Topic: Comfort Shared [Our Daily Bread 6 Friday April, 2018]

Read: 2 Corinthians 1:1–10, Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 4–6; Luke 9:1–17

Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. John 20:21

“God sent you to me tonight!”

Those were the parting words from the woman standing in front of me as we exited our flight to Chicago. She had sat across the aisle from me, where I learned she was headed home after several flights in a round-trip that day. “Do you mind if I ask why you had such a quick turnaround?” I inquired. She glanced downward: “I just put my daughter in rehab for drug abuse today.”

In the moments that followed I gently shared the story of my son’s struggle with heroin addiction and how Jesus had set him free. As she listened, a smile broke through her tears. After the plane landed we prayed together before parting, asking God to break her daughter’s chains.

Later that evening I thought of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3–4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

All around us are people who need to be encouraged with the comfort only God can give. He wants us to reach out to them with tenderhearted compassion, to share the love He has shared with us. May God send us to those who need His comfort today!

Prayer: I praise You for Your compassion for us at the cross, Lord! Help me to comfort others with Your kindness and love today.

God’s kindness meets our deepest need.

Insight:
We honor the “God of all comfort” (v. 3) when we offer compassion to others. Who needs comfort? Ecclesiastes 4:1 says, “I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter.” Scripture reminds us that from the victim to the oppressor, everyone needs the comfort God offers. Bill Crowder

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Our Daily Bread Devotionals HERE”

This message was written By James Banks [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]

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Topic: Naturally Holy [Andrew Wommack Friday April 6, 2018]

Matthew 13:15, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

Text: Matthew 13:14-23

The word “waxed” means “to become gradually more intense or to increase” and shows that this condition of the heart is not something we are born with or that strikes us suddenly. It has to be nurtured over a prolonged period of time. This is why we should not violate our conscience, even in small things. Guarding our conscience will keep us sensitive to God and will stop our hearts from becoming hardened. If we will stay faithful to God, even in the small things, then we will be faithful in the more important things also.

Keeping the commandments doesn’t affect God’s willingness to love us, but it affects our awareness of how much He loves us. If we live in sin, our conscience becomes defiled and it condemns us. It’s not God condemning us, but our conscience. God still loves us. John was speaking of this same thing in 1 John 3:20, when he said, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” However, as far as this earthly life goes, our awareness of God’s love is everything. Therefore, we must keep Satan from blinding us to the love of God.

The most effective way of doing this is to give no place to the devil through sin. John went on to say in 1 John 3:21, “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” Holiness is essential in keeping our hearts assured of the love of God (1 Jn. 3:19). It’s the nature of a Christian to walk in the light and not in darkness. When you are rightly informed of who you are and what you have in Christ, holiness just naturally flows out of you. That’s your nature.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read Andrew Wommack’s Daily Devotional HERE

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).

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Topic: Know the Bible [Billy Graham’s Devotional Friday April 6, 2018]

Search the Book of the Lord . . . — Isaiah 34:16 (TLB)

A knowledge of the Bible is essential to a rich and meaningful life. For the words of this Book have a way of filling in the missing pieces, of bridging the gaps, of turning the tarnished colors of our life to jewel-like brilliance. Learn to take your every problem to the Bible. Within its pages you will find the correct answer. But most of all, the Bible is a revelation of the nature of God. The philosophers of the centuries have struggled with the problem of a Supreme Being. Who is He? What is He? Where is He? If there is such a Person, is He interested in me? If so, how can I know Him? These and a thousand other questions about God are answered in this Holy Book we call the Bible.

Prayer for the day: How glorious it is to read Your Word and learn more of You, my Savior and my Lord!

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read Billy Graham’s Daily Devotional HERE

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.

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Topic: Wonders Of Divine Blessings I [Open Heavens 6 April 2018, Friday]

Memorise: “The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand:” – Deuteronomy 28:12a (Scroll down for Open Heavens Hymn)

Read: Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV)

1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Bible in One Year: Joshua 6-7, Colossians 3:18-4:18.

MESSAGE:

When the Lord commanded Abraham to get out of his country, away from his kindred and out of his father’s house to go to a land that He was yet to show him, little did Abraham know that he was being set up for divine blessings. God promised him that He would make him a great nation, bless him and make him a blessing. This promise straightaway introduces us to the wonders of divine blessings. How can a man considered barren become a great nation? The answer lies in divine blessings.

When you take a critical look at God’s promises to Abraham in today’s Bible reading, you will discover that when a man is divinely blessed, his friends are also blessed, and conversely, his enemies are in trouble because they will be divinely cursed! Divine blessings will be your portion today in Jesus Name. When a fellow is divinely blessed, it means the blessings are not a result of struggling. Those who don’t know this or who have not experienced divine blessings before will always think that unless you struggle to the point of breaking your back, you cannot make it in life. This could not be further from the truth! That notion belongs to the realm of the curse of the first Adam which all the children of God through the second Adam, Jesus have escaped from. There was a brother of ours who received a divine blessing, and when he told others about it, they found it too good to be believed. One of them even said “This is too good to be genuine!” one of the wonders of divine blessing is that it makes people amazed, even to the point of disbelief. How could Abraham who started as a wanderer become so blessed that he could kill a whole calf to entertain a group of casual visitors numbering only three (Genesis 18:7)? Here is the testimony of Abraham’s servant to the extent of his master’s blessing in Genesis 24:35:

“And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.”

Heaven will assist a man or woman that is divinely blessed by sending what he or she needs in due season (Deuteronomy 28:12). I pray for you, that whatever represents rain in your life will fall on you today in Jesus’ Name. However, you must be a friend of God like Abraham, walking with God in complete obedience to make this a reality in your life (Genesis 17:1).

Prayer Point: Father, please let heaven assist the works of my hands, and grant me access to Your divine treasures in Jesus’ Name.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Open Heavens Devotional 5th April 2018 Thursday — The Healing Word’’

Hymn 6: A New Thing

(Tune: There shall be showers of Blessing)

1. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because GOD will do new things
Sinners will soon be forgiven
Prodigals will come home soon.

Chorus:
Shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Rivers in desert now flowing
Halleluyah to our king.

2. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Sickness and sorrow will be gone
Bondage will be forgotten.
3. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
The barren will be fruitful soon
Failure will be forgotten

4. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Poverty will be forgotten
Stagnancy will soon be gone.

5. We will soon shout Hallelujah
Because God will do new things
To all miracles are given
There shall be celebrations

6. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Many will have testimonies
Of prayers answered fully

7. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
One of us will chase a thousand
Two will conquer ten thousands.

8. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Songs of praises we will sing
Halleluyah to our King.

Open Heavens 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.

Flatimes’ Notice Board: Please do not prolong your salvation if you have not repented. Many are going home daily and tomorrow maybe too late…There is still hope, JESUS LOVES YOU!

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