September 30, 2023
Psalms 43:1 “Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man”
Have you ever wanted to get even with someone who was doing you or your family wrong? This is the theme of Psalm 43 and it is a plea to God that He will step into a case where we are being mistreated and oppressed and be the Judge. The word Judge means to vindicate and set things right. It is the cry of our hearts when we, someone we know and love, or someone we know about have been treated unfairly, hurt, cheated, scorned, or damaged in some way by someone else. We want God or someone to stand up for the victim and set the record straight. It’s been the theme of countless movies where Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood-type characters track down mean people who abuse and hurt others. And as we watched the hero get revenge, it felt good to believe someone could make things right. Movie lines such as, “Go ahead, make my day” have become a part of our culture when vindication is called for. For believers, God is our righteous Judge, our vindicator and we are warned in the scriptures not to pursue personal vengeance, The Bible says in Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord”. The words, “Give place unto wrath” means to leave the anger of revenge to the Lord and let Him take care of it. God knows the pain of the victims and His all-seeing eye never misses an injustice. It may seem like the evil perpetrators of the world are getting by with hurting and abusing others but the wicked will stand before the throne of judgment and either in this world or in eternity they will pay for their deeds. Praise God for the day when child abusers, human traffickers, greedy corporate schemers, human rights violators, and rotten politicians get exposed before the Lord and pay for their deeds. Praise God for the day when the small, poor, weak, and defenseless people of the world get vindicated for the suffering they have endured at the hands of deceitful, evil, and harmful people. Praise God for Isaiah 5:15-16, “And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness”.
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September 29, 2023
Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid”
When people are not confident of their salvation, when they trust in themselves, religion, or something and anything other than Jesus Christ, there is no peace. The Bible says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. And when we have this peace, we have the assurance that it is well with our souls. When God is our salvation then we can say, “I will trust, and not be afraid”. Many people are filled with the fear of their circumstances, fear of the future, fear of all the unknowns, fear of failure, and even the fear of fear. But the Lord has a plan for us that would have us in perfect peace as the Bible says in Isaiah 26:3-4, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength”. Again, here is the truth that when our trust, our faith is in the Lord, then fear is replaced by God’s peace. The words “I will trust, and not be afraid” are a positive action on our part. They tell us we need to make a conscious decision to purpose in our hearts and minds so that we will have faith in the Lord and reject whatever it is that causes us to fear. “I will trust” is a positive statement of our will to believe in what God says and to refuse to be moved off that foundation. So much of the wimpy teaching and preaching we hear would have us live as if our lives are on autopilot after we’re saved. There’s too much church theology and dead, man-crafted rhetoric and not enough encouragement to push forward into the doctrine of grace. We are not encouraged to take action for the good and identify and refuse the things that are pulling us away from our steadfast confidence in the Lord. It could be the negative influence of the people we hang out with, a steady stream of the world’s bad news, habits that hold us back or cause us to compromise, or just an unbiblical view of God and His will that hold us back from a place of complete trust in Him. But we are saved, God is at work in us to perform His will, and we have declared and purposed, “I will trust, and not be afraid”.
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September 28, 2023
Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world”
The words murmuring and disputing here mean complaining and arguing. It’s easy to get caught up in the habit of complaining about almost everything and with the pressure of the world bearing down on us and stressing us we can become argumentative and not even realize it. The world around us is crooked and perverse meaning warped, twisted, corrupt, and evil and it is the way of the world to be unthankful, potty-mouthed, and ready to argue, complain, and disrespect others. God is calling us to a higher standard where we shine as a testimony of His goodness and grace. The words of Ephesians 4:29 tell us God’s will for us: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers”. Corrupt communication renders literally as bad, rotten, impure, worn out, and unfit words. Words that hurt, words that are dirty and useless. Words that are not spoken in faith. Instead, we speak words that honor each other, words that show we are thankful for what God has provided, and words that declare our faith in Him and His promises. Complaining shows we are discontent, that we are not believing all things are working for our good, and that we are not honoring the Lord as the source of our lives. Arguing is from a selfish heart that wants its way and is willing to hurt others to prove we are right and everyone else is wrong. Murmuring or complaining is the sin that turned a generation of the people of Israel away from following the Lord in faith. Because of it, they were destroyed in the wilderness, unfit to enter the promised land. Only Joshua and Caleb, who followed the Lord faithfully without complaining and arguing against the Lord’s provisions, entered the land. People and things will get on our nerves and irritate us but the Holy Spirit is ready to remind us that the Lord is with us and directing our steps. He will help us choose our words carefully and follow the principle of Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man”.
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September 27, 2023
2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”
Maybe it looks like this verse is only for ordained preachers or ministers of the gospel. But it is a charge to us to us all that the world needs the message of Jesus and we are all equipped by the Holy Spirit to preach in our own way. The word instant implies that we do not have to be begged or coaxed into sharing the gospel but at all times we are ready to witness and testify of God’s goodness and grace. The scriptures say in Malachi 3:16, “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name”. The way we live, the way we treat others, the kindness and mercy we show, and the way we speak are all part of the sermon we preach daily to others. When we identify with Jesus Christ, we do so as His disciples and who we are and how we present ourselves reflect on His Holy Name. It has often been said that the life we live may be the only sermon some people ever hear. There are times the Bible here calls “in Season” when the conditions are right for the message of the cross and people receive what we offer in His name. In those times it is easy to do God’s work and we can see the evidence that the seed is taking root. But there are times when it is “out of season” and the truth is rejected or the conditions we’re in are hard and seem unfavorable to share the message of hope. Maybe it seems our efforts are in vain and we are not being heard. We don’t see any immediate fruit from our work for the Lord and it’s tempting to think we’re wasting our time. But whether we are sowing the good seed or watering what someone else has sown before us it is always God that brings the harvest. The reprove, rebuke, and exhort part tells us to convince, point out errors, and encourage. Our testimony is on the foundation of Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”.
