or a screw-on cap. The toothpaste I use usually always came with a flip-top cap. The other day my toothpaste came to an end and as I was about to throw the empty tube away the Lord sent the thought, “Keep the cap in case the next tube has a screw-on cap.” It doesn’t really matter what type of cap I have, but it would be preferable to be able to choose if I wanted to remain with a flip-top cap if the cap had changed. I argued with that thought for a few seconds and then finally took the cap off and left it on the basin’s counter-top and threw the tube away.
Later when I opened the new box of toothpaste and took out the tube… ok, you’re probably expecting this, but the tube of toothpaste had a screw-on cap instead of the usual flip-top cap. I didn’t change the cap after all, but I still have the cap if I ever change my mind.
This might seem like a silly little story, and it is, but to me it speaks an extremely important message that God cares! He cares about the little unimportant things! He cares about the big extremely important things! And He cares about all the things in between! My God cares! Believe it!

Today’s Task: Take all your problems to the Lord – He cares! It doesn’t matter how small or how big they may seem to you – it matters to God because He cares about you and He can help you. Know that if your life is in the Lord’s hands you can have peace that He will protect you. Always remember that God knows and does what is best for us. Thank Him for His love and care.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You care about even the little things. I thank You that what matters to us matters to You. Please help us to trust You. I thank You that You will do what is best in our lives. I thank You that You love us so much. I thank You that You care. I praise You and thank You in Christ’s name, Amen.

Day 119

BE A TRUE FRIEND

Today’s Text: A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)

Today’s Thoughts: No one likes to be in a one-sided friendship. True friendship is when there is mutual love, trust, giving and taking and whatever else is necessary, but it is all twoway. If we want friends – the bottom line is that we must be friendly. A true friend like that will often be a more faithful friend than a blood-relative. We all need and long for that type of friend. I hope we all strive to be that type of friend too. Ultimately, there is only one Friend that we can rely on without reserve and know that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of that Friend, and that Friend is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There is no Friend like Him.

Today’s Testimony: I love people! Many of the people that know me will agree that I am a very friendly person. Normally I am quite relaxed to speak to or befriend a total stranger. I love making new friends. Most attempts to be friendly work. Most people will be more than willing to exchange a greeting and a smile. Today I’d like to share my favourite story of making a new friend that happened a few years ago.
A new tenant had moved in to the one granny-flat next door. The gentleman appeared pretty serious and gruff to me at first. I’d greet him and get no more than a casual greeting back – no smile. Then, seeing I’d done my best to try and befriend this neighbour, the Lord stepped in.
Firstly, let me tell you the ingredients the Lord needed, and then you’ll need to follow the story to see how each one of them fitted in and was totally necessary. This might sound like one of the weirdest testimonies you’ve heard so far, but God works in ways we never would have thought of. To form a friendship between me and my neighbour the Lord used: guineapigs, a dog, a boy, a bunny and some Japanese quail. Ready to hear?
It was a Monday afternoon and I was going outside in the front garden to see to the guineapigs that we had at the time. Family of ours had gone away for a while and we were looking after their small dog. Seeing I’m the animal lover in my family, this dog stuck by me most of the time. He therefore came with me to sort out the guinea-pigs. While we were busy with them, I heard someone calling from the other side of the garden. I looked up and saw a boy hanging over the wall trying to get the dog’s attention. I therefore left the piggies for a moment and took the dog over to visit the boy. I held the dog up so he could stroke him a bit and then I had a brief conversation with the boy. I asked him if he lived there, seeing that house has a few granny flats, and he said, no, his mom’s boyfriend lived there. From that I gathered that it was the newest tenant next door.
The following Monday while I was seeing to Blobby, my new bunny at the time, whose cage was near the wall the boy had been hanging over, I heard strange noises coming from nextdoor. Eventually I saw the culprit, the little boy, poking over the wall, making the noise and then ducking. Finally he stopped and just hung over the wall for a while a little bit away from where I was. I then asked him a question, and seeing he didn’t hear the first time, he moved closer. We then had a good conversation until my neighbour came along. He asked me what type of birds those were that we had in the cages nearby, I replied, “Quail”, and then the two of them left.
 I never saw the boy again, but a while later when I was seeing to Blobby again, in his new pen right opposite my neighbour’s door, my neighbour came out and asked me what type of birds I said those were. He’d looked them up and they looked more like another type of bird. I then told him that they were not normal quail but Japanese quail. From that day forward we would often greet and have a brief chat when he was arriving or leaving home while I was busy with Blobby.
God wants us to be friendly and make friends for His glory. I did not see any positive results from that friendship, but he knew I was a Christian, and one day when we get to heaven I hope that this story will be completed with me meeting my neighbour and hearing him say, “I saw that you had something that I needed, and I’m here today because of you.” I want to keep making friends and I hope that every single one of them will be friends that I can keep for all eternity. Will you be one of those friends?

Today’s Task: Be a true Friend. Be friendly to everyone you meet. You never know what an impact you can make on someone. There are so many people dying in need of a Saviour – maybe you can be a friend to one or more of those people and introduce them to your Best Friend. Do your part to make friends and God will intervene. He knows where each one of His lost sheep is. Help the Lord to bring them home.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You are the greatest Friend we will ever have. I thank You that You are a faithful Friend. Please help us to find and befriend your lost sheep. Help us to introduce them to You. Lord, we want friends, and we want to be able to keep them for all eternity. Help us to be friends – true friends. I thank You that You can intervene to form friendships when we can do no more. We love You! Amen.

Day 118

GOD HEARS WHEN WE PRAY

Today’s Text: And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. (1John 5:14, 15)

Today’s Thoughts: If we ask God for anything and He knows that it is in our best interest He hears us. We do not have to keep praying for that same thing in order to be heard. I’m not saying that we should only take our petitions to the Lord once – the reason for repeating our requests is for another reason. I’m simply emphasizing the fact that God hears each of our prayers as soon as we pray them. Our text then tells us that if God has heard our prayers, which He has, then we can know that He is busy answering them. And yet we need to remember and be thankful that He will answer in the way that is best for us. God has a time for everything, we just need to be patient and wait in faith for Him to intervene when He knows the time is best.

Today’s Testimony: A while ago someone gave me a quote by my favourite author and asked me to write a song about it. I won’t share the quote here, but it was to do with what I shared in Today’s Thoughts. Today I simply want to share the words to the song and let them speak for themselves.

Lord I Praise You For Answered Prayers

The promises in Your Word we read
That if we pray You’ll help when we’re in need
Your promises are true
What You’ve said You will do
And so now by faith I will start praising You

Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
You have always intervened for me
Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
Though sometimes Your hand I’ve failed to see
Your ways are higher than mine
And You work in Your perfect time
But You’ve always come through
So for answered prayers I praise You

Lord sometimes we cannot see Your hand
But we know that on Your promise we can stand
So although Your work’s not done
We know that it’s begun
And so now by faith I will start praising You

Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
You have always intervened for me
Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
Though sometimes Your hand I’ve failed to see
Your ways are higher than mine
And You work in Your perfect time
But You’ve always come through
So for answered prayers I praise You

Lord You’ve always come through
So for answered prayers I praise You

Today’s Task: Take God at His word. Place your petitions before His throne and by faith believe that He has heard and is already intervening. God cares about you – believe it. Trust God’s wisdom to know and do what is truly best for you. Praise God for answering your prayers.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You for hearing and answering our prayers. Help us to believe by faith that You are intervening. I thank You that You will do what is best for us. I thank You that You care about us and will help us if we take our problems to You. I thank You for Your love. Amen.

