Devotional Rewind for Friday and Saturday

Friday

VOTD
(Proverbs 15:16)
Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it. (Pro 15:16 ESV)
Trouble is trouble. Why do we seek out that which will bring us trouble? Our first order of business should be to seek what the Father wants for us, then act accordingly.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalm 26, Mark 9:2-32, Exodus 39-40)
Psalms – How amazing it must be to, like this psalm, plead with Yahweh to judge your heart and actions. I try my best to live a set apart life, but I know myself, and I am so thankful for the grace given me by the sacrifice of Jesus.
Mark – Jesus lived his life in prayer in fasting, and was always ready for any turn of events. What can we do to be more like this?
Exodus – When we read all of the technical stuff about the tabernacle, we should keep in mind that our bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. We need to make sure that we take just as seriously how holy we should be living. Are we consecrated like the tabernacle? Or do we let unclean things into the temple of Yahweh? And then, be thankful for the grace given because in the time of Moses, people would’ve been struck dead for such violation. And then, strive to be more of a true temple.

Saturday

VOTD
(Proverbs 20:7)
The righteous who walks in his integrity-- blessed are his children after him! (Pro 20:7 ESV)
I, at this point, don’t have any children. But I don’t think that’s the point. This is a concept the Christians can find all throughout the New Testament, as well. Follow our Lord and be an example of Him to the world.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalm 27:1-6, Mark 9:33- 10:12, Leviticus 1-3)
Psalm – Every beat and meter of this psalm is all about lifting up Yahweh, and in effect Yahweh lifting us up. Why is it so difficult to have my every thought be about God. I know we’re in a fallen world, but when do I get to move past that excuse? This is so beautiful. This is what I want.
Mark – “If anyone wants to be first, he will be last of all and servant of all.” We lead by example, and we don’t ask anyone to do that which we won’t/haven’t done ourselves.
Leviticus – This is considered by many (me among them most of the time) to be the most boring book in the Bible. But, if you’re willing to look there’s so much in here. There are all of these rules but the question is why are there all of these rules. And what do they symbolize. And, I think, modern Christianity has done a disservice to the book of Leviticus. Since we’re taught that we are no longer to observe Torah, we see this book of laws that we don’t have to follow anymore and we think, “well, really, what’s the point of reading this book?” 

Devotional Rewind for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Here are some of the thoughts I had as I went through my devotions over the past few days:

Tuesday

VOTD
(Proverbs 21:2)
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. (Pro 21:2 ESV)
We shouldn’t just take this to mean that we can justify whatever we’re doing but saying that our heart was in the right place. We should see this as a gentle rebuke. Don’t try to do what’s right in your own eyes, search the Scriptures and find out what is right in God’s eyes.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 25:8-15, Mark 7:1-30, Exodus 33-34)
Psalms – “My eyes are continually toward Yahweh, because he will take my feet from the net.” This is the kind of verse that makes me strive to be more than I am. I wish I could say that my eyes were continually toward Yahweh. But then I remember that David wasn’t perfect and there were times that his eyes weren’t perfectly turned to Yahweh. But I guess the point is that he wanted them to be. And so do I.
Mark – Verse 19 (and its parallel verse) is one of those often used to say that all foods are able to be eaten. Many translations make some parenthetical statement at the end of the verse, like this:

So He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, "because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, [thus] purifying all foods?" (Mar 7:18-19 NKJV)

But the truth of it is that there’s no word in the Greek which would be “thus”, so I read this verse to be talking about the ritual cleaning which the oral tradition taught (just like every other verse around this one). The KJV is probably a more accurate translation on this one:

And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, [it] cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? (Mar 7:18-19 KJV)

I will admit that out of all the verses where people claim that the food laws have been abolished, this is probably the best argument. But if that is really what this is about, would the apostles (throughout the entirety of the book of Acts) claim to have never eaten anything unclean? Even Peter’s vision, which often people misconstrue to be about abolishing the food laws (later in the account he provides the correct interpretation – and then James does, as well, a couple chapters later – that the vision is meant to bring the gentiles into the fold as well), if Jesus had really abolished the food laws here, would Peter be so surprised by his initial understanding of the vision? Would he say that he had never eaten anything unclean before if Jesus had already abolished this? We have to look at the whole of Scripture to get our interpretations, and not just pick and choose verses.
Exodus – There’s a lot in these couple chapters. So much to choose to focus on. But I guess the best thing to focus on is always Yahweh. Moses chooses what he wants most from God and that is that he see Yahweh’s glory, so that he can know that he has Yahweh’s favor. This is kind of convicting to me. If I had the opportunity to ask for anything, can I honestly say that I would ask to see the glory of the LORD? I like to think that I’m moving toward that place, but I don’t know that I can guarantee that right now.

Wednesday

VOTD
(Galatians 6:2)
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2 NKJV)
Jesus is our example in life, and our model. When you see a brother falling into sin, intercede on their behalf. Approach them, exposing their sin, as Messiah did for us. At the same time, don’t let yourself get dragged down by the sin. In the world, not of the world.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 25:16-22, Mark 7:31-8:13, Exodus 35-36)
Psalms – The psalms of David are often depressing, but even in his depression, he was always able to point to Yahweh. And like in v.18 (Look on my affliction and my pain, And forgive all my sins. (Psa 25:18 NKJV)) he was always seeking forgiveness of his sins, as well as justice.
Mark – People were bombarding Jesus with requests to heal these people. People wanted to see a miracle. The needed to see proof. So what did Jesus do? He took the sick away from the people who wanted to SEE the miracle, and He gave the miracle to the people in NEED of miracle.
Exodus – The Tabernacle is about to be built, and all of the Israelites gave as offerings their fine metals and fabrics to be used in its making. These people are giving all that they have, to make a tent that the won’t even be allowed inside of. It really makes the sacrifices that most of us make seem rather trivial.

