These devotionals are written to encourage and enable the body of Christ in our daily walk with the Lord. The World needs to see what God can do in us and with us and through us and not what we can do on our own!
On January 1, I will begin writing on the subject, The Privilege, Power and Provisions of Prayer. You can subscribe at www.sbgm.org/subscribe01.htm
To hear my CD as well as a sermon that I preached recently, go to www.myspace.com/savedbygraceministries.
My prayer is that this will bless a lot of people all over the world!!!
May God bless you today as you seek to walk with Him!
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Fri, Dec 29th - 5:45AM
A Consuming Fire Hebrews 12:29 December 29
29For our God is a consuming fire.
God is a God of love. He is a God of grace and mercy. However, our God is also a consuming fire. God is a God of judgment. Love, grace and mercy demand judgment. Just as life comes to an end, so do mercy and grace turn to judgment otherwise there would be no need for them.
Mercy and grace are offered to us because of our sin. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. Wages are what we have earned. God Himself gives Grace and mercy to us and we cannot earn them and we will never deserve them. This is a gift from God to us. God has done everything heavenly possible to give us His grace and His mercy. However the day comes when His efforts turn from giving to judgment.
God wars us that His Spirit will not always strive with man. There comes a point when His invitation to come unto Him comes to a close. There comes a time when God says, “I have given you every opportunity to avoid the plight that you have created on your own.” Judgment does come. Listen to what Paul tells us in Hebrews 9, “27And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
Judgment does come. God is a consuming fire. We cannot believe that God is a God of love if we are not willing to accept the fact that He is also a consuming fire. We may ask, “How can God be both?” We may not understand how God can be a God of love and a consuming fire. We may wish that He was one and not the other but the truth of the matter is that He tells us that He is both.
The only reason that we know that God is a God of love and a God of grace and mercy is because His Word tells us that He is all of those things. We can believe that God is all of those things because He tells us that He is and we know and believe that His promises are true. That is the foundation of our faith in Him. If we can believe that God is love because He tells us that He is then we also have to accept the fact that He is also a consuming fire to those who do not believe in His love and His grace and His mercy that has been extended to them.
We cannot pick and choose what we believe about God. We have to take Him at His Word and learn to believe in Him as He has revealed Himself to us, whether we want to accept what He says or not! I am grateful for that privilege.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
28 In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1)
4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 28 In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death. When we take God at His Word and we allow His Word to direct our lives, our walk takes us on a path that gives life to us. God is the author and giver of life. He knows what makes our lives their absolute best. His Word leads us to that life.
The way of righteousness is the result of righteous living. Righteousness is the result of walking with the Lord and making decisions that are in line with our faith in what the Word of God says for my life. My attitudes and my actions are imperative when it comes to experiencing life in all of its magnificence and its glory. When I do things my way and I fail to take advantage of the instruction that the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit give me, I go down the wrong road and my life reflects those decisions.
When I decide that I am going to live my life according the Word of God, something happens. My life changes! When I let the Word of God direct and dictate my actions, God is able to order my steps and He is able to meet my needs and provide for me. The way of righteousness is life.
Notice something. Solomon wrote, “and in its pathway there is no death.” Here is the real point that Solomon made. When I am walking with God and I am on the pathway that God has ordered for me, there is no death! Here is the real beauty of walking with God. God is able to lead us and point us in the right direction where two things are evident. First of all, God is able to take us where His blessings will be found. That is simple!
Second, He is able to lead us away from death! There is no death on the pathway that God leads us down. There is no better way for us to go than to go with the Lord in the way that He has given us to go. 28 In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
27“He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”
One of the statements that I heard this Christmas was a very good one. We come to Christmas to celebrate the birth of the Savior. However, this Savior who was born some 2000 years ago still lives today! The little baby that was born on that first Christmas morning is the same Jesus that lives today and sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession on our behalf.
Hear the Easter declaration, “He is not here! He is risen from the dead. He is alive.” We need to remember that Jesus was not a baby born in Bethlehem but rather a Savior who left the throne of glory and came into this world and took upon Himself the form of a servant and dwelt among us. He was born to die so that we could live. He died in our place so that we could live with Him forever.
