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 4th 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…
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