April 18, 2012 … Those Who Obey … AND … Those Who Don’t

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 1st Samuel 28-31 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 18 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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My Journal for Today: No specific highlight verses in today’s chronological reading through 1st Samuel 28-31 and Psalm 18; but the reading today – at least for me – was a confirmation of what I’ve been relearning about those who obey God and those who don’t.

The character of Saul, of course, shows us what happens to a life who is called out by God for service but cannot or will not obediently and/or humbly seek God’s way and His will for moving through life. David, of course, is our characterization of the man (or woman, if you will) “after God’s own heart,” … the one who does his (or her) best to follow God’s will by continually seeking what the Lord would ultimately command God’s disciples … i.e., … to deny self and follow the Lord (see again, Luke 9: 23).

And we see in today’s reading where Saul’s disobedience, impatience, and selfishness led him, … to utter and personal destruction, having to fall on his own sword to end a life of self-driven disobedience. Saul started out right, with God’s anointing and favor, having the grace of God at his disposal. But his own willfulness and disobedience did him in; and he was never able to humbly reach out to receive God’s grace to become the man God had purposed him to be.

But when you read Psalm 18 from this morning’s reading assignment, you get the exact opposite picture when we see how David approached His God; and the victories David sings about in this psalm cry out why God favored David and blessed the one after God’s own heart with victory and providential protection.

So, getting these two pictures of God’s free gift of grace in the lives of two of God’s chosen, … one who was UNwilling to gather God’s favor and the other who did nothing but humbly seek and receive God’s grace, … it becomes our choice to apply the lessons from these two lives to our relationship with God. Do we want to receive God’s blessing of His enabling grace and favor for our lives? Well, if so (which I would assume we would), we must live as David did (at least early in his life); and we must do all we can to avoid the pitfalls of Saul, … living out our lives in pursuit of obedience and surrender to the calling God has for each of us. That is my prayer for you and me today.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help those who read here today, including this humble servant, to follow You daily, living selflessly as You did when You walked among us. Amen

April 10, 2012 … Trusting in GOD’S Timing

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 1st Samuel 13-14 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passage : 1st Samuel 13: 5-14 … To study this passage, go to this link -


My Journal for Today: Okay, … God’s people get what they want … a King; and he is Saul; and as we read from yesterday’s chronological read in 1st Samuel, Saul has all the tools to become a great king. However, today, we read that Saul got off with a rough start; and his character weaknesses shine through early in his reign. If you read from my link above, at the outset in their strife with the Philistines, Saul’s son, Jonathan, who will play a prominent role later in the reign of David, wins a battle for which Saul takes the credit. And from there on, we read that Saul can’t seem to trust Yahweh the way he’s been called on – as God’s anointed one – to follow God as the leader of the Lord’s chosen ones.

In the highlight passage, linked for your more specific study above, we read of Saul becoming impatient, seeing his men bolt from fear; and thinking a sacrifice to God was necessary to bring the army into line and court God’s power, Saul takes over for Samuel, who appeared to be tardy – in Saul’s mind – to perform the ritual sacrifice. And as you can read in 1st Samuel 13, when Samuel finally showed up, he rebuked Saul with the disquieting prophesy that Saul’s kingdom would come to an end as God searched for “… a man after God’s heart,” who would become the king one day in