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The Word For Today-A Daily Update
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

How to get back up (2)


‘Stand…in the presence of the LORD.’
1 Kings 19:11 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 02 May 2019

When Elijah reached his lowest point, God told him two things:

1) ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord.’ He helped Elijah to stop thinking about himself and his problems and start thinking about God.

When God has your ear, He can speak into it. When He has your heart, He can minister to it.

That’s why Scripture reading is so important. If life is dragging you down and you’re ready to stand back up, climb into God’s Word, claim His promises, ask for His help, and talk plainly to Him.

2) ‘Anoint Elisha…to succeed you as prophet’ (v. 16 NIV 2011 Edition). Take the focus off yourself and look for someone to minister to.

There are many people who are also struggling with problems and worries. They need someone like you to come alongside them, and, if nothing else, let them know you can relate to how they feel.

They need someone like you to minister to them, to encourage them. If you want to see the fog of discouragement lifted, stop looking in the mirror and start looking out the window.

The famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger was asked, ‘What would you advise a person to do who is experiencing depression and unhappiness?’ He replied, ‘Lock the door behind you.

Go across the street. Find somebody who has a need and do something to help them.’

It’s so simple, yet we keep missing it! The truth is – by helping others you help yourself.

1 Samuel 25-26, John 13:21-38
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Has your blessing become a burden?


‘One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’
Luke 12:15 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 03 May 2019

In Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island, five men escape a prison by hijacking a hot air balloon. Quickly they sense the wind is carrying them out over the ocean.

They see the horizon receding and realise they are losing altitude. Since they have no way of heating the air in the balloon, they begin to throw some of the excess weight overboard.

Shoes, coats, and weapons are reluctantly discarded, and they rejoice when the balloon begins to rise. Soon they draw dangerously close to the waves again and begin to toss their food overboard.

A third time the balloon begins to descend, and this time one man suggests they tie together the ropes that connect the balloon to the basket in which they are riding, then sit on the ropes and cut away the heavy basket. The very floor they had been standing on falls away, and the balloon rises once again.

Suddenly they spot land. With not a minute to spare, they jump into the water and swim to an island. Their lives were spared because they learned what they could live without.

Why did Jesus say, ‘One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses’? Because what you think will be a blessing can end up being a burden.

What you strive for today, you may stress out over tomorrow. Jesus said, ‘Your heavenly Father…knows all your needs.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else…and he will give you everything you need’ (Matthew 6:32-33 NLT).

1 Samuel 27-29, John 14
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Jesus is coming again!


‘Be ready…the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.’
Matthew 24:44 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 04 May 2019

Jesus warned, ‘Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many’ (v. 11 NKJV). In our generation there have been high-profile preachers who set dates for Christ’s second coming, and the press jumped all over it.

That having been said, Jesus is coming again! In Scripture it is referenced more than 300 times. Charles Swindoll says: ‘Critics have denied it.

Cynics have scorned it. Scholars have ignored it.

Liberal theologians have tried to explain it away (they call that “re-thinking it”). Fanatics have perverted it.

And some have sarcastically said, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:4). Jesus’ return has always been attacked, misused, and denied.

But still it stands, solid as a rock, offering real hope in the midst of despair and unbelief. You say, “What should I do while I’m waiting?”

First, understand what you shouldn’t do. Don’t sit around listening for a bugle call or looking for a rapture cloud.

Don’t quit your job, and don’t set a date. Instead use the time to get your act together.

Live every day like it’s your last, but work like Jesus isn’t coming back for another ten years. Shake your “salt” and shine your “light” wherever you go (see Matthew 5:13-16).

Remain balanced, cheerful, pleasant, committed, and stable, anticipating the day of His return. And if you’re not sure you’re ready, get your ticket immediately.

As long as they’re available, they’re free. But if you’re wise you won’t wait!

What good is a ticket when the event is over?’ Today accept Jesus as your Saviour and be ready when He returns.

1 Samuel 30-31, John 15
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

When things don’t work out as you plan


‘Whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you.’
Romans 15:24 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 05 May 2019

The world isn’t going to devote itself to making us happy, and only when we accept that can we begin to move forward. Much of the time life doesn’t work out the way we plan.

Paul wrote, ‘Whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you.’ But he never got to Spain; instead, he landed in prison.

But it was from there he wrote the epistles. So your disappointment may turn out to be God’s appointment!