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September 26, 2023
John 15:12-13 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
It all comes down to love. It’s the very thing that God shows us of Himself and the very thing He desires for us concerning Himself and others. The greatest of all the commandments; is that we love God and love each other and yet it’s the very thing we could not do on our own. We can pass judgment on others, hate others, mock others, criticize others, find fault with others, hurt others, kill others, and treat others like trash but without the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit we cannot love others like Jesus loves us. Note here that Jesus did not say His commandment is that we live holy, attend church faithfully, pay tithes, dress appropriately, vote conservatively, read the Bible, or ascribe to moral excellence. He simply said we should love one another. All the other stuff is perhaps fine in its place but it’s not what it’s all about. It’s strange how we can march under the banner of God’s Love and still be mean and demeaning to each other. But this is a little devotion to remind us all of the depth of God’s love and how it leads us to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:44-45, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust”. May the Holy Spirit help us to look back to that day when the tortured, mangled, and suffering Son of God looked down from the cross at the people who nailed Him there and said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. We can say we love people but the Bible says in 1 John 3:18, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth”. The Lord is calling us to follow the example of Christ and lay down our selfishness and pride and show our love for others by our actions and deeds of kindness. He is not calling us to a physical death to show love but to the death of self-will where we take up the cross of self-sacrifice and follow in the loving steps of Jesus of Nazareth.
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September 25, 2023
John 15:7 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”
This promise from Christ to us is so powerful that its words seem almost too good to be true. The phrase, “Abide in me” does not speak of our trying to remain saved but of our relationship with our Lord. It means: to remain, abide, tarry, not to depart, to continue to be present, to be held, kept, continually, live, to remain as one, not to become another or different, and to wait for. (Thayer’s Greek Definitions). We keep the Lord as our constant focus and we remain in harmony with Him, speaking to Him and waiting for the Holy Spirit to direct us. The “If ye Abide in me” is coupled with, “and my words abide in you” and marks the inseparability of Jesus and the Word of God. The believer who has Jesus Christ as Lord of their life with their heart fully committed to Him and are immersed in the Word of God, trusting it as infallible truth, have the promise that they can ask anything from God with the expectation that it will be done for them. Doubt and unbelief might argue against this promise claiming it is metaphorical or Christ speaking on a purely spiritual level. But it is given here as a clear and concise statement and we can surmise from it that when we are fully aligned in our souls, minds, and spirits with Jesus then our will, our desires, will also be aligned with His and we will ask those things that bring glory to God and the furthering of His kingdom. God has revealed His will for us in His Word and as we remain in a committed relationship with Jesus, He will open the Word of God to our understanding. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”. Let’s determine to remain steadfast in our allegiance to the Lord, living our lives on a spiritual level separated from this world. And let’s know what God’s Word says about any given situation so that we can take a stand of faith when we pray because we know what God has promised. The Lord is inviting us to pray bold prayers and expect supernatural answers. Remember that when we commit ourselves completely to Him and His will, we have the promise that we can, ‘’ask what ye will, and it shall be done”.
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September 24, 2023
Ezekiel 34:26 “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing”
These promises are part of the prophecies of this chapter of Ezekiel concerning the restoration of Israel. 70 years after the ascension of Jesus Christ back to heaven, the Jews were driven out of Israel by the Romans in what has come to be called the diaspora, the dispersion or spread of the Jews into the other nations of the world. The land of Israel came under the control of others including the Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, and the British, and became a vacuum for people from the neighboring Arab countries and the nomadic Bedouins. These people and their descendants occupied the promised land for almost 2,000 years in the Jew’s absence and today, we call them “The Palestinians”. Yet the promise God gave to Abraham and his descendants over 4,000 years ago concerning their ultimate possession of the land was an unconditional promise. Nothing can change that including our interpretation of history, the consensus of the world’s opinion, the hatred of all those against the Jews, and the votes of the United Nations. To His people both the Jews and His church of grace, God is a God of blessings and will forever remain that. We get our hymn, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing” from this verse and it is a reminder that no matter the difficulties we may go through, the Lord will always bless us. Israel has been in God’s “time out” for a season of almost two millennia and during that time the Jews have suffered unspeakable hardships. But God has not changed during that time and His promises to His people are still just as valid today as they were when He spoke them. There will be seasons of trials and difficulties and we will all experience those as a part of this life’s journey. But God has promised us that He will be with us in our trials, comfort us in our sorrow, and bless us with showers of blessing. He will restore Israel and cover His people with blessing. And He will always bless us because we are the faith seed of Abraham. Although we have been grafted in as a mystery of God’s mercy and grace, we are branches of the spiritual vine just as if we were Jews. (Romans 11)
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September 23
Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”
There are a lot of powerful distractions and we and our families are constantly being pulled to sway us from a life of faith in the Word of God. And while there are more things to pull at us than there were in Joshua’s day, the power of the world’s influences should never be underestimated for any generation. The roots of all sins are still the same as the scriptures tell us in 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world”. Joshua told the people they had alternatives to serving the Lord and if they didn’t want to follow God they didn’t have to. The “flood” here refers to the Red Sea and he is telling them they could serve the gods of Egypt or the gods of the pagan Canaanites. People today have many alternatives too numerous to list and they are free to either believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved or reject Him, follow the world, and be lost. But Joshua’s mind was made up and as the leader and family-priest of his family, he unwaveringly declared his choice upfront and was quick to the point: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”. We need a generation of dads and granddads who will take their stand of faith on the name of Jesus and His Word and let their families and the world around them know they are not ashamed to lead their wives, children, and grandchildren in the ways of God. Everybody around us can and will make some kind of choice but we will not let them be our mascots. We will declare 2 Timothy 1:12, “Nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”. May the Lord help us to answer the call of Isaiah 6:8, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me”.
