The living water

[7/25, 3:23 AM] ‪+234 806 318 8474‬: *CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE 📚*
*(THE LIVING WATER)*

DATE: Wednesday, 25th July, 2018

*TOPIC: A FUTURE AND HOPE (I)*

*📖 READ:* Jeremiah 29:10-19

*MEMORISE: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).*

*EXPOSITION:*
The Book of Jeremiah is all about God disrupting His people’s plans and overturning their dreams. Our memory verse reveals a shocking message from the prophet: that those “left behind” in Jerusalem anchored around the temple and the throne, shouldn’t assume their relative fortune as a sign that God is for them; while those carted off in captivity to Babylon should stop seeing themselves as being under God’ curse as though Israel’s God seems distant from them, and they had been captured away from God’s promises to Abraham.

Through Jeremiah, God told the exiles that their scattering wasn’t accidental, that He had plans for them, plans that included even what seemed chaotic and random. The Prophet says, God’s judgment would fall on Jerusalem, and His purposes would come into being through the exiles, although this wasn’t good news for any of the hearers, especially the exiles, at least in the short-term. Jeremiah’s letter shows that their return from exile was not going to happen anytime in their generation. So they should create new lives in Babylon, meaning, there was still hope and future for them in their state of  despair.

*So how does this passage apply to you, today, if Jeremiah 29:11 is read in the context of the whole Book as it relates to Israel’s story in the perspective of God’s purposes in Jesus Christ? You will discover that all the promises of God are Yet…. and…..amen (2 Cor. 1:20: Gal. 3:14-29) for you, not minding the ghost of the past (mistakes, failures, loses, ailments, rejections, etc.) that are haunting you in the present. You still have a hope and future in God, if you can continue to hold unflinchingly to His promises over your seemingly confusing situation.*

*PRAYER POINTS:*

1.  I know my future in the Lord is great regardless of what I am passing through, now. No matter what may come my way, my life is in Christ’s hand. Help my resolve to stand firm on this confession in Jesus’ Name.

2.  I await Your deliverance, oh Lord; rescue me according to Your delight.

3.  Pray that God should bring to fruition, quickly, His promised end-time revival.

*EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:* Job 9 - 11 & James 2

*Author: CAC WORLDWIDE*

CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE 📚*
*(THE LIVING WATER)*

DATE: Thursday, 26th July, 2018

*TOPIC: A FUTURE AND A HOPE (2)*

*📖 READ:* 1 Timothy 1:12-16

*MEMORISE: For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Corinthians 7:10)*

*EXPOSITION:*
Is the screen of your mind repeatedly replaying the ghost of your past? Regret over marriage choice because your spouse disappoints or abuses trusts; regret over your divorce or broken relationships of all kinds; regret over mistakes of how you raised your kids; regret over bad career moves, missed business opportunities, poor vocational choices, not following God's call to the ministry, or become a missionary; regret over all kinds of sins, errors and their consequences. You know your own, right?

Regret by itself isn't helpful but destructive and debilitating. It allows the sins and mistakes of the past to reach out and poison our present. And if it is not handle approximately, by trying to undo the consequences of the past choices illegitimately, it will just lead to more wrong choices and more regrets, in a vicious cycle.

For example, a man realised he had married the wrong woman, so he divorced his wife and married someone else, leaving a shattered family behind. Often, he would find that the second wife isn't the " right one " either, and would continue repeating the cycle. Or a couple, the single or the engaged has sexual relations outside the marriage and the woman becomes pregnant. They try to undo what they had done through abortion, even though in their hearts they knew that what they had created together is a baby, and not just a mass of cells. And so, the abortion creates more guilt and more regrets.

Cease therefore, from trying to undo the past, most especially, through quick fixes. Get past the past, else you'll just make things worse while trying. Forgive yourself first (Lk.15:18-20a). You have a future and a hope in God, just as Saul turned Paul (1Cor.15:10). Let your godly sorrow over sins, errors and mistakes, help you to learn from your mistakes, and lead you to repentance and forgiveness, that you don't repeat them.

*PRAYER POINTS:*
1. Here are my mistakes, oh God, turn them to testimonies.

2. Satan, I declare that you can do nothing with my future; I am a child of God, saved and sanctified by the blood of Jesus. So, get lost, in Jesus' name.

3. Satan, you can do nothing over the Church in the land; our Master, Jesus Christ, has assured us that you cannot comprehend the Church You have lost the battle in Jesus' name.

*EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:* Job 12-13 & James 3-4

*Author: CAC WORLDWIDE

🙏Darryshine🙏