His Word for Today

This morning’s verse talks about being strong and courageous. Even though the Lord revealed to Joshua how the Israelis would be after conquering the promised land, He still fought the good fight of faith (See 1 Timothy 6:12), focused on His assignment for him. Because all things work together for good (See Romans 8:28), we can leave the rest to the Lord and focus our hearts on the assignment at hand. We may wish we had a better job or opportunity, but, like Joshua, we can ch

This morning’s verses talk about our reverent fear of the Lord. What is the motive of our obedience to the Lord? So that we can be blessed? Or so that we can honor and respect the Lord? We all want to be blessed, and he promises that our obedience will enable us to experience His blessings. (See Deuteronomy 28:2) But how about our honor, fear towards the Lord? Today, let us choose to honor the Lord. If we choose to honor the Lord, how would we obey the Scriptures in the Bibl

This morning’s verses talk about His Word being in us. Christ is the Word (See John 1:1, John 1:14), and Christ lives in us. (See Galatians 2:20) The Scripture even says that we know all things. (See 1 John 2:20) Therefore, it is our choice to fight the good fight of faith (See 1 Timothy 6:12) to be intentional (See Colossians 3:23) about choosing to follow Christ to become more like Him in character (See 2 Corinthians 3:18), which has eternal implications. (See 2 Corinthi

This morning’s verses talk about being intentional about obeying the Lord. Have we ever felt like the Word of God is not working, not producing the fruit it promises? One reason could be that we have not fought enough to be intentional (See Colossians 3:23) about trusting, obeying, and serving the Lord to receive the promise. If it is in the area of focus (See Galatians 5:16), we should not only trust in His promise, but also consider whether underlying sin is keeping us from

This morning’s verses talk about the consequences of disobedience. The Scripture teaches us that if we choose to walk in the Spirit, we will not walk in the lust of the flesh. (See Galatians 5:16) In other words, what and where is our focus? In terms of character development, in which area do we have the most trouble and a hard time with? Is it in the area of relationships with people where we may be easily offended, seeing people negatively? In this case, love is what may be

This morning’s verses talk about the consequences of stubbornness of heart. Our hearts must be receptive and surrendered to His Word to experience His promises. What areas have been stubborn? We must intentionally choose to follow His instructions because if we simply go with the flow of our natural emotions, we will lose focus, stay bitter about the offenses we experience in relationships, about the past, etc. (See Colossians 3:23) Today, let us choose to be intentional abo

This morning’s verses continue to talk about the covenant of the Lord. What is our motive for obedience? Is it so that we can receive His blessings? It is His covenant that if we obey, we experience His blessings, but what if we don’t experience them during our lifetime on this earth? (See Hebrews 11:13) Would we still obey, showing His love towards others around us (1 Corinthians 13:7) with an attitude of focus? (See Philippians 3:13) This, I believe, is one of the reasons

This morning’s verses talk about obedience to the Lord so that we may experience His blessings. What have we been taught to obey as children growing up from our parents, who were in a position of authority? Were they in the areas of character or performance? This may have had a profound impact on how we obey the Lord, Who is the ultimate authority. If we look at the 10 commandments, it is about character development, including the worship of the Lord. It is not specifically

This morning’s verses talk again about the consequences of disobedience. Choosing to obey His commands requires intentionality. (See Colossians 3:23) If we simply let our emotions or feelings drive us, we end up making foolish choices that we may regret later. In other words, life on this earth is full of challenges each day that require us to be intentional about serving the Lord. (See James 1:2-4) When others have offended us, what would be our natural reaction? (See Prove

This morning’s verse continues to talk about the consequences of disobedience. Have we sought to pray for His guidance in areas He has already written in the Scriptures? For example, when others have wronged us, do we choose not to think about it, keeping no record of wrongs? (See 1 Corinthians 13:5) If regrets about our decisions we made in the past show up in our minds, do we simply let them go and move forward? (See Philippians 3:13) How did we make the decision? If we act

This morning’s verse continues to talk about the consequences of disobedience. It is important to assess what our motive is in obeying the Lord. Are we obeying so that we can get something? The world, and sometimes even the Church, may lead us to place more value on promotion, increase, growth, influence, honor, etc., and may consider them as evidence of our hard, faithful labor, even obedience to the Lord. Although He promises that our obedience to the Lord leads us to recei

This morning’s verse continues to talk about the consequences of disobedience. Again, as we can see from Deuteronomy 27:15-26 leading up to Deuteronomy 28, He is concerned about our heart, character, when it comes to obedience. Therefore, our growth and prosperity in our walk with the Lord should be more about what we cannot see (See 2 Corinthians 4:18), which is our character becoming more like Christ (See 2 Corinthians 3:18), which has eternal value. We can experience mor

This morning’s verse continues to talk about the consequences of disobedience. It says that we will be defeated as a result of our disobedience. What areas are we experiencing defeat continuously? There may be a blind spot that we haven’t dealt with that is leading us to defeat regularly. Are we seeking God so that we can achieve honor and influence? He promises that He would make us the head (See Deuteronomy 28:13) and blesses all that we do through our obedience (See Deut

This morning’s verse continues to talk about the consequences of disobedience. The world or even the preachers may be geared more towards achieving financial success, gaining societal status, etc., but the primary focus of the Bible is to become more like Christ in Character. (See 2 Corinthians 3:18) This may be the blind spot for us who may be used to hearing things that are focused more towards success, not success in our character growth. Have we been obedient in this area

This morning’s verse continues to talk about the consequences of disobedience. What is He speaking to us about today for obedience so that we can experience His blessings that chase after us? When others mistreat us, what is our choice of thinking in response to those experiences? We have the choice to think His ways. For example, we can choose to dare to think that the person had good motives to do a good job when the person had very rude behaviour. The Bible teaches us to b

This morning’s verse continues to talk about the consequences of disobedience. Where is our focus? Are we focused on growth in terms of numbers, sizes of our ministry, business, etc., areas that are visible? Even if we gained the whole world through worldwide impact, what would that be to us if our soul, mind, will, and emotions were not growing? (See Matthew 16:26) Because the Word of God is focused more on character development, our obedience towards God should mainly be in

This morning’s verse talks about the consequences of disobedience. Have we disobeyed the Lord when someone treated us with rude behavior and we were led to overlook an offence? (See Proverbs 19:11) How about when we were distracted and were led to focus on the present? (See Philippians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 6:2) How about when we were led to show mercy towards an individual who is demanding? (See Luke 6:36) Have we been intentionally listening in a conversation rather than spea

This morning’s verse continues to speak of His blessings resulting from our obedience to Him. The blessings He talks about are protection, prosperity through works, being set apart from others, honor, etc.. The world’s way of attaining these is through hard labor. But again, the truth is that the commandments of His Word are mostly around character development. Are we ready to let go of worldly success at the expense of our character growth to become more and more like Christ

This morning’s verse continues to speak of His blessings resulting from our obedience to Him. He literally says that wherever we are, in the home or outside of the home, we shall be blessed. What an amazing promise. But what we need to remember is what we obey about His commandments. Most of His Word is concerning our character. (See Deuteronomy 27:15-26) Have we been so focused on whether we have made the right choice to fulfill our vocational calling? The Lord is more inter

This morning’s verse continues to speak of His blessings resulting from our obedience to Him. The food gathered and the food prepared will be blessed as a result of our obedience to the Lord. In other words, He will bless the work we do for our daily provision. So what specifically does our obedience to Him look like? We may tend to think more in terms of vocational, career-based calling, where obedience is required. Still, He is more interested in character development be