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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Devotion 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Cannot Depend On Me
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast [c]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Although I do say it sometimes, for those who may not have the same frame of thought, and sometimes out of habit, I do say “God bless you.” But often I hesitate to say God bless you, especially to mature Christians because they already know that God blesses them. This doesn’t negate praying for specific needs, but at times in the past I have said God bless you and saints will say “I know He does.” And we do know that. Besides, God does not need me to ask Him to do what we know He already continuously does. I expect God to bless you because His Word says He does and that is all I need. Also because I intimately know Him and who He is and I know how greatly He blesses me and cares for me, and since I am no more special to Him than anyone else, He obviously is blessing those who also love and serve Him. And not to our surprise the people of the world. (Matthew 5:45) It is who He is.
My email “sign off” says not “God bless you,” but “May we perpetually walk in the awareness of His presence with us.” The question is not if God blesses but rather are aware of and do we understand and take advantage of the ever present blessings that He pours onto us.
So concerning our weaknesses, we know that we have them. We all should know that we have weaknesses and we should work on them. However, we erroneously think that we should work on them by ourselves. Nothing is farther from the truth. In everything, whether big or small, we need to run to God to ask for Him to give us the victory. Let’s look at salvation, Jesus had to come because we were utterly unable to save ourselves. He had to make the way and then show us the way. (Romans 8:12-14) I know that I have no strength and am prone to sin but by the strength and blessings of God, as I humble myself and realize that my strength is of no value, as I instead rely solely on God, then my challenges become victories and I live in peace. I am nothing and to know that is a very good place to be. However I am a child of God and so, because of Jesus, I am something, and that is the best place to be. Praise God Almighty who is our strength! 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.
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Devotion Psalm 51:10-12 A Glorious Campfire
Psalm 67:11 “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
To be in His presence is to learn. Our precious Jesus always taught. Even from the cross He taught to those who stood looking at His suffering. Moments before He gave up His Spirit He taught that they may know what was happening. (Matthew 27:45,59)) The more we spend time with Him and worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:24), the more time we travel through His Word with the Holy Spirit guiding us, the more we learn. It is impossible to dwell with God and not learn. How can we not learn as we spend time with Him who knows everything? The more we spend time with Him the more we know Him. The more we know Him the more we trust and have faith in Him. The more we have trust and faith in Him the more we have His peace and joy flow through us and the more we live in eternal pleasure with Him. Eternal pleasure with Him. By and because of Him. Oh shout out the great joy and pleasure of our Lord!
1 John 3:19-24 “This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”
If we love our Savior and Lord Jesus, if we truly love Him, we do not fear. (2 Timothy 1:7) What if we die? To those who know and trust Him, to live here pales next to living fully in His presence. Yes, He is always with us but let’s not be silly, when we pass from here to there we then have in full what we now have in part. (1 Corinthians 13:9) If that is not so why has it been revealed that the Holy Spirit, who seals our souls to God, is a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:14, 2 Corinthians 1:22) As glorious as it is to now walk with God “we ain’t seen nothing yet.” Yet let us strive to know and see more and more as we dwell with Him. Who knows if the Lord will allow us to see unutterable realities and truth of God as the Apostle Paul did? (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) Now wouldn’t that be awesome? And why not?
Acts 2:17-18 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”
God Almighty the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has poured from an exhaustible source (He Himself) His Holy Spirit upon all who have believed, believed in and submitted to His Son Jesus. All who receive Jesus and believe what the Father has foretold and what Jesus fulfilled will receive the Holy Spirit within who still passes on the ancient scriptures around an eternal campfire in our hearts. The Holy Spirit tells us eternal truths and points at the stars in the skies and He can call them by name. (Psalm 147:4) The Holy Spirit, what a wonderful camp counselor we have! Praise God with raised voices and in songs of wonder! 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.
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Devotion Ephesians 5:15-16 For Our Sake, For His Glory
Ephesians 5:15-16 – Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Family and Friends it does not take a prophet to see that we live in perilous times. But what of these times. What are we to make of them? Who can discern the times? What is the test? It is the man who daily dwells in the Spirit and Word of the Lord who can best determine the times. Those who love His Word are not caught unaware but have known times like these would come. Yet seeing through this foggy landscape one must keep in both Spirit and Scripture and only then can things become more clear. Seeking God the days will be seen as wise pupils perceive. Intelligence is not the key, but humility before God is. The ones who abandon their own wisdom and perceptions and seek answers from God will know what those who hate God cannot know. Fear makes hearts roil but the heart of those who live with the Spirit rests upon solid ground.
