Lamentations 3:22, ‘The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.’
His mercies are new every morning.
Worthiness:
Only when we claim the Word of God in our situations, we get life!
Luke 7:7, ‘for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.’
We see that Jesus is healing the servant of the Centurion. Jesus is giving worthiness to the Centurion. In our daily activities of our lives, are we found worthy to the Lord? Worthiness is only given by the Lord Jesus Christ and He is the only one helping us to stand. Let us have a genuine repentance!
Luke 7:1-4, ‘When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. 2 And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; ‘
The Jewish Elders gave a testimony to the Lord, on the Centurion saying, ‘He is worthy for You to grant this to him’. The reason is in
V5, ‘for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”
We cannot come to the Lord, based on what we have done! We cannot come to the Lord with our own righteousness!
V6-10, ‘Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; 7 for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 9 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health’.
As Centurion’s faith was growing in his life, is our faith also growing day by day in our lives? The Centurion sent Jewish Elders to the Lord, then he sent his friends asking them to say to the Lord, that, ‘Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.’
We see the faith of the Centurion! Let us be also have faith like this Centurion, that a ‘Word from the Lord’, every day is enough for us!’ We cannot come to the Lord with our own righteousness because He is clothing us with His righteousness! Jesus was marveled at the faith of the Centurion! Centurion was asking the Lord to deliver his servant, who is working for him, who was sick! Not for himself! Not for his family! We also see the attitude of Jesus. When Jesus heard about this Centurion, he started on His way with the Jewish Elders. Whenever we read the Scriptures, we need to see the heart of Jesus. Only Jesus can make us worthy to come to His presence! Jesus marveled at the Centurion’s faith and he delivered his slave.
In the parable of the lost son,
Luke 15:19, ‘I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”
We see how the Centurion and the lost son are approaching the Lord. The lost son says to his father, ‘I am not worthy to be called as your son; make me as one of your hired men’!
We need to come to the Lord, not as if, we have everything; but come to the Lord, saying, ‘Lord, I am not worthy at all, for whatever mercies you have shown to me, how you saved me, how you brought me up! I am not worthy, but only by Your grace.’ When we have this attitude and come to the Lord, we can grow in our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!
In the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican,
Luke 18:11-14, ‘The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”’
We see the attitudes of the Pharisee and the Publican, about how they are approaching to the Lord. How is our attitude, when we are approaching to the Lord? The tax collector was not able to look up to the heaven! Was beating his chest saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner!’ We need to come to the Lord with this attitude, but not saying, ‘Lord I had done so much for you!’ We need to claim the promises of God, submitting our lives to Him.
Jacob’s life also, we see that when he was coming back to meet Esau,
Genesis 32:10-12, ‘I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. 12 For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”’
Jacob did many things in his life but now he had come to the point where he was saying, ‘I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant’ We see how Jacob is scheming things and how he is approaching his brother; by presenting him with gifts; we also tend to give gifts to our brothers, just to win their hearts!
V17, ‘He commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” V22, ‘Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.’
After Jacob sent everything across the stream, he was alone and came to the Lord. He wrestled until the daybreak! When he was alone, God met with him and spoke to him. There is something in his life, which was needed to be surrendered. As we cannot come to the Lord with our own righteousness, God had to break his thigh socket! Without God touching us, without us, encountering God; we will not be able to have the blessing, that Jacob had! Jacob got his name as, ‘Israel’, because God had touched him! If we need this blessing, we need to surrender to Him, fully. We cannot go to God’s presence with our own things to Him, and have an encounter with Lord. We need to be submitting everything to Him. Unless the Lord breaks us, we cannot become a blessing to others.
We read about David and Goliath in,
1 Samuel 17:45-47, ‘Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”’
Though David was discouraged by his brothers, his circumstances were discouraging, there was so much of suppression in the air! There was a battle in the air! But his goal was clear. David killed Goliath by coming in the Name of the Lord!