God is not the God of the dead; He is the God of the living. The desire of God’s heart is that you and I might come to Him so that we might have life and we might have it more abundantly. 16“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God wants us to experience life in its fullest. He is the giver of life. He is life. The desire of is heart is that we might have this life. This is my desire. My prayer is that this will be your desire as well.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
25“For I am the LORD. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it,” says the Lord GOD.’ ”
I am the Lord; I am Jehovah. Every word that God has spoken He will accomplish. He is the Great “I Am.” When Moses asked God, “Who will I tell the people has sent me?” God answered him by saying, tell them that “I Am” has sent you. No one knew God in His spoken Word. However, when He led the children of Israel out of the bondage and affliction of Egypt, His nature was defined by His actions. His Word began to take root in the hearts and lives of His people as He led them and then gave them their inheritance in the Promised Land.
Here He is Jehovah; He will make His promises good. God will keep His promises to bless those that are obedient to Him and He will keep His promises to bring judgment to those who are disobedient to His Word. His actions will no longer be postponed. His Word will not come back unto Him void.
25“For I am the LORD. I speak, and the word, which I speak will come to pass; on this Christmas morning that Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory as the only begotten Son of God. Jesus left the portals of glory and took upon Himself the form of a man so that He would offer Himself a sacrifice once and for all for the sins of the world. He was born to die so that we could be born again to live.
In Hebrews 11:6 we read, “Without faith it is impossible to please God for He who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Faith in God is impossible apart from His Word. For without understanding who God is, faith in Him cannot exist. We cannot have faith in God if we are unaware of His promises to us. If God will not do for us what He promises that He will do, then there is no foundation for our faith in the first place.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of God, past, present and future. He is the spoken Word in the flesh. He is the foundation for our faith. Without Him we cannot please God because He has said, “The Word that I speak shall come to pass.”
Jesus is the reason for the season. He is God’s promise to you and me. God will keep His promises to us all. The question is not whether or not we can trust Him; the real question is will we trust Him. He told the children of Israel some 400 years before Christ came, “I am the Lord. I speak and the word which I speak will come to pass.”
It always has and it always will. May the Christ of Christmas be the Word in your life both today and forever!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
For Your Edification II Corinthians 12:19 December 19
19Again, do you think that we excuse ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, beloved, for your edification.
The Apostle Paul gave his whole life for the people that God gave him to minister to. He sacrificed everything on their behalf. However, Paul faced criticism and opposition even from the people that he had done so much for. Paul tells the Christians at Corinth that he has given to them as a parent feeds his children. He tells them in verse 15, that he had gladly sacrificed and given to them because of his love for them even though it seemed as if their love for him had diminished.
He asks, do you think that we are defending ourselves for things that they had accused him of doing? This is what he is asking when he says, “do you think that we excuse ourselves to you?” Paul reminds them that everything he and his fellow servants have done they have done for the edification of the Christians there. Paul goes on to say, “When I come I am afraid I am not going to like what I see and you are not going to like what I say.”
Paul wanted the people to know how much he loved them and how affectionately he wanted them to know Christ and the power and provisions that He had in store for them. Paul wanted the people to hear him; he wanted them to respond to the Lord who had done so much for him! He wanted them to look at what the Lord had done in their lives as well.
You and I need to remember that people around us have needs just like the church at Corinth did. We need to minister to those around us and do what we do for their benefit just as Paul did for this church. We need to be willing to reach out into our communities and into the lives of those around us and minister to them. We need to be willing to do what needs to be done for their edification and not our own agendas.
This is what allows the Holy Spirit to touch people’s hearts and make a difference in their lives. People do not care what we believe until they believe that we care. People need to know that our desire is to strengthen and edify them. Then they will respond and the Lord will be able to do wonderful things in and through their lives.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
Live Peaceably with Others Romans 12:18 December 18
18If it be possible, as much as liveth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Paul writes, “17Repay no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18If it be possible, as much as liveth in you, live peaceably with all men.
