“For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting, His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.” The faithfulness and truth of the Lord endure to all generations. That means our kids, and grandkids are covered. It is our job to prepare the next generation for service to, and trust in the Lord. For the Lord is good and His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting. We can trust the Lord to be the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He’s the missing foundational rock of people’s lives. The stability of this world’s system has been totally compromised. The demonic influences of this life can and will over take you. Most times unawares, to lead you away from your God given purpose in life. Once we find our God given purpose, we begin to live the abundant life promised to us by God. His loving-kindness becomes a support to the assignment He has given us. As we line up with God’s program for our lives we begin to really understand the bigger picture about life and how we individually fit in. God’s love for us leads us to victorious living if we yield to it. His ways are above ours, but we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). As we begin to exercise the mind of Christ in our everyday life, we position ourselves above the evil conniving of this world. We must be as wise as serpents yet harmless as a dove. As long as there is life on the planet, God will sustain us on every level.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Most of us know this verse in the bible. It is indicative of the Lord supplying our needs daily. It is a prayer from David to God about his everyday provisions. The Lord knows what we have need of before we ask. He supplies our need according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). The most important need of mankind is freedom from the control of sin. That need has also been supplied through you receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. Our everyday needs have been supplied as well. The word of God, His bible, is conditional. Everything that pertains to life and godliness is written in God’s word. As we learn of Him and His teachings and precepts, we position ourselves in His automatic supply chain of provision, daily and long term. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We should be aspiring towards taking no thought for tomorrow as far as, what we will eat or drink, having clothes to wear, etc (Matthew 6:25). Maybe you don’t think you know God’s word well enough yet, or you’re still having doubts about trusting He will help you. His mercies are new every morning, and when you simply cry out to Him for help, He loves coming in by way of mercy to give you what you need. Ask for forgiveness first, in case there’s unrealized sin in your life so He can get to you more easily. All you need is faith.

“[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!” The sufferings through trials and crisis of life are not to be compared to the glory God will reveal. Once we are in God’s presence, face to face, we will see Him as He is (Revelation 22:3-4). The light, in comparison to His glory, troubles we experience and go through, must be dealt with. After going through any storm of life there is always a cleansing that follows. The same holds true for natural weather storms. Once the storm clears out, there is a refreshed and cleansed sense of air quality and washing of the earth. We are a part of the earth, we were formed from the dust of the earth. Clay, dirt, or dust are indicative of God’s starting point for the creation of mankind (Genesis 2:7). We must go through the storm to have character built in us from our core. The trouble must shake you from your core to have a true cleansing of self. The pride and arrogance will leave if you get crushed enough in your crisis. The purpose of this process is to make us stronger, to become deeper in character resulting in tried integrity, and not to break us. Our reward in heaven is based on our dealing with the storms of life on earth. Once we’re on the other side where our loved ones have already passed, we will know, the storms and trials of this life were not worthy even if recognition, compared to where we will end up, and that’s with the Lord forever.

“Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages).” To have someone in your corner all the time, no matter what, is not easy to find. Because Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever, we can count on Him being there for us 24/7. To not be affected by storms of life, different temptations, or crises, and not be swade by it to leave our original position of purpose and destiny before the trouble hit, is being more like Jesus. We can get to the point where we’ve learned who we are in Christ and know our authority in Him, and how to wield the word of God in every situation and circumstance of our lives. Once you’ve come to this maturity in Christ, you can be more consistent with being the same today, tomorrow and forever. Getting over what people think is very important to victorious living. People can make us or break us if we let them. Surround yourself with people of faith, conviction, and purpose. They will already have the consistency, and steadfastness in their personality. The more time we spend with the Lord, the easier it will be in staying steady during troubled times. We can’t go back into our past but we can change our future.

Sacrificial Love

“But love your enemies and be kind and do good [doing favors so that someone derives benefit from them] and lend, expecting and hoping for nothing in return but considering nothing as lost and despairing of no one; and then your recompense (your reward) will be great (rich, strong, intense, and abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind and charitable and good to the ungrateful and the selfish and wicked.” Our instructions from the Lord are to love our enemies and be kind and do good. Can you do that without God’s help, maybe not. This doesn’t mean being their best friend or hanging around them all the time. Acts of love with agape love for our motivation should eventually be of general M O dealing with everyone the same way. That makes things easier to do if you don’t like them. You can love someone without liking them. Love is an action word, a word of sacrifice under agape rules. It only knows how to give out, and at the same time it knows not to become a door mat for people to walk all over. There is the wisdom of love embedded in agape love traits. Agape love is the love of God, the way He loves without restraint no matter the offense done to Him. You can love your enemies from a distance if necessary, but the love of God doesn’t respond to offenses.

