Devotional Rewind: Wednesday through Friday

I'm still in the process of coming up with a new devotional plan so I'll go over my thoughts and revelations from the Bible in One Year plan. That's right, I'm still holding strong on this one. I'm only a few days away from hitting 1/3 of the year. I can do this!

Bible in One Year

Wednesday 4/27/16

(Psalm 52:1-9, Luke 24:36-53, Joshua 13-14)
Psalms – The wise man, even when he is facing adversity, will recognize that God can and will see them through their adversity. He sees that breaking character and becoming devious – though it may seem like the ‘right’ thing to do at the time – will only lead to ruin and destruction. Lord, help me keep my eyes on You when my flesh wants to seek recompense. Holy Spirit, guide my steps and help me not lash out when I feel the urge. Father, thank You for Your creation and all that entails.
Luke – This is one of the most exciting part of Yeshua’s message. Much like he did to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he walks the disciples through the Law and the Prophets and shows what it meant concerning Him. Everything that He did is found in the Old Testament, and nothing that He did was done without it first having been written about. The exciting part is putting the puzzle together. Jesus, show me where You are in all of the Old Testament. And show me Your heart in all of the world around me. As I walk through my day, guide me and show me what you would have me do.
Joshua – Caleb, who was 85 at the time, asked to be allotted Hebron. Hebron had the Anakites living in it. The Anakites were the biggest and the baddest of the giant clans and Caleb had such trust in Yahweh that – even though he was 85 years old (which is was older then than 85 is now) – he said, “I want that.” Father, grant me the strength to be like Caleb. Let my faith in You never fail, and let my trust in You never waver. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Thursday 4/28/16

(Psalms 53, John 1:1-28, Joshua 15-16)
Psalms – There is none that has done good, no not one. When you start to think that, on you own, you are doing good, remember that the Bible says that no one has done good. This isn’t meant to be a bummer, or to lead you to not even try. On the contrary, this is meant to push us to walk in the Spirit. When we are in the Spirit we have the power do good because it is not us doing good, but Christ who lives inside of us.
John – Jesus, and His sacrifice, give us the ability to be a light to the world. Jesus was a light to the world, and since He lives in us, we are able to shine in the darkness. We should never be able to walk into a place and say that it was full of darkness. If we are Christians, wherever we go should be lit up with the light of Messiah. This isn’t to say that we have become like gods (that is a lie of the devil), but we have THE light living inside of us. If we truly have Christ living inside of us we will be a light shining out into the darkness.
Joshua – God gives us many things. All that we are given is given through God. It’s up to us work to keep those things.

Friday 4/29/16

(Proverbs 10:331-32, Proverbs 11:1-8, John 1:29-51, Joshua 17-18)
Proverbs – We have been given the gift of righteousness because of Jesus. He is the only one who is righteous, but because He is in us we have the ability to act in righteousness. Proverbs as a whole – but here, in particular – speaks to what righteousness is compared to wickedness. It is our job to choose righteousness over wickedness every day.
John – “Come and see.” So simple and yet so powerful. Am I walking in a way that I could say this to someone? Am I showing the joy of Yahweh? Can people see Jesus in me? This is what we should be and this is what we should be living. When we say, “come and see,” will anyone want to follow after they see?
Joshua – Like the Israelites, in many ways we have taken ownership of areas of our life, but not possession. Jesus has won the victory for us, but we still need to take possession of the land that He has won for us. We need to be sure to “take every thought captive” so that we can, over time, come into full possession of the promised land given to us.

Devotional Rewind: (Un)Qualified

This past week I did the (Un)Qualified devotional plan on the Bible app. This plan took a good look at how you can still do great things for Yahweh, even if you don’t necessarily feel that you’re ‘qualified’.

(Un)Qualified

Wednesday
(2 Corinthians 12:10)
Your weaknesses don’t disqualify you. They actually qualify you even more, because they are the portals through which God’s power permeates your life.
There are things that I struggle with in my life. Like Paul, I have asked for them to be taken away and they have not been. Now, I’m not saying that they are a blessing, but I am saying that they are a good reminder from God that I still need to keep reaching higher. I still need to give more of my life to Him. I still need to surrender.