We are responsible for our actions. You and I cannot control what others do to us or around us. We can control our response to what happens. This is what Paul wants us to remember. Notice, Paul tells us not to repay evil for evil. Even when evil is done to us, our response is not to retaliate. It is one thing not to do evil to those around us. We understand that. However, we fail to think about those times when our response is justifiable in our own minds. If someone does something to us, we have the right to respond; an eye for an eye is still a common excuse in a lot of our minds today.
Paul wants us to know even though we may have a good excuse to loose our cool, we do not need to do it. Paul tells us that we need to “have regard for good things in the sight of all men.” You see, the world responds to what happens to them. The world echoes the cry, “ An eye for an eye.” God wants us to consider what is good in the sight of men; He wants us to be different. He wants us to set good examples before a lost and dying world.
You see, when we turn our cheek and refuse to retaliate, we upset what the world expects. This becomes a wonderful testimony to the power of the grace and mercy of God and it does catch people’s attention and it does make a difference in what they think about what it means to be a Christian.
When you and I refuse to retaliate and we do not repay evil for evil, we make the rest of the world sit up and take notice. God wants us to live peaceably with all men. He wants us to live our lives in such a way that our decisions will make a profound difference in how we are looked at by the people in the world.
Paul tells us, “if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” God knows what He is talking about. It is past time for me to begin living my life as He tells me I ought to live it. I want to be a person who is recognized as someone who has “Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”
18If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. With Christ, all things are possible! I can do anything in His power; I can even live peaceably with people who despitefully use me and intentionally abuse me. I do not have to fight back. Vengeance is Mine says the Lord! I am going to keep putting my best foot forward and I am going to keep holding onto the Lord and His power and provisions for my life. I am going to stay in control of my reactions to what others do around me. I may not be able to know that someone is watching me to see if I loose my cool just like the rest of the world will do. People do notice. I will work to live peaceably with those that I am around!
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
17And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at Him.
The Bible tells us that the Pharisees and the Herodians came to Jesus with a question thinking that they would trap Him and get Him to answer a question that they thought He would lose regardless of the answer that He gave. They came to Him and asked Him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?”
The Pharisees thought, if Jesus says that we have to pay taxes to this pagan ruler then the people would rebel against Jesus’ teaching. The Herodians who were theological adversaries in most positions with the Pharisees, thought, if Jesus says that the people did not owe the government anything but rather their allegiance was to be singularly and solely to God, then they would go to the governor and say that Jesus encouraged the people not to pay their taxes. These theological enemies got together to oppose Jesus. Sounds like our world today!
Jesus knew what these men were doing. Sin really is not that difficult to spot. All we have to do is open our eyes and look at things for what they are. He answered the two religious groups by telling them to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus did not answer these men’s question as they had thought He would. The wisdom of men cannot begin to compare to the wisdom of God. However, Jesus’ answer is a great answer for you and me today. He simply said, be responsible. Give what you are supposed to give to the government and give what you are supposed to give to the Lord. Jesus did not give a wrong answer In fact, He gave the right answer to both men!
You and I are to be responsible in everything that we do. God expects this from us and the truth is we ought to expect this for ourselves! The more responsible we are in everything that we do, the better our lives will be for it. God will be glorified in the administration of our responsibilities to Him and our communities will be better for the administration of our responsibilities to our community and our government. God wants us to give our best to the responsibilities that we have. It really does not matter if that is to our employer, or to our family or to our government or to our God.
God wants us to render our responsibility to anyone that needs it and He expects us to give our all as well as our best. When we do that, we will find out that our lives will be headed in the right direction and that God will be able to bless us and He will be able to keep us in the power of His might.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.
Solomon was a man of great wisdom. He learned a lot from the people around him. Solomon realized the importance of wise counsel. His father gave him wise counsel. Solomon had people in his court that gave him wise counsel. However, God gave Solomon wisdom because he asked God for it. In his wisdom, Solomon learned to value wise counsel. He learned that the way of the fool is right in his own eyes.
