WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 9

“I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.
I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy”
(Psalm 132:15, 16).

Yes, we are still in the land of MORE AND MORE. And there is still more to explore. What an amazing kingdom we belong to!

MORE PRECIOUS TRIALS

1 Peter 1:7: “That the trial of your faith, being MUCH MORE PRECIOUS than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

We don’t like going through trials, do we? But we must look ahead. They will bring more glory into our lives than living a life of ease and sunshine. It is through our trials that the junk and muck in our lives is exposed. It’s stuff we must get rid of if we are going to change more and more into the likeness of Christ. As we yield to God and allow Him to do His perfecting work in us, we are refined and will one day receive the reward of glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Wait a minute. More than glory. God uses three adjectives to describe our reward. We will receive praise and honor and glory!

Look at this wonderful promise in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a FAR MORE EXCEEDING and ETERNAL WEIGHT of glory.”

Wow! This time God uses five adjectives to tell us of the reward that awaits us as we allow God to refine us through our afflictions and trials. Speak these adjectives out loud. They will encourage you mightily.

MORE PROVISION

Luke 12:27, 28: “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; HOW MUCH MORE will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

Do believe God? Do you believe His Word? Well, what are you worrying about? He has promised to care about you and clothe you much more than the grass of the field. Read the whole passage in Luke 12:22-34 and Matthew 6:26-34.

Matthew 7: 11: “If ye then, being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, HOW MUCH MORE shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

MORE POWER IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Hebrews 9:13, 14: “For if the blood of bulls and goats . . . sanctified to the purifying of the flesh: HOW MUCH MORE shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Do you notice that the triune God is involved in our salvation. You will read of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in this Scripture. Oh, how precious is the blood of Christ. There is nothing else in this world that can wash us clean from our sin.

How much value do you put on the blood of Christ? Do you honor the blood of Jesus. Do you thank Him each new day for cleansing you with His precious blood and making you ready for His eternal kingdom? I don’t think we should ever a day go by without thanking Him for His eternal salvation. Read 1 Peter 1:18, 19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5, 6; and 12:11.

MORE RECEIVING FROM GOD

Matthew 13:12: “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have MORE ABUNDANCE: but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”

It is difficult to understand this biblical principle. With our human minds we naturally think God would give to those who don’t have rather than those who do. But God knows what He is doing. We remember the parable Jesus told in Matthew 25 where the man traveling to a far country gave to one of his servants 5 talents, one 2 talents and to the last one only one talent. The servants who gained more talents received great rewards when the master came home. The one who buried his talent was chastised and his talent given to the one who received five.

If we do not develop what God has already given to us, He does not give us more. He gives abundance to those who use what He has given to them. The word “abundance” is perisseuo in the Greek and means “superabundance, excessive, enough and to spare, over and a above.”

The same principle applies in how we hear from God. Matthew 4:24, 25 says: “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath to him shall be given, and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”

God does not give revelation and enlightenment to those who carelessly and lightly read His Word or who are not interested in diligently seeking Him. However, when He sees our hearts and minds eager for His truth, He delights to give us a feast from His bountiful table. The more we seek, search, and knock the MORE He gives.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, I thank You that You are a generous God. You give freely. You have promised to provide our needs. You care for us more the grass of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow. I believe Your Word and I put my trust in You. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I want to be a developer of the gifts God gives to me. I want to be a diligent seeker of His truth. I want to be an attentive listener to His words.

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 8

“The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times
so many more as ye are,
and bless you, as he hath promised you!”
(Deuteronomy 1:11).

MORE IMPROVEMENT

The church in Thyatira kept on growing in intensity in the graces of Christ. Jesus said to them in Revelation 2:19 that their love, faith, service, and patient endurance were “MORE THAN the first.” They were greater than at the beginning. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that testimony? To daily grow more and more in these beautiful graces.

MORE AND MIGHTIER THAN THE HEATHEN

When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they multiplied greatly. Exodus 1:7 states: “And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them.” Wow, that’s an amazing description, isn’t it? And this wasn’t happening in good times but in times of suffering, servitude, and “bitter and hard bondage.”

