Your Heroic Spiritual Ancestors

Hebrews 11:39

These were all commended for their faith,
yet none of them received what had been promised…

Who is your heroic spiritual ancestor who first brought you the Bible?

When the Bible comes into a culture, it is a threat, and is often opposed. It takes men and women to risk all to bring it to us.

It will be nice if we can have a clear idea of who first brought the Bible into our country.

Let us thank God for our spiritual ancestors who brought His Word to our land.

Oh God, use me also to bring Your Word to needy people.

Wrestle In Prayer

Colossians 4:12-13

Epaphras, who is one of you
and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings.
He is always wrestling in prayer for you,
that you may stand firm in all the will of God,
mature and fully assured.
I vouch for him that he is working hard for you
and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Epaphras wrestled in prayer. He prayed as a warrior. God uses this prayer to open doors.

What does praying as a warrior entail?

• Discovering God's will. When we make plans, we must pray according to God’s will. The Spirit knows what Satan is intending. God will reveal it to us and warn us if there is any danger.

• Concentrated prayer. We must pray in a concentrated way, and for a long time. There was much sin in our lives. We must pray long and often in order to break down the barriers between God and us.

• Prayer of sacrifice. Whatever we do each day, let us begin with prayer. By sacrificing ourselves and applying ourselves to praying as a warrior, God will open the hearts of people and break through their thinking. This helps us to conquer evil with good. This helps us to combat the evil in our society.

Epaphras remained faithful to Jesus Christ until the end.

He was a prayer warrior.

Let us pray as a warrior.

Thank You, Lord,
for the example of Epaphras
in the hard work of wrestling in prayer.

The Gift Of The Holy Spirit

Luke 11:13

If you then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

God, through the Holy Spirit, raise up and equip leaders for His church.

We must be prepared to accept the leadership of the Spirit and of those through whom God chooses to minister to our church.

As Christians, we are given the Holy Spirit.

We can pray directly to the Lord through the Holy Spirit.

We can understand a passage of Scripture under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

We can survive victoriously in whatever circumstances by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We can also let the Holy Spirit use us to touch the lives of others and minister to their needs.

There is no authority on earth that can destroy our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Let us thank God for the gift of His Holy Spirit.

Oh Lord,
use me today through Your Spirit
to touch the lives of others and minister to their needs.

God Has Not Forgotten His Children

Psalm 13:1-2
How long, LORD?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

This was the cry of David when God punished him.

He prayed for God’s forgiveness. He prayed that God might restore him.

And God did forgive him and restore him.

God has not forgotten His children.

When we pray earnestly, God will answer us.

Where we love and follow the Lord Jesus, there is always hope!

God does not forget His children!

He will forgive us and restore us!

The Power of God's Word

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword,
it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Jesus is our best example of dependence on the written Word of God. He quoted scripture repeatedly.

When Satan tempted Him in the wilderness, He quoted scripture in answer to each of Satan’s demands (Matthew 4:1-11).

Jesus based His teaching on the Old Testament Scriptures and referred to them frequently for historical examples. It can be said that Jesus authenticated almost every book in the Old Testament by quoting from it at least once as divine authority!

It is especially interesting to note how Jesus used the scriptures after His death and resurrection. While walking with some followers on the road to Emmaus, He began “with Moses and all the Prophets” explaining “…to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).

The central place scripture held for the early church is evident throughout the book of Acts. Scripture was used to explain the events of Pentecost (Acts 2:16-21), to identify Jesus as the Messiah (2:25-28), to determine their reaction to persecution (4:23-26), to state the church’s position in the face of persecution (7:1-53), to preach Christ (8:29-35), and to determine how to accept Gentile believers (15:13-21).

There are literally hundreds of examples of New Testament Christians and the writers of the epistles using the Old Testament Scriptures to prove their positions.

In fact, it is so basic to sound biblical teaching that it is still common in evangelical circles today.

The Bible is our true source of divine knowledge!

Let us treasure God’s powerful and living Word today.

Thank You Lord for the power of Your Word!