January 31, 2022
Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”
The word “bold” in different forms, is used many times in the Bible, often to describe people speaking with confidence and frankness. Other times it tells of the courage of someone taking action as in Mark 15:43 where we’re told Joseph of Arimathaea went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus to bury it after the crucifixion. People are sometimes bold in their words when demanding something or stating their opinions or bold in their actions when playing sports or acting out their aggressions. But to be bold concerning the things of the Lord seems a rarity especially in our age when the world is pressuring Christians to keep silent and remain hidden behind church walls. Today’s verse tells us of the sufficiency of our God to give us not only what we need but to do far above and beyond what we pray for or even imagine. In every area of our lives, it is pointing us to boldness when we’re considering the Lord’s abilities and willingness towards us. We seem to have the mindset that we should approach God with the expectations He might give us exactly what we need and we limit our prayers and faith to asking and trusting Him for the barest minimum of what we need or want. Yet the truth of His love for us is given in our verse that tells we can have the boldness to come into His presence with big prayers, big requests, and big expectations.
First, we are invited to come to him as described in Hebrews 10:19, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” with the thought continued in verse 22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” and finished in verse 23, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering”. Jesus is the proof of how much God loves us and this invitation to enter His presence boldly is based on His great love for us. He wants to answer bold prayers, bold requests, and He wants to do exceedingly and far above what we can ask or think. Our lack of confidence might stem from our false perception of our personal unworthiness or that the Lord thinks we’re being too forward or asking for too much but remember it is His Word that tells us of His great love for us and His desire to give us good things. A child of a multibillionaire might be asked every day what it wanted for dinner and it might respond with “just water and bread, that’s all I need” and it might be served just what it asked even though the cabinets, pantry, and refrigerator were overflowing with every kind of food imaginable. Someone needs to tell the child. “don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask for what you like or what you want. Be bold in believing it’s yours for the asking”. We know God will not provide when He knows it’s something that will not be for our good yet He encourages us to keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. If there’s something wrong with our motives, He will correct that as we go along but He says we receive not because we don’t ask (James 4:2). May we pray for big opportunities, big results, and big answers.
January 30, 2022
Proverbs 28:13 “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy”
It is not in our nature to take responsibility for our sins. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden of Eden and the Lord confronted them, Adam tried to place the blame on Eve and Eve passed the blame to the serpent but the Lord would not allow them to sidestep their guilt and pronounced judgment on them both. Even small children, barely old enough to talk, will try to hide their wrongs and can be quite creative in denying them or trying to hide the evidence. Adults don’t do much better, just watch politicians talk out of both sides of their mouth and our history is filled with cover-ups, false witnesses, corrupt bribes, and the Lord only knows what backroom deals have been made to suppress the truth and conceal evidence. It’s all because we don’t want to “fess up” and face the music or we want our way at any costs and goes hand in hand with Romans 3:4 “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged”. We declare ourselves to be right when we speak and we want to make everyone believe it and then we’ll say anything to get out of a jam. All the tactics from outright lying, complex cover-up schemes, and twisting words and their meanings to destroying the evidence are our ways to keep from simply telling the truth.
But the Lord says if we try to cover, hide, conceal our sins, we will not prosper but if we own up to them and turn away from them, God will forgive us. Like Adam and Eve, there’s always the temptation to point at others’ sins and flaws to minimize our own or at least move the scrutiny somewhere else. When King David sinned and was confronted by Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 12:7, David was outraged at the story Nathan told of another man’s evil but Nathan told him he was the guilty one the Lord was looking at. David then came to the Lord and owned His own sin in Psalm 51:3-4 “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight”. Perhaps pride is at the root of our reluctance to admit our sin but God will forgive and bless us when we humble ourselves, confess the wrong, and turn away from them James 4:6 “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble”. The prodigal son in Luke 15 tells the story of what happens when we are willing to admit our wrongs and come to our Heavenly Father with an honest heart, turning our back on the sins we’ve committed. Ours is a world where it seems few are willing to take the responsibility for their errors and sins and even parents, that once taught truth and integrity to their children, now set the example of deception, half-truths, and falsify as if there are no consequences. Imagine what peace would come if we would admit our wrongs, ask for forgiveness, and choose to walk a path of honesty and truth. If we would own our errors and sins and stop trying to wiggle our way around them by hiding them or blaming others, we have God’s promise we will prosper and find mercy.
January 29, 2022
Mark 2:3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four”
Today’s verse is from the account of a paralyzed man that Jesus healed after people were unable to carry the man through the crowd and they lifted him up on the roof, made a hole in the roof covering, and lowered the man down into the house where Jesus was. The Bible says the Lord saw the faith of those who brought the man to Him and said the famous words in verse 11 “I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house”. The man that was paralyzed stood up, picked up the bed, some sort of pallet or type of stretcher he was on, and walked away. This is a wonderful story of compassion, persistence, grace, hope, and miracles but one aspect not often mentioned is the care and friendship the four men had for the paralyzed man. We don’t know if they were family, neighbors, or perhaps they all had known each other since they were children but they cared enough to help a man who couldn’t help himself and they went the extra mile when they’d carried him to the house where the Lord was. When they saw the crowd and knew they couldn’t get close to Jesus they could have said, “Oh well. We gave it a try anyway, I guess we’ll just have to give it up for today” but they persevered in their determination to get help for their friend and somehow got him up the stairs or a ladder to the roof without killing him and took bold actions to open a hole in someone’s roof and perhaps with a rope they’d secured somewhere, let the man down so Jesus could see him. What a story of friendship!
We are usually surrounded by a lot of acquaintances, people we know from our jobs, our neighborhood, other parents from our children’s activities, and our church families and we may know them by name along with some details about them. Most of them will be friendly to us when we meet but to reach the level of friendship seen in today’s story takes people who are willing to lay themselves aside and sacrifice something of themselves not many people nowadays will do. This is not new and can be seen from a Christian point of view in Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi when he was proposing to send Timothy to help them in Philippians 2:20-21 “For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”. May the Lord help us build true friendships with people to whom we can be a friend and who will be our friends when we need them. When Jesus said in John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”, He wasn’t just pointing us to His sacrificial death on the cross, He was showing that self-sacrifice is the ultimate high-mark of friendship and it begins when we surrender our lives and all we have to the Lord who is a friend that’s closer than a brother. Some people will not even take time to pray for us let alone take the steps the four men took for their paralyzed friend yet real friends support us, celebrate our successes, encourage us, and when the need arises, they are willing to sacrifice their time and resources to help us through difficult seasons. The Bible doesn’t tell us the rest of the healed man’s story but we know that the faith of his friends, faith that moved them to action, made a life-changing difference. May the Holy Spirit teach us how to build friendships that help us grow as believers and that give us opportunities to be a true friend to others.
January 28, 2022
Jeremiah 18:3-4 “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it”
The Lord told Jeremiah to visit a potter’s house and watch the potter work at making clay vessels. God sometimes used life lessons, natural things, to give people a concrete picture of what He was teaching them. Our Lord did the same with parables, using the natural world to explain spiritual truth. In Jeremiah’s case, he saw the potter working on something that didn’t go well, it was marred or ruined but instead of giving up or tossing the vessel aside, the potter continued to work on it until it was remade into something good. He didn’t just repurpose what he had initially made but look at the words “he made it again another vessel” meaning although in its original state it didn’t fit the potter’s plan for it, he had another vision for it, another design, that suited His purpose. There are times people think they are so broken, that they’ve made so many bad choices, or that their life is such a mess that they’re past the point where God can use them but this is a lie of the enemy. The Lord spoke to Jeremiah about the mess the nation of Israel had made of themselves in light of what was witnessed on the potter’s wheel by saying “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel”. Fixing shattered dreams, broken pieces, wasted opportunities, and ruined lives is God’s specialty and the Bible is filled with examples where He did just that. If we look at the life of Jacob, how his very name means trickster, deceiver and how he tricked Esau and his father Isaac early in his life it would seem he was set for a life of cheating and fraud. But the Lord met with him in Genesis 32 and after this encounter, Jacob was so forever changed that God even changed his name to Israel.
Considering God’s mercy and forgiveness, remember that Peter asked in Matthew 18:21 “how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” and Jesus answered I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven”. If God is telling us to give forgiveness to someone who has sinned against us 490 times, we know He is not telling us to do something He will not do Himself. The Lord is not telling us to count the number of offenses until they get to 490 then, on the very next one, lower the boom. But He is speaking of continual mercy and using this as our standard, we know when God tells us His mercy reaches to the heavens (Psalm 57:10), that His mercy is everlasting (Psalm 100:5), and that His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 103:17) He’s telling us He never gives up on us and that He is the potter that will keep shaping, keep remaking, and keep working on our mess until we are complete. The life of Abraham, who God calls the father of us all concerning justification by faith, is a testimony that none of us always get our walk with God right all the time. Abraham stumbled on occasion and the Lord recorded it in the Bible for us to see. Some of us stumble much, much more than Abraham and our lives are an open book to how God doesn’t throw us in the trash pile after a while and walk away from us disgusted. But His potter’s hands keep moving on us, smoothing, soothing, and changing us bit by bit into the image of Christ. On His part, we see His kindness, patience, and love toward us. On our part, all new can say is we are examples that show praise to the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1.6).