Pharaoh, king of Egypt said in verse 9: “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are MORE AND MIGHTIER than we.” They were fulfilling God’s plan. God wants His people to be MORE AND MIGHTIER than the heathen round about. He wants them to fill the earth with His image—His glory, His love, His truth, His salvation, and His justice.

Pharoah became concerned and “set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.” How did this affect the Israelites? The next verse, v.12 states: “But the more they afflicted them, the MORE THEY MULTIPIED and grew.”

What are God’s people doing in this hour? Are we more and mightier than the unbelievers? Sadly no. The ungodly are pushing their tyranny and evil upon us. They are silencing the people of God. It’s time to stand up, speak up, and multiply! MORE THAN the heathen. The more godly seed we bring into the world, the more of God’s image will fill the land. It’s time we became “MORE AND MIGHTIER” than the “Egyptians.”

I love Psalm 105:24 which says: “He increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.” Read also Isaiah 54:1-3. 

MORE PLEASING GOD

1 Thessalonians 4:1: “We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would ABOUND MORE AND MORE.”

What a beautiful way to begin each day? “Dear Father, show me how I can please you more today.” This was Enoch’s testimony. Hebrews 11:5 says: “God translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

MORE PRAISE TO GOD

David confessed in Psalm 71:14: “I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee MORE AND MORE.”

Do you think we could praise God more than we are doing now? How often do you praise the Lord? It is easy to get into the grind of every day that we can forget to offer praise the Lord. It takes time to get into the habit.

There was a time when set my kitchen timer each hour to remember to praise and thank the Lord. I find that I need set times, or the time slips away y in the busyness of life. This idea came to me when I read Colossians 2:7 which encourages us to “overflow with thanksgiving.” How can I do this, I thought. I know. I can set my timer to remind me!

I am so grateful that we take time to have family devotions each morning and evening. These are times when we not only read God’s word and pray but praise the Lord with a worship song or a hymn.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I thank You that You are a God of increase. You want me to increase in joy, love, faith, service, patient endurance increase, and pleasing You more and more. You love to increase our families with more children. Please help me to always be increasing in all these good things. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I want to live an increasing life, never a diminishing life!

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 7

“Receive my instruction, and not silver;
and knowledge rather than choice gold”
(Proverbs 8:10).

MORE GOLD

We’d all love a little more gold, wouldn’t we? Especially some financial gold. But the greatest gold in the world is the precious, living, vibrating, eternal word. It shows us how to live. It leads us to glory. It is the best gold we can give to our children.

Psalm 19:9, 10: “The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. MORE to be. desired are they than gold, yea, THAN MUCH FINE GOLD . . .” (Psalm 119:72, and 127)

If God’s words are truly more precious than fine gold, which we know they are, why don’t we spend more time digging into them? Why don’t we spend more time imparting these words into our children’s lives instead of all the other stuff we teach them and allow them to read and look at? Have we got our priorities straight? I see hundreds of young people graduating from home school and they hardly know anything of God’s word. They cannot even quote basic Scriptures.

We can totally rely on God’s word. 2 Peter 1:19 states: “We have also a MORE SURE word of prophecy: whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”

We read more Scriptures where people understood that God’s Word is MORE precious than anything else in life. Acts 17:11 tells us that the Bereans “were MORE NOBLE than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” The Scriptures are not only for Sunday but for every day of the week in our homes.

Job confessed in Job 23:12: “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips: I have esteemed the words of his mouth MORE THAN my necessary food.” This reminds me of the Chinese believer who said, “No Bible; no breakfast.” He would not eat food for his physical body before he had eaten his spiritual food. I think that is a good habit to get into. I like to open the Word of God the first thing I do when I get up. I don’t eat breakfast until I have nourished by inner man.

The psalmist confessed in Psalm 119:99: “I have MORE understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my mediation.”

MORE INCREASE OF CHILDREN

Psalm 115:14: “The LORD shall increase you MORE AND MORE, you and your children.” Some people may not like this blessing, but this is the blessing that God loves to give. He is the God of increase and loves to in crease the numbers of His people.

MORE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

Hosea 6:6: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God MORE THAN burnt offerings.” God wants us to know Him, not just know about Him. To pursue God, to spend time with Him, and to search for Him in His Word pleases Him MORE THAN all the sacrifices we can make.

