The Good Shepherd

John 10:14-15, John 1:14, Psalm 119:105

"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15 NASB)

This is a fairly well known verse, so most of us know it or, at least, know the beginning of it. Or could at least paraphrase the first part of it. But how many of us actually pay attention to what it means? Jesus knows His own, but do we know Him?

Just so nobody is surprised in a couple days, this subject will be showing up as one of days of this week’s devotions. But it struck me as something which needs further explanation. And it struck me like that because I personally got convicted. I call myself a Christian but how much time do I genuinely spend reading the words of Jesus?

Over the past few years my thirst to study God’s Word has grown immensely. I still find myself struggling to just read the Bible. And, yes, there is a difference between reading the Bible and studying the Bible. I’ve done more study over the past 5 years than I had done in the previous 33 years combined, but I still struggle to sit down and just read. You know, like you’d read a James Patterson book, or something else as equally mind numbing.

Studying the Bible is kind of like doing a research paper on a person. You get to know the facts about that person, and you get to know things they’ve done in the past. Reading the Bible is more like spending time with the person and getting to know their character. You can study a person all you want but that won’t help you to know the person. That’s why we need to spend time with reading the Bible, so we can actually know Jesus, who is the Word of God (John 1:14).

While it makes me feel not-so-bad it’s also kind of disturbing to know that I’m not alone in this one. There are over 2 billion Christians in world, how many of those would you guess actually read the Bible like it’s the bestseller from the bookstore? I found a study that concluded that only 19% of professing Christians actually read the Bible every day. I do read the Bible every day, and I think that’s not really enough. What about the 81% of Christians who don’t read the Bible every day? Twenty-two percent of those say that they read the Bible about once a month or a few times per month. Eighteen percent of those people say that they “rarely or never” read the Bible. If we don’t spend any time with Jesus, how are we supposed to know His voice?

I have no answers here, just concerns. What are we going to do if we’re in a tough spot and our Lord and Savior is out there trying to tell us how to get through it, and since we don’t know what His voice sounds like we just think that He’s another voice in the crowd (Psalm 119:105)? And, even more importantly, have we really given our life to Jesus as our Lord if won’t even bother to get to know what He wants us to do? Or, have we just accepted His salvation and decided that’s good enough, we can figure it out from here?

So what do we do from here? I wish I had all the answers. But, I do know who has the answers. I guess that’s just another thing I’ll have to study. Until I figure it out, it seems like the best thing to do is to find a reading plan. Find a plan to read the whole Bible. Or maybe a plan to read the Gospels. Or you could find a plan to read the Torah. Read the whole New Testament. Read the whole Old Testament. Start small if you have to. Pledge to read a chapter each day, or pledge to read a book each day. No matter what you pledge to read, just read.

That’s my answer.

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 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 for Monday thru Thursday

Monday and Tuesday

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 31:9-18, Proverbs 6:30-35, Mark 14:17-72, Leviticus 17-20)
Remember, when everything seems to be going against you, the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
                                                         - Henry Ford
Psalms – We all go through hardships. We should expect the hardships. In fact, if we’re not going through hardships, we’re probably not doing it right. The trick is in how we react to the hardships.
Proverbs – It’s the heart of the sin that is at question. What leads us to do the evil that we do. We can stop doing these things but if we don’t get rid of the reason we did it, we won’t have changed in God’s eyes.
Mark – We need to be in prayer at all times (the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak). Why is it so difficult for me to remember to pray? Is there some sort of block which the enemy has put up that is preventing me from living a prayerful life? I don’t want to give the enemy more power than he has, so is it a wall that I have put up? I try and I try, but the steps are slow and the distance traveled doesn’t seem to be far at all. I need to readjust. I need to be more mindful of the things I say and the things I do, and the things which I let happen around me.
How do I, in my actions, deny Jesus? I mean, when I act in a way which doesn’t glorify Messiah, aren’t I denying the wonderful work He has done for me?
Leviticus – It’s all about holiness. I admit, I’m having trouble getting through Leviticus, but I keep reminding myself that this whole thing is about setting ourselves apart for Yahweh.

