Thoughts of Our Fathers (TOF)

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption . . .
—Ephesians 4:30

I take a verse such as Ephesians 4:30 very seriously—I certainly do not want to “grieve the Holy Spirit” and I know you don’t either. But how do we avoid doing it?

Reading the verses surrounding verse 30 makes it clear that one thing that grieves the Holy Spirit is when people mistreat one another. Consider that:
In verse 29 we are encouraged to edify others with the words or our mouth.
Verse 31 exhorts us not to be bitter, angry, or contentious and to beware of slander, spite, and ill will.
In verse 32 we are told to be kind to one another, forgiving readily and freely.

When we realize it grieves the Holy Spirit when we are sharp or hateful with someone, or when we stay angry with someone, we will look to change.

I encourage you to ask God to help you see others the way He sees them. Ask Him to give you the kindness and patience you need to deal gently and lovingly with the people in your life, especially those who are unkind or difficult to be around. God will be pleased when He sees you have a heart attitude that wants to love and bless others.

Memorise: 

Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the lord. Jeremiah 1:8
Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10 (KJV)

4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.




Bible in one year: Exodus 6:14-8:32, Psalms 110-111
MESSAGE
There are different ways by which God can send His word to His people. The Word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah telling him to fear not the faces of the people He was sending him to because the message He had given him would not be a pleasant message for them. Same was the account of Jonah when he was given a message to the people of Nineveh. Open Heaven Tuesday 29 November 2016:- Fearless Messenger? The message of God to His children is always in various forms. It contains doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness (

(2nd Timothy 3:16). It is always difficult for man to be confronted with his errors and wicked ways, and this was the assignment that God gave Prophet Jeremiah. How I wish there are many prophet Jeremiahs in our land, there would be more revival in our land. Prophets like Jeremiah who will call a spade a spade and not water down the Word of God because of the faces of the people. You cannot entangle yourself with the affairs of this world and still deliver the message of God without bias. There are many men of God who are afraid of the people God is sending them to. The God we serve has not given us the spirit of fear but of boldness and soundness of mind.
You have to be fearless in preaching the Word of God. You must be instant in season and out of season. We live in a time when people do not want to listen to the absolute truth of God’s Word. People are very selective about the kind of messages they listen to. Do you receive the Word with gladness each time the Word points you to the cross? 2nd Timothy 4:3 says:


“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”

God wanted Jeremiah to warn the people about the punishment to come if they would not repent from their ways of wickedness. God told Jeremiah to inform those who were proud and wicked, that the rod of affliction was coming on them. [Open Heavens Devotional 2016] The essence of this message to the people was for them to purge themselves from righteousness. Each time the Word of God comes to you, it is an opportunity to amend your ways before it is too late. God wants you to be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for His use so that you can be prepared for every good work.


Whatever assignment God has given to you, do not be afraid. You will meet with many oppositions and enemies but you can be sure God is by your side. They may look big, but they are not bigger than the One who has sent you. God will always deliver you out of the hand of persecutors. He will not only stand by you as you deliver the Word, He will deliver you from every trouble in the course of the assignment. When God sends you a message, He also backs you with His power. They may not like your face, but you can be sure that once you have declared the counsel of God to them, at the point of judgment; you will not be responsible for their blood.

Philippians 4:6

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

You would probably have read this verse before, but would you like to know how to apply it in your everyday life? Let me give you an illustration to help you.

Let’s say that you are one of those in your company eligible for a promotion and you will know tomorrow whether you get it. You want the promotion badly because it means more income for your family. So you lie in bed at night tossing and turning. You pray, “Father, please take away all my worries about this promotion. Give me faith.” One hour later, you are more anxious than ever. It seems like God is not answering your prayer!

How come? Because you are not doing it God’s way.

Pray like this instead: “Father, I cast all my worries about the promotion into Your loving hands because You care for me and love me.” The Bible tells us to cast all our cares upon the Lord for He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7) Then, say, “Father, I would like to have the promotion.” It is okay to ask Him for that. Now, here comes the most powerful part—thanksgiving. Finish off with thanksgiving. Thank God for His faithfulness.

Say something like, “Father, whether I get the promotion or not, I thank You that You will always provide for my family with more than enough. You who feed the birds of the air and clothe the lilies of the field will take care of us. So I am not going to worry about this promotion. You are the source of all my blessings.” (Matthew 6:30, Philippians 4:19)

When you pray like this, all of a sudden, you are no longer held hostage by the promotion. I call this the “thank You” therapy. The more you know God’s Word, the more you can thank Him. The more you thank Him, the more His peace reigns in your heart. And many a time, before you know it, it is morning! You don’t even remember falling asleep. The peace of God reigns like that.

My friend, whatever your concern is, bring it to your Father in prayer and thank your way to peace!

