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| Today |  | September 13 - September 19 2026 |  |
Sep13
One For All, And All For One
Ephesians 4:5-6 | |
| 5 | one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. NKJV There is a famous story of three soldiers who swore to stick together and fight together no matter what. One friend’s attacker, was everyone’s enemy. The film versions of their story had them coming together and frequently saying, “One for all, and all for one”. As believers, we also have to stand together. We need to put aside our differences and concentrate on sharing what Jesus did for us with the world around us. There are no other ways to connect to God’s Kingdom than through a knowing grace of Jesus and a daily walk with Him. Only Jesus is Lord. There are no other names that powers and principalities must bow to. There is only one faith to obtain. There is only one way to believe and be baptized. Everything else is a just a ritual. Faith in nothing or no one else, can bring you into the fullness that God has for the people who are turning to Him. There is only one God. He is three but yet He is one. Romans 11:36 says, |
| 36 | For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. NKJV Everything is God, God is everything. All things come through Him. That’s right. ALL THINGS COME THROUGH HIM. It is what we do with them. Nothing evil comes from Him because evil cannot exist near our awesome God. If your dream is to start your own company, go out and do it. But make sure Yahweh is a part of your plans. Proverbs 16:3 tells us |
| 3 | Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established. NKJV If you are going to commit your what you do to the Lord. You can expect great things. As believers, we need to look for common ground with other believers. Realize that not everyone will be of like faith. I remember when I first discovered that God wants to work miracles in our lives. It was amazing because I realized that day that being a follower of Jesus, being a Christian is not a church culture. God is all about wanting to be involved in our lives. When I discovered the authority I have as believer, that was even better because I learned I don’t have to sit there and take it anymore. I no longer had to just say with everyone else, “I’m catching a cold.” Or sayings relatives and friends would say that were filled with fear like, “Scared me to death.” When I discovered the endowed power I received through Jesus, I started taking authority over sickness for my wife, my children, and myself. I started speaking words of faith and eliminating words of fear from my daily speech. What was I doing? I was renewing my mind to the Way, God’s way as Romans 12:2 commands us. You’ve got to do the same thing if you want to go deeper. When you start to unify yourself with God’s ways, you will start to see amazing things happen in your life. There will be those who don’t want you to change. Shake those people off. It is all about unity with Him. There is no other God. There is no other Word by which you must be saved. There is no other way to peace. There is no other way to establish your plans for great success. When you are unified with Him, you will become very quick at identifying other people of like faith. Encourage yourself today in prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. Contact another follower of Jesus the Messiah and encourage them as well. Focus on unifying people of like faith and encouraging them to go deeper with our awesome Father! One for all, and all for one! Today’s Reading- See www.VWC.jp |
Proverbs 2 | |
Sep14
Divine Appointments- Flowing With His Spirit
John 7:38 | |
| 38 | He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." NKJV Being a follower of Jesus and His ways is all about flowing. When you are baptized in the spirit of God, you flow like a river. That’s right, you can do things that you could hardly imagine. It is amazing how Yahweh sets you up for amazing things. One year on 21 October I visited a bank in Seoul, Korea to change money. I had just finished meetings upstairs with an insurance company and just needed a bit of local cash. The teller spoke English and was pleasant to deal with. She helped me with my transaction and I continued along my business once I converted the cash. Later that year in December, I was returning from another trip between Seoul and Tokyo. I boarded and airplane, stowed my carry-on bag in the overhead compartment, and neatly folded my jacket and overcoat. I also placed them in the overhead bin. I was sitting in the aisle seat hoping for that the window seat next to me would remain open so I could enjoy the extra space after another busy trip. However, God had other plans. He had arranged a divine appointment. Just before they closed the boarding doors for the jet, a young Korean guy boarded the plane and followed the aisle back to the seat next to me. I stood up to give him space to be able to get in to his seat. He spoke pretty good English and we began to chat. As we talked for a little while, I asked him why he was going to Tokyo. He mentioned he was going