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 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.