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September 22, 2023
Proverbs 4:18-19 “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble”
Both sets of words here, “the path” and “the way” refer to lifestyles. They speak about the way people live; their morals, habits, and way of thinking. It is about the choices we make and the purpose we follow. Some people live by following the ways of God and they try to live as the Lord would have them live. They are called “the just” here and it refers to people who live with a desire to do what is right. The description of their life is that it is bright and keeps getting brighter the closer they get to the day when they are finally at home with their Heavenly Father. As they live, God’s Word gives them wisdom and they understand the world around them from God’s perspective. They learn to trust the Lord more and more and as they do, the chains of this world keep falling off and they live in the freedom of truth. That is a bright way. A way that is free from deception, despair, and an uncertain future. The more they know about the things of God, the less poison they have from the enemy’s lies. Their future is bright with hope and the expectation that what lies ahead for them is more wonderful than words can describe. Those who will not yield to the Lord have their lives shrouded in the darkness of unbelief and ignorance of the truth. Their walk through this life is called a “stumble” and they don’t even know what is causing them to stagger and slip. Without the Word of God to give them wisdom, they live with the world’s way of thinking, and rather than enlighten them, it takes them deeper into the darkness and bondage of error. They laud education, science, progress, and innovation as the saviors of the world. They might think they’re headed in a good direction but the Bible says in Proverbs 16:25, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death”. They will not honor God but they honor the earth as their mother and the Bible says of them in Isaiah 8:22, “And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness”.
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September 21, 2023
2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him”
For people who live with no regard for the Lord and the things of God, this verse is unsettling. The sum of the matter is: that God is watching. He sees it all, He knows it all, and He does not forget what He sees and knows about all of us. But for those who are saved and following God’s ways, this verse is shouting grounds because it means the Lord sees us trusting in Him and He is showing Himself strong on our behalf. That phrase means He is giving us His strength and power. He is establishing us, holding us steadfast, and filling us with courage. The searching, seeing, and all-knowing eyes of the Lord refer to His infinite ability to always know when we are trying our best to serve Him faithfully and He extends power and grace to help us. When the woman in Mark 14 anointed Jesus with special oil, people criticized her saying she was wasting precious perfumed oil. But the Lord knew her heart and her motives and told those that were mouthing off in verse 6 to, “Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me”. She honored Jesus with a gift from her heart and He honored Her by sticking up for her and also by giving her a lasting memorial because He said in verse 9, “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her”. People may criticize us, look down their noses at us, and laugh at our allegiance to the name of Jesus but the Lord will stand with us and make us strong. We may feel like what we’re doing is so small it doesn’t matter. Thoughts may come that we’re too imperfect and have made too many mistakes for the Lord to use us and bless us. But He sees our hearts, He knows us personally, and He will never stop defending us.
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September 20, 2023
Luke 19:2-4 “And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way”
The little fellow Zacchaeus started his day only wanting to get a good look at Jesus. He had heard about him and it so happened that Jesus was passing through Jericho that day, Zacchaeus’ hometown. He already had a job with a lot of income, a nice house, and wasn’t sick or needy in any way. He was just curious. When he climbed up into the tree to get a better look at the Lord, he had no idea his life was about to change forever. What he expected was just a moment of seeing Jesus but the Bible says in Luke 19:5, “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house”. We know from the rest of the story that Zacchaeus became a Christian, began doing what was honest and right, and became an example to us that God has more for us than just a curious glance at religion or an occasional visit to a church. The Lord said, speaking of His encounter with Zacchaeus in verse 10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost”. The church house in Christ’s day, the temple, had been turned into quite the spectacle as the Lord said in Matthew 21:13, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves”. In Christ’s time, the temple was a place where a lot of buying and selling of sacrificial animals and money exchanging took place. But the Lord threw all the money changers out and the Bible says in Matthew 21:14, “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them”. People follow religion for any number of reasons but like Zacchaeus, God has better things for us than the spectacle of religious entertainment. He wants us to raise the bar of our expectations from Jesus and have heart and mind changing experiences of faith.
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September 19, 2023
Acts 9:6 “And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
Saul, who became the Apostle Paul, was traveling the 135-mile trip from Jerusalem to Damascus, he was headed there to round up and arrest any Christians he could find and punish them for their faith. But Jesus had a different purpose for his life and stopped him as he journeyed and changed his future. In today’s verse, Saul asked one of the most important questions anyone can ask God: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”. God didn’t put us on this earth to do as we please and ignore His plans for us but He has a purpose for us all and there is work to be done in His great Name. Not to save ourselves but to champion the cause of Christ and to reach out to others for His honor and their blessing. Like Moses in Exodus 3, we can give every excuse in the book as to why we can’t do the Lord’s work but God has called us, equipped us, ordained us, and placed us in the body of Christ where we are well able to serve Him. Moses told God he was not qualified, couldn’t speak well, and that he just didn’t want to become what God had called him to be but, in the end, he obeyed. And he who was a shepherd and quite content to tend his father-in-law’s flock of sheep in the wilderness, became one of the greatest leaders in history. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 34:10, “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face”. Can you pray as Paul prayed, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”. The devil and your own thinking might say, “I’m too old. I’ve missed too many opportunities. I’m not qualified. Someone else can do it better. I’ll do it later. I’m afraid”. But the Lord isn’t looking for people who are perfect or people who check all the boxes. He is looking for those who are willing to do His work while believing their strength and ability to serve the Lord comes from God. You are well able because every day is filled with opportunities to be the salt and light God has called you to be. A kind word, a thoughtful deed, an act of encouragement, and any number of ways we can all be a blessing are what God is looking for. Will you begin by praying with me right now? Lord, what will You have me to do?