January 27, 2022
Titus 3:2 “To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men”
Someone may have taught you as a child that if you can’t say something good about someone, don’t say anything at all and the saying had its origin in Bible verses like today’s verse. The evil speaking phrase here is from the Greek “blasphemeo” meaning to revile, to speak abusively against, to malign, to vilify, to injure someone’s reputation, to defame, or to speak irreverently. That about covers anything we might spout off against another person and the Lord gives the reasoning in verse 3, pointing out our own hideous imperfections: “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another”. The “no man” here means “not even one man or woman” and would include everyone we can think of or imagine including the president, our spouses, the people we work with, our in-laws, and the neighbors next door, and especially include our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is given again in James 4:11 “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law” where the phrase to speak no evil comes from a similar but different Greek word, katalaleo, meaning to talk against, blab about, or slander. The idea is that we set ourselves up as a lawgiver and so, put ourselves in God’s place as the righteous judge.
It’s difficult to hold our tongues when tempted to rip into others knowing we have freedom of speech and are surrounded by a culture of slandering, insulting, and screeching, opinionated news and social media platforms not to mention almost everyone within ear-shot. God is calling us to de-throne ourselves from our perches of judgment, ridicule, and opinions for therein lies the pride of self-esteem and self-will exercised at the expense of others. Jesus is always compassionate towards us and His love covers our sins without a rebuttal or condescending word from Him. It’s hard to bridle our tongue, to think twice before we open our mouth, beat down our pride, and admit our opinions don’t matter since they usually come with a boatload of criticism and negativity aimed at others. For decades we’ve been flooded with sitcoms and shows that have people and families insulting each other, humiliating each other, calling each other disrespectful names, and spewing critical one-liners as if that’s the way relationships are supposed to be. The Lord has appointed us to higher standards, to lives of meekness and gentleness that will not be given to brawling: meaning to battle, quarrel, fight, strive, or engage in controversy. Mostly, all the evil speaking is patterns and habits, learned behavior, that we’ve come to follow mindlessly and we need the Holy Spirits help to change and it might begin with a self-examination of the way we see others and what’s in our hearts towards them coupled with an awareness of how it affects us when others speak evil or negatively against us. May God help us use our words to bless, encourage, and speak peace and life and leave the rest to Him.
January 26, 2022
Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”
Just as there are days of clouds and rain, there are days with problems as the scripture says in Job 5:7, we are born into trouble and it’s easy for us to keep our eyes on our trials and let that point of view dominate our thinking. Instead of living with the expectation of blessing and victory, we grind through our days expecting the worse with our words testifying to our outlook with things like “well, I was expecting it all to go wrong and it did”, or “I’m just unlucky and my life is jinxed”. Even on a bright, bright sunshiny day, we might say “I’ll bet it will rain and storm soon”. Our favorite verses to support us in our misery might be those like Jeremiah 10:19 “Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it” or a misphrasing of 1 Corinthians 10:15 such as “well, God said He wouldn’t load me down with more than I can carry” as if all our grief is God’s fault. But Jesus did not pull us from the sea of destruction to let us drown in the river of despair. The Bible triumphantly declares our position with the Lord in such places as Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” and the well-known Romans 8 which mentions the trials of believers then sums it up with verse 37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us”. The word “gospel” means good news and that’s not just for the world to come but our daily life is one of faith, hope, joy, and peace.
Today’s verse announces that in times of trouble, God is our refuge and strength and that He is “a very present help” meaning He speedily, wholly, tremendously comes to our aid because he is very near us, meeting with us at that point. The chapter goes on to say no matter the calamity and gives the picture of cataclysmic events of mountains crashing into the sea, floods raging, and the earth itself moving and says it will be well because God is there and repeats His promise in verse 7, “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah”. We used to sing a song with lyrics that said “Though all Hell assail me, I shall not be moved. Jesus will not fail me I shall not be moved. Just like the tree that’s planted by the water, I shall not be moved” and it expresses the confidence we can have when we believe it is not our grip on the Lord that’s holding us, it’s His eternal grip on us that keeps us safe. We have a refuge and it’s not our money, our strength, our skill and talents, our intellect, our “luck”, or anything else we possess, it’s Christ the solid rock and all other ground is sinking sand. We are not on a ship, drifting at the mercy of the stormy winds and currents of life’s chances and circumstances, but we have an anchor, steadfast and sure (Hebrews 6:19). What a comfort we have in our God, our refuge and strength, when He tells us in 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. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands”. Rather than “woe is me”, our testimony is based on the truth of the Lord’s promises to us: that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ, we already possess eternal life, the Eternal God is our Father, our needs are supplied, the yoke is easy and the burden is light, we are pilgrims here and our home is heaven, and God will never leave us or forsake us.
January 25, 2022
Luke 24:32 “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”
The scriptures give the account of two disciples making their way towards the town of Emmaus after the death of Jesus. The Bible tells us the name of one of them, Cleopas, but the other is unnamed and although there have been many guesses through the centuries as to who it was, the Bible does not say. As they walked, they were discussing all the events of the crucifixion and of the witnesses who said they’d seen Jesus alive afterward. Somewhere on the seven-mile trip, about a two-hour or so walk, Jesus appeared to them but they didn’t know who He was and He began to teach them what the scriptures said about Himself. As the sun began to set, they came to Emmaus and pressed Jesus to stay with them which He did. And as they sat down to eat, Jesus broke the bread and blessed it and they suddenly knew who He was and He vanished from their sight. Then they spoke the words in today’s verse describing what happened to them when they were listening to the words of the Lord as He taught them the scriptures. They said their hearts burned within them meaning they were set on fire on the inside. This reminds us of the words of Jeremiah in chapter 20:9 “But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones” and anyone who has experienced the power of the Word of God within in such a manner knows exactly what these disciples were talking about.
The Word of God is alive and when the Holy Spirit opens our understanding of it as Jesus did to these disciples, an unearthly force is released within us that is not a matter of human reason but that of Almighty God. Jeremiah went on to describe the power of the Word in Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” and this portrayal explains how God’s Word both smashes our stubborn pride then generates faith and hope towards God. Our religion today tries to convince people towards God by fabricating proofs, things that are devised to counter our arguments against God’s truth by human logic and reason. But the raw, unfiltered, Word of God will perform God’s will on Its own without any attempts by us to “help” It do Its job. Jesus didn’t explain the Word of God to the enemy when He faced him in the wilderness temptation, He just quoted the Word and Satan was defeated. The Apostles set out to fulfill the Lord’s commission after the day of Pentecost armed not with degrees as learned scholars, but with the anointing of the Word of God on their lips and the Bible said people described them in Acts 17:6 as men who “turned the world upside down”. Even the most intellectual of them all, the Apostle Paul, summarized his qualifications to minister from man’s point of view in Philippians 3:7 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ”. Most certainly this is not a little devotion to scoff at education and its value in the Christian realm but rather to reinforce that when we attempt in any way to assist the Word of God by our own efforts, we are acting to undermine the power of the Word. Because It alone can make us burn from within for the glory of God and only by the pure Word, uncontaminated by human finagling, can we be broken in our human, foolish pride and transformed into the image of Christ.
January 24, 2022
Ephesians 4:18-19 “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness”
On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter preached the first gospel sermon after the Lord had ascended back into heaven. When he finished, the Bible said those around him “were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” and Peter instructed to repent and be baptized. About three thousand people were saved that day and it’s important to see that what led them to the place of repentance after they’d heard the gospel was that they were “pricked in their heart”. The word “pricked” means to pierce, to sting sharply, to stun, to smite and we often refer to it as the conviction to us brought about by the Holy Spirit to abruptly awaken us to our lost condition. People were agitated by what they heard to the point they wanted relief from the stinging of their hearts, their conscience wrestled with what to do about their lost souls. The Bible says in Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do”. This is what we pray for when we are praying for the lost, that they would become disturbed about their unbelief and it would be so troubling to them they would turn to the one who said if we come to Him, we will find rest for our souls. But there is a danger of repeatedly pushing away this call from God when He is reasoning with our heart because when we do not yield to His will, our hearts will become hardened until the pricking by the Holy Spirit will not reach us. There is a warning of this in Psalm 95:7-8 “Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart”.