We also, might go through many difficult situations; there was Goliath on one mountain and David on the other mountain, and there is a valley of death! Physically there is no match between David and Goliath! Though David faced hostility, from his brothers; David had a strong conviction; his vision and his mission is clear! He was determined to go and face Goliath! Goliath was covered from head to toe, with metals; he had a strong covering! David on the other hand, had only five stones and a sling! David did not see what Goliath was wearing, David was not frustrated at all, he was not bothered about Goliath’s strong shield or helmet, but he only saw the Lord and that His hand will help him! He will deliver Goliath into his hands!
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.
We are encouraged here, that we need to come in the Name of the Lord. In our spiritual battles also, we need to come in the Name of the Lord. We cannot come to the Lord in our own righteousness or with our own personal wealth or with our experiences or by the way we deal in the Churches, but only by depending on the Lord and say, ‘I come in the Name of the Lord’.
The Lame man was healed in,
Acts 3:4-6, ‘But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” 5 And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”’
V16, ‘And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.’
Our Faith comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. We also need to claim this Word to have deliverance.
Forgiveness of our sins:
Isaiah 43:25, ‘“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.’
This is a great encouragement, that our Lord wipes out our transgressions and will not remember our sins, for His own sake. God is taking the step and He is wiping out our transgressions!
V18, ‘“Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past.’
We don’t have to ponder over our past sins! Thank God for His Word.
Isaiah 42:16, ‘I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.”’
When we think we are blind, we do not know the way, He will guide us, He will make darkness into light before us. Wherever the healing touch is there, the rugged places in our heart and the battle places are, they will be made into a plain! As David came in the Name of the Lord, we also need to do it. Then the Lord showed David the weak point of Goliath and David pelted the stone on his forehead and Goliath came down! It is only the Lord who is helping us to stand, before the Lord.
Isaiah 65:17, ‘“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.’
This is the new heaven and the new earth; which God is going to create for us. The former things should not come to our mind! The past things in our heart and mind should not overcome us!
Hebrews 8:12, ‘For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”
13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.’
This is what our merciful Father will do. He is not going to remember our past sins! He is forgiving us when we come to His presence with a heart as a sinner! not with our own righteousness!
Colossians 2:12-1, ‘having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross’.
He made us alive together with Him, when we were dead in our transgressions, having forgiven all our transgressions! He has cancelled our debt certificate and had nailed it to the cross. Whatever past sins are there, we are done with! We need to have the resurrected life of Jesus in our everyday lives! Thank God for His Word.
Hope He generates in us:
Romans 5:1-5, ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.’
We have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, as He had forgiven us and cancelled all our debts! We have been introduced to His grace by this faith, where we stand and exult in hope of the glory of God. Through the tribulations in our lives, we are being changed every day, and we are getting the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ and proven character is giving to us – hope! And hope does not disappoint. Our hope in God, is not at all disappointing! Because the love of God has been poured into our hearts and the Holy Spirit is given to us. Outside, we might go through difficult situations, but inwardly we hope in the glory of God. There is joy in our hearts! This is how we get transformed into His nature, as we are hoping in our God. Thank God for the hope He is giving in our hearts!
Romans 15:13, ‘Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’
God of hope, is filling us with all joy and peace in believing, so that we will be abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is filling us with His joy and peace in our hearts, so that we will be abounding with more hope in our day – day lives, by the power of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is giving us the confirmation about hope, that we are being transformed into His image.
Matthew 10:37, ‘“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.’
We are not worthy if we love anything other than God – our family, possessions, wealth. We need to take our own cross and follow after the Lord. He who does not do it, is not worthy of the Lord.
Abraham also claimed all the promises when God showed him, that his children will be like the stars in the sky! He believed in God. He waited patiently for the Lord. Jacob also started with his staff, In the end of his life, he worshipped God leaning on his staff. This staff is our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to lean on our Lord, every day.
Hebrews 11:21, ‘By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.’
Jacob had this staff always with him but at the time when God broke him, he started to carry and started to worship by leaning on the staff. Let us also have this life of depending more and more, on the Lord. We need to see Jesus every time, each day in our lives, when He leads us through situations.
Joel 2:32, ‘And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered;’
We need to call on the Name of the Lord in all the situations, where we need the deliverance in our lives.
Thank God for His Word.
