UCB Word For Today

The Bible says: ‘While he was preaching…four men arrived carrying a paralysed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof…Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralysed man…“Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”’ (vv. 2-5, 11-12 NLT). Notice the words ‘when Jesus saw their faith’ (NKJV). Do you have faith God can see? What are you doing to show God you truly believe Him and are taking Him at His Word? It’s important to pray and believe, but you must also do something to demonstrate your faith. For the four men who carried their sick friend to Jesus, demonstrating their faith meant refusing to let the crowd get in their way, or the roof stop them from getting to Jesus. Sometimes you are closest to your victory when you face your greatest obstacles or opposition. A lot of people give up too easily. You say, ‘I’ve tried, but nothing I have done has worked.’ You must be more determined than that. If you can’t get through the crowd, climb up and come down through the roof. Be relentless. That’s what these men did, and Jesus rewarded them with a miracle. And when you are willing to demonstrate a determined faith, He can do the same for you too. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

When Corrie ten Boom travelled the world sharing her experiences, she would often speak with her head down. She appeared to be reading notes, but she was actually stitching a needlepoint design. When she would finish telling her story of the atrocities she suffered from the Nazis, she would reveal the needlepoint she had been working on. She would first show the back side, which was just a tangle of coloured threads with no distinct pattern. And she would say, ‘That’s how we see our lives. Sometimes it makes no sense.’ Then she would flip the needlepoint over to unveil the finished side. And she would say, ‘This is how God views your life, and someday we will have the privilege of seeing it from His point of view.’ Then she would end her talk with this poem written by Grant Colfax Tullar, a minister: ‘My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me; I cannot choose the colours, He worketh steadily. Oft times He weaveth sorrow and I, in foolish pride, forget He sees the upper, and I the underside. Not til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly, will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver’s skilful hand, as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.’ Paul writes, ‘Now we see a dim reflection, as if we were looking into a mirror, but then we shall see clearly. Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me.’© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Motivational speaker Denis Waitley describes an experience that marked his life forever. He was trying to catch a flight for a speaking commitment and was running through the airport terminal. He reached the gate just as the agent closed the door. Denis explained his dilemma, but the agent didn’t reopen the door. That’s when his annoyance turned into anger. He stomped out of the boarding area and returned to the ticket counter to lodge a complaint and reschedule his flight. His anger increased as he waited for over twenty minutes in a line that hardly moved. Right before his turn at the ticket counter, an announcement over the intercom changed his life, because he realised that by missing that flight, his life had been saved. The flight he missed, Flight 191 from Chicago to Los Angeles, had crashed on take-off with no survivors. Denis never lodged his complaint. He also never returned his invalidated ticket for Flight 191. He brought it home and tacked it on a notice board in his office. In the aftermath of that experience, anytime he felt irritated or upset, all he had to do was look at that ticket from Flight 191. It was an unforgettable reminder that life is a gift that should not be undervalued. The psalmist wrote: ‘The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years…it is soon cut off, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom’ (vv. 10, 12 NKJV). © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

The prophet Isaiah tells us God ‘energises those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire…folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind’ (vv. 29-31 MSG). When an eagle is on the ground it’s vulnerable to attack by predators like snakes and wolves. On terra firma its surroundings are a fixed reality the eagle can’t change. So what does it do? It rises above them! From the air, everything looks different. The eagle’s altitude transforms its attitude – and that can happen for you too. ‘Those who wait upon God get fresh strength.’ Here are two illustrations of what it means to wait upon God: 1) Like a wide-winged eagle waiting for a thermal current to carry it heavenward, you must stay in God’s presence with your heart attuned to Him. Do you have duties and demands? Yes, but none as important as this. Why? Because you understand that if you don’t get into God’s presence and stay there until He refreshes and restores you, you won’t make it. 2) Like an attentive waiter at a fine restaurant, whose only aim is to please, you wait on God, sensitive to His voice and surrendered to His will. Have the pressures of life left you drained? Watching television may entertain you for a while, but it won’t restore what life takes out of you. Only God can do that, so learn to ‘wait’ on God. © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

A saleswoman passed a particular corner each day on her way to work. For more than a week, she observed a little girl trying to sell a flop-eared puppy. The saleswoman finally said to the little girl, ‘Honey, if you want to sell this dog, I suggest you clean him up, brush his coat, raise your price, and make people think they’re getting something of value.’ At noon, the saleswoman noticed the little girl had taken her advice. The puppy was groomed and sitting under a big sign that read, ‘TREMENDOUS Puppy for Sale – £5,000.’ The saleswoman smiled and gulped, determined to tell the little girl later that she may have overpriced the puppy. To her surprise, on the way home she saw the puppy was gone! Flabbergasted, the woman sought out the little girl to ask if she had really sold the dog for £5,000. The little girl said, ‘I sure did, and I want to thank you for all your help.’ The saleswoman spluttered, ‘How in the world did you do it?’ She said, ‘It was easy. I just took two £2,500 cats in exchange!’ Seriously, two thousand years ago the greatest exchange of all time took place. On a cross outside Jerusalem, Jesus Christ gave His life in exchange for ours, ‘the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God’. At the cross God took all your sin and placed it upon Christ. And when you place your trust in Christ, God takes all of His righteousness and wraps you up in it. That’s the great exchange!© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.