Today’s verse tells of people who are “past feeling” meaning they are so hardened, so calloused, so apathetic they can no longer sense any moral inclination. They have pushed away the knowledge and call of God until there is no light to see the truth, they are blind in their hearts and their understanding of truth, what is right and wrong, and what God expects gets so obscured they can no longer discern good from evil. The Bible says in Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”. Once they have passed into this darkness, they turn to sin completely unrestrained. As stated here, they begin to practice sin without a sense of shame especially sins of a sensual, perverse nature, and do so with “greediness” meaning they pursue it as if they can’t get enough. We are seeing this carried out in our generation on a proportion that is far more widespread than that of Rome when it crumbled, disintegrated, and fell. There is little or no response to or reverence for God’s Word because truth has become meaningless and relativized. God has been dismissed as the Bible says in Romans 1:28 they do not like to retain God in their knowledge and even if they muse about God, there is no fear, no respect, or reverence for Him. And as far as salvation through Jesus Christ, the door to heaven is concerned, we have abandoned that as outdated and restrictive replacing it with our own ideas that any path we choose will take us to heaven if there is a heaven. All we have to do is be “true to ourselves”. We need an awakening, a movement of the Holy Spirit to break through the hardened barriers and draw us to a place of repentance. We need revival in the church and a fresh anointing upon us and we need to “cry aloud and lift up our voices like a trumpet” again without holding back (Isaiah 58:1). May our prayers for a lost world be heard and answered at the throne of grace for we need God’s mercy and grace to help us in these times of need.
January 23, 2022
1Thessalonians 5:9-11 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do”
Today’s verses are a beautiful, comforting statement about God’s will for us and how we should use those truths to encourage each other. God’s intention for us was not to receive the force of His anger as is seen many times in places such as Ezekiel 33:11 “saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” and 2Peter 3:9 reminds us the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. His purpose is for us to “obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” for He wants everyone to be saved (1Timothy 2:4). For Christians that know this truth and embrace it, it seems like we continually beat this drum that the whole theme of this life is that it’s a place to get ready for the world to come and God devoted the entire Bible to point out this fact. Yet so many people do not know God’s plan for them or do not believe it. Added to this comfort that God did not intend that we face His wrath, is the joy of knowing He planned our salvation so we would live together with Him. In the Old Testament progression, until the tabernacle was decreed and constructed, the Lord appeared from time to time to give instructions or institute a covenant. His people didn’t enjoy a relationship with Him that saw Him close by as a friend or Father. The tabernacle was built, and later the more permanent temple, and provided a place within the veil where God would remain in the presence of His people Exodus 40:34 “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle”. This was a precursor to God’s plan for salvation through Jesus when He, as the Holy Spirit, moved into our bodies as His temple.
Christians are to comfort one another because the Lord has made such a loving, wonderful plan for us that carries from here into eternity. We don’t just need to know the Lord loves us and deals with us as a loving Father does His children, but we have this love within us and it is the basis by which we relate to each other. The Bible says in 1John 4:11-12 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us”. Have you ever wondered why Christians who are saved by God’s love, possess God’s love, and have the power of God’s love as their defining characteristic, sometimes fight each other, hurt each other, disregard and disrespect each other, and act like morons? We need the fullness of the mind of Christ, the eyes of Christ, and the heart of Christ. The church at Corinth was divided and fighting over petty differences in doctrine and was told in 1Corinthians 3:3 “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”. One way to summarize the Bible is that it’s God’s letter to us saying “I love you, I love you, I love you. And even if you don’t believe me yet, I still love you”. May we comfort our families and all those in the family of God by saying “I love you” over and over, by acting out our love, putting the needs and things of others above ourselves, and by refusing to walk the paths of strife and division, the carnal, selfish, prideful ways of the world. And just as God does not place His anger on us, let’s hold back our anger from others who are made in the image of God. In these uncertain, perilous times we need the comfort of our Lord and we need comfort from each other.
January 22, 2022
Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”
The grace of God tells us our salvation was paid for by the offering of the blood of Jesus and as declared in Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified”. Our sins past, present, and future were taken away and God sees us covered with the righteousness of Christ. The new birth is not a down payment on eternal life, it is the everlasting life promised by our Lord in John 10:28 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”. Jesus goes on to say in verse 29, “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand”. This has been called the “double safe salvation” in that it reveals Colossians 3:3 “your life is hid with Christ in God”. The confidence then of our salvation is not in us, our ability to remain good enough to please God and keep ourselves saved, but it lies in the perfection of Jesus and His ability to keep us saved. The Bible says in Hebrews 7:25, that as our high priest “he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them”. We are not partially saved, temporarily saved, or potentially saved. We are completely, securely, and eternally saved and as the Creator God finished everything and rested the seventh day, we are now at rest from all our labors and attempts to save ourselves.
While we know our position with God is secure through Jesus Christ, we are still in this body of flesh until He returns and we’re caught, so to speak, with one foot in heaven and one still on earth. The knowledge of sin still resides with us and even though our old man has been struck a mortal blow (Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin) he has not yet been passed from existence and raises his will, attempting to drag us back into the works of the flesh. We have the comfort of such passages as 1John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world”. Today’s verse, although given in the time of the Levitical Law when sin could not be taken away, still speaks to us today concerning our conscience in times when we do wrong or fail to obey. Our conscience, or our heart as it is referred to here, can become condemned and it is then we cry out to God for help to get our conscience cleared and our outlook and attitudes right. This is what’s being said in 1John 3:21 “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God”. King David wrote these words after committing some grievous sins and he wanted to get back to the place he was before. We hear his honesty in the verses surrounding this one as he comes clean with God and calls out for mercy. Praise God for our advocate who has already forgiven our sins and stands ready to clear our conscience and renew us back to a place of peace and confidence.
January 21, 2022
Matthew 22:9 “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage”
For years one of the big debates and lightning rods of politics concerns what to do about the border between the United States and Mexico. Currently, according to cbp.gov, the Official website of the Department of Homeland Security, there have been an average of 190,473 encounters per month for the last six months and this does not include people who crossed unnoticed. People want to get into the United States and they will stop at nothing to cross the border. Many reports tell of people being smuggled in not just at the Mexican border but illegally crossing the Canadian border and in shipping containers, by boats sneaking by the Coast Guard and radar, and those who are here on temporary visas who just stay and blend into our society. They see America as a place of opportunity and many are coming from horrible environments and dire poverty. We certainly do not agree with them entering the country illegally and undocumented and we are appalled at the way the situation is being handled, or rather not handled at all, by government agencies, but we can understand their motives. They watch American TV and movies and to them, everyone who lives here is rich, drives a fine car, lives in a beautiful home, and has plenty of food and they have nothing, not even enough food. A side note here is that we should all have humble and thankful hearts that we live in such a country of plenty and never take for granted the opportunities for which so many have given their lives. The foundation of greatness upon which our country rests is the blessings of the Lord and the hard work and sacrifice of those who pioneered and built the country.
But today’s verse is about heaven and in the verses that lead up to this one, we see that initially there were some invited to enter who turned down the invitation and in verse 5, it says “But they made light of it”. We know the primary meaning is speaking of Israel who was offered the Kingdom but refused. Yet in a broader view, it is a picture of all humanity who will do almost anything to gain material possessions in this life but when offered an eternal home that’s perfect and where they can live forever with no sorrow, sickness, and death, they balk at it and run the other way. People will choose death over life, chaos over peace, a lake of fire over heaven, the curse over the blessings, despair over hope, and Satan, who is doomed to damnation over Jesus, the Almighty King of Heaven and earth. Yet the call of God still goes out as exemplified in the words of the parable in today’s verse that all are welcome to enter heaven and the gates are wide open to anyone and everyone that will take God at His word. In the words of the King in verse 4, “all things are ready: come unto the marriage”. The heart of God, His everlasting love for people, is revealed in His invitation and is beautifully and wonderfully stated in Isaiah 55:1-2 “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness”. Our mission is to keep reminding people God loves them, God wants them with Him in heaven, and God has made every provision through Jesus Christ to make heaven our eternal home if we will just believe.
January 20, 2022
Hosea 12:6 “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually”
Hosea chapter 6 is the description of Israel’s lack of trust in the Lord and how instead, they tried to get what they wanted or thought they needed, by going around God. They made alliances and pacts with other nations to get security and safety from other enemy nations, alliances that the Lord warned them against. Then there was the pervading sin of idolatry where they bowed down to false gods and graven images thinking they could get quick help from them or some magical superpower to get ahead. They paid tribute money, bribes to enemy nations because they believed if they didn’t the enemy would destroy them. A nation that had been promised and created by the Lord, had the assurance of His Word that He would fight their battles, drive away their enemies, and supply their every need, sank into the slime of unbelief and instead of being the nation that feared and followed the Lord and stood head and shoulders above all the pagans around them, they became the laughingstock of the ancient world. Jeremiah said in Lamentations 1:7-8 “Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore, she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward”. The scriptures tell the sad story of Israel’s fall from her pinnacle of power when Solomon’s temple gleamed with gold in the sunlight to the day Nebuchadnezzar’s army conquered and destroyed the nation, tearing the precious temple to the ground. But because of God’s grace and faithfulness, that was not the end of the story.