Thursday

VOTD
(Proverbs 18:10)
A tower of strength is the name of Yahweh; into him the righteous will run and be safe. (Pro 18:10 LEB)
This is a beautiful verse, but it confuses me why so many people (and most of the actual translations of the Bible) take away its power by not actually saying the name of God. Is it that we’re scared to mispronounce YHWH? I don’t believe you have to say it a specific way, but I think you should at least try. Especially when the verse you’re talking about say that there is strength in the name, and then it says a specific name. And the original Hebrew didn’t say “LORD”. That’d be like if I told someone that if they ever needed anything they should just call out my name and they say, “Hey, guy!” I don’t want to sound legalistic here. I think that if you call God “Lord” He’s still gonna hear you and react accordingly but, to me, it’s about respect.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Proverbs 6:1-11, Mark 8:14-9:1, Exodus 37-38)
Proverbs – This is a convicting verse. When I don’t work I love to just lay down and relax. I need to get my butt in gear. I need to start doing things I want to do. If I never start working toward things, I can’t be made when they don’t come to fruition!
Mark – I think, here, when Jesus is cautioning His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees He is speaking to their relying on the traditions of man. It was tradition for disciples to bring the food when they were traveling with their teacher. Jesus was just warning them to not concern themselves with tradition. He, Jesus (the Son of God), had provided for them in the past (the extra baskets of bread) and also in the distant past (the manna for the Israelites), so why worry about the traditions saying to rely on anyone except for God Himself for your bread…
This is another convicting verse:
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mar 8:38 NKJV)
Why is it oftentimes so hard to stand up for our faith? Are we afraid to offend others by seeming judgmental, or are we just ashamed? Either way, it seems like something we should get over!
Exodus – I really need to look more into the different significances behind the different things inside of the tabernacle. Nothing gets put into the Bible just to fill space; there’s a reason for everything being there. The fun part is figuring out the reason!

Devotional Rewind for Sunday and Monday

Sunday

VOTD
(Ephesians 4:26-27)
This is one that I’ve always tried to live by. “Don’t let the sun set on your anger.” I mean, it would be nice if I could say that I’ve always tried to live by the “do not sin” part. But I’m working on that one, too…

Monday

VOTD
(1 John 4:1)
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1Jo 4:1 ESV)
I think that, today more than any other time, we need to heed this verse (and all 1 John, for that matter). There are so many false prophets out there, and so many false teachings. What does the Bible say? Look into what the Word of the Yahweh says, and test everything against scripture to make sure that what you’re hearing lines up with what we know to be true. If we were zealous in our own lives, and didn’t just want to get the Cliff’s Notes from our pastors and teachers, we would be a lot better off today.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 25:1-7, Proverbs 5:15-23, Mark 6, Exodus 29-33)
Psalms – We can read the Bible all day long, but until our reading becomes a dialog to us, we’re not really getting all that much instruction.
Proverbs – One of the lessons we have to learn in this life is that we have to learn to be happy with what we’ve got. We have to learn to love what we have. Bitterness and envy are tools of the devil and they have no place in the life of a believer and God. One thing I’m trying to do, every day, is to start the day by coming up with something that I’m thankful for. I say I’m trying because I still forget from time to time, but I’m trying to build that habit. If we can, daily, come up with something that we’re thankful for, it puts you in a better place overall.
Mark – What’s the purpose of the specific requests Yeshua makes when He sends out His disciples? “Not to wear two tunics”? That one confuses me more than the others. But maybe it was just, like the rest, a lesson that they should not rely on what they have personally, but that they should rely on what God would provide for them.
Jesus feeds the 5000. One thing to notice is that Jesus doesn’t just do this, He has His disciples participate in it. We are supposed to be a part of His miracles. We are supposed to help Him feed His sheep.
Jesus walks on the water, but why was He originally going to pass by them (v.48)?
Exodus – Before the sacrifice of Jesus, there was so much sacrifice to cover the sins of the people. It’s sometimes weird to realize that all of the animals that the Israelites took out of Egypt were not for food (they were to eat the manna provided them by God) but solely for the purpose of sacrifice to Yahweh.
What is “strange incense”?
Exodus 30:31-38 makes think twice about using essential oils that come from the Bible. Be careful with what you do. Things have meaning.
As society turns more and more into a 24/7 society, is it any wonder that when we’ve started having more people work on the Sabbath we have also forgotten that God created the earth in 6 days and on the 7^th day He rested? Since the Sabbath is a covenant throughout all generations, it makes sense that when we stop recognizing the covenant we would stop understanding its meaning.
The Golden Calf: This calf was created to commemorate Yahweh, and to celebrate Him. This wasn’t an idol meant to symbolize some pagan god. This was supposed to be a festival for Yahweh. This was how the Israelites knew to celebrate their God because this was what they had done in Egypt. But, God still saw this as abominable. Yahweh doesn’t want to be worshipped as the pagans worship their gods. He lets us know how we are to worship Him, and incorporating pagan practices is not the way.

