Who God Rewards

By Joel Osteen – Posted April 30, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6, NIV

TODAY'S WORD:

When God is first place in your life, and you make pleasing Him is your highest priority, then you can fully expect to live a blessed, fulfilled life! In today’s verse, notice who God rewards. It’s not people who half-heartedly seek Him. It doesn’t say “people who only think about Him when they’re having a problem” or “people who will only come to church when something special is going on.” No, God rewards people who earnestly seek after Him. That means we are determined. We get up every morning and thank Him for His goodness. We go through the day meditating on His promises. We give Him praise in the good times and the tough times. We are constantly stretching, growing, learning and striving to know Him better. 

Today, remember, when you diligently seek God, He promises that a reward is coming. He promises He will give you strength, wisdom, favor, good breaks, promotion, healing and restoration. When you seek Him with your whole heart, you will find Him, and you won’t be able to outrun His goodness and blessing and reward!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father, I desire to please You in everything I do. I declare that You are good and faithful. I trust You with my whole heart and believe that You are a rewarder of those who diligently seek You. I bless You and honor You today in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 God’s Boundaries

By Joyce Meyer - Posted April 30, 2017

Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body. 
—1 Corinthians 6:19-20

The word stress was originally an engineering term used to refer to the amount of force a beam or other physical support could bear without collapsing under strain.

In our time, the word has been expanded to refer not only to physical pressure but also to mental and emotional tension. As human beings, you and I are built to handle a normal amount of stress. God has created us to withstand a certain amount of pressure and tension. The problem comes when we push ourselves beyond our limitations, beyond what we were intended to bear without permanent damage. But like so many people, because I have things to do, I just keep pushing myself even though it is causing me physical damage.

Of course, when sickness tries to come on Dave or me, we immediately pray for healing. But if you become sick as a result of running your body down by pushing it beyond the limits God set for you to operate in good health, you need rest as well as prayer to restore your health. The boundaries He has set for us are for our own good.

 JESUS’ HIGH PRIESTHOOD IS FOREVER

By Joseph Prince – Posted April 30, 2017

Hebrews 6:20

…Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus is our High Priest forever. This “forever” aspect changes the way we are blessed and how we receive our blessings from God. As our High Priest, Jesus represents us before God. Since His priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek, which is one of righteousness, His righteousness becomes our righteousness forever. This means that we are forever righteous in God’s eyes!

And because He will never die, but continue as our High Priest forever, we have an everlasting righteousness, not merely a here-today-gone-tomorrow righteousness based on our works. No, we have a perpetual and everlasting righteousness because Jesus is our High Priest forever.

This also means that blessings are perpetually on your head because the Bible says that blessings are on the head of the righteous (Proverbs 10:6), and you are righteous forever!

Unlike the priesthood according to the Levitical order, which blesses as well as curses, the priesthood of Jesus according to the Melchizedek order only blesses. There is no cursing, only blessing—always and forever!

And because Jesus is our High Priest forever, the blessings do not come to us in intermittent drips, but stream into our lives in a never-ending flow. Because He is our High Priest forever, we can never stop His blessings.

By being our High Priest forever, Jesus also touches the blessings that He gives us with a forever effect. He touches our lives and we have eternal life. He touches our ministry and its impact becomes eternal. And the more we see His priesthood as having a forever effect, the more permanent our blessings will be.

Truly, there is nothing temporal about what Jesus our High Priest does. It is not a case of blessed today, cursed tomorrow. The blessings we receive are sure and steadfast because Jesus is our High Priest today, tomorrow and forever.

So rejoice because Jesus your High Priest changes how you are blessed forever!

Thought For The Day

God’s blessings are sure and steadfast because Jesus is our High Priest today, tomorrow and forever.