Malachi 3:18 – So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
What is the difference between one person and another? Whose eyes will be filled with light that pierce darkness and discern between ugly and beauty. Whose eyes will identify the holy from the unholy? Those who love and serve God will see the difference. But those who refuse God will see a snarling and hateful face and think it is harmless and loving. Those of the Lord will see the Truth. To properly discern one must daily live with the Spirit of God. Those who are in the Spirit rightly understand 1 Corinthians 2:10-16.
Philippians 1:9-11 – And this I pray, that your love may overflow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may discover the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.
How do we discern the servants of the Lord? How do we discern each other’s hearts? We all are exposed, are revealed by the two greatest commandments (Mark 12:30-31) and by what Jesus plainly said “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Yet some are deceptive, only by the Spirit will we truly discern. 1 Corinthians 2:15 – But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no one.
Matthew 16:3 – And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times?
What of the times? Search the Word by the Spirit. By the Spirit.
Deuteronomy 32:28-29 – “For they are a nation destitute of counsel, And there is no understanding in them. 29 If only they were wise and they understood this; If only they would discern their future!
God loves us. He does not abandon us. He calls to us to follow His lead. He calls us to love Him more than our mortal lives and more than anything on this earth. To love Him more than any person or anything. Love and serve God. Set aside pride and yield to Him. Receive His Spirit and be embraced by Him. Then eyes will see and minds will know. All to the glory of God and for the rescue of souls. 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.
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Devotion Matthew 27:57-60 Not to Us Lord, But To You
Matthew 27:57-60 – Now when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea came, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
Psalm 115:1 – Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Your name be the glory, because of Your love and faithfulness.
In my life, not anyone else’s life, but my life, I have heard more low to middle income people slander the rich than rich people slander the poor. I suppose, to the financially less wealthy, the wealthy can be an easy target amongst themselves. Such a shame! So often they themselves are the unknown beneficiary of humble wealthy servants who anonymously bless others. The Lord does not prefer the wealthy over the poor, nor does He prefer the poor over the wealthy. As if He judges in such ways! Pshaw! The Lord does not give preferential treatment about such things. Let’s not be anthropomorphic and ascribe to God the deficiencies of man.
Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man. He took the risk of identifying with Jesus to Pontius Pilate (the one who sentenced Jesus to be beaten and crucified). In those days identifying with the perceived wrong person could be personally expensive. Joseph set aside personal risk to ask for the body of Jesus so He could give Jesus a place to be buried. It was not only risky but was an expensive thing to do as this tomb that Jesus was placed in had been hewn out of rock. No doubt the tomb was something Joseph had paid for himself, or a loved one. But Joseph, who had become a disciple of Jesus, gave what he had intended for his self to honor the Lord. This rich man, humbled himself to do what he could for Jesus. After the body of Jesus was placed in the tomb Joseph had a large stone rolled to block the opening and protect the body of his Lord. Then, Joseph went away.
I love this rich man for what He did for the Savior and Lord Jesus. He simply did what God called him to do and then he walked away. He did not stay for acknowledgement, fame or for gratitude to be expressed. His simple motivation was to honor the body of Jesus. He did what the Lord called him to do and then he simply walked away seemingly into the fog of time. He did not want accolades and probably figured that he had only done what was his duty to do and then he walked away figuring that he would not be remembered. But God saw, and God is a rewarder of those who love and obey Him. God included Joseph in scripture. Joseph will not be forgotten.
We too should hear God’s call, do His will and then just carry on. Let us not become proud, we have only what we should. We have obeyed Jesus who suffered and died to save us. We have done what we should. We should thank God for being able to serve and not expect any compensation. Is anything we do more valuable than what Jesus did for us? We should do what we have been called to do and just continue serving with gratitude and wonder in our hearts. The Lord God will see and reward in His perfect will. Obey, do and continue in the faith. Not because He must, but because of who He is, He will reward us, in due time. Praise God!