Devotional Rewind Thursday - Saturday

Thursday

VOTD
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
I’m 100% sure I just went over these verses in a devotional within the past couple weeks. What I said then still applies: How often do we actually live for Messiah? How often do we not worry about what people will think about us? How often do we let our struggles define us, when Yeshua’s struggle should be our defining moment? Do we know better than God? Maybe that struggle that we have will be the very thing that helps us win a soul later. Don’t be fooled into thinking that every hardship you go through is because you are a follower of Messiah, but every hardship you go through is a chance to show Messiah’s love.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 22:22-31, Mark 3:31-4-29, Exodus 23-24)
Psalms – Sometimes, as I’m reading through the Bible, I find myself skimming – or even zoning out and not paying attention to what I’ve been reading – but then I look down and I realize that what I was supposed to be reading are words of praise to the Almighty of the universe. My attention needs to be on Him, not what is to happen next. If this goes for when I’m reading the Bible, you know that it also goes for when I’m living everyday life.
Mark – How often do we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they’re actually family? And I’m not talking about extended family who just came over for Thanksgiving dinner, family. Let’s try to be more functional!
What does it mean, “Lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them”? There’s something deeper here. Maybe something to do with how we can’t eat of the tree of life when we are in sin.
Exodus – Why do we not observe the Feasts which God has told us to observe? Often we hear that we don’t need to anymore because Jesus died for our sins. First of all, how does that make sense? Just because we don’t have to, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t. Secondly, observing the feasts of Yahweh, isn’t a sin. I guess, since it was the law to observe the feasts, it would be a sin not to. So are we saying that Jesus died so that we could sin? This isn’t the case at all! Jesus died for us so that when we sin, we are not held captive by the lawful punishments, but that doesn’t mean that we should go out of our way to sin. Sin is transgression of the law.

Friday

VOTD
(Proverbs 16:3)
Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. - Pro 16:3 ESV
This one is an important one. Do we really, each day, commit our work to Yahweh? I know I’m guilty of not doing this. You get to work and you try to figure out the best way to get this done or get that done. But, I very rarely take the opportunity to ask God what the best way would be. And I very rarely commit what I’m doing to Him. And yet, that’s probably the most important part of the day. So I’m going to take advantage of this moment right now (before I go to work for the day) and say: 

                Heavenly Father, I thank You for the opportunity You’ve given me to represent You. I commit my day to You, and everything that I do, I do it for You. I ask that You would remind me as the day goes along what it is that You would have me do. Bring your Name to my remembrance before I do or say something out of selfishness. I ask that Your Holy Spirit would instruct me as to the right things to say and do. I ask all of these things in the saving name of Jesus, our Messiah. Amen.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 23, Mark 4:30-5:20, Exodus 25-26)
Psalms – Every time I come across Psalm 22 I get excited. I wish I could go about every day with that excitement of knowing that Yahweh is my shepherd. I mean, I should be able to do this, but life gets in the way. I need to make sure that it doesn’t.
Mark – My biggest question, every time I read about the man with the legion of unclean spirits, is why was there a herd of pigs in Israel?
Exodus – Recently I’ve become aware that there’s an alternate understanding of what the Tabernacle looked like. This claim is that it was round. The dimensions seem to work out, but what does that mean for the Temple?

Saturday

VOTD
(Psalm 119:2)
Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart. (Psa 119:2 HCSB)
Psalm 119 is basically a love song to the Word of God. But what does this mean today? Should we be any less willing to walk in the laws of Yahweh? Why do we think that just because we have grace, we can sin as much as we want? If we believe the Bible (and this verse in particular), we are happy when we keep His decrees. We are not under the law, but if God wants us to follow is commandments out of love, shouldn’t we give that a go?

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 24, Mark 5:21-6:6, Exodus 27-28)
Psalms – Who is the King of Glory? Not only did the band Third Day concentrate on this question, but it sure looks like David paid attention to this question, too. If this was a question that David wanted to focus on, to draw out the characteristics of God, then that’s a good enough reason for me to do it, too.
Mark – Here we deal with the woman who touched the hem of Yeshua’s robe as he walked by, and was healed. When we hear that Yeshua felt power go out of him – without attempting to sound sacrilegious – that borders on sounding like magic. It makes me wonder what healing power really is. We know that Jesus spent a lot of His time in prayer, was this a way of storying up healing power to be used later? Again, I don’t want this to sound sacrilegious, this is an honest question.

Exodus – The breastplate and the Ephod of the High Priest. There’s so much here. I’m going to post this teaching here because it’s going to go into everything I want to go in to.

Devotional Rewind for Tuesday & Wednesday

Continuing what I started the other day, I'm posting my recap of my devotions every 2-3 days instead of once per week. Here's the last 2 days:

VOTD
(Philippians 4:13)
This verse has kind of become a meme. It’s so “commonplace” that we almost don’t pay attention to it anymore. We see it tattooed on numerous athlete’s arms and chests. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It’s become a tool of empowerment, but what does it really mean. I want to take a step back as I think about this. It’s bigger than just this verse. I mean, certainly the basics of this verse are true, but I think we (I) often times try to do outlandish things because we have Christ. And then we get confused because we fail. What if when it says that you can do all thing through Chris, it means that you have to do it through Christ? And I’m not talking about in some New-Agey channeling kind of way, either. But, are you living like Christ? Are your actions lining up with what His would be? The word used for “through” is meant to denote “instrumentality”. You don’t play songs on a guitar simply by owning a guitar. You actually have to pick it up, hold it close, and let the guitar be a part of the process, and not simply sitting over in the corner.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 22:12-21, Mark 1:29-2:17, Exodus 19-20)
Psalms – More prophetic imagery. “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” We’re nearing the time of year that Yeshua died for us. I think it’s good to take a minute each day and think about this.
Mark – One of the things we have to be sure of when we’re asking for healing, is that we really want that healing. Sometimes, over time, we’ve come to take on our malady as a piece of our identity. And if we’re not ready to drop that from our identity, we won’t be allowed to. There were times that I was depressed in life, and I would say that I didn’t want to be depressed, but if I told you the truth you would’ve heard that depression was a bit of a security blanket. I embraced it because I knew it, and if I didn’t have it there, I wouldn’t know how to react to things. Now, I’m not saying that all who are depressed are like this, just that identifying with our maladies can be a real thing. So, search yourself when you ask for healing, and make sure that you’re totally ready for that healing. Once you know you are, go at it wholeheartedly! (So this thought that came out of my head was based on a misreading of these verses, but it still holds true…) J
Exodus – Here we have a famous verse:
                'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." (Exo 19:5-6 NASB)
                Yahweh is obviously talking to the nation of Israel. I mean, it even says that. But then what do we make of this:
                But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (1Pe 2:9 NASB)
                Should we assume that Peter was only talking to the Jews, or is this an identity that we, as gentiles grafted into Israel (Romans 11) can identify with? And, if so, are we not to identify with the same people who God was speaking to through Moses in Exodus 19, since Peter is quoting that verse?
We also here get into the 10 Commandments. I’m going to be looking more into the 10 Commandments in the coming weeks.

