Devotion John 7:19-24 Fulfilling The Law And The Prophets
John 7:19-24 – “Did Moses not give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why are you seeking to kill Me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all are astonished. 22 For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and even on a Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 If a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry at Me because I made an entire man well on a Sabbath? 24 Do not judge by the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
“Did Moses not give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why are you seeking to kill Me?” Moses is venerated by the Jews. He gave them The Law by which they know how to follow the Lord and the prophecy to recognize Him. The problem is that they do not strictly follow The Law, they don’t even try to. What they follow is The Law plus what their respected men of old have added to it. They equate to The Law their opinions of how to keep it. Yet in their own scriptures from God in Deuteronomy 4:2 it states not to do what they have done “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.” Additionally we are warned in Revelation 22:18-19 that we are not only not to add anything to scripture but also not to take anything from it. With this verse comes the strictest of warnings against doing so “God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City.” So in both the Old Testament and the New Testament we are not to add or take away from scripture. As if men have the ability or license to edit God. What a travesty! Perish the thought, and yet, this is what the Jews have done. They claim Moses as their high hero yet they don’t heed what he said.
If the Jews had taught what they thought was best but had not made it equal to The Law, then that would have been okay. After all our teachers and preachers give to us advice from their understanding. It is believable that their attempts to add understanding of The Law were sincere and admirable. But to equate their teaching to the Word itself, what hubris is that!
“The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill You?” We could take this statement by the crowd as accusing Jesus of having a demon but actually they were saying something more like “Are you out of your crazy mind?” Likely not all, or maybe even only a few, knew that the Jewish authorities were indeed out to kill Jesus.
“Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all are astonished. 22 For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and even on a Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 If a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry at Me because I made an entire man well on a Sabbath?” The fourth commandment (of the ten) is to keep the Sabbath day. The Lord God gave mankind six days to accomplish their work in a week and the seventh day is to be a day of rest in which the Lord is honored and gratefulness to Him is expressed. It is day of tilling the abundant and rich blessings we have received from God to bring a harvest of love and gratefulness to Him. And yet this is not an inflexible commandment. The command to do no work can be broken if necessary to keep the law concerning circumcision. Circumcision is reflective of having the world cut away from us to live unto the Lord. We are to reject the ways of the world and cling to the new life in Christ as led by the Spirit. So keeping the rite of circumcision trumps doing no work on the Sabbath. Jesus said to them that if doing a ritual to separate oneself unto God trumps not working on the Sabbath, then certainly the completion of the cleansing of man also trumps it. Jesus was saying that His act of love and salvation trumps any work of The Law. Still, we remember that Jesus did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17) And that is what He was doing. Jesus taught us that the greatest commandments were that of love and in rejecting Jesus for loving they show that they not only didn’t have Jesus, but they also didn’t have the Father. (1 John 2:23)
“Do not judge by the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” We see that God does not judge by appearance and neither should be. 1 Samuel 16:7 states that while people look at outside appearance, the Lord God looks at the heart.” Isaiah 11:1-3 states that the shoot they were waiting for one bears fruits of righteousness, the Spirit of the Lord would be with Him. He would have the wisdom and understanding of God, He would be able to give counsel and would have the might to do the works He was called to. He would have knowledge from the Holy Spirit and He would respect His God. Not only would He respect the Lord God, but that He would delight in doing do. Family and Friends, read Isaiah 11 and see that it describes Jesus. There was, and is, no excuse not to know that Jesus is indeed the promised Savior, first to the Jew and then to the Gentiles. (Romans 1:16)
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion John 7:14-18 The Most Important Teacher
John 7:14-18 – But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple area, and began to teach. 15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, not having been educated?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not My own, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God, or I am speaking from Myself. 18 The one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
“But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple area, and began to teach.” As we have already seen His brothers were urging, or perhaps taunting Jesus to go to the festivities of the Festival of the Booths. They were saying that if He wanted to be known to the world then He ought to go where everybody (a gathering of the Jews) would be. But Jesus was not the master of His life, it was the Father. Jesus submitted His life to the Father’s control. He did not go where He was eventually to go until the Father said for Him to go. If Jesus had to wait days for the Father to tell Him the right time, or minutes. He wasn’t going to go regardless of who might urge Him to do otherwise. Oh how wonderful to be so attuned the leading hand of the Lord. After His brothers had left for the festivities, the Father soon afterward led Jesus to likewise go.