Day 117

MY KINDNESS SHALL NOT DEPART

Today’s Text: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. (Isaiah 54:10)

Today’s Thoughts: Even if everything that seems so certain in life disappeared God will still remain. His kindness and His promise of peace shall never fade away. In God’s mercy He is always there for us. We can place our trust safely in Him. God loves us and is kind to His people. We truly do serve an amazing God!

Today’s Testimony: A few weeks ago some of my family members went to fetch a baby guinea-pig for someone from a friend of ours. We thought we’d have to look after it for a few days, and my family decided that if I had to look after it I’d get too attached, being the biggest animal lover in our home. Long story short – they came home with a fully-grown, long-haired guinea-pig for me as well. At first I didn’t know what to think. But he’s pretty cute.
I let him run around inside the house at some stage every day. At first he didn’t go very far. He usually stayed behind the book-case and the cabinet next to it in the lounge. Now he is a bit more daring. One night, before he started venturing out, he was still relaxing behind the book-case and cabinet while I did my chores in the kitchen when we suddenly had a powerfailure and I had to go find my “piggy” and put him to bed. When I was able to go look for him I went with a lamp and couldn’t see him. He normally stayed in that spot, but I thought that maybe in the dark he became brave and ventured away. I didn’t know how I was going to find my piggy in the dark if he’d wandered off somewhere – he could be anywhere. My stepdad had been busy out the front door a short while earlier while it was still light and for all I knew he could have even escaped then. It was pitch-dark and I couldn’t see my piggy in his normal place and I wasn’t even certain that he was even inside the house. I started calling him both by name and in the language (popping sounds) that he responds to. But he gave no reply. My two sisters then came to help me look. With someone to hold the lamp, another with a candle and three of us to look we were able to spot him in his usual hiding place – he hadn’t ventured out anywhere. It’s hard enough to catch him with the lights on because he hates being put away, but it didn’t take too long to catch him in the dark.
God is so good and so kind! He looked after my piggy and kept him safe. I was concerned when I couldn’t find him, but God knew exactly where he was. He knew that my piggy was exactly where he was meant to be – I just couldn’t see him. God knows all our problems and he knows the answers. We just need to place our trust in Him. God cares about each one of us and is so kind even when we get ourselves into the mess. We serve a wonderful God!

Today’s Task: If life seems to be crumbling before your feet remember that God’s love, kindness and care will never pass away. He is always there for you. Take every trouble to Him. He is merciful and cares about your well-being. Trust Him – He will not let you down.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You care about us when we don’t deserve Your care. I thank You that You are kind to us. Please help us to treat You with the love and respect You deserve. I thank You for Your great love. Please help us to learn from You and be kind and merciful to others. You love us so much Lord – help us to love You back. Amen.

Day 116

WAIT FOR ME TO SAVE

Today’s Text: It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. (Lamentations 3:26)

Today’s Thoughts: When Satan tempts you how long do you resist before giving in? Today I’m going to share a few texts that can help us to remain strong when tempted. God wants us to take hold of His strength when facing temptation and wait for Him to save us. God gives us a way to escape every temptation – we just need to patiently endure until we overcome. It is good for us to place our hope in God and wait patiently for Him to save us from the tempter’s snare.

Today’s Testimony: It’s all fine and well for me to encourage you to keep God’s Commandments and live for Him, but keeping them might not come naturally. We have been living in this sinful world for so many years. The battle against sin is not an easy one to fight, so today I’m going to share some Scripture texts that should hopefully help us to gain victory over sin.
Remember how when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the Devil He used Scripture as His weapon? We can do the same. Firstly, let us take a look at these few texts: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations….” (2 Peter 2:9). “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). Christ knows what we are going through when we face temptation and can give us the strength to resist it and be victorious. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Christ knows what we can bear. Every temptation that comes our way is something that we can endure. He gives us the way to escape – we just need to accept it. Then our text for today: “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:26). God wants us to wait for Him to save us from temptation and sinning. So often we just give in without a fight, but as we read yesterday, God wants us to resist unto blood, striving against sin (Hebrews 12:4). God wants us to resist temptation and He can give us the power to do so. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13) “And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). God wants us to flee from sin and He has made it possible. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). The way to be victorious is available, “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), and we therefore need to watch and pray and then wait and resist. God will give us strength. He came to save us from our sins.
There is one more thing that we need to do in order to be equipped for our battles against the Devil: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:10-18). God wants us to put on His armour. He has given each piece for our protection, we just need to put it on.

Today’s Task: Put on the whole armour of God – truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God. Watch and prayer, lest you enter into temptation. God wants to give you the strength to resist every temptation – take hold of that strength and gain the victory over every sin. Give yourself the joy and peace of freedom from sin. God has done all He can, the rest is up to you.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord, You know what we go through when we are tempted. You know what we can bear. You can give us strength to resist every temptation. Please help us to run to You whenever Satan comes to attack. Help us to put on Your armour so that we can stand victorious in You. I thank You that You have not left us to battle against sin alone. We love You and praise You in Christ’s name, Amen.

Day 115

I CAME TO SAVE

Today’s Text: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

Today’s Thoughts: Jesus did not only come to save us from the result of our sin – death, He came to save us from sin itself. He has a better life for us. He wants us to put sin behind us and live with the joy and peace of this better life. It was never God’s desire for us to have to suffer so much, He longs for the day when He can take us to our heavenly home free from pain and heartache. Right now He wants to give us relief from so much of our sorrow by helping us to gain victory over our sins. He came to save us from our sins. That’s how much He loves us!

Today’s Testimony: Today we’re going to take a look to see if God really wants us to stop sinning. Some say we can never stop and therefore try to resist temptation, but hardly. We sometimes take advantage of Christ’s mercy and sin, believing that we can simply run to Him for forgiveness and all will be well. Does God require more of us?
We already shared the text that states that God came to save us from our sins, obviously meaning that He doesn’t want us to live in sin any longer. Our next text is Galatians 2:17, 18, “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Ok, so this tells us that we are not to be found as sinners. What is it that we have destroyed and should not build up? “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:9, 10). When did this putting off of the old man take place? “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). When we accept Christ into our lives He gives us the strength to live a new life in Him. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). This means that our own sinful lives die and we allow Christ to live out His life in us. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. (1 Peter 2:21, 22). Christ left us the example of a sinless life. “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. …He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:5,6,8,9). This passage is pretty strong, but it shares a logical truth. But we can sin a little right? “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10) – obviously not. But does God really intend for us not to sin? Can we stop? Well, for starters, read Hebrews 12:4. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin”. Now I don’t know about you, but this is my problem. I think for most of us if not all of us, Satan tempts us, we may try to resist for a while, but we give in without too much of a fight. God wants us to strive against sin as though our lives depended on it, and to put it plainly – they do.
Ok, so now we have a problem. God wants us to be free from sin, but we are so weak. Tomorrow we’ll share texts that can help us gain victory over sin. But for now, let’s solve our problem. Read the following text: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). Problem solved! God doesn’t want us to live in sin any longer. He wants us to put sinning behind us. He wants us to strive against sin and be victorious. However, if we do sin, He wants us to know that we are not beyond His mercy. We have an advocate, Jesus Christ. He doesn’t intend for us to sin knowing that we have an advocate and can be forgiven afterwards, but He does want us to know that there is hope for His battling people when they realize they have sinned. God loves us enough to free us from our lives of sin, and to forgive us when we err. We serve an amazing and loving God. I choose to live for Him and strive against sin. I hope you do too.