The Bible says, ‘In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps’ (Proverbs 16:9 NIV 1984 Edition). Aren’t you glad God’s in control of your life?

Let the philosophers argue over why life works as it does; just you focus on how to live it! If you live to be a hundred, what good is it if resentment and regret keep you from enjoying it?

And what good is more time, if you’re just wasting the time you’ve got? Do you know how an oyster makes a pearl?

When a grain of sand gets into its shell and irritates it, the oyster wraps the sand in layers of beauty until a pearl is formed. An unknown poet wrote, ‘This tale has a moral, for isn’t it grand, what an oyster can do with a morsel of sand?

What couldn’t I do if I’d only begin, with all of the things that get under my skin?’ God is at work in what you’re going through today – for your good and His glory.

All you need to do is trust Him.

Luke 8:26-56, Psalm 46-48
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Living ‘God’s way’


‘What happens when we live God’s way?’
Galatians 5:22 MSG

The UCB Word for Today - 06 May 2019

In the Message paraphrase, Paul writes, ‘What happens when we live God’s way?…[We gain] a sense of compassion…[and] we find ourselves…not needing to force our way in life’ (vv. 22-23 MSG).

Let’s think about these two Christlike qualities:

1) You become more compassionate. You stop seeing people as objects that need to be straightened out, or avoided, or used for your own benefit.

When Jesus looked at people, ‘he was moved with compassion’ (Matthew 9:36 KJV). When that happens, two wonderful things occur. First, you conquer selfishness and become concerned with somebody other than yourself.

Second, you develop a sense of gratitude for blessings you may have taken for granted. In other words, compassion expands your field of vision beyond ‘us-four-and-no-more’ to those you’ve been too busy to notice.

2) You no longer need ‘to force [your] way in life’. You stop seeing people who have gentle, loving spirits as ‘wimps’ who never achieve much.

Paul wrote, ‘We behaved gently…among you’ (1 Thessalonians 2:7 AMPC). And Paul was no wimp!

Sometimes the reason we’re so driven is we fear that if we become more gentle and loving, we might stop getting ahead and fall behind in the race. That kind of fearful, frantic thinking drains the creativity out of your life – not to mention the joy.

And any success you enjoy is in spite of your stress, not because of it. Look at Jesus. He wasn’t in a hurry, He seldom raised His voice, He took time for children, He loved people and lifted them.

And the Bible says, ‘This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into’ (1 Peter 2:21 MSG). It’s what’s known as living ‘God’s way’.

2 Samuel 1-2, John 16
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Encouragement for single parents


‘Lift the boy up and take him by the hand…for I will make him…great.’
Genesis 21:18 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 07 May 2019

When you read the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael, you realise how much God cares about single parents. Although Abraham was Ishmael’s father, he sent the boy and his mother away without child support: ‘[He] took some food and a skin of water …gave them to Hagar…and…sent her off…She went on her way and wandered in the desert’ (v. 14 NIV 1984 Edition).

In many ways Hagar typifies those who walk through the desert of past mistakes, shame, abandonment, and fear of starting over. The Bible tells us when ‘the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.

Then she…sat…about a bow-shot away [50-60 feet], for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And…she began to sob’ (vv. 15-16 NIVUK 2011 Edition).

As a single parent you may be tired and lonely. Humanly speaking, you’ve done the best you can with what you have, but you’ve nothing left to give.

The good news is God’s divine resources are inexhaustible: ‘He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak’ (Isaiah 40:29 NIV 2011 Edition).

‘God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven…“Lift the boy up…I will make him…great”…Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water’ (Genesis 21:17-19 NIV 2011 Edition). God loves your child even more than you do, and when you turn to Him, He’ll show you a ‘well of water’ you never knew existed.

He has plans for your children, so encourage them and lift them up. The God who made Hagar’s child ‘great’ can do the same for yours!

2 Samuel 3-5, John 17
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Diversity sharpens you


‘For you are all one in Christ Jesus.’
Galatians 3:28 NLT

The UCB Word for Today - 08 May 2019

If you limit yourself only to people who think exactly like you, you’ll never grow personally or accomplish what God has in mind for you. You need people who have 20/20 vision where you have blind spots.

The way to offset your weak areas is by being able to work with people who are strong in those areas. Instead of looking for those who conform to your opinions, you need someone who loves you enough to challenge your opinions from time to time.

Why? Because you still have a lot of learning and growing to do!

Think of the people Jesus picked. Luke was a doctor, and Peter and John were fishermen.