His brothers insinuated that Jesus had been shying away from the crowd. We see in this verse that He had no such motivation. When He got to the feast He went up in the temple area and began to preach. Now was the time teach, at the Father’s leading, not at His brothers taunting. Just as we are called to listen for the Lord’s leading and obey it, rather than the will of other people. We should be so attuned to the Spirit that we know what it is to be led by Him.
“The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, not having been educated? 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not My own, but His who sent Me.” It is good to learn at feet of good teachers and preachers. The Lord God has ordained these positions. We must hear what they teach us. Yet, first and foremost, is to receive the Word from God, from the Spirit. Let men be used of God, but practice sitting at the feet of God and hearing Him instruct in very personal ways.
I’ve told this story to people and listened to their responses which tell a lot about those they have been taught by. Once there was a young man who had always desired to work on a ship that sailed the seas. He loved the oceans and he wanted to see the world. Finally he was hired on to a cruise ship as a person who cleaned the floors of the ship. On his first day he worked hard all day on a hot day. In the evening when his shift had ended, when the moon was high in the sky, he came out onto the deck and leaned on the rail as he admired the vast ocean, the moons reflection upon it, and the moon so serenely in the sky. Soon a man who was older than the young man came upon the young man and aske the young man if he would mind some company. The young man said He would welcome the company. Soon the conversation turned to the Gospel. Afterward the young man asked, in utter humility, Jesus to be His Savior and Master. The young man went to bed elated as he was savoring His new life with Jesus.
After sleeping for a while, the young man was startled out of his sleep by a violent shaking of the ship. The ship had struck something and was taking on water fast. The young man rushed to assist the crew in getting all on board safely onto evacuation boats. Finally, just as the ship was about to go down the young man put on a life vest and jumped into the water. He noticed that the voices of the rest of the people from the ship seemed to grow more faint. The exhausted young man fell asleep. He woke up to find himself on the sands of a small island. He searched the island but found no other survivors. He kept watch to see if any would soon also wash up on the sands. None did. Soon he searched the island and found a small freshwater stream and a small amount of food to keep one, or a maybe a few people alive.
No one else ever came to the island. No rescue craft ever came close to where he was stranded. This young man truly had fallen in love with the Lord on that fateful day. Every morning he woke talking to the Lord and He talked to the Lord every day. He didn’t care if some might think Him crazy, but He had conversations with Jesus every day, all day. He increasing became to know Jesus in a very personal way. The young man was never rescued from the island but became and old man and his life on earth transpired and he went to be with Jesus forever.
One thing is, that He did not have a Bible. He only knew scant verses that the older man had told him when the Gospel was related to him. So the question is, did that man go to Heaven?
If one says no because He didn’t have the Bible to study, one can see the control of doctrine in one’s life. If one says yes, it relates an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus. We can be told about someone, and we can read trust facts about someone, but we don’t know that one unless we personally know Him.
The Jewish authorities wondered how Jesus, who had not been to any of their seminaries could know the meaning of scripture so well. It is clear that Jesus knew the scripture because He knew God. For those who depend on man’s instruction, and who rely upon it, that is hard to accept. But those who know revelation that comes from God, it is easy to understand.
“If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God, or I am speaking from Myself. 18 The one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” Saints who are taught of the Holy Spirit, and led by Him, will know depths of the Word and humbly admit the understanding of scripture comes not from the intellect of man, but of the gracious gifting of God.
Family and friends we must know and cling to the meaning of Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” Lean on Jesus, He is always with you. Trust Him and not yourself, He loves you even more than you love yourself! Please the Father by honoring Jesus and the love of God will rest upon you. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion John 7:10-13 Follow The Path
John 7:10-13 – But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as though in secret. 11 So the Jews were looking for Him at the feast and saying, “Where is He?” 12 And there was a great deal of talk about Him in secret among the crowds: some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He is misleading the people.” 13 However, no one was speaking openly about Him, for fear of the Jews.
