The Word For You Today
Your Daily Encouragement for May 2017
Peace Comes by Trusting in Christ
May 31, 2017 • Bob Gass
Charles Stanley tells of asking his waitress, “If you could ask God for anything, what would that be?” Instantly she answered, “I want to feel at peace.” Through tears, she spoke of painful losses that had turned her life into intense emotional turmoil. Many people, like this young woman, want inner peace without a relationship with Jesus, the Prince of Peace. They seek it in ways that don’t work—physical fitness, improving their appearance, financial security, fame, social status, or human relationships. Some seek it in alcohol and drugs. But none of these things can provide peace of heart and mind; only a relationship with Jesus can do that. Before we meet Jesus, we are slaves to sin, living in opposition to God (Romans 6:16 NIV). And our sins separate us from God, so we live with guilt, stress, and shame. But He has provided a remedy. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV), removing our sin, guilt, and shame, and ending our separation from God. When we trust in Christ as our Saviour, He promises, “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 NIV). If you have placed your trust in Christ, read this: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand” (Philippians 4:6-7 TLB).
Shalom
May 30, 2017 • Bob Gass
The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. And apart from God, it will always remain a pipe dream, a philosophical fantasy, or a tantalizing fish that is just beyond your bait and hook. Marriages go awry and fall apart because we look to an imperfect mate to give us the perfect peace we’re searching for and we discover they can’t. The story is told of a woman at a cocktail party who was trying her best to look happy. Noticing the gargantuan sparkling rock on her finger, a guest exclaimed, “Wow! What a beautiful stone!” She replied, “Thank you. It’s the Callahan diamond.” The onlooker said, “I wish I had one!” The woman replied, “No, you don’t.” “Why not?” he asked. “Because it comes with the Callahan curse,” she replied. “The Callahan curse—what’s that?” asked the questioner. She sighed and said, “Mr. Callahan!” Perfect peace can only come from a perfect peace-giver, and the only one who meets that qualification is God. Peace isn’t the absence of problems; it’s the presence of God in the midst of your problems. What’s more, nobody ever finds peace by looking for it. Peace isn’t something you find; it finds you when you surrender your life to the One who said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Note the words “My Presence.” Only God’s presence can bring peace. The assurance of God’s love, God’s help, and God’s presence is what takes the stress out of living. Are you longing for peace today? When you surrender your life to Christ, you’ll “experience…peace…far more wonderful than the human mind can understand” (Philippians 4:7 TLB).
Have You Prayed About It?
May 29, 2017 • Bob Gass
Can you imagine walking into a restaurant and asking if your order is ready? “When did you call it in?” the server asks. “Oh, I didn’t,” you reply. “I just thought perhaps you might have something with my name on it.” That’s as ridiculous as expecting God to answer prayer requests you haven’t made—or haven’t made in faith. The Bible says, “The reason you don’t have what you want is…you don’t ask God” (James 4:2 TLB). Will God give you everything you ask for? No. “Even when you do ask you don’t get it because…you want only what will give you pleasure” (v. 3 TLB). Your request must be in harmony with God’s will. “If we ask anything…according to His will…He…hears” (1 John 5:14 AMPC). Jeremiah said, “The Lord is good to those who wait…expectantly for Him” (Lamentations 3:25 AMPC). Expectant prayer demonstrates confidence in God’s goodness. So instead of fretting or talking about it to everybody but God or taking matters into your own hands, say, “Lord, I’m going to trust You with this regardless of the outcome,” and He will honour your faith. Paul writes, “Pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks.” Do you need a job? Help overcoming a problem? The salvation of a loved one? A deeper spiritual walk? Physical or emotional healing? Guidance? Jesus said, “It gives your Father great happiness to give you the [benefits of His] Kingdom” (Luke 12:32 NLT). God wants to be good to you, so tell Him the “desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NKJV). Then thank Him and believe the answer will come—in His time!
You Can Change
May 28, 2017 • Bob Gass
Mindsets are patterns whereby your mind automatically operates a certain way. That means you can set yourself up for misery by reacting to the same people and circumstances in the same way and expecting different results. Maybe you are saying, “After all these years I thought he’d change…No matter how hard I try, my family doesn’t appreciate me…How come I’m the only one who makes an effort to stay in touch?” It’s easy to blame your problems on others—“Look what he’s doing. Look how long I’ve waited. Why doesn’t she call?” We think the answer lies in getting the other person to do what we want, but that kind of thinking is self-defeating; it gives control to others. Your happiness isn’t determined by other people, even though you’ve convinced yourself it is. An experienced counsellor writes, “If you don’t like the same results…try pushing a different button. Look at your relationships. Is there a situation that’s going downhill despite your best efforts? Are you waiting for something to change instead of doing something different? Stop pushing the same button and ask God for clarity to see the situation honestly and to act with wisdom and responsibility.” You’re not a victim of circumstances; you don’t have to stay stuck or keep going round in circles. Paul says, “Put off…your former conduct…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” The word for you today is: “You can change!”
