By Riqui Ricón*
Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden
me by my right hand. Thou
shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Whom
have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart
faileth: but God is the strength
of my heart, and my portion for ever. (Psalm
73:23–26 KJV)
The Bible, which is the Word of God and does not lie, is very insistent
that God has always been with
you. He has never left you and He
never will. For even if your father and mother forsake you, the Lord will take
care of you (Psalm 27:10), and even if you walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, you will fear no evil, for God is with you (Psalm 23:4). It is
He who takes you by your right hand to keep and sustain you.
The
Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall
not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from
all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve
thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
(Psalm 121:5-8 KJV)
It is because
of this knowledge and certainty in your heart that you can affirm, as King David did: Whom have I in
heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My
flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion
forever.
Since you truly believe that the Bible
is the Word of God, then be sure that you can have this same knowledge and certainty: God is the strength of your heart and your portion forever!
Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, knowing that out of love for you He would
give His life to pay for all your sins, declared:
I am the door; whoever
enters through me will be saved. They will come in
and go out, and find pasture. (John 10:9
NIV)
Salvation, which is nothing other than Eternal Life—that
full and abundant life that only the Children of God can enjoy—is available
to you through the blood,
death, and resurrection of Jesus. He is the door to your salvation!
For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John
3:16-17 KJV)
God loves you so much that He preferred
to give up His own Son rather
than lose you!
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV)
Now, the way to the Father (not to a jealous and vengeful
God, but to the Father) has been opened so that you can enjoy Eternal Life, which is the very same Life that Jesus has.
See
what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know
us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1 NIV)
By the blood of Jesus, shed to the last drop on
the cross of Calvary out of love for you; by His death and
resurrection; now you are, as the Scripture says, a true and legitimate Child
of God, Born Again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23 KJV)
In the face of any problem, anguish, or illness, you can
be sure that God Himself is the one who holds you by your right hand, who keeps
and guides you. He does not turn away from you, for the relationship that now unites
you is that of a Father and a Child.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans
8:29 NIV)
According to the Word of God, because of the love He has
for you, Jesus voluntarily ceased to be the only begotten Son of God (the only one), and died to become the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters, of whom you are one.
No matter how you feel or how you see yourself today,
this is what the Word of God says, and it is the Truth.
The
thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 KJV)
Satan is that thief who only wants to steal, kill, and
destroy you. The only weapon he has to achieve
his purpose is the lie, and it can only work if you
believe it.
That’s right, when you begin to listen to words and
thoughts of lies, doubt is born and unbelief
begins, and this is all the devil
needs to sow discouragement
in your heart and incite you to disobey the Word of God.
The amazing thing about God’s love in all this is that
Satan is already defeated—Christ Jesus defeated
him and has put him under your feet! When you were Born Again, you were born
as a Child of God and not as you were before, subject to the devil’s schemes
and a slave to sin. No!
Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians
5:17 KJV)
Now, by the blood of Jesus, by His death and resurrection, you have been born
in the likeness of the Son of God, for, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God. (1 John 5:1a KJV)
It is precisely
your identity as a Child
of the King that gives
you victory over any scheme of the
devil.
Ye are of God, little
children, and have overcome them:
because greater is he
that is in you, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4
KJV)
The only thing the devil can do is try to convince you
that none of this is true, that God is lying, and that therefore your reality, your problems, illnesses, and sins will prevail no matter how much you try to trust God.
BUT, Satan forgets that you are now of God, and for that
reason, you have already overcome him, because greater
is He who is in you than he who is in the world!
So, do not pay attention to the world and its problems;
do not allow your circumstances, afflictions, or illnesses to tell you what to believe and what not to
believe. Fight the good fight of faith!
Lay hold on Eternal Life!
Submit to the Word of God!
Resist the devil! He will have to flee from you.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
(James 4:7 NIV)
Therefore, say to him right to his face:
Satan, I know well that you have come to steal, kill, and
destroy, BUT I am a Child of God, Born Again, and I ALREADY HAVE Eternal Life,
the Full and Abundant Life that my Lord Jesus Christ
bought for me with His own Blood.
You have nothing in me! You are defeated and under my feet! God is my
Father and I am His Child! I am the
person God says I am in His Word, not who you want me to believe I am. I
believe God and not your lies. So you cannot touch me, I resist you and I
command you: get out of my life in the name of Jesus!
Once you are in agreement
with your enemy,
let us go confidently to the throne of grace to find grace and
mercy to help in time of need.
Let us pray aloud:
Beloved Heavenly Father, at this hour I want to thank You
for such great Love that You have for me, for while I was dead in trespasses and sins, You gave me
a totally New Life together with Christ. Thank
You because today I can face a new purpose and destiny knowing that the old
things have passed away and that You, my God, have made all things new. Lord
Jesus, thank You for what You have done for me. By Your death and resurrection,
I am now a Child of God just like
You, my King. I love You with all my heart. Because of what You say in Your
Word, I know perfectly well that from every problem, anguish, or illness I will
come out more than a conqueror, for I can do all things in You, in Your
anointing and in Your Word. So, I will not pay attention to words of lies,
failure, and defeat that want to intimidate me, since I have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but I, (your
name here), have received the Spirit of adoption and today I cry out, Abba!
Father! I am Yours, God, and I have overcome, for greater are You,
Holy Spirit, who lives in me and with me, than he who is in the world.
Lord, all and every one of Your Promises are in me, yes and amen! I submit to
You, my God, I submit to Your Word, I resist Satan and he has to flee from my
life. I do not receive doubt, nor fear, nor
sickness, nor poverty,
nor anguish, nor depression. I am healed!
