DATE: THURSDAY NOVERMBER 23RD 2017
THEME: CHRIST OUR REST
Memorise:
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Isaiah 3:10
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:19-20
1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Message:
There is a time to work and a time for rest. Everyone who labors very hard always looks forward to a time of rest. Rest is so crucial that even God Himself rested after spending six days creating the heavens and the earth. It is therefore not a mistake that God programmed sleep into our body system. He knows that after we have worked hard and are tired, we would need to rest the body in order to get back on our feet. Psalm 127:2 says,
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”
Good sleep is indeed a blessing from God. However, rest for the body is not as important as the rest needed by the soul. If your mind is seriously troubled over an issue, even when you lie down on your bed, you will be unable to sleep. The only place to find rest for your soul is in Christ. No wonder He made a call for you to enter into His rest in Matthew 11:28-30. Have you been worried or troubled lately? Receive rest today in Jesus’ Name!
“Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings”. Isaiah 3:10
One major reason why you as a true believer should be at rest is because of God’s promises. According to our Bible reading, the promises of our God are very reliable. Romans 3:4 says that even if all men are liars, this cannot compel our God to be a liar like them; He will always remain true. Therefore, if He says your tomorrow will be alright, take it as a report card that you are getting even before sitting for the examination. If He said it, He will surely do it. God’s word has integrity. Based on His words that cannot fail, I know my tomorrow will be alright. Irrespective of the raging storm, I will simply rest in Him. Beloved, let Jesus Christ be the One you lean on. Who or what you lean upon in the time of trouble is very important. If you lean on human beings, they will most likely compound your situation because every human being is prone to failure due to so many factors within and outside their control. In contrast, if you lean on human being, they will most likely compound your situation because every human being is prone to failure due to so many factors within and outside their control. In contrast, if you lean on the Eternal Rock of Ages, you can be reassured of true rest, joy and peace.
Action Point:
Take every issue that is bothering your soul before the throne of grace today. Ask Jesus, the giver of rest, to give rest to your soul.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Psalm 38-43
Jonah 4
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 2: WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS
1. What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
2. Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
3. Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
4. Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer—
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PASSAGES
Psalm 38: 1. O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 2. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. 3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. 4. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 5. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. 6. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. 7. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. 8. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. 9. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. 10. My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. 11. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off. 12. They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long. 13. But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. 14. Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs. 15. For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. 16. For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. 17. For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. 18. For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. 19. But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. 20. They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is. 21. Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. 22. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.
Psalm 39: 1. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 2. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 3. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, 4. LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 7. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 8. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. 10. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. 12. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 13. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
Psalm 40: 1. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 3. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. 4. Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 5. Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. 9. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. 10. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. 11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. 12. For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. 13. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. 14. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. 15. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. 16. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified. 17. But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
Psalm 41: 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. 2. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. 3. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. 4. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. 5. Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? 6. And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it. 7. All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt. 8. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more. 9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. 10. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. 11. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. 12. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. 13. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
Psalm 42: 1. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. 6. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. 7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 8. Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. 9. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 10. As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? 11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. -
Psalm 43: 1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. 2. For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3. O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. -
Jonah 4: 1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. 3. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. 4. Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? 5. So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 8. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 9. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. 10. Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
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