for a test. This is when I sensed that the Holy Spirit starting to reveal things to me about him. I then told he what company test he was going to take. He was amazed I knew precisely what technical test he was going for. He said, “Whoa.” Then I asked him if he was married. He explained that he had a girlfriend. I asked where she where she worked but immediately in heard in my spirit “bank” just to hear him say she worked at a bank. I then mentioned a bank name and he was in shock. I opened my computer and showed him the image of the girlfriend’s business card. He exclaimed, “You are a god”, and I quickly replied “No, I am a follower of Jesus the Most High God.” The woman who worked at the bank I met in October was his girlfriend he was planning to marry. Isn’t that amazing? Out of millions of people in this city, I met not only the girlfriend, but also the boyfriend as well! Why had God arranged this ‘divine appointment’. He was a Christian, but had stopped going to church three years before. I knew that God had arranged this divine appointment for me to encourage this guy. God is so gracious! I encouraged him as the Spirit led me. All of us are far from perfect, but even if I mess up it is important for me to not give up but work on developing my relationship with God. God wants to flow through you. He wants to bless, encourage, restore, lift up, and strengthen. We have got to learn how to flow with the Spirit. When we do, He will arrange meetings and other opportunities that will just amaze you. Hallelujah! Today’s Reading- See www.VWC.jp |
Proverbs 6 | |
Sep15
The Unifying Gifts of The Holy Spirit
1 Cor 12:4-11 | |
| 4 | There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. NKJV If you have ever been around a person involved in a cult, one common trait you will see is a push for conformity. There is usually some leader that says their way is the only way. They also frequently say that you must give everything to their group. That sense of conformity or shoving someone into the same mold to be the same as everyone else is very against how God created you and I. We are all created distinctly. Unlike animals, we are a three-part being which is just like our Mighty God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). We are a spirit, we have a soul (mind, will, emotions) and we live in a body. But the cool thing is we are not all made alike, we have different giftings. As you read in 1 Cor 12 you can see that different people have different gifts. Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, special gifts of faith, healings, workings of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, various types of tongues (as well as their interpretation), and various other gifts. These are the power gifts. Notice verse 11, |
| 11 | But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. NKJV The gifts are not something we decide, they are something the Holy Spirit gives to us. One year, a group of ‘prophets’ or people saying they flowed in the ministry of prophecy came to the church I was serving at in Japan. Their main speaker talked about the gift of prophecy and then explained how they were going to prophecy over the members of the church. I watched as our pastor allowed them to set up in the classrooms on the 1st floor of the church building and give everyone a ‘personal prophecy’. There was a big ‘check in my spirit’ as some say where I didn’t feel peace about what they were doing. Therefore I abstained from participating in this exercise after the service. I am so glad I did. It turned out that these personal prophecies were more like a ‘drive through fortune telling’ session for the members of the church who wanted to hear. It was not only confusing for the members of the church, it was a big waste of time. It seemed these people were just looking to get attention or act as if they were spiritually ‘in the know’. I sensed that and was glad my family didn’t participate. However if we read verse 7 of 1 Cor 12 we get a very good idea of why the Holy Spirit gives us these gifts. |
| 7 | But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: The gifts are for the profit of all. They are to edify. When you see someone is healed of some incurable disease, you are encouraged. You are edified. When a believer gets a word of knowledge regarding someone they meet, that opens up the person to come to Jesus, or fix their ways if they are backsliding then people are edified. God’s ways are awesome. We as believers need to learn how to flow in the ways of the Spirit. More so the gifts of the Spirit each and everyone of us has. Romans 12:4-6 sums it up well saying, |
