UCB Word For Today

When your parents grow old and become less capable of taking care of themselves, they need certain things from you, like love, kindness, patience, tenderness, sensitivity, and understanding. When you were a child, perhaps your mother picked you up at school because you didn’t like to take the bus, and now you’re upset with her for being five minutes late. If you are a teen or a preteen, it’s wrong to be more kind, considerate, and patient with your friends and your friends’ mothers than your own mother. Indeed, if you treated your friends like you treat your mum, you wouldn’t have many friends left. And if you treated their mum like you do your own, their mum wouldn’t let her child have anything to do with you. When your mother gets old and needs more care, it’s payback time! ‘But she is always complaining,’ you say. Yes, just like you did, right? ‘But she talks about herself and asks the same questions over and over.’ As they get older, our parents experience fears they never had before, and they need you to reassure them that you will always be there for them. One of the last things Jesus did when He was dying on the cross was to commit the care of His mother, Mary, to His close friend and disciple, John: ‘Then he said to the disciple, “She is now your mother.” From then on, that disciple took her into his own home’ (John 19:27 CEV). So, the word for today is – take good care of your mother.

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

During World War II, the British Department of Information designed three ‘home publicity’ posters. The first said, ‘Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution will bring us victory.’ The second said, ‘Freedom is in peril.’ The third and most famous said, ‘Keep calm and carry on.’ The department printed 2.45 million of the third poster, but they were never publicly displayed. That motto had all but vanished from Britain’s consciousness when a bookstore-owning couple in Alnwick – Stuart and Mary Manley – discovered an original copy of the poster at the bottom of a box of old books. With Pharaoh’s chariots bearing down on Moses from behind, and the Red Sea in front of him, he was ‘between a rock and a hard place’. That’s when God gave Moses these instructions: ‘The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still’ (Exodus 14:13-14 NIV). That sounds an awful lot like keep calm and carry on, doesn’t it? What would be the hardest thing to do if Egyptian chariots were charging straight at you at full speed? To be still! When we find ourselves in this sort of situation, we want to do something – anything. We have a nervous energy that tries to solve problems as quickly as possible. But these are the tests that reveal trust. Sometimes God leads us to a place where we have nowhere to turn but to Him. Is that where you are today? Then trust God’s power, love, and faithfulness, and He will bring you safely through it.

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

God never gives a person responsibility without giving the ability to respond. So you can look in the mirror today and say with confidence, ‘God, You’ve given me this responsibility and the ability to respond to it.’ In the Bible, when God called regular people to do great things, they usually responded with a sense of inadequacy. When God charged Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage: ‘Moses pleaded, “O Lord, I’m just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I’m not now, even after you have spoken to me…I have a speech impediment”’ (Exodus 4:10 TLB). God wouldn’t hear of it, and He told Moses, ‘Go ahead and do as I tell you, for I will help you to speak well, and…tell you what to say’ (Exodus 4:12 TLB). When God told Gideon to lead the Israelites to victory against the powerful forces of Midian, we read: ‘“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive”’ (Judges 6:15-16 NIV). Gideon conquered an army of 135,000 with only 300 soldiers – plus God. That’s a ratio of 450 to 1! So next time Satan reminds you that you are inadequate, say: ‘You’re correct! But I’m connected to a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and always present. Through Him I can do all things!’ (see Philippians 4:13).

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

It doesn’t take many people to bring about change. In fact, too many people can get in the way. Gideon took 32,000 to fight, but God needed only 300. He doesn’t care how many can be counted – He cares only about how many can be counted on. The truth is that your life could be messed up because too many people are telling you what to do. Hang up the phone. Shut the door. Turn off the TV. Get down before God and ask Him to speak to you. He will give you the word you need (see Isaiah 50:4). God doesn’t need a crowd; He just needs one who will listen and obey. If He wants to start a nation, He’ll give hope and vision to an Abraham. If He wants to bring down an Egyptian Pharaoh, He’ll reach into the bulrushes and pull out a Moses. When He wants a lineage for His Son, He’ll go to the ‘red light district’ and find a Rahab. He’s just looking for a willing heart. Listen again: ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.’ Ethel Waters, who sang with the Billy Graham crusades, loved to say, ‘God don’t sponsor no flops.’ Her grammar was slightly off, but her theology was ‘right on’. Don’t spend your life trying to be ordinary. Don’t pour your life into the mould of someone else’s expectations. God has an agenda for you. The reason He’s brought you through so much is that He has a higher plan and purpose for your life. Get into His presence today and ask Him about it.

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

An observant Jew says a minimum of one hundred blessing prayers each day, beginning with the Hebrew formula: Baruch Atah Adonai. Practising Jews bless God when they see or experience something for the first time. They bless God for smells and tastes. And if something is pleasurable, they bless God. If you enjoy something without saying a blessing, according to the Talmud, it’s as if you had stolen it. ‘All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you.’ Note the words ‘come upon’ and ‘overtake’. You never know how or when His blessings will overtake you. But unlike His goodness and mercy, which ‘follow’ us all the days of our lives (see Psalm 23:6), the blessings of God are tracking you down like a heat-seeking missile. They’re hot on your trail. And one day they’re going to overtake you. Now God doesn’t bless us so we can raise our standard of living; He blesses us so we can raise our standard of giving. The greatest blessing is the ability to bless others. Have you been blessed? That’s where you need to flip the blessing. Where has God shown you favour? That’s where you need to return the favour. There is no greater joy than being on the giving end of a gift. Isn’t that what Jesus said? ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35 NIV). There are hundreds of blessings in Scripture, each with your name on it. If you are in Christ, the blessings belong to you. ‘No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ’ (2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV). So, count your blessings.

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