If you prided yourself on your image, which would you have picked? But Jesus needed them all to accomplish His mission.

He knew we need people who complement us, not duplicate us. It is estimated that even if you had the genius of Einstein, you’d still know less than one per cent of all there is to know.

And if you were mega-talented, you’d only be able to achieve less than one per cent of what can be achieved. Yes, we need harmony.

But there’s a difference between harmony which is derived from two or more distinctly different notes that blend together, and unison, the same note made at the same time.

Harmony is far more appealing to the ear than unison. So your relationships should be harmonious without being in unison.

Think about it: you are uniquely different from anyone else. So if you want others to love and accept you, start loving and accepting them.

The greatest wisdom is found in diversity, not conformity.

2 Samuel 6-8, John 18:1-18
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

You can’t meet everybody’s expectations


09 MAY 2019

‘We have different gifts…given us.’
Romans 12:6 NIV

Different people expect different things from us. And when a lot of people are pulling on you, those expectations can build up like a mountain and bury you. Is that how you’re feeling today, buried under everybody’s expectations? If so, read this Scripture: ‘Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the [level of] faith God has given [you].

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body’ (vv. 3-5 NLT). We all want people to be pleased with us, but we must also realise that they frequently have unrealistic expectations and sometimes selfish ones. So why don’t we just say no? 1) Fear of people.


We want to be loved and we are afraid of being rejected. 2) Pride. If God made you a one-talent person, He won’t give you a two-talent assignment. Don’t allow pride to make you take on more than you can handle in order to have people’s approval. 3) Not knowing God’s will for you.

Jesus said, ‘I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will’ (John 5:30 NLT). You must know God’s will and be committed to it, or people will try to impose their will and agenda on you. 4) Trying to be like someone else. ‘Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them’ (Romans 12:6 NKJV).

Unless God has ‘graced’ you to do it, you’ll fail or collapse under the weight of it. Realise that you are not called to meet everybody’s expectations.

2 Samuel 9-11, John 18:19-40
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Restoring damaged people (1)


‘If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.’
Galatians 6:1 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 10 May 2019

We are too quick to criticise people because of what they’ve been through in life. In some cases it’s because of what they have done to others, and in some cases because of what others have done to them.

If you’ve been to a second-hand shop you know there are quality items at discounted prices; you just have to know what you’re looking for. Jesus does.

In His eyes the down-and-out may be ‘down’ but they’re not ‘out’. Peter’s sorrow over denying Jesus ran so deep that he decided to go back to his old job as a fisherman.

Can you imagine the gossip around the harbour? ‘That’s him, the guy who turned his back on Jesus.’

Peter eventually became the leader of the New Testament church. But be honest.

Would you have voted him in as your pastor, or been willing to listen to anything he had to say? Yet the first person Jesus went looking for after He rose from the dead was Peter.

Why? Because He looks beyond our immediate problem and sees our long-term potential.

Jesus remembered the words He had spoken to Peter: ‘Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren’ (Luke 22:31-32 NKJV).

The foundational principle of practising medicine is ‘First, do no harm’. When someone is damaged, don’t damage them further.

Love them, pray for them, and seek to restore them.

2 Samuel 12-13, John 19:1-22
 
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Restoring damaged people (2)


‘Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.’
1 Timothy 1:15 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 11 May 2019

The apostle Paul writes, ‘I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it’ (Galatians 1:13 NKJV). Paul had a criminal record.

He had the blood of innocent men and women on his hands. Yet God used him to write half the New Testament, establish the church, and carry the name of Jesus into the courts of Caesar.

But would you have trusted him to be the leader of your denomination, or envisioned him teaching great truths and introducing you to revelations he received from heaven? The Bible says, ‘God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable’ (Romans 11:29 NIV 2011 Edition).

God never cancels our calling and He never withdraws the spiritual gifts He gives us. And if He does not, we must not.

How should we handle a brother or sister in Christ who goes astray? With gentleness!

‘Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ’ (Galatians 6:1-2 NKJV).

Is restoring people sometimes messy? Yes. Is it easy? No.

Paul says it’s a ‘burden’, especially when they’ve brought embarrassment to God’s redeemed family. But that’s the point – they are still our spiritual family!

And the world is watching to see how we treat them. If we throw away those who stumble, why would the world believe we wouldn’t do the same to them?

Think about it. If you can’t find grace in the family of God, where are you going to find it?

2 Samuel 14-15, John 19:23-42