Today’s Task: Strive against sin with God’s help. Live the better life that God longs for you to enjoy – the life free from sin. Ask Him to give you the strength. Know that God’s children do not sin. But know that God is merciful if they do. Surrender your selfish and sinful desires to the Lord and live for Him with your whole heart. He has done all He can for you.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You came to free us from sin. Please help us to turn away from our lives of sin. I thank You that we are not beyond Your mercy when we fall. But please help us not to take advantage of that mercy and sin presumptuously. We want to live for You. I thank You that You can give us the power to do so. Please save us from ourselves. Amen.

Day 114

BLESSED ARE THEY

Today’s Text: Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)

Today’s Thoughts: Those who keep the Ten Commandments will be blessed. Keeping them gives us the right to enter heaven and to eat of the tree of life. However, this does not mean that we are saved because of keeping God’s Law. Simply put: We are not saved by keeping the Ten Commandments, but we cannot be saved without keeping them. If this still doesn’t seem to make sense, read further.

Today’s Testimony: The keeping of the Ten Commandments will not save us. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9). There is nothing we can do in order to be saved – we are saved entirely by God’s grace. Some people think we need to work our way to heaven, others think we have nothing to do at all. Today we’re going to discover the truth about the balance between grace and works.
The text I shared above states clearly that we are not saved by works. But does that mean that we can neglect to do what the Lord would have us do? Romans 6:14, 15 says: “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.” Well, this text tells us that we are not under the law but under grace, from which many derive the idea that we do not have to keep God’s Law. However this text also tells us that the fact that we are under grace doesn’t mean we should sin. Would you like to know what it means to be under the law or under grace? Let’s look at 1Timothy 1:8, 9 – “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners….” Firstly, notice that this text tells us that it is good to keep God’s Law. Secondly it tells us who the Law is there for. Let me explain by using this simple illustration. In South Africa we have laws against smoking in many public buildings. I don’t smoke, and I therefore obey those laws by default and they are not a restriction to me at all. I don’t need to check where I can smoke and where I can’t because I don’t smoke in the first place. …When Christ enters our lives we allow Him to live out His life in us. We turn away from sin and breaking God’s Law because we have chosen to live for God and God alone. God’s Commandments are no longer a restriction to me because I keep them by default because I love the One who gave them. Yes, sometimes we do give in to temptation and sin but we repent and turn back to the ways of the Lord. We have chosen a life free from sin instead of a life of sin. That makes all the difference. Those who rather choose to stay in sin will always have the law condemning them even though they choose to ignore it. Those who choose to surrender their lives to the Lord and live according to His will will be under God’s grace having every sin covered with Christ’s blood. God’s people keep the Ten Commandments because they love the Lord and want to serve Him. The Commandments are not a restriction to them, but guidelines of love.
Now let’s talk a bit more about Today’s Text. I’d like to use another simple illustration. Imagine that your city or town is throwing a huge banquet. All are invited. However, before entering the banquet your record is checked. If you have any offense against your name like an unpaid traffic fine, you may not enter. You are invited to join for no reason other than the fact that you are a citizen of that place and not because you have been a faithful, law-abiding citizen. However, your failure in being a faithful, law-abiding citizen can keep you out of the banquet. Make sense? We are saved purely by God’s grace. All we need to do is have faith in Him as our Saviour and place our lives totally in His hands. We will then keep His Commandments out of love for Him and when our record is checked we will have a clean slate – all our sins would have been paid for with Christ’s own blood because we have accepted His death in our place and have allowed Him to live out His life in us. We are not saved by our works, but we are judged by them (Revelation 20:12, 13). We need to allow Christ to live out His sinless life in us – what an insult to say, “I’ll accept Your death in my place, but I refuse to accept Your life in my place.”
I want to live for my God. I want to please Him. I want to be able to live with Him eternally. He loves me more than anyone else ever could. He wants me to reap the benefits of keeping His Commandments. I want to be a follower of Christ who keeps God’s Law by “default”, and who runs to the Lord in repentance if I sin. I want to have a clean slate so I can enter heaven. I choose to keep my Saviours Commandments of love. Do you?

Today’s Task: I invite you to study God’s Word more deeply. Search for His truths. He gave us His Word so we could know how to draw close to Him and live for Him. He gave us the Ten Commandments so we could live happy lives here on earth, and be suitable for the sinless life that awaits us. Those who enjoy sin will never be happy in heaven. Get a taste of heaven – surrender to the Lord and live in accordance with His will. Love God enough to keep His Commandments. Follow Him with all your heart.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You for Dying in our place. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and You chose to die so that we could live. Lord I pray for all those who have decided to rather die and pay their own penalty. Lord they don’t know what a huge mistake they are making. One day, when You come, they will realize how foolish they were, but it will be too late. Lord help us to tell the world about how great You are so that decisions can be made to surrender to You. I thank You for giving us guidelines of love. Help us to follow them. I thank You for the blessings that You have promised to those who faithfully do Your will. We love You Lord! Amen.

Day 113

DELIGHT IN MY DAY

Today’s Text: If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:13,14)

Today’s Thoughts: God doesn’t want us to trample on His Sabbath. He wants us to spend it with Him. He gave it to us as a rest-day to spend in worship to Him and to take a pause from our own busy and pretty selfish lives. He gave us a whole seven days in each week. He only asks us to give one of those back to Him. And yet we must keep Him by our side every single day. We have six days to sort out our busy lives, and then one whole day to rest and recharge for the next week. God has a special blessing for those who come to spend a day with Him. He wants each of us to take the time to build a close and personal relationship with Him. God has promised a reward for those who obey His command to keep His Sabbath, and what God has promised stands forever. He gave us the Sabbath as a benefit to us; He wants us to delight in spending that day with Him. I invite you to try it. Delight in God’s Sabbath day.