Your questions lead to the truth.

Rumi once said we should look for the answer inside our question.

Indeed, the questions we ask ourselves point to the very truths we seek.

We ask why we are hurting, yet know the reasons all too well. We ask why they treat us this way (and how much longer we can take it) yet forget to listen to our own wisdom. We ask which path to follow, yet our intuition keeps pointing towards the light.

Still, living with our questions feels like standing on uneven ground; we fear never getting back our footing.

But our questions are the roadmap to our truth.


Researchers have found that too often we fear asking questions; we stick to a course of action, ignoring our instincts and staying within perceived “safe” parameters. Yet, asking questions, and making decisions with flexibility and room to change, sets us on course to greater fulfillment and self-agency.

Allow yourself to ask why and sit awhile with the unknown. As uncomfortable as it may seem, there is power in asking why. All of your questions herald the arrival of the answers you seek.

Socrates once said that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In truth, the examination of our life choices, through every one of our questions, inspires a fundamental insight into the life we are meant to lead.

READ: 3 John 9-12
A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.
Proverbs 6:19, NASB

Do not follow people like Diotrephes who exalt themselves against apostles and spiritual leaders.

“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God” (3 John 1:9-11).

Satan was the first person to lift himself up against authority. The authority he lifted himself up against was God. Everyone who exalts himself against existing authority is following Satan. This is why John advised the church: “Do not follow that which is evil.”

How often are spiritual leaders attacked and prevented from doing their work? Diotrephes is the quintessential opposition to spiritual authority.

Entire churches can gang up against their pastor and fight him. You can hardly find a person in this world who has not criticized one pastor or another. But you must not follow that which is evil!

In whom we have redemption . . . the forgiveness of sins.
—Ephesians 1:7

Satan is at work in our world. The Bible is my authority. He exists and he has control over thousands of young people, whose hearts have never been captured by Jesus Christ. He has hundreds of agents writing pornographic literature and producing sex movies to pollute young minds. He has intellectuals in high positions teaching a hedonistic and permissive philosophy.

Daily I come in contact with mixed-up people who are caught in the anguish of their own unpreparedness, intellectuals who have been seduced by false science, and rich men who are held in the grip of insecurity. They have no commitment to any goal. They lack an anchor for their real selves. And I long to take every one of them by the hand and lead them into the presence of the One who said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
Deuteronomy 28:2

"Well, brother, in the end I'm sure you'll see these financial problems are actually a blessing in disguise." Have you ever heard anybody say that to someone who's hurting financially? Chances are, you have. It's a popular idea. The problem is, it's a lie used by the devil to keep believers down.

As a result, many believers today are suffering one financial defeat after another. So let's go to the Word of God today and get the issue of prosperity and poverty straight. Let's find out, once and for all, which is the blessing, which the curse.

You can find the answer to that question in Deuteronomy 28. What God describes in verses 1 through 14 is the blessing—prosperity. In verses 15 through 31, God describes poverty—and He has called it a curse.

The curse is meant to destroy. Not to teach people a lesson. Not to make them more spiritual. But to destroy them.

Regardless of how intense the lack is, the nature of poverty remains the same. It is, and will always be, a curse.

Satan has gone to great lengths to convince God's people that poverty is a blessing in disguise. But poverty is something the devil contrived!

Don't buy into his lies. Get your thinking in line with the Word of God. If you're a born-again child of God, you no longer have to live under the curse of poverty or any other curse for that matter. You've been redeemed!



Scripture Reading:

Deuteronomy 28:1-31

My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of Your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.
—Proverbs 4:20-22

In these verses, the writer used the words, attend to my words, which is another way of exhorting us to meditate. I love the fact that God not only frequently tells us to meditate—to ponder seriously His Word, but He frequently promises results. It's as if God says, "Okay, Joyce, if you meditate, here's what I'm going to do for you."

In this passage, the promise is life and health. Isn't that amazing? It's even a promise that when you contemplate and brood over the Bible, it will affect your physical body.

We've known for a long time that when we fill our minds with healthy, positive thoughts, it affects our body and improves our health. This is just another way of repeating this truth. Or take the opposite viewpoint: Suppose we fill our minds with negative thoughts and remind ourselves how frail we are or how sick we were the day before. We soon become so filled with self-pity and self-defeating thoughts that we get even sicker.

In the previous pages, I've already mentioned the idea of prosperity (see Psalm 1 and Joshua 1:8). I believe that by "prosperity," God means that we'll be enriched and prosper in every part of our lives. It's not a promise of more material wealth, but an assurance of being able to enjoy all the wonderful blessings we have.

Recently when I meditated on several passages in the Bible, I realized God was showing me that the Word has hidden treasures in it—powerful, life-giving secrets—which God wants to reveal to us. They are there for those who muse, ponder, and contemplate the Word of God.

