The Word For Today

Pride promotes self-reliance. It tells us we can indeed do things on our own. In our attempt to walk in self-confidence, we slam the door in God's face and shut out the work of the Holy Spirit, our Helper. Paul was educated, sophisticated and consecrated, yet he humbly declared, 'I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God's church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favour on me - and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace' (1 Corinthians 15:9-10 NLT).

No matter how much ability you possess, without God, it will only take you so far. Jesus said, 'I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing' (John 15:5 NIV).

The source of our confidence should be God and not ourselves. When the plans of those walking in God-confidence go awry, they are wise enough to subordinate their desires to the sovereign will of God. They quickly remind themselves, 'Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails' (Proverbs 19:21 NIV). They are convinced that God has a higher purpose for their lives, and that no man can thwart it. So practise God-confidence rather than self-confidence.

In 1993, a group called AD2000 United Prayer Track came up with an innovative idea. To help realise their goal of 'a church for every people and the gospel for every person by AD2000', they established a programme called 'Praying through the Window'. The 'window' referred to an area on the globe from ten degrees to forty degrees north of the Equator, from North Africa and southern Spain eastward to Japan and the northern Philippines. Almost three billion people live in this area, where the most prominent religions are Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism. For the entire month of October 1993, and again in 1995, millions of Christians prayed for the people in the '10/40 window'. The goal was that new churches be established, and new missionaries sent to these areas. In 1993 alone, the number of churches in Albania grew from 50 to more than 300, and the number of Christian fellowship groups formed in India rose from an average of three to seventeen each day.

If your world consists only of your loved ones, your job and your church, ask God to open your eyes to the world beyond your world. Begin praying that he will move in those nations. 'Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession' (Psalm 2:8 NKJV).

You ask, 'Can we realistically believe that the world will turn to Jesus?' Read this: 'All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you' (Psalm 22:27 NKJV).

Jesus was called 'Rabbi' eleven times in the Gospels. But he wasn't like any other rabbi. Rabbis quoted others, but Jesus said, 'Truly, I say to you...' In the gospel of John, he said it twice: 'Truly, truly, I say to you...' The reason Jesus wasn't like any other rabbi was because he was God manifested in the flesh. And Paul says, 'Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' (Colossians 2:2-3 NKJV).

The early church fathers had a favourite saying: 'The Gospels are a river in which a gnat can swim, and an elephant can drown.' The Gospels - the record of Jesus' life and teaching - have impacted the world so much that they have been translated into about 1,800 languages. Another highly-translated book, Don Quixote, has been translated into about 140 languages. To this day, the Bible remains the bestselling book of all time.

In the academic world, scholars keep score of how often their articles are cited by other scholars. By this year's score, Jesus' intellectual impact is unprecedented. Why is this? Because when everything else fails, God's word works. Jesus explained it this way: 'It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life' (John 6:63 NKJV). If you are a teacher, you know that the number-one question in any class is: 'Will this be on the final exam?' If you want to pass your final exams and hear, 'Well done!' from the teacher, get into God's word each day and get God's word into you.

Muscle memory isn't stored in your muscles. It's a procedural memory stored in your brain any time you repeat a muscle movement. Whether it's putting a golf ball or playing a violin, the muscle memory becomes stronger the more it's repeated. Have you heard about the 10,000-hour rule? Psychologists say that's the amount of time it takes to become an expert at anything. That's encouraging because it means anybody can do it, but it's discouraging because it means there are no shortcuts, no matter how smart or gifted you are.

Just like learning a foreign language, developing a spiritual mindset is a learning curve. Can you imagine being frustrated on the first day of a foreign language class because you aren't fluent? That's how we can feel when we aren't fluent in prayer, or strong in faith, or disciplined in our habits. Psalm 84:7 (NIV) says we 'go from strength to strength'. You'll be working on this for the rest of your life, one day at a time. You'll keep benchmarking. Your faith ceiling becomes your faith floor.

Make no mistake about it - spiritual disciplines accrue compound interest. And they pay off in terms of joy, fulfilment and power with God. 'Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace' (Romans 8:5-6 NIV).

Before conquering Jericho, God told Joshua to 'circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time' (Joshua 5:2 NKJV). Six hundred years earlier, God had inaugurated the practice of male circumcision. He told Abraham that it would be 'a sign of the covenant between me and you' (Genesis 17:11 NKJV). What was the message? Remember whose you are!

In a sense, all believers are 'circumcised'. Paul wrote, 'Christ has also taken away your selfish desires, just as circumcision removes flesh from the body' (Colossians 2:11 CEV). That means you are now God's child (John 1:12); Jesus' friend (John 15:15); a member of Christ's body (1 Corinthians 12:27); a saint (Ephesians 1:1); redeemed and forgiven of all your sins (Colossians 1:14); complete in Christ, lacking in nothing (Colossians 2:10); free from condemnation (Romans 8:1-2); God's co-worker (2 Corinthians 6:1); seated with Jesus in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6); God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10); a citizen of Heaven (Philippians 3:20); adopted into God's family (Ephesians 1:5); born of God, and the evil one cannot touch you (1 John 5:18).

Paul wrote: 'Consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God' (Romans 6:11 NLT). So when the devil draws near, stand up to him and say: 'What are you doing here? I am dead to you!' When he dredges up past mistakes, tell him who you are 'in Christ' (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV). He has no recourse to this truth. He knows who you are. He just hopes you don't or that you'll forget.

Jericho was the strongest city in the Promised Land. Its towering walls looked impregnable - intimidating to any would-be invader. So God told his people to remember and record what he'd done for them in the past. In essence he told them, 'Before you look forward to Jericho, look backward to Jordan and what God accomplished for you there.' He said, 'Take...twelve men...one man from every tribe, and command them, saying, "Take for yourselves twelve stones...out of the midst of the Jordan...And those twelve stones...Joshua set up in Gilgal [as a memorial to the parting of its waters]"' (Joshua 4:2-3, 20 NKJV).

One of your best weapons against Satan's attacks is a good memory. Don't forget God's blessings! The psalmist says: 'He is the one who forgives all your sins...all your diseases, the one who rescues your life from the pit, the one who crowns you with mercy and compassion, the one who fills your life with blessings' (Psalm 103:3-6 GWT).

Create a trophy room in your heart. Each time you experience a victory, place a memory on the shelf. Before you face a challenge, take a quick tour of God's accomplishments on your behalf. Look at all the blessings he has given, and the prayers he's answered. 'This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness' (Lamentations 3:21-23 NKJV).