Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker Elle David Harris. Good morning, good morning, good morning.
It is already Tuesday, February twenty twenty twenty four. Hello, my name
is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your Daily
Portion where we give you God's word every single day and today is no exception.
We are continuing in our lesson study through this series through the Book of
Psalms, and our caption for today is the Lord's Test. The Lord's Test.
There are times, brothers and sisters, is that God tests us And
it's a blessing because He could just leave us out there to you know,
flail around until yeah, we meet our untimely demise. So God's tests are
for his glory and for our benefit. We'll get into that in just a
moment, but first I'd like to just say welcome to you and ask you
to please go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online
community, pick up the Your Daily Portion book and let us know where you
are in the world at your Daily Portion dot com. This is a way
that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray,
and then we will get underway. Father in Heaven, thank you for this
day and for the privilege of being tested and tried by you. Thank you
for not leaving us into the hands of our enemies. But God, I
pray now that you will give us the strength to go through and the wisdom
to go through your testing, because we know that once we do, and
we have yielded our will to you, that this will bring holiness into our
lives. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. Okay,
So what we're going to do is begin by reading from the book Testimonies
for the Church, Volume four, and I'll read page from page one hundred
forty six. That's Testimonies for the Church, Volume four, and I will
read from page one hundred forty six, and it reads God requires prompt and
unquestioning obedience of his law. But men are asleep or paralyzed by the deceptions
of Satan, who suggests and excuses and subst in subterfuges and conquers their scruples,
saying, as he said to even the garden, ye shall not surely
die? Can I just pause for a moment? We may not use those
terminologies as much today unless we're in the military. Right. But what he's
saying here is that the devil has a habit of distracting people. He has
a habit of distracting people. God says we should go left, and the
devil insinuates doubt and tells us go right, or go down, or just
sit still, don't go where God says. And then like a torpedo huh
in a warship, underwater a submarine, he boom sends it and then boom.
If we accept that insinuation, we really blow up our situation, like
we mess up our lives by listening to the enemy. That's all He's interested
in, blowing a hole in our commitment with God, and so disobedience.
Continuing the quote not only hardens the heart and conscience of the guilty one,
but it tends to corrupt the faith of others. Have you realized that when
you have chosen to sin, sometimes people are watching, yes or yeah.
Let me start with the people watching part. People are watching, and then
they're like, oh, my goodness, my brother, my sister. If
they're doing that, then now they feel like they have permission to do the
thing that is not holy. Or there are people who may not have seen
you do anything wrong, but when they need you, they need holy advice,
they need you, They're in need of healing and prayers, they need
you. You're not available. Why why not, I should say, because
God forbid? Maybe you have been nursing and babying and rocking these sins,
these darling little sins, and then don't have the power, sort of like
the disciples when the people were like, well, why is it that your
disciples can't cast out these devils? Why can't your disciples do these things?
And of course it was because they were not fully connected to God, they
were semi connected. I wish I had the time. Let me continue.
Disobedience not only hardens the heart and conscience of the guilty one, but tends
to corrupt the faith of others, that which looked very wrong to them at
first gradually loses this appearance by being constantly before them, till finally they question
whether it really is a sin and unconsciously fall into the same error. That's
the end of the quote. So God is teaching us that we need to
immediately once he brings it to our awareness, our consciousness. This is the
way walking in it. He wants us to immediately walk in the truth that
he shows us, not wait, not delay, not like the man in
the New Testaments, And almost thou persuadest me, no, no, no,
no, no, no, Now is the time. Now is the
time. Let me read now from the Book of Psalms, the Book of
Psalms, chapter eighty one, and I will read verses seven and eight.
The Bible reads, in your distress, you called out, and I rescued
you. I answered you. From the dark thunder cloud, I tested you
at the waters of Marabah Sillah. I said, listen, my people,
I will warn you, oh Israel, if only you would obey me,
there must never be another god among you. You must not worship a foreign
god. I am the Lord, your God, the one who brought you
out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill
it. But my people did not obey me. Israel did not submit to
me. I gave them over to their stubborn desires. God, please do
not give me over. I hope you're praying this prayer with me. When
you test me and try me, please teach me to live according to your
principles. Please don't turn me over to my foolish desires and unholy desires.
Please don't do that. Huh. But my people did not obey me.
Israel did not submit to me. I gave them over to their stubborn desires.
They did what seemed right to them. If only my people would obey
me, if only Israel would keep my commands, then I would quickly subdue
their enemies and attack their adversaries. Lord, help us to humble ourselves before
you. This is a real prayer, brothers and sisters, so that we
can honor you, so that when you see us, you can be pleased,
just like when you saw Jesus Ah. So that when we are in
these trials and tribulations, you can get the honor for getting us through them,
not dragging us out from them, not putting us in a position where
we are constantly saying sorry, sorry, sorry, please forgive me, forgive
me, forgive me, But to be yielded to you in such a way
that you can say, have you considered my servant? Fill in your name
here? Have you considered my servant? Who is living like I have prescribed?
There is none like this person, these persons, and all the earth.
God is looking for faithfulness, but he's putting it in the bosoms of
people who will just yield our will to him. And I'm really encouraged by
his word in this regard. And let me just give There are so many
things we need to read here, but let me give some key points from
the Book of Psalms, chapter eighty one and one hundred and five. The
first one is to trust in the Lord's plan, and the Bible reads in
eighty one verse ten, I am the Lord, your God, who brought
you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will
fill it. All we need to do is open our mouths wide in this
regard right, and he will fill it. This teaches us to trust God's
plan and his provision even when the situation seems challenging. Here's another one,
learn from our past mistakes. I neglected to mention Psalm chapter seventy eight,
this time in verse ten, they did not keep God's covenant, and they
refuse to live according to his law. Reflect on the times that we and
other people of God did not do the right thing, whether personal or those
from before us, and strive not to repeat them. There are some things
we just don't need to do. And then, of course, beware of
spiritual hardening of our hearts. In eighty one and verse eleven, the Bible
reads, but my people did not listen to me, Israel did not obey
me. Be vigilant against the spiritual hardening of our hearts. Be holy and
thankful that God is willing to continue to get us through these tests so that
we can have a testimony that God is powerful enough to make his people holy.
A wonderful day, Peace, Thanks for joining us listening. Friends.
Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with el David
Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,