What we often forget is that God wants our fellowship, our company, and our time with Him. If we want a deep relationship with our heavenly Father, we have to make quality time for God. I recently heard someone say, "Quality time comes out of quantity times." In other words, it's only as we spend time with God on a regular, daily basis that we have those special, life-changing moments. We can't program them to happen, but if we're there on a daily basis, God will cause some of those times to be quality times of special blessing.

D. L. Moody once said that the Bible would keep us from sin, or sin would keep us from the Bible. That's the principle here. As we concentrate on God's Word and allow it to fill our thoughts, we will push away all desire to sin or to displease God in any way. We become more deeply rooted in Him. Again, think of it in the negative. When our mind remains focused on our problems all the time, we become consumed with them. If we meditate on what's wrong with others, we see even more flaws and faults. But when we concentrate on God's Word, light comes into our souls.

I want to go back one more time to that powerful statement in Philippians 4:8. No matter which translation or paraphrase we read it in, the message is powerful and exactly what we need to do to condition our minds for victory.

Here's Eugene Peterson's paraphrase in The Message: Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious, the best, not the worst: the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

Dear Father in heaven, teach me the blessings of pondering Your Word, of filling my heart and mind with Your spiritual manna. May I grow into maturity and become more and more like Your Son, Jesus. It's in His name that I pray. Amen.

Memorise: 

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 1st Corinthians 4:2

Read: Luke 16:1-8 (KJV)
1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.




Bible in one year: Exodus 4:1-6:13, Psalms 109:21-31
MESSAGE
Faithfulness is another obligation that God requires of us as human beings and particularly as His children. God is faithful and He wants us to resemble Him with this attribute of faithfulness. In our text today, we read about a steward who was found unfaithful and the master was about to sack him, this unfaithful servant then went about from one debtor to another to falsify records in order to please his master. Open Heaven Monday 28 November 2016:- A Faithful Steward? The efforts this steward put up to regain his master’s approval did nothing for the expansion of his master’s business, but the master still commended him. If the unfaithful servant could go to the extent he went in order to remain in service, why can’t the children of light go a greater extent to please our Father in heaven? The conclusion of our Bible reading says:


“And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely; for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”


Another lesson we can learn from this story is that your upward movement to the next level is predicated upon how well you perform in your present level of operation. Luke 16:11-12 says:


“If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteousness mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s who shall give you that which is your own?”


Beloved, the Lord is interested in promoting you. As a matter of fact, your promotion is long overdue. I am happy to announce to you that this is your time, however, what are you doing with your present level of position? Are you productive or you are hoarding your ideas so that you can have something to use when you come to a leadership position? You are just destroying and delaying your progress if this is your attitude. To be faithful simply means to be full of faith. Do you have faith in the organisation you are working with? You will not be at your best if you don’t have faith in that organisation you work with? Proverbs 22:29 says:


“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings he shall not stand before mean men.”


Daniel was a typical faithful steward. 28 November 2016 Open Heaven. This is how he survived four generations of rulers – Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Cyrus and Belshazzar. The faithfulness of Mordecai saved the entire Jewish race during the reign of Ahasuerus. My prayer is that you will be highly favoured by the virtue of your faithfulness in Jesus’ name.

John 9:7And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent).So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

When Adam sinned and fell, everything about creation fell. Yet, people today are still putting their trust in creation. For example, they try to become healthy by eating what is called the “Eden diet”—vegetables and no meat. They are acting as if creation did not fall. They also forget that there are people who eat well and exercise regularly, and still drop dead in the prime of their lives!

Thank God that what creation cannot do, redemption can and did. Jesus demonstrated this when He spat on the ground, made clay with the saliva and put it on a blind man’s eyes. (John 9:6–7) Now, it is certainly unusual to put clay on a blind man’s eyes because he would become doubly blind!

So why did Jesus do that?

He was demonstrating to us that all our body parts come from the ground and that because creation is fallen, the work of creation cannot open a blind man’s eyes. But the work of redemption can! That is why He sent the blind man to the pool of Siloam. The word “Siloam” means “Sent”, referring to the sent one, Jesus. When the blind man washed his eyes in the pool of the sent one, he received supernatural healing for his eyes.

Beloved, when we go to Jesus, the sent one who came to redeem us with the price of His blood, and we rest in His finished work, we will receive the miracle we need. If we believe that by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5), we will have greater health than those who trust in creation.

Jesus was sent to redeem us from every curse that came upon creation with the fall of Adam. (Galatians 3:13) He has redeemed us from sickness, pain, sorrow, depression, poverty and even death. The world may know Him as the Creator. But today, we know Him as our Redeemer. Where the work of creation cannot save us, His work of redemption can and has!