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| Today |  | November 22 - November 28 2026 |  |
Nov22
I Will Never Leave You; No Fear
2 Tim 1:6-7 | |
| 6 | Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV It was the largest earthquake I had ever felt. I had been living in the island nation of Japan for over 20 years. As I came round the corner to my office I saw people running out of a soba (noodles) shop. Then I felt it jolt. It was a massive shaking. I briskly walked to the middle of the street and pulled out my camera phone to record it. Oncoming cars didn’t feel the shaking at first but from the other side of the street, office ladies came running out of a larger building holding hands as they started crying. For some reason, I had no fear. I wasn’t afraid. I knew I should stay in the middle of the street as falling glass from older buildings’ breaking windows would be dangerous, but I had no fear. I knew I am consistently praying the protection of God’s angels around myself and my family. This was the largest earthquake Tokyo had experienced since I started my life there with my wife and some said it was the most powerful in 100 years. This is my home. Then the nuclear issues came as huge tsunami waves cause by the earthquake pounded on power generation plants taking out exterior emergency power generators for cooling the facilities in case of emergencies. With nuclear melt-down concerns, fear began to take hold of people as they lined up to buy gasoline, then cleaned out the stores of bottled water, and continued to buy up all the necessities of milk, bread and other items. We didn’t queue up anywhere. We were not afraid. My church, my business, my friends, and everything was in Japan and I knew God put us there for a reason. Within a couple months everything was back to relative “normalcy” in the country. Of course, after experiencing a nation’s greatest natural disasters (crippling earthquake, massive tsunami wave, and nuclear melt-down) things had changed but nothing bad happened to my family or church family because we had been praying for them. In 2 Timothy 1:7 we see that you don’t have to be fearful living in the world. Even if the earth is shaking under your feet and everything is burning up around you. Psalm 91:7 says, |
| 7 | A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. NKJV Psalm 91 is a chapter you should know because it talks about how God protects His people when they are connected to Him. If you know how God will protect you and your family when you are praying, then you won’t be fearful. However, the other thing 2 Timothy talks about is the laying on of hands. We consistently have Holy Spirit-baptized believers praying for people who aren’t baptized in the Spirit at our church. You do that by the laying on of hands. That makes a difference. You need the Holy Spirit to protect, direct, and reveal the things of God to you in your daily lives. When you are baptized in the Spirit, you are definitely not going to be fearful. Why? Because you know He is never going to leave you or forsake you. Hebrews 13:5-6 says, |
| 5 | For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6 So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" NKJV God’s promise to protect and keep you is not something new. There are scriptures all over the Bible that you can use to confess His protection over you. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, |
| 6 | Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you." NKJV And it doesn’t end there. Just look up “I will never leave you” in a good Bible concordance and you will find a treasure trove of God confirming how He wants to protect you (Deut 31:6, Josh 1:5, 1 Sam 12:22, 1 Chron 28:20, Psalm 37:25, 28 ,Isa 41:10,17 to name a few). Just remember God cares for His people. You see that He does throughout the Old and New Testaments. But you have to give Him your concerns, whether it is fear or something else. 1 Peter 5:7 talks about |
| 7 | casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. NKJV Have you spend time with Him today? If you have, you will find there is no fear here. Stir up the gift. Hallelujah! Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 30 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
Nov23
Is It Wrong To Be Angry?