Wednesday

VOTD
(Matthew 18:20)
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." (Mat 18:20 NKJV)
This is another often referenced Bible verse. And, indeed, it is a very powerful verse. One thing that should be thought of when using this verse is that in Deuteronomy 19:15 Yahweh established that, legally, a matter could not be established without the testimony of at least 2 or 3 witnesses (also see 2 Corinthians 13:1). Sometimes we forget that God describes His throne room as a legal court, where Satan is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), we also see in the book of Job that ha Satan (literally, the accuser) goes before the throne of Yahweh to legally gain the right to heap troubles upon Job. This is the divine council and all legality must be followed. The Deut 19:15 reference is speaking an earthly hearing. Is it possible that when Jesus says that when 2 or 3 are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of them, that He’s saying that this is also happening in heaven, before the throne of God, legally acting as a witness to the heavenly court. When we gather together in prayer, it I quite possible that we are not just praying in our physical location, but we are actually in the throne room of the Almighty, making a legal petition before Yahweh. This is powerful.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Proverbs 5:1-14, Mark 2:18-3:10, Exodus 21-22)
Proverbs – We are to be set apart. How can we do this when we consistently try to be like the world?
Mark – Maybe this didn’t happen but it seems logical to me that Jesus would have actually had to teach His disciples to not fast. If the rest of the religious communities were fasting, Yeshua would’ve actually told his followers not to, in order for them not to fast. There is no big revelation here, this is just the first time I thought of this.
Exodus – This is where we get the “eye for an eye” verse that Jesus references. It is lawful that we should expect to be paid back for injury to ourselves, but Yeshua teaches us to give grace to our persecutors, just has He should grace to us.

Devotional Rewind for Sunday and Monday (2/14/16 - 2/15/16)

VOTD
(John 15:13)(Jeremiah 17:10)
John – "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (Jhn 15:13 NKJV)” This is convicting. We speak of love all the time. We are supposed to love one another, but we forget that we are supposed to love as Christ loved the church (Eph 5:2,25). As Valentine’s Day has just past, and we have “celebrated” “love”, let us remember what love truly is. So often today we view love as mushy feelings and physical intimacy, but there is a very real Biblical definition of love: are you willing to die for your friend?
All of that Hallmark stuff is cute but what does it mean? I’m not saying this in some “I’m better than Valentine’s Day” type of way (even if I am…). But know what love is. Know true love is laying down your life for the ones you love. If you are not willing to do this, don’t sully the good name of love.
What is the “good name of love”? Well, 1 John 4:8 gives us a pretty good answer: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1Jo 4:8 NKJV)” I think that in this instance it would also be acceptable to reverse this and say that he who does not know God, does not know love. So, how do we get to know love better? We seek the nature of Yahweh. The face of Yahweh (Ps 27:8). The better we understand our heavenly father, the better we understand love. And, because of this, the better we will be able to show love to others. I bet you it there’s still room for flowers (Matt 6:28) and dinner (Matt 14:13-21) and the other mushy stuff, but there probably isn’t too much about The Walking Dead (Phillipians 4:8).

Jeremiah – “"I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds." (Jer 17:10 ESV)”. Sometimes when you see verses like this you wonder when you will be given what you deserve. But, with a proper understanding of sin, if we were truly given what we deserve then we would be crying and gnashing our teeth, and stuff (Luke 13:28). The truth is probably that if we were trying to look at situations with our eyes to the Kingdom of Heaven then we would probably see a completely different picture than we see in the natural world. There’s a supernatural world – a spiritual realm – and I can’t help but wonder what situations like the ones we’re discussing look like when viewed in the supernatural realm. Is there something else attached? Does it look even remotely as beautiful? Or is there something altogether ugly about it? I’m reminded of what happens in the Lord of the Rings movie when Frodo puts on the One Ring. Is that what the spirit realm looks like when there’s evil around? Food for thought…