Today’s verse called Israel to return to the Lord and those words are fitting for us today because God is always calling people to turn and return to Him no matter how far they have strayed. Jesus gave us the foundations of truth for the New Testament church with such accounts as the Prodigal Son to encourage us to see God as our Heavenly Father whose mercy and grace welcomes sinners and backslidden saints to return to their place with Him. The verse goes on to tell us to practice mercy ourselves on the behalf of others and do what is right followed by the reassuring words to wait on the Lord. The word “wait” here carries the idea that we wait with the expectation that the Lord will always move in our favor. This is the lesson Israel couldn’t seem to learn, that part of serving the Lord is waiting for Him to make His move because He’s at work in our favor even if He seems silent and absent in the present. Faith tells us to believe Him, trust Him, and just wait until He gets everything all fixed up. When God is visibly doing things, that is the easy part for us and we want to praise Him and rejoice but when we’re having to wait, even with expectation, we’re battling doubt, frustration, impatience, and self-will. Like Israel, it’s tempting to try to fix stuff on our own or figure out a solution ourselves. We’re like Abraham and Sarah when they got tired of waiting for a child, they concocted their own quick fix that turned into a huge mess. But the eye of faith sees the faithfulness of the Lord and the heart of faith claims the conclusion of the matter just as in Hebrews 11:13 “but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them”. We will not stop waiting on God for the Bible says in Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”.
January 19, 2022
1Corinthians 15:34 “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame”
When you are praying for others, do you ever wonder who is also praying for them? Today’s verse comes from a section of scriptures where Paul is writing to the Corinthian Christians who were a spiritual mess with some even denying the resurrection. He tells them in verse 33 that association with bad people will corrupt them then tells them to wake up and do what’s right because some people are ignorant as to who the Lord is and it’s shameful that they aren’t taking this seriously. The church at Corinth was all distracted from the Lord’s ways by fighting, divisions, blatant sins, and false teachings. Meanwhile, the people around them not only didn’t know anything about God, but their souls also were not the priority of the Christians they saw every day. One way to gauge where we stand is to stop and listen to ourselves pray if we’re praying at all, and examine what we’re praying about. It’s suspect that in this age of Laodicea, characterized in Revelation 3:14-18, most praying is centered around our own needs, real or imagined, our greedy desires, messes we’ve gotten ourselves into, or just mindless and heartless patterns of prayer that come from our lips but not from our souls. Combine this with the pervading sin of prayerlessness that seems to be common where even ministers admit to being too busy to pray, and we should be shamed just as today’s verse shamed the Corinthians. While the prayerless, materialistic Laodicean church stumbles through its form of Godliness, drinking iniquity like water (Job 15:16), 163,898 people die every day many of whom have no knowledge of Jesus and most of them no one has witnessed to or has been praying for.
Those referred to here who have not the knowledge of God means not only that they are ignorant of the truth of the Lord but that they hold on to that ignorance, from the Greek word agnosia, from where we get our word agnostic. We know the Lord and we have this treasure within ourselves and for most, it has become so commonplace with us that we forget that all around us people get up every morning and face the same and worse things than we do and they have no faith, no assurance of the Lord’s presence, no comfort of the Holy Spirit, no strength from other believers, and no hope for the future. They are entirely at the mercy of their own delusions and the false hope of the world with its lies and deception. We have been born again by the mystery of the Lord’s salvation into a life of privilege, blessed by the Almighty God, given sonship and heir of God status, made partakers of the Holy Spirit, provided with protection and promise by the infallible Word of God, and set up for an everlasting position in the kingdom of God. But those who have no knowledge of God have no clue as to what they’re missing and they can’t begin to understand how their situation is so eternally different from ours until their eyes are opened and they are made partakers of the Holy Spirit. How can we not want for them what we have been given as a gift of God and how can we not plead for their souls? By the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus, they have just as much right to heaven and the blessings of salvation as we do and it is shameful when we forget that others prayed for us, others presented Christ to us, and others cared for our souls. May the Lord revive us, awaken us, and may we turn from our sinfulness to pray and love a world that does not know God.
January 18, 2022
Jeremiah 29:7 “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace”
Jeremiah is writing to the Israelites in Babylon where they have been carried captive. Most people know verse 11 from this chapter well as a promise of hope, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” yet seldom is today’s verse mentioned although it is loaded with wisdom than can make our lives far better in uncertain circumstances. The Lord is instructing His people to “seek the peace” in the city of their captivity which means for them to work towards the good, the wellbeing of that city and to pray for it because when the city goes well, they will benefit from it. It’s a promise of such common sense it makes us wonder why this principle is not a major theme of our everyday dealings with the world around us. Even in the city of the enemy, a pagan, idol-worshipping land, the Lord told His people to behave in such a way as to promote the Shalom, the happiness, welfare, prosperity, friendliness, and peace and as the city enjoyed the fruit of this, they too would have shalom. In the 70 years they were in Babylon, many Jews prospered and, assisted with recent archeological discoveries of Babylonian writings, their family lines can be traced from then to the present. Our Lord brought these principles into His teachings with such verses as Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” and Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great”.
The gospels expound this truth in Romans 14:19” Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace” and James 3:18 “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace”. 1Timothy 2:1-2 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty”. When believers practice this principle in all areas of their lives, it helps set them up for blessings and benefits for themselves and their families. Homes become sanctuaries, places of refuge from a world of unbelief and trouble. Children are raised and nurtured in an environment where their parents seek their wellbeing as a part of a peaceful family structure free from strife and confusion as related in James 3:16 “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work”. Believers who practice this in their workplaces set a standard for others that rises above the normal chaos existing in many work environments. The elements of jealousy, back-stabbing, evil gossip, and negativity towards the company, bosses, and such rob the peace and welfare of the people who get trapped in them. The Jews in Babylon lived with people who didn’t think like they did, worship as they did, eat as they did, and have a world-view as they did yet the Lord told them to make a difference in their cities of captivity by doing what was right, pursuing the peace of that place, and praying for the welfare of the city. Even though we will not compromise the message of God’s grace and we will not follow the ways of the ungodly, we still can follow the things that make for peace and sow the seeds of peace wherever we are. We, our families, and our communities will be far better when we do and our lives will reap what we have sown.
January 17, 2022
Exodus 17:7 “And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?”
The Israelites left Egypt on foot, their animals following with them, carrying their belongings and maybe a weeks’ worth of food. They had seen the great power of God on their behalf when the plagues rocked Egypt and they had witnessed the miracle of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea allowing them to escape Pharoah’s armies which perished in the same waters after the Israelites were safe on the other side. They knew God was with them as the Bible says in Exodus 14:31 “And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses”. Afterward, we have the record in the first 21 verses of chapter 15 telling how there was singing, dancing, and praising God as they celebrated their deliverance. Yet it was just a matter of time as they journeyed that the circumstances began to change, their food and water ran out, and they began to complain against Moses and the Lord. It’s tempting for us to read their story and find fault with them but had we been there on foot, walking through the desert, carrying everything we owned, exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and perhaps afraid because there were no visible food and water sources, we would have done no better than they. Remember their words in Numbers 11:5 “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick”. Today’s verse says they called this particular place Massah, meaning a place of trials, and Meribah, a place of complaining.
The question they asked, “is the Lord with us or not?”, is not uncommon to us for even if we don’t form the words with our lips or speak them aloud, the same question hovers over us whenever circumstances get difficult. Like the Israelites, we can rejoice through the blessings and even talk about how good God is and how we are sure He is with us because we associate what we see as good with His presence. But we all go through times and seasons when it seems the Lord is a million miles away and we feel alone, cutoff, worried, and afraid. At some point in our Christian journey, we need to nail it down and stop the doubt of the Lord’s abiding presence and confess that no matter what it may seem or feel, He promised He is always with us and nothing can change this eternal truth. When doubt and fear raise the question “is God with us or not?”, when the burden seems too heavy, we can’t see a solution, or when we don’t get quick answers to the prayers we’re praying, we know He will never fail us and it’s time to confess the truth in the face of the question: He is with us, He is for us, and He will never leave us. The big difference between us and Israel of old is that while they had the visible evidence of the Lord’s presence, we have Him as the Holy Spirit within us, comforting us, reminding us of His promises, and speaking to our Father on our behalf. Israel had the Word of the Lord as spoken by Moses but we hold in our hands the completed scriptures, the Words of Jesus Christ which are surer than the heavens and the earth and they speak eternally and unchangeably that God is with us and we can trust and not be afraid.