Mark 3:5-6 | |
| 5 | And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. NKJV Here in Mark we see that Jesus our Lord got angry. Why did He get angry? He knew that religious leaders in the synagogue were looking for reasons to criticize, or in this case even kill Him. They were so tied up in their traditions that healing a person with a deformed hand was what they considered “work” and they had silly detailed laws about doing work on the Sabbath day. To them it was Saturday, for most of us these days it is Sunday. There is nothing wrong with mowing your lawn or gardening on our day of worship (when we go to church), but God knows we need rest and that is why He rested on the seventh day when He made creation to give us an example. However, they guys added to the rules to the point of forbidding someone to help us. Crazy. Therefore Jesus, the Anointed, was angry. Is it wrong to be angry? Evidently not because Ephesians 4:25-28 says, |
| 26 | "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. NKJV We’re told to be angry and not sin. In this case, it is talking about making sure people are doing their part and not leeching off of others in the church. According to one Bible expert, there are two Greek words used to described anger in the New Testament. One can be translated, “passion, energy” and the other means “agitated, boiling”. See it all comes down to why you are angry and what you do. There is a Biblical anger that is sometimes called “righteous indignation” where believers are mad at the sin and the enemy and act (like Jesus in the temple throwing out the money changers and other merchants who were cheating the incoming Jews with exorbitant rates). But anger can be God-given energy is to help us solve problems. By getting angry, things can get done if we keep controlled. We can see that in Paul confronting Peter because of the bad example he gave (Galatians 2:11-14) and King David’s being upset after hearing the prophet Nathan’s story of injustice (2 Samuel 12). Anger here was not someone defending their “honor” or reputation. It was people defending others or wanting to do the right thing for others. When anger is self-centered, that is when it turns to sin. A friend has a wife from France. They moved to Hawaii so he was busy packing up thing for each trip he took from their apartment in France back to Honolulu. She would pick him up at the airport and drive him to their new home as she could. One trip, he hand-carried her dishes in his carry-on and hand bag. When he got in the car, he noticed two of the dishes cracked when he pulled them out to show here. She saw it and said, “You don’t care for me because you didn’t take care of my dishes”. With that he said he got very angry because he had carefully packed so many dishes with such care and love for her but was condemned by her. So what did he do? He said he got very angry and said some things to her that he later regretted. He said she then began talking about divorce. He said, this was all in a car ride, on the way home from the airport, about a couple cracked dishes! He confided that if he would have just controlled his anger when she said, “You don’t care about me”, then it would have been fine. He said, “I should have just sat there and let her blow off her steam”. He later apologized for not controlling his mouth because he let it boil over and they started talking about things they should never discuss. (For married believers, divorce should never be discussed unless a couple cannot resolve their issues due to some sexual unfaithfulness or physical abuse by the wife or husband. Divorce is not an option because God hates it (Malachi 2:16)). When you get angry are you boiling over breaking up things? Then it is time to get things under control. Make sure your anger is not selfish, then turn your anger into love. Creatively do something to fix that injustice that makes you angry. Good things to remember about dealing with people issues in life are 1) Act, don’t react. Don’t respond just because someone did something. 2) Deal with the problem not the people. Remember ‘our battle is not against flesh and blood’ so even though there may be someone instigating something, it is likely the spirit or in many cases just the emotions behind them. 3) Communicate clearly- People don’t know what you are thinking. Carefully say things to verbalize why you think something so they can understand. Remember, we are different than unbelievers. We are supposed to do all things in love. God loves us so much and He loves those around us. People do ignorant things but that doesn’t mean we have to blow up. Proverbs has a lot of wisdom. I remember how we speak is so important. Proverbs 15:1-2 states, |
| 1 | A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. |
| 2 | The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. NKJV Turn your anger into creativity to get things done. If you are tempted to say anything that you might regret later, then it is better not to say anything at all. Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 31 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
Nov24
Absolutely Perfect
1 Peter 1:14-16 | |
| 14 | as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." NKJV In my first year of Bible-schooling I learned a very important thing. Being a follower of Jesus is not something that is hereditary. You don’t get a passion for Jesus by just being born into a certain family. Nor is being a committed Christian something that is passed down from one generation to another. Being a believer is a personal choice every young person (and older) needs to make, not just to repent and turn to Jesus, but also to follow His ways every day. We have to fan our spiritual fire for Him daily. Get around people who love Him, and most importantly get into His presence. Every January my wife and I would make our way to a powerful minister’s conference near Dallas Texas. It was great a the Holy Spirit would speak to us about the upcoming year. They would have 12 preachers from around the United States coming and giving a word to about 2,000 pastors and ministers from around the world. We attended about three years then