THE WATERFALL OF GRACE

Leviticus 2:1 ‘When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.  The grain offering in the Old Testament speaks of Jesus’ sacrifice, and oil in the Bible speaks of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So the grain offering of fine flour, which had oil poured on it, speaks of Jesus’ humanity being anointed by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is fully God. But when He came to earth, He literally emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. (Philippians 2:7) That is why He needed to be anointed of the Holy Spirit before He could begin His ministry. (John 1:33) Though fully God, He did things by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was anointed to bring the blessings of God into the lives of people. He first spoke of His anointing when He was preaching in His hometown—“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor…” (Luke 4:18) Today, Jesu...

JOB 42:12-17  The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.  Many people talk about Job's trials, but few tell the end of his story. This is the same view many have of their own life. They are looking only at their present circumstances, and not looking forward to what the Lord has planned for their future. JAMES 5:11  As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of...

John 1:43-46 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. When Philip began to follow Jesus, the first thing he did was invite a friend to meet Jesus. His friend, Nathanael, was skeptical. He questions the validity of Philip's comments that Jesus is the One of whom the prophets wrote. The area Jesus was from was not exactly known for turning out great Jewish leaders. Philip does not seem to be rattled by Nathanael's concerns. Note this: Philip has hardly been with Jesus for 24 hours himself. He is not exactly a fully matured disciple ........not by a l...

PSALM 18:30 30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Life's biggest temptation may be to doubt God. But God's way is perfect. DEUTERONOMY 32:4 4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. God simply knows more than we do! Just because something seems to us like it would be good, does not guarantee we are right. God has much more experience than we do. We need to trust in His love, heed His warnings, and follow His instruction given to us in the Bible -- not just to please Him, but for our own happiness as well.  DEUTERONOMY 30:19  "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; Because of the curse resulting from mankind's rebellion against God, death in al...

1 Samuel 23:1-3 When David was told, "...look the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting their threshing floors", he inquired of the Lord, saying: "Shall I go and attack those Philistines?" The Lord answered, "Go attack the enemy and save Keilah." But David's men said, "....we are afraid."  Who could blame them? David and his men had enough struggles of their own. They were constantly on the run; trying to evade the murderous attacks of a jealous King Saul. With a multitude of problems still only a few miles behind them, David steps in to help the people of Keilah because of God's call to do so. David's men are tired and overwhelmed with their own fears but they fight anyway! In the end, David and his men save Keilah!  Everyday, you and I wake up to a series of challenges and struggles. No one is exempt from them. As we go through our day, God will provide opportunities along the way to "li...

1 CHRONICLES 16:31  Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be happy! Let the nations say, 'The LORD reigns!' There is plenty to be unhappy about on earth. But we can always be happy about the Lord and what He has done for us. We don't have to continually focus on the bad things happening around us. When we rejoice in the Lord it makes us feel better, and the Lord enjoys it, also. ZEPHANIAH 3:17  For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."  God rejoices over you! He loves you more than you realize! God created you to live with positive emotions. He is happy and He wants you to be happy, too. DEUTERONOMY 12:7  There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you. Under the Old Covenant ...

 MATTHEW 28:5-6  But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Jesus Christ's resurrection is either the supreme fact in history or a gigantic hoax. If Christ's resurrection is true -- we ignore its implications at our own peril. If not, then Christianity is the biggest fraud in the history of the world. many acknowledge that Jesus was merely a great teacher. C. S. Lewis, a former atheist wrote: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a p...

1 PETER 5:8-9    Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.  The devil is your enemy. His forces are the ones causing you trouble. (And their main target is your faith.) God is not your enemy! God is for you. He is on your side. People are not your enemies. They sometimes act like enemies -- but they are not. They are only relatives in darkness who are believing lies and being influenced by the devil. EPHESIANS 6:11-12 NLT 11 Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Although Jesus completely defeated the devil and gave us authority over him, the de...

  1 CORINTHIANS 8:2 NIV 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.  1 CORINTHIANS 8:2 LB 2 If anyone thinks he knows all the answers, he is just showing his ignorance.  A problem we have is that we don't know what we don't know. (Certainly, we can trust in God's Word (the Bible) and know it is truth -- as long as we are accurately reading it.) Just like you, I evaluate things based on what I think I know. I evaluate myself. I evaluate others. But are my evaluations correct? Do I know as much as I think I do? Am I using the right criteria? Do I really see the whole picture as God does? Am I really qualified? What should we do? We have to make choices everyday -- which implies making judgments in the sense of making evaluations. We have to proceed based on the best information we have at the time. But just remember, not one of us knows everything. So walk humbly before God and mankind. Those you think are wrong today, yo...

ISAIAH 53:5  AMP 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.  Jesus, by His sacrifice on Calvary, paid for your prosperity. (The word translated peace in the verse above is "shalom." It means well-being in every way, not just inward peace, but what can be seen by others, and includes material prosperity.) Everything Adam lost through the fall was reclaimed for mankind by the sacrifice of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:21-22, Romans 5:15- 19). Jesus took the punishment necessary for us to have peace and perfect well-being. With Jesus, God gave us everything He had (Romans 8:32). God is not holding out on us. He has given us richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). All the blessings of Abraham are available now to all people through Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:14). These blessi...