Some time ago, I spent some time listening to a young man talk about his misfortunes with his job situation. He explained to me that he worked hard and that the people around him complimented him on his diligence. However, he could not hold a job. He blamed his failures on the managers that did not recognize the contributions that he made. He commented, “All they see are the little things that I don’t do to suit them.” This young man’s problems were created by others.
After listening to him for a little while, I explained to him that it looked to me like he was measuring his own success by his expectations and not the expectations of his bosses. I explained to him that whether he liked it or not, their opinion was the one that really counted and that his evaluation of his performance was not obviously correct. If he had been let gone once or even twice, things might not have all been his fault. However, he had run into the same response on several occasions and he just could not understand why these things were happening.
When we look at things in our own eyes, we have to recognize the potential for problems. It is too easy to rationalize and make excuses and justify our actions. It is easy to decide what we want to do and then go and do it without taking any thought of the consequences to those decisions.
We need to be willing to listen to the counsel of those around us. When we fail to do so, we run the risk of making grave mistakes that can carry with them serious consequences. Be diligent and listen for counsel and then take that counsel into consideration. Listen to the counsel of God for your life. Listen to the advice and counsel of your parents. (Mom you do not have to comment on that statement!) Husbands listen to your wives. Wisdom comes in a variety of ways but the way of a fool just shows up!
Be wise; accept wise counsel.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
13 Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person.
Solomon lived a remarkable life by anyone’s standards. He lived a long life. He lived a life of unparalleled luxury. He was given great knowledge as well as great wisdom. He was a mighty king who was respected all over the world. He lived a life that most people could only dream about.
Solomon sought to find the answers to the question of the real meaning of life. He set out to find happiness at any cost. He spared no cost. He did not deprive himself of anything that he thought might bring him real happiness and satisfaction out of life. Solomon truly was a man who “did it all.”
In all that Solomon sought to do and experience, his statement the whole time was “vanity of vanities saith the preacher.” Everywhere he turned and everything that he did brought him emptiness and void. The things that the world had to offer could not satisfy the desires that were burning deep down in his heart. Solomon wanted to know the peace and joy that he could not find in the world.
Solomon says something in the first part of chapter 12 that is interesting. Solomon wrote “remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come.” Solomon grew up in his father, David’s house. David was a man who loved God with all his heart. Solomon learned a lot about Who God was and all that God wanted to do for his children. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 22: “6Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
As Solomon grew older and looked back on all that he did in his life, he remembered the early days in his father’s house and how peaceful and joyful those days were. He remembered the teachings of his father about the God that he loved so much and who loved his father and blessed him. Solomon remembered the peace and joy that he felt in his own heart as God had chosen him to build the Temple that his father so much wanted to build. Solomon knew that he had been blessed to have been born the son of David, who was blessed by God.
Solomon thought back to all the times when he remembered being happy and having the peace and the joy in his heart and those were the times when he was walking with God and seeking to follow His commandments. Solomon realized that real life is walking with God. The answer to the question of the meaning of life can only be found in living our lives by the standard that God Himself has set for us for one reason… so He can meet our needs and give us life and give it to us more abundantly.
13 Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person. Obedience to God is indeed every mans purpose and every man’s duty as well as the key to a victorious abundant life filled with all the fullness of God!
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12“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Jesus is warning His disciples about things that are to come. He warns them against persecution and standing before magistrates and courts and He told them not to worry, because 12“the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
We have for the past two centuries lived in a country where religious freedom has been the law of the land. Today that is fast disappearing. Laws are being written and drafted in favor of every religious ideology with the exception of Christianity. Today Christianity is being attacked at almost every level and the day is not far off where it will be illegal to speak about sin from the pulpit. The day is coming in America where we will be forced to heed the warning of Jesus to His disciples, 11“Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. 12“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Isn’t it amazing that we as God’s church have sit back and allowed this to take place? We have allowed a vocal minority make changes to the very principles that have made America the great nation that she once was. The very issue of the “Separation of Church and State” that exists today is as unconstitutional as it can be.