took a break as we had travelled several times to that powerful revival in Florida called the Brownsville Revival. One thing about Brownsville was that sometimes there was a little DAM (dark ages mentality) in some messages where, for example, God knocked one pastor off the roof to ‘teach him something’ (God didn’t) or God didn’t want people to be prospering after all, “What would an African want with a luxury car?” (the real message of Biblical prosperity initially would be a bike, motorcycle or even a tractor to someone in the countryside). However, at Brownsville there was this sense of really understanding the glory of God and His holiness. A couple years later, when we went back to the minister’s conference in Texas, we noticed they preached a lot of prosperity... and they were prospering (praise God!). But we hungered for more about God. We wanted to hear about holiness and more of His characteristics. After all, we are supposed to be like Him. 1 Peter 1:16 says to be holy as He is holy. What is the holiness of God and what can we do to be like Him? It would take more than one Faithbuilder to talk about the holiness of God. However, Psalms does a great job of talking about His holiness. Psalm 40:5 says |
| 5 | You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. ESV Some had defined holiness as ‘absolute perfection’. Well God is absolutely perfect! He doesn’t blow up in anger, say things He regrets later, have health issues from bad choices, talk bad about people unfairly... He doesn’t do anything wrong. He is absolutely prefect. You and I are absolutely imperfect without Him. But, by the work of Jesus the Messiah, we are made perfect (2 Cor 5:21). We are to be like Him. The only way to be like Him is to -be with Him -do what He does -be around those who know Him I worked with a gentleman from the UK. We both speak English, but a bit differently. However, after working together for more than 3 years, he mentioned one day, “I talk like an American.” What was it? He was spending every weekday working with an American around Him. Being around each other we began to talk alike and act similar. With that our business grew. That is why we are supposed to spend time with God. God is the dominant and if you are open you will begin to take on His characteristics. His character might be summed up in one word, holiness. That really is absolutely perfect; a perfect home, a perfect job, and most importantly to the community a perfect church of loving people. Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 1 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
Nov25
Surrounded If You Say It
Ps 32:7 | |
| 7 | You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. NKJV He He was flown in via helicopter to some of the roughest terrain in North America for Elk hunting. With the valleys and swamps surrounded by the cliffs of this mountainous area, there was no way to hike into the area. You could only come in by air and be dropped off and picked up the same way. When they landed, the guide immediately noticed a mound of feces the size of three footballs. The guide was visibly shaken. It was the feces of a huge grizzly bear that was nearby. One of the hunters saw that. That night in the tent, this elk hunter heard the sounds of sticks cracking and a large animal moving outside the tent. You would think a hunter with a rifle would be safe, but it is very difficult to defend yourself in the wild in the pitch dark of the mountains. This hunter was a believer and as he heard what he was sure was that large bear foraging around outside that tent that night he confessed, “The angel of the Lord camps around me” from Psalm 34:7. The full verse is- |
| 7 | The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. NKJV He just kept saying it even with the fearful sounds. Guess what? He slept like a log. The other hunters said he was in such a deep sleep he was snoring! God wants to surround His people with His angels to protect us. He wants us to be blessed and prospering. Our loving heavenly Father wants us healthy and well. As I think about His angels being around me, I think that is powerful. Angels are ministering spirits that are sent from the presence of God to do His will on the earth as we pray. If you are speaking words of faith about yourself and your situation they will be there. Psalms 32:7 talks about how God will surround you with songs of deliverance. Worship is powerful and can break through the bad situations. You can not only say the Word over your life, you can sing it. But if you are not praying or saying, then you can’t expect protection from the grizzlies or any other physical or spiritual attack. When you feel down or low (which even the strongest believer can feel) you’ve got to do something... Sing it out. Speak, pray, confess, and sing the Word of God. Remember Paul and Silas, thrown in prison for preaching God’s Kingdom? They were physically beat up and in a dark dirty place, but they didn’t let that get them down. They sang and the angels acted on their behalf. They busted open that dirty old prison and broke them free. Hallelujah! Please reread Psalm 34:7. It says the angels of God camp around a certain type of people. What type of people? Those who fear Him. What is it to fear God? It is to hate evil (Proverbs 8:13). People who fear God hate evil and they are protected because of that. That means that you hate doing any thing that would even look wrong. No vile words, no cheating on taxes, no gossip, take good care of your family, love your spouse, work the hardest at the job. You are like a little copy of God because Jesus told us to be like Him. Show love for those people you see in public. God has an amazing plan for you. To realize (make it come into being) you have to act. When you act, things happen. When you don’t then that’s when poverty, doubt, and unbelief comes and take over like a bandit. Surround yourself with God’s angels by fearing Him and talking about what they are doing for you. He promises to deliver you! Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 2 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
Nov26
How Will We Know The Last Days?
