Growth Daily Verses

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Called With A Holy Calling

2 Corinthians 3:18 - "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

Many believers are mere products of their environments, allowing themselves to be victimized by the opinions of others and the assessments of human analysis. They lack the will to change or challenge the limitations placed upon them by themselves and others.

You are not designed to drift -- God has called you with a holy calling, not according to your works, but according to His own purpose and grace. Since you are in Christ, you are in another reality and another life altogether.

If we lose sight of God's purpose for our life, we will drift aimlessly into things that are not fulfilling, but leave us empty and confused as to why we are here.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Being Established In The Faith

1 Peter 5:8,9 - "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith..."

We resist the devil not by focusing on resisting him, but by being established in the faith that we are made right with God through Jesus' blood, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The devil cannot enforce anything in your life if he cannot persuade your heart. God says that once you are established (believe in your heart) in Christ's righteousness you can boldly declare, "Yes, I may have these problems in my life, but I am not guilty in God's eyes. I am justified in His eyes by faith because of what Christ has done. I am righteous by Jesus' blood!"

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Readjusting My Focus

Mark 11:22 - "Jesus responded to them, 'Have faith in God!'"

Sometimes you are in a bad place and wondering how you will ever get to your destiny. You feel lost. You feel drained. and the pain can seem overwhelming. But if you want to meet your destiny, you're going to have to get up and get moving -- even if you still feel the pain.

What you focus on is what you will feel. What you keep your mind stayed on is what will drive you. Focus on what lies ahead, and then believe in God's power to take you there. You don't have to see the entire plan; you don't have to know how you will get there.

Focus on the future, not the present pain. Trust and believe that God is able to bring you through and bring you to the place designed especially for you -- your destiny.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Discerning The Body Of Christ

1 Corinthians 11:29 - "For if you eat the bread or drink of the cup without discerning the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died."

He tells us clearly that the one reason some Christians are weak and sick and die prematurely, is that they don't discern the Lord's body when they partake of the Holy Communion. Many believers don't understand that the bread which represents the Lord's body, is for their health and healing. and when they partake without discerning this truth, they partake in an unworthy manner.

Unfortunately, the church down through the years has misconstrued this teaching and taught that if you have sin in your life, you are unworthy and cannot partake of the Holy Communion, lest you become weak and sick, and even die! We have turned a blessing into a curse. Because of this, many Christians are afraid to come to the Lord's table and are, therefore, robbed of the health-giving power of the Holy Communion.

Come to the Lord's table with boldness and partake because Jesus has qualified you with His precious blood. Don't treat it as a ritual, but release your faith for health and healing as you discern that Jesus' body was broken so that yours can be healthy and whole today.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Two Kinds Of Righteousness

Luke 18:9 - "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:"

Most people are unaware that there are two kinds of righteousness. One form of righteousness is our own righteousness. These are the acts of holiness that we do in an attempt to fulfill the commands of the Old Testament law.

This is an imperfect righteousness because human nature is imperfect and incapable of fulfilling the law. A person who believes that he must earn God's acceptance by his holy actions must not believe in God's righteousness, which is a gift.

Righteousness is not what Jesus has done for us plus some minimum standard of holiness that we have to accomplish. God's righteousness is perfect.

Accept that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Accessing Your Christ Potential

2 Timothy 1:14 - "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you -- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us."

Your Christ potential is useless to the enrichment of the lives of others until you come to understand God's purpose for your life.

Recognizing and affirming your inheritance in Christ, your right standing with God, and how to "walk in the Spirit" -- this is the quickest way to receive revelation of your calling in Christ. Live courageously so that the treasure of your potential in Christ is unleashed.

The world needs what God deposited in you for the benefit of your contemporaries and all the generations to follow.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Sharing Your Calling

John 15:16 - "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you."

Take a look around you and assess who you have in your corner -- with whom can you share God's calling on your life. Who would tell you to go for it? Who would pray for you as you deliver on your destiny?

You may have to let go of old friends who are not moving in their spiritual life -- or limit your time with them. Or perhaps you need to cancel appointments with the naysayers in your life and add life-affirming people.

Following your destiny in Christ is not always easy, so you need to be around supporters, prayer warriors, and encouragers.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Partaker Of His Sufferings

Luke 9:57,58 - "As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied, 'Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.'"

The reason why Jesus had nowhere to lay His head was because of persecution. The Samaritans, because of a religious prejudice, had just refused Him hospitality, and a place to stay as He journeyed to Jerusalem. Persecution is part of the cost of living a Christian life. Jesus was communicating to this man that not having a place to stay at times was part of that cost.

There are many forms of persecution. Having your life threatened because of your faith in Jesus is one way you can be persecuted. A more deadly form of persecution is, because of your faith, men speaking evil of you or separating you from their company. It's more deadly because it's more subtle. Many who would never directly deny the Lord will fall into self-pity or strife because of someone's criticism.

It helps to recognize that it is not you that they are persecuting, but rather Christ in you. You are actually becoming a partaker of His sufferings and will share His rewards. With this in mind, we can actually shout and leap for joy in persecution!