Wedneday
(Psalms 31:19-24, Mark 15:1-32, Leviticus 21-22)
I did this plan but on Wednesday my computer was acting up and I didn’t take any notes on it. I can say that I am exciting to be getting through Leviticus. I love the Law of Yahweh, but it’s also difficult to get through. That’s even more reason to be thankful to the grace provided to us by the sacrifice of Messiah. When I read Leviticus, I need to always be thankful for Yeshua’s life, death and resurrection.

Thursday

I’m going to start a new plan today. I have been holding off for a while and just doing the 1 Year Plan, but I may as well start another one. So I’ve decided to start a free plan on the Bible App called “Through the Eyes of a Lion” Here goes:

Through the Eyes of a Lion
(2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
“Trust me when I say this: the issue isn’t whether your life is going well or falling apart; the question is, what makes you so sure you can tell the difference?
It's only the first day but I am loving this devotional plan.
2 Corinthians – I’m sure I’ve read this passage before but I’ve never looked at it in this light before. This life, is something bigger than what we see. Everything that happens, we need to look deeper. We need to see the machinations behind what we are first seeing. What if it’s all redirection? What if our turmoil is an angel in the road, just like for Balaam and his ass?

1 Year Plan
(Psalms 32, Mark 15:33-47, Leviticus 23-24)
Is it really so easy for God to forgive us? I mean, He’s God, so what isn’t easy… But is the process as cut and dry as we think? When we forgive people, it’s not usually the easiest thing in the world. God is so much bigger and more… MORE than us, but is it possible that forgiveness takes something from God, too? If this were the case, would we be more careful with our actions?
Psalms – We are blessed because our sins have been forgiven. How much of a blessing can WE be if we forgive those around us? Isn’t that us showing the love of Christ to our world? If Jesus died so that God could forgive our sins, isn’t it our job, too, to forgive people who have done things to injure us?
Mark – Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven. This doesn’t mean that we should go on sinning just because we have the freedom, too. The God of the universe came down to earth and became a person, and He died so that we could enter into His presence. If we can be forgiven after that, shouldn’t it be easier to forgive those who we feel have slighted us?
Leviticus – Forgiveness isn’t something that we earn. It’s something that is given to us. All of the sacrifices all come down to Yahweh giving us forgiveness. So long as we have an understanding of what is right and what is wrong, we can see how sinful we are. We should never compare ourselves to anyone but Jesus. Since even one sin makes us sinful, who cares if you look good compared to Hitler; what do you look like compared to Messiah?

Devotional Rewind for Friday thru Sunday

Friday

1 Year Bible Plan
(Proverbs 6:20-29, Mark 12:28-44, Leviticus 13)
Proverbs – There’s a lot of talk in the book of Proverbs about obeying the wisdom of you parents, but inherent in this advice is that the parents are giving good advice. This is a heavy burden for parents. Train your kids in a Godly manner and they have the opportunity to become upright adults. If you neglect your duties, there are far reaching consequences. Thankfully, my parents held up their end of the bargain!
Mark – The entire Torah, boiled down to 2 sentences. Sure, there’s 5 books worth of meaning in those 2 sentences, but that’s what this is.
Leviticus – All of this is about an attitude of the heart. Becoming a person who takes the law seriously is only important if you’re doing it for the right reasons. If you’re doing it because, legally, that’s what has to be done, then you’re doing it for the wrong reason. The whole point is to set yourself apart for Yahweh so that you can be holy and be able to enter into His presence. God wants to be with us, but our sin separates us from Him. It’s our job to make ourselves clean in His sight.

Saturday

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 30:8-12, Mark 13:1-31, Leviticus 14)
Psalms – Even at our end, it should be all about praising God. Even our death should be cause to praise Yahweh. If there is anything in our life that we’re doing which isn’t praising Yahweh, we need to reassess what we’re doing and make sure that we do that thing in a way that is a prayer to God. And if it is not a thing that can be turned into praise, we don’t need to be doing it.
Mark – Here we have Yeshua explaining what the end times will look like. He is telling His followers (Christians) that they will see the abomination of desolation, and that they will see the tribulation, and that after that tribulation they will see the sun and moon darkened and they will see the Son of Man arriving in the clouds at the end. How someone can read this and still believe that they will be raptured away before all of these things astounds me. In order to believe that, they would have to explain away the very words of Messiah.
Leviticus – It’s amazing to me just how much blood it took to atone for our sins before the sacrifice of Yeshua. There was so much blood. The New Testament doesn’t really go into what day-to-day life was like in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. It was written by people who were not only there, but they had an understanding of the Torah and all of the offerings which needed to be done. Without understanding what sacrifices were needed to atone for ones sins we can never understand what Jesus did for us when He died on that cross.