January 16, 2022
John 7:5 “For neither did his brethren believe in him”
Today’s verse addresses one of the mysteries of faith. Sometimes we think if Jesus were here right now in the flesh or if we could travel back in time to His day, our faith would be so strong nothing could shake it. But Jesus was a grown man, He had already performed many miracles and preached a lot of sermons. His brothers had grown up with Him, witnessed his perfect life, and undoubtedly knew the miracle of His birth yet they did not believe at this point He was the Messiah. To them, He was just their brother, nobody special. This was the same mindset of the community the Lord grew up in for when He taught in the synagogue in His hometown, the people’s response is recorded in Mark 6:3 “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him”. Jesus responded to the unbelief in the next verse by saying a prophet has no honor in his own country, among his own kin, and in his own house. This helps us understand why our own families including our children sometimes do not believe the truth even though we want them so much to believe in Jesus and follow the ways of God. We have to be reminded that although we have some influence and witness to them, salvation is a personal thing and they must be drawn by the Holy Spirit just as we were drawn and they must choose for themselves to believe Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of those who will call on His name.
People’s unbelief in Jesus when He was here most certainly was not limited to His family and His hometown. After all the towns and villages, He visited, countless people He healed, the dead He raised to life, huge crowds that followed Him, and untold numbers of miracles and sermons, many were still unconvinced He was the Son of God. Listen to the heart of the Lord in Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”. It can be discouraging when people, especially those you know and love the most, dismiss your faith in the Lord away or do not support you in what God has called you to do. But Jesus didn’t let others’ opinions of Him stop Him from fulfilling the Father’s will. He looked ahead to the time after His resurrection when His brothers would believe and many of the other doubters, like Saul of Tarsus, would come to faith. It was this forward view that helped Jesus remain faithful despite the discouragements and lack of support by his family and others. The Bible says in Hebrews 12”2 “for the joy that was set before him (the view ahead) endured the cross, despising (ignored) the shame”. We learn from Him to look past the moments when we feel like giving up or have sadness and pain from people’s rejection or discouragement when our children and family will not follow the Lord and set our eyes on the promises of God which will not fail. Let’s keep praying, keep trusting, keep our eyes on Jesus, and keep looking to the time when what we claim by faith will become the reality.
January 15, 2022
Esther 2:17 “And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti”
Sometimes people talk about being at the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time depending on the outcome of circumstances as if we are experiencing a streak of good or bad luck. Today’s verse is from the book of Esther, a book that doesn’t contain the name of the Lord or have any direct references to God yet its story and the cast of characters, Esther, her uncle Mordecai, King Ahasuerus, his rebellious queen Vashti, the evil Haman, and Hegai, the king’s valet, all show the providence and power of God at work in every chapter. Even the night the King had insomnia and asked for the record book of events to be read is a testimony to how the Lord works behind the scenes to protect His people and execute His Sovern will. The Persian Empire over which King Ahasuerus, whom we know in secular history as King Xerxes I, was so vast it controlled most of the civilized world in its time and, had the plot of Haman to annihilate all the Jews been successful, such a devastating blow would have stopped the flow of Jewish history, cut off the line of Abraham, and stopped the cross and the resurrection. Because the name of the Lord isn’t mentioned and no mention made of the things of God, the book of Esther has sometimes been criticized as if it has no place in the Bible. Martin Luther once said it was far too aggressively Jewish and others have said it is too secular in scope to be inspired. Yet the splendor of the story is that it reveals God’s hand is always at work and no plans of men or devils can defeat His will. The story of Esther established the Feast of Purim, the most joyous, happy festival of the Jewish people where they commemorate every year their deliverance from destruction.
For believers, the Book of Esther reminds us we are on this earth for a purpose and our lives are bound up in God’s big plan for time and eternity. Today’s verse is telling in that it is the point in the story where the King chose Esther to be queen, an unknown, orphaned Jewish girl over every other beautiful girl in the enormous empire of over 50 million people, about one half of the world’s population. The Bible says she found grace and favor in the eyes of the king and we know that it is the Lord who puts things in the right places at the right times on behalf of his people. Everything about Esther, her beauty, poise, attitude, and wisdom was given to her by the Lord to accomplish His will as was stated by her uncle Mordecai in Esther 4:14 “and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this”. We come away with a reverence for our Lord who knows the ending from the beginning and who orchestrates all His creation to fulfill His will. The story of Esther gives us faith and confidence that God is always working on our behalf because we are the object of all His creation and our salvation is His primary purpose. He uses such times to open the eyes of those in darkness when He speaks through the circumstances as he did when the events in Esther played out. The Bible says in Esther 8:17 “the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them”.
January 14, 2022
Ephesians 4:23 “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind”
All around the world in most cultures for thousands of years there have been tales of a spring of water that restores youth and vitality to anyone that finds it and drinks or bathes in its water. If you’ve ever been to St Augustine Florida, you’re probably familiar with the local legend that the Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon landed there in 1513 searching for the Fountain of Youth. Those tourist-seeking Floridians have built the Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park complete with a springhouse where you are invited to “Take a sip from Juan Ponce de Leon’s Spring of Eternal Hope”. We stopped there many years ago when passing through on vacation and I took a sip of the water and can tell you, it didn’t work. But the verse for today tells us to be renewed and the word here comes from a Greek word that tells us to be made new and has as one of its roots a word meaning to become young again, refreshed. Since the warfare we’re in takes place in our imaginations and thoughts, unless we’re being renewed, refreshed day by day, we become trapped in mindsets and pitfalls that hold us back. The Lord would have us so that our “youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5). It’s easy to spot believers that follow this teaching because they’re never stuck in negative, critical, and condescending frames of mind with old, faithless slogans and crabby attitudes. Maybe you know some people that whenever they show up, they bring their old worn-out moods and words of what they don’t like, how bad things are, how miserable they feel, and what’s wrong with everything and everyone. They blame their past and everyone in it for their present misery and when they’ve finally unloaded their gloom and despair, they walk away leaving you feeling like all the hope has been sucked out of life.
When the Bible tells us here to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, it’s not talking about the Holy Spirit but the human spirit, that which inspires us, makes us think, and act as we do. This comes in this part of the chapter that deals with our putting away the old, unsaved person who was corrupt, and then we “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). It’s not about just having a positive attitude because that can just be a motivational technique but it’s about daily washing off the dirt the world tries to cover us with and seeing ourselves as we truly are: blessed, thankful, and born again. We are children of the King and our Father is working all things for our good. We are not the same person we used to be just dressed up in religious clothes like the Pharisees, but we are new creations covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and we are eternal heirs of all God has prepared for us. Each day we have to throw off the lies and deceit the world tries to heap on us and refresh the spirit of our minds with the truth of who we are, who our Father is, what Jesus has done for us, and where our journey is leading us. Just as the Lord’s mercies are new towards us every day each new day is an opportunity for us to shake off the baggage of the past and walk in the ways of God with thankful hearts and a renewed mind. Every day may we not only claim Psalm 118:24, may we live it: This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
January 13, 2022
2Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”
Does it matter what we think? The Lord tells us in Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD”. Our mind is a thought-producing machine and the origin of each thought or set of thoughts come from a place within us some have called the “thought generator”. Recent studies of our thought patterns by the Queen’s University in Canada show the average person has about 6,200 individual thoughts every day with each thought branching out with connecting thoughts. That’s 22,630,000 a year and an incredible 1,765,140,000 thoughts in a lifetime. Of these, 95 percent are the same recurring thoughts that happen in cycles and overall, 80 percent of our thoughts are negative. Some people are so bombarded by strong thoughts they can’t shut them off and have trouble falling asleep. So, if 80 percent of our thoughts are negative and we repeat 95 percent of them, there’s a constant battle for faith in God’s promises happening in our heads. Today’s verse comes from scriptures describing our warfare: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”. Our battles are not physical against a physical enemy but they take place on the battlefield of our minds.
When the Bible says in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” it is speaking of our need to change the very way our minds think with the word transform here meaning to change the fundamental nature of something. In our natural state, the scripture says in Colossians 1:21 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works” but by the new birth, with the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, it is said in 1Corinthians 2:16 “But we have the mind of Christ”. To cast down our imaginations that are against God’s purpose and bring our thoughts under control until, as the Word says, we “gird up the loins of our mind” (1 Peter 1:13), we must change the way we think, the content of what we think about, and replace the source-pool of thought material that generates our thoughts. The way we think must be from a grace of God perspective 2Peter 3:18 “But grow in grace”. Most believers’ negative thoughts come from a non-grace point of view because only by grace-thinking can we escape the trap the enemy and our own foolish minds set for us that we are victims of our circumstances or that the Lord is losing His grip on us and we are abandoned to failure. As far as the content of our thoughts, the Lord says in Philippians 4:8 to keep your thoughts on whatever is right, praise-worthy: things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, or commendable. Better choices in the music we listen to, entertainment we have, friends and their conversations we have, and time spent in prayer and meditation on the things of the Lord help us in this battle. Finally, God’s Word must be the source of our thought material. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path and the truth of God’s Word must replace all the lies and craziness people’s minds normally use as a source of their thoughts. When we read, study, memorize, meditate on, consult, have confidence in, and honor the Word of God above all else and it becomes internalized in our minds and hearts, the Holy Spirit will bring it into our minds and it will give us the victory to bring our thoughts into captivity. Free from unbelief and filled with the peace of Christ.