Trust Requires Truth
May 27, 2017 • Bob Gass
Deception in a relationship destroys trust and respect. One lie or one act of betrayal can cause a wound that takes years to heal, and in some cases is never healed at all. The person who hides something is basically selfish, protecting their own interests. They care little about the feelings of the other person. There’s nothing shallower than empty words and lying clichés that have no real meaning. There are men who coerce women into a sexual relationship by claiming they love them. Deception at this level is emotional rape! It’s a terrible feeling to be used by someone. The deceiver may continually promise that he will leave his wife, and the woman holds on to hope. But it never seems to come true. He makes every kind of excuse possible for taking advantage of her. Because of her vulnerability, she follows blindly along until the relationship has gone so far that she is trapped. As a sinner, you may have been excused for acting this way, but not as a redeemed child of God. “Don’t lie to each other.” When someone has given you their trust, they have given you a priceless gift; don’t abuse it. And if your trust has been betrayed, confront it head-on. Though you may love the person, back off until they show clear signs of repentance and a willingness to make amends. And don’t give up hope. Sometimes good people make bad choices. If you work at it and seek God’s help, it’s possible to restore the trust you’ve lost and maybe even end up with a better relationship.
Speak Well of Them
May 26, 2017 • Bob Gass
When General Robert E. Lee was asked by Confederate President Jefferson Davis to give his opinion about a certain officer, he gave a glowing report. One of the officers in attendance was amazed at his words and said to Lee, “General, do you know that the man of whom you speak so highly to the president is one of your bitterest enemies and never misses an opportunity to criticize you?” Lee said, “Yes, but the president asked my opinion of him. He didn’t ask for his opinion of me.” It takes character, compassion, and courage to speak well of a critic. But when you do, three good things happen: (1) You increase your own value. You show you’re able to rise above criticism by bestowing praise on another. (2) You defuse your enemy’s criticism of you. When people hear your praise of a critic and their disdain for you, their respect for you rises and they see you in a different light. (3) People see you as fair-minded and generous. It takes very little effort to respond in kind to a critic, but it takes Christlike character to turn the other cheek and bless them. Jesus said, “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also…And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise” (vv. 27-31 NKJV). You say, “That’s a high standard.” It’s the one Jesus set, practiced throughout His life, and is calling you to live by today.
Go By the Book
May 25, 2017 • Bob Gass
How long should you keep praying and believing God for the answer? Until He tells you differently. In other words, go by the book! “Do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (vv. 35-36 NKJV). Many of God’s promises have timelines, and you need long-distance faith to receive them. The word endurance pictures a runner determined to reach the finish line. You say, “But I’m not sure what God’s will is.” His will is revealed in His Word, and that’s what you must believe and speak over your situation. To say otherwise is to contradict God. Abraham stood on God’s promise that he would be the father of many nations when there wasn’t a shred of evidence to prove it. For 20 years, he looked up into the night sky believing, “Lord, You said my children would be as numerous as the stars. I don’t know how You’re going to do it for I’m 100 years old and my wife, Sarah, is 90. But I’m going to believe You anyway.” When you pray that way, you risk looking foolish in the eyes of others. But receiving the miraculous often involves looking ridiculous, like Jesus telling the disciples to fill wine pots with water or rubbing clay in a blind man’s eyes. But the guests at the wedding in Cana drank the finest wine, and the blind man went home seeing. Why? Because they obeyed the word Jesus gave them. So the word for you today is: “Go by the book.”
