GOD’S PROMISES ARE TRIED AND PROVEN

“Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness , through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.   For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (NASB: Lockman) —2 Peter 1:3 & 4

Although my mother was not a gourmet cook, her food usually tasted delicious.  She loved to make salads and sweets.  Every Sunday we would come home after church to enjoy one of her delicious meals, and they always included some new recipe.  After she passed away, I was looking through one of her cook books and I noticed that she had mark the ones that she had tried and what the outcome was.   Some were marked “D” for delicious and others “G” for good, I don’t recall ever seeing one that was marked “Not Good”. 

I don’t recall the name of the book that I read that said in the margin of many pages in D. L. Moody’s Bible that he wrote the letters “T” and “P,” meaning “Tried and Proved.”  He had put into practice passages from God’s Word, proving that they “work,” which of course they always do.  

Do you know that God said the same thing to us in Malachi 3:10?  “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (emphasis added).”

Today I encourage you to try and prove God’s wonder-working supernatural precious and magnificent promises that provided everything needed for life and godliness.  You will not be disappointed!

 

Prayer—Heavenly Father, thank You for Your precious promises that assure me that by partaking of them I partake of your divine nature and escape worldly corruption, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

 

RELEASE THE OXEN IN YOUR LIFE

“For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages.”—I Timothy 5:18

Oxen are a representation of the gospel ministers in our lives who help us understanding the meaning of God’s Word.  A leather muzzle or wire device can be placed over an animal’s snout which prevents it from biting or eating.  According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, oxen were used in the Far East to thresh the grain by the oxen trampling upon it.   The command was not to muzzle the ox when threshing, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain” (Deuteronomy 25:4).  This was not intended to apply merely to the ox employed in threshing, but to be understood in the general sense in which the Apostle Paul used it  1 Timothy 5:18—that a laborer was not to be deprived of his wages. 

 

Scripture further address the issue of wages.  Under the law a Jewish laborer was to be paid his wages on the day that he earned it, and he was not to be cheated or robbed by withholding the wages until another day. “Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you” (Deuteronomy 24:15).   “You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him.  The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning” (Leviticus 19:13).   Jesus addressed the issue of wages for those of His disciples that He sent out.   He said, “And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house” (Luke 10:7).

 

The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian believers that those who preach the gospel would get their substance from the gospel.  “Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14).  Furthermore, he made it clear that a minister of the gospel is to be provided for, “Who ever goes to war at his own expense?  Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?  Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?  Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,’ Is it oxen God is concerned about?” (1 Corinthians 9:7-9). 

 

We are given clear instructions on how to support the ministers in our lives.  We release the Oxen in our lives to help us understanding the meaning of God’s Word when we give financially and other ways into their ministries.   Together, as a body, we are expanding the Kingdom of God by releasing the Oxen to do the work of the ministry.  This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.  Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed, I have all and abound, I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.  And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Philippians 4:15-20). 

 

Prayer—Father I repent for withholding my support from the ministers that are helping me to understand the meaning of Your Word.  Thank You for helping me to understand that my involvement in ministry is vital to expanding the Kingdom of God and reaching the lost, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.