“For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.” Today’s text is for those who are lazy or give up easily. It is our persistence that wins the victory on every side. If we never ask, we’d never know or understand for ourselves. If we never seek out things we’d never enjoy the rewards of discovery, nor would we be in line to receive from the Lord (Matthew 6:33). If we’d never knock, all doors would be closed to us. Just like a traffic light that has a sensor, if you pull up to a red light but stop too far back, you’d never trigger the sensor to change the light green so you can be on your way. Go all the way up to the door of your challenges and knock so God can open it and you can be on your way to the next one (learn the process and you won’t feel the battle as much). We cannot sit home and believe God for everything without putting work into it. Just like your body is dead without the spirit, so is your faith dead without corresponding actions (James 2:26). For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds, and everyone who Knocks the door will be opened. This is the Lord’s promise to you. We must do our part, or nothing will change from where you are now.

“Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.” What Jesus is saying here is, there aren’t enough of God’s people handling His business down here on earth. Many people are ready to hear another way of living in this demonically influenced world. Most don’t have a clue as to there even being an answer to the trouble in this world. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Until a person decides to follow Christ, they along with everyone else, will be unknowingly trapped in this world’s system of life, and bound by its rules and regulations. We can live above the evil in this world as Jesus prayed to the Father God long ago (John 17:15 BRG). We should be praying that the Lord would send the laborers into the world to reap the harvest, and being prepared and always ready to go out ourselves with the message of the gospel. You may think you don’t have the where with all to be God’s messenger but if you are saved, and belong to Christ, start there tell others how you became a christian. That’s testimony and spreading the gospel. As we become more knowledgeable of God’s word, the Lord can use us in more diverse ways to bring His family home. People are hungry for the one true God, but they just don’t know it. Go get’em.

“For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another.” We are free in the Lord, and have been redeemed from the curse of the law. We are genuinely free from the control of sin. The sin nature is no longer a dominant force in our lives. We are living in the dispensation of Grace. There’s no eye for an eye, or tooth for tooth immediate retribution from the hand of justice. But we will all go before the judgment of God in the end. Meanwhile there is a liberty we have which should not be an invite to sin. To serve one another humbly in love is our portion as per the Lord. The grace of God should not be frustrated in you. Our insides let us know when something’s wrong and that, we should always heed. Our flesh, our bodies, still have the sin nature in them. The appetites of our flesh have not lost its strength. We are to keep our bodies under control and make them line up to the teachings and precepts of God. Renewing your mind, starting a new way of thinking based on the word of God. That’s the only way to begin keeping our bodies under control. Be free, but don’t be uninformed about your liberty in Christ, there are limits.

“I will [earnestly] recall the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will [earnestly] remember the wonders [You performed for our fathers] of old. I will meditate also upon all Your works and consider all Your [mighty] deeds.” David reflects on the deeds of the Lord. Sometimes we need to slow down and smell the roses. Our busyness of life can take away the clear sight of appreciation. When the Lord has been with you through thick and thin, you develop a fellowship of trust between you. We look back and realize all the things He has delivered us from or brought us through successfully. There will always be those secret things God does to help us through life that we’re not even aware of, it was Him behind the scenes all the time. As we give God the glory and honor, and straight up appreciation, and gratitude for His unseen involvement, He becomes even bigger in our lives. The more we talk about something or someone, the more present in our life they become. Our words bring reality over time. We have what we say according to the law of reciprocity and karma. Keep talking about the goodness of God and His faithfulness to you, and you will cause Him to draw closer to you. David communed with God regularly for everything. Every battle he faced was won because he acknowledged God in all his ways, and God directed David’s path unto victory. Our path of victory has already been laid out, but God has the flashlight, so leave the dark side now and live for God.

“Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, Knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [and not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [real] reward. [The One Whom] you are actually serving [is] the Lord Christ (the Messiah).” It becomes easier to do our day to day tasks whatever it may be, going to work, taking care of the home and family, an assignment from whoever and for whatever, it should be done as unto the Lord, for Him not man. With this mindset, we stay focused about who we are in Christ Jesus. Our service is always for the Lord no matter what we are called to do in life. With all your heart serve as unto the Lord in everything, this will instill and help develop integrity and character. It starts in your mind, your way of thinking should conform to the Lord’s, by the renewing of your mind with the washing of God’s word. The person we deal with at work or in school, or actually anyone anywhere should be looked at as either an opportunity to grow in Christ because they are testing your love walk, or as the vehicle to getting your heart positioned to receive the inheritance which far out weighs the troubles of this life. Give it your all, it’s in you to succeed.