“But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as though in secret.” In V6 Jesus had told them that it was not yet His time to go to the Feast of Booths. Jesus was always awaiting guidance from The Father. It is how He lived His life. It involves complete faith built upon sure knowledge of Him. If one lives their life waiting on God to lead and then obeying, this is this is not a difficult thing to do. (Habakkuk 2:1-3, Psalm 62:5, Ezekiel 13:25) It is merely walking on a familiar path. People whose life does not include living every day by the guidance of God, like the brothers of Jesus, do not understand what Jesus was saying. And Jesus knew that they would not. Let us not only know the words, but also have within our hearts and minds the words of David in Psalm 62:5-6 “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” This came from David because He knew God, and one who knows God follows and trusts Him This comes from not only reading about our Lord in His Word, but from walking in intimate communion with Him every day.
“So the Jews were looking for Him at the feast and saying, “Where is He?” The Jewish authorities wanted to find Him, to arrest Him, and to kill Him. Their intentions were evil and Jesus was well aware of their “secret” plans. In pride they loved the authority and the power they had more then they loved God or the people they were supposed to guide toward God. In fact the power they wielded was more important than their own very lives. These men were intelligent men who, unfortunately, were hard hearted men who could have understood if they had wanted to, but they refused to understand. (John 3:19-20) These were men who blocked people from the light. (Matthew 23:13) Their plight, if unchanged, is an eternal horror.
“And there was a great deal of talk about Him in secret among the crowds: some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He is misleading the people.” The crowds knew about Jesus. They had seen, or at least heard about what He taught and the miraculous signs He had done. These, the common people, were divided in what to believe about Him. This was exactly as Jesus said it would be. (Luke 12:51-53) We should not be surprised that a separation can come between us and those who do not believe, that is as Jesus said would happen.
“However, no one was speaking openly about Him, for fear of the Jews.” The Jewish authorities not only did not believe in Jesus, they also did not want anyone else to. They did not want anyone to speak of Jesus lest His fame and popularity continue to grow. So the common Jew was very careful in talking about Jesus, and if they did, they spoke in hushed tones so as not to draw the ire of the authorities.
It is those who were in power who loved their position and power who strived to create an atmosphere of worshipping God and sharing Him, if we must, only after heeding what they say. Even today they want us to be obedient to the Lord, as long it is not in disagreement with what they dictate. They want Jesus’s church to bow to them…first. They want the abomination of desolation to occur now as they force people to allow them to put an idol of them in our churches. They would “allow” us to worship God is we bow and kiss their image. These are the signs of the times. Jesus spoke directly to us who are alive now in Revelation 2:7 “The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” The one “who overcomes” is the one who lives his or her life for Jesus, till the very end, always obeying and following in faith. That person will live forever in the Paradise of God prepared for us. Family and friends, we live in evil times, but we must not fear. God is in control. Let us daily seek our path from God and let us never vary from it. He will keep us. Praise the Lord! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion Psalm 51 The Special One
Psalm 51 – Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; According to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my guilt And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my wrongdoings, And my sin is constantly before me.
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in guilt,
And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in secret You will make wisdom known to me. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; Cleanse me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness, Let the bones You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins And wipe out all my guilty deeds. 10 Create in me a clean heart, God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach wrongdoers Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. 14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. 15 Lord, open my lips, So that my mouth may declare Your praise. 16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, God, You will not despise. 18 By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then bulls will be offered on Your altar.
Oh my Lord God, how tender and yet almighty are You. How can I be so special as to be adored by You? The answer is a treasure to know. It is not me who is special, You are the Special One. That is how Your love for me is explained. Dear God, how grand is this life with You that is a gift from You. Every day I walk on hallowed ground because You walk before me. Dear, lovely God, I love who You are!
Oh Lord my God, You are infinitely gracious to me. Your graciousness is what my life nurses upon. Your kindness is the salve that heals my wounded soul. Oh Lord, oh Lord, my cry is eternally unto you. Even my failings are turned to beauty as Your mercy washes over me. I wake to the beauty of You, sad at my weaknesses. Oh to worship You as You deserve. Yet, I am weak. I see how You replace my ugliness with Your beauty. Infinite manifestations of grace upon one so undeserving as me. Your grace reveals my treachery to You and at the same time my wretched burning heart is being reshaped, remade, to enjoy Your peace. To realize what being one with You truly means is too great an honor. Oh Lord my God, You are infinitely gracious to me. Oh Lord!
Oh my Lord God, Oh my Lord my God how lovely is the countenance of Your face. How blessed is the one who sees approval in Your eyes. Oh the joy of Your smile directed upon ones such as us. The thrill and anointing of You our Beautiful One, how overwhelming Your shining eyes, and Your smile of love, and Your approval is pure titillation. You with us, us in Your presence is the nectar of life. The tree of life is You. You are the water of eternal life. Your works for us are our food. You are our food. There is none like You Oh lovely God. None like You. May I be an ever burning sacrifice unto You! May the fire of You consume me that You are glorified and the consumption of me make me whole.