| 4 | For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them... NKJV We all have different giftings. As Romans 4:6 says, “Let us use them”. There is so much more regarding the gifts of the Spirit. As you study out the gifts of the Spirit yourself you will start to see your gifts, strengths, and weaknesses as you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal these things to you. Overall, good places to study the gifts of the Spirit in the Word are; Romans 12:4-6, 1 Cor 12:9-11, 1 Cor 12:28, as well as related verses such as Ephesians 4:4, Hebrews 2:4, and 1 Peter 4:10. From Romans 12:4-6 you will see we have a gift of prophecy, but it goes into detailed ministry gifts which would be teaching, exhorting, giving liberally (more than usual), leading diligently, and being joyfully merciful. What gifts do you have? From 1 Cor 12:8-10, we see what some call the power gifts of the Holy Spirit which are; word of wisdom, word of knowledge, special faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, or interpretation of tongues. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your gifts as well as your power gifts. Remember, King Jesus operated in all these gifts. Humans have different gifts, but we can operate under all the gifts by the anointing of the Holy Spirit as well. If you are open, the Holy Spirit will work through you and your giftings, as well as the power gifts. He will show you if you ask. Submit yourself to Him and what your church family unite under the awesome power of our Almighty God. What are your spiritual gifts? Today’s Reading- See www.VWC.jp |
Proverbs 7 | |
Sep16
Easy As Kindergarden- Making Right Decisions
James 1:17-18 | |
| 17 | Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. NKJV Whatever is good comes from our unchanging, perfect Father, however whatever is evil comes from fallen mankind or our spiritual enemy who are both determined to please themselves over anything else. It is so simple, even a young child could understand it. Have you ever met people who, no matter what you tell them, end up going the wrong direction making bad decisions. You can advise them, you can pray for them, you can encourage them, but they still just do things that make you put both hands to your forehead and shake your head. What is it that people make bad decisions? From a worldly perspective, we’ve got the usual ‘suspects’ such as people who have given into greed, lust, pride, arrogance, fear, ignorance, or any number of other things. We as believers have a responsibility to the family of faith to help our family of God. But just like anything, we also need to know when to let people go. That is especially hard if you are gifted as an exhorter. You want to see people make it through. We think, if only I talk to them a little more, if only I go over there one more time… What we need to learn as believers is that after we have given people advice or words of encouragement from the Word, we have to leave the decision to us. I know one pastor who doesn’t have counseling in his church because he believes people should be getting their counseling through the preaching of the Word. When we first went into ministry, I’ll never forget the 30 year woman who was so anxious to marry that she said, “God told me to marry Mr. X”. Unfortunately, Mr. X was a new believer and he had just gotten saved from a life of running with the gangs in his area. He was much younger and from a different group of people that she had been associating with in her life. Everyone sensed it just wasn’t right for them to marry. When someone tells you “God told me” something, what can you say? All I can say is, as God is a Spirit and He speaks to our spirits. Then you better make sure you are really hearing his voice if you are going to tell anyone “God told me”. In the old days, they would put to death the prophets whose prophecies didn’t come true. Thankfully, we don’t have the same thing if our “God told me” statements don’t materialize, but people do need to be more careful about what they say if they are going to invoke God’s Name. In the end, this marriage fell apart and this couple divorced. Why? That woman was so anxious to get married before getting old, she rushed to marry the wrong guy and paid a dear price. She made a wrong decision and a bad one at that. Make James 1:17-18 a part of your thinking. Remember good things come from God, and bad or evil things come from the enemy and this world. So as you are presented with opportunities, God is not going to do something evil to you to get you to do something right. That is twisted religious thinking from the dark ages. There is no evil in heaven. There is not even a speck of darkness with Yahweh. He is completely perfect and pure. When you are going to make a decision, sit down and make a decision map. In the center of a blank piece paper write the decision in one sentence or less. Circle it. Then on the left side of the circle, draw lines from the circle and write down the good things for making the decision on each line. Then do the same thing on the right side of the circle and write down the bad points if you made that decision. With this system, I have been able to prayerfully make good decisions. I have even had things work out on paper to conclude one decision, then going the opposite direction as I knew in the spirit what to do. We must be spirit-led. As believers, we must also make good decisions because the lost are watching all of us. There are lots of good things about wisdom and decision making in James. When, praying for wisdom in a situation, James 1:5 is one you want to know. Just make sure the wisdom you have is from the Father of Lights. How will you know? Check out James 3:17, |
