UCB Word For Today UCB

When you’re controlled by materialism. The flawed philosophy behind materialism is ‘more, more, more!’ And it’s the result of ‘eye trouble’. The Bible says, ‘The eyes of man are never satisfied.’ It’s okay to want a nice home, a reliable car, and financial security – and God will provide those things when you’re a good steward of what He has already entrusted you with. But when you want more than you need or more than what’s required to fulfil His will, the Bible calls it vanity. The word could be defined as being empty, hollow, or without purpose. Solomon writes, ‘He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity’ (Ecclesiastes 5:10 NKJV). So before you ask God for prosperity, ask Him to reveal your life’s purpose because they’re directly linked. Jesus said, ‘A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth’ (Luke 12:15 KJV). God uses a different measuring stick, and His Word says He is ‘able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work…Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and…your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God’ (2 Corinthians 9:8, 10-11 NIV). Is God willing to bless you financially? Yes, but only when you are willing to be a conduit and a distributor of His blessings.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International. 

When you need to pass a difficult test or exam. The fear of failing can cause your brain to freeze just when you need your thoughts to flow freely. When you know you have done your best to study the material and prepare yourself, trust God with the outcome and stand on His Word: ‘Trust in the Lord…do good…and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself…in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust…in Him, and He shall bring it to pass’ (Psalm 37:3-5 NKJV). ‘Call to Me…I will answer…and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know’ (Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV). ‘He shall call upon Me, and I will answer…I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him’ (Psalm 91:15 NKJV). ‘The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name…will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you’ (John 14:26 NKJV). ‘Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight’ (1 John 3:22 NKJV). Don’t be afraid; God will go with you when it’s time to take that test or exam. Long before you prayed, He was already preparing your heart and mind: ‘Before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear’ (Isaiah 65:24 NKJV). So square your shoulders and walk into that exam room knowing God is with you!

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International. 

When you have a hard time forgiving yourself. There is only one unpardonable sin named in the Bible (see Luke 12:10). And as a believer, you probably haven’t committed it, so God will forgive you for everything else. However, when God says He forgives you and you refuse to forgive yourself, it’s like opting to stay in prison after the judge has expunged your record and set you free. And worse, you’re committing the sin of pride. How come? Because when God forgives you and you refuse to forgive yourself, you’re putting your opinion above His. If you’re having trouble forgiving yourself, stand on God’s Word: ‘I…am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins’ (Isaiah 43:25 NKJV). ‘I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and…your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you’ (Isaiah 44:22 NKJV). ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and…will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:7 NKJV). ‘“Never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord’ (Ezekiel 16:63 NKJV). ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9 KJV). ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1 NKJV). Are you ‘in Christ Jesus’? Then rejoice; you no longer need to struggle under the weight of condemnation. God has totally forgiven you, so forgive yourself and move on. 

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International. 

After ten years of sorrow and hardship in which she lost her husband and her support system, God introduced Ruth to her new husband, Boaz. Where? In the field where she worked each day. Who was Boaz? The owner of the field. One of the things that attracted Boaz to Ruth was her work ethic. The servant in charge of his reapers told him, ‘She came and has continued from morning until now.’ As a result, she ended up married to the boss. That’s why the Bible has so much to say about the difference between laziness and hard work, sloppiness and excellence, lateness and punctuality, honesty and dishonesty, a positive attitude and a negative one. Someone is always observing you who is capable of blessing you. Read these three Scriptures: 1) ‘Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before unknown men’ (Proverbs 22:29 NKJV). 2) ‘The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich’ (Proverbs 13:4 NKJV). 3) ‘He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich’ (Proverbs 10:4 NKJV). Notice the phrases ‘a slack hand’ and ‘a lazy man’. By expecting much and giving back as little as possible in return, you don’t just short-change the company you work for, you short-change yourself. Why? Because God promises to honour you when you give your best. His Word says, ‘Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another’ (Psalm 75:6-7 KJV). 

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International. 

When you honestly evaluate your worries, you will find you are doing these: 1) Forgetting that God is your friend. The psalmist said, ‘The Lord is a friend to those who fear him’ (Psalm 25:14 NLT). Friendship with God is built by sharing your life’s experiences with Him – every activity, every conversation, every problem, and every thought. When you don’t, you end up unaware of His presence, oblivious to His voice, resistant to His correction, and out of sync with His timing. And when you live that way, there is one inevitable result – worry! 2) Taking on things you shouldn’t. Peter Marshall prayed: ‘Father…check our impulse to spread ourselves so thin that we’re exposed to fear and doubt, to the weariness and impatience that makes our tempers wear thin; [that] robs us of peace of mind; that makes skies grey when they should be blue; that stifles a song along the corridor of our hearts.’ You lose your song when you add the unnecessary pressure of maintaining your exterior image, increasing your pace to keep up with the Joneses, and trying to fix everybody or live up to their expectations. 3) Failing to understand the difference between the secular and the sacred. Either Jesus is Lord over every area of your life, or He is not Lord over any of it. We tell ourselves certain parts of our lives lie in the realm of God’s concern, but not others. The Bible says, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight’ (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV). To live any other way is to live a worried life! 

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International. 

Missionary Gladys Aylward said, ‘The eagle that soars in the upper air does not worry itself how it is to cross rivers.’ You can’t escape worry; it will come at you from different directions and in different forms. But like the eagle, you can rise above it. Jesus said: ‘If you decide for God…it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion…Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever got taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion – do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers…The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers…don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God…fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works…Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow’ (vv. 25-34 MSG).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.