Thursday
(Exodus 3:13-14)
Dig deeper into who God as called you to be, ask the tough questions, and allow God to define you.
God is I AM, but we need a third word to complete the sentence. What are we? What am I? Do my ideas for what my definition is line up with what God’s definition for me is? This is actually a really good study that I need to look into. What does the Bible say about what God thinks about us? We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14), but what else does God say about us?

Friday
(Exodus 20:7)
But this commandment is about far more than how you use Gods name as a vocabulary word – it’s about how you take His name as a way of life.
When I first came to the realization that ‘taking YHWH’s name in vain’ wasn’t about saying “Oh my God!” it was a huge realization for me. I’ve never been one to say “Jesus Christ!” as a cuss word, but that’s more because I know that the name of Jesus is powerful for good and so it just didn’t seem right to say it as if it were a ‘bad word’. I’ll admit that I’ve said “Oh my God!” before, but that’s something I still try to not do. But this commandment is all about representation. If you’ve accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you call yourself a ‘Christian’, you are taking His name. Are you representing Him well? Or, have you taken that name in vain? That’s a powerful thing to think about. I wish I could say that I’m always a good representative. But, with God’s grace, I can seek each day to be the perfect representative of Messiah.

Saturday
(Matthew 16:18)
Stop labeling yourself, and start letting God do whatever He wants in, through, and with you.
So often, we place definitions on ourselves which limit what we can accomplish. Don’t be so concerned with who you think you are, be more concerned with who God thinks you can be.

Sunday
One of the most dramatically unqualified biblical heroes I can think of is Jacob. He was a liar, a con, a trickster, a fraud. He spent much of his life haunted by bad decisions and exiled to the chaos of self-inflicted consequences. And yet God call him, chose him, and blessed him.
We can feel like we don’t deserve the blessing of God. We can feel like we’ve messed up way too much to be worthy of God’s grace. But God will still use us to fulfill His purpose, and God still sent His Son to die for your unworthiness, to make you worthy. Now go live up to that!

Monday
(1 Samuel 17:32-33)
So if you’re feeling unqualified today, remember, God chose you. He qualified you. And you can choose to let Him be your source of sufficiency.
Oftentimes we can feel like we’re not prepared for whatever battle it is we’re about to fight. It’s kind of reassuring to look back through the Bible and realize that most “Bible heroes” also weren’t prepared for what they needed to do. In using the unprepared – the (Un)Qualified – God shows that it is only through Him that His works are accomplished. I, personally, can try all I want to do great things but it isn’t until I give in and let God take over that the good things start happening.

Tuesday
(Colossians 2:9-10)
The answer to the incessant voices of comparison and competition you hear is to know that God is your qualifier and your approver.
It’s important to keep in mind that we aren’t the important one. We aren’t the ones who matter. But, because we are in Christ, we are more important than anything else in the world. In the flesh we make stupid, idiotic decisions but when we are walking in the Spirit we can bring governments to their knees. Our mission is to walk in the Spirit and emulate Jesus at every turn. How well do we know our Messiah?

Devotional Rewind: UncomMen: Redefine Leadership

UncomMen: Redefine Leadership

I just completed a 5-day plan from the Bible app that had some really good insights. Here are my reactions to each day’s devotions.

Friday
(Matthew 20:20-28, Luke 22:24-26)
The type of people who amaze me most are the ones that don’t have a prominent title of manager or boss, but they just operate like one. They see a need and run to fill it before someone sends off the distress signal.
We push so hard to attain positions of leadership, but what kind of leadership did Jesus model? And what did he tell his disciples they must do in order to be greatest in the kingdom? Servant leadership is not as easy as it sounds, and yet, this is what we are called to.
Suggestions for today:   Shout out some encouragements, Empty the garbage, go on a coffee run for everyone.