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 21-22, Matthew 28, Mark 1, Exodus 15-18)
Psalm 21 – Sometimes when I read in the Psalms about asking for God’s wrath it strikes me as odd. Like when David is asking God to destroy his enemies – I guess it seems to me that we should seek good for our enemies (Matthew 5:44) – but I get feeling that this one is not like that. This one seems more prophetic, speaking about the fire that Yahweh will bring with Him when He judges the earth at the end of all things. I still have some work to do in the face-seeking department, but maybe this one is a piece of it.
Psalm 22 – Jesus thought enough of this Psalm that He decided to quote it as one of the last thing He said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Expect the rest to have similar ties.
Matthew 28 – When Jesus says that “all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me” we’re left to put the pieces together as to what this means. There are puzzle pieces throughout the entirety of the New Testament. It’s our treasure and pleasure to go find them.
Mark 1 – Food for thought: Jesus, in verse 15, to believe in the gospel. He hadn’t yet died, and He wasn’t making that part of His ministry known, or even that He was the Son of God (v.25), so what is the gospel He was talking about?
Exodus 15-16 – In Exodus 15:2 we have a fun little thing going on. In the song that the Hebrews are singing to Yahweh they say, “Yah is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.” Well, the word for salvation here is… Yeshua/Jesus. So back here in Exodus we see a potential foreshadowing of God coming to humanity and becoming one of us. In verse 6 we see that Yahweh’s right hand is glorious in power, and that His right hand destroyed the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. But we also know that Jesus is the right hand of God (Luke 22:69). In verse 10 we also see a reference to the Holy Spirit. Yahweh blew his breath across the waters. The word used (ruach) is also used for spirit. And the Spirit of God is his Ruach.
Exodus 17-18 – We (I) sometimes question God and His judgements. I ask what I have done to deserve to be judged. Why should we be held responsible for the sins of someone thousands of years ago? Why were we brought into the world just to be judged to death? How is this different than the Israelites crying out for water and asking why they have been brought out into the wilderness to die of thirst. So God has Moses bring water from a rock. But we already have our water (John 4:14). In answer to my crying out to Yah, He has already given me the water that I might not die in the wilderness. All I have to do is drink it in.

Devotional Rewind 2/13/16

So, just as a reminder (or as an exposition, if you haven't read any of these before), I'm chronicling my daily devotions. This past week I was doing two different devotional plans provided from the Bible App: The Verse of the Day plan (which isn't really all that good and I am still thinking of dropping it and picking a new one) and the Bible in One Year plan. Here's the rundown...

Sunday

VOTD
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
Remember, when you’re going through some sort of trouble or difficult time, the Father is there for you and He will comfort you. Secondly, always keep in mind that maybe you’re going through this trouble so that maybe someday you will be able to help out someone else who is going through a similar trouble. And in this way you can show the love of Jesus to someone else.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 18, Matthew 25, Job 40-42)
Psalms – When we show our faithfulness to God, He will make Himself known to us. It’s by faith that we’re saved. Abraham had faith that God would save Isaac, but he carried on the sacrifice right up to the point that God had to do it. He had faith in God’s salvation. Noah had faith that God’s word was sure, so he built that huge boat, even though he had never seen rain before. It is by our faith that we are accounted righteous. But, remember, in these instances, faith is a tangible thing. They acted on their faith. This leads right into…
Matthew – This is one of the parables (the parable of the talents) that I always feel so bad for the dude who is viewed as evil. I associate so much with him. But he is still the bad guy. I try to justify why he shouldn’t be the bad guy. But the truth is, we say that we have faith in Yah, but if we did wouldn’t we act more like it? Wouldn’t we take risks, and not count them as risks because we know that we’re doing Yahweh’s work and they will succeed because He cannot fail?
It’s a hard thing to truly live up to the words of Jesus/Yeshua. You have to keep yourself in check at all times. I fail so often to live up to the standards He sets forth in Matt 25:31-46. It doesn’t matter if I’m in a bad mood, or if I’m tired, or anything… we are to treat everyone we encounter as if they were Yeshua. We need to show everyone the grace that we have been shown by the Father.
Job – Yahweh is Shaddai (Almighty) and if He puts a plan in motion, who are we to question it? I fail at this so often but who am I to question God’s plans? Who am I to doubt His faithfulness?

Monday

VOTD
(Hebrews 4:12)
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
We often read this verse and think of the word of God as the Bible, and this is certainly true, but Jesus is also the Word of God. And it’s a mighty and powerful statement that Jesus is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. One of the tenants of our faith is that Jesus died and was raised from the grave, but we have to always remember that He is risen, because he conquered death.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 19, Matthew 26, Exodus 1-3)
Psalms – Because of society, and how they have twisted the night sky into the pagan practice of astrology, we as Christians shun any hint of messages in the stars. But, back in Genesis we are told by the Almighty that the lights in the heavens are for signs and for seasons. This passage speaks eloquently to this. The whole idea of the Mazzoroth (the witness in the stars) is that God laid out his plan of salvation in the heavens so that those looking up could see the plan for history, even before it happened. Think of Adam sitting out under the open night sky, his son Seth looking up at the sky with him. Adam tells Seth about his time in the Garden of Eden, and then he takes him through each word picture in the sky and shows him that Yahweh was going to send a Messiah to atone for his sin. This is what the stars are supposed to be.
Matthew – It’s amazing how, even in His betrayal and subsequent death, Jesus is control of the timing of all of it. He knew all along what was going to happen, but he forces Judas’s hand by calling him out on his betrayal.
Exodus – In verse 1:5 we read that there were 70 who had come to Egypt as part of Israel. It’s something to remember and look in to that the table of nations included 70 people, and they are the ones who Israel will be taking over from.

Tuesday

VOTD
(Deuteronomy 30:16)
How do we show our God our love? By going in His ways and keeping His commandments. This is also shown in the New Testament by Jesus/Yeshua when, in John 14:15, He says, “if you love me, keep My commandments.” You’d have to do some pretty fast footwork to convince me that He wasn’t referencing this verse from Deuteronomy (especially since Jesus/Yeshua referenced Deuteronomy more than anything else.)