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September 18, 2023
Genesis 37:34-35 “And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him”
Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave, smeared animal blood on his multicolored coat, and gave the coat to Jacob his dad with the story that Joseph had probably been killed by a wild animal. The grief Jacob and Rachel felt must have been indescribable. For years, possibly over a decade, they believed he was dead. Even though he was alive and going through a series of trials and hardships in Egypt, God did not tell his parents that everything was fine and that soon the family would be back together and they would understand more of God’s purpose in it all. Considering the heartbreak that they must have endured for such a long time doesn’t seem fair when the Lord could have sent an angel as He sometimes did or a traveling fellow with the news that Joseph was alive. But God kept this part of His plan a secret even from the man who was destined and ordained to carry the blessings of Abraham into the future. If this story was in our age of instant news, mobile phones, and social media, Joseph could have sent or had someone send a text or message to his family that he was okay and for them not to worry. But at the time, in the world-scheme of the superpower of Egypt and primitive shepherds, Joseph was a no-body to the world. No one would have considered that God was moving Joseph into a position of power so he could save Egypt, save his family, and be a major part of God’s plan to place Jacob and his family in Egypt where they would be confined for 400 years while they grew into a nation. Our lesson is that we must trust the Lord even when things don’t make any sense. When it looks like we are trapped, when pain and sorrow are upon us, and when the Lord will not give us answers as to why, we have faith that He is working all things for our good. God will always do what is right and we belong to Him. The Bible says in Psalms 30:5, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”. When God’s plan was in place, He ended Jacob’s sorrow and he and Joseph were reunited. May the Holy Spirit help us to trust the Lord even when it seems He is far away.
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September 17, 2023
Psalms 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved”
We love this verse and we know it means that the Lord is ready to help us whenever we are loaded down. The promise is restated in 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” where the word care means anxiety and is associated with distraction. It reminds us of Peter when he was distracted by the wind and waves, took his eyes off Jesus, and began to sink in the sea of Galilee. And while it is comforting to read the words, it is sometimes difficult to put this into practice. We hang onto our problems and they run through our minds constantly as we try to figure out a way to solve them. They can be real or imagined and they dominate our waking hours with worry, dread, and fear. Words to songs such as, “Are you weary, are you heavyhearted? Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus” encourage us to turn to the Lord and talk to Him about our situation with the faith that He is able and willing to help us. People may seem to listen and most are never short with their advice but we need Jesus. We need His presence and we need the faith to know He is listening and picking up our burdens, carrying them for us. Russ Taff wrote about Christ our burden bearer in his song. “I Cry”: “Sympathetic friends are all around. Their soothing words fall to the ground. In silence, I feel You here with me. I Cry, and You’re the one who hears me calling. I fall so easily but You’re there to catch me. Say the words that heal me. I’m safe when I’m with You. You touch my eyes and I can see”. The words, “He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved”, mean that on our own we might stumble. But we are not alone and our Lord will always hold us, sustain us, and keep us from losing our way. Oh, that before we become desperate in our troubles and begin to sink into despair, if we would only call on the Lord, submit ourselves and our burdens to Him, and wait upon Him to help us and deliver us. He will never fail and His Word will never be void and powerless. What He promised, He will do.
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September 16, 2023
James 2:5 “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?”
This chapter of James reminds us that when wealthy people are honored and poor people are neglected, it is not pleasing to the Lord. The Lord says when well-dressed and obviously affluent people come to church and are made welcome, ushered to the best seats, and given great respect while poor people are treated like lower-class bums, it is discrimination and proof of evil thinking. In the eyes of the world, wealth is something that is admired and when people become wealthy, they are seen as privileged and envied. But Jesus said in Matthew 19:23, “Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven”. He said this when the rich young ruler came to Him inquiring as to how to be saved but walked away sad because his wealth was a barrier to his faith. He refused to give up the money and his love for money. What it afforded him was more precious to him than his soul. Wealth, possessions, and the elixir of affluence blind people to their need for the cross of Jesus Christ and rob them of the most priceless treasure of all: a born-again, eternally saved relationship with the Lord of heaven and earth. It doesn’t take a lot of wealth, sometimes just the notion that there is a possibility they might become wealthier than they are is enough to poison the mind against following Christ. But God’s heart is towards the poor because money and the pride it causes have not contaminated them against the truth. The words of today’s verse might be bitter on the tongue of a world that seeks wealth, power, and pleasure but they are sweet to all who have humble hearts and acknowledge their need of the Savior. For believers, we have the wonderful promises of Psalms 41:1-3, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness”.
