DIG for Saturday the 30th of July……a fact is not necessarily the truth…..Ephesians 4 v 24

In this world of ours there is a difference between a fact and a truth; you may think they are similar words with similar meanings but that is not the case.

For example, you may have told a few lies in your time on earth, that is a fact; but it is not a truth that you are a liar (i.e. you do not lie all the time).

If you are born again the truth is that you are a saint.

You may still commit some sin (that is because of an unrenewed mind) and that is a fact.

The truth however remains the same; you are still a saint.

Yes, you may still carry out sin, but that does not make you a sinner.

Facts are defined by your actions (sinning) but truth is defined by your nature (saint).

Too often in this world we as Christians focus on the facts rather than the truths.

Facts are what we see in the physical, what we think and do, but truths are what we see in the spiritual, in the Word of God.

Yes, you may still be sinning every now and again but the Word of God (where truth resides) says you are a saint.

You may still sin (that is a fact) but in your nature (the truth) you were created new, and created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4 v 24).

Spend more time focusing on the truths in the Word of God and less on the facts in the physical world around you and your life will improve.

Speak this out today…..Thank you Lord that I am a saint, thank you that this is my true nature and this is the truth”.

Ephesians 4 v 24…..And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness

DIG for Friday the 29th of July…..Jesus would be bruised for us; that doesn’t sound too bad…..Isaiah 53 v 10

I don’t know about you but getting a bruise is not that bad really; it can be a wee bit sore but is soon healed.

So when you read that it pleased the Lord to bruise Jesus that may not mean that much to you.

However if you look at the meaning of the Hebrew word in this verse it takes on a whole new significance.

The Hebrews word means to break into pieces, to crush, to destroy, to beat to pieces.

And it pleased the Lord to do this to the body of Jesus in order to make Him an offering for YOUR sin.

How does that make you feel?

It makes me feel loved; loved by God the Father and by Jesus.

The truth that it pleased God to destroy and break into pieces the body of His Son for me is quite a wonderful truth.

And this makes me love God the Father and Jesus even more, God for delivering his Son for me, and Jesus for actually putting Himself through this pain and suffering.

Ponder this truth tonight; ponder and meditate upon the wonderful truth that God the Father was please to pulverise and crush the body of His Son for YOU.

You are worth so much to God the Father and to Jesus.

They value you and love you, which is why they did what they did!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you loved me so much that Jesus came and was made flesh to deal with my sin once and for all”.

Isaiah 53 v 10…..Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand

DIG for Thursday the 28th of July…..stop murmuring and make the grass greener for yourself…..Proverbs 18 v 21

I read a wonderful quote on social media this afternoon; “If the grass looks greener on the other side…..stop staring, stop comparing, stop complaining and start watering the grass you are standing on”.

This is great advice and it is Biblical.

We can actually change our circumstances and change the direction of our lives; we can make the grass greener.

Changing the way we think and changing what we say can change the direction of our lives; these are good, solid Biblical principles.

As he thinketh so is he says Proverbs 23 v 7.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue says Proverbs 18 v 21.

Thinking in a positive manner and speaking out good things over our lives will make the grass greener, it will improve things; it has to as that is what the Word of God says!

Looking at what other people have (being jealous) and murmuring and complaining will change nothing, and will make us feel even worse.

Stop looking at what others have and you do not, and start exercising the spiritual laws that God the Father put in place.

He wants you to live in health and prosperity and that for me is the definition of living where the grass is green (3 John 2).

But you have to do your bit with regards to believing (thinking) that He wants this for you and helping to see if made manifest (by speaking it out).

This is great advice; stop complaining and start being positive in both your thoughts and words, and I promise you (or rather the Word of God does) that you will see positive change.

Speak this out…..”Thank you Lord that I can change my life by thinking in a positive way and speaking out good things over my life”.

Proverbs 18 v 21…..Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof

DIG for Wednesday the 27th of July…..forgiveness; an easy concept to understand, but sometimes not so easy to put into practice…..Luke 23 v 34

To me forgiveness is an easy doctrine and concept to understand; the Bible (through the words of Jesus as one example) is clear that we are to forgive people.

We are to forgive all people for all things they have done against us, our family, our friends and even our country; as a people we are supposed to forgive everyone for everything.

That is easy to understand but not so easy to implement.

We have all seen the senseless atrocities in mainland Europe that seem to be happening daily; as a minister and pastor my heart went out to Father Jacques Hamel and his fellowship the other day after his murder.