Matt 24:12-14 | |
| 12 | And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. NKJV Every so often, some person claims to be a seer or prophet and tells us the end of the world is coming soon on some certain day. Jesus was very clear that no one knows the day or the hour. Matthew 24:36-37 says, |
| 36 | "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. NKJV He is pretty clear that no one knows when the end of the world is. Recently, the media got very excited about someone proclaiming the end of the world on some particular day. I just shrugged it off and didn’t even pay attention. I am not moved by what I see or hear, I am moved by the Word of God. The end of the world as we know it is going to come on us before we know it. If you read Matthew 24, you can learn a lot about what to expect. Matthew 24:14 is the key concept. God is fair and just and He wants to give all of mankind a chance to accept or reject Him. Until the Gospel is preached around the whole world, we will not come to the end because He wants to give everyone a chance. Certainly, we are close however as we have the Bible being translated into hundreds of languages. One organization has done over 700 translations in the last 69 years. There are more local languages to go, but we are getting close. The Word is getting out to every people on this earth. But we who are in societies that have the Bible in our own languages already... how will we know when Jesus the Messiah is coming back? We may not know the exact hour or day, but we followers of Jesus can know when we are close. Jesus teaches us a lot about it and here are some things you can observe to know we are coming to the end. • People will become cold, uncaring, self-seeking, and even mean, just looking to please or gratify themselves (2 Timothy 3:1-4, Matthew 24:12) • People will act like Christian believers but not have the power of God in their lives (2 Timothy 3:5, Romans 2:20-24, Titus 1:16) • Many will come and say I am the Messiah (Matthew 24:24, Matthew 24:5) or the Savior of the world and try to draw people to them. Of course there are many other things you should see in the Word yourself. But pastor, “It sounds like a horrible time to live in”, you might say. I say to you, you can live in any situation and God will prosper you if you seek Him, His Kingdom, and His righteous ways and things. You fear God (which is to hate evil) and God will look after you. When Jesus’ friends asked Him how they would know about His coming He said in Matt 24:4 |
| 4 | And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. NKJV Translation, make sure you KNOW THE WORD. If you know the Word, you will not be deceived, in fact you will be able to see more about what is going on than others around you that don’t know the Word. Jesus is coming back soon! Are you ready? Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 3 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
Nov27
Managing The Family Business
1 Timothy 5:8 | |
| 8 | But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. NKJV It is a common phrase among English speakers in the United States. Instead of saying good bye when you part ways with that friend at the coffee shop, that person you met at the gym, or that person you talked to on the street that you met briefly, people are always saying “take care”. Take care meaning to ‘take care of yourself until the next time we meet’. Taking care is something we all need to do. You need to take care of yourself -spiritually by reading the Word and spending time in His presence each day -by eating natural (not processed) foods -by vigorous exercise 30 minutes a day, at least three days a week -by keeping active mentally doing things that make you think. This is how you can ‘take care’ spiritually and physically. But there is an area that the Word is also clear about taking care of. It is the family. The husband is the spiritual head of the house. He needs to make sure he gets his family to a healthy church where they can grow. He needs to make sure that his family is strong spiritually. He is the head but he is working together with his wife. They are equal. In most cases, the wife is the head of the finances. This is nothing new as Proverbs 31:10-15 it says, |
| 10 | Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. |
| 11 | The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain. |
| 12 | She does him good and not evil All the days of her life. |
| 13 | She seeks wool and flax, And willingly works with her hands. |
| 14 | She is like the merchant ships, She brings her food from afar. |