Oh Lord my God. Oh Lord my God. Oh Lord my God. You are everything to me. Oh Lord my God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion 2 Corinthians 12:10 Not What It Seems
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Buffeted from forces I cannot see,
Nothing of myself able to fight back.
Reeling I stand, looking likely to die,
Surely I will come apart and next for me is doom.
Knowing that I have no power to save myself,
Yet I know that victory is even now pulsing within.
I am glad that I am nothing, that I am weak,
In a state of brokenness, victory wells up within.
Yes, being broken by the enemy,
Victory from God is all over me,
His sweet scent heals me!
When the enemy beats me,
God heals me!
As I break,
God builds me up!
As I am emptied,
God fills me to overflowing!
When I am thoroughly defeated
God makes me invincible!
As the enemy thinks victory over me is complete,
What is unbeatable within me God raises!
When I am dead and the world has buried me,
God resurrects me!
I simply cannot lose, I can never die,
Eternal victory is forever mine,
Through my Lord and Savior Jesus!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion John 7:6-10 Joy From Faith
John 7:6-10 – So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always ready. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify about it, that its deeds are evil. 8 Go up to the feast yourselves; I am not going up to this feast, because My time has not yet fully arrived.” 9 Now having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee. 10 But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as though in secret.”
Some wonder if Jesus was not being honest, if He had lied to his brothers about going. First of all Jesus was sinless and if He had lied it would have been a sin. If Jesus lied then He would not have been without blemish as He had to be to be our Savior. (Hebrews 9:14, 1 Peter 1: 18-19, Deuteronomy 17:1, Song of Solomon 4:7) Jesus was one hundred percent man and one hundred percent God and we know that God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:18) so Jesus not only would not, but could not lie.
So, as we see in the following verses, how is it that He did not lie? Looking at two key parts of what He said brings understanding. Jesus twice said that His time had not come. Once in V6 “not yet here” and in V8 when He said that His time had not “yet fully arrived.” He never said that He would not go, He was saying that it was not yet the Father’s time for Jesus to go. He did not say anything about whether His time would be later that day, the next day, or several days later. Jesus was obedient to God’s exact timing. Jesus could wait for the Father to send Him. He was accustomed to living by faith. We should be too. (Hebrews 10:38)
Those not walking with God in faith are not used to waiting for the right timing of God to do something. They never do that and so they know nothing of it. Faith is not knowing the future and not needing to because the Believer knows and trusts God in all things, small or big. The mature Believer knows to wait on the Lord in all things, until He prompts us to act. So to the brothers of Jesus, who did not believe, “but your time is always ready.” Since they know nothing about being guided by God, but act as they think best (not seeking God’s direction). Then any time is a good time to go. But not so for Jesus. Jesus seeks to be one hundred percent in obedience to the will and timing of the Father. He will wait for the Father’s direction to go.
Until one learns to walk in faith with the Lord one will not know the peace of God. Until we learn to seek and know God, we will not have faith in God. We grow in faith as we read His Word and as we seek the Holy Spirit to make the Word alive to us. The Word is supernatural and from God. Since the Spirit is the Author of the Word, it is best to have the Author explain the words to us. So we learn to seek understanding from the Spirit to reveal the Word. Paul wrote in Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” As the Word takes root in us and changes our being (2 Corinthians 5:17) we seek out close fellowship with God. As we commune with God we increasingly know Him. When we know Him we know that we can believe and have faith in Him. Knowing Jesus personally is what makes all the difference. Knowing how greatly He loves us thrills us and encourages us to stay always close to Him who is always close to us. Trust God, walk in faith and obedience and we too shall have understanding of His words and ways. (John 15:15) Jesus loves us, we need to come to Him not only once, but every day and every moment of our lives. We who do it know the joy. Oh the joy! I pray that all of you would know such surpassing joy. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion John 7:3-5 Simple? Yes. Easy? No.
John 7:3-5 – So His brothers said to Him, “Move on from here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret when he himself is striving to be known publicly. If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For not even His brothers believed in Him.
