God Will Make a Way:
if your heart is ready and willing
Scripture reading: Luke 19:1-9
Focus verse: Luke 19:3-4, “He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran a head and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.”
Zacchaeus was chief tax collector and a wealthy man. Possibly he was a well-educated man given his position in the government. He was not liked by many people; they referred to him as a sinner. Possibly he loved bribes and could take tax more than required. We are also told that he was a short man. In spite of all these, he heard that Jesus was passing through his town (Jericho) and he decided in his heart that he too would see who Jesus was. Because of his short stature and being that many people were following Jesus, he realized that his desire to see Jesus could not be possible since the crowd was a barrier. Still determined in his heart to see Jesus, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree that was on the road where Jesus was to pass through. Jesus reached the spot, looking up he saw Zacchaeus and he told him to climb down since He was going to stay at his house. So he came down at once!
We should stop focusing on our limitations but focus on God who is able do all things. God will always provide a way for us to reach him or to do his work if we are ready and willing. He doesn’t require us to be perfect before we can reach Him or serve him. Like Zacchaeus, all human beings are sinners and limited in one way or another but still we can reach God no matter what tries to hinder us. The way of God may seem undesirable or unpleasant before men and it requires a lot of humility for one to find it. God provided the sycamore-fig tree for Zacchaeus to use in reaching to Him but it needed a lot of humility and self-decrease by Zacchaeus given his position and wealth in order to climb it. There are many sycamore-fig trees around us that God provides for us to reach him but we have to decrease ourselves (humble) in order to grab one. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you. There are things we cannot change in our nature just like Zacchaeus couldn’t change his height, but God will always provide us with a way out if we ready and willing.
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church, Mfangano Kenya
Friday, February 14, 2020
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Not Every Storm Calmed
Not Every Storm Calmed
Scripture reading: Matthew 14:22-32
Focus verse: Matthew 14:28-29 – “Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “Tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.
A few weeks ago I had the experience of riding on a passenger motor boat on a very stormy lake. I didn’t like it and I prayed that it would calm down but it was never calming but instead getting worse. I was tempted to think thank God is not listening to my prayers and I thought I really needed to begin confessing any sins in my life if this was the reason my plea was not being answered according to how I wanted it. So tough it was that I began to think of what’s next for my family if die then this verse of Jesus walking on water came to me. God spoke to me in midst of the storm and told me that not all storms are to be calmed, others you will walk over them as Jesus did. At one time He calmed the storm but on another note He walked over them and gave Peter the power to walk over them too and we too must prepare ourselves with the same mind.
Storms are part of our everyday life. We have storms of sicknesses, rejection, divorce, separation, poverty, shame, death, persecution among others. Many at times we pray that God would lift them out because they seem too heavy for us to bear. We feel much pain when our physical health is deteriorating and we find hard when our needs constrains us. Yes, it’s ok to pray for God take out the condition from us but at the same time we need to prepare our hearts and mind to be ready to accept what is God’s will for us. Unlike other disciples in the boat, Peter became different from the other eleven disciples since he is the only disciples who walked over water. Storms of life can make us be different from others in our faith and it can be a way that God uses to make us be different from others. Our storm experience can be a source of motivation for them who would go through them some day. Storms make to rely on God and see him as our only source of help. We trust him more for his help.
Paul, 2 Cor. 1: 8-9 – We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on our strength but on God, who raises the death. Also in 2 Cor. 12:7-9 Paul indicates that he was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment him and keep him from becoming conceited because of the surpassing great revelations. Three times he prayed for God to take it away but God told him that His grace is sufficient for him, and that His power is made perfect in weakness. Paul finishes by saying that “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power may rest on me.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church, Mfangano Kenya
Scripture reading: Matthew 14:22-32
Focus verse: Matthew 14:28-29 – “Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “Tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.
A few weeks ago I had the experience of riding on a passenger motor boat on a very stormy lake. I didn’t like it and I prayed that it would calm down but it was never calming but instead getting worse. I was tempted to think thank God is not listening to my prayers and I thought I really needed to begin confessing any sins in my life if this was the reason my plea was not being answered according to how I wanted it. So tough it was that I began to think of what’s next for my family if die then this verse of Jesus walking on water came to me. God spoke to me in midst of the storm and told me that not all storms are to be calmed, others you will walk over them as Jesus did. At one time He calmed the storm but on another note He walked over them and gave Peter the power to walk over them too and we too must prepare ourselves with the same mind.
Storms are part of our everyday life. We have storms of sicknesses, rejection, divorce, separation, poverty, shame, death, persecution among others. Many at times we pray that God would lift them out because they seem too heavy for us to bear. We feel much pain when our physical health is deteriorating and we find hard when our needs constrains us. Yes, it’s ok to pray for God take out the condition from us but at the same time we need to prepare our hearts and mind to be ready to accept what is God’s will for us. Unlike other disciples in the boat, Peter became different from the other eleven disciples since he is the only disciples who walked over water. Storms of life can make us be different from others in our faith and it can be a way that God uses to make us be different from others. Our storm experience can be a source of motivation for them who would go through them some day. Storms make to rely on God and see him as our only source of help. We trust him more for his help.