What about our willingness to witness to our neighbor? What about our willingness to be a Christian witness at our workplace? We are worried that we will not say the right thing or that someone will think bad of us. Jesus promises us that the Holy Spirit will teach us what to say when we need those words.
When the day comes when we will be persecuted and brought into court because of our preaching and witnessing, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit will help us with the words that we will need as well. Jesus promised us that He would not leave us alone; He promised us that He would be with us always. He promised that He would give us the Holy Spirit and that Spirit would dwell in our hearts and direct our lives. This is a great promise and one that you and I can hold onto no matter what we may face.
Our prayer ought to be, Lord teach us what we should say, in good times and in the difficult ones.
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"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
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Partakers in His Holiness Hebrews 12:10 December 10
10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Paul comments on God’s chastisement. We do not like being corrected. However, it is important in our walk in life. Paul reminds us that our earthly fathers disciplined us as it seemed best to them and we respected them for it. As we grow older, we learn the benefits of the chastisement that we got when we were younger.
Paul reminds us that our parents do what seems best to them. God on the other hand, does not correct us according to what “seems best” to Him, He corrects us for our own benefit. God knows what is best for us. He does not work on trial and error and experience as we do as parents with our children. God does things for our benefit and His glory. His chastisement falls into that category as well.
God chastens us for our benefit. What benefit does God do this? One of the biggest problems that we have in Christian circles today is this issue of “benefit”. There is this idea that God will bless us and these “benefits” will come to us in financial and material gain. There is a prosperity gospel that is fun to preach and full of promises for the hearer. However, God’s perspective may be much different from ours in the area of blessing and what is for our benefit.
Here that is very clear. God chastens us for our benefit and for His glory for one purpose; He wants us to be partakers in His Holiness. Chastisement is designed to be a deterrent for sin. What does sin do? Sin robs us of God’s provisions and His protection and His power. Sin stands between God’s Holiness and our righteousness. When we are saved and our sins are forgiven, His righteousness becomes our righteousness. However, having His Holiness is a daily process that we have live that brings us closer and closer to God and His purpose and plan for our lives.
God wants us to reflect His Holiness every moment of every day. He wants our decisions to be affected by His Holiness in our lives. He wants others to see His Holiness in our lives. So, God chastens us for our benefit and His glory and so that we will be partakers in His Holiness; this is for our benefit and for His glory and for the benefit of those around us! We all need to be partakers in His Holiness!
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
Strength is Sufficient I Corinthians 12:9 December 9
9And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Paul had a problem that plagued him. He tells us that he went to the Lord 3 times and asked God to take this “thorn in the flesh” from him. God did answer Paul’s prayer but He did not take the problem from him. People have asked what this thorn in the flesh could have been. There are a number of suppositions and the truth is we do not know what the problem Paul had was. We do know it was something that Paul wanted to be taken away.
I believe that this problem was his eyesight. There are a couple of passages that seem to indicate that Paul used a scribe to write down his letters. Remember that God struck Paul blind on the road to Damascus. Scales dropped off his eyes and he received his sight. Perhaps his eyesight got bad so that it made it impossible to read and write. He was forced to rely on someone else to actually write down his letters to the churches.
Notice the words that Paul writes. Not only did God tell Paul that He would not remove the thorn, He told Paul that His grace was sufficient for him. I will not remove the thorn but I will give you power to live your life in victory not over it but with it!
Notice the final comment in God’s statement to Paul; “My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” Perhaps Paul had to rely on someone else to help him with his letters. As he let someone write down his words, Paul was humbled and God’s strength was made perfect in his own weakness. Sometimes, we need others in our lives to enhance and enrich our own lives. I would not hesitate to think that someone was getting the best possible education in the love and the manifest glory of God as he wrote down the very words of Paul as he wrote to the churches.