MORE LOVE TO GOD

Mark 12:33: “To love him with all the heart and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself is MORE THAN all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

To love God is far more to Him than all the sacrifices that we will ever make. God looks for those who will be His friend, who want a relationship with Him, who love him with all their heart. Song of Songs 1:4 reveals this relationship when she exclaims: “We will remember thy love MORE THAN wine.”

MORE LOVE TO ONE ANOTHER

It is great to see the progression of love of the Thessalonian believers towards one another. In 1 Thessalonians 3:12 Paul prays: “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.” Then continuing his letter to them in chapter 4:9, 10 he says: “ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another .  . . but we beseech ou, that ye increase MORE AND MORE.”

These believers responded to his exhortation and in his second letter to them he writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:3: “Your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.”

The BSB translation says: “Your faith is growing MORE AND MORE, And your love for one another is increasing”

Does our love temperature stay much the same or are we growing MORE AND MORE in loving one another. May God help us to always be increasing in our love to God and to one another.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please save me from living in a rut. I long to know You more and more. I long to love your Word more and more. I want to become more and more passionate in my love to You and to others. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 6

“He giveth MORE grace”
(James 4:6).

MORE FRUITFULNESS

John 15:2, 5, 8: “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth MORE fruit . . . He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth MUCH fruit . . . Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear MUCH fruit.”

God is a God of fruitfulness. He is not satisfied with fruit but wants MORE fruit. He is not even satisfied with more fruit. We glorify Him most when we bring forth MUCH fruit in our lives. We should always be seeking more fruitfulness.

MORE GLADNESS

Psalm 4:7: “Thou has put gladness in my heart, MORE THAN in the time that their corn and their win increased.”

Can you believe it? There is not one attitude in the Bible that should be average in our lives. Everything is MORE! Even gladness. We are to be MORE happy than the average person. How much joy and gladness is in your home? A little bit or bucket loads?

Jesus Himself had more gladness than anyone else. Hebrews 1:9 states: “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” The New Living Translation says: “God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you MORE THAN on anyone else.” The reason? Because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity.

Our joy is not dependent on our circumstances. David starts off this psalm telling how he was in distress. But he didn't let his distress get to him. As David focuses on God instead of his troubles his testimony changes in the psalm to not only gladness but MORE GLADNESS than in the time of great harvest (and that's when they really rejoiced, danced, and made merry). The full understanding of "gladness" in the Hebrew is “blithesomeness, glee, exceeding joy, joyfulness, mirth”. God doesn't want us to scrape the bottom of the barrel, but to have MORE!

I hope you are not just surviving today as you live in the land of MORE AND MORE. Never settle for the status quo. God always has more for you as you press into Him.

MORE GLORY

2 Corinthians 3:9-11: “For if the ministration of the condemnation be glory, MUCH MORE doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, MUCH MORE that which remaineth is glorious.”

Can you understand this glorious truth in the King James version? Perhaps I’ll give it to you in a simpler version to help you really get it. The NLT says: “If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how MUCH MORE GLORIOUS is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, HOW MUCH MORE GLORIOUS is the new, which remains forever!”

God descended on Mt. Sinai to give the law in fire and smoke with the whole mountain quaking—roaring thunder, flashing lightning, dense cloud, and the trumpet blaring loud and long (Exodus 19:16-19). But now we have a new and living way which is so much more glorious.

Let’s live in the fullness of this glory.

MORE GRACE

Romans 5:15-17 NET: “For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, HOW MUCH MORE did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! . . . . For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, HOW MUCH MORE will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.”

Verse 20 states: “Where sin abounded, grace did MUCH MORE ABOUND.”

We no longer have to live in bondage to sin, fear, defeat, rebellion. Jesus has brought us grace and salvation through shedding His blood upon the cross. God’s grace abounds and wins the day. Yes, in your life today if you will let Him.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father God, thank You so much for this MORE AND MORE kingdom You have brought me into. Please save me from living in the shallow waters when you have so much more for me. Because of your death upon the cross and Your resurrection, You want me to live in more gladness, more glory, and more grace. Please help me to understand this truth and live in the gloriousness of Your full salvation. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Because of the truth of “Christ in me” I am living in glory and gladness.