Thoughts of Our Fathers (TOF)

PROPHETIC DECLARATIONS FOR THIS WEEK!!!

[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.
—Jeremiah 17:7

One attitude that welcomes the presence of God into our lives is the attitude that honors Him above everyone and everything else. Our attitudes need to say, God, no matter what anyone else tells me, no matter what I think myself, no matter what my own plan is, if I clearly hear You say something and I know it’s You, I will honor You—and honor what You say—above everything else.

Sometimes we give more consideration to what people tell us than to what God says. If we pray diligently and hear from God, and then start asking people around us what they think, we honor their human opinions above God’s. Such an attitude will prevent our being able to consistently hear God’s voice. If we are ever going to develop an ability to hear from God and be led by His Spirit as a way of life, we have to stop listening to so many opinions from so many people and begin trusting the wisdom God deposits in our hearts. There is a time to receive good counsel, but needing the approval of people will keep us out of the will of God.

The devil wants us to think we are not capable of hearing from God, but God’s Word says that is not true. The Holy Spirit dwells inside of us because God wants us to be led by the Spirit in a personal way and to hear His voice for ourselves as He leads and guides us.

In the verse for today, God says we will be blessed when we look to Him. According to Jeremiah 17:5-6, severe consequences come to those who trust in the frailty of mere men and women, but blessed are those who trust in and honor the Lord. Good things happen if we listen to God. He wants to be our strength and we must honor His Word above all else.

God’s Word for You Today: Hear what others have to say, but listen to God.

Memorise: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3rd John 1:12

Read: Exodus 23:25 (KJV)

25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.




Bible in one year: Exodus 29:1-30:21, Psalms 119:33-48
MESSAGE
From our Bible reading for today, we see a positive relationship between our service to God, what we eat and our health. Christians are supposed to overflow in health, so much that when we touch sick people, they become healed. Open Heaven Friday 9 December 2016:- It is time to overflow II


Many Christians joke with their service to God, no wonder they fall sick. I thank God and give Him all glory for my life; ever since I sold myself out to the service of God, He has been my only Doctor. I remember vividly well how I used to battle with malaria helplessly, until one day when I decided to enter into an agreement with God, I told Him to heal me of malaria permanently and I will serve Him, and malaria has been a stranger to me since then. When you serve God wholeheartedly, He will ensure that no sickness stays in your body.


Another reason why some Christians are sick is because of what they eat. Our Bible reading for today says that God will bless your food and water and you will not fall sick, but many don’t ask God to bless their food before eating it. Also, God cannot bless what He has not approved of. Our Body is His temple, and anything that can destroy His temple is not approved by Him. We must keep away from junk food, over eating, unhealthy eating habits and the likes. God does not approve of food or drinks that are injurious to our health. Eat more of fresh vegetables and fruits. Eat the right quantity at the right time of the day. Stop overeating. Stay fit, exercise regularly. Some Christians quote Apostle Paul in 1stTimothy 4:8


“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”


Yes it is true that bodily exercise profits a little, however, that little must not be done away with. [Open Heavens Devotional 2016] We must take care of God’s temple so that it can be available for Him to use when He needs it.

Matthew 4:4

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

The Bible tells us that God breathed into man and he became a living being. (Genesis 2:7) It also tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed. (2 Timothy 3:16, NIV) This means that when you read the Bible or listen to God’s Word preached, you are imbibing the very breath of God which gives you life.

That is why there may have been times you walked into church feeling tired at first, but left at the end of the service feeling refreshed and energized. God’s Word had breathed life into your body! I have also seen many of our church members becoming healthier, stronger and even younger-looking because they spend time in God’s Word.

It is no wonder that Proverbs 4:22 tells us that God’s words are “life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh”. So if you are under the weather or if symptoms are attacking your body, double up on God’s medicine. Simply feed more on God’s Word, and you will find life and health flowing through your body again.

Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. If it is important to eat our meals every day, how much more feeding on God’s Word? Jesus wants us to know that we need God’s Word even more than our daily meals. He made us, so He knows best what our bodies need daily.

So whatever you do, remember to get your daily feeding of God’s Word. Read your Bible in the comfort of your home or in the office during your lunch break. Play sermon CDs while driving to work or doing household chores. If you prefer something more visual, watch DVDs on the preaching of His Word. Choose whichever form you prefer and get His Word into you!

Beloved, you cannot live when you stop breathing. In the same way, you cannot live without the Word because it is the very breath of God which gives you life and health!

Thought For The Day

If it is important to eat our meals every day, how much more our feeding on God’s Word?


http://jvz1.com/c/627177/930

The heartwarming story of a mom, her son, and a tweet.

No matter how we raise our children, there are certain qualities we want them to grow up to have.

We want them to be successful, we want them to be independant, and we want them to be kind.

For British mom Figen Hett, the knowledge that her son, Martyn, practices kindness was reinforced by a tweet he sent about when she was feeling down.

Martyn had called his mom one day at the end of November to check in with her and found that she was discouraged because she had not sold a single one of her goods at a craft fair she attended.

Feeling heartbroken for his mother, Martyn tweeted a picture of her crafts table at the fair to his followers.


Shortly after he sent the tweet out, Ms. Hett contacted Martyn to tell him she had sold one of her creations. More and more sales soon followed until her online store was sold out of every craft she had lovingly created.



Not only did Twitter brighten the day of Martyn’s mother, it also unknowingly contributed to a good cause.

Ms. Hett is a counselor who crafts for therapeutic reasons (something she advises her own clients to do) and she decided to donate all proceeds from the generous purchases to a local charity, Beacon Counseling.

It seems that kindness and generosity run in this terrific family.


http://jvz1.com/c/627177/216077

READ: Ruth 3:1-18
...Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Romans 12:9

Virtue is the quality of doing what is good and right and avoiding wrong.

There are seven known cardinal virtues. Four of them are natural virtues and three of them are theological virtues. The four natural virtues are justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude. The three spiritual virtues are faith, hope and love.

To live a life of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong, you need to deploy justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope and love. Fortitude speaks of the strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity.

Virtue is a personal positive trait that makes you abhor evil. A virtuous person is full of goodness, righteousness and has strong morals.

Virtue (goodness) is the personal trait that prevents a person from randomly following after the opposite sex. Ruth was a virtuous woman. She refused to follow after young men, whether poor or rich. She was concerned about doing what is right. Many people are not rich because they follow after the opposite sex and are destroyed by many enchantments, pleasures and deceptions.

http://jvz1.com/c/627177/204181

The Word was made flesh . . . full of grace and truth.
—John 1:14

On the cover of your Bible and my Bible appear the words “Holy Bible.” Do you know why the Bible is called holy? Why should it be called holy when so much lust and hate and greed and war are found in it? It is because the Bible tells the truth. It tells the truth about God, about man, and about the devil. The Bible teaches that we exchange the truth of God for the devil’s lie about sex, for example; and drugs, and alcohol, and religious hypocrisy. Jesus Christ is the ultimate truth. Furthermore, He told the truth. Jesus said that He was the truth, and the truth would make us free.

Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:8, The Amplified Bible

Fear of failure. It's haunted all of us at some time in our lives. Popular psychology tells us to adjust to it. But the Word of God tells us that there is a failure-proof way to live without it. It is the way of love.

If you want to know real success, you must learn to be moved and motivated by love. That's how Jesus was when He was on the earth.

Even when John the Baptist was senselessly, brutally murdered and Jesus went away to be alone, He didn't deviate from the way of love. For Matthew 14:6-14 says that even then in that emotionally taxing time when the people followed Him and would give Him no solitude, He was moved with compassion and healed their sick.

I used to wonder how Jesus could just turn away from that terrible crime and not retaliate. What I didn't realize was that He did retaliate. He overcame the works of Satan with compassion. He defeated hatred with love. He attacked Satan in the spirit realm by destroying his works of sickness and disease.