| 17 | But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. NKJV If you are reliant on Yahweh, making right decisions is as easy as going to kindergarden. Anyone who knows Him can do it. Today’s Reading- See www.VWC.jp |
Proverbs 8 | |
Sep17
No Other
Ex 20:3 | |
| 3 | "You shall have no other gods before Me. NKJV Imagine you are the prince of a great nation. There is no one above you. You have everything and more than you could ever need. You come from an amazing family, you are the best looking person in the kingdom, and you are single. It is time to get married so you select your bride. Just before the marriage you find that she has gone off and started dating an ugly old fat merchant in the city. You offered her everything, a hope, a future, and an amazing life. But yet, she went for something that was not as good. I think that is how God feels about humans sometimes. Even though He has promised us abundant life that is full of grace and truth, some of us go off and just ignore Him. However, that is really what is all about. Love that is; love is a choice. If we are forced to chose God, then we would all just be animals or robots. You must choose to love your spouse. You must choose to love your children. Love is a daily choice, just as following Jesus is a daily choice. Loving God is a choice as He has chosen to love you. Isn’t that amazing? As you read Ex 20:3 God makes it very clear, through Moses, that we are not to have any other ‘gods’. We are not to have any idols. Read on in Exodus. |
Ex 20:4-6 | |
| 4 | "You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. NKJV I recently heard a preacher say, “Idolatry is the human practice of forming god’. He continued on to say, “Prayer and worship for the believer is when God is forming us”. We have this feeling that the people of old made this idols out of stone, wood, precious metals and just worshipped or prayed to them. Where they that ignorant? Actually, they knew what they had was made by human hands. Apparently, they expected the spirits or so-called ‘gods’ to inhabit those idols once they made them. If idolatry is the human practice of forming god then we have a lot of idolatry to this day. People have idols of riches, money, things, their spouse, their car, all sorts of things. Sadly, I believe we even have idolatry in the present day church. No, I am not just talking about praying to (or ‘through’) an early-day believer, an Apostle, or some other deceased follower of Jesus. I am talking about these churches that get so excited about the one message that they forget that God has other messages for their churches. For example, all they preach is salvation, or healing, prosperity, prophecy, or something else. A magician who only knows want trick would have a very short show. A good illusionist magician needs to have practiced a plethora of tricks to be able to sell tickets at the circus. For the Way of Jesus, God is so deep we need to be sensitive to Him. There is so much to God, we are always learning about Him and His ways. But we must make sure we are not blindly putting God in a box. Today, ask the Holy Spirit to help you break those false images that you have created of God. Through worship and prayer, ask Him to conform you to God’s ways. God is so deep that you will find yourself growing deeper and wiser every week. Our Yahweh is awesome! |
Ex 15:11 | |
| "Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? NKJV Conform to Him. To His ways. | |
Acts 17:29 | |
| 29 | Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. NKJV Yahweh is awesome! There is no other. Today’s Reading- See www.VWC.jp |
Proverbs 9 | |
Sep18
Coming & Going
Eccl 12:7 | |
| 7 | Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. NKJV One man built a great media empire of newspapers all over the United States. In 1951, he died. Another was an skilled artist in Italy commissioned by government as well as religious officials to create great works of sculpture, painting, and architecture. He too died in 1519. Yet another woman was an entertainer. It seemed she had everything. She had risen from a no name, to become a famous actress, author, and television personality in Japan. She died in her Tokyo apartment in December 2009. No one discovered her spiritual departure for a week. No matter what you do, no matter where you go, you only have a limited amount of time on the earth. Although Ecclesiastes was written by one of the world’s wisest men, he was out of fellowship with God. Solomon had allowed women, riches, and pride to distract him from his relationship with the most high God. I recently read a presentation by a very confident guy from Switzerland. He misquoted Ecclesiastes, then tried to explain how the Bible was out of touch. He was wrong. Watch out for people who misinterpret or don’t understand the context and try to give you any great Bible insights. As you read this verse, |
Eccl 12:8 | |
