- Tuesday, 8/13/19 John
13:1, ...having loved his own which were
in the world, [Jesus] loved them unto the end. How loving will you be in
the end? How loving are you now? Well, love covers a multitude of sins. However
loving you were, or were not, yesterday, start anew today.
- Tuesday, 8/6/19 Bible
Big Picture #11. Anyone’s story,
struggles, circumstances, success, failures, can be used to produce a blessing
or a warning or a lesson to another. But not just another...somewhere,
sometime...to ME today.
- Tuesday, 7/30/19 Bible
Big Picture #4. Bible characters went
through extreme circumstances: Abraham being told to sacrifice his own son and
living in tents for his whole life; job/family losses and false accusations;
David running from Saul; Noah being the mocked outcast with no results for 100
years; Paul’s trials...so we can take what is put on our plates.
- Tuesday, 7/23/19 Luke
9:56, For the Son of man is not come to
destroy men's lives, but to save them. Of course, Christ came to save souls
for eternity, and if you don’t know your soul is guaranteed of Heaven, message
me. However, if your life has been destroyed, Christ can likewise save it also.
- Tuesday, 7/16/19 Luke
6:42, Either how canst thou say to thy
brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou
thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast
out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to
pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. A reminder that you have
FAR bigger issues to deal with than nitpicking your loved ones.
- Tuesday, 7/9/19 Psalm
138:8, The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. “God’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the Sun and earth and
Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient He must be: He’s still working on me.”
- Tuesday, 7/2/19
Proverbs 27:19, As in water face
answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. Water reflects the face, and
the heart shows itself. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Are you
reflecting faith? Joy? Quiet confidence? Love? Or, strife? Arrogance? Pride?
“When others look at me, do they see Jesus?”
- Tuesday, 6/18/19 Zeph 2:3a, Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth... Meekness is a willingness to be governed. It’s adjusting our agenda to another’s. Moses was meek; Christ is; we are to be too. In a wife, God says this is extremely valuable. Are you willing for Him to govern you, even if He uses human authority (husband, parents, boss, law) to do it? Zeph 3:12, I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The huge calamity of national annihilation, starvation, much death, and mass deportations brought salvation through faith to some. For us: what is a huge negative this week may turn out to be a much greater positive next year. Bottom line: trust whatever God is doing/bringing in our lives.
- Wednesday, 6/19/19 Zeph 2:3ab, Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness... Whatever good qualities we have don’t last: they get corrupted or forsaken by our flesh. Keep seeking what you already have. We are to learn from history. Matthew 16:22-22, From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. Even our Saviour had to undergo an enormous short-term negative so as to produce a greater positive. So that’s how the Father operates. You and I can expect the same treatment.
- Thursday, 6/20/19 Proverbs 16:9, The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord. He didn’t say “the way of the wicked person,” but simply the lifestyle of the wicked person. Does your lifestyle (away from church) obviously emulate righteousness or a wicked man’s? Some verses in the Bible can humble us to the core immediately. And we all need that...our level of pride and complacency and arrogance and condescension must be nauseating to the Lord. Can you even read this verse out loud without your spirit nearly buckling? Psalm 119:162, I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. How excited would you be to find out you had the winning lottery ticket or just had your name picked out of the hat? That’s minuscule compared to how we should be every morning... ‘just sayin...
- Friday, 6/21/19 Psalm 119:32, I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. We must always be pushing ourselves to run faster and to get a larger heart and run even faster. Do you think you’re “fast enough”? “good enough?” “holy enough?” Luke 12:1b, [Jesus] began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. We often think of a hypocrite as one who acts better than they are, and, of course, that’s a correct illustration. However, the reverse is true. Do you ever act worse than you are so as to not be shamed for being “too holy”? So as to not be ridiculed? Are you hypocritical when you won’t admit that you don’t drink and that drinking is anti-scriptural? “Beware.” Today it’s not standing against wrong that others do; tomorrow it’ll be putting up with the wrong that you do.
- Saturday, 6/22/19 Psalm
119:24, Thy testimonies also are my
delight and my counsellors. Advice...do you get it from peers? Associates
at work? family? professionals? Or, is the Bible directing you? If you need
extra outside advice, are you first
going to the Holy Spirit and letting Him direct?
Tuesday, 6/12/19 Ezra
9:1, The people of Israel, and the
priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the
lands... Different millennium; same
sin. Each of us needs to see if we look like, talk like, joke like a church
person,...or like those around us. Standards still need to be upheld in 2019.
- Tuesday, 6/5/19 Psalm
36:9, For with thee is the fountain of
life: in thy light shall we see light. The key to getting more leading from
God is to obey what He’s already said. If He’s not talking, it’s probably cuz
we’re not obeying. Self eval time: are communications clear between you and
God?