1 Year Bible Plan
(Proverbs 4:10-19, Matthew 26, Exodus 4-6)
Proverbs – Pay attention to the teachings of God. Surround yourself with the righteous so that you don’t stumble. Don’t hang out with the evil so that you don’t become evil yourself.
Matthew – In verse 40 is Jesus saying that if Peter had been able to stay awake, and be in Prayer with Him, that maybe he wouldn’t have denied him later that night?
Exodus – In verse 4:16 when Yahweh says that Moses will be to Aaron as God, How far was this going. The word for God used is Elohim. Is Yahweh saying that Moses would be a supernatural presence? How literally should this be taken?

Wednesday

VOTD
For some reason the Verse of the Day on the Bible app was different than the verse used for the VOTD devotional. So I did both…
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
This is a convicting passage. If we truly believe that Yeshua died for us, why are we (I) not living every hour of every day for Him? I know that we are saved by His grace, but I think too often we put aside living for Him because we expect His grace to be all there is. We say that we can’t do anything to earn the grace which has already been freely given (which is true), but we shouldn’t forget that God still wants us to follow Him (Deut 30:16 & John 14:15). The beginning of verse 14 is translated a few different ways. “For the love of Christ (controls/compels/constrains) us”. The word in question is G4912 (συνέχω) and it has the meaning of "to hold together". So we are held together by the love of Christ, in that He died for us, and because of this it is as if we have all died to this world. So now, in Him, we have been born again. But, since we are in Him, we are doing Him a disservice if we are not living as He would have us live. We are a cancer to His body when we fight against the Body itself. I guess the point is, He died for us, and we have accepted His gracious gift of salvation through His death, so we have to do our absolute best to act as He would be acting. That "hokey" WWJD is precisely what we should be asking ourselves every second of every day. And if we don't know the answer, we need to be doing more research.
(Psalm 27:14)
It is important to remember that sometimes we have to wait for Yahweh to act. We are not the aggressor here. He is God, and He knows better than us when He should be doing whatever it is that needs to be done. Wait on Yahweh. Wait on the LORD. In doing this, we show our strength.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalm 19, Matthew 26, Exodus 6-8)
Psalms -  One thing I wish I was better at is having the world of Yahweh always on my heart, mind, and tongue. So often I have the best of intentions at the beginning of the day to filter everything that happens through God colored glasses. And then the first time any not-quite-good thing happens my first reaction is to lash out in immature aggression. How do I force myself back on track throughout the day? I guess the answer is practice. It just takes so much longer than I want it to.
Matthew – A few things: I don’t know if it’s just the way I’ve seen it portrayed in movie, or if I had read errantly in the past, but I had always envisioned those who came to take Jesus away to be Roman soldiers, but they were Jews, and it was a slave of the high priest who had his ear cut off; every time I have read this since I first realized that this is the place where Jesus is claiming divinity (Son of Man riding on the clouds is a direct reference to Daniel 7:13) I am amazed at how anyone can say that Jesus never claimed to be God, not only did He claim to be God but He showed specifically how He was God in this statement; it should be realized that at the end of this chapter, when the high priest tears his robe, this is a violation of the law and this renders the upcoming Judaic Passover sacrifices unlawful, and the sacrifice of Jesus is thus the only rightful sacrifice offered up.
Exodus – One of the main takeaways that I get from Moses and his interaction with Pharaoh is that I need to try to be less stubborn. Pharaoh has so many opportunities to do the right thing, but he lets his stubbornness get in the way, and this leads to unimaginable folly.

Thursday

VOTD
(Ephesians 1:9-10)
God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ--everything in heaven and on earth. (Eph 1:9-10 NLT)
All of history had been, and is still, working as a crescendo leading up to the time of Messiah. History is still working toward this end goal and one of the greatest beauties in life is to step back and look at it unfold. Don’t stay back there too long, though. There’s still so much to get out there and do!

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 20, Matthew, 26-27, Exodus 9-10)
Psalms – Though we may come away from a victory looking mighty, the only thing to boast in is Yahweh Almighty. If we let our focus fall on our material things, we lose sight of what truly got us to where we are.
Matthew – Never let pride get the better of you. Peter denied Yeshua 3 times before he even caught on to what he was doing. I would like to think that I would figure it out before the 3^rd time and then just get myself out of the situation. But then, I guess it was the Son of God who made the prediction, so there’s little doubt that it was going to come to pass.
Exodus – It should be remembered the plagues dispensed by God upon Egypt were each meant to be a direct attack on one of Egypt’s primary gods.

Friday
For some reason, Friday is my rough day. I didn’t do any devotions. I’ve missed two days so far during this year, and both of those times have been a Friday. So I’m going to make up for it on Saturday.

Saturday

VOTD
(John 10:28-30, Galatians 6:9)
John – So much for anyone who had said that Jesus never claimed to be God. “I and the Father are one.” Also, go out each day knowing that you are safe in the Father’s hand. Act accordingly.
Galatians – Don’t ever grow sick of doing good things. Don’t mind the negativity that comes your way. Don’t mind the hatred that comes your way for doing good for Yeshua. Do the good anyway, and your good deeds will be noticed eventually.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalm 21, Proverbs 4:20-27, Matthew 27-28, Exodus 11-14)
Psalms – It is important to thank God when we have our prayers answered. There are a lot of Psalms which ask Yahweh for help, but we need to remember that there are Psalms like this one which thanks Him for all that He’s given us in answer to our prayers.
Proverbs – We should always be sure that we keep our eyes on Jesus. As we’re walking through life, like it’s the Sea of Galilea, never take your eyes off of Jesus.
Matthew – It’s always astonishing that Pilate still goes through with it, even though he knows that Jesus has done nothing wrong. But, if he didn’t, I would not have my salvation today.
Exodus – In this passage we get a description of the Feast of Passover (and those around it). It’s amazing to me that we (as Christians) don’t really pay that much attention the Feasts of Yahweh. If it doesn’t matter that God said that we should, shouldn’t it at least matter that they are all symbolic of Jesus, and what He was going to do for us?