Saturday
(Matthew 6:33, Ephesians 5:15-16)
If you don’t get the big rocks in first they never will go in.
We have varying degrees of important things which we have to do in our days, the trick is prioritizing those things and deciding which are the most important and which are less important. Once we decide which are the most important things in our day/week…life, we do those things right away. Then we can fill up the rest of the day with the stuff that’s of less importance.

Sunday
(Proverbs 24:16, Luke 22:31-34)
Did you know that half of all tackles made in the NFL are by guys who have already fallen down?
Failure is something that I’ve been dealing with lately. I’m trying to do it more maturely than I used to, but it’s still not an easy thing to have happen to you. It was nice reading to have brought to my attention stories of great failure. And it was also great to realize that sometimes failure is the first step in success. If we learn how to fail, we’ve mapped out one more path not to try next time. And like it says in Proverbs 24:16, “seven time the righteous will fall, but he will rise.” So, as long as I plan on being righteous, I may as well get back up and try again…

Monday
(Proverbs 18:1, Proverbs 27:17)
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
“Who’s in your five?”
I really don’t have that many people in my life right now who are close friends. I should probably seek out those relationships now so that I don’t have to spiral out of control because I have no one holding me accountable or holding me up when I need encouragement. I’ve been going it alone for so long that I’ve not noticed how solitary I’ve become. Weird, you’d think you’d notice that since that’s the whole definition of going it alone.
Challenge: Seek out at least one new friendship today.

Tuesday
(Mark 9:33-37, Mark 10: 35-45)
Great leaders are crazier about their cause than they are about hearing their name called.
Sometimes it seems counterintuitive to, as a leader, step back and follow. How do you lead when you’re in the back of the room? But sometimes this is precisely what you need in order to gain the experience to lead, and sometimes this also helps those you are trying to lead see that you are willing to put the collective ahead of yourself.
Father, today let me step back when I need to and push forward where it is necessary. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Life Is Messy

(1 Thes 5:23, John 16:33, Galatians 5:25)

Life is messy. Every day huge messes interrupt our lives and we do our best to deal with them, but life is messy.

I guess, for me, the next logical question would be, “what is life?”

Well, it should be no surprise at this point that when I try to figure this stuff out I first search it out through the Bible. So what does the Bible have to say about “life”?

The first time we see the word ‘life’ (in the KJV, at least) in the Bible is in Genesis 1:20: “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” Now, admittedly, most other translations will translate the original Hebrew words as ‘living creatures’, but I think the KJV translation will work in this instance because living creatures really are life. But let’s dig a little deeper…

What is the Hebrew word in this verse which is translated as ‘life’? Interestingly, there are actually two words in that verse which are added together to be translated into that one word. Two words, you say? Yep, even defining ‘life’, it appears, is going to be a bit messy. The two words which make up ‘life’, or ‘living creatures’ are ‘nephesh’ (H5315) and ‘chay’ (H2416). I’m not going to list out the entire definitions to these (though, I’ve provided the Strong’s reference numbers [or you could use the Brown-Driver-Briggs, if you want to get a little better understanding of the words] if you want to look them up); I’m going to do my best to give a concise paraphrase.

Nephesh: Breathing creature or vitality. This is the soul.

Chay: Beast or living thing. We’ll call this ‘a body’.

This actually is a really cool pair of words for us to use. You can’t have ‘life’ without a soul, but you can’t have ‘life’ on God’s green earth without a body. Life is a body and a soul. But it goes deeper than this. Yes, man has a body and a soul, but man also has a spirit. Now this can get into some pretty deep theological territory, but I think we can sidestep the whole concept of properly aligning our body, soul and spirit (although, if you would like to look into this, you’re in for an amazing time) and we’ll keep it on a more personally applicable tone. You can’t have life without the spirit.

Or, more accurately, you can’t have life without the Spirit.

There have been enough moments in my life that have felt like life was spinning out of control. In hindsight I can say that these have been times where I’ve focused too much on my body or my soul, and not my spirit.

