- Tuesday, 1/1/19 Matthew
8:26a, And he saith unto them, Why are ye
fearful, O ye of little faith? Fear and a lack of faith are inseparable
companions. “Fear not” can only be accomplished through an increase of
faith...’which comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.’ Again, that
ol’ black Book is of paramount importance. Romans 8:21, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. What a day
that will be!! If you’re fighting battles with your flesh, take heart: you WILL
be victorious; it WILL be defeated. If you’re not fighting your flesh, why not?
You’re aligning yourself with the losing side/cause.
- Wednesday, 1/2/19 Micah
6:8, ...what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Do you love to extend mercy, or do you do it grudgingly? Do you love getting
mercy? Enough to humble yourself and truly confess your sin? Hosea 10:13, Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped
iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way...
Trusting in OUR way always gets us into trouble. My way, your way, everybody’s
way is sinful and corrupt. Quit trusting your mind, your feelings, your intentions,
your goals. Get wholly on board with Christ. Use His mind by accessing His Book
and taking to His Spirit.
- Thursday, 1/3/19 Acts
12:12, ...[Peter, post jail] came to the
house of Mary...where many were gathered together praying. Blunt question:
when was the last time you went to a prayer meeting with others? Prayed in a
group setting? “Give US this day...”
Prayer is VERY anti-flesh...it’s HARD...do it anyway. Acts 14:15, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like
passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities
unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things
that are therein: The greatest Christians of their day readily admitted
their fleshly frailties. Do you? Or, are you “near perfect...EVERY time” and
everyone else is consistently wrong? When you conflict with your spouse or kids
or coworkers: can you formulate 47 eloquent arguments why you’re right and
they’re wrong? Or, do you humbly consider that you’re a proud, selfish human
(sorta like me and everyone else) and that you may have done something to
offend? All of us need to look far more critically at our own thoughts,
actions, and motives, and far more mercifully at others’.
- Friday, 1/4/19 Acts
15:9, And put no difference between
[Jews] and [Gentiles], purifying their hearts by faith. Praise God!! He may
have a favorite nation, but He has no favorite people!!! He’ll give any one of
us the same as any other: He’ll give the shirt off His back and the Blood in
the Back!! Whoopee!!! Psalm
8:1, O Lord our Lord, how excellent is
thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Even
where it is hated, His name is excellent. Remember Whose side you’re on: and
remember that it’s the winning side. So, maintain your standards, hold the King
James high, keep on preaching, and keep on soul winning. Our Captain is
pleased, and will reward us handsomely. Have
you ever said something like, “They (or I) don’t deserve any of that? No one
deserves to be treated like that”? The truth is, that is a true statement. None
of us deserve to be treated poorly: we deserve to burn in Hell forever. We
deserve FAR worse than whatever treatment is getting us riled up. Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." ALL that ANY of us (you, me,
mom, child, etc.) deserve is to burn in agony forever, so ANYTHING that we get
that is better than burning is more than we deserve. I say this, not to
minimize mistreatment by others, but to stifle the pride that feels
I/we/us/he/she deserve better treatment. We don’t. Our pride, our
self-absorption declares our “minimum level of acceptable treatment.” So, #1, allow Bible teaching alter your
thinking and speaking. And, #2, thinking
that so-n-so didn't deserve thus-n-so may be taking your focus off of you. Yes
you. You (and the offended) need to forgive the offender. "But they don't
deserve forgiveness!!!" No, but you're commanded to forgive...as Christ
hath forgiven you. (If you're saying,
"Yeah, but..." then it shows that you're not agreeing with Bible
doctrine. "But" nothing: you and I and everyone else deserves Hell.
Is that mistreatment/abuse/injustice bad? Yes. Was it wrong for the perpetrator
to have done it? Yes. Should they possibly be punished by man's laws? Yes. Are
their actions Hell? No. So, the mistreatment/abuse/injustice is less than we
deserve.) Alter your thinking and
verbiage. Forgive and lead others to do so also.
- Saturday, 1/5/19 Romans
15:7, Wherefore receive ye one another,
as Christ also received us to the glory of God. OH MY WORD!!! Read that
again!!! We’re to receive each other AS, JUST LIKE, IN THE SAME FASHION as
Christ received us at salvation. Eagerly, totally, sweetly, forgetfully...OUCH,
OUCH, OUCH... Just
because you or I don’t get the feeling that God is actively expressing His
displeasure at our lifestyle or actions, doesn’t mean that He isn’t deeply
displeased. Consider Romans 1:24, Wherefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts...
Three times the same phrase is used: basically, in His displeasure, God “left
them alone.” Don’t play tug-of-war with God: sometimes, He’ll let go of the
rope and let you win...and fall flat on your bottom...
- Sunday, 1/6/19 Matthew
11:15, He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. (I’ve heard that this is the most repeated command in the NT.) I’m
assuming that if we’re born again, we’ve been given the “ears to hear.”
However, we must still CHOOSE to hear. “Let him.” Do you...regularly “hear”
from your Bible reading/church time? There is help...ask me or your spiritual
leaders. Romans
1:1a, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ... A deep introspective question: Are you, am I,
truly a servant of Christ...or of someone/thing else? Maybe ask yourself the
question this way: “Who or what gets a large portion of my discretionary time?”
Before you give a glib answer, think: could you give someone a list of what
you’ve done in your discretionary time in service? Far too many of us are truly
Christians only for a few hours a week, but the rest of the week, we give our
time to pleasure, friends, family, food, hobbies... Those aren’t wrong, in and
of themselves, but are we serving Christ IN that time? Are we conscious of His agenda
for the people with whom we interact at work or play? Are we working on cars
and find ourselves “without any time” to go soul winning? Are we working
overtime and thus, “CAN’T” make church? During this time of new beginnings and
resolutions, maybe each of us needs to do some introspection.
- Monday, 1/7/19 Do you
find yourself with the post-holiday blues, or simply lots of burdens? Matthew 11:29, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Get to work (yoke) with/for
Christ and the knowledge will come as will the peace and rest. Proverbs 24:5, A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge
increaseth strength (force, power, vigor). Know yourself; know others; know
inter-relational skills; know technical facts at work; know the Bible, know
history, know current events, know health facts... Most of us spend too much
time on our phones, on Netflix or YouTube and too little time reading. (You
remember how to read, don’t you? And what a book is?)
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