“So His brothers said to Him, “Move on from here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret when he himself is striving to be known publicly. If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For not even His brothers believed in Him.” Two of the lessons that we can use from these verses are the following. The first is that we can learn from John 15:18-25 where Jesus tells us to not be surprised when the world hates us as followers of Him. Even people from our own family will mock us, not like us, or even hate us because of our close walk with Jesus. However let us not think that we do well if we don’t cling tightly to scripture but instead deny His Word to please those of the world. We see this all around us. It would be awful to think oneself wise by denying the Word and then hearing, when face to face with Jesus, His words in Matthew 7:23 (21-23) “I never knew you.” Let us not be those who cling to modern thought of mankind when it contradicts the Lord.
Even today those who say they love us will turn against us, that includes family, friends and supposed fellow saints. Let us not be surprised at those who not only disagree with us about sound doctrine from scripture, but those who will hate us. Jesus’ brothers and his neighbors rejected His words and His identity. Those who say they love us will do the same to us.
Jesus continued to love those who doubted Him, He also died for them. Even His mother questioned His sanity and came with His brothers to do an intervention on Jesus because they had heard He was “out of His mind.” (Mark 3:21) Only after His resurrection did two of His brothers (James and Jude) come to faith in Him and even write books in the New Testament. We have much evidence in scripture that, although concerned for a moment, Mary believed in Jesus as the Messiah during His life, even before His resurrection. In fact, she may have come with the brothers not with any doubt, but of a mother’s concern.
Jesus taught us in John 15 that people will not like us, even hate us, because we believe and follow what He said, treasuring Him and His word rather than what the world comes to believe. We follow Jesus and His words above and beyond the trends of the world. Should what the world says conflict with the Word of God, we believe the Word of God. As we see, even now science more and more begins to align with His Word.
Jesus did not give up on those who mocked Him and didn’t believe right away. He persisted in giving them His love and grace. In the end many more believed and followed. How much more so should we love and persist with grace even with those who seem violently against the faith. Many of us once resisted the Lord, but praise the Lord who was patient with us and so we are saved. Jesus said in Matthew 5:44-45a “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” Whether easy of hard be like Jesus, it is the will of the Father. Give glory to God by being obedient to Him. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion Isaiah 41:10 Fear Is A Decision And A Revelation
Isaiah 41:10 – So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Genesis 15:1 – After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.
The first thing I would like to ask is if anyone truly thinks the Lord has failed if we fear? Does anyone say “The Lord is not taking the fear away?” So if fear remains is it the Lord’s fault? I hope that you really don’t think that, it sounds more like frustration.
Let’s look at where fear comes from. It comes from the enemy or from within us. But let’s now frame the battle of fear as having three parts, the enemy, us, and the Lord. We know the enemy is evil and that he is a malevolent being who hates us and wants to destroy us. (1 Peter 5:8, John 10:10) He wants to separate us from God, just as He did with Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3: He tells us lies undermining the Lord’s honor, integrity, and the very truth of who God is. He wants us to not believe God. If we don’t believe and trust His Word or are lacking in the content and understanding of it, and if we do not aggressively protect our time of fellowshipping with Him, then we are easy victims for Him to prey upon. We are weak in the faith if we are weak in fellowship with Him and having Him open His Word for us. We become the weak member of the herd that the lion preys upon.
Let’s now consider what we know of the Lord. He is faithful and will protect us from the schemes (including fear) of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11) We know that the devil is a liar (John 8:44) and we know that God has never lied and does not and cannot lie. (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:18, Matthew 24:35, 2 Samuel 7:28, Psalm 119:160, James 1:13, John 14:6, Titus 1:2) As we consider the question about fear, the integrity of the Lord’s words are central and must be established. If it is possible for the Lord to lie, or even worse if He is an inveterate liar, then why would anyone follow Him? If the Lord were guilty of one lie than that would mean that everything He said is suspect. That means if we cannot trust everything that He says we could not trust anything that He says. So that would mean we could not trust His Word in which we know that Jesus is Savior and Lord. If God is not always true, than we have no sure foundation for our faith. So, for all believers, we must believe that God is always faithful and true or we are not believers at all. But we know that there is no deceit in God and that He is always and entirely trustworthy. He does not lie. He keeps His word. In that we are eternally safe and in that we do trust. Trusting God, believing Him, having faith in Him is vital to our salvation through Jesus. We trust that there is no deceit in Him (1 Peter 2:22) and so we have faith. (Ephesians 2:8) We know that God is true and cannot be unfaithful to us even if we are unfaithful to Him. (2 Timothy 2:13) We also know that God loves us and nothing can separate us from His love. (Romans 8:37-39)
Plain is it that the Lord does not want us to fear, but to be brave, because He is with us. Not because we think that we ourselves have any strength, but because our Omnipotent God is always with us. Because of Him with us He has commanded that we do not fear. Again, trusting His Word to us, He is always with us. Since He is with us and caring for us, why should we fear? We need only remember that He who loves us (John 3:16) is always with us. The hyena is not fearful of the lion cub, but is fearful of the cub’s mother who is always near.