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”, is what Jesus said; can we say that this evening, should we be forgiving those that perform these atrocities?

I know this will be hard for many; I’ve seen numerous “I can never forgive” and “I will never forgive” comments on social media in the last few days.

I believe that we can only truly forgive others once we realise how much we have been forgiven ourselves.

God the Father has given every man unconditional and absolute forgiveness for all sin and iniquity through the shedding of the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1 v 7 and Colossians 1 v 14).

We can only truly forgive when we know we have been forgiven first (Ephesians 4 v 32).

If we are struggling to give our forgiveness to others maybe we need a deeper revelation of our own forgiveness from God.

Speak this out today….”Thank you Lord that through the blood of Jesus you have given me absolute, complete and unconditional forgiveness”.

Luke 23 v 34…..The said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots

DIG for Tuesday the 26th of July…..put your hope in something worth hoping for…..Hebrews 11 v 1

Hope is a wonderful thing, but something that is generally dashed as we progress through life.

We can have renewed hope as we enter a new job, but pretty soon realise it is still not the perfect role.

I always have hope as I enter a new football season, but this hope of glory and success normally fades relatively quickly.

We put our hope in people yet they let us down time and time again.

There is one thing that we can hope for and know that will never fail us; and that is what Jesus has done and provided for us.

You can hope for an abundant life and see that made manifest (John 10 v 10).

You can hope for healing and prosperity knowing that this is what Father God wants for you and is what Jesus has provided (3 John 2).

You can hope for forgiveness and reconciliation, acceptance and adoption into His family (Ephesians 1 v 5 and 6).

Jesus is the only thing worth putting hope in; He is the only thing you can trust 100%.

Don’t put your faith in jobs, people and especially football teams, put your faith in Jesus.

He is worthy of your trust and time and energy, and of course your hope.

Jesus loves you unconditionally and will never withhold anything from you due to poor performance.

He will always do what He said He will do and give you what His Word says you can have.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Father that I can put my complete trust and hope in You and in Jesus”.

Hebrews 11 v 1…..Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen

DIG for Monday the 25th of July…..which Bible verses do you highlight…..Romans 4 v 7

I had a wee giggle to myself this evening as I was looking for inspiration for this DIG; sometimes they come easily, sometimes (like tonight) I have to think and pray long and hard for a topic.

As I was drawn to one of my favourite verses, Romans 3 v 28, I noticed that only one verse was highlighted on these pages.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” shone out in bright pink from the pages.

I highlighted a number of verses when I first got this Bible, but stopped doing this quite quickly, so not a lot of verses are highlighted.

It amused me that I highlighted this one and not Romans 3 v 28 or Romans 4 v 7 and 8 (these are alongside on the opposite page of the highlighted one).

As a new believer I was taught to focus on sin, especially my own sin, and to plead for forgiveness.

I was taught to regard myself as a sinner, a ‘truth’ I had to be reminded about often.

Now I know that this is not the truth.

If I highlighted verses now I would go to Romans 3 v 28 where we see we are justified through faith and not through works.

I would highlight Romans 4 v 6 and 7 where we read that sin is not an issue for God anymore, as our sins have been already forgiven.

It made me giggle thinking that I used to believe this nonsense!

The Bible is very clear that we have already been forgiven through the blood of Jesus and that sin is not an issue for God any longer; therefore sin should not be an issue for us.

We all need to keep learning, need to keep the attitude of being willing to be taught, and even changing what we believe sometimes.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for your Word, thank you for the truths that are there if we would only read, meditate and study for ourselves”.

Romans 4 v 7…..Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered

DIG for Sunday the 24th of July…..think God doesn’t have a plan for you, well, think again…..Acts 10 v 34

The Word is a collection of books, epistles and gospels, that don’t seem to be linked in any way.

However you can take verses from different parts of the Word and study together to bring out certain truths.

Take the truth that God has a plan and a purpose for everyone for example.

In Jeremiah 1 v 4 and 5 we can read that the Lord had a plan and purpose for Jeremiah before his birth.

In Isaiah 49 v 1 we can read that God had a similar plan and purpose for Isaiah.

From this we can say that God had a plan and purpose for Jeremiah and Isaiah, but what has that to do with us?

Well, if we read Acts 10 v 34 we can see that God is “no respecter of persons”.

This means that He has no favourites and what He does for one person (or two in this case) He will do for all of us.

So we can know therefore that He has a plan and purpose for each of us.

Yes, because of these verses you can be assured that God the Father has a plan and purpose for you.

We have rightly divided the Word and unearthed a wonderful truth about your life.