I guess what I’m getting at is that life in control (not spinning out of control) is life lived focused on the spirit. And your spirit is how you are connected to the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

Now, I don’t want to promote the idea that if you’re “right” with God then you’re never going to get depressed, or anything like that. In fact, the Bible explicitly tells you that you’re going to have trials and tribulations. But the best way to live “life” is to stay “in the Spirit”. I know, the Christianese can get confusing (or, at least, annoying). But if the spirit is the part of ourselves that makes us more than breath and a skin-bag of bones and guts, it only makes sense that this is the part of ourselves that we should be focusing on when we’re trying to make life better, right?

So when life starts to get messy, take a step back and put a little focus on your spirit life. Life may not get less complicated but it’ll get a whole lot less messy.

Devotional Rewind for Thursday 4/14/16

Bible in One Year

Recently I’ve only be highlighting one of my devotional plans, and not going over the Bible in One Year plan. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been doing that plan. I’m still holding steady with this one and I’m not almost at 1/3 of the year finished. I’ve tried doing this in the past and I usually only make it about a month in before I stop running that race. So, this is actually a good year. I’m not celebrating my completion yet but it feels good to be reading the Word of God every day.

Since I just finished a secondary plan and I haven’t found a new one yet, I’m going to give you my thoughts that I had while doing my 1 Year Plan. I hope you enjoy!

Thursday
The major festivals of the church help us to remember the key events in the life of Jesus. At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the service of communion so that we would not forget the central events of world history – the death and resurrection of Jesus.
[I would add here that this is precisely how we should treat the Feast of YHWH. The spring feasts should be celebrated as memorials to our king, so that we can remember all that He has done for us. The fall feasts should be celebrated in anticipation of what is yet to be done. And since the victory is already assured, we can still celebrate them for what He has already done for us.]

(Psalms 45:10-17, Luke 16:19-17:10, Deuteronomy 23-25)

Psalms – When we accept Messiah as our King we are instructed to “forget your people and your father’s house.” Too often, we say Jesus is our Lord but we still live like our people and our father’s house are still in charge. We need a total reorientation of our priorities. This take vigilance and we need to go over it each and every day.

Luke – The tale of Lazarus and the rich man should give us pause. How often do we see someone who is in need and, though we’re able to help in some way, we pass them by? Do we turn our head so that we don’t see them? Maybe we’ve been turning our heads for so long that we don’t even notice that we’re doing it anymore. It is our calling to be Jesus to the world. Even though I try my best to offer help when I can, I know that I could do more. So the question is, why don’t I do what I’m able to do. If I’m honest with myself it’s because I’m scared that if I give away the money/things that I have which could help someone I will find myself in the same place that the person I would be helping might be in. But we’re not to worry about where our next meal will come from (Matthew 6:31). Everything we have been given is by God’s providence.

Here’s the kicker: God has told us not to worry about our next meal because He will provide; what if the way God has chosen to provide for the person in need is by your giving, and you just turned your head?

Deuteronomy – We have been given the Holy Spirit as our comforter and our teacher. He will bring to our remembrance the law of God which is written on our hearts. There are so many commandments that we need to keep in mind but, if we keep the right mindset, all we need to keep in mind is this:

And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Mat 22:37-40 ESV)

Now all that’s left is to figure out how to show our love to God…

Devotional Rewind: Good or God

I have always liked John Bevere’s teachings over the years, and I have actually already purchased his newest book Good or God a little while back and I just haven’t had the opportunity to read it yet, so when I saw that there was a devotional plan for it on the Bible app I jumped right on it. I thought this was a really good devotional and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new plan to work on. In fact, the only thing about it that I didn’t like was that, the way it was written, it was difficult for me to pull a line from the devotional part of it that impacted me (as I usually do, and then put them in italics right below the list of verses for the day) because it was written in a way that it all worked together. That’s not really a problem though, so I guess I shouldn’t say that I didn’t like that. It just made it more difficult to me to do the thing that I normally do. And that is actually kind of relevant to the study anyway. So, kudos, Mr. Bevere!