We have established that the enemy is the one who hates us and would like to cause us to fear. We know that the Lord loves us, that He always tells the truth, and we know that He works all things out for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) The enemy against us, the Lord for us. Should we fear? Absolutely not, He is with us!
So the third person in this fight of the ages is us. So who is responsible for us to live in fear of anything? We could say it is the enemy who pursues us to destroy us. Yet, he can’t make us do anything. (1 Peter 5:9) The devil cannot make us do anything, he can only tempt us. Besides, we have the Spirit of the Living God within us and He is greater than the devil. (1 John 4:4) We know that God will not tempt us and that the devil cannot make us do anything. Since God has given us free will to choose, what do we sometimes choose, or slip into, concerning fear. Sometimes the devil will get us to concentrate on him, on what he says, instead of what the God says. Sometimes he can deceive us to believe him rather than God. Too often we can ponder and believe his lies rather than God’s truth. Let us not be silly. Knowing God we must immediately and completely reject the lies of our enemy and always embrace the truth of God. Who is the truth but our Savior and Lord? He identified Himself as the one true Truth. If two people are talking to us and one hates us and would like to kill us and the other loves us and has done everything needed to express His love to us, who will we listen to? One is dedicated to hurting us and deceiving us into eternal foolishness and the other will only love us and do everything in our behalf. Really we say that decision of who to pay attention to and who to believe is obvious. It is not even a contest. Then why, oh why, can we sometimes doubt God. Even worse, we accuse Him! Oh my goodness, what a horror it is to accuse God, to say it is not our fault but yours! Instead, believe Him.
Family and Friends the main reason we live in fear is either a lack of knowledge of God and His Word or because of a weakness in faith and lack of cured cemented faith in the Lord. Either we don’t know who He is (lack of understanding of the Word and lack of personal intimate communion with Him) or don’t fully understand what He is. The more time we spend with someone that loves us the more we know them and the more confident we become in them. We believe them and trust them and take their advice. How much more so should heed the Words of God and believe Him. So the person who allows and brings fear into our lives is us. We are the guilty ones. Let us not accuse God of not doing His part. He is faithful and will never leave us unable to not fear. If you will, even the devil who hates us is faithful to do his part of hating us and trying to hurt us. It is us who will be unfaithful. So to not fear we must know God and His Word. We must know Him and understand it. Even more than we know our own names we must know and trust God. This is done by sitting daily at the feet of our Teacher the Holy Spirit as He teaches us the meaning of the Word. And it is done by living within breath distance of our loving and almighty God. Stay close to God and fear will be overcome. Not that we can’t be tempted to fear, but that the temptation will not overcome us. With faith in Jesus the filth of fear is continually washed away. It cannot stain us. Believe God. Stay ever close to Him and thereby don’t live in fear. (Deuteronomy 1:29-30, 3:22, 31:6, Joshua 1:9, 1 Chronicles 28:20, 2 Chronicles 20:15, Psalm 56:3-4, Psalm 91:5) Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion John 7:2 Let The Truly Good Times Roll
John 7:2 – Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.
Does that mean that none of The Law or the prescribed Old Testament holidays apply to us? No, not at all. Jesus said that He did not come to abolish The Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17) He has given to us the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us. The Holy Spirit reminds us, teaches us and guides us of Jesus and the written word. We should not need to be made to follow righteousness, but our actions should be the result of the God within us flowing out of us. How can setting aside of times for family enjoyment and communion, and to remember how good God is to us, be anything but cherished times together? Us with God and all enjoying each other. Lovely, so lovely!