Today’s Testimony: Out of all ten Commandments, I think the fourth one is the one we most often push aside. Most people don’t set aside a full 24 hours for the Lord. They don’t feel the need to, and don’t believe we have to. So today I’d like us to talk a bit more about keeping the Sabbath holy.
When we discussed the fourth commandment we shared what we should and shouldn’t do on this day, so we won’t go into that again. Firstly, let us talk about which day is the Sabbath. There are so many theories going around that many just don’t know anymore. I would say look at the calendar to see which is the seventh day of the week, but calendars are changing these days so even they confuse us. And yet even then, some say, “How can we be sure that the calendar hasn’t changed over years?” “How do we know that what we may view as the seventh day of the week is the same seventh day that Jesus blessed at Creation and kept while He was here?” That is an extremely valid question. I want to spend one full day with the Lord every week, and I want it to be the only day that God blessed – I hope you do too. So for me, amongst all the other evidences I have, this stands as the most persuasive that Saturday truly is the seventh day of the week – the Sabbath blessed and set apart as holy since Creation…. Ever heard of animals that keep Sabbath? I’ve heard of a donkey that wouldn’t budge because those intended to use it to work wanted to keep the Sabbath. They couldn’t work without the donkey, so they were let off from their work. I’ve heard other similar stories too. Now we could say, “Well, in those situations God could have been honouring the convictions of His people who were living up to what they believed.” Fair enough. But what about the bees in Brazil? They live far away from civilisation. Their bee-keepers live in small huts while the bees live in tree stumps as they always have. Bees are known to work hard, and these bees do, but only for six days of the week. On Saturday, the seventh-day Sabbath, these bees remain in their hives. They don’t go to collect nectar, and they don’t do anything in their hives either – they rest. Who told them to rest on Saturday? Could it be that God wants to tell us something through these bees? If God’s “sinless” creation (by the way – these bees don’t sting, just for interest sake) keep Saturday as God’s Sabbath day, I choose to do the same.
Why most people go to church on Sunday instead of Saturday is something we’re not going to deal with now. My Bible doesn’t say anything about God’s holy Sabbath changing from the seventh day to the first day of the week and I believe that seeing this day is so important to Him He would have mentioned any change at least once. If you were Satan wouldn’t you want to turn the world away from worshipping on the only day that God blessed and from keeping that day holy as God commanded? Could it be that that was and is Satan’s goal? Just some food for thought. Like I said, we’re not going to dig into that now.
Now we need to discuss the time for Sabbath-keeping. According to Leviticus 23:32, the Sabbath should be celebrated from evening until evening. When God made the sun and the moon He set the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. At the end of each day of the Creation story we read that “the evening and the morning” were whichever day. To put it simply – we now function with the day being from midnight till midnight, but God set the day to be from evening (the moons time), till evening (the moons time). This means that a Biblical day lasts from sunset to sunset. The Sabbath therefore is from sunset on what we call Friday until sunset on what we call Saturday.
The Sabbath was given to us as a rest-day in commemoration of Creation. It is a day to remember our Creator. I have a twin sister. That means that I don’t get my own birthday – I have to share. When I was young I asked my mom if I could celebrate my birthday a few days later because I wanted to have my own day to feel special. I was very disappointed when she told me that wasn’t possible. Fact is – we can’t change the day we were born. The Sabbath is planet Earth’s birthday. I plan to worship my Creator on that day and spend it with Him. I hope you do too.

Today’s Task: I’m going to be keeping the Sabbath this week. Will you join me? Please do. God wants to spend this special day with you. Please don’t disappoint Him. There is a special blessing for all those who delight in this day. I invite you to keep this Sabbath and all those to come. Delight in spending the Sabbath with the Lord and you will be blessed.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You have given us a day to rest and recharge. Help us to take advantage of this blessing. I thank You that You, the Creator, want to spend time with us, the creation. Lord You want a close and personal relationship with each and every one of us. You have even set aside one whole day to build that relationship and I praise You for that. I thank You that You love Your creation so much. Lord help us to love You with all our hearts and to do whatever You ask. I praise You for the Sabbath. Amen.

Day 112

LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW

Today’s Text: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:10)

Today’s Thoughts: If we love others we will not do them any harm. Therefore, if we love God and others we will not break the Ten Commandments. God wants us to love Him and our fellow man. Everyone wants to be loved. No one wants to be mistreated. God wants what’s best for all of us. This is why He wants us to love.

Today’s Testimony: Have you ever heard people say that we don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments anymore because God gave us a new commandment to love? Today I’m going to share the texts that the Lord gave me to explain this theory.
First of all let’s share the text from which some get this false idea, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). Now this new commandment for one only speaks about loving others. Do you believe that it is essential for us to love God too? If your answer was yes, we’ve already hit a problem with the “new commandment” theory. In the very next chapter of the Bible Christ says these words, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). This means that even if we are only required to love, in loving God we will keep His Commandments.
When we started this series I mentioned that the Commandments can be divided into love for God and love for our fellow man. You may go and look at the Ten Commandments again to double check (Exodus 20:1-17). Here are the texts that bring us to this conclusion: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mat 22:36-40). So this means that the Commandments can be summed up in “love”. Read Romans 13:8-10, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” There is no clearer text to explain the simple truth that the new commandment to love was just a more simple way of stating the ten. Think about it… even if Christ did mean that we only have to love now, by default we would have to keep all ten Commandments. We cannot kill and yet claim to love. We cannot dishonour others and yet claim to love. We cannot spend as little time as possible with the Lord and claim to love Him.
But beyond the fact of “love” being a more simple way to state the Ten Commandments, look at it this way. When Christ came the people were “keeping” the Ten Commandments, but most of them were doing it because they had to keep them and thus were doing so with long faces. Think about it this way – you are so angry with someone that you feel you could kill, but you refrain because the Commandment says you mustn’t kill. Yet you still harbour that anger in your heart. For one, that’s why Christ told them that if they “hate” they are breaking that Commandment anyway (Matthew 5:21, 22). But I believe the reason Christ gave us the “new commandment” wasn’t because He was changing anything. We had missed the point – we were “keeping” the Commandments but with hate in our hearts. Christ intended to open our eyes. If we truly focus on loving God and others we will naturally want to keep all ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were never nailed to the cross, nor were they replaced. We had just fallen asleep and needed to be reminded of the reason that God gave the Ten Commandments in the first place. He wants His people to be happy. The Commandments were given for our benefit and the new commandment was given as a reminder. Let’s remember these Commandments given in love.

Today’s Task: Love God and love your fellow man. I invite you to make the commitment to keep all ten Commandments. God gave them for our benefit. Taste the joy of living the life God intended for us to live.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You gave us the Ten Commandments. I praise You that You reminded us that we cannot truly keep Your Commandments if we are doing so with hate. Lord please help us to love You more and to love others more too. Please help us to keep Your Commandments. You gave them for our benefit and we want the blessings that come from keeping them. I thank You that You love us so much. Amen.

Day 111

MY COMMANDMENTS STAND FOREVER

Today’s Text: 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. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

Today’s Thoughts: God never intended for us to throw away His commandments. He gave them so we could keep them, and continue keeping them. After all – we learnt over the last few days that He gave them for our benefit. Why would He want to take them away?! And more than that – why on earth would we want to stop keeping them if they benefit us?! There is a curse for those who neglect God’s commandments of love, and there is a blessing for those who obey them. The Ten Commandments stand forever. They were written in stone with the finger of God. Let us keep them forever.