Good or God

Monday
(Proverbs 14:12, Hebrews 5:14, 1 Kings 3:9)
If good is so obvious, why does Hebrews 5:14 say we must have our senses trained to “discern [or recognize] both good and evil”?
It’s true, we so often judge for ourselves what is Godly by making Godly and good synonymous instead of pulling our definition of Godly from the pages of the Bible. What is good oftentimes depends on your perspective: to a child it seems good to have ALL of the candy, but the parent knows that this is not truly a good thing for the child. It’s difficult to see the parent’s perspective until you’re no longer a child. Should we expect the rest of life to be any different? The only way we can hope to discern the difference between what is Godly and what we currently see a ‘good’ is by seeking the answer from God.

Tuesday
(Genesis 2:16-17, Genesis 3, Psalm 136:1)
The longer she believed God was denying her something good, the more justified her longing seemed.
Why do we think that we know better than God? The same thing which Eve did, we do every day. We struggle to live under the authority of God because we think we know what is best for ourselves. I am just as guilty as anyone else, and maybe more than most. The devotional suggested that I keep Psalm 136:1 at the forefront of my thought today (Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good, for His loyal love endures forever.) God is good. We need to live in that knowledge and trust its truth. And if it is true, why would we not live in His Word…

Wednesday
(James 1:16-17, Joshua 1:8, 2 Timothy 3:16)
It doesn’t matter how good or sensible something looks, how happy or successful it makes us, how spiritual it appears, or how accepted it may be. If it is contrary to God’s will, it will bring sorrow to our lives in the end.
How seriously do we take the Bible? Do we seek out the answers to our problems in God’s word? Do we rely on the Word of God, or do we simply say that we do? Often, I think that we give lip service to the Bible but we’re really just going to do what we think is best. I’m guilty of this, I can admit it. This is the lesson: how seriously can we take the Word of God? How can I, today, add steps in my life to take it more seriously?

Thursday
(Philippians 3:14)
We are all single-minded in pursuit of something.
What is the one thing we are driving toward? We’re here in a devotion so, hopefully, my answer isn’t money/fame/power or anything like that. It’s OK to want those things for the right reasons, but the shouldn’t be the biggest desire of our heart. My biggest goal (the thing my GPS should be set on) should be to be Jesus to everyone who encounters me today (every day).

Friday
(Hebrews 11:24-26, Exodus 33:1-3, Exodus 33:15, James 4:8)
Moses’s reply is mind-boggling. In essence, he tells God, “If I have to choose between Your presence and Your blessing, I’ll take Your presence.”
God told Moses that the Israelites were ready to go to the Promised Land, but while God was going to send an angel to go with them and drive out all of the inhabitants of the land before them, He wasn’t going to go with them Himself. Moses had the opportunity to go and for the people to view him as the hero, and Moses said that he would rather stay in the wilderness (where the people couldn’t stand him) and stay in the presence of God, than go to the land flowing with milk and honey and lead a people who would adore him if it was without God’s presence. Could we make that sacrifice? Do we love God’s presence enough to sacrifice what seems so good in the natural? Do we even know that that feels like? This is what I should seek out today!

Saturday
(James 4:5, 1 John 2:15-16, 1 John 5:21, Colossians 3:1-2)
When people hear warnings about “the world,” they often fall prey to legalism.
This is a good point, if you build up rules in your life to create boundaries so that you don’t fall prey to sin, how do you not fall victim to legalism at the same time? How do you live a set apart life without coming up with barriers which set yourself apart from the world? The trick, I think, is to constantly have God in your sights. I know, easier said than done. Hebrews 12:1-2 suggests that we fix our eyes on Jesus, and in so doing we get an example of how we should live. That, again, isn’t as easy as just saying it is, but it’s a start. Seek to know Jesus and you’ll be moving down the right pathway.