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September 15, 2023
Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”
Every day we are bombarded with the words of this world. Information, disinformation, music, news, text messages, and all the other sources of entertainment and media constantly compete for our attention. And yet the Bible tells us that it is the hearing of the Word of God that builds our faith. The more we hear God speaking to us through His Word, the greater our faith becomes. The question then is: what are we listening to? A lot of what we hear from the world is profane and far from the truth. The message is either not based on God’s Word or it is against God altogether. It distorts the values and teachings of the scriptures and palms itself off as something worth hearing. Sadly, even many churches do not teach God’s Word but are humanistic and program-centered. In Mark 5 the Bible tells of a woman who had spent all she had on doctors hoping to be healed of a problem with her blood. But the scripture says she heard about Jesus and hearing the Word of the Lord gave her the faith to believe that if she could but touch the Lord’s clothes, she would be healed. There is no doubt that if she had talked it over with others before she made her move to press through the crowd to touch the Lord, many people would have used their words to try to talk her out of her faith. It’s the same with us whenever we determine to trust the Lord for something. The enemy and even our closest friends will give us every excuse as to why we should just give up and walk away. Many people have not been saved because they listen to the words of the enemy who tells them, “You’ve been too bad to be saved”. Or the flip side, “You are not such a bad person. You don’t need to make a spectacle out of yourself”. But when we hear God’s Word in our hearts and believe what He says applies to us, faith arises in us and we step forward with confidence that He will do exactly what He says. We need less of the message of the world, less of the advice of well-meaning but nay-saying people, and more of God’s Word. We need far less of the faith-killing negativity of the voice of others and far more of the assuring and faith-building Words of our God.
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September 14, 2023
Romans 8:22-23 “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body”
The scriptures here tell us that all of nature is groaning, a word that means it is experiencing a common calamity. It is waiting for something to happen with the phrasing here alluding to a woman about to give birth to the new life of a little baby. It may sound strange to us to think of the natural world in this sense but we must remember that all of creation, the animals, trees, vegetation, and the earth itself have been under the bondage of the curse since the fall of the original creation. Creation has been at war against itself with the food chain where creatures devour each other and all created things are fighting against infestations of pests, bacteria, decay, and harmful organisms. And we are doing the same, groaning within ourselves as our bodies fight against pathogens, aging, deterioration, and a host of things determined to kill us. Our immune system is overloaded with the chemicals in the man-made junk we eat and all that we deal with daily. We and all of creation are groaning for that day when the ultimate deliverance comes and sets us free. And, only those who believe the Bible can see that that day means: Jesus will appear and bring salvation to the world and peace to all of creation. This is not some idealistic daydream of utopia; it is the reality of the future of all things. Even though we do not live in the future, we can embrace the surety of the hope that God is bringing all things to that day when He will set us and all of nature free from the curse. It is foreshadowed every year when the appearance of winter’s death gives way to the resurrection of all things in the spring. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead foreshadowed that day when the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:26, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”. The vision we have of the future helps us see that what is happening in the present is pointing us to the hope of Romans 8:21, “Because the creature (creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”.
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September 13, 2023
Galatians 2:16 ”Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified”
When we believe and proclaim Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth”, we are proclaiming that we have been set free from the demands of the law. Not just a few of them like those commanding the sacrifice of animals or the ones that forbid bacon and pork chops. But Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness for the entire 613 laws given to Moses to be followed by the Jewish people. Eating a ham sandwich or wearing clothes with mixed fabrics does not take away our salvation or make God angry with us. The Bible says in Galatians 3:13-14, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”. The message of the freedom of grace sounds like that since Christ has made us free from the law, we can do whatever we want. And this is the rebuttal of many today when they hear the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They keep saying the doctrine of eternal grace is permission to sin. But first of all, no one is living a sinless life and no one except Jesus ever has. So, the teaching that we must somehow “hold on” to our salvation by our good deeds and efforts is a serious error because we are all sinning and falling short of God’s glory in our own efforts at pure righteousness. Those who claim they are right with God because they’re living on some moral plain they believe is above where other people are living, are blinded by their self-righteousness. They twist the words of the scriptures especially places where the “if” word is used to keep people in bondage to their doctrines of works for salvation. But since they are not purely sinless, what they’re saying then is that some sins like the ones they have or have hidden away are permissible but other sins that they have decided are worse than what they have, are too much. The gospel of grace is a gospel that takes away our attempts to be righteous and replaces it with the righteousness of Jesus Christ that God has imputed to us when we receive Christ as our Savior. If we live right, it’s because we are right and not because we are working to make ourselves right. May God help us stop the moronic arguing with each other about our points of view and Love God, love each other, and believe the only reason any of us are going to heaven is because we have put our faith in Christ alone.
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September 12, 2023
Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”
We usually think of the word provoke used in verse 24 as meaning “to antagonize”. But here it is used in a positive way as we are called to remind each other of God’s love and the open doors of opportunities He has for us. It is a word of energy where we strongly lift each other up in the faith and urge each other to follow the Lord. There’s so much to discourage people and so much continual bad news that believers can easily get swept along by the gloom and doom of the daily grind. God’s Word here tells us to stir each other up and we don’t do that by beating the hopeless drum of despair, and dark politics, and rebroadcasting the world’s forecast of never-ending negativism. We need encouragement and the next verse tells us to exhort one another which means, “to console, encourage, strengthen, comfort, and teach” each other especially as we see the Day of the Lord coming. The call to assemble is to get believers together where the good news of hope can be shared and we can remind each other of the surety of God’s promises. All the despair of the world is because the world is quickly sliding into perdition. And all the efforts they are making to save themselves and prop up their plans and schemes for the future are failing. Our answers are not in the Six O’clock News, cable news, the assorted talking heads talk shows, and the never-ending dribble and squawking of politicians. The answer is given in Titus 2:13, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ”. We encourage each other by speaking of the mercy and goodness of God, the hope of eternal life, and the comfort of God’s promises. We speak the truth in Christ and are not ashamed to contradict the lies of this world with the Word of God. We stand strong in the faith and give God the glory. And in our allegiance and faithfulness to the Lord, the Bible says in Jude 1:20-21, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”.
