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PRESSING ON TOWARD THE GOAL "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14 Glory to God! Today is the last day of October, and we just had a wonderful time at the Breakout concert 2026 yesterday, 30th October. It is a good time to look back and thank God for His faithfulness and also to look forward with fresh determination to keep moving forward into what God will have us become even before the end of the year. Our opening scripture is one of those challenging scriptures from the renowned Apostle Paul, who was in prison when he wrote this letter, and yet he was not discouraged. He had planted churches, performed miracles, and written letters that would last for centuries, yet he said, 'I count not myself to have apprehended.' He did not b...

BEARING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT   "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 Glory to God! Yesterday, we discussed being led by the Spirit. Today, we will see what the Spirit produces in the life of the one who is led by Him. From our opening scripture, we see that it is called the fruit, not the fruits of the Spirit. It is one fruit with nine characteristics, like one tree with nine expressions. You cannot choose the ones you like and leave out the rest; they grow together as the Spirit works in us. Notice also that it is the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of our own effort. An apple tree does not strain to produce an apple; it simply grows as it draws nutrients from the soil. Earlier this month, we discussed abiding in the vine, and this is the product of that abiding. The more connected we are to Christ, the more the nature of Christ shows in us. Th...

LED BY THE SPIRIT "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Romans 8:14 Glory to God! In the first few days of October, we discussed hearing and following the voice of God. Today's scripture takes us a step further: It says, 'as many as'. Which tells us that it is not for a special group of believers; it is for everyone who belongs to the family of God. If you are a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit living in you, and His job is to lead you. The Spirit does not lead us by force; He leads us as a loving Father leads a child. Sometimes He leads through the Word, sometimes through an inner conviction, sometimes through the counsel of mature believers, and sometimes through circumstances that He arranges. But whichever way He chooses, He will never lead you against the written Word. Many believers want to be led only when it is convenient, but the Bible says it is those who are led by the Spirit who are the sons of God. It is a sign...

WAITING ON GOD'S TIMING "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." Psalm 27:14   Glory to God! We live in an age of instant everything. We have instant messages, instant noodles, instant transfers, and instant answers. This culture has influenced the way we relate to God, and many believers find it very difficult to wait. King David in our opening scripture admonishes us to 'Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen in our heart'; then he says again, 'Wait, I say, on the LORD.' Notice that HE says 'wait' twice. He knew how hard it would be, so he repeated it for emphasis. In the Bible, waiting is not the same as doing nothing. It is an active expectation; it is believing that God will do what He has said, and continuing to be faithful in the meantime. David knew what it meant to wait. As a young boy, he was anointed by Samuel to become king, but he did not sit on the th...

A HEART OF PRAISE   "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together." Psalm 34:1-3 Glory to God! We discussed worship in spirit and in truth yesterday, noting that worship is a matter of the heart, not a performance. Today, we are exploring a close relative of worship, and that is praise. Our opening scripture says, 'I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.' This tells us that praising God is at all times, not when we feel good or when things are going well. David wrote this psalm after a very low moment in his life. It was written when he escaped from the Philistine king of Gath by pretending to be mad. David was a fugitive running from Saul, and he had run to the very city of Goliath, where he had to scratch on doors and pretend to be insane j...

WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH   "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:23-24   Glory to God! Worship is not singing, as some may think; worship is a lifestyle. Jesus met a woman by the well, and as He was witnessing to her, she brought up a religious question that people were debating over. She said, 'Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.' She wanted to know which location was correct. Jesus answered her by revealing the shift that was happening in the context of traditional worship. He said, 'The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. ' Notice the last phrase. The Father is seeking wo...

THE JOY OF THE LORD   "Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10 Glory to God! Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. It is a stream that flows from the fountain of God's life. Every believer has that fountain of joy within. From our opening scripture, Nehemiah had just completed the wall of Jerusalem, and while all the people gathered in the square before the Water Gate. Ezra the priest read the book of the law to them from morning until midday, and the people listened attentively. As the Word of God was read and explained, something broke in them. They began to weep. They had been in exile, they had neglected the law of God, and now they saw how far they had drifted. They were convicted and began to grieve. But Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites told them, 'This day is h...

RIVERS OF LIVING WATER   "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:13-14 Glory to God! There was a well in Samaria, where Jesus met a woman who had been looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places. It was about noon, the hottest part of the day, and she came alone to draw water, perhaps to avoid the crowd. Jesus, who knew her and the salvation of God, asked her for a drink, and that simple request opened a conversation that changed her life. He crossed barriers that day: He was a Jew speaking to a Samaritan and a man speaking to a woman in public. Then He said something that must have sounded strange to her: 'Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.' He was speaking about Jacob's well, but He was also speaking about...

FEAR NOT "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10   Glory to God! Fear is an emotion that every human being has experienced in life, whether it was to give a presentation, introduce oneself to someone else, write a professional exam, or pursue a course of purpose. The fear of failure, the fear of sickness, the fear of the future, the fear of what people will say, and the fear of losing what we have. Fear has been part of human existence since the first time fear was mentioned in the Bible. After the fall, Adam said, 'I was afraid.' Since then, fear has followed man everywhere. But our opening scripture comes with a divine instruction and assurance: 'Fear thou not.' God never gives a command without providing the grace to make it possible. His command came with an assurance: First, 'I am with thee.' ...

HIS GRACE IS ENOUGH   "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9   Glory to God! Yesterday, we discussed casting our cares upon the Lord. But what do we do when the thing troubling us is not a worry but a weakness that does not go away? Apostle Paul shows us how God responds. Paul had received such great revelations that he was given 'a thorn in the flesh', a messenger of Satan to buffet him, so that he would not be exalted above measure. We do not know exactly what it was, and perhaps that is by design so that each of us can place our own struggle in that space. What we know is that Paul took it to the Lord in prayer. He asked three times for it to be removed. Notice that he was not lacking in faith. He was an apostle who had seen miracles, yet his thorn stayed. Many times we think a long ...

CASTING YOUR CARES ON HIM   "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7 Glory to God! Casting all our cares upon Jesus comes with a beautiful reason, and it is because He cares. To cast means to throw something from yourself onto another person. It is not to place it gently and then pick it up again. It is to cast it unto and forget it there. Many of us say we have given our worries to God, but we are still carrying them around, rehearsing them in our minds, and discussing them at night. That is not casting; that is holding. Apostle Peter, who wrote these words, knew what he was saying. He had once been so afraid that he denied the Lord three times. He had carried the burden of failure and the weight of guilt, and he had experienced the Lord's restoration. Peter was not writing theory; he had learned that the Lord's love is bigger than our worries. The word 'care' here refers to anxiety, the kind of worry that pulls your mind in di...

GOD IS MY REFUGE.   "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah." Psalm 46:1-3   Glory to God! We have discussed the call to be still and know that God is God. Today, we go back to the beginning of the same thought from the scripture Psalms 46 to see the foundation of that stillness. It says, 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.' The psalmist doesn't say God is a refuge for people who are never in trouble; it says He is a help in trouble. The Bible never promised us a life without storms, but it promised us a God who is present in them. The word 'refuge' speaks of a place of safety, a shelter we can run to when danger comes. Strength speaks of power to endure. And the phrase '...