Today’s Testimony: Have you ever heard someone say that the Commandments were nailed to the cross? Do you have any idea where they get this idea from? This assumption is taken from a verse in the Bible itself, but it is interpreted out of context. Now I don’t know what you believe about whether or not we should still keep the Ten Commandments, but I’d like to share some Scripture texts with you. If you disagree at all you can either e-mail me or go directly to God Himself seeing I will be sharing purely Scripture. Please read the passages mentioned if you have any problems and also read their surrounding verses to obtain a better idea of what God is saying in these passages.
The text that gives many the idea that the Commandments were nailed to the cross is found in Colossians 2:14, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” Well let’s start by noting that this text does not say Law or Commandments, it says “handwriting of ordinances”, and yet people still assume this text refers to the Ten Commandments. Secondly I’d like to bring to your attention that whatever was nailed to the cross was “against” us, but we’ve just had a look at the benefits in keeping the Ten Commandments. According to this text, something was definitely nailed to the cross, but was it the Commandments?
Did you know that the children of Israel were given other laws besides the Ten Commandments? Our next text is Ephesians 2:15, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances….” Ok, so this text refers to the nailing as abolishing, but it speaks about the law of commandments contained in ordinances. So, could it be that these laws were what was nailed to the cross? What laws are these then? Let’s take a look at Hebrews 9:10, “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” Here we find that these things were “imposed” on God’s people “until” the time of reformation. These were the sacrificial and ceremonial laws – the ones about washing and offerings etcetera. The sacrificing of lambs for one was no longer necessary because the Lamb that it pointed to had died as our true sacrifice.
If you’re still not convinced then you better keep reading and follow carefully. “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1John 3:4). Therefore it follows that “where no law is, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15). In other words – if sin is the breaking of the law, and there is no law, we cannot sin. Then take a look at Galatians 3:19, “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made….” Once again this is referring to the law that was nailed to the cross. This law was “added because of transgressions”. That means that another law must have been broken first right? Think about it… God’s Commandments of love were broken and He therefore had to put in place the sacrificial laws to point us to our redemption and turn us to our Saviour – the only way we could be saved. These laws were only needed until the real Lamb gave His life for us. Make sense?
God gave us the Ten Commandments because He loves us. They were not nailed to the cross. God knew that life would be far better if we kept each of these simple guidelines to a happy life. I invite you to take another look at the Ten Commandments and ask the Lord to help you to keep them. God has special blessings waiting for you. Trust Him.

Today’s Task: Please give the Ten Commandments a chance. Try keeping them even if you only plan to do so for a while. But remember that God never gave us an option. They were never nailed to the cross and will stand forever. Ask the Lord to help you to keep them. Praise Him for giving them to us for our benefit. God has given you simple guidelines – please follow them.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You love us so much. I thank You that Your Word can interpret itself. I thank You that You did not nail Your gift of the Ten Commandments to the cross. Please help us to keep them with Your strength. Please forgive us for breaking Your commandments in the past. I thank You for giving us guidelines that will benefit us. Help us to keep them and reap the benefits. We love You Lord. Amen.

Day 110

BE CONTENT

Today’s Text: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. (Exodus 20:17)

Today’s Thoughts: To covet means to desire something that does not belong to you. It means that we are not totally content with what we already have. God loves us and provides for all our needs. If there is anything we need, we simply need to go to the Lord in prayer – He owns everything. God hears and answers our prayers, but sometimes His answers differ from what we hoped for. God wants us to learn to be content with what He has blessed us with, knowing that He knows what is truly best for us.

Today’s Testimony: God doesn’t want us to covet; He wants us to be content with what we have. If we covet, sooner or later we will be going the next step and breaking another commandment. We may steal, place something else as our god or as an extra god, commit adultery, start living a different life and causing shame to God’s name, tell lies to be popular or “better off” in whatever way, start doing our own thing on the Lord’s day, place ourselves above our parents or others or even kill in order to have a “happier life”. Sin often leads to more sin. The life of sin is not to be coveted, yet so many walk down that road. It is a life of pain, regret and heartache. God has a life of joy available to everyone who follows Him all the way. Yes we will have pain and sorrow in this life, but His peace and strength will see us through, and one day we can enjoy a life free from sorrow with our Saviour in Heaven. I want that life, and it is available to me. I choose to live for my God now. He knows I will be far happier, and I’ve experienced it.
I mentioned once before (Today’s T’s Day 2) that I once asked the Lord to help me to live up to my name. My name, Lindy, means beautiful. I asked the Lord to help me to be beautiful on the inside, but added that I wouldn’t mind if He made me beautiful on the outside too. He changed me inside and outside. I am happy with my physical appearance now. I don’t wear make-up. I don’t feel I need it, but my main reason is simply this: I asked the Lord to make me beautiful and He intervened. In my opinion, for me to now go and wear make-up would be like saying, “Thanks Lord, but You didn’t do a good enough job.” I am content with what the Lord has done with my physical appearance. I have no desire to change it. For me to wear make-up and jewellery would, for me, be an insult to my God, and I therefore stick to displaying my natural beauty that the Lord has blessed me with. I am content.
There is one thing that we must never be content without, and that is the Lord. God is so good and created us that we will never be fully content without Him. Many people have obtained everything that money can buy, but they are still left empty inside because they haven’t met the Lord. Then there are those that try and fill that gap with friends, entertainment, harmful substances and practices, or even work, but they too are left empty. Only God can truly satisfy the longing of our hearts. He created us to be His people, and we will not be content unless we are. But then there are people that “know” the Lord, but still feel empty. Those are the people that have a head-knowledge of God. The people who have a heart-knowledge of God will be content – their longing for God will be totally satisfied. The problem is that so many people either don’t know God or only have a head-knowledge of Him. We need to know the Lord personally and then we will be content no matter who else or what else is in or out of our lives. God will bless us with what He knows we need – all else is unnecessary.
There is peace in being content and not coveting what we don’t have. God wants us to experience that peace, and that’s why He gave us this commandment. If we are unsatisfied, we will never be happy. God can and will provide all that we truly need. We need to learn to trust Him.

Today’s Task: Be thankful for what you have. Don’t look elsewhere to satisfy your desires. If you have desires – look to God, but be willing to submit to His will – He knows what’s best for you. Be content with what you have. God has truly blessed us with so much.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You provide for all our needs. I thank You that our heart’s desire can be satisfied in knowing You personally. Help us to know You. Lord help us to be content with everything that You have blessed us with and not to covet the life or things that we don’t have. Life is best lived in You – help us to realize that. I thank You that You give us the peace and strength to live a joyful and contented life in You, no matter what. You are all we need. Lord may we know You as never before. Amen.

Day 109

BE HONEST IN ALL YOU SAY

Today’s Text: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
(Exodus 20:16)

Today’s Thoughts: Some translations of the Bible word this commandment: “Thou shalt not lie.” Whichever way you want to word it, it simply tells us that God wants us to be honest in all we say. Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie. According to 1 Peter 2:21, we are to follow in Christ’s steps. For one, let me say that I’m so glad that my God cannot and will not lie. Imagine if we couldn’t take Him at His word?! Imagine if we couldn’t trust Him fully?! God is totally trustworthy. He wants us to be trustworthy as well. He wants to know that we will do all that we say. And He wants to know that we will speak only the truth. Let us only speak what is pure.