God’s strength was seen in Paul’s life because Paul had to slow down so that the scribe could transcribe his words. Paul recognized his limitations and he also accepted them and said, instead of complaining about all that I have to endure, I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
You and I need to learn to accept our limitations and our weaknesses and understand that when we give them to the Lord, His strength is seen in us! God’s strength in us is worth the struggles that we have to endure to get to the place that God would have us be.
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
8And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
The story of Abraham is an interesting story indeed. When he was 75 years old, God came to him and spoke to him and told him to take his family and everything that he had and move. The story of God calling Abram is in Genesis 12. The flood is recorded for us in chapter 10 and the story of the Tower of Babel in chapter 11. Abram was born roughly 400 years after the flood.
God has been active in creation but He has not had much contact with people. No one really knew who He was. There was no Bible. The children of Israel had not even come into existence. God spoke to Noah and He spoke to Abram and that is just about it. What would make Abram, a wealthy man, leave his homeland at the age of 75?
God told Abram, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” There was one problem. Abram did not have a son. Abram believed that God would do what He said He would do and so Abram packed up everything that he had and he moved. Abram left his house and he pitched his tent facing Bethel and he built an altar to the Lord because he knew that God would do what He said He would do and Abram knew that God would give him a son.
How much do you and I trust God? How much do we really believe that God will bless us? How much do we really trust God to meet our need and bless our lives and the lives of our family? Abram believed God enough to move and follow Him.
All God wants from you and me is for us to be obedient to His Word. He wants us to obey Him in every decision that we make. He wants us to listen to His advice. He wants us to do what He tells us to do the way that He tells us to do it. He wants us to quit doing what His Word tells us not to do? Why? So that He can bless us and make us a blessing to others!
This is what God promised Abram! This is what He wants from you and me. The question is not can I trust God, the real question is will I? My prayer is that and I will stand up and step out as Abram did and trust God in every decision that we make and watch as God is able to do things in us an through us that we could have not imagined possible. Lets move with God!
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
7“Now therefore, stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous acts of the LORD which He did to you and your fathers:
Saul has been made king. Samuel is old and his life is coming to an end. He gathers the children of Israel together and he asks them to stand still and think about all the things that God has done for them as a people. He begins to recount many of the events that had taken place in the children of Israel’s rich past.
Samuel reminded the children of Israel that it was God who led them out of the bondage of Egypt. Moses and Aaron were God’s men but it was God who protected them and provided for them. They sinned against God. And when their enemies came upon them, they cried out to God and repented of their sin and God forgave them and restored them and gave them victory.
Samuel reminded the people that they came to him and demanded that a king reign over them. They said in effect, that they did not want God as their king. God gave them their request. Listen to Samuel’s instruction; “14“If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. 15“However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.”
You and I today need to do as Samuel and the children of Israel did in their day. They stood still and took time to remember the great things that God had done for them in their past. You and I have a lot to be thankful for. God has forgiven me of so much and He has delivered me from the consequences of my own pitiful decisions. God has been patient with me and has blessed me even when I did not deserve it.
We need to stand still and let the things that God has done for us make us more determined to stand with Him in the future. God promises that there are great benefits to following His instruction and being the person that He wants us to be. There are also serious consequences connected with rebelling and allowing our stubborn wills to stand in the way of doing God’s will and making decisions that God would have us make. When we rebel and do what we want to do the way that we want to do it, we can encounter the hand of the Lord and it can come down against us. I do not want that in my life!
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
For whom the Lord Loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he that the father does not chasten?
When we think of God’s promises, we think of the blessings that are ours as we walk with the Lord and allow god to be God in our lives. However, there are other promises that we need to be aware of as well. In our passage today, God promises us that in His love He will chasten and scourge those that He loves. God does not chasten us out of anger or impatience; He chastens us to get our attention and gain our obedience to His Word.
You see, God wants us to surrender our wills to His will so that He can meet our need and fight our battles and give us life that is full and abundant. He created you and me so that He could be our God and we could be His children. The only thing that is important to God is our relationship with Him. Nothing else matters to God where you and I are concerned. God does not care where we have been or what we have or have not done. All God cares about is our relationship with Him today. When we get our relationship with Him right today, tomorrow will take care of itself because God will give us what we need and He will make our lives all that they can be.