Devotional Rewind 2/6/16

I've been consistent with my devotion for a month now (there's so much further to go before I can feel accomplished) and I really feel that I'm starting to get more out of them each day. I'm getting so much more out of each day's devotions that I'm considering posting these devotional rewinds more frequently than once a week. We'll see what happens but each week I feel like this post is getting longer and longer and they're getting to the point that I'm not sure I would read them if I came across them.

Sunday

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 18, Matthew 21, Job 19-21)
Psalms – It seems like it shouldn’t be necessary to say but I need to make sure to thank God when my prayers are answered. I need to thank God when things go my way. Too often, we (I) seek out God when things are going wrong, but then I just accept it as how it should be when things turn back around. You know what, I’m just going to do it now to make up for missed opportunities:

                Thank you, Father, for bringing peace into my life. Thank you, God, for letting your grace fall upon me. Thank you, Abba, for giving me your instructions. Thank you, Yahweh, for your favor. Thank you, my Lord, for giving your Son. I pray that I am reminded of this, every hour of every day.

Matthew – I often wonder at the conversation the disciples had when they took the donkey and the colt. Did they meet someone who questioned what they were doing? “The Lord needs them.” Maybe they let them go because they didn’t know how to respond to that?
Job – What was the understanding of a spiritual redeemer to the Old Testament Hebrew? Is the book of Job really supposed to predate Abraham? If so, where does this belief come from? Even if this is after Abraham, you have to go down the line pretty far to get to the concept of a Kinsman Redeemer. Does this concept stem from the Mazzaroth and the story passed down with it? The “rivers of milk and honey” reference (20:17) is also weird to my mind in a pre-Mosaic world. How long have these concepts been around, and how much do we just glide over and accept as part of our culture?

Monday

YouVersion Verse of the Day: February
I’ve just discovered that the Bible app has a devotional to go along with its Verse of the Day so I figured I’d check it out and see how that goes. (I don’t know how long this one is going to last, it really doesn’t do anything except show you the verses and provide some music to read the verses to.)
(Hebrews 13:5-6)
Much like Jesus had said on the sermon on the mount, the writer of Hebrews doubles-down and says that we shouldn’t be concerned about money, or finances, God will take care of us.

Tuesday

VOTD
(1 John 2:15-16)
Step outside of the norm. Look at the things around you and realize that this is “the matrix”. There’s a reality that is more than twice as big as what you see, and the stuff in the world that we see is not how it really looks. In the 4^th dimension of the spirit realm, what we see in our 3 dimensions is just the tip of the iceberg. So, what is it that we love in this world? God says that stuff is perversions of the stuff that He made. We may as well believe Him since He can see it and we can’t…

1 Year Bible Plan
(Proverbs 3:21-35, Psalms 18, Matthew 21-22, Job 22-29)
Proverbs – "Don’t get cocky, kid"
Psalms – In verse 15, is David saying through all of this majestic prose that we’re talking about God’s sneeze?
Matthew – Jesus telling the fig tree to whither has always been a strange one to me. It seems out of place. But then He tells his disciples that, with faith, they will be able to move mountains. Is all of this symbolic? Mountains are often symbolic of kingdoms, is this fig tree meant to be Israel? This is still something I have to look into.
The parable of the vineyard and the son seems to be about the other god (Deut 32), and their treatment of Yeshua, and not just the Jews (which this seems to be inferring, and is mostly what is taught.)
Job – It always amazes me how much Job complains and God still says that this is the good guy. I need to be less judgmental toward people who are negative. I still don’t think it’s right, but God isn’t using that as a point of judgment, so why should I…

Wednesday

VOTD
(Psalms 5:11-12)
“and let those who love Your Name exult in You”. I need to press into the name of God. Yahweh, Yehovah, Yahuweh, Yahuwah. What’s in a name?

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 18, Mathew 22, Job 30-32)
Psalms – How often do I forget to thank God for the victories in my life? David went to Yah with everything. If David was a man after God’s own heart, could this be because he spent so much time in prayer and praise?
Matthew – Be careful of silver tongued enemies. Don’t be enchanted by their seemingly flattering words.
Job – "Have I put my trust in money or felt secure because of my gold? Have I gloated about my wealth and all that I own? "Have I looked at the sun shining in the skies, or the moon walking down its silver pathway, and been secretly enticed in my heart to throw kisses at them in worship? If so, I should be punished by the judges, for it would mean I had denied the God of heaven. (Job 31:24-28 NLT).
I need to always be sure that I don’t get to proud of my worldly wins.
Who is Elihu, son of Barakel the Buzite?