Paul, 2 Cor. 1: 8-9 – We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on our strength but on God, who raises the death. Also in 2 Cor. 12:7-9 Paul indicates that he was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment him and keep him from becoming conceited because of the surpassing great revelations. Three times he prayed for God to take it away but God told him that His grace is sufficient for him, and that His power is made perfect in weakness. Paul finishes by saying that “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power may rest on me.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church, Mfangano Kenya
Friday, January 31, 2020
Plenty During a Famine
Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 7
Focus Verse: 2 Kings 7:9 “Finally, they said to each other, This is not right. This is a day of good news and we aren’t sharing it with anyone. If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
What an odd story we find in 2 Kings 7. Here are four men dying of leprosy at the city gate during a famine. Not only are they starving, but everyone in the city is also starving. So the four lepers decide to go visit the enemy camp to see if there is food there. Thinking they may be killed by the enemy, but they thought it was a risk they should take to find some food. Much to their surprise when they got to the enemy camp not a person was there. All their food, gold, silver, and possessions were all there in their tents. So the four men began eating their fill for food. They took some of the gold and silver and hid it. But there was so much they could not carry it all away. Then they began to feel guilty. Here they were enjoying all these good things while the people back in their town are starving. So they decided to go back and tell what they had found.
This story reminds me of how we treat the Gospel message sometimes. As believers in Christ we have found the truth of God’s Word and salvation. And we sit around feasting on it, and rarely telling another person what we have found. The world is out there starving spiritually. Let us do as the lepers did and go back and tell of the riches we have found through a relationship with God. We have plenty, so let’s share what we have found. The best way you could show someone that you love them is to tell them about Jesus.
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Hope of Success
Scripture reading: Numbers 13
Focus verses: “The Lord said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites… Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." Numbers 13:1a, 30-31
The Lord told Moses to send some men to explore the promised land that He is giving to them. (He didn't tell them to decide if they could take it, but that it was being given.) After the appointed men explored, they saw that the land was very good, but most of them complained that it would be too difficult to take over the powerful people and fortified cities. They began to spread lies about the land, saying that it was a bad land and the people were giants. They lost their hope and treated God with contempt.
Caleb saw the good land and trusted in the God who said that He was giving them the land. In Numbers 14 we see that Joshua joins Caleb in declaring the land to be good and trusting in God's protection and promise.
We may not always know what God is giving us, but we can trust God to deliver us if we are trusting in Him, even in the face of our own personal giants. Do not give up hope in God. Do not treat God with contempt and rebel against Him. Walk in confidence as Caleb and Joshua did.
~Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Focus verses: “The Lord said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites… Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." Numbers 13:1a, 30-31
The Lord told Moses to send some men to explore the promised land that He is giving to them. (He didn't tell them to decide if they could take it, but that it was being given.) After the appointed men explored, they saw that the land was very good, but most of them complained that it would be too difficult to take over the powerful people and fortified cities. They began to spread lies about the land, saying that it was a bad land and the people were giants. They lost their hope and treated God with contempt.
Caleb saw the good land and trusted in the God who said that He was giving them the land. In Numbers 14 we see that Joshua joins Caleb in declaring the land to be good and trusting in God's protection and promise.
We may not always know what God is giving us, but we can trust God to deliver us if we are trusting in Him, even in the face of our own personal giants. Do not give up hope in God. Do not treat God with contempt and rebel against Him. Walk in confidence as Caleb and Joshua did.
~Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Friday, January 17, 2020
The Rewards of Humility
Bible reading: Luke 18Focus verse: "I tell you,
this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For
those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble
themselves will be exalted." Luke 18:14
The great evangelist Dwight L. Moody
said, “I have had more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any other man
who has crossed my path. If I can keep him right, I don’t have any
trouble with other people.”
We love to blame things on other people when, in reality, the problem lies with us. We can point fingers and complain about this person doing that thing and that person doing another thing. But the truth is that our own hearts aren’t right.
It’s no different than Adam and Eve shifting blame in the Garden of Eden. Adam said, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then Eve said, “The serpent deceived me. . . . That’s why I ate it” (Genesis 3:12–13 NLT).
All too often we blame other people or our circumstances rather than admit that we’re responsible for what we do.
Jesus told a parable about two men who went into the temple to pray. One was a sinner, and the other was a Pharisee. The sinner would not even lift his eyes to Heaven. Instead, he said, “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner” (Luke 18:13 NLT). This guy was bad, and he knew it.
Meanwhile, the Bible says, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican” (verse 11 KJV).
Jesus said, “I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (verse 14 NLT).
The one who admitted his sin, the one who owned it, is the one who went home justified before God.
Written by Greg Laurie
Written by Greg Laurie:
We love to blame things on other people when, in reality, the problem lies with us. We can point fingers and complain about this person doing that thing and that person doing another thing. But the truth is that our own hearts aren’t right.