January 12, 2022
2Peter 1:13 “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance”
Sometimes the word stir is used to describe agitation. When we see a big hornet or wasp nest, we know from a child it’s a bad thing to get them critters stirred up. The Bible uses the term in places such as Acts 6:12 “And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council” describing how angry foes of the gospel and God’s people encouraged mob violence against Stephen, stoning him to death. In this case, the Greek word is sugkineo meaning to excite as a mass but in today’s verse, the Greek for stir is diegeiro meaning to awaken or to rouse from sleep or inactivity. In the Old Testament, the word stir occurs in such passages as Haggai 1:14 “And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God” where the Hebrew word `uwr means to awaken or open the eyes. When God stirs us, it is a spiritual awakening to jolt us into action or awareness that we can accomplish His purpose. The thought is expressed in the lyrics of the old-time song As an Eagle Stirreth in Her Nest: “But as an eagle stirreth her nest so that her young ones will have no rest, God in His own mysterious way stirs up His people to watch and pray”. (See Deuteronomy 32:11)
In today’s verse, we’re told the stirring is by the Apostle Peter who reminds believers of what the Lord has done in the past for them and what they’ve already been taught to awaken them and encourage them in their battle against false teaching. The church often slips into a state of complacency and compromise and we must be stirred up from our spiritual sleep and refreshed and revived to draw us back to where we have the zeal and desire for the Lord and the things of God. In the past, men with the calling as exhorters did not deliver sermons but had the ability to speak words of encouragement and would awaken congregations to take a fresh look at the wonderful God we serve. Still today, some organizations give special licenses or ordination to those who are called to this purpose and believe their job is not to pastor or evangelize, but to assist as a sort of cheerleader for the Lord, stirring people up to praise and worship the Lord. We all have the ability to speak words to stir and give comfort and cheer to others especially those who are in trials or difficult times. When the Israelites were given the opportunity to build the tabernacle, the Bible says in Exodus 35:21 “And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments”. We need stirring and we need to be stirrers: encouragers, exhorters to others especially in these uncertain, spiritually dark times. Let’s remind each other of the goodness of God, how He has shown Himself to be faithful, How He has provided for us and delivered us in the past and that He is the same today. Let’s tell how He saved us, filled us with the Holy Spirit, and promised that He will return soon to take us home. Let’s get stirred up!
January 11, 2022
Acts 2:24 “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it”
From a natural view of life, it appears the ultimate winner is death and from this view, we get such verses as Romans 5:17 “by one man’s offence death reigned by one” and 1Cor 15:22 “For as in Adam all die”. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord until Jesus rose from the dead, death had dominion over all creation and even now, it hangs over the heads of all people. But the promise that death is not the end was declared throughout the scriptures long before Jesus was born in places such as 2Samuel 14:14 “For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him”. The question is asked in Job 14:14 “If a man die, shall he live again?” and answered with the statement “all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come”. When King David’s newborn son died the King made this statement in 2Samuel 12:23 “But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me”. In today’s verse, the Bible declares the truth about the resurrection of the Lord saying that in the resurrection of Jesus, God loosed, that is He tore down, dissolved the suffering of death when He raised the Savior from the dead.
This verse tells us it was impossible that death could hold, seize and restrain, Jesus. Jesus is life itself for He declared at the tomb of Lazareth in John 11:25 “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”. This is the hope laid out in 1Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Just as it was impossible for death to hold Jesus in its grasp, it is likewise impossible for us to be held by it for we are alive in Him as our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). Our status is revealed by our Lord in John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” The key phrase then in today’s verse is “not possible” and takes away any speculation, any doubt, any uncertainty that somehow death has any power over those that have been made alive in Christ for the eternal Jesus, the living Word of God, has not only conquered death He defeated the one that wielded its power: the devil. Hebrews 2:14-15 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”. All praise be to Him that declared in Revelation 1:18 “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”.
January 10, 2022
Luke 9:62 “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”
In Bible times, men who plowed fields to plant crops did so with a plow animal such as an ox which pulled the plow and the plowman held the handles of the plow and made straight planting rows. These men were not normally highly educated, affluent in society, or craftsmen in another trade but they all had some things in common. They kept their hands on the plow, they focused their eyes on a stationary object ahead of them in the distance such as a structure or a tree, and they refused to be distracted by what was behind them or on either side. The Lord spoke today’s verse when several people said they wanted to follow Him but they all had distractions that kept them from looking forward and Jesus was teaching that to follow Him, a firm commitment is necessary else we are unqualified to be His disciple. The plowman that did not keep his eyes forward and hold fast to the plow while the plow was turning the soil, would not be fit, well placed, or appropriate at the job. Using this as a teaching lesson for us, it is only when we look to Jesus, never taking our eyes off Him, that we are able to run this race in the will of our Father and when we are distracted by this world or anything that causes us to look away, we are not at our best for the Lord. Paul spoke of people who were distracted such as 2Timothy 4:10 “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica” and Philippians 2:21 “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”.
For some people, the past is a great distraction, holding them back from a triumphant life of faith. Past pain, guilt, regrettable mistakes, or some other reminders are used by the enemy to steal away the fulness of joy for the present and future that the Lord desires for His people. Then there are the diversions of our daily, present circumstances that draw our attention away from the Lord such as our rapid pace of life, demands of jobs and careers, the ever-present sources of entertainment, and the never-ending routines to keep our houses, cars, and possessions in order. For young families, all the school activities and needs of growing children including the endless piles of laundry, demands of fixing dinner, and then the pressures of the teenage years all occupy much of our time and energy. When I pastored for years, I looked out at congregations from the pulpit and saw a lot of people nodding off to sleep because the hour they sat down during church was the first break they’d had from their life’s craziness for days. Yet there remains the need to establish the simple practices for us all to take hold of the plow so to speak and keep our eyes on Jesus, knowing that the seasons of our life will change, circumstances will change, and much of what we think is so important at the moment will soon fall from the place of prominence. May we be reminded that the faith of following the Lord is not a complicated, wearisome ordeal but a satisfying, comforting journey that brings us peace and full contentment. The straight, even furrows of the plowman remind us that steady, faithful steps towards Jesus, keeping our eyes on Him, bring the chaos and distractions in our life into order and set us free.
January 9, 2022
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”
There are all kinds of faith. As I sat down in the chair, I’m sitting in to write this devotion, I never gave a thought that it might not hold me up. I trusted it, believing it is strong enough and sturdy enough to hold my 160 pounds. People who say they don’t believe in God are actually saying “I believe God does not exist” and they are living by faith. But we are concerned with a specific type of faith that has come to be called “saving faith” and this question as to what saving faith is was the fundamental point of the reformation. For the Catholic church in Martin Luther’s time, faith plus works was their formula for salvation. For the Protestants who broke away from the established church, faith justified us then works followed although the works were not a part of God’s declaration that we are justified but were evidence that the faith is placed in Christ alone. This is the essence of James 2:14 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”. Satan and the demons believe in God, they know who Jesus is, they understand what happened on the cross, and they do not doubt the resurrection yet they are eternally doomed along despite their faith. So it follows that faith in God and an understanding of who Jesus is, is not saving faith.
Saving faith has three parts and if you have been born again, these three are elements of your faith. First, there must be knowledge that there is a God, that we have sinned against Him, and that He sent His Son to die in our place. This knowledge covers the truths of the cross, Jesus’ death, and His resurrection. These things are the factual basis of the Christian faith which is based on historical truth. Truth must be proclaimed before faith can exist and be exercised and we call this the preaching, the presentation of the gospel. The second element is that we must be convinced, convicted, that what we have heard is the truth. Peter declared in St John 6:68-69 “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”. This doesn’t mean we know everything or that we don’t have some doubts here and there, but we must believe what we’ve heard enough to plug ourselves into the gospel message and be convinced Jesus loves us enough to die in our place. The final aspect of saving faith is commitment and comes when we put our full trust in Christ alone. Someone may know about the Army and what it does and stands for and they may believe in the Army’s mission, cause, and purpose. But they are not in the Army until they sign on the dotted line and make their personal commitment. This is the point for a believer when they receive the gift of God for themselves personally and God moves them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Son: they are born again. Then as a part of what happens, they become new creations and they begin to do the works of God, the works follow their conversion they do not produce the conversion. This gift from God is ours if we will just receive it. Consider it in the light of Romans 10:13-15 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?”.