Luke 17:7-10 – “Now which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him after he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and recline at the table to eat’? 8 On the contrary, will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and [i]afterward you may eat and drink’? 9 He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 So you too, when you do all the things which were commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”
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
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Devotion John 6:52-71 Believe And Keep Believing Part 3
John 6:52-71 – Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 60 So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? 62 What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot; for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
“So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” I have loved these verses from the first time I read them. Yes, yes, yes! Simon Peter said what was in my heart. I was horrified at the question posed to the twelve asking if they also wanted to leave and stop following Him. What? Now that I have been saved from eternal death would I leave? No! Leave to what? To the shame of my past life of doing what I knew in my heart was wrong? To return to not knowing my beautiful Savior and Lord? No, no no! Horror upon horror. From depending on God to lead me to trying again to do the job myself? Oh no, unless I am kicked out I’m not going anywhere. And I know I won’t get kicked out of the relationship with the Lord. He doesn’t break His promises. (John 6:37) No, I’m staying with Him. I know I’ve got it good! Peter and the rest knew that Jesus was the promised Savior who had come from the Father. Jesus has made it possible for me to be enlightened to the wisdom and knowledge of God, to taste the heavenly gift and to have the sweet, gentle and eternally persevering Holy Spirit to come within my heart. I have been made able to taste the esoteric knowledge that the Spirit gives and have witnessed the power of the Almighty. (Hebrews 6:4-5) I have the best of everything and should I leave to return to abject wretchedness? No, I will not, not by my will and I know, not by God’s will! Praise God!
“Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot; for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.” Jesus said to the twelve in John 15:16 that the Apostles did not choose Jesus but Jesus choose them. They all had an equal chance to succeed. Jesus did not choose Judas as some kind of cruel chicanery to him. He did not choose Judas only to yank salvation from him. Anyone who knows and loves the Lord knows that is not the nature of our Lord. Looking to John Chapter 13, Jesus was fully aware that Judas was to betray Him, yet Jesus was still treating Jesus as He was treating the others. Judas was eating meals with Him and the rest of the Apostles even though Jesus knew that Judas had already determined he was going to betray Jesus. That night after everyone had eaten, Judas also had his feet washed by Jesus. Let us remember that Jesus humbled Himself to feed Judas and to wash His feet even though He knew Judas was about to betray Him. So we see the difference of how foreknowledge adds to the conversation of predestination. To know the future and plan accordingly does not mean to make a person suffer for what one would never have done. Rather it is to plan because of fore-knowledge. If we know that there is great road to travel upon for an upcoming journey, but we also know that the road has been washed away, then we plan accordingly.
God is good to the evil and to the good, He sends blessings to both. (Matthew 5:44-48) So Jesus died for everyone in the world (John 3:16) and He does not want anyone to perish. (2 Peter 3:9) God loves us all including the ones who have believed and come to Him to obey and follow, and the ones who will later come, and also the ones who will never come. Till the day they die God loves even those who will perish. He loves us though He knows us, though He knows everyone. (John 2:24) Why, because He is who He is. We know that God is love. (1 John 4:8) Since He is love we know that a description of love is a description of who He is “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a) These help us to understand who and what God is. The fruit of the Holy Spirit God give us further insight “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) These things are what we know comes in eternal abundance from Him to us. And let us not worry our stumbles are too much for Him to bear because we know that He will always help us up and encourage us to keep going. And that is, knowing the greatness of our God and Savior, what we should keep doing. In His grace and love, let’s keep going, keep serving Him. How grand it is! Leave Jesus? What foolishness. Glory and praise to God who keeps us! 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.
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Devotion Psalm 42:5 Stop, Think About It
Psalm 42:5 – Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 24:8,10 – Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, you gates, And lift them up, you ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of armies, He is the King of glory. Selah
Psalm 130:5-6 – I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And I wait for His word. 6 My soul waits in hope for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Yes, more than the watchmen for the morning
When our hearts become sad what do we do? We are not as those who reject God or those who fail to give honor to Him. We are not those who think they know you Lord God while demanding their way and rejecting you. When we are “sucker punched” and find ourselves knocked backward to the ground and hurt from the blow. When that happens we wonder what happened. What happened that we are hurt? Why should not allow the attack to prosper in our hearts and minds. Wise are the ones who do not wallow in the mire of hurt but who consider who their help is. Wise are eyes that look toward God. Healthy is the soul who often travels the path to the presence of God. Where God is and thereby hope and healing are. Better than the path to God being well worn is the path being overgrown from lack of travel because one stays in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1-10)
When the enemy sets up a battle camp against us may we remember that God, the King of Glory who is strong and mighty, is Jesus. Jesus has conquered the world. Let us remember that He is on our side and because He is, we are safe. Having invited Jesus within us, let us never fear because the indomitable Jesus, the one who does not sleep, is protecting us. When “things” change, let us not fear. Our Savior and Lord defends us.
We wait for the Lord to bring us the victory that is previously prepared. We wait for the sure victory. More sure than the rising sun is the love and protection of God for us. We do not fear, but rest in the sure presence of God. Let us daily and continuously think how great and powerful is our God and yet how loving and tender He is toward us. Our God is faithful to us. He is good all the time and He loves us. 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
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