Victory247

“In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you”

Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

When I was a kid I remember this being called the “Golden Rule”. It almost became just a trite saying. It wasn’t until I got older that I put thought and effort into applying this to daily life.

When dealing with others we need to ask, “how would I want to be handled?”, “how would I want to be talked to?”…we basically need to put ourselves into their shoes. It’s called being ‘others-oriented’ instead of  ‘self-oriented’.

The more we live this way, the more God can invade, effect and impact our lives.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, give me the strength and faith to be ‘others-oriented’. Renew my thinking as I interact with people. Remind me to put on their shoes. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7 (NIV)

Jesus is talking here to His listeners about how to go about depending on God. He wants us to depend on Him more and more. He wants us to trust Him to meet our needs.

‘Ask’- the actual Greek word is more like plead or beg. He wants us to talk to Him in prayer about our needs, wants and desires.

‘Seek’- like when we lose our keys, cell phone or wallet? He wants us to hunt for answers to our life issues, aggressively look for His answers to our ‘ask’. Figuring what our part is in the solution. Craving His input and direction.

‘Knock’- if our knuckles just hit the door once, we have just punched the door. But we need to persistently rap on the door over and over. That is a knock. Be persistent in our asking and seeking.

Though He loves to give good gifts, God is more concerned with our dependence on Him than fulfilling our requests.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, thank you that You want to meet my needs and be close to me. Take care of me so that I can live fulfilled and help others. In Jesus’ Name. Amen

“So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit”

(Galatians 6:9, The Message).

Everyone has God-given dreams and desires. We all have goals we want to accomplish and situations we are believing will be turned around. Sometimes it seems to take longer than we originally thought. Sometimes, things don’t work out the way we planned, and it’s easy to lose enthusiasm. If we’re not careful, we’ll get discouraged and end up just settling where we are. But God doesn’t want us to settle. But many times, people miss out on God’s best simply because they give up too soon. They don’t realize how close they are to their victory.

Don’t give up just because things seem hard. Remember, God is on your side!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father God, today I come to You again, believing that You are working behind the scenes on my behalf. Give me Your strength to keep moving forward into the place of victory You have for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye”

Matthew 7:5 (NLT)

We seem to have the tendency to see flaws in others pretty easily, especially those we don’t like. It can make for enjoyable, yet damaging, conversation if we join forces with someone else who shares the same dislike.

But Jesus is telling us to handle our ability to criticize differently. Our focus needs to be on correcting our own shortcomings. If we are dealing with those, it will help us to be more compassionate and understanding of others. People may even be more compassionate and understanding of us.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to be a person of good character, not a loose cannon of criticism. Thank you that You really love me in spite of my flaws. Give me the strength to gradually change, AND to view others through Your eyes. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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Victory247.org

“Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well”

Matthew 6:33 (New Century Version)

Starting in verse 6:23, Jesus is giving the people some healthy perspective on living by faith. He is addressing everyone’s basic daily needs; clothes (our stuff), and food (our survival).

Jesus is telling us that God will start to intervene in meeting these needs if we start to focus more on placing ourselves under His leadership (‘kingdom’), working on doing right, looking to help others, and not being consumed with just meeting our own needs. If we direct time and effort into seeking God, we are saying to Him that “I believe, and I’m banking on You to take care of me”.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, as I work responsibly to take care of my basic needs, give me opportunities to help others and spend some time learning more about You. Because I want to experience You stepping in and helping my needs get met. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him”

(2 Chronicles 16:9 AMP)

Are you looking for God to move in your life today? The Bible says that God is actually looking to show Himself strong in the Earth. He is looking for those who have a blameless heart toward Him.

When you open your heart to Jesus, and ask Him to forgive you and cleanse you by His blood, He gives you a blameless heart(see victory247.org “Start the Victory” atop the home page)—then you are the person the Lord is looking to work through! When you understand the fact that God longs to work in your life, your faith will increase. And God’s work in your life will increase! Begin to thank God for giving you a clean and blameless heart. Thank Him for desiring to work in you.

Expect to see Him move on your behalf in every area of your life!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, thank You for the blood of Jesus which cleanses my sins and gives me a blameless heart. Search my heart today and remove anything that isn’t pleasing to You. I open my heart and invite You to work in every area of my life. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy”

Matthew 6:20 (NIV)

When we make decisions, use our time, or even do something for others, we seem to have the mindset of  “what’s in it for me?”.  It’s a very common practice for a businessman to give away football tickets to a client to keep them using their services. Or for a mother to offer to babysit a neighbor because she knows that next week she will need a sitter for her kids.

There’s nothing wrong with these practices. But, the challenge is to do something for someone and give to others, expecting nothing from them in return. Do it  ‘just because’. This is what Jesus is talking about with ‘storing treasures in heaven’. If this ‘just because’ motivation becomes a common practice, not only will we get rewarded in heaven, He also will impact our lives abundantly so that we can continue to do even more ‘storing’.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, show me opportunities to store treasures. Help me to check the motives behind my actions, and continue to mold my heart. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”

Matthew 6:13 (NIV)

In the sample prayer that Jesus is giving us, He realizes that we will be in a battle against sin; wrongful actions or thoughts. We need to be convinced that sin damages us. A saying that has helped me is that “if you are trying avoid sin, stay out of sin’s orchard”. Don’t put yourself in a candy store if eating sweets is a problem. Don’t turn on the computer or TV late at night if lust is a problem. Don’t bring up ‘juicy’ topics with certain people if gossip can grip you.

If you feel your flesh telling you that it’s okay, “everyone else is doing it”, be convinced that sin is NEVER worth it! Then pray to God to ‘deliver’ you with the strength to move past it.

TODAY’S PRAYER

Heavenly Father, help me to fight the battles with sin. I need your strength. When I fail, I will confess and start over. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.