Topic: Do What He Says [Andrew Wommack Devotional 31 January 2019]
John 2:5, “His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do [it].”
Text: John 2:1-11
Mary knew Jesus as no one else did at this point. The Bible supplies no details of the childhood of Jesus except his trip to Jerusalem at twelve years of age, but it is certain that Mary knew Jesus was no ordinary man. Her request of Jesus to provide the guests with more wine reflects her belief that He could do things others could not.
Her instructions to the servants were, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” This shows that she not only knew Jesus could work miracles, but she knew His way of doing things did not always conform to conventional thought. Sure enough, Jesus told the servants to fill the pots with water and then take it to the governor of the feast.
This defied logic! Everyone there knew the guests wanted more wine, not water. Yet these servants, at Mary’s bidding, did exactly what Jesus told them and the results were wonderful. This miracle would not have taken place if the servants had not done what seemed foolish to them.
The Lord’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa. 55:8). To see His miraculous power in our lives, we must do “whatsoever” He tells us to do regardless of how foolish it may seem. The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:25). Today, whatsoever He says unto you, do it!
This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).
Topic: He Can Use Anyone [Billy Graham Devotional 31 January 2019]
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. — Philippians 1:21
Helen Keller, who is a classic example of handling life’s handicaps, said, “I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work, and my God.” Some people with handicaps drown themselves in self-pity, and thus limit their usefulness and service to mankind and to God.
The Apostle Paul knew the pangs of suffering. He used his infirmity rather than allowing his infirmity to use him, and he used it for the glory of God. He seized everything, even death, to glorify his Lord. No matter which way fate turned, he was one jump ahead of it, and using it to magnify his Savior.
Prayer for the day: Even my handicaps can be used by You, Lord Jesus. Like the Apostle Paul, let me rise above them for Your glory.
Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.
The government shutdown may have temporarily ended, but conversations about the U.S.-Mexico border are far from over.
According to the New York Times, the government will remain open only until February 15, unless House and Senate Democrats and the President can come to an agreement on funding for the southern border wall.
Here are 4 pros and 4 cons for the U.S.-Mexico border wall
Speaking at the launch of an independent review of the matter, the Bishop of Truro said he also wanted to offer “ambitious policy recommendations for the UK”.
Rt Rev Phillip Mountstephen cited a number of factors including “post-colonial guilt” as fueling a sense that the UK has not been as vocal as it should be in opposing persecution in the developing world.
He said: “There are a number of reasons why we have been blind to this issue.
“This is not about special pleading for Christians; rather, it’s about ensuring that Christians in the global south have a fair share of the UK’s attention and concern. So, in that sense it is actually an equality issue.
Fresh scrutiny of how the UK uses its soft power (including trade and diplomatic ties) to stand up for the estimated 200 million believers at risk of being persecuted received a warm welcome from various Christian organisations.
BREAKING: Freedom of worship acts as an invisible line distinguishing between free and non-free societies, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt says as he launches a new review into Christian persecution globally. pic.twitter.com/1lWgiKGiDO
The Foundation for Reconciliation and Relief in the Middle East, a Christian charity offering humanitarian aid throughout the region, said the review was a “bold move” to be “applauded”.
Mom Finds Out Her Adopted Son and Foster Daughter Are Biological Siblings
Only days after adopting her son, a Colorado single mother was asked to take in a second child, and what she learned next can only be described as a miracle.
Divorcee Katie Page from Parker Colorado always knew she wanted to be a mother, but after her marriage ended the dream became increasingly out of sight.
Knowing she wanted to realize this dream, Page became a foster mom to four children and later she decided to adopt Grayson, CBN News reports.
Page told Good Morning America, “The minute I saw him in the hospital, I fell in love. He’s so calm and sweet. He has the biggest challenges of all the kids.”
Page finalized Grayson’s adoption in May of 2017 and a month later, she received a phone call asking her if she would foster a newborn baby girl who, like Grayson, had been abandoned by her biological mother.
In an interview with GMA, Page said she didn’t know why but she felt like God was calling her to say yes to taking the baby girl. Page said, “Something about this is telling me I’m supposed to say yes to this.”
“I’m telling you God is telling me to say yes, and I do not know why,” she added.
Page welcomed newborn baby Hannah into her home in December 2018 and hours later she realized that Grayson’s mother’s unique first name was the same as the mother’s first name on Hannah’s hospital bracelets. Page reached out to…
Reports in The Sun and The Times say that Mordaunt told the Cabinet that the 0.7 per cent aid target is ‘unsustainable’, that Dfid should help fund projects in other departments and that their ambitions should be less reliant on public money.
She has previously said the UK government: “will not invest when others should be putting their hands in their pockets”.
Tory frontbencher Lord Bates, an international development minister, pointed out the pledge of 0.7 per cent was “enshrined in law”, as he was pressed at Westminster for guarantees that there would be no move to “renege” on the target, which amounts to £13.9 billion.
Responding to the reports this week, Christine Allen, director of policy and public affairs at Christian Aid, told Premier: “We believe Britain’s aid budget is a badge of honour worthy of pride and fierce defence.
“We are saddened that Penny Mordaunt is not eagerly fighting to maintain and even increase the 0.7% aid commitment given the rising number of people in dire need in Yemen, Syria, and many other emergencies around the world.
“When heads of government, faith leaders, celebrities and the British public themselves are recognising the dire need in our world, we expect our DFID Secretary to stand with them and celebrate Britain’s determination to end poverty, and never bow to naysayers.
“To those who say Britain has many in need at home, we…
A Super Bowl Title Didn’t Bring Him True Joy, but Christ Did
A former NFL player and Super Bowl champion describes in a new video the moment he realized winning a championship would not bring him the happiness he had sought.