| 15 | She also rises while it is yet night, And provides food for her household, NKJV As you can see the wife’s role in the family is just as important as the husband. She is like the business manager. While the husband is responsible for bringing the income and the spiritual condition of the family, the wife is active. She is out working. A good wife is a good thing, just as a hardworking husband, who when both spiritually astute, can assure the prosperity of that family. Faith and family are interconnected. When you get married, it is beautiful. You get to share your life with that wonderful spouse. It is not easy as couples don’t always agree. I learned that whatever I am going through with my spouse is a common issue to others as well. All this in mind, we should be considerate of the 1 Timothy 5:8. Marriage is a joint operation, but the husband is responsible for keeping that family and marriage together. A ‘dead-beat dad’ is a father divorced from his wife who is doing nothing to help with the financial costs of raising his children. That is worst than being an unbeliever. Those are strong words. Family is very important to God. That is why we have verses like this calling us His children. |
John 1:12 | |
| But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: NKJV Be thankful for your family. You may not be a father or mother right now, but you can still honor your parents and love and care for them. Don’t be a deadbeat daughter, son, mother or father. Be a loving passionate follower of Jesus and let that love shine out to your family. That is the family business. Today’s Reading- | |
Proverbs 6 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
Nov28
Put Up, Forgive And Encourage
Col 3:13 | |
| 13 | bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. NKJV If you have ever worked in a country that has small church sizes you are probably going to see a bit of protectionism. Why? Well a spiritually healthy believer knows that if you aren’t giving then you can’t expect anything to come back to you. They are tithers because these committed believers know that whatever they have they will leave when they depart from this earth. Therefore some pastors and church leaders see church members as ‘income’. They become less reliant on God as their provider and more concerned about keeping their church members. Church is not about huge buildings, church membership, or how many people come to your church. Church is the body, or the family of Christ Jesus on the earth.. the family of God. It isn’t about rituals or traditions (although we are commanded to baptize and take communion) but it is all about love and forgiveness. Committed Christian believers are the most loving and forgiving people on the face of the earth. We have to forgive and we are commanded to love. Why? God loved us first even though we didn’t deserve it. It is easy to hold grudges because of what someone has done to you in the past. Some people that we see coming into our churches that have issues with their health, can many times connect that to unforgiveness which is blocking their walking in the divine health that God has for them. God wants to take good care of His children. But just as an earthly father, we can go off and get out from under His blessings and even protection by sin. Unforgiveness will separate you from God. That is why every Sunday in God’s house we need to just love on people. Galatians 6:2,3 says, |
| 2 | Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. NKJV When you see someone is a bit quieter than usual someday, then maybe you need to go to them and encourage them. Offer to pray with them and pray a Biblical prayer of victory and encouragement over them. You may need to agree with them for divine wisdom (James 1:5). When someone starts talking their personal trouble with me, that’s when I start to pray with them. After offering to pray, I let them accept or reject the prayer (because it is not always profitable to pray over people who are filled with doubt and unbelief). Other times, you can sense such a strong gift of faith on you that you can see that your faith will carry others. After praying, that person is usually so encouraged because your faith-filled prayer has just built them up. You didn’t pray agreeing with the troubled situation, you prayed believing God for the power to overcome the situation. James calls it, the prayer of faith. James 5:15 says, |
| 15 | And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. NKJV The prayer of faith will not only heal the sick. The prayer of faith over tithes and offerings will bring financial break throughs. The prayer of faith will encourage the unbeliever. The prayer of faith will take you from the valley to the mountain tops. When you think about it, the prayer of faith is praying what you expect, not what you have. The prayer of faith will even meet the needs of the church so the pastor can focus on what he is supposed to do, build people up in Christ Jesus. Be an encourager today. When you get up, ask God to position you to bless someone. When you sow seeds of goods, that goodness will come back to you. God will provide when you act in faith. Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 7 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
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