January 8, 2022
Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy”
The little book of Micah parallels the much larger book of Isaiah, describing the sin of Israel and the punishment of the Lord against them. While Isaiah is much broader in scope, Micah deals specifically with Samaria and Jerusalem and lays out God’s case, as a judge would against a criminal, describing the people and their leader’s sins and what price they would have to pay. Yet surprisingly, the tone of the book is not harsh or despondent like that of Jeremiah and Lamentations, but is filled with promise and hope for it’s here in this little book, in chapter 5:2, that the little town of Bethlehem is mentioned as the place where the everlasting Ruler, the Christ, would be born. This book stands as an example to us that although the Lord knows our sin, holds us responsible for it, and is just to punish our transgressions He also is ready to forgive and restore us when we turn to Him and do what is right. It is here we get the wonderful passage telling of God’s will for His creation Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”. The story of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4, of his pride, his fall, and punishment, followed by his restoration is just one of many examples in the scriptures that show God’s willingness to show kindness and mercy when the hope of salvation is gone.
Today’s verse asks “Is there any God like our God?” and it’s closing the book written by Micah whose name means “Who is like Yahweh?” saying that even though we know of the Lord’s holiness, anger against sin, and His right to judge and condemn, He is not like we would expect Him to be. Because there is no person, no god, and no other creature like Him that will forsake His right to judge and punish choosing instead to pardon sin, lay aside His anger, and show mercy. The Holy Spirit goes even further and declares the Lord delights in mercy. It is our human way to delight in revenge and delight in the punishment of those we judge to be worthy of such retribution. It brings to mind the screaming crowds at the Roman coliseums demanding the death of those they thought unworthy to live and then those at the trial of Jesus demanding that He be crucified for His alleged crimes against society. But see what God did to us who deserved death for our sins when He gave us life instead of death, forgiveness instead of judgment, mercy instead of condemnation because He does not joy in punishing us but He joys in showing His mercy. Hear the words of Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”. Our God is rich in mercy, He delights in mercy, and promises in Psalm 23:6 that His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.
January 7, 2022
John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
The Old Testament pictures Israel as a grapevine, alluded to in such passages as Jeremiah 2:21 “Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed” and in the poetry of verses like Isaiah 5:1 “Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill”. The people of that day held their grapevines in very high esteem and ascribed great value to them. The growing, harvesting, and processing of grapes were, along with the production of olives, central to their culture and they associated it all with life, longevity, and blessing. In today’s verses, the imagery shifts to Jesus as the true, truthful and unconcealed, vine with God the Father as the one who cares for and is responsible for the wellbeing of this true vine. As an illustration, the vine and its many branches are connected with the branches growing and holding the fruit and it speaks of the church with its many members or branches all attached to Jesus, the central trunk or life-giving vine of the plant. The evidence that a branch is a part of this living organism is that it bears fruit and as a part of the vine keepers plan, He purges it meaning He cleans the branch up, pruning it back to the essential point where fruit-bearing is at its optimum. This is similar to the refining spoken of in Job 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” but` where refinement speaks more of our purity and value and is an illustration of inanimate qualities, the pruning points to our ability to live with fulness in Christ and become more spiritually healthy and fruitful.
All the conforming we need to be changed into the image of the Lord as in Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” is spoken of as the shaping by the potter, the refining of precious metals, the threshing of wheat, the pruning of branches and the correction of a child. All of it is the sure but steady process by which God cleans us up, takes away what is not of His will, corrects the unbelief of our flesh, and keeps us headed in the right direction. As a rule, we dislike any and all of it because it chips away at our pride and self-will and is described in Romans 7:18-21 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me”. Our battle to do what God wants as opposed to our ingrained opposition to everything that is righteous and holy can only be won by the Holy Spirit helping us to yield to the pruning, refining, shaping, and threshing that are all purposed to create us anew and even though we balk against the means God uses, the end result is that we become vessels of honor for the Lord’s use and we gain the precious treasures of peace, contentment, and joy. Maybe we should ask God to help us see it as not just a necessary thing but welcome it as an unspeakable blessing because it brings us the blessings that nothing else can.
January 6, 2022
Numbers 13:30 “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it”
Numbers chapters 13 and 14 were a turning point for the Israelites that had been delivered from Egypt. They had arrived at the border of their promised land and Moses had sent twelve men to go into the land, check it out, and bring back a report. But ten of the spies returned and told of how strong and well-fortified the cities were, how large and fierce the inhabitants were, and the sum of their report was that the Israelites were too small and weak to defeat them and possess the land. But Caleb gave a different report, one full of faith and promise and the Lord declared in Numbers 14:24 “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” We know that from that day, all the adults that had been delivered from Egypt but refused to trust God to give them the victory over the inhabitants of the promised land, spent the next forty years wandering around in a circle in the barren wilderness until they all died out except Caleb and Joshua, the two men that believed the Lord and determined to follow Him completely. The story of Caleb stirs us to faith and his words still speak today, telling us that God is able and no matter how things appear to our eyes or human reason, we are more than conquerors and as Caleb said, “we are well able to overcome”.
The sad part of the event is that a whole generation of Israelites could have entered their promised land as God wanted and enjoyed a wonderful, prosperous, and blessed life but instead, they wandered continously in an ugly, barren, purposeless circle until they died. This is an object lesson to us today for the Lord wants to bless us, prosper us, and give us a life filled with goodness and favor. Yet many saved people live far beneath their privileges and blessings, wandering in circles of doubt, addictions, and disobedience. The Bible says Psalm 84:11 “the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”. We are called to live in faith, trusting that as a child of the King of heaven and earth, our Heavenly Father has only the best in mind for us. Caleb believed God had delivered Israel from Egypt to give them a land flowing with milk and honey for God had given them His word and it was not God’s will to abandon them to a harsh, sordid, and lifeless desert wilderness. It is true we sometimes go through trials and tests where we are in our own bit of wilderness experience but it is meant to be temporary, not our permanent residence. Caleb was in effect, telling the people that the Lord’s provisions for them were within their grasp and that if they would only trust and reach for it, they could have it. Just as that day was a defining moment, we too will have crossroads of opportunity, and may we purpose in advance to know what God promises, speak the promises with words of faith, and lay claim to what belongs to us.
January 5, 2022
Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”
When Paul wrote the book of Philippians, he had been saved almost 30 years. He had preached perhaps thousands of sermons, established churches, been beaten and tortured because of his faith, and had already written at least 8 books of the New Testament. He had met Jesus in person at the moment of his conversion 30 years before when the Lord appeared to him miraculously as recorded in 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 persecutes”. So, what does he mean when he says in today’s verse that he wants to know the Lord as if he didn’t know Him? He is expressing the desire to know the Lord as seen in the definition of the word “know” used here meaning to know in a concrete manner, and not merely from a personal perspective or experience, to absolutely know without exception and not based on personal observation or perception, but also based on actual rational truth. Not merely that which is based on or bound only by sight and experience but such knowing comes from God with the ability to completely grasp and have the comprehension of, as well as why and how, and to have the astuteness to apply it freely without error (Mickelson’s Enhanced Strong’s Dictionary). Plainly put, it’s the desire to know Jesus personally, completely, and without any misgivings or misunderstandings. To have a relationship with Him where one is connected to Him by God Himself. Then, this brings the question to mind, do many people desire to know Him this way?
Most people know about Jesus, some know the truth of His birth and ministry, others know Him as their Savior, and some acknowledge His presence in their lives daily. But people might know their children’s Tee Ball coach in a more personal manner than they do Jesus even though they claim the Lord as their Savior. The more time you spend with someone, the more you listen to them and they listen to you, the more you think about them and try to understand who they are, why they do what they do, and what they mean by what they say, the better you get to know them. This is true in any relationship and is especially true when it comes to knowing the Lord Jesus on the level Paul was talking about in today’s verse. He wants to know Jesus and know the power, the force, that raised Him from the dead. He wants to share in Christ’s sufferings, a strange request it seems but one that says if I am to know what Jesus is all about, I must desire to know every element of Him. Paul then says he wants to become like the Lord in his death. Is Jesus real to us? Is He someone we talk about every now and then but barely acknowledge His existence because He’s just a passing thought, a person that is a part of the bunch of people we talk about occasionally but who we don’t really know personally and who is certainly not an important part of our life? Do we associate Him with Bible stuff and feel a little uncomfortable when His name is brought up or someone references Him in our presence? Would we rather the conversation stay away from anything having to do with the Lord, His Word, or the things of God because it pushes our buttons in an annoying, awkward way? And finally, do we really want to know Him on a personal, real level? If so, He is not a God that is far off, but He is ready to draw close to us if we desire to be close to Him.