The player, Clint Gresham, also details his battle with substance abuse and addiction.
Gresham, a long snapper and an outspoken Christian, played six seasons in the NFL, including five with the Seattle Seahawks, where he won a Super Bowl in 2014.
Gresham made the video for I Am Second, an organization that interviews well-known people about their faith.
“I remember I was in the hot tub for practice with a couple of guys, and we were just talking about winning the Super Bowl,” Gresham recalls. “I’m like, man, I keep waiting for it to sink in that we won the Super Bowl — and we all were saying that.
“What I realized all of us meant by that was, ‘I keep waiting for this thing to make me happy the way that I thought it would.’ And it hasn’t and now I’m actually kind of scared about that because I have made this my life pursuit. And I got [a Super Bowl championship] and I’m still wanting more.”
Gresham also discusses his battle with anxiety and depression. He felt “like a fraud,” he says, when he drank or smoked to mask his feelings. Gresham was working in a culture that believed men should “suck it up” and “do your job,” but he couldn’t.
Democrat Admits: Her Bill ‘Would Allow’ Abortion during Labor
A Virginia Democratic House member acknowledged under questioning this week that her bill would legalize unrestricted abortion through all 40 weeks of pregnancy, even if the woman is dilated and in labor.
The bill, HB 2491, was defeated in committee, but not before its sponsor, Delegate Kathy Tran, answered detailed questions in a video that has gone viral. The bill would have removed most restrictions to late-term abortions.
Tran’s bill permitted third-trimester abortions if a pregnancy threatened a woman’s life or “impair[ed] the mental or physical health” of the woman. At least one doctor would have to certify those conditions. The bill would have removed the current requirement that three doctors agree that late-term abortion is required.
Such loopholes have been interpreted broadly by courts to permit abortion for virtually any reason.
“How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the woman?” GOP Delegate and committee chairman Todd Gilbert asked Tran.
“Through the third trimester,” Tran responded. “The third trimester goes all the way up to 40 weeks. … I don’t think we have a limit in the bill.”
Gilbert then pressed her: “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth – she has physical signs that she’s about to give birth. Would…
Open Heaven 31 January 2019 Thursday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – The Price of Being a Standard
Topic: The Price of Being a Standard (Open Heaven 31 January 2019)
Memorise: “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.”- Daniel 3:30
Read: Daniel 3:14-18 (KJV)
14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Bible in One Year: Luke 10-11, Isaiah 29:1-14
Open Heaven 31 January 2019 Thursday MESSAGE:
The price of being a standard or trailblazer is indeed very high. Self-discipline will be required of you if you desire to be a standard among your contemporaries. Speaking on this, 1 Corinthians 9:25 & 27 says:
“25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are good examples of people who paid the price to be a standard. Although they were captives in a strange land, they stood up to be counted for their loyalty to the God of Israel, even though it came at a high price that required them to pass through King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. One point to note from this story is that the king’s decree was not only directed at the Hebrew boys; it was for all officials in the realm of the king, including a number of other Jews. Only God knows how many of those other Jews allowed their faith to be compromised in order to avert the King’s anger. I suppose they were many. In any case, the stand taken by the three Hebrew boys was the price they had to pay to become standards for the other Jews to follow. We must learn from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that to become a standard, we must first stand out.
John the Baptist was another person who paid a high price to become a standard. Whoever wants to succeed in life and ministry like him must not be given to uncontrollable appetite for delicacies and fashion. John the Baptist ate wild honey and locusts which he found in the wilderness, and his wardrobe contains only coats of animal skins (Mark 1:6). He therefore had no dependencies on anyone. So, when the time came for him to tell the raw truth to the adulterous King Herod, he was not worried about missing out on any royal banquets or privileges (Matthew 14:1-12). Although John the Baptist paid the supreme price for speaking out against the king, our Lord Jesus Christ had this to say concerning him in Luke 7:28a:
“For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist:”
After the three Hebrew boys went through the fiery furnace unhurt, the king acknowledged the Majesty of their God and promoted them in Babylon (Daniel 3:30). Beloved, there is a price of holiness to pay if you want to stand out and become a standard.
Open Heaven 31 January 2019 Thursday Prayer Point:
Father, please empower me to pay the price of greatness, and cause me to be great before I see You in glory.
Open Heaven 31 January 2019 Thursday Hymn 10: I Have Decided To Follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, I still will follow;
Though none go with me, I still will follow;
Though none go with me, I still will follow
No turning back, no turning back.
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
No turning back, no turning back.
Open Heaven 31 January 2019 Thursday Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven 31 January 2019 Thursday Daily Devotional.
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President Rodrigo Duterte told reporters in Manila that there “there is no doubt” about the fact that Abu Sayyaf, an armed group that has sworn loyalty to the Islamic State, was behind the explosions.
The woman left a bomb inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the island of Jolo and fled before her husband blew himself up outside.
112 people are injured when the bombs exploded during the Mass service.
Jolo Island has long been troubled by the presence of Abu Sayyaf militants, who are blacklisted by the US and the Philippines as a terrorist organisation because of years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.
The attack was carried out just days after minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation approved expanding Muslim self-rule in the southern Philippines.
It was hoped the move would end nearly five decades of a separatist rebellion that has left 150,000 people dead.
While most of the Muslim areas approved the autonomy deal, voters in Sulu province, where Jolo is located, rejected it.
Delfin Lorenzana, secretary of the Defense of Manila, told reporters that the president has ordered the military and police to put a stop to the militants of Abu Sayyaf “by any means”.
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