Chastening is God’s way of bringing us closer to Him. Paul tells us that “God will deal with us as sons; for what son is he that his father does not chasten him?” we expect our fathers to discipline us. We may not like it but we know it is coming and we know that there are times when we should be chastened that we are not! I know that was the case for me!
God wants to be our Father. He knows that chastening is part of our “upbringing”. He knows that chastening gets our attention and lets us know that God cares when we fail to do what we know He wants us to do. Most of our sin is due to outright disobedience. We know what we ought to do and we fail to do it and we know that there are a lot of things that we have no business doing but we do them anyway. God uses this chastening process to help us know that our sin matters to God. He want us to know that He knows what we are doing and why. He wants us to know that He has much better plans for us than what we can do for ourselves.
When God is allowed to be God in our lives, He is able to do such wonderful things for us. When we sin, we rob Him of that opportunity; not only does our life suffer because of our sin, God is robbed of the joy that He gets from meeting our need and being our God and Father. He does not want that for Himself and He does not want that for you and me. We need to welcome His chastening knowing that He cares about us enough to do what it takes to allow Him to do what He has planned to do in our lives for our benefit as well as His!
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
The Thoughts of the Righteous Proverbs 12:5 December 5
The thoughts of the righteous are right, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
The thoughts of the righteous are right. The question has been asked, “Do we do what is right because our heart is right or is our heart right because we do what is right?” Solomon answers that question for us. The thoughts of a righteous man are right or just. You and I act on what our heart tells us to do. A righteous person is going to think on things that are right. A righteous person is going to do what is right because his heart is right.
However, our heart is also right because we do what is right! Someone asked me about judging others. Of coarse we are taught that we are not to “judge” one another. God is the Judge and He does not need any help from us in this area. However, we do have a responsibility to “test someone’s heart in his or her actions.”
The things we do and the things we say often demonstrate the condition of our heart. I am reminded of the statement, “A person’s true character can be seen when he is on a trip and is out of town where no one knows him.” There is a lot of truth to this statement. I have had people tell me that they were tempted to do things while they were out of town that they would not consider doing in their home town for fear of being seen.
While the fear of being caught is a great deterrent for doing what we know we ought not do, the real goal that we all ought to strive for is to walk with God no matter where we are or who is watching. When our heart is right, our actions will reflect that condition of our heart.
The counsels of the wicked are deceitful. If a righteous man is tempted and he has a hard time living a righteous life and doing what he knows he ought to do, then the wicked man has no chance! The words or advice of the wicked man leads to deceitfulness. Here is a person who has a heart problem! His words are an outward sign of an inward problem. Jesus is the answer to that problem!
Sin is the absence of righteousness in our heart. When we have the Lord in our lives and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, our conversation will be different and actions will be different. People will see a difference in who we are and the things that we do. They will want to be more like us and we can help them to develop a good heart so that they will begin to do the right things in their lives.
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
4“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.”
Here is Jesus’ word of warning in its context; 4“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5“But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! 6“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Jesus knew that the disciples were going to encounter difficulty from the religious leaders of their day. He knew that they would beat them and put them into prison and give them all kinds of warnings to stop preaching the gospel. He wants them to understand that the worst thing that man can do to them is take their life. Paul would tell them, “for me to die is gain!” Paul understood these words of warning that Jesus was giving to the disciples early in their ministries.
My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
Do you have a fear of telling someone about Jesus? Are you concerned that you will offend them or make them mad because you want them to know that God so loved that world that He gave His Son and that whosoever would believe on Him might not perish but have everlasting life?
Here we are afraid that we are going to hurt someone’s feelings and Jesus is telling His disciples (and us today) that we ought not be afraid of those that can kill the body but cannot touch our soul. We need to consider God and His will and way in our lives because He has the final say on heaven and hell and that is forever.