Sunday

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 31:1-8, Mark 13:32-14:16, Leviticus 15-16)
Psalms – All too often I forget to give my praises to God. It’s so inspiring to read of David praising Yahweh in his distress. It’s like I need an alarm every hour to remind me to focus on praising God.
Mark – Imminence is drawn from this passage (and a few others like it). Does this verse override the entire chapter before it where Jesus says you have to get through the tribulation?
Leviticus – The more I read Leviticus, the more I wonder if there was ever anybody who was actually clean.
In chapter 16 will have the instructions for the Day of Atonement. We have the goat for Yahweh and the vote for Azazel. With Azazel being the mention as opposite in this way, what does that say about him? Is he the serpent in the garden? Or, since rabbinic tradition places him as one of the watchers who came down to take human women, and rabbinic tradition is also that the evil of the world is blamed on the sons of God from Gen 6, is this where they get that the evil of the world is a sons-of-God/Nephilim thing? The belief, as I understand it, is that sin entered the world in the garden of eden, but evil entered the world in Genesis 6.

Devotional Rewind for Wednesday and Thursday

VOTD
(Romans 8:35)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (Rom 8:35 ESV)
We may get separated, or even try to separate ourselves, from Christ, but we will never be able to be separated from the love of Christ. What He did He did for all of humanity. For whomever would come to Him. On the flipside, we need to focus on love. When we are being persecuted, focus on His love. When we are hungry, focus on His love. When we are in danger, focus on His love.
(John 6:37)
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. (Jhn 6:37 ESV)
There are a few warnings here. We should be secure in the fact that if you have accepted Messiah as Lord and Savior that He will never cast you out, but we should also remember that Jesus said that there will be many who say that they prophesied in His name, and cast out demons in His name, and did many miracles in His name, and yet He will tell them to go away because He never knew them. So what’s the catch? Have you not just said some prayer that you were led to say, but change your life and actually make Jesus/Yeshua LORD of your life? Do you go out of your way to not sin, because you know how much God hates sin? You can’t live in sin, and call on the grace given you as an excuse to remain in sin. Through Messiah’s blood we have the grace to be free from our sinful past/heritage, but that doesn’t mean that we are free to continue living in sin. If we feel no urgency to remove ourselves from sin, have we really been “saved” from sin?

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 29-30:7, Mark 11:27-12:27, Leviticus 9-12)
Psalms – Psalm 29 is very obviously directed at the fallen sons of God who have been given rule over the nations. It’s a reminder (though I doubt it was heeded) that even they need to give Yahweh praise, because it was Yahweh who allowed them any standing they had. To Yahweh goes all of them praise and glory. Forever and ever, amen!
Mark – The Pharisees ask Yeshua by what authority He performs these miracles and because they won’t admit that John the Baptist was a prophet of God and that they killed him, He won’t blatantly tell them by what Authority He does these miracles. But… the very next parable that He tells gives them the exact information that they’re looking for. He is sent by the Father, Himself.
Leviticus – Just think about how much blood there would’ve been. This was an extreme case, but there were sacrifices every day. Blood was shed every day to Yahweh. And these animals which were sacrificed were the choice animals. How much did the people of Israel trust in Yahweh to do this? We, today, rarely sacrifice anything. At first I thought that you would have to have more faith in order to sacrifice that way, but now I’m thinking that you get more faith when you give up more and you still have enough to live.