Sunday
(Hebrews 12:14)
I believe a healthy understanding of holiness can transform everything about our lives. It is the difference between fulfilled life and unsatisfying existence.
Holiness is what we are called to. I honestly don’t understand why so many Christians reject holiness because of the grace given them. Anyone who knows me could probably guess at this. To my understanding, we were afforded grace because Jesus died for our sins. Jesus, the guy who once told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more, after He had shown her grace by forgiving her. Yes, were sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Rom 5:20). But, does that mean that we should continue on sinning just so grace can keep abounding? Certainly not! (Rom 6:1) We don’t need to keep proving that grace is there and present in our lives. We are called to set ourselves apart. We’re not setting ourselves apart to gain salvation, we’re setting ourselves apart because that’s what we should be compelled to do as a thank you to God for granting us the grace He has given us. We don’t seek holiness to gain salvation, we seek holiness because we are saved!

Monday
(Ephesian 1:3-4, 1 Peter 1:14-17, 2 Corinthians 5:9-10)
We can settle much of the confusion about holiness by understanding that it has two aspects. One deals with our position in Christ. The other deals with the behavior that results from it.
Holiness isn’t about legalism, it’s about love. It’s easy to fall into legalism if you’re obeying the commands of Jesus, but as long as we keep our eyes focused on Him we won’t fall victim to legalism. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to live a holy life.

Tuesday
(2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Peter 1:2-3)
…we’re still frustrated by our inability to live the way God wants us to. We’ve been born again in Christ, so why do we keep falling?
Today’s devotional was about grace, and its power and strength, not just its forgiveness. Admittedly, my guard goes up when we talk about grace. Not because I don’t believe in grace, but because so much of the Christian church has used grace as an excuse to bring the unholy inside of what should be holy. But I love, and am for grateful for, the grace which the Father has given me through Jesus, our Messiah. And I do love John Bevere’s teaching on grace. I’ve heard it before and I judge it to be foundational to a healthy walk with Christ. Go didn’t provide His grace just so we could have our sins blotted out. God granted us grace so that we could be empowered to not sin going forward. It is the grace of God that enables us to live a holy, set-apart life. I still fail daily, but most days are better than previous days. I still fall down, but God’s grace picks me back up and keeps me on the right track.

Wednesday
(Ephesians 1:19, Ephesian 2:10, Ephesians 3:20-21, Romans 5:17)
My friend, you are not limited by your past, family background, education, or anything else in the natural. God’s grace defines who you are and what you can do. Your potential is immeasurable. The only thing that can limit you is your faith.
This final day of the plan is entitled “The Good Life” and I got a little concerned that this was going to go into some “prosperity gospel” teaching. Thankfully, it didn’t really go there. Through the grace of God we have been given the ability to walk righteously, but God’s grace is also a power within us which empowers us to overcome any obstacle. If we have the faith to believe that God’s kingdom can be built around us, we can be the tools which God uses to build it!

I Do What I Do Not Want

I’ve already stated the Ephesians 2:10 is maybe my favorite verse in the Bible, but do you want to know what another verse is that’s up there at the top?

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I guess I shouldn’t wait for a response so I’ll just go ahead and tell you.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Rom 7:15-20 ESV)

You wanna know why I love this verse so much?

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Oh yeah, you can’t respond…

It lets me know I’m not alone. Paul is flat-out admitting that he still struggles with sin. So often we view the Apostles as almost godlike. I don’t use that term lightly, either. They are up so high on pedestals that we forget that they were human. And, I should say, that this isn’t without reason. After all, these were the dudes who were trained by Jesus to go out and bring the good news to the world.

But they were human.

And they weren’t without sin.

On multiple occasions Paul urges those he has spiritual authority over to imitate him (1 Cor 4:16,1 Cor 11:1), but this same man who said that he has “the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

Paul, who “knew a man” who was called up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2) and witnessed things he couldn’t even describe (most scholars believe that the man he was speaking of was himself, but since he said he didn’t want to boast, this was his way of not boasting.)