We all need to be more conscious of our witness to those around us that need Jesus. We need to forget about offending someone or even the legal and social persecution that we may soon face because of our witness for Him. I would rather take the chance of offending someone and seeing them go to heaven than I had not offend them and have to watch them be cast in to hell because they died lost without Christ.
11“Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. 12“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Let’s determine in our hearts and in our minds to be more proactive in our witness for the Lord who loves us so much and wants to do great things in us and through us!
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
Tear Down The High Places II Kings 12:3 December 3
3But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
1In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3But did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
One of the statements that consistently can be seen in describing kings of Israel is the statement that “2Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” Others will say that the king did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, which out numbered the ones who did.
Verse three is important because it is one of those “but” statements, a big “but.” Jehoash was a righteous man and he served God as king of Israel but the Bible tells us that the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. What did this mean?
Jehoash did what was right in the Lord’s eyes with one exception; he did not tear down the high places or the temples to the pagan gods and the people continued to sacrifice and serve these foreign gods during the 40 years that he ruled Israel.
There are a lot of wonderful people in the world today who are just like Jehoash. They live their lives and love one another and are good neighbors and good employees and some even good employers. They are good parents and good spouses. They are good church members and they love the Lord and are saved. Perhaps they did what was right in the sight of the LORD all their days. If this is where the story stops that is great. However, I know that in my life that proverbial “but” that plagued Jehoash also plagues mine as well; but the high places were not taken away.
There have been places in our lives that we did not tear down. There have been habits in our hearts and in our lives that we refused to give over to God. We have let things go on in our lives that we know we should have torn down. We have continued to “sacrifice” to these things knowing that we should have not done so.
It is time for us to go ahead and tear down these high places and go all the way with the Lord and allow Him to have complete control of our hearts and our lives. Had Jehoash gone ahead and done this in Israel, there is no telling how the history of Israel might have been affected. When Jesus came that is exactly what He did. This is what Jesus expects from you and me and the rewards are remarkable! Lets look to the Lord and tear down those high places.
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. What a joy it is indeed to know and have the joy of God’s salvation in our hearts!
Have you ever gone to the Lord in prayer and felt as if those prayers never got above the ceiling? Perhaps Isaiah had experienced that as well. He knew what it was like to know the anger of God because of his sin. Here he is speaking to the children of Israel and indicating that they have experienced God’s anger.
However, He tells the people to praise the Lord even though He was angry with them for their deliberate actions of disobedience. Isaiah tells then that His anger has turned away and that God is there to comfort them. There are two thoughts that are important for us to remember.
First of all, praise to God is always appropriate! Even when we have sinned against God and deliberately disobeyed Him, we can in repentance ask Him for His forgiveness and His strength to stand against temptation and make that a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord! We can praise the Lord even in our prayer of forgiveness.
When God has heard our prayer and He has forgiven our sin, we need to be sure to thank Him for His mercy and His grace and His forgiveness of our sin and we most definitely need to praise Him! God’s comfort comes when we praise Him. Next to obedience, God delights in the praises our praise to Him. When you and I crawl up into our Heavenly Father’s arms and put our arms around His neck and thank Him and tell Him how much we love Him and how grateful we are for His precious love, then God’s smile beams its brightest!
Just like a proud grandpa or a saintly grandmother, there is nothing that is any more precious than a little child hugging our necks and telling us how much they love us! There is not anything that is any better than that! I have even had little rascals come up to me and hug my neck and I would do almost anything for them at that very moment.
God is the same way. He delights in the praise of His children who are obedient to His Word and His Will for their lives. There is nothing that He would not do for us when we are willing to come to Him in that kind of attitude. Love God and worship and praise Him in every thing that you do and experience His comfort in every aspect of your life.
. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you."
Name: Bob Hadley of Saved By Grace Ministries ChristiansUnite ID: sbgm Member Since: 2006-03-04 Location: Ormond Beach, Florida, United States Denomination: Southern Baptist About Me: I am a bi-vocational preacher and evangelist as well as a singer. I have been writing these daily devotionals now for 4 years. This years devotionals are written where month and day coorespond to a chapter and verse somewhere in the Bible. For exampl... more