| "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "All is vanity." NKJV you see that life is vanity? Is there no hope, no future? No, you have to remember that Solomon was out of fellowship with God when he wrote this book. People who are away from God are missing the truth, the grace, and the glory of God. All people, believers and unbelievers, are going to leave their bodies one day. They will some day decease, cease to exist in the physical world, stop breathing... their bodies will ‘die’. Their bodies are like a shell for the spirit and will be buried and melt back into the earth, and their spirits will have long before that gone to either be with the Father or been eternally separated from Him. From a simple scientific perspective, our bodies are just dust and water. Therefore, it is not so much about how much money you make, how many great works of art you craft, or even how famous you become. It is about how much you change the world around you for Jesus. My children tell me, “Papa, don’t die. Don’t leave us”. But unless Jesus returns while I exist in this body, my body will some day become old. Of course, I plan to live to 120 years, eat natural (not processed) food, exercise, actively engage life and most importantly to tell as many people about what King Jesus has done for me for as long as I have breath in my lungs. This body is just a temporary housing shell for me, a spirit-being with a soul. It is the same for you as well. God wants to perfect you by believing on Jesus and the power of Holy Spirit. | |
Heb 12:23 | |
| ...to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect... NKJV We must remember it is not about getting famous, rich, or leaving great buildings or works of art. It is about working by faith as James says. | |
James 2:26 | |
| 26 | For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. NKJV There’s not much time to introduce people to the only Way. His Name is Jesus the Messiah! In your coming and going decide for yourself, “Time to get my faith to work”. Today’s Reading- See www.VWC.jp |
Proverbs 10 | |
Sep19
When I Don’t Know What To Pray
1 Cor 14:2 | |
| 2 | For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. NKJV Have you ever got up in the morning and just not known what to pray? You have seen God’s power in your life, you’ve seen prayers answered time after time, but you just felt like a slug? Well, this is the time we need to know how to pray in the spirit more than anything. Notice I didn’t capitalize the word ‘spirit’ here. Why? Well, in the Greek New Testament we have the word ‘spirit’ all over the place. The original Greek word (remember the New Testament was written in Greek and Aramaic) for spirit here is pneuma. You may have also noticed that in the good English Bible translations (we usually recommend the New King James Version for English speakers) that in some places the word spirit is capitalized. That indicates that the passage is talking about the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit). If it is not capitalized, it is usually talking about the human spirit (or even demonic spirits in some cases). In English, it is the translators that have determined whether the passages are talking about the human spirit or the Holy Spirit. With this knowledge, I have begun to read my Bible with more thoughtfulness. I study the passage and determine for myself whether it is the Holy Spirit or the human spirit. I think in many cases it could go either way. Prayer is a physical activity that goes spiritual. We must also recognize that we all have to be saved by repenting and turning to Jesus. The is the most important thing of all. The second most important thing is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Without this, we are missing most of the power of God. I have observed that every open person I have prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit has received the gift of tongues. Evidently it happened with other followers of Jesus as well. |
Acts 19:6 | |
| And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. NKJV Either immediately after prayer, or shortly thereafter the people we have prayed for have received a special language (either heavenly or earthly language that they did not study or learn), the gift of tongues. What is the purpose of these tongues? A huge reason you have tongues is for prayer. When you don’t know what to pray, pray in tongues. When you feel like a slug, pray in tongues. When you feel pressed in, pray in tongues. When you need wisdom, pray in tongues. When you want to start your prayer life, pray in tongues. Yahweh will reveal things to your spirit, by His Spirit. | |
1 Cor 2:10 | |
| 10 | But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. NKJV When you pray in tongues, your spirit tunes in to His Spirit. Oh, if every believer would pray in tongues consistently and act on those revelations! If you understand the Spirit of God, you can understand Yahweh so much more. |
1 Cor 2:11 | |
| 11 | For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. NKJV Now we all know what to do when we don’t know what to pray. Pray in tongues! Today’s Reading- See www.VWC.jp |
Proverbs 13 | |
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