God Will Make It Up to You
May 24, 2017 • Bob Gass
Kristine Steakley writes, “Loss can make us feel forsaken and utterly destroyed…For many, divorce meant leaving the house we grew up in, our neighbourhood, our friends, our school…even our church because we were ashamed and heard condemnation from those who should have been concerned for our souls. To use Joel’s metaphor, locusts ate our family; more locusts ate our friendships…and still more ate our church…But God promised, ‘Never again will my people be shamed’ (v. 26). I can’t tell you what restoration will look like…or when it’ll happen. Some of us will see relationships with parents and siblings mended…others will build great marriages and loving families…and some may have to wait for heaven where all wrongs will be righted, all wounds healed, all tears wiped away.” One Bible teacher says, “Resist the temptation to despair or delve into disappointment. You may feel like you’ve forfeited years, opportunities, finances, and a significant return on investment of self. But hear the fantastic promise of redemption: ‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.’ No one on earth can make anything up to you. No one can pay. No one can set things right or make things fair. Pressure and manipulation won’t bring justice. So let it go and let God fill your life with new blessings. If you’re full of resentment and wrath, He can’t find space for His gifts. God will make it up to you if you keep an expectant attitude of faith and thank Him that His promises are yours.”
Flattery Will Get You Nowhere
May 23, 2017 • Bob Gass
When Stephen Spielberg was a skinny teenager, he became the target of a bully. Fed up with the constant harassment that he later described as “hell on earth,” he decided to flatter the bully by telling him he looked like John Wayne and should consider playing the hero in an eight-millimetre movie about World War II he was thinking of making. Once Spielberg outfitted him and cast him as a heroic squad leader, the bully became putty in his hands. However, unlike Spielberg’s bully, emotionally healthy people only appreciate sincere praise they have earned. And they can detect a compliment given with an ulterior motive or to gain their favour. The paradox is that most people tend to look with disfavour on someone who compliments them for no apparent reason. Elihu—the patriarch Job’s friend—said, “I will show partiality to no one, nor will I flatter any man; for if I were skilled in flattery, my Maker would soon take me away” (vv. 21-22 NIV). And the Psalmist tells us, “The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips” (Psalm 12:3). So here’s the question: is flattery worth being cut off from the blessing of God? When you engage in or become susceptible to flattery, it’s clear evidence of your lack of faith in God’s ability to give you favour with other people. Favour is a fringe benefit of being in right standing with Him. “Surely…Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12 NIV).
The Wonder of Grace
May 22, 2017 • Bob Gass
Some of us live as if God has a big performance chart with our name on it and at the end of each day, He grades us to determine if He will love us more or less or at all. You say, “If I were God, some days I wouldn’t love me.” Then be glad you’re not God, and we’ll all be twice as glad—or we’d all be sunk! God does not save us by grace and then base how He feels about us on our spiritual performance. The Bible says, “God…out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (vv. 4-5 NRS). The wonder of grace is that you are chosen, you are wanted, and God desires you for His family. By grace you have been made alive to God. You have strength to endure, power to serve, a reason to hope, and death has no hold over you. God took your indebtedness and guilt and nailed it to the cross. He erased the bill; He destroyed the IOU and set you free. Unburdened. Cleansed. Today you can live with a heart as light as a feather—no matter what you did yesterday. The truth is that no one in heaven will ever boast, “Look what Jesus and I did.” No, when Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), God wrote “Paid in full” over every sin you would commit—all the way from the cradle to the grave. This is the wonder of grace.
Unmoved By Any Circumstance
May 21, 2017 • Bob Gass
By age 29, author Carson McCullers had suffered three strokes. Then while she was still crippled and partially paralyzed, her husband committed suicide. Despite her problems, she forced herself to write every day and, as a result, became a distinguished novelist. The English poet John Milton was blind. World-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman had polio. Former Miss America Heather Whitestone is deaf. Stephen Hawking, physicist and lecturer at Cambridge University, has Lou Gehrig’s disease. No wonder Thomas Edison said if we did all the things we were capable of doing, we’d astound ourselves! So, what’s the secret to enduring and enjoying life? It’s this: “Those who trust in the Lord are…unmoved by any [did you get that—any] circumstance.” Despite how you feel today, your problems aren’t insurmountable. The Bible says, “God can do what men can’t” (Luke 18:27 TLB). And what’s more, He listens to “the prayers of the destitute…he is never too busy” (Psalm 102:17 TLB). Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” The same God who guided Abraham when he didn’t have a clue where he was going, gave Sarah a child in her old age, rolled back the Red Sea, and raised Jesus from the dead is alive and working in your life. So “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). Remember, His chariots of deliverance “are…thousands and thousands of thousands” (Psalm 68:17 NIV). Today take heart! “The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you” (Deuteronomy 33:27 NLT).