ROMANS 8:38-39 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow -- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below -- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.   At one time you may have believed God loved you. But now, because of what you have done, you may not understand how God could possibly still love you. But He does!  ROMANS 5:8  8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. God loved you while you were a sinner, in rebellion against Him. And He has not changed His mind! We must understand that God does not love us because we deserve His love, but because it is His nature to love. 1 JOHN 4:8  8 But anyone who doe...

LUKE 11:5-8 KJV 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.   The lesson of this parable is NOT that we must persist in prayer to obtain an answer from an unwilling God. But that we should be bold in asking. A parable may teach by showing similarity or by contrasting differences. The point here is based on contrast. This becomes more clear, just a few verses later, in verse 13. LUKE 11:13 KJV 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much mo...

Isaiah 58:2-8   For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.   Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,...

REVELATION 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants -- things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John... Books on the "end times" are very popular. People are interested in knowing the future. Some think the Book of Revelation is a step-by-step guide to what will happen in the future, but not every Bible teacher agrees with this interpretation.  I admit I don't have it all figured out. But the first verse reveals what is the true subject of the Book of Revelation -- Jesus Christ. It is about the victory of Jesus Christ, revealing to us that He will triumph over and banish all evil. The Book of Revelation is supposed to give us comfort and encouragement, not by revealing to us the Antichrist, but by revealing to us the victorious Christ. At one time I thought I needed to thoroughly understand the Book of Revelation so I could know the future. Now I realize my motivation wa...

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  “I am concerned about the big business deal that I have to close tomorrow.” “I am worried about tomorrow’s job interview.” “My medical test results will be out tomorrow. I am afraid it won’t be good.” God does not want you to worry about tomorrow. He wants you to know that He gives you all the help you need for today, and when tomorrow comes, so will fresh help from Him. This is God’s principle even in the Old Testament. When the children of Israel were in the desert, God gave them fresh manna from heaven every morning. (Exodus 16:13–16, 31) They did not have to worry about tomorrow because when tomorrow came, there was fresh manna again. He was their provision every day. Today, God’s manna is the grace He gives you every day. If you are worried about a situation tomorrow, know that there will be sufficient grace for that situati...

 Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Do you feel misunderstood and forsaken by the people you love? Have you been falsely accused and stripped of everything, without a dime to your name? Maybe today, you feel that you have hit rock bottom and you wonder if you can ever rise again.  Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into slavery (Genesis 37:28), went through all these experiences and emotions. Still, he was conscious that God was in it with him every step of the way. Though his life was a “mess”, he believed that it was not an accident. Though the things that were happening to him were not good, he believed that God was making all things work together for his good. And it was indeed so—Joseph eventually rose to occupy the most powerful position in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. (Genesis 41:40) Probably, this consciousness that God was in it with him was t...

1 Kings 22:5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel: "First, seek the counsel of the Lord." Should we go to battle? Jehoshaphat gives wise counsel: First, check with God. How many decisions do we face every day that will affect us and those around us? Futures can even be on the line! Yet so often, we are tempted to go it on our own. In this case, the King of Israel seeks to get a favorable word that will agree with him. How often do we make up our minds on a decision, and then try to build a case by seeking people who we know will agree with us? In this case, the King of Israel finally agrees to bring in someone that would speak the truth for God. Micaiah disagrees with the King's plan....so the King has him put in jail. How many times do we write off "truth tellers" in our lives because they seek God's truth first and not our approval. If they disagree, just go somewhere else to get the opinion we want. Ahab, the King of ...

Psalm 103:4 ...who [the Lord] redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies...  Four women are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. (Matthew 1:1–16) Interestingly, they are not Sarah, Rebekah, Leah or Rachel, wives of the patriarchs of the Old Testament. Instead, they are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, women who had morally questionable backgrounds. Tamar resorted to deception and prostitution to produce children through her father-in-law. Yet, it was from her line, the tribe of Judah, that the Messiah came. (Genesis 38) Rahab was a Gentile and a prostitute in Jericho, who became a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Joshua 2:1–21) She also became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth. (Ruth 4:13) Ruth was morally upright. But as a Moabitess, she was a Gentile and therefore considered unclean. Yet, she became the grandmother of David (Ruth 4:13–17), whom the Jews regard as their greatest king. Bathsheba committed...

 2 Corinthians 5:19 …God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them…  On which two ancient cities did God rain brimstone and fire? If your answer is Sodom and Gomorrah, you are right. But if you think that God was all eager to destroy the two cities, you are wrong! God wasn’t willing at all. He was not on a sin hunt. He was on a righteousness hunt so that He could spare the cities. (Genesis 18:23–32) And I believe that if Abraham had asked God, “What if You can find just one righteous man?” God’s answer would have been the same: “I will not destroy the place for the sake of one righteous man.” Today, the righteousness of one Man—Jesus—has come. Jesus died for our sins and rose again for our justification. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our sins against us! Therefore, no judgment will fall on you today because it fell on Jesus 2,000 years ago at Calvary. And if God was gracious enough to...

2 CHRONICLES 16:7-9 NLT 7 At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, "Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the LORD your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram. 8 Don't you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and horsemen? At that time you relied on the LORD, and he handed them all over to you. 9 The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on, you will be at war."  When you look to other sources for help -- instead of turning to God when you face trouble, it displeases God. How would you feel if your spouse completely ignored you and went to someone else when they had a problem, instead of turning to you for advice or help?  Looking to others instead of God for help can also open the door for trouble in your life. Tha...