Thursday

VOTD
(Philippians 4:6-7)
How do we go to God in Prayer over terrible things with thanksgiving in our hearts? Is it ok to simply say something like this, “Dear God, my life has this problem and that problem, but I’m thankful because I know that You’re going to take care of it.”? I think that the attitude of thanksgiving is more than twisting our words so that we say that we expressing thanks. We need to live thankfully, and this isn’t easy. We need to be thankful that we are even having the situations which we want God to change. We need to see what there is about those situations that God wants us to learn, or to help others with. Find something to actually be thankful for, and not just be thankful that you believe that God is going to change it.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 18, Matthew 23, Job 33-34)
Psalms – If we are looking for an example of how to do a thing, or act in a situation, our first recourse should be to look to Yahweh. He is the pinnacle of everything.
Matthew – Don’t do things just to appear to be doing the right thing. If you’re acting upright, just to appear to be acting upright, you’re not being upright. Know why you’re doing the good, and follow the heart of the good, then you will actually be good.
Job – This passage, like the ones from the other places read today, is about getting to the heart of the message. Shaddai is bigger than our imaginations, and His ways are not able to be discerned, so trust in Him and expect that He knows what He’s doing. And seek what it is you can be doing in the situation. It’s like that old show Quantum Leap; you’re put in a place to figure out what it is you should be getting out of a situation. That’s the trick of the whole thing.

Friday

VOTD
(Isaiah 12:4-5)
Just a general thought: when this verse says, “Give thanks to THE LORD, call on His Name” how is it that we don’t better understand that we should be using His real name (or, at least, our understanding of it)? Give thanks to Yahweh (Yehowah, Yehovah, Yahuwah, Yahuweh). Call upon His name! His name is YHWH, not THE LORD. In case you’re reading this and you weren’t aware, when you see the words “The LORD” in all caps, the publisher of the Bible that you’re reading have made the decision to replace the actual Name of God with the word lord. It’s a tradition which arose in Judaism when the early Catholic church was persecuting the Jews. The Jews, at that time, were not allowed to say the name of God without facing punishment so they made a new rule that YHWH should always be referred to as Adonai (lord) or HaShem (the Name). But, the commandment of this verse (and many others like it) directly contradicts this practice. We’re to call upon His Name. His name is not Lord, or The Name. His name is YHWH. Pronounce it however you feel led, but use it.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Proverbs 4:1-9, Matthew 24, Job 35-37)
Proverbs – The instructions of your parents are something to be cherished. Still to this day I think back on those times and smile. Even if I’m not always the best at recognizing those instructions, and I certainly wasn’t a fan of them then.
Matthew – Jesus warns that many will come in His name, saying, “I am the Messiah”. This is a very Jewish thing. Today we’ve kind of co-opted Jesus away from his Israelite identity. When He says that many will come saying, “I am the Christ,” we have to remember the Christ mean Messiah (which is what He would’ve said at the time) and that this would have a very specific meaning. A meaning much different than our normal understanding of what an antichrist would be.
Job – Even though the book of Job is probably the first written of all of the books in the Bible, there is a better understanding of the saving grace of the Messiah here than most other places in the Old Testament.

Saturday

VOTD
(Luke 12:29-31)
We worry so much about making it through each day. We worry about if we’re going to be able to eat, how we’re going to afford this or that. God’s got this. It’s tough to let go but we believe that we have a God, and that He is our Father in heaven; how difficult is it to imagine that He’s going to take care of us? The bigger point in the verse (and in Matthew 6:33) is that we’re told what we’re supposed to seek after: The Kingdom of God. That’s what we’re supposed to try to figure out. That’s the mystery we’re going after. First things first… what is the Kingdom of God? We’re told to seek it. That’s a mission. Enjoy the journey…

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 18, Matthew 24-25, Job 38-40)
Psalms – David shows us that Yah will provide. It may not be until the last minute, but He will always provide what we need.
Matthew – No one knows the day or the hour is how Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah) is described, and it is also how the return of Yeshua is described. Is it possible that this is coincidence? Sure, but God doesn’t do coincidence all that often.
Job – “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?” Fun fact, the Pleaides is one of the only known constellations which are actually located closely enough in space that they are gravitationally tied together. If there isn’t a God, and this is all made up, that was a pretty good stab in the dark for 3500 years ago…

When We're Buying Things, We Should Probably Be Buying Things

So, this is some very not good news.  If you look at the graph above you'll see some similarities and some drastic differences. The green line is representative of the stock market, and what stocks are being bought and sold. The red line is representative of what actual products are being bought and sold. The red line is what is known as the Commodities market.

The Commodities market tracks the buying and selling of actual things. It tracks how many physical things are actually bought and sold. It tracks the movement of products. Physical products. Not just pieces of paper.

So what does NASDAQ track? Well, that's complicated, but I guess it tracks the buying and selling of pieces of paper which acknowledge parts of (small) ownership in a company. But, it doesn't actually track the buying and selling of t-shirts, or books, or beach towels, or anything that you can use for anything other than your hopeful retirement account. I acknowledge that this is a bit of an oversimplification, but I think the definition still works for the purpose of this writing.

If you look at the graph, you'll see that there is a time around 1997 where the NASDAQ and the Commodities markets separate. If we think back to what was happening at this time then I think we'll remember that this was what they called the .com bubble. And then it corrected itself around 2001. The stocks and the commodities rise and fall together for a little while until 2008 when there was a collapse, but the FED also started printing monopoly money and forcing it out into the economy. You can see that the commodities - though at a slightly lower level - tried to keep up with the FED's quantitative easing, but eventually, reality kicked in and commodities started going back down to earth. But not the NASDAQ. People kept right on buying intangible products with fake money without care.

What does this mean for you and for me? I'm not going to predict doom and gloom (even though I'm rather tempted to), but I myself am going to exercise caution in the coming months and years when it comes to larger purchases of things which I don't necessarily need. If history is any indication, the discrepancy between these 2 markets will correct themselves eventually. I don't want to advertise fear, but I think that caution would be advisable. Even if the two markets meet in the middle, the large drop for the market will be a huge readjustment and will definitely be noticeable.

Sorry to ruin your day.

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Mat 6:24-25 ESV)