Be An Encourager
May 20, 2017 • Bob Gass
When Enrico took his first voice lesson at ten, the teacher said, “You haven’t any voice at all.” But Enrico’s mother heard greatness in her son’s voice. She believed in his talent. And even though they were very poor, she put her arms around him and said, “My boy, I’m going to make every sacrifice to pay for your voice lessons.” Her confidence in him and her constant encouragement paid off, because he became one of the most beloved and widely acclaimed singers of all time. His name? Enrico Caruso. When the world tries to tear us down, we need people who build us up, people who recognize our talent and help us make the most of it. Consider these “commands for parents” written from a child’s point of view: (1) My hands are small; please don’t expect perfection whenever I make a bed, draw a picture, or throw a ball. (2) My legs are short; slow down so that I can keep up with you. (3) My eyes have not seen the world as yours have; let me explore it safely, and don’t restrict me unnecessarily. (4) Housework will always be there; I’m only little for a short time. Take time to explain things to me about this wonderful world and do so willingly. (5) My feelings are tender; don’t nag me all day long. Treat me as you would like to be treated. (6) I am a special gift from God; treasure me as God intended you to—holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to live by, and disciplining me in a loving manner. Today, be an encourager!
You Must Go Through the Fire
May 19, 2017 • Bob Gass
Undercover Boss is a popular TV show where company owners disguise themselves as regular staff members and work with everybody else. Some of the discoveries they make are real eye openers—leading to changes that make the company more efficient, profitable, and enjoyable for everybody to work in. To “understand” people, you have to “stand” in their shoes. Ezekiel said, “Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib…and I sat where they sat, and…the word of the Lord came to me” (vv. 15-16 NKJV). In order to heal the pain, you must be able to feel the pain. The Bible says Jesus can be “touched with the feelings of our infirmities,” because He walked in our shoes (see Hebrews 4:15). He experienced family conflict, rejection, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger. He walked the path you’re on, and He knows how you feel; that’s why you can turn to Him when you’re in trouble and get the help you need. “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18 NKJV). When you offer advice, people want to know if you're speaking out of experience or just head knowledge. So God will permit you to go through experiences you don’t enjoy or understand to equip you and make you effective in ministering to others. Job said, “When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). If you’re in the refiner’s fire today, it’s because God has something He plans to do through you and for you.
Be Proactive
May 18, 2017 • Bob Gass
When it comes to building good relationships, you must be proactive. This calls for knowing who you are as a person and what you want from the relationship. While it seems counterintuitive to focus on who you are individually versus who the two of you are as a couple, the whole is only as strong as the parts. Great relationships are based on each party being truthful and up front about their real needs, desires, feelings, and values. While as a couple you must make decisions together, decisions about who you are as a person and what you want your life to be are yours alone to make. Allowing someone else to make those decisions for you is a mistake. When you let someone else decide who you are and what you want, you give away the power that God gave you. Understand this: (1) Doing nothing is not making a decision. (2) Sitting back and pretending not to see a situation for what it is, is not a decision. (3) Procrastinating about what to do until something happens where you have no choice but to go one way or the other is not a decision. It’s passivity, and in the end it won’t serve you well. Sometimes you have to accept unchangeable circumstances, but you always have the choice to decide what you want to be within them. This principle is taught clearly by what God told His people on the threshold of the Promised Land: “How long will you neglect to go in and possess the land which the Lord…has given you?” So, be proactive.
Anger
May 17, 2017 • Bob Gass
Max Lucado writes, “It begins as a drop of water…Someone gets your parking place, pulls in front of you on the freeway, a waitress is slow and you’re in a hurry, the toast burns…Get enough of these seemingly innocent drops of anger and you’ve got a bucket full of rage…We trust no one…bare our teeth at anyone who gets near… become walking time bombs that, given the right amount of tension and fear, could explode… We can’t deny…anger exists. How do we harness it? Jesus said about the mob that killed him, ‘Father, forgive them…they do not know what they are doing’ (Luke 23:34)…He saw this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crowd not as murderers, but as victims…He saw in their faces not hatred, but confusion…He regarded them not as a militant mob but ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ (Mark 6:34 NIV). ‘They don’t know what they are doing’…think about it…they hadn’t the faintest idea…They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God. They didn’t know what they were doing, and for the most part neither do we. Much as we hate to admit it, we’re shepherd-less sheep….born out of one eternity and frighteningly close to another…We can’t answer our own questions about love and hurt…can’t solve the riddle of aging…don’t know how to heal our own bodies or get along with our mates…My point is: uncontrolled anger won’t better our world…sympathetic understanding will. Once we begin to operate not from a posture of anger but of compassion…we realize the lights are out…a lot of people are stumbling in the darkness…So we light candles.”