January 4, 2022
Revelation 2:25 “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come”
The church of Thyatira was warned about the false teachings of a woman the scripture called Jezebel who claimed to be a prophetess that seduced and led many away from the Lord into what the Bible calls “the depths of Satan” (V. 24). The details of the deception are listed in verses 20-23. We would do well to remember this was all in the religious guise of Christianity just as today the apostate church and its followers profess to be disciples of the Lord. The Bible addresses this in Titus 1:16 “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate”. It is an ancient pattern of defection from the truth as Jesus quoted Isaiah in Matthew 15:8-9 “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”. Yet the Bible says despite the ones following the false teachings, there were some who remained faithful to the Lord and they were given the admonition in today’s verse to hold on tight to what they had until the return of the Lord. The words “hold fast” appear several places in the Bible where the Lord reminds us of the dangers of drifting from the anchors of faith and the act of holding fast here doesn’t have its meanings in barely keeping a grip on something but from the Greek word kratēsate, means to seize with great strength, to carefully and faithfully continue to hold. In an age of diluted doctrine, congregations with itching ears, and hireling puppets posing as ministers, it’s little wonder few are holding fast to anything.
A part of the comfort we have in the truth is that it is an anchor of hope that endures through the ages as the Bible says Psalm 100:5 “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations”. In Old Testament times, the Temple and the walls around Jerusalem were symbols and testimonies to the nation of the steadfastness of the Lord and His Word. Ezra 9:9 “yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem”. No matter what the occasion or the season, the Jewish people took comfort in the promises of God to them, and those promises were brought to mind by the Temple with its continual presence and services, and the walls of protection which had been built in the name of the Lord. In the New Testament, God established the church to play a similar role in the life of believers as declared in 1Timothy 3:15 “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”. In these times when everything is uncertain and shifting, the walls and standards of our culture are crumbling, the foundations of our families have eroded, the bulwarks of morality are failing, and churches no longer have the prominent roles they once held for our communities, our only hope is in Christ alone. May the Lord send us revival and help us return to the roots of our faith, to the simplicity of the gospel, and the standards of the Bible. May we abandon compromise and repent as the Lord said in Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent”.
January 3, 2022
Luke 21:1-4 “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had”
These four verses describe a scene where the Lord and His disciples were in Jerusalem at the Temple as people were putting money in the collection box. The scripture says Jesus “saw” the rich men putting in money and He “saw” a certain poor widow also giving. The word saw is from the Greek word “Eido” which means to see with more than the eye, to personally know, and to understand. The Lord was not just looking at what was being given, He was understanding their hearts and motives. He says the rich were giving from a position of abundance but the poor widow was giving from a place of her poverty. The rich were giving that which was not a sacrifice for them because they had plenty left over but the poor widow was giving sacrificially. She had 2 mites which we might see as pennies for they were just small copper coins and she could have given one of them and it would have been a gift of half of everything she had and that would have certainly been a tremendous sacrifice, but she gave every cent she had. The Lord doesn’t need our money and He surely isn’t impressed with how large an amount we give but He is looking at our hearts and our motives and our gifts are recognized by Him on those merits. It is telling that the woman is a poor widow and in the previous chapter 20, Jesus blasted the scribes who held such a position of honor in the Jewish religion it was believed that to give them money was as if one was giving it to God. The scribes, who were not permitted to take wages but could receive offerings, flattered and manipulated widows and the poor out of their assets and property. This sure sounds like the religious skullduggery practiced by apostate churches and false prophets today who rob the gullible with twisted words and feigned intentions, the real reason being blatant greed and covetousness.
A good point of reference for us might be, to begin with verses such as Psalm 41:1 “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble” and ask ourselves how many more jumbotron-like screens , high-tech lights, and other junk gadgets do churches need, siphoning off the Lord’s offerings and funds to continually expand their theatrical presence while they have little or no outreach outside the church walls. They put on a carnal show which usually is, by today’s standards, a pitiful display in itself and a laughing stock of mismatched messes of terrible audio, sloppy video, and off-key singers all videoed, recorded, and streamed live, paid for by tithes and offerings and served up to a lost world as “the gospel”. The flip side is that the Lord honors the hearts of those who give when they do it with an honest heart and an as-unto-God motive. The value of a gift is not measured in how much it’s worth in dollars, but in what it costs and meant to the giver. Even the tithe, 10% by most standards, might still be an offering out of abundance and only the Holy Spirit can teach us the point where giving, whether it be our resources or anything else within our ability to give, becomes an act like the poor widow in today’s verses. God promises us a return on what we give but giving shouldn’t be seen as the Lord’s stock-market investment system even though that’s what it’s become for much of the teaching and begging we’ve seen in the name of Christian “generosity”. I do believe we’re about burned out with that garbage and those hawking it. But it’s comforting to know when we dig deep, even to the last 2 cents like the poor widow, the Lord sees it and He doesn’t forget.
January 2, 2022
Hebrews 13:16 “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased”
We know we are to be kind to the world around us but this chapter is especially referring to our family in Christ and begins in verse 1 with “Let brotherly love continue”. The form of love here is from the Greek word “Philadelphia”, and is described in 1Peter 3:8 “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing”. There is a difference between being a good person and actively doing good. Someone who minds their own business, doesn’t hurt other people, guards their words against vile speech, and who lives a life with high morals can be seen by others as a good person. But the verse here doesn’t have this definition in view but is referring to putting mercy, kindness, generosity, and charity into action and the Greek word for “good” here, eupoiia, is in reference to beneficence, the act of promoting the good or well-being of others. The verse continues, telling us to not forget to communicate, a word that for us has a very different meaning today which we identify with phones, text messages, emails, and social media posts. We might think we’re sure following God’s Word in this but the root of the word is from the Greek koinonia and means to contribute or share one’s possessions with others as an act of partnership. We can say from today’s verse that the Lord is well pleased when we put goodness into action while sharing what we have received from the Lord, seeing ourselves as a member of His church.
The doing good part should be a given for us because we are called and led by the Holy Spirit to be the hands and feet of Christ as the scripture says in a general sense in Matt 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me”. We overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21), we do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10), and we even bless them that curse us (Luke 6:38). It’s when we get to the sharing of what we possess that we tread on uncertain ground and need the Holy Spirit’s direction. We’ve become wary anytime we hear people associated with religious things start with the line” join me as a prayer partner” because we know many of them aren’t going to give us a list of things to pray about, they’re just opening the door for their real purpose and that’s to ask for whatever money you will send them. Wherever there’s cash money to be had, there are shysters vying for it be it in a gambling establishment or from a proclaimed ministry. But as we start a new year, may we not be hardened by all the abuse and deception we’ve seen in the name of Christianity until we hold back what we should be sharing in the Lord’s name. May we resolve to be more generous with what the Lord has given us and earnestly pray for the Holy Spirit’s direction as to where we can give willingly and in agreement with God’s will.
January 1, 2022
Revelation 21:5 “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new”
The Bible closes with the last chapters describing the end of all history and time as relating to all we know concerning this earth. Consider the promise of 2Peter 3:10 “in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up”. From our perspective, that’s all we can understand with its natural laws, seasons, man-made structures and provisions, cycles of life and death, sorrows and pain, suffering, and so on. Believers have some Biblical views of the return of Jesus, the establishment of a millennium, the hope of seeing our loved ones again, the defeat of the antichrist, and the end of the curse. But Revelation chapters 21 and 22 declare there’s coming a new heaven and a new earth and in today’s verse, God is emphatically declaring, with the verb I make in the present tense, “I am making all things new”. The word “new” here is from the Greek word kainos which means brand new and distinctly better and refutes the views God will refurbish and recycle what’s here and has ties to such promises as Isaiah 65:17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” and 2Peter 3:13 “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”. Some people argue this is a contradiction of verses such as Ecclesiastes 1:4 “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever” but the view in such places is the relationship between the cycles of humanity compared to the earth upon which they live for the earth holds the history of generation after generation of people.
If we could take the world we have and remove everything harmful, mean, evil, and painful and then make it a place where we could live together in peace and happiness, then what we would have is heaven right here. The majesty of God’s creation testifies to His greatness and anyone that has ever stopped long enough to breathe in the beauty of the natural world, is struck by its greatness. From our view, the ancientness of the rocks and land formations, the rivers that have carved their channels on their way to the ocean, and the cycles of nature as described in Ecclesiastes 1:7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. But what is promised is a world where the laws of nature as we know them, such as entropy, do not exist. The word for “heaven” as in Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” is from the Greek “Ouranos” and means the sky above the earth, not the heaven where God lives. The descriptions that follow picture a place so breathtakingly beautiful words can’t picture it and the city, the New Jerusalem, is so vast it can hold all the redeemed of all the ages with plenty of room remaining. The scientist Henry Morris once gave a guess when figuring the cubic area of the city as described in Revelation 21:16, estimating there will have been 100 billion people that existed on the earth and if twenty percent are saved, each person would have about 75 acres in the city itself not counting the rest of the new earth. On this first day of a New Year, may we purpose to enjoy what God has provided for us here but look forward to the new heavens and new earth He has promised to us as our eternal home.