Devotional Rewind for Sunday through Tuesday

Sunday

VOTD
(Galatians 5:24)
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal 5:24 ESV)
I wish there was a way to better remember this as I walk through each day. Galatians 2:20 is another one: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20 ESV). All of the debate that comes out of the book of Galatians over the law is important, but the most important thing is that we, with Jesus, our bodies have died on that cross and, right now, if we are truly believers in Jesus, we are no longer the ones the Father sees because He sees the blood of His Son sanctifying us. And we need to remember every minute of every day so that we can live our lives in a way which mirrors the life of Messiah.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalm 27:7-14, Mark 10:13-31, Leviticus 4-5:13)
Psalms – This is how we should go about every day: with the expectance of the wonderful grace and mercy of God. Yeah, we’re going to face hardships but we can choose to dwell in them or we can choose to remember that our redeemer lives and that our next step is a step into a new world where we are children of the Living God.
Mark – Persecution will come. In America we claim there is a war on Christianity because Christians are forced to watch unchristian acts. But throughout the world, there is a persecution that is very different. In other places if you are a Christian, you may lose your life. How thin skinned are we that we complain over our lot? That’s not to say that we shouldn’t stand up for righteousness, but let’s recognize that our “persecution” would be welcomed by most of the world. In fact, we should welcome it here as it gives us an opportunity to show the reason for our hope.
Leviticus – Forgiveness does not come without atonement for sin and without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness. It may seem strange but Leviticus may be the book with the most ties to the life and work of Jesus.

Monday

VOTD
(Romans 4:7)
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (Rom 4:7 ESV)
As I’m also reading through Leviticus right now, forgiveness for lawlessness by covering with blood is a huge thing! And as to the second part of this verse (“and whose sins are covered”) we learn in 1 John 3:4 that sin IS transgression of the law. So, through the loving sacrifice of our Savior we no longer have to make all of those sacrifices for our sins, because they are all already covered by the blood of Jesus. But it should never be forgotten that we are called to holiness. I once saw someone justify their continued sin by quoting Rom 5:20 (“but where sin abounded, grace abounded more”). This is a complete misreading of this verse. We are called to be a royal priesthood and a holy (set apart) nation (1 Peter 2:9). And the kicker comes from Romans 6:15 when Paul says, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!” So let’s praise God for his grace and remember what are lawless deeds are, so that we can do them no more.

1 Year Bible Plan
(Proverbs 6:12-19, Mark 10:32-52, Leviticus 5:14-7:10)
Proverbs – For everyone who holds fast to God hating the sin but loving the sinner, Proverbs 6:19 says that God hate a false witness who breathes lies and sends out discord between brothers. Be sure not to be someone who God hates.
Mark – When you lead, lead with a servant’s heart. To truly make the impact that we are to make in this world, we must serve those around us.
Leviticus – One of the things which becomes evident, especially in these chapters, is that even if you unknowingly sin, you are still guilty of that sin. It’s not a valid excuse to say that you didn’t know you were sinning so you should be held responsible for that sin. If you do something and then find out later that you did something wrong, you still need to repent of that sin. And repent means more than just saying “I’m sorry”.

Tuesday
I finished the Verse of the Day plan yesterday and I haven’t picked a new one yet, so I’m just going to continue on with this one, until I pick another one.

VOTD
(Psalms 105:1)
Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! (Psa 105:1 ESV)
What has Yahweh done for you today? Shout it from the rooftop! We often accept the good and cry out to God with the bad, but we do we not cry out with the good?

1 Year Bible Plan
(Psalms 28, Mark 11:1-25, Leviticus 7:11-8:36)
Psalms – I’m constantly still amazed at David’s ability to call for justice to his enemies while he holds up his righteousness. I mean, yeah, the dude had his faults, but he was also a man after God’s own heart. How sure of myself would I have to be to call of the justice of my enemies because of my righteous actions? It’s something to shoot for!
Mark – I said this back in Matthew, but those disciple who got the donkey really were risking being seen as crazy. “Why are you taking that donkey? “Oh, because God needs it.” Imagine if someone did that today…
Leviticus – As we should do with every book in the Old Testament, especially the book of Leviticus, let’s ask how this points to Yeshua/Jesus. This whole portion of Leviticus is all about consecrating Aaron as high priest. But Aaron still had to make sacrifice for his own sins. Right now we have a high priest in heaven who is fighting for us (Hebrews 4:14-16). In view of this, how much different is the priesthood of Jesus when compared to the Aaronic priesthood!

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…