UCB Word For Today

What does it really mean to be ‘poor in spirit’? This phrase has nothing to do with finances or status. It means that you become conscious of your own spiritual emptiness – that without God, you are nothing, you have nothing, and you can do nothing of consequence or eternal benefit. To be poor in spirit means you know that all of your self-righteousness is as filthy rags and all of your self-propelled achievements are short-term and fleeting at best (see Isaiah 64:6). To be poor in spirit means that you know you need God. Why would this cause you to be ‘blessed’? Because you are open to receiving God’s free gift of salvation and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life. You are willing to humble yourself and pray: ‘Lord Jesus, I need You. I accept You as my Saviour. I want to yield my life to Your will and do things Your way to the glory of Your Name.’ If you are poor in spirit, you are willing to declare yourself spiritually bankrupt. And in so doing, you lay down your pride of spirit, your pride of will, your pride of intellect, and your pride of heart at the feet of Jesus. If you are poor in spirit, you open yourself to God’s saving mercy and grace. Consequently, you are able to enter God’s kingdom and enjoy all of its benefits and its blessings. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ means you can sincerely pray, ‘Lord, I acknowledge my total dependence on You.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

In an old book titled Prevailing Prayer, author Eli Wigle described John Wesley’s prayer life this way: ‘As a matter of habit and rule, John Wesley’s ordinary private praying consumed two hours a day. At times he would gather his company and pray all night, or till the power of God came down. Nothing was considered too great or too small to take to the Lord. Seized with pain in the midst of preaching, so that he could not speak, “I know my remedy,” he said, and immediately kneeled down. In a moment the pain was gone…Being seized with a pain, fever and cough, so that he could scarcely speak, “I called on Jesus aloud to increase my faith. While I was speaking my pain vanished away, my fever left me, and my bodily strength returned.”…Wesley…stirred the world with the fire of his zeal, because he had stirred heaven by the fire of his prayers. His pleas had access to men’s consciences, because they had access to God.’ Why did Wesley spend two hours each day in prayer? 1) Because he saw prayer as a cleansing and correcting force. In one of his prayers he said, ‘Oh, fill up all that is wanting, reform whatever is amiss in me, perfect the thing that concerns me.’ 2) Because he knew that God’s will is the only plan and purpose that God is committed to. ‘Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us’ (1 John 5:14 NKJV).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The Scarlet Letter is the story of a woman found in adultery and required to wear a scarlet ‘A’ on her dress as a symbol of shame. We do the same thing, don’t we? We label people based on a mistake. Sadly, it’s just as true in some churches as it is in the culture. That isn’t how God sees us and labels us. He takes off the grave clothes of sin and covers us in the garments of salvation (see Isaiah 61:10). He gives each of us a new name, a new identity, a new destiny. There’s a storyline in John’s gospel that’s not unlike Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. A woman was caught in the act of adultery. The religious mob was ready to stone her to death when Jesus stepped in. His defence was pure brilliance: ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone’ (John 8:7 NKJV). One by one, they dropped their stones and walked away. Then Jesus told her, ‘Go and sin no more’ (v. 11 NKJV). When you hear about someone’s failure, remember John Bradford’s famous adage: ‘But for the grace of God, there go I.’ Live by the maxim, ‘Love people when they least expect it and least deserve it.’ That’s how you change someone’s life. That’s what Jesus did with this woman. When the Pharisees were writing people off, He was writing them in. When everyone else showed them the door, Jesus showed them grace. Grace is the catalyst that turns guilt into gratitude. One act of grace can turn the worst moment into a defining moment in someone’s life. And you can be that agent of grace.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Beginning in 2007, the REVEAL research project surveyed the members of more than a thousand churches. They wanted to determine the percentage of churchgoers who are actually propelled by their faith to love God and love others with their whole hearts. Guess how many met these qualifications? Eleven per cent! Nearly nine out of ten believers did not make the grade. Think about it this way: if a school graduated only eleven per cent of its students, if a hospital healed only eleven per cent of its patients, if a sports team won only eleven per cent of its games, if a home builder completed only eleven per cent of his projects, wouldn’t changes be made? About 2.2 billion people on our planet call themselves Christians. That’s approximately a quarter of the world’s population. If the survey is any indication, about two billion of those Christians are chugging along on a fraction of their horsepower. What would happen if they got a tune-up or decided to step up or rise up? How much joy would be unleashed? How much wisdom would be shared? How many marriages would be saved? How many wars would be prevented? How much hunger would be eliminated? What would it take for you to be part of the eleven per cent – more compassion, more conviction, more courage? What attitudes would you need to discontinue – greed, guilt, negativity, a critical spirit? Here’s the good news: you can. With God’s help, you can close the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be. You can be ‘transformed…from glory to glory.’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Father, I come boldly before Your throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace for deliverance from emotional insecurity (see Hebrews 4:16). Your Word says You will make all Your grace abound towards me so that I will always have all sufficiency in all things and abound in every good work (see 2 Corinthians 9:8). I cast down every thought of inadequacy and every imagination that rises up against what Your Word says about who I am and what I can do (see 2 Corinthians 10:5). I resist any anxiety over the possibility of losing a social, professional, or other position or a desired relationship. I know that no one can thwart Your purpose for my life. You, O Lord, have sealed my destiny (see Isaiah 14:27). ‘You guard all that is mine’ (Psalm 16:5 NLT). I know, according to Your Word, that You deliberately shaped me in the womb to be Your servant. Therefore, I rest, rejoice, and trust that I am designed for my destiny and perfect for my purpose (see Isaiah 49:5). Because of Your grace, I walk neither in self-doubt nor in self-confidence because I know that apart from You, I can do absolutely nothing (see John 15:5). Therefore, my eyes are on You alone to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or think according to Your power that works in me (see Ephesians 3:20). I thank You that You have heard me and delivered me from all my fears, and they no longer have any power over my life (see Psalm 34:4). In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.