Compassion doesn't strike at the surface of things. It goes to the root of the problem. That's why it always succeeds.

"But wait!" you may say. "I can't operate like that. I'm not Jesus."

Yes you can, because the Word of God says that His love has been shed abroad in your heart! (Rom. 5:5). And 1 John 2:5 says His love is perfected in you as you keep His Word.

Commit to living the life of love today. Watch God turn failure into success at home, at work...in any situation. Love never fails!


Scripture Reading:

Matthew 14:1-14

http://jvz9.com/c/627177/203625

Memorise: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3rd John 1:2

Read: 2nd Samuel 6:10-12 (KJV)

10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.


12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.




Bible in one year: Exodus 27-28, Psalms 119:17-32

MESSAGE
God is not a poor God, He is wealthier than we can ever imagine. He owns all the natural resources on earth, all the gases in the air and all the elements in the universe, just to mention a few. Can you imagine if scientists are able to get a tiny piece of the sun. Imagine how much they will sell it at an auction. The Almighty God owns the entire sun and all elements in the universe. A God as rich as this will definitely give His children more than enough resources to take care of their needs. He lacks nothing, so His children should lack nothing too. However, this is not the case in reality. We see many Christians these days wallowing in poverty for years, in fact, many unbelievers don’t want to become born again because they are afraid of poverty. God is not happy with this. More often than not, these Christians are the cause of their own predicament. Open Heaven Thursday 8 December 2016:- It is time to overflow I


God in His Word has given us several instructions and principles that will guarantee our wealth, but He will not force us to practice them, we have to do them ourselves to see them manifest. For example, in Luke 6:38, Jesus Christ Himself said:


“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measure to you again.”


Whenever I see Pastors trying hard to convince people to give, it hurts me, because if every Christian has the understanding of this passage, they will constantly complete to give the biggest offering. The Bible says also in Proverbs 11:24:


“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”


This implies that if you want to increase, sow seeds. Also, the second part of this verse tells us that there is a certain amount that is necessary to be withheld. Many Christians don’t save. [Open Heavens Devotional 2016] They eat like every day is their last day on earth. This is wrong; if we want to lend to nations like the Bible promises, then we must learn from Joseph’s strategy, he saved 20% of everything they got in Egypt, after a few years, nations from all over the world were coming to Egypt for food.

Psalm 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

The table is set. The bread and wine are there, and Jesus says to you, “Come, My child, partake.” But you tell Him, “Lord, I am unworthy!” You are afraid to come to the Lord’s table perhaps because you have been taught that if you partake in your “unworthy” state, you will come under God’s fiery judgment.

My friend, Jesus has washed you whiter than snow and qualified you with His own blood, so you are as worthy as worthy can be! The most humble thing you can do now is to acknowledge His perfect sacrifice and accept His invitation with gladness.

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul tells the church how to partake of the Lord’s Supper so that they will not drink judgment to themselves. The word “judgment” in verses 29 and 34 is krima in the original Greek text. It refers to a divine sentence. And in the context of this passage, the divine sentence refers to sickness.

But when was this divine sentence of sickness passed? It was passed when Adam sinned. (Genesis 3:19) When he sinned, death entered the world (Genesis 2:17), and man would grow old and weak, fall sick and die.

So it is not that God is passing sentences of sickness on people today. How can that be when Jesus said, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) God is not in the business of condemning but saving. And the Greek word for “saved”, sozo, also means to preserve, heal and make whole.

God does not want you to suffer the divine sentence of sickness that is already in the world, so He has given you a way of escape, paid for by the blood of His Son. He wants you to be healthy and whole, without the diseases of the world, and He has made this possible for you through the Holy Communion.

So don’t be robbed of this tremendous blessing any longer because of erroneous teachings that have put fear in your heart. Come boldly to the Lord’s table today and receive afresh His health, strength, wholeness and life!