Today’s Testimony: Have you ever heard someone say something negative about someone else and then “justify” it by saying, “I’m being honest.” There is a time to be honest and there is also a time to hold back what you feel like saying knowing that it is downing someone else. Never ever gossip about others – you may be sharing the truth, but is your conversation pleasing God? God loves each person that we want to speak negatively about. The truth is that that person is valuable; therefore, if we want to decrease that person’s value we are not speaking honestly at all. We all have our faults. No one likes to be the subject of a gossip session. The Lord wants us to speak encouraging words to and about each other; not break others down.
There are so many testimonies that I could share of how the Lord intervened for me when I was under attack, but I cannot share them because it would break down those who were attacking. The testimonies that wouldn’t make sense by being too vague if I didn’t share details about those tearing me down, I cannot share. These are testimonies that only the Lord and I can share, at least at this stage. Yes if they were shared they would glorify God, and they are true, but sharing would bring negative thoughts about those who were meaning well, but breaking down. My point – only speak what is truthful if it will have a positive result and no negative one.
I once wrote a test and got a really poor mark for it. I then noticed that one of my wrong answers had been over-looked. I then went to my teacher and told her. My mark was dropped even lower, but I had a clean conscience. It is definitely not always easy to be honest, but God requires it of us and the clear conscience is far better than the guilt.
As Christians we need to live as Christ’s followers and not live a lie. On another note it may not always be easy, but we must never be ashamed of our God no matter what the cost of following Him. God will be with His faithful people and will carry them through mild and great persecution. Even if we are tortured till death Christ will still be with us every step of the way. Satan will try everything to get us to bring shame to our God and to get us to forsake Him. Our reward is in heaven; we must be bold Christians who will not shy away from the truth – that we have found a God that it is worth dying for. Christ died for us – let us be bold in following Him and not lie that we are not His people, no matter what the cost.
One benefit of only being truthful is a clear conscience. Sometimes being truthful will bring peace and joy; other times it will bring suffering and sorrow, but God will give us strength to bear it all. God will bless those who are truthful. Some will receive their rewards now; others will receive them in heaven. God wants us to be honest in all we say. Let’s ask Him for the strength to obey His command.

Today’s Task: Be honest in all you say. Ask the Lord for the strength to do so. Encourage others and build them up; don’t tear them down. Be willing to speak the truth at all costs. Ask the Lord to help you discern when to be open and honest and when to refrain from sharing. Thank the Lord that His promises are true. Our God cannot lie – praise Him.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You are honest with us. I thank You that Your promises are all true. I thank You that You will always do what’s best for us. Please help us to always speak the truth, but only when You would have us do so. Help us to be faithful examples of who You are. Help us to be unashamed Christians. Help us to follow You till death. Lord we love You. Amen.

Day 108

BE HONEST IN ALL YOU DO

Today’s Text: Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15)

Today’s Thoughts: God has blessed us with everything we need. If there is ever anything that we don’t have but do need, God is able to provide – we just need to trust Him. If there are still things we want, but do not need, we need to learn to be content. There is never a reason to steal. Stealing is taking something that belongs to somebody else. We may think it would not affect that person at all, but God wants us to be totally honest in all we do.

Today’s Testimony: Let me start by sharing something that I found very interesting. According to Leviticus 6:1-7, the consequence for theft was that one had to restore what was taken and add another fifth to it. In Exodus 22:4 we read that the consequence for being found with the theft alive (when an animal was taken) was that one had to restore double. In Exodus 22:1 we read that if one stole an animal and killed it or sold it a sheep would have to be restored four times and an ox would have to be restored five times. Do you have any idea why the consequences were different under different circumstances? Think about it… one is probably an object, one a sheep and the other a cow. Could it be due to the mind’s corruption level? If your mind is evil enough to steal a whole cow, which you can easily get caught with, and then kill the cow that doesn’t belong to you – how corrupt is your mind? That means you had the desire to steal; that desire was strong enough to take something as huge as a cow with a high risk of getting caught; and then you still killed that cow that belonged to someone else. God doesn’t want us to sin full stop. But it must sadden Him so much to see how great our desire to sin can be sometimes. When He sees the risk we are willing to take in order to satisfy that desire to sin it must break His heart. He wants us to be blameless and honest. He doesn’t want us to deceive others and take what is theirs. He wants us to trust Him to provide all that we need and He wants us to learn to be content with what we have.
So what have you stolen lately? Have you stolen respect, affection or anything else that was due to someone else? Have you stolen any of those things from the Lord? The Lord wants to be first in your life – have you stolen His position and given it to yourself, someone else or something else? The Lord wants to be your only God – have you stolen that position and distributed it elsewhere? The Lord wants you to reverence His name – have you stolen that respect from Him? The Lord wants to spend one full day with you each week – have you stolen that day for yourself? The Lord wants you to respect His people – have you stolen that respect from others? The Lord wants you to love His people – have you stolen that love from others? The Lord wants you to keep yourself pure – have you stolen that purity? The Lord wants you to be totally honest in all you do – have you stolen that honesty? The Lord wants you to be totally honest in all you say – have you stolen that honesty? The Lord wants you to be content – have you stolen that contentment from yourself? Is there anything that you have taken away from God, yourself or others that rightfully belongs to the one you stole it from? Be honest with yourself. Be honest in all you do.
Quite a while ago (Today’s T’s Day 34) I spoke to you about returning tithe to the Lord. In Malachi 3:8 God says that if we don’t return ten-percent of what He blesses us with we are actually robbing God. That too is quite a thought. I encourage you to not steal God’s money – He only asked for one-tenth.
The greatest benefit of keeping this commandment is a clear conscience. You will also find that you are a lot happier. God knew that keeping this commandment would spare us a lot of guilt and sorrow and that’s why He gave it. Try it. Take God at His word. He blesses those who trust Him.

Today’s Task: Do not steal anything from anyone. Live an honest life in all you do. Never ever allow your mind’s corruption level to increase – ask the Lord to help you clear your mind of all evil thoughts and intensions. Keep your conscience pure. Whatever you do – do not steal your opportunity to spend eternity with the Lord from yourself. Make sure that you are living totally within the Lord’s will.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You care about us so much. Help us to give to You, ourselves and others whatever is due. Help us to never take away what belongs to others. Lord I thank You that You always provide for our needs. Please help us to be content with what we have. Please help us to have pure and honest minds that only do what is pure and honest. I thank You that You are merciful to us. We love You Lord. Amen.

Day 107

KEEP YOURSELF PURE

Today’s Text: Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)

Today’s Thoughts: God wants the best for us. He intended for one man to marry one wife and remain together for the rest of their lives. He wanted them to grow in their love toward each other, but sadly, today we see so many discontent couples. Some stick together in spite of the loss of love and affection, but most people today rather choose to end their union. Even worse, some individuals start looking elsewhere instead of trying to patch up the brokenness. God blesses the union of marriage. Let us remain pure and happy in all our relationships.