The onus therefore is now on you to find out what that plan and purpose is.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you are no respecter of persons and that you have a plan and purpose for my life”.

Acts 10 v 34…..Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons

DIG for Saturday the 23rd of July…..no room for differences of race, class or gender…..Galatians 3 v 28

Everywhere we look today there are issues and problems revolving around three differences in people; we see issues with race, with class and with gender.

These are the three differences that Paul said should be irrelevant in the church, when he wrote his epistle to the people of Galatia.

He said there is neither Jew nor Greek; this is talking about race, about where we are from, about the colour of our skin.

He said there is neither bond nor free; this is talking about class, about where we live and work, about what we do for a living, about how much money we have.

He said there is neither male nor female; this is talking about our gender.

In Jesus we are all the same, we are human beings, we are believers, we are adopted sons of the Living God and there are no differences now in the Lord.

Yes, we may have different strengths and weaknesses, but these should bring us together rather than push us apart.

We do indeed have different roles and different tasks; these are the individual plans and purposes the Lord has for us and has nothing to do with our race, class or gender.

We are all of Abraham’s seed and are all heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3 v 29).

We are all in Christ and that is what is important now.

The fact that I am a white, working /middle class man has nothing to do with my role in the Kingdom; it is far more important that I am an adopted son of the Living God.

It is important that I see myself as this now.

So how do you see yourself; are you still looking at yourself with regards to the differences Paul says is now irrelevant?

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I am now your adopted son”.

Galatians 3 v 28…..There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus

DIG for Friday the 22nd of July…..even the Word says “it is written”…..Galatians 3 v 13

As I wrote yesterday, “it is written” is a powerful statement that we as believers can use on a daily basis in our fight against the enemy.

It was not only Jesus that used the phrase “it is written”.

Others used this phrase and actually used it to write more Scripture.

Luke used it as he composed the Book of Acts (Acts 1 v 20, 7 v 42, 13 v 33 15 v 15 and 23 v 5).

Paul used it as he wrote his epistles to the Romans, the Corinthians (1 and 2) and the Galatians (too many references to type out).

The writer to the Hebrews used it (Hebrews 10 v 7).

Peter used “it is written” in his first letter to the church (1 Peter 1 v 16).

What we have to remember is that all Scripture is God breathed, so it is God really who is using the term “it is written” (2 Timothy 3 v 16 and 17).

God is showing us throughout His Word how powerful that Word is.

“It is written”, “the Bible says”, “it says in God’s Word” are phrases that we should be using all day and every day.

These words should be integral parts of our prayers as we use God’s word in that area of our lives.

We can only do this however if we know the Word, if we are studying it and “getting into it”.

As ever, I encourage you to “get into the Word” and see your life changed for the better, see the enemy flee as you speak out and pronounce God’s goodness over your life.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you for your Word and thank you that it is a weapon I can use again and again”.

Galatians 3 v 13…..Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree

DIG for Thursday the 21st of July…..it is written, one of our strongest weapons in life…..Matthew 4 v 4

If you read my DIGs on a regular basis you will know I ‘bang on’ about the importance of the Word; I have been ‘accused’ of being a one-message preacher!

But I do this because of the importance of the Word of because it is so powerful.

When Jesus was being tempted by the enemy He could have called down an army of angels, fought and won a battle; He could have scattered the enemy and his demons.

Instead He used something far more powerful, He used the Word of God.

Three times Jesus refuted what the enemy said by saying, “It is written”.

Jesus used the Word of God against the enemy and He won.

We can do the same thing!

When the enemy tells you about your poverty you can reply, “It is written that Jesus came to bring me life in abundance and that Jesus was made poor so that I could be made rich” (John 10 v 10 and 2 Corinthians 8 v 9).

When the enemy tries to force his sickness upon you, you can say, “It is written that by the stripes of Jesus I have been healed” (1 Peter 2 v 24).

When the enemy suggests that no-one cares for you or are interested in you the reply should be, “It is written that Father God has accepted me in the beloved and adopted my into His family” (Ephesians 1 v 5 and 6).

It is written, followed by a truth from Scripture is one of the most devastating weapons that you can ever yield.

The Word is so powerful that the enemy is petrified of it; he does not want you reading and understanding Scripture.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many distractions and disturbances when you get down to reading the Word?

Be like Jesus and get the weapon of the Word into your heart so that you can speak it out the next time the enemy comes knocking!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you for your Word and thank you that it is a weapon I can use again and again”.

Matthew 4 v 4…..But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God