I want to break something down here.

Paul (or whoever) was granted a visit to heaven … to paradise. And this is from the guy who doesn’t do that good who wants but does the evil that he doesn’t want to do. This is how far the grace of God goes. The grace of God can bring we who struggle with sin all the way to the place where the Tree of Life resides (Rev 22:14).

And this is all because of the blood which Jesus shed on that tree. We are still warring with our sinful nature, but we have been made righteous by our faith in Jesus our Messiah. And because of this, Paul was able to stand on that holy ground of heaven.

So when slip up and I say something I’m trying not to say, or I do something I’m trying not to do, I know that the life-giving sacrifice of our Messiah is on my side. Anyone who has read any of my writing will know that I’m not using this as an excuse to sin (Rom 6:1-2), but it’s reassuring to know that even Paul warred against these same things. Even Paul, who Jesus personally picked out to go out and tell the world the good news that they can have covenant with the God of the universe, had trouble keeping his actions in check.

And that makes it easier to try. And that makes it easier to keep going. And that makes it easier keep striving after holiness. 

If You Love Me...

(Ephesians 2:8, Galatians 3:6, Romans 4:6-8, John 14:15)

We are justified by Yeshua the Messiah, and it is this grace that allows us admittance into the kingdom of God. But does that change the way that God wants us to live?

Abraham was justified by his faith in God (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3, Gal 3:6) centuries before God gave the law to the Hebrew people. But that didn’t stop God from giving His instructions (His Torah). God, even then, saved the people because of their faith in Him, but He still gave the people instructions as to how He wanted them to live.

David rejoiced that even though he sinned, God would never hold sin against him (Ps 32:1-2). It was David’s faith in God that saved him, not his observance to the Father’s instructions. If it was that observance he would not be able to say, “blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” The observance of the law is secondary here. God will not count David’s sin against him because of his righteousness. And his righteousness certainly has nothing to do with his works (David wrote this psalm after the whole Bathsheba affair), but everything to do with his faith in Yahweh, just like Abraham. If this is unclear, Paul clears it up when he says about this verse, “David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works…”

So, what does that mean for today?

Well, we have been justified by Jesus, but by our accepting Him as our redeeming Lord and Savior it is inherent that we should follow His commands, right? If we accept Him as Lord of our lives, we are accepting the definition of the word “lord”. According to dictionary.com the primary definition of the word “lord” is, “a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.” In today’s society the meaning of the word has kind of been lost. We no longer have any real contextual idea of what a lord is because we don’t live in a society where lords are a thing. The only time we even hear the word “lord” anymore is when we’re talking about religious things. So the word “lord” has, at this point, just become synonymous with Jesus or God (on a Christian level, at least.)

We don’t understand that when someone is your “Lord” they have authority over you. If they make commandments, or deliver statutes which you are to live by, well… you’ve got to follow those statutes. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have proclaimed that you are going to live by His statutes. The disturbing realization may be that if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but your life hasn’t changed from what it was like before your proclamation, then you have to wonder if you’ve ever actually accepted Him as your Lord and Savior. Or did you just say some words and hope that they would work like some sort of spell?

This isn’t to say that if you sin then you’re not saved. But when we invite Christ into our heart (to use some old school Christianese), there should be a noticeable change in us. Because God gave His Son to die for us, so that we no longer have to be slaves to sin, our response should be to set ourselves apart unto God.

I guess the question then becomes, what have you done today to show your love to God? It’s easy to question what it is to show our love to God. Many people over the years have had different answers as to what it is to show your love to God. Rick Warren said that you show your love to God by talking to Him.

Then there was another dude who was besties with Jesus. This is what he said…

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. (1Jo 5:3 NKJV)

And then there was Jesus. It appears that Rick Warren is on the wrong side of this one…

"If you love Me, keep My commandments. (Jhn 14:15 NKJV)
     *words of Christ in red.

So, as for me, I’m going to attempt to keep God’s commandments to show my love for Him. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what are God’s commandments. But, we should probably note what God, Himself, has to say about His nature…

"For I the LORD do not change... (Mal 3:6 ESV)

Devotional Rewind 4/3/16

This was a fun devotional. It was kind of refreshing to have a devotional plan which used the Hebrew forms for the name of Yahweh and Yeshua. That doesn't really make it any better or worse, but it seemed to be well placed considering that the plan was covering the Exodus. I would recommend this one if you're looking for a devotional plan on the Bible app.

Out From Egypt: From Slavery To Freedom

Tuesday
(Exodus 6)
The Story of the Exodus is not about Moses. The story of Exodus is about a God who loves his people so much that he reaches down into their bondage and frees them – all by himself.
In the account of the Exodus we learn that there were those who fled Egypt who were not Hebrew. They were given the opportunity to become part of Israel, and all of the people together were considered the “mixed multitude”. The Septuagint, when speaking of the mixed multitude used the word “ecclesia”. This word, in the New Testament, is the word used for the church. Don’t listen to those who tell you that the church wasn’t mentioned before the book of Acts. We are all one. We are sticks grafted into the tree.

Wednesday
(Exodus 7-8)
We, too, are called to be representatives of Yahweh to a hardhearted world, a culture that openly mocks ad curses the make of the universe. And yet, like Moses, we are still called to be a portrait of the Creator who designed us.
In Exodus 7 we read that Yahweh tells Moses that he will be a God to Pharaoh. What we sometimes forget is that Pharaohs considered themselves to be gods. So not only was Yahweh showing Pharaoh that his gods were powerless against the might of a real God, Pharaoh was also seeing what a real God acted like, as well. I’m not sure if the context is saying that, at that moment in history, Moses was an image of Yahweh just like Jesus would be many years later, but it’s something to think about.

Thursday
(Exodus 9-10)
One by one, Yahweh attacked the false gods of Egypt, from the gods who guarded the Nile, to the god that ensured the fertility of the land, to the gods that promised health and protection, to the supposed eternal Sun-god Ra that made the sun rise each day.
Yahweh goes out of His way to show us that the gods of this world are not gods at all. I want to go out of my way to try to see this in action. Maybe it won’t be a plague of frogs or flies, but God is out there doing things, and all we need to do is acknowledge them.

Friday
(Exodus 11, Galatians 4:7)
If we are comfortable in these earthly bodies and accepting of the label of “slave” that the Enemy gives us, then we are blind to the truth – that it is a blessing to suffer in the name of Yeshua.
Why do we hide behind veneers? Why are we scared to step out and act as ambassadors of Jesus? I know that I do it. I calculate the things I say to that people won’t persecute me for my beliefs. Part of this is out of fear of persecution, part of it is because you can lose your job if you too openly express your beliefs while at work. How have we come to this point? The bigger question, I guess, is what are we moving into that this has become the way of life? Something big is coming, and it won’t be long until it is illegal to be a Christian. That may sound extreme, but take an honest look at what’s going on around us. We’re not that far away.

Saturday
(Exodus 12-13)
So in obeying Yahweh’s instructions, they were not only protecting their sons and ensuring that death would pass-over, they were actually inviting him to pass-over their thresholds and welcoming him into their homes.
It was cool to realize that the threshold sacrifice, and the painting of the doorposts with the blood of the lamb, wasn’t necessarily meant to keep of the angel out, but meant to invite Yahweh/Yeshua in. And it was those who didn’t invite Him in who were susceptible to death.

Sunday
(Exodus 14)
Although they had entered Egypt as a rag-tag group of seventy shepherds, Pharaoh’s persecution had accomplished the opposite effect, they were most likely numbered in the millions when they left.
Yes, we go through persecution. Yes, sometimes it seems like there is no good that can come of the persecution. But, God turns everything to His purpose. It’s often difficult to see past our weakness and grasp what God has in store, but it’s coming. Peace comes when we can accept that all things work for good. (Romans 8:28)