I am free! I am prosperous! I am blessed! I am a
Child of God! In the name of
Jesus. Amen.
Important Note:
How do I become a Child of God? How do I establish a relationship with the
Almighty?
Just say the following prayer aloud, putting
all your attention
and heart into what you are saying to God:
Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God. That
You came into this world, born of the virgin Mary, to pay for all my sins, and I have been a sinner. Therefore, today I say that I
accept. I accept Your sacrifice on the cross! I accept Your precious Blood shed to the last drop out of love for me! I open my heart
to You and invite You in
because I want, Lord Jesus, that from today and forever You be my only and sufficient
Savior, my God, my King, and my Lord.
Thank You,
Almighty God, because with this simple prayer and profession of faith I have passed
from death to Life, I have been transferred from darkness
to Your marvelous Light. Today I have been Born Again! God, now I am Your
Child! Now You are my Father! I will never be alone again! I will never live
defeated again. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Three Recommendations:
What just
happened by you recognizing Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life, according to God's Word, is that you have been Born Again. No longer
as an ordinary human being, subject to the law of sin and death, but now as a
legitimate and authentic Child of God, Born Again, exactly like Jesus Christ, who is now your Older Brother. Therefore,
I give you these three, very important, recommendations:
1.
Pray. Praying is talking with God. So, find a quiet
place where you can begin talking to Him about everything. Do it out loud, and you will notice
how God always responds to your heart.
2.
Read and meditate
on the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God, so get a Bible
and start reading
and meditating on it. How do you begin? It’s very simple. Depending on the day,
look up the reading program “The Bible in
One Year” and do the corresponding readings. You can get this program at: Through The Bible In One Year
(palabradehonor.org). You will notice that the program is set up so you can
print it as a booklet.
3.
In prayer with God, your Father, look for and join a
Christian church or congregation where the Word of God is taught based on the Good News, which are the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Ricardo C. Peredo Jaime © 2020
Reading and Meditation on the Word of God
Do these daily readings, and by the end of one year you will have
read the entire Bible.
September 3 John 10:1–21 / 2 Chronicles 8 / Psalm 73
The Good Shepherd
and His Sheep
10 “Very truly I
tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs
in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters
by the gate is the shepherd
of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen
to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When
he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow
him because they know his voice. 5 But
they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because
they do not
recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure
of speech, but the
Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus
said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are
thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened
to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever
enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out,
and find pasture. 10 The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd
and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.
Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters
it. 13 The man runs away because he
is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good
shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down
my life for the sheep. 16 I have
other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my
voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to
take it up again. 18 No one takes it
from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down
and authority to take it up again.
This command
I received from my Father.”
19 The Jews who
heard these words
were again divided.
20 Many of them said, “He is
demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen
to him?”
21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Solomon’s Other Activities
8 At the end of
twenty years, during which Solomon built the temple of the LORD and his own palace,
2 Solomon rebuilt the villages that Hiram[a] had given him, and settled Israelites in them. 3 Solomon then went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. 4 He
also built up Tadmor in the desert
and all the store cities he had built in Hamath. 5 He rebuilt Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon as fortified
cities, with walls and with gates and bars, 6 as well as Baalath and all his store cities, and all the cities
for his chariots and for his horses[b]— whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem,
in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.
7 There were still people left from the Hittites, Amorites,
Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites
(these people were not Israelites). 8 Solomon
conscripted the descendants of all these people remaining in the land—whom the Israelites had not destroyed—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day. 9 But
Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites for his work; they were his fighting
men, commanders of his captains,
and commanders of his chariots and charioteers. 10 They were also King Solomon’s chief officials—two hundred
and fifty officials
supervising the men.
11 Solomon brought
Pharaoh’s daughter up from
the City of David to the palace
he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel,
because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”
12 On the altar of the LORD that he had built
in front of the
portico, Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the LORD, 13 according to the daily requirement for offerings commanded by
Moses for the Sabbaths, the New Moons and the three annual festivals—the
Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival
of Tabernacles. 14 In keeping
with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of
the priests for their duties, and the Levites to lead the praise and to assist
the priests according to each day’s requirement. He also appointed the
gatekeepers by divisions for the various gates, because this was what David the
man of God had ordered. 15 They did
not deviate from the king’s commands to the priests or to the Levites in any
matter, including that of the treasuries.
16 All Solomon’s
work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the temple
of the
LORD was laid until its completion. So the temple
of the LORD was finished.
17 Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and Elath
on the coast of Edom. 18 And Hiram
sent him ships commanded by his own men, sailors who knew the sea.
These, with Solomon’s men, sailed to Ophir and
brought back four hundred
and fifty talents[c] of gold, which they
delivered to King Solomon.
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
1
Surely God is
good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2
But as for me, my feet had almost
slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
3
For I envied the
arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4
They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5
They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6
Therefore pride
is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
7
From their callous
hearts comes iniquity[b]; their evil imaginations have no limits.
8
They scoff, and
speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9
Their mouths
lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10
Therefore their people turn to them and drink
up waters in abundance.[c]
11
They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”
12
This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing
wealth.
13
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.
14
All day long I have
been afflicted,
and every
morning brings new punishments.
15
If I had spoken
out like that,
I would have betrayed
your children.
16
When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
17
till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
18
Surely you place them on slippery
ground; you cast them down to ruin.
19
How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
20
They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as
fantasies.
21
When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22
I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before
you.
23
Yet I am always
with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward
you will take me into glory.
25
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing
I desire besides
you.
26
My flesh and my
heart may fail, but God is the strength
of my heart
and my portion forever.
27
Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28
But as for me, it
is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