Today’s Testimony: God wants us all to be pure. Firstly let me speak to those who are not married. He wants us to reserve ourselves for only one person. This includes emotionally – He desires for us to wait for His leading instead of dating without further intensions. Some say, “But how am I supposed to know if he or she is the one if we don’t date?” To that I’d like to say that for starters: pray about it. If you know you would never marry each other, it is in your best interest not to waste your emotions. Be friends first. The one you spend the rest of your life with must be your best friend. If you are not best friends – don’t date. If you are not best friends then what ever you do – don’t marry. The one you marry should be the one you can be “naked and unashamed” with – this is the term I use to refer to being able to be totally open and honest with each other, even about your bad side, and know that you are both still safe and loved. So now you want to know what this has to do with committing adultery. Let me explain it this way…. Do you believe in having only one spouse? That means that you believe that God has that someone special for you somewhere. So if God has a prince or princess that He is preparing especially for you – could we describe it as you already belong to that person in a sense. Now for you to waste your emotions or more on someone before your spouse is stealing affection due only to him or her. Does that make sense? Imagine you meet that prince or princess and he/she has kept himself/herself totally pure for you and you haven’t done the same. Do you think maybe you’d wish you had the same to offer? Every time you get emotionally bonded to someone you leave a piece of yourself behind when you leave. I encourage you to save yourself for the one God leads to. If you have already not kept yourself fully, from now on, I encourage you to keep yourself pure so you can offer your prince or princess as much as possible. You won’t regret it.
Now a message for those who are married…. In an article in one of my exam papers a while ago I read a statement that basically said that the problems that arise in marriages in not due to conflict, but to a loss of love and affection. Think about it, if you focused on nurturing the love you share or on restoring the love you once had, that love and care for each other will hold you together no matter what conflicts you may face. God wants us to be happy and content in our relationships.
Now a message for both the married and unmarried…. As with the sixth commandment, Christ also took the seventh commandment a few steps further (Matthew 5:27-32). He said that if a man looks at a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery in his heart. That applies to both married and unmarried and the same goes for a woman thinking lustfully about a man. God wants our hearts, minds and bodies to be pure. He gave us guidelines to keep us happy in our relationships. He doesn’t want us to waste any affections due only to our present or future spouses. He knows the greater joy that can only be found in waiting and staying. Christ also said that those who are divorced should not marry again unless they divorced due to unfaithfulness (the innocent one would be free). This is an extremely controversial subject which I am not going to delve into, but you may read for yourself what Christ had to say in Matthew 19:3-9 (see also Deuteronomy 24:1-4).
Finally I have to mention that God must be our First Love. We must love God above all others and then allow Him to allocate our love where He will have it. Never begin a relationship without the Lord’s guidance. If you are in one that you know He is not pleased with – get out. If you are married or in a relationship under God’s guidance – work on nurturing your love for each other. If that love is lost or maybe never even existed – work on restoring your love for each other or on developing a love for each other. God wants us to be happy. The benefits of keeping this commandment are a pure heart, mind and body and true happiness. Aim for purity.

Today’s Task: Love yourself and your present or future prince or princess enough to keep yourself pure. Don’t wander anywhere else even in thought. Your emotions, affections and body belong to only one. If you are married - be content in the relationship you have. If you are single – wait for God’s timing and leading. If you are in a relationship – continue to ask the Lord to make His will known to you and then move forward or get out as He leads. God wants us to be happy within our relationships; He wants the best for us. He has given us guidelines – let’s follow them. Let us give our love and affection totally to God and let Him lead us in our love and affection for those around us. God loves you – love Him back.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that even though we have not always been faithful to You as our God, You have been faithful to us and love us with a love that we don’t deserve. You have not divorced us for our unfaithfulness – You are waiting for us to return. Please help us to return and remain in You. Lord I thank You that You have given us guidelines for happy relationships. Please help us to remain totally pure in thought and action at all times. We want to have the peace of knowing that we are living in Your will. Please lead and guide us in our earthly relationships. But most importantly – please help us in our relationship with You. Lord give us a love for the ones you have led us to, or will lead us to, that only You can give. We want to be pure and happy. I thank You that You will help us. Amen.

Day 106

LOVE MY PEOPLE

Today’s Text: Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13)

Today’s Thoughts: No two people are the same. When someone dies it is a unique life that has gone to the grave. The character of that person is silenced from this world. Life is precious. God gave His life so that we wouldn’t have to die an eternal death. If people were not valuable in His eyes, He wouldn’t have paid our price. God is saddened whenever one of His people dies. He asked us to value life and not kill. He wants us to love His people.

Today’s Testimony: Today we’re not going to discuss the question of whether or not it is ever right to kill; neither are we going to discuss the killing of anything other than people. We’re simply going to dig a little deeper into this commandment and find out more of what the Lord requires of us and then discuss the benefits of keeping it.
Firstly let’s take a look at what Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-26 referring to the sixth commandment. Christ took it a few steps further. He said that we must not only refrain from killing, He said that we must not get angry with others without a cause. We must not call others nasty names either. God doesn’t want us to call others stupid or worthless. Have you ever been called by a nasty name? Did it hurt? Did it “kill” you inside a little? What about when someone has been angry with you for no reason? Did that hurt you too? When last have you maybe killed someone’s reputation by gossiping about them? God loves those He created – He wants us to handle them with care – both their physical bodies and their internal feelings.
Christ also said that He doesn’t want us to have any hatred between us. If there is anything that is not right between two people, Christ wants them to make it right as soon as possible. He wants us to come to Him with a clean conscience knowing that we have nothing against anyone else and that we have not wronged anyone else.
The Lord knows how much guilt comes with hating and hurting others. He knows how much pain it brings. He wants us to be free of guilt and hurt. He wants us to experience the joy of being on good terms with everyone. Loving God’s people and not hating and hurting them has the benefit of a more peaceful, more joyful and more guiltless life. He knows how precious that kind of life is, so He encourages us to have it by keeping this commandment. I don’t want to “kill” anyone – I want to love God’s people and reap the benefits.
Another thing we need to discuss is the slow suicide that many of us commit on a daily basis. How well do you take care of your body? Do you fill it with all sorts of things that will cause it temporary or permanent damage? The food we eat, what we drink, smoking, medication, drugs, over-working ourselves, lack of exercise, what we fill our minds with – all these things have an effect on our bodies and minds. If we are feeding them negatively we will reap a poorer quality of life and shorten our lives. God want us to take care of ourselves so that we can live longer, healthier and happier lives.
This life will not last forever. Are you planning to live eternally? Or are you going to allow yourself to die and have your unique character forever blotted out from existence? The choice is yours – don’t kill yourself. How many people are there that are heading toward selfdestruction because they have never truly met the Lord? Are you going to leave them to die? Or are you going to tell as many people as you can about the great God that we serve. The world is dying in need of a Saviour – and no one seems to care. Do you?

Today’s Task: Life is precious – handle with care. Look after your life and the lives of others. Look after your own internal, external, emotional and Spiritual needs as well as those of others. Life here is short for all of us - let us make the most of it for everyone. God loves you – love His people.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I Thank You that You didn’t leave us to die – You died in our place. I praise You that even now You are with us through this life and haven’t just left us to live this life and die our earthly death alone. You care about us so much – help us to remember. Please help us to never “kill” ourselves or others. You value life and You love all Your people – help us to do the same. I thank You that You want us to live happy, healthy and long lives and have therefore given us simple guidelines – help us to follow them. Lord please help us to save others from an eternal death by telling them about You – the real You. We love You Lord. Amen.

