UCB Word For Today

Consider these examples of resistance to inventions that we now consider commonplace and enjoy every day. In Germany, ‘experts’ said that if trains went as fast as fifteen to twenty miles an hour – considered a frightful speed – blood would spurt from the travellers’ noses and passengers would suffocate when going through tunnels. In America, experts said the introduction of the railway would require the building of many asylums, since people would be driven mad with terror at the sight of the locomotives. When the idea of iron ships was first proposed, experts insisted that they would not float, it would be difficult to preserve the iron bottom from rust, and that iron would play havoc with compass readings. In 1797, when the first cast-iron plough was invented, farmers in New Jersey rejected it, saying the cast iron would poison the ground and stimulate the growth of weeds. When the YMCA in New York welcomed the invention of the typewriter and announced typing lessons for women, protests erupted on the grounds that the female constitution would break down under the strain. Now consider these statements, each of which is a product of a negative mindset: 1) ‘Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible’ (Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895). 2) ‘Man will never tap the power of the atom’ (Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1923). 3) ‘Everything that can be invented has been invented’ (Charles H. Duell, U.S. Patent Office Director, 1899). If you want to accomplish great things and be used by God, become an ‘I can’ person.

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

Marian wanted to become a concert singer, a challenge that was doubly difficult because of the colour of her skin. Her mother, however, had a patient trust in God. Marian later said, ‘Mother’s religion made her believe she could receive what was right for her if she was conscientious in her faith. If it did not come, it was because God had not considered it right for her. We grew up in this atmosphere of faith that she created…We believed as she did, because we wanted the same kind of haven in the time of storm.’ When Marian was denied admission to a famous music conservatory on account of her race, her mother said, ‘Someone would be raised up’ to help her accomplish what she hoped to do at the conservatory. That someone arrived a few weeks later. One of Philadelphia’s outstanding voice teachers, Giuseppe Boghetti, made room for her to become one of his students. And Marian Anderson was on her way to becoming one of the most popular singers of the twentieth century. On Easter Sunday in 1939, she sang to seventy-five thousand people at the Lincoln Memorial and gave a performance never to be forgotten by those present. Solomon said these two things about God’s guiding hand in our lives: 1) ‘The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?’ 2) ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take’ (Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT).

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

The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom beyond our knowledge, power beyond our strength, and gifting beyond our ability. With His help, we become better than our best effort and better than our best thought. We become the best version of ourselves possible. Of course, this takes a lifetime. Hence, Paul wrote: ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ It’s hard to imagine a farmer planting a crop of beans and then being surprised that it didn’t produce corn. Why? Because you reap what you sow. Yet some of us seem shocked when the seeds of sin yield their crop. So, what are you planting? Love or hate? Joy or ingratitude? Patience or impatience? Self-control or self-indulgence? You cannot break the law of sowing and reaping, but it can break you or make you – if you keep sowing the right seeds. Want a bumper crop? Then you need more of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit can’t fill you if you’re full of yourself. So, a prerequisite to having more of the Holy Spirit is being honest, being humble, and being hungry. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the nine fruits the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. So, if you want more of the Holy Spirit, it means you literally want more love, more joy, more peace, more forbearance, more kindness, more goodness, more faithfulness, more gentleness, and more self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23 NIV). The good news is, you can have as much of the Holy Spirit as you want.

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

Jesus said: ‘The Helper, the Holy Spirit…will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.’ When you need to make a critical decision, you need ‘the spirit of wisdom and revelation’ (Ephesians 1:17 NKJV). When you’re in a difficult situation and unsure of what to say: ‘Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit’ (Mark 13:11 NIV). When you find it hard to show love? ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love’ (Galatians 5:22 NIV). The same is true with every fruit of the Spirit. Do you need to overcome an addiction? ‘The fruit of the Spirit is…self-control’ (v. 22-23 NIV). Of course, that’s an oxymoron because it doesn’t come from you. It’s the Spirit who manufactures it, so it’s really Spirit-control. What you need more of is the Holy Spirit. And for the record, the Spirit of God doesn’t just want to fill you; He also wants to stretch you and increase your capacity. If you feel like your life is in chaos today, the Spirit of God is hovering – just as He did at the dawn of creation when He brought light out of darkness, order out of chaos, and beauty out of nothingness (see Genesis 1:1-3). No matter what question you have, the Holy Spirit is the answer. No matter what problem you face, the Holy Spirit is the solution. You need as much of Him as you can get, so you need to yield as much of yourself to Him as you can.

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

When God told Joshua, ‘Be strong and courageous,’ the word be really means become. It’s not like a computer in which you enter a password and ‘hey, presto!’ you’re courageous. Courage is a quality you grow into. Like filling bigger shoes, the more you walk in them, the more comfortable they become. Joshua had already been to the Promised Land. He knew there were seven nations to be conquered. He was well aware of the problems he’d have to face. So, God said: 1) ‘Do not be afraid of those nations, for the LORD…is among you, and he is a great and awesome God’ (Deuteronomy 7:21 NLT). The job you’re about to take on may look more like a battlefield than a bed of roses, but God will be with you. He will give you solutions for the problems and strength for the battles. 2) ‘The LORD your God will drive those nations out ahead of you’ (Deuteronomy 7:22 NLT). God will go ahead of you and arrange everything. He will help you make the right connections and provide you with the needed resources. 3) ‘The LORD…will drive those nations out…little by little. You will not clear them away all at once’ (v. 22 NLT). God works in us one area at a time. Life’s not one big battle; it’s a series of small daily struggles required to defeat the enemies that stand in your way. Twenty-three chapters later, God was still telling Israel to be courageous. Courage is like oxygen; you can’t survive without it. It’s not the absence of fear; it’s the conquest of it. Courage means doing it afraid until you conquer your fear.

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