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Victory In Christ Jesus

Ephesians 6:11 - "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."

In Ephesians 6:10-18, the passage on spiritual warfare, FOUR times the Holy Spirit tells us to stand. Yet, many Christians are focusing on wrestling their way to victory. You are already on victory ground (1 Corinthians 3:21,23).

So when the devil attacks you by saying, "Look at that small sum in your bank account! How are you going to pay the bills?" stand your ground. Declare, "I am not trying to be rich, I am rich, In Christ, I am rich!" As the need arises, the supply will be there if you believe that you are already rich.

It is the same with healing. The devil will try to attack you with symptoms in your body. That is the time to be conscious of Jesus' finished work and declare, "I am not trying to get healed, I am healed! I am standing on victory ground which Jesus has given me!" It makes a world of difference when you fight FROM victory and not FOR victory.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Trying To Life The Christian Life

2 Corinthians 12:9 - "...My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness...”

It is wrong for any Christian to attempt to live the Christian life. And we are not asked to do so. The Word of the Lord says "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). This is the secret of living the Christian life. Defeat is not caused by less work, but by too much work. When we are working, God's grace cannot come to us. Likewise, in our working too much, the life of the Lord cannot be manifested in us.

The New Covenant Law is not designed for men outside of Christ. The natural man cannot obey the New Commandment that Jesus gave. There is only one commandment to rule the New Creation, and that is to love one another even as Jesus loved us (John 13:34). That New Commandment made any other commandment absolutely unnecessary, for the man who walks in Love will never do wrong.

Someone asks, "Why is the Mosaic Law called the 'law of sin and of death?" Because it was to govern spiritually dead men. The Law of the Spirit of Life (Romans 8:2) is to govern Recreated men. It is the Spirit of Love.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Seeking Perfect Union

"And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." -- 1 John 5:14,15

You cannot ask with confidence until there is a perfect union between you and God, as there was always perfect union between God and Jesus.
The moment you pray you find that the heavens are opened -- having a fidelity and confidence to believe that He will not fail, and cannot fail. We shall never get anywhere if we depend upon our feelings.

There is something a thousand times better than feelings, and it is the naked Word of God. You must be yielded to the Word of God. The Word will work out love in our hearts, and when practical love is in our hearts there is no room to vaunt ourselves. We see ourselves as nothing when we get lost in this divine love.

The confidence comes from our fellowship with Him. There is a wonderful fellowship with Jesus. The chief thing is to be sure that we take time for communion with Him. There is a communion with Jesus that is life and that is better than preaching.

PRAYER OF FAITH

There is a rest of faith -- there is a faith that rests in confidence on God. God's promises never fail -- "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing, by the word of God." (Romans 10:17). The Word of God can create a resistless faith (through continually speaking it and meditation) -- a faith that is never daunted, a faith that never gives up, and never fails.

God has a plan of healing -- it is on the line of perfect confidence in Him. You can never pray "the prayer of faith" if you look at the person who is needing it; there is only one place to look and that is to Jesus.
May God help us today to get our eyes off the conditions and symptoms, no matter how bad they may be, and get them fastened upon Him, and then we shall be able to pray the prayer of faith.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - We Are The Light Of The World

Philippians 2:15 - "We are seen as lights in the world."

We are the light of the world. We have taken Jesus' place. His Life in us is the source of Light. Light means Wisdom and ability to do things. He has actually come into us and lives in us and through us.

We have been translated into the kingdom of the Son of His Love, or in other words, into the very Family of God. We have become partakers of His Divine Nature. The same Life that was in the Son of God is in us. The same Light that He had is in us.

The believer is the sign-board pointing toward Jesus -- the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and we must be bold in our confession that we are in the Way; that we have the Reality and are enjoying the fullness of this marvelous Life.

The moment we receive Eternal Life, that moment we become under-shepherds of the flock: we become leaders and teachers of this New Order, this new Life.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Encountering God

Matthew 22:29 - "You are wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor God's power."

In this passage Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for their ignorance of the scriptures and God's power. What was the cause?

They didn't allow the scriptures to lead them to God. They didn't understand......not really understand. The word "know" in this passage speaks of "personal experience." They tried to learn apart from such an experience. Their study didn't lead them to an encounter with God. It became an end in itself.

Christianity is not a philosophy; it is a relationship. It's the "God encounter" that makes the concepts powerful. We must require this of ourselves.

How?

We must seek until we find.
We must be moved with the love of God to the point that we seek His face until we are "clothed with power from on high!"

Luke 11:10 - "For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door will be opened."

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Refocusing To Create New History

Isaiah 43:18,19 - "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."

God is resetting us in the present to create a new history under the guidance of God's Spirit. We can too easily drift away from God's purpose for our life and then stall.

We have not been called to live in a static representation of Kingdom life. Just before each new season, God will reset our priorities to His original blueprint. He does this to get us moving once again, motivated by His original intent. After a reset, new opportunities will refocus our efforts. This refocusing will create simplicity, helping to highlight the specific things God has called each of us to do.