It’s no different than Adam and Eve shifting blame in the Garden of Eden. Adam said, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then Eve said, “The serpent deceived me. . . . That’s why I ate it” (Genesis 3:12–13 NLT).
All too often we blame other people or our circumstances rather than admit that we’re responsible for what we do.
Jesus told a parable about two men who went into the temple to pray. One was a sinner, and the other was a Pharisee. The sinner would not even lift his eyes to Heaven. Instead, he said, “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner” (Luke 18:13 NLT). This guy was bad, and he knew it.
Meanwhile, the Bible says, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican” (verse 11 KJV).
Jesus said, “I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (verse 14 NLT).
The one who admitted his sin, the one who owned it, is the one who went home justified before God.
Written by Greg Laurie
Friday, January 10, 2020
Stay Close to the Shepherd
Stay Close to the Shepherd
Scripture Reading: Psalm 23
Focus Verse: Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
I have heard Psalm 23:4 quoted many times at funerals or to comfort someone who is on their deathbed. It’s a great verse, but is this really the correct use of the verse? Is that really how the Psalmist David meant it when he wrote it? David says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” He talks about walking. What could this mean?
I picture this verse being used by a soldier that is walking through enemy territory. He wants to keep walking. He wants to keep moving and he’s calling on the Lord as his Shepherd to get him through this situation.
Life takes us through valleys and over mountaintops. Would it be nice if we stayed on the mountaintops all the time? Here’s a quote from Greg Laurie, "Spiritual fruit doesn’t grow on mountaintops. It grows in valleys. And the real fruit and depth and character in your Christian life will not come through the good times. Instead, it will come from times of difficulty and suffering as you are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ and are learning to completely trust Him.”
If you find yourself in a valley stay close to the Shepherd. He will never leave you and He will see you through to the other side.
I picture this verse being used by a soldier that is walking through enemy territory. He wants to keep walking. He wants to keep moving and he’s calling on the Lord as his Shepherd to get him through this situation.
Life takes us through valleys and over mountaintops. Would it be nice if we stayed on the mountaintops all the time? Here’s a quote from Greg Laurie, "Spiritual fruit doesn’t grow on mountaintops. It grows in valleys. And the real fruit and depth and character in your Christian life will not come through the good times. Instead, it will come from times of difficulty and suffering as you are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ and are learning to completely trust Him.”
If you find yourself in a valley stay close to the Shepherd. He will never leave you and He will see you through to the other side.
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Friday, January 3, 2020
Keep in Step
Bible Reading Daniel 1Focus verse: "Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we
live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Galatians
5:24-25
In the Bible reading today, we see that Daniel and his friends have been taken up to serve in the King's palace. This meant that they were going to be given all the richest of food and wine and walk in step with all that their world thought was good. It is thought that the king's meal was not according to the laws of eating that God had given to the Israelites and that to violate that law would have been out of step with God. Therefore, Daniel did not want to defile himself (to make himself unclean) with the king's food and wine and requested that they be given vegetables and water to drink. They were granted the request and fed vegetables and water for ten days and were found to be stronger and in good health. God gave them knowledge, skills and wisdom.
God desires that you keep in step with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes that is very easy, but other times it is a challenge. We can be challenged by friends and neighbors around us who are not in step with the Spirit. We an also be challenged by our own passions and desires. It is easier to just walk in step with everyone around you than to examine whether or not it is in step with the Spirit. Every decision is a spiritual decision. Daniel didn't want to disturb his relationship with God and gave a firm rejection of the temptation.
When the Holy Spirit gives conviction, we must remember it. We can't be led astray by whispers of the enemy. We can't follow our passions and our own desires. Even a little foot misplaced can lead us off into the wrong direction in our lives. It takes a spiritual discipline and self sacrifice to remain in step with God.
Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
In the Bible reading today, we see that Daniel and his friends have been taken up to serve in the King's palace. This meant that they were going to be given all the richest of food and wine and walk in step with all that their world thought was good. It is thought that the king's meal was not according to the laws of eating that God had given to the Israelites and that to violate that law would have been out of step with God. Therefore, Daniel did not want to defile himself (to make himself unclean) with the king's food and wine and requested that they be given vegetables and water to drink. They were granted the request and fed vegetables and water for ten days and were found to be stronger and in good health. God gave them knowledge, skills and wisdom.
God desires that you keep in step with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes that is very easy, but other times it is a challenge. We can be challenged by friends and neighbors around us who are not in step with the Spirit. We an also be challenged by our own passions and desires. It is easier to just walk in step with everyone around you than to examine whether or not it is in step with the Spirit. Every decision is a spiritual decision. Daniel didn't want to disturb his relationship with God and gave a firm rejection of the temptation.
When the Holy Spirit gives conviction, we must remember it. We can't be led astray by whispers of the enemy. We can't follow our passions and our own desires. Even a little foot misplaced can lead us off into the wrong direction in our lives. It takes a spiritual discipline and self sacrifice to remain in step with God.
Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
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