So keep the Festival of Booths, not physically, but in our hearts and with humble spirits. Set aside family time to remember, to honor and to worship God. These feast are not useless to us, but our examples of good practice. However do not keep these festivals at certain times and in prescribed manners, but keep them as they continuously flow from our hearts. As the Holy Spirit continually reminds us to be thankful and humble before God. As He reminds us to spread the Gospel to our children, grandchildren, friends and to the world. We should live humbly and simply before our God as we live in gratitude not only for what He is doing for us, but for what He has done for us. Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. This verse should live in our hearts and as it does freedom, peace and joy will be with us all the days of our lives as we dwell with God in His home of love and peace. (Psalm 23:6)
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Feast-of-Tabernacles.html
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet
Devotion John 7:1 The Plan Remains
John 7:1 – After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.
“After these things.” After the healing of a man in Bethesda on the Sabbath who had been suffering for thirty-eight years (almost the life-span for a man in those times) and they persecuted Him for that. After saying that He was equal with God they wanted to kill Him. After He tried to teach them eternal life and how to have it. After producing the miracle of feeding five thousand from two small fish and five barley loaves (a boy’s meal). After the disciples saw Jesus walking on storm waters. After He empowered Peter to walk on those same waters. After He taught those who followed Him that they must consume who He is and what He has done in order to receive eternal life. After many who heard His teaching stopped following. After Peter confessed the identity of who Jesus was and gave the great statement that there was no-one else to go to because Jesus had the words of eternal life. After all those things John continues on. Wow, so much to try to understand and then to continue on. It’s as if John is saying “But wait, there’s more!” (Chapters 5 & 6)
Jesus was walking in Galilee. The meaning is that Jesus kept walking in Galilee. While Jesus forced no-one to walk with Him, He did stay around so that they could come to Him if they had a change of heart. Today, Jesus still stays around and walks near the unbeliever to give them every opportunity to have a change of heart and come to serve Him. (Of course, He is always with the believer. John 14:18, Romans 8:38-39, Matthew 28:20b) I thank Him for repeatedly offering to me, but never forcing upon me His salvation. I praise Him that He is still walking around my family and friends who don’t know Him. He is good all the time and He loves us.
“He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.” Jesus did not avoid the Jews who were trying to kill because He was afraid of them. God has encouraged His servants to not be afraid. (Joshua 1:9, 2 Timothy 1:7, Deuteronomy 31:8) Fear is a lack of faith and trust in God. (Possibly ignorance of who God is and what He has said.) It is worry that God will bring us to something that we cannot successfully go through. Or that what we will go through will hurt us beyond what we can endure, whether physically or that will bring consequences too great for us. That is a lack of knowledge of God Himself or His Word, or a non-belief in Him or His Word. Since God has declared He will always be with us and that nothing can separate from His love and goodness, why should we fear? Jesus did not fear, He loved and trusted the Father because He knew and loved the Father who loved Him. Jesus did not fear (not talking about dread that came up from what He knew He was about to go through.) Fear does not come from faith and the Word states in Romans 14:23 that whatever is not of faith is sin. Heed not those who say that fearing is not sin. To face fear with faith is not sin. To live in continuously fear without faith is sin. Jesus was sinless, He did not fear.
Since it was not fear why Jesus avoided the Jews then what was it? It was from His absolute obedience to the will of the Father. (John 6:38) As He told His mother, and also others, He had a timetable from the Father that He was following. (John 2:4, 7:30, 12:27, Mark 14:35) He would not do anything that would jeopardize the will of the Father. He followed what we also are to do in Proverbs 3:5-6. This is not to only to keep the timetable but also to keep the scope of what Jesus was to do. Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and not to, at this time, overthrow the empires of the world (Revelation 17:14, 19:11-21). That will happen at His Second Coming. A building contractor may have two phases of work. The second one that is supported by the first cannot be done till the first is completed. More than any construction phases, God has a plan and it must be adhered to. The time He came to save spiritually. Next time He will save physically and defeat the devil and his armies. The Lord God is now reversing the events of history to make the time ready to fulfill the rest of Isaiah 61:1-2 at the return of Jesus. But His First Coming was not time for the events of His Second Coming. We know of His first coming, but about the second coming, He would say to us what He said to them, it is not yet the hour for that, though soon. God has His plan and it will happen just as He has said. Because He is who He is and everything He has said will happen just as He planned, what do we fear? We believe and trust in the True and Living God. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
by Bob withWarning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /homepages/4/d182552187/htdocs/b4g/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399
no comments yet