Topic: Stick to Your Calling [Thursday December 21, 2017]

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God…. who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. – 2 Timothy 1:6-9

Are you doing what God called you to do?

If you haven’t ever thought about it before, that may sound like an odd question to you. You may be tempted to shrug it off and say, “Oh, I’m not really called to do anything. I’m not a pastor or a teacher or a minister of any kind…I guess I’m just what you might call a little finger on the Body of Christ.”

Let me tell you something: No matter who you are, God has put a holy calling in you. He’s designed you and called you to meet a need in the Body of Christ that nobody else can meet quite like you can.

You may be called to be so successful in business you can finance the gospel worldwide. You may be called to a ministry of prayer and intercession. You may be called to a ministry of healing right there in your own neighborhood. But no matter what that calling is, it’s important and you need to follow it!

If you’re like many believers I know, you may have let your life become so overgrown with other things that you just don’t have time to pursue your calling. You may be so overwhelmed with the cares of life that you can’t imagine how you can fit in anything else.

Over the years, a pastor friend of mine got involved in so many different areas of ministry that he was about to fold up physically under the strain of it. The overload was actually about to kill him. Finally, the Lord spoke to him one night and said, John, it’s not your calling that’s nearly killed you. It’s everything else you’ve added to it.

I’ve had to deal with that in my own life. I’ve had to quit doing things just because they need doing. I’ve had to discipline myself to sticking to what I’m called to do.

Make up your mind to prayerfully trim away the extra things you’ve added to your life. Stir up the gift God has placed inside you. Get back to what He has called you to do.

After all, that calling is vital. It’s holy…and it’s yours. Don’t ever let it slip away from you.

Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-20

This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.

Topic: Minister The Good News [Thursday December 21, 2017]

John 20:21 “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

The dictionary states that to reconcile means to re-establish friendship between; to settle or resolve, as a dispute. The key to reconciliation is to effectively deal with the enmity, ill will, hatred, or hostility that caused the dispute, etc.

The enmity between man and God was sin. God took the initiative to remove this barrier through the means and agency of Jesus Christ, thus leaving man and God as friends once again.

We have received the ministry of reconciliation. That means we are in the ministry of reconciling people to God. Much of what people call the gospel today is actually alienating man from God. True, we need to show people their need for God to get them to receive His forgiveness and reconciliation, but the angry and bitter attitude some people have when confronting the sinner, is not correct.

Imputing people’s sins unto them was not the way God used Jesus to reconcile the world unto Himself. We should not focus on the problem of sin, but on the answer of God’s grace (Rom. 5:20).

When you read a newspaper, you read about things that have already happened. They are not reporting prophecy. They are reporting the news. So our real job as ministers of reconciliation is to announce the good NEWS, which is an accomplished fact – that sin has already been dealt with through the person of Christ. We should say, “Now we beseech you, be ye reconciled to God. Change your mind and believe the gospel so that you may partake of what has already been done on your behalf.”

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: Neglect of Soul [Thursday December 21, 2017]

“Blessed is the man who reveres God, but the man who doesn’t care is headed for serious trouble.” —Proverbs 28:14 (TLB)

All Christians believe in God, but many Christians have little time for God. They are too busy with everyday affairs to be taken up with Bible reading, prayer, and being thoughtful to their fellowmen. Many of them have lost the spirit of a zealous discipleship. If you ask them if they are Christians, they would probably answer, “I think so,” or, “I hope so.” They may go to church at Easter and Christmas and on other special occasions, but otherwise they have little time for God. They have crowded God out of their lives.

The Bible warns against neglect of your soul. It is possible to harden your heart and shrivel your soul, until you lose your appetite for the things of God. This hunger, then, that you should have is a desire to be always right with God. It is a consciousness that all searching for peace of heart, except in Him, is in vain.

Prayer for the day: I hunger today to know more of You, Lord.

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.