Day 105

RESPECT MY PEOPLE

Today’s Text: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 20:12)

Today’s Thoughts: We need to honour and obey God first above all others, but God wants us to obey and respect our earthly parents too. It’s not always easy to submit to others, but God promises a special blessing to those who honour their parents. God knows that life will be more pleasant if we respect our parents. When Jesus was on earth He honoured His earthly parents – surely we can do the same. True children of God will follow Christ’s example, and they will therefore enjoy a long life – a forever-life – with their Saviour.

Today’s Testimony: God asked us to honour our parents. But think about it… He surely wants us to have a healthy respect for all our fellow man. God has placed certain people in authority over us and we need to give them due respect. Then there are our peers who also deserve our respect. Finally we have those who are less-fortunate than us, younger than us, or those we just feel are on a lower level than us in whatever way that be. The word “deserve” that I used earlier – let me explain it this way: we are all just as human as everyone else right? We are all sinners in need of a Saviour right? None of us really have anything to boast about. People deserve respect – not because of anything they’ve done, but just because they are God’s creation. God loves us all the same. How can we show disrespect and an uncaring attitude toward any one of His loved ones?!
Then there are those who have authority over us but abuse that authority. Do we still need to respect those people? Have you ever read what Jesus did when the people asked if they should pay taxes? He asked them to bring Him a coin and asked them whose image and superscription was on the coin. They answered that it was Caesar’s. He then replied, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” (Mark 12:14-17). God does want us to obey those in authority, and yet only if we are not required to go against what God would have us do. When we feel that our superiors are taking advantage of their authority there’s only one thing to do – take the problem to the Lord. He knows what we are going through. He knows how to help us. God wants us to obey and respect those in authority. They may be in the wrong, but as long as we remain in the right, God will bless us. As the well-known saying goes: “Two wrongs don’t make a right”.
Now I’d like to bring our attention back to respect for everyone. Do you think God is ever happy when we treat others as inferior? We are not alone in this world – we are surrounded by other human beings who are also battling through this life. God created every single one of them. He loves them all. God wants us to respect our fellow man. You’ll be a lot happier if you do. We must never speak badly about anyone else, or treat them poorly no matter how wrong they may be. The benefit of peace and joy always comes with doing what we know the Lord would have us do. We need to patiently await our reward – eternity with the Lord.
You know what I’m thankful for? I’m thankful that this sin-loving world is not the only hope I have. I have a bright future awaiting me – an eternity with a fair and loving God. I want to be there. I might have to submit to ungodly people in this world for a few years – but if I am faithful I can spend all of eternity with my Saviour.

Today’s Task: Honour your father and your mother. Obey and respect them no matter who they are or how they are. Give due respect to all those in authority, knowing that Christ never fought back when He was falsely accused and mistreated by those in authority in the land at that time. Respect all human beings, knowing that God created and loves them all. Show the love and character of Christ to a world that is dying in need of a Saviour. Ask the Lord to help you – He will.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that although You have placed others in authority over us, You are still in control. Help us to honour, respect and obey those that You would have us honour, respect and obey. Help us to respect Your people. Help us to remember that a happy eternity awaits all those who live for You. Help us to honour, respect and obey You always as our greatest authority. Lord please help us to do Your will at all costs. We want to live for You. Please help us. We love You Lord. Amen.

Day 104

SPEND A DAY WITH ME

Today’s Text: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11)

Today’s Thoughts: God created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh. He spent that day with Adam and Eve. God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy. He gave it as a rest-day for us. He definitely didn’t need the rest – He’s God. God knew that we would need a day to pause from the stresses of life and spend that day recharging in Him. God asked us to remember to keep this day holy because He knew how much we would need it. God cares about His children.

Today’s Testimony: So how has your week been so far? Are you anticipating the weekend? What plans do you have? Is your weekend going to be relaxing or just as busy as the rest of the week?
How’s your life been? Do you feel like you’re riding on an endless train ride? Do you live for the weekends and then when they’re over you feel no better than you did before they started? Could there be something better?
I get tired of studying and everyday business – I need a break. I could just settle for a relaxing weekend, but a spiritual recharge is much more effective. I spend a whole day with the Lord every week. A friend of mine refers to it as “you and Him time”. That’s exactly what it is. It’s my time to spend with the Lord; my time to recharge spiritually. It’s a time when I can withdraw from the concerns and cares of life. The Lord has given us one full day “off” every week – a day when we can rest from our labours of the week, a day when we can put our studies down and rest in the Lord. We do not have to worry about work-load piling up or failing the exam – God will take care of all those issues if we do what He’s asked and spend a day with Him. We need rest for a whole day each week and God knew that. We need to recharge spiritually for a whole day and God knew that. We might think we can cope without keeping His Sabbath holy and spending it with Him, but there is a special blessing, refreshing and peace for all those who take the time to obey this commandment.
The Sabbath is not a day to live for ourselves – it is a day dedicated to the Lord. The special Sabbath-rest consists of spending time in God’s Word (Acts 13:27;15:21), spending time in prayer (Acts 16:13), studying and sharing God’s Word (Acts 17:2; 18:4), going to worship God at church (Luke 4:16), spending time with fellow believers (Luke 14:1), doing good (Mark 3:4, 5) – this can be done by helping or visiting those who need it, not doing any work (Ex. 20: 10), not buying and selling (Neh. 10:31;13:15-22) and not doing our own pleasure or speaking our own words – our conversations must be Christ-centred (Is. 58:13,14). We should also prepare our hearts and our homes to keep the Sabbath the day before the Sabbath which was referred to as the preparation day (Mark 15:42). These are a few Biblical guidelines to enjoy a refreshing and peaceful Sabbath. There is a special blessing available to God’s children if they keep His Sabbath. He blessed the seventh day of the week and set it apart as holy – this day belongs to God. He wants to spend every Sabbath day with you. He deserves to be able to spend it with His people. But He also knew how much we would need a day of rest and recharge. God gave us the Sabbath for our benefit. He loves us!

Today’s Task: Remember the seventh-day-Sabbath and keep it holy. Spend a day every week with your Creator. Rest in the Lord and recharge. God gave you the day off – don’t forfeit that rest. He waits for you every Sabbath – do you come? Please don’t disappoint him. He spent 33 years here on this sin-loving planet just for us – surely we can spend one whole day each week with Him. I invite you to spend the Sabbath with the Lord. He is looking forward to it.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You thought of how tired we would become and that we would need a break. I thank You that You knew that we would need a day to recharge in You. I thank You that You didn’t leave us with the option of whether or not to keep it – knowing that we do not know what is truly best for us – but that You commanded us to spend the Sabbath with You. Thank You for caring about us. I thank You that You blessed the seventh day and that we can still obtain that blessing by keeping it holy. I thank You that You, the Creator, want to spend one whole day with us, Your creation – WOW!!! Lord please help us to trust You and give Sabbath-rest a try. We need You! Please help us to spend this Sabbath and every coming one with You. We love You Lord. Amen.