It will require that we say no to some things currently on our plate and yes to things we had not considered before the refocusing took place. We are being reset to align our lives with a greater manifestation of God's Spirit as He invites us to partner with Him in new ways for the advancement of the Great Commission.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Viewing Ourselves As Change Agents

Ephesians 4:29 - "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

This season, God is waking up Believers at a critical time. More and more people will realize that they can no longer sit idly by and remain silent. As we choose to first go to Him with our concerns or fears, God is speaking out truth and hope for us to share.

We will need to view ourselves as change agents in order to speak out the truth from a place of love in the face of fear, uncertainty and hopelessness. You have been chosen for such a time as this to release the Kingdom around you. We must reframe our situations through the lens of faith and trust.

If I believe that God is for me, and that He's always good, then how does my situation look after applying faith? What does faith look like when I'm worried about finances, when I'm in the middle of a divorce, or when I've lost my job, or when I feel I am threatened by a virus pandemic. Worry is a choice -- it's wasted time and energy.

We must be intentional this season to rewire our minds with specific scriptures that address our worries accompanied by affirming and meditating on these scriptures as you go throughout the day. Develop this as an action plan when worry tempts you to partner with it.

 

[daninthelionsden]

Scripture Of The Day - Viewing Ourselves As Change Agents

Ephesians 4:29 - "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

This season, God is waking up Believers at a critical time. More and more people will realize that they can no longer sit idly by and remain silent. As we choose to first go to Him with our concerns or fears, God is speaking out truth and hope for us to share.

We will need to view ourselves as change agents in order to speak out the truth from a place of love in the face of fear, uncertainty and hopelessness. You have been chosen for such a time as this to release the Kingdom around you. We must reframe our situations through the lens of faith and trust.

If I believe that God is for me, and that He's always good, then how does my situation look after applying faith? What does faith look like when I'm worried about finances, when I'm in the middle of a divorce, or when I've lost my job, or when I feel I am threatened by a virus pandemic. Worry is a choice -- it's wasted time and energy.

We must be intentional this season to rewire our minds with specific scriptures that address our worries accompanied by affirming and meditating on these scriptures as you go throughout the day. Develop this as an action plan when worry tempts you to partner with it.

That verse is so often ignored by the wolves in sheep's clothing slithering through the Body of Christ.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Oneness With Christ

Colossians 3:3,4 - "for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God...Christ, who is your life."

It requires time and thought to grasp the truth that the life Christ lives in the Father is the same life He lives in us. Christ does not live one life in the Father and another in you. His explicit words are, "Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you" (John 14:19,20). As Christ is in the Father, so you are in Christ and Christ is in you.

We need daily quiet time with prayerful meditation to become deeply impressed with the truth that the Lord Jesus, whose life is hidden in God, also has His life hidden in us.

If we allow the Spirit of God to daily keep alive in us this heavenly life in Christ, we shall then know what it is to be able to testify to having died in Christ that we might experience His very own heavenly life. Then we shall enjoy a walk with God that participates in the works of Christ, in His Holiness and love.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Ordained To Impart

1 Peter 2:9 - "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood."

One of the chief causes of the feeble life in the church is the mistaken idea that our happiness is the main object of God's grace. God's objective is far holier and far higher.

He has saved us that we, in turn, might save others. Every believer is ordained to be the means of imparting to others the life they have received. The church needs to proclaim the gospel that we are saved to serve -- that we are a royal priesthood.

The priestly heart is a sympathetic heart in which the love of God compels us to win others for Him and disciple them into the spiritual life God meant for them to have. Such a heart knows access to God and intercedes for those who have yet to come to know Him.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Laboring For The Body Of Christ

2 Corinthians 6:4 - "In all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God; in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses."

The tribulations of which Paul spoke are not the tribulations of various diseases. He suffered tribulations with the people as Jesus did. There can be man tribulations within our Christ walk as we feel that our spiritual influence is not bearing fruit in the lives of others.

May God give us the realization that we are so joined to fellow Believers that we may labor to bring then out of spiritual infancy into their full identity in Christ. Paul said that He labored in birth in order that Christ might be formed in the people (Galatians 4:19).

He was not laboring so that they could be saved again. No, but they had lacked a complete perception of Christ's finished work, their identity in Christ, and their right standing with God; they had missed divine fellowship. May God help us to see that we can labor for the spiritual lives of baby believers.

 

[Albert Finch]

Scripture Of The Day - Understanding Our Motive

Luke 11:38 - "When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal."

If we are still "doing" acts of holiness to get God to move in our lives, then we are still operating under a "law" mentally that is not faith (Galatians 3:12).

The legalist thinks, 'I can GET God to heal me by confessing "by His stripes I am healed.'" The person who understands God's grace will not confess God's word with the motive of trying to GET God to heal him but will confess "By His stripes I am healed" because he really believes it has already been done at Jesus' finished work at the cross.

If the motive for our actions is to be accepted by God, that's legalism. If we live wholly out of faith and gratefulness for what Christ has already done, that's grace. Grow in Grace!