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September 11, 2023
Psalms 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart”
As a noun, delight means “something that gives great pleasure or joy”. As it is used here as a verb it means, “to take great pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment. To be highly pleased”. Our age is the fulfillment of the prophetic words of 2 Timothy 3:4 when people are, “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”. Most people in the world delight themselves in houses, cars, sports, food, entertainment, and any number of untold pleasures and sins. But the world is not finding its pleasure, satisfaction, and joy in the Lord, His Word, and the things of God. And all that we think we want and desire is not bringing us the happiness we thought it would. When we find delight in the Lord and that becomes our pattern of living, we find our desires changing as we learn more about Him and His ways. Our thoughts, dreams, and desires start to align with God’s will for us and we know from His Word that God’s ways are perfect. All that the world presents as things to give us pleasure never satisfies our souls and cannot compare to the blessings the Lord has for us. A prophetic, sobering verse that describes the collapse of the world system is Revelation 18:14, “And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all”. The promise, “And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” is too wonderful to fully grasp except that it is eternally true. The more we love the Lord the more He changes our hearts. And He takes great pleasure in giving us our heart’s desires. God doubles down on this promise in verse 5, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass”. At the start, it is an act of faith to turn our attention and expectations from this world and begin to focus on the Lord and His Word. By faith, we look to Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways. We pray more, look to His Word, meditate on His goodness and grace, and allow the Holy Spirit to direct our thoughts. We shut out the negative message of this world and fill our minds with God’s Word and the things of God. We crave His peace and the fullness of His presence. As we delight in Him He will bring the promise of His Word to pass.
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September 10, 2023
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law”
The word “longsuffering” here is often translated as “patience” and while that is true, it carries a distinct and different meaning from the word “patience” of Hebrews 10:36, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise”. In the Hebrews passage, the Greek word for patience gives us the meaning of remaining steadfast in times of trials or bearing up under a heavy load. It has to do with withstanding circumstances and remaining faithful in seasons of duress. A good example of this is Job who kept his faith and remained loyal to God through a time of inexplicable hardships. Here in Galatians, the word for longsuffering is from a word that has to do with putting up with people especially when they have harmed us or done us wrong. While both words are used to describe virtue in believers, only the “longsuffering” as used in Galatians describes an attribute of God and helps us understand how God refrains from lashing out at humanity even though humanity is resisting Him, attacking Him, and fighting against Him. God honors and respects the wills of those who dishonor Him, even those who blatantly oppose Him. When Moses on Mount Sinai wanted to see God, God described the occasion in Exodus 34:6, “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth”. So, the fruit of the Spirit called longsuffering here is not just the ability to stand patiently in line at the checkout but it is the depth by which we tolerate the actions and attitudes of others even when those actions and attitudes are directed against us. It is holding back our words and retributions against them and allowing the favor and compassion of God to bring peace. It is the idea of Ephesians 4:2-3 “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” where forbearing means, “to put up with”. The Holy Spirit is at work in us to bring us to a place of peace so that we may, as much as possible, live in the power of God’s love and practice His longsuffering. If you are interested in a more in-depth study of the Greek synonyms μακροθυμία and ὑπομονή, I recommend The Blue Letter Bible’s, “Synonyms of the New Testament”.
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September 9, 2023
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body”
It’s hard to imagine or understand what our heavenly bodies will be like. No more suffering, no more susceptibility to injury or disease. No more aging or dealing with physical weaknesses. We will not be limited by natural laws of time and space just as Jesus appeared in a room in His glorified body without coming through a door. And all the imperfections we have in these natural bodies will be changed into eternal perfection. As the above verses tell us, we will pass from corruption to incorruption, dishonor to glory, weakness to power, and from the natural to the spiritual. A wonderful promise is given to us in verse 49, “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly”. And yet, we will retain our individuality because when Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, they were in their glorified bodies but they were still Moses and Elijah. My dad will still be Edward and I will still be Jackie. Although the scripture says in Revelation 2:17 that we will be given new names in heaven, it does not say they will replace the names we have here perhaps just as Jesus gave new names to his disciples not to replace their names but to supplement them and further define who they were. Artists sometimes draw and paint pictures of the redeemed gathered in heaven and depict people all the same but the Lord always takes pleasure in us as individuals with our differences of abilities, talents, interests, and demeanors. So, there is no reason to think that when we get our glorified bodies it will mean we merge as one homogenized mass of glorified people all looking the same and being the same. The angels of heaven are all different with different names and responsibilities and the Lord went to great lengths to make us unique and biometrically different. We were created unique, special, and one-of-a-kind. We were saved, each separately and answering to our own call from the Lord. And we will be with God eternally as unique but glorified children of the Almighty God.
