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 Tuesday, April twenty three, 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 series the Great
Controversy. Our caption for today is Courage to Stand. Courage to Stand.
We'll get into that in just the moment, but first I'd like to say
welcome to you and ask you to please go over to your Daily Portion dot
com, join our online community, pick up the Your Daily Portion dot Com,
pick up your Daily Portion book. Excuse me, and also 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 underwig bather and Heaven. Thank you
for giving us this day and our daily bread. Please Lord, help us
to eat freely from your table and not waste our food or energy on things
that don't matter, but to please be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. Courage to
stand. God wants us to stand up, stand up for Jesus. Remember
that song when we were young, Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye, soldiers of the Cross. That's what God wants us. He wants
us to hold up the royal banner. We shall not suffer loss. I
love that song. I love that song. What great memories. Let's go
ahead and begin our discussion with a question. Do you lack courage? Like?
Are you fearful in these days? And I know I keep saying in
the last days, in the last days, because really and truly we are
living at the edge of time. Brothers and sisters, Jesus is coming soon.
Are you standing in a position where you are faithful or are you fearful?
Are you faithful or are you fearful? Remember when Adam sinned? The
Bible says that God came into the garden as usual, and the Bible says
that he, as Adam heard the voice of God walking in the garden,
he was hiding. Adam said, God said, where are you? And
Adam said, I was hiding. I'm naked. I hid myself. I'm
fearful. Why, like, who told you you were naked? Adam?
Did you eat of the fruit that I commanded that you should not eat of?
And he said well, And of course then Adam starts to blame Eve,
and then the story just goes crazy after that. But God wants us
not to be fearful and hiding in the last days. No, he wants
us to be courageous and stand stand as faithful people who are still in right
relationship with God. So we don't need to hide in the bushes. We
do not have to blame anybody for what we have done or not done.
But we can say God, thank you for being so faithful to me,
and then live in a right relationship with him. And so that is why
we begin now our discussion in the Book of Acts, the Book of Acts,
chapter five, and I will read beginning at verse twenty eight. Now,
the people of God, a few of God's men were having a little
challenge, and I'm really understating it. They were having a challenge because they
were doing exactly what God said, but the people around them persecuting them for
that purpose. And so the Bible says here we gave you strict orders not
to teach in this name, speaking about Jesus. You were not supposed to
teach in Jesus' name. Look out, look, you have filled Jerusalem with
your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us. But
Peter and the apostles replied, we must obey God rather than people. You
have that kind of faith that no matter what is going on around you,
you would obey God rather than people. Yes or yes Verse thirty. The
God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging
him on a tree. God exalted him to his right hand as leader and
savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. So God did not
will not hold any sin against anyone that we confess. That is agreement with
God. Confession and holiness, that is agreement with God that if we confess
our sins, he will not hold it against us. But the people that
did not love God at that moment, even though they said that they were
God's people, were still indicting the apostles as if the apostles were charging them
with a crime that they didn't do, and they felt they felt guilty,
they felt guilty. And so now they're faced with the decision, are they
going to repent, turn away from their sin and their guilty thoughts and feelings,
and then just come into rite connection with God right so that the same
Savior that they don't love can forgive them because look at it. Look at
it. It says here that He was giving repentance to his people and forgiveness
of sins. Or are they going to continue with their dogged foolishness and decide
to continue to walk away from God Verse thirty two. And we are witnesses
of these events. So is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to
those who obey him. You see, the question really is who is our
enemy in these circumstances when human beings are so vehement and against you and God,
who is our real enemy. The Bible says here in the Book of
Ephesians, chapter six, beginning at verse ten, Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord, and then the power of his might, put
on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil who is our enemy. Brother Paul Well, he
says, for we wrestled not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness and high places. And so God has given us the antidote, like
he told us that we Since our enemy is supernatural and spiritual, then the
weapons of our warfare are also spiritual. They are not carnal, they are
not martial arts. They are not Brazilian jiu jitsu. They are not boxing,
they are not self defense kravma. God, they are not target practice
with your firearm license firearm. None of the actual enemy that has against our
soul cannot be beaten by those earthly implements of war. God is saying that
our enemy is spiritual, and therefore we yield ourselves to the Father of spirituality.
That is God our Father. In fact, in fact, in Revelation
chapter three, the Bible says, behold, I come quickly verse eleven.
Hold that fast that thou hast that no man take thy crown. So do
not allow humans to get in the way. Do not allow those principalities and
powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, the spiritual wickedness and high
places, to get in your way. Yield your will to God because verse
twelve, to those who overcome, will I make a pillar in the temple
of my God. He shall go no more out. And I will write
upon that person the name of my God and the name of the city of
my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from
my God. And I will write upon that person my new name. He
that hath an ear, let him hear the spirit saith unto the churches.
So this is a promise to all of us. And if we will just
be faithful, and I said, just be faithful, if we will allow
God to put in our bosom the courage to stand, come, what may
in these last days, when people want you to steal in order to get
notoriety, When people want you to become an influencer in social media or on
YouTube with things that do not please God. Ah, when people are asking
you and showing you that they want you to go against the guidance that God
has given us in the scriptures regarding worship and commitment to God, he wants
us to standgeously. He wants us to stand courageously. Here are a couple
of things that you can consider as we come to a swift close. Emphasize
God's authority over human commands. God's authority, and then strengthen your spiritual resolve
to live according to God's principle. Engage in spiritual warfare wisely. Remember we're
not going in there to fight a human war, an earthly war. We
are in a fight of our lives, eternal lives. That means that the
captain of our soul is the chief who will vanquish our foe. That we
need to yield our will to God so he can do it in our lives.
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,