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September 8, 2023
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”
Sometimes when people think about the throne of God, they picture a place of judgment like the scriptures speak of in Revelation 20:11-15. And the white throne judgment is a real thing where, at the end of all things, people who have rejected God’s gift of salvation will stand before Him and be judged for their sins. But for believers, there is another throne that is promised to us in today’s verse and we have an open invitation to come to that throne every day of our lives. It is called “The throne of grace” and it is there where we find mercy and the grace of God to help us in our times of need. As far as the white throne judgment is concerned, Jesus abolished our sins on His cross of shame and we no longer appear as sinners in the sight of God. The Bible says in 1 John 3:5, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin”. John the Baptist spoke of Jesus when he said in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. Christians have then been delivered from God’s judgment and wrath and have been invited to “come boldly unto the throne of grace”. There is no reason for us to live as if we are all alone with no help from God. There is no reason for us to carry our burdens, live with need and lack, and feel as if we are victims of this world. We have a place of safety, a place where the mercy and grace of God flow freely like a life-giving fountain of water and God calls us to Himself, into His very presence. We might think He will reject us or that we’re not good enough to be welcome. But the invitation to come boldly means without reservation, without fear or hesitation. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:19, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” and means we are welcome to continually come into the very presence of God. Do you need mercy and grace? Do you need God’s favor on you to help you in your time of need? Do you need answers to your prayers and comfort in your trials? Then you are invited with the Lord’s welcome to come to His throne of grace. It’s His amazing grace, how sweet the sound that’s waiting for you.
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September 7, 2023
Matthew 10:32 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven”
When Jesus called His disciples, he did so publicly. He called to them at the seaside and other places where they were out in the open and then they openly followed Him. Publicly confessing our faith in Jesus Christ is part of the evidence that we believe in Him. It is so important that the scriptures tell us in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed”. The thought that we can be believers but remain silent about our faith in Christ because of shame or embarrassment is unbiblical because the Bible says here, quoting Isaiah, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed”. The Lord said in 1 Samuel 2:30, “for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed”. Jesus said when we confess our allegiance to Him, He also will confess His allegiance to us before God the Father. In today’s world, many churches have dismissed studying the catechisms such as the Westminster as part of their Bible studies and learning the Apostles Creed with its declaration of faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, seeing it all as unnecessary. And yet church pews are filled with people who do not understand God’s purpose and plan of salvation and who will not publicly confess their faith in Jesus Christ. It is not enough to merely entertain the thought or idea of believing for the Bible says in James 2:19, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble”. If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died, was buried, and arose from the grave and If you trust Him as your Savior, then confess Him. Read again today’s verse: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” and act on it. Tell someone you believe Jesus is the Son of God and that You have received Him as your Savior. Let your confession be evidence of your faith.
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September 6, 2023
Ephesians 1:13-14 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”
In historical times, letters and documents were fastened with melted sealing wax, and then usually the wax was embossed by a signet ring or some other embossing tool to show that the contents of the documents were authentic and verified as unopened until the seal was broken. The seal was proof of ownership and guaranteed lawful. The scriptures tell us here that when we put our trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Bible furthermore tells us in Ephesians 4:30 that the seal of the Holy Spirit means we are safe and secure because we are, “sealed unto the day of redemption”. Today’s verses tell us that the indwelling Holy Spirit is the “earnest” or guarantee, the downpayment of our inheritance as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We are marked by the seal of the Holy Spirit as being authentic and belonging to Christ. The Bible says in Romans 8:9, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”. Some people have misunderstood the KJV rendering of the phrase, “in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed” as if there is some interval of time between believing and then receiving the Holy Spirit. But it is the same rendering in the first part of verse 13, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard”. It can also be accurately translated as “ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise upon believing”. We do not beg for the Holy Spirit, earn His presence by our good works, or get sealed by anything on our part. It is not an emotional experience nor does it have anything to do with the church we belong to or the rituals, sacraments, and traditions of religion. It is an action that God does in every person who believes on Jesus Christ, the Son of God as their Savior. Every believer from every age past and present and from every nation of the world has this seal in common.
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September 5, 2023
Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”
Because we do not fully understand how God can love us completely and unconditionally, we might feel we must do the right things or become holier in some way to deserve or earn His love. But the depth and certainty of God’s love for us was demonstrated in that Jesus died for us while we were still in our sins. God didn’t wait until we became better or stopped sinning to offer His love and kindness but He loved us as He said in Jeremiah 31:3, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee”. What an amazing thought: God drew us to Himself with everlasting love and kindness and not because we were living in some way to earn it or deserve it. That goes against all we know in our understanding of love and relationships because no matter how hard we try; our love is always conditional and imperfect. Consider the scripture of Isaiah 49:15: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee”. The Lord continues in verse 16, “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands”. This is an Old Testament prophetic picture of the nails driven through the hands of Jesus our Savior, forming eternal wounds in his hands that prove how much He loves us. The scars in the hands, feet, and in the side of our precious Savior were made by people who represented us all: “we the people” whom Jesus died for while we were still sinners and in our sinful state. We are the murderers of the God who loves us. And yet, hallelujah to His name, despite our sinfulness and rebellion against Him, He proved His love by sacrificing His Son in our place. We can’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, and truth be told we don’t understand it. But it is more real and everlasting than the earth we stand on and as the scripture declares in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
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September 4, 2023
2 Corinthians 4:8 “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair”
We might as well be honest and admit it: Nowadays, this verse seems to describe our situation every day. There is trouble all around us where the word trouble means, “crowded, under pressure, and afflicted in some manner”. And yet, we are not distressed meaning crushed and broken down. The same God who saved our souls is always with us. And when the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1:4 that God comforts us in all our tribulations, it means that He helps us in times of trouble. Joseph spent several years in trouble when his brothers did him dirty, he was sold as a slave, and he was falsely arrested and put in jail. But the Lord was with him in every situation and He will always be with us to help us, comfort us, and bring us out. Our part is to keep looking to Him, praying to Him, and trusting His promises knowing that even when it seems hopeless, the Lord will not fail. The Bible also says that we are perplexed which means, “To be at a loss with one’s self, to be in doubt, confused, and not knowing how to decide or what to do”. The more we look at the world around us, the more confused we become. Politics, the economy, the moral codes of our world, the growing violence, and the uncertainty of everything make no sense. Some people are trying to scam us, steal our identities, rob us in broad daylight, and kidnap and abduct people and children to sell them as slaves. And it seems no one is doing anything about it. Politicians and many news outlets act as if all is well and keep telling us lies, expecting us to believe they’re acting in our best interests. We are perplexed yet the Lord tells us we are not in despair because we know the eyes of the Lord see it all and He is not confused. He is coming soon to bring order to this fallen, depraved world and its nations. The Bible says in Revelation 2:27, “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron”. We are perplexed because what once seemed right, normal, and true has been replaced with wrong, perverse, and false. But all these things are signs that God is about to set all creation in order and repair what people have destroyed. We are not distressed and we are not in despair.
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September 3, 2023
Psalms 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”
These verses are a prayer for God to look within us and reveal anything that is not His best for us. Anything we might be focused on or any thing we might be doing that is against His will for us. Only believers can pray this prayer with an honest heart before the Lord because in our natural state, our nature is to hide from the all-seeing and all-knowing eyes of the Lord. Even as believers, we might tend to shrink away from such a prayer because we are afraid of what God might reveal to us and afraid that we might have to empty ourselves of things we want to hang on to. It’s not a prayer to help us achieve perfection so that we can be justified before the Lord because we are already justified by faith in Jesus. But it is a prayer saying that we want to be better children of God and we want our lives to better reflect His glory. The Bible says in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”. So, such a prayer is the cry of an honest and humble heart that is seeking out God’s best life for us and that is a life that follows “the way everlasting” or literally rendered, the way that is proven beyond doubt to be a way of truth. It’s wonderful to know that this Psalm was written by David and we know that he was not perfect. But it speaks to his desire as the Bible calls him, a “man after God’s own heart”. He wanted to do right even though sometimes he failed to do it. And we can take consolation that even though we are apt to fail in our efforts to live as the Bible says in Titus 2:12, “soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world”, having the desire to do so is well pleasing to the Lord. Having such a desire, that God will search us and show us how we can move forward in His grace, is evidence of a good ground heart like Luke 8:15, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience”.
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September 2, 2023
Psalms 119:71 “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes”
After my cancer surgery and during my recovery, I lost about 30 lbs. and some of it was muscle mass. I joined a gym and started working out to regain what I had lost. And although the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:8 that, “bodily exercise profiteth little” it doesn’t say it profits nothing. I’ve found that at 67, it’s much harder to gain back strength than it was when I was younger, and yet praise be to God, He has allowed me to regain most of the strength I lost in my illness. But there’s a young fellow who works out at the gym in the mornings, probably in his mid-twenties, with a good, positive attitude and a humble, kind spirit. Even though he is not a giant of a man, I often watch him bench press over 300 lbs. and it seems he does it with little effort. He wasn’t born with massive muscles and strength and it didn’t happen by bellying up to an all-you-can-eat venue of fast food and junk snacks. He’s where he is because he pressed his body to its limits over and over in a disciplined, purposeful way and chose to eat good, nutritious, and protein-rich foods to fuel his muscle growth. He got where he is through physical affliction following the no pain, no gain formula. In a spiritual sense, this is what today’s verse is teaching us. When God allows hardships and trials to come our way, when He corrects us in mercy and grace, it seems like we’re enduring hardness for no reason. In the moment, it can seem unbearable. But the Lord has a purpose for it and that is, to strengthen us, build our endurance, and stretch us to where our faith and patience dominate the way we live. We learn to rely on the Word of God and our strength becomes not who we are in ourselves but who we are in Christ and our relationship with Him. Pushing our spiritual muscles to their limits and feeding on the pure Word of God changes us in ways that nothing else can. We see the fulfillment of Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”. So, by faith, we embrace the words of today’s verse and declare that “it is good for me that I have been afflicted”.
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September 1, 2023
1 Timothy 1:12-13 “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief”
The Apostle Paul was raised to believe in God and to be very religious and obedient to the Old Testament rules. When he became a Christian, we might expect him to look at himself as having lived a pretty good life. Because, until he had a face-to-face encounter with Jesus, he had strictly followed what he thought were the ways of God. And yet here in today’s verses, he describes himself as, “a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious”. The word injurious means, “one who, uplifted with pride, either heaps insulting language upon others or does them some shameful act of wrong (Thayer’s Greek definitions). The Bible gives us this dialogue between Paul (formerly named Saul) and the Lord when Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus: Acts 9:4-5, “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”. At that time, believing he was following the ways of God, Paul was tracking down Christians like animals, tearing apart families, putting them in jail, and condemning them to death. In the name of God, he was doing violence and acts of horror to the people who loved God. He was very religious and dedicated to what he thought was the truth but like Nicodemus, he was religious but lost. But his story tells us that the Lord loves to take people who seem unsavable be it either steeped in false religious beliefs or deep in the gutters of depravity and bring them out, save them, and make them into new creations. Paul said it was because of the Lord’s mercy and praise God, we who know Him as our Savior can testify that He is full of mercy and grace. The Lord reaches down as the scripture says in Psalms 40:2-3, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God”. Religion with all its ceremonies, traditions, structure, and religious words can seem to be a path to God. But like Paul, it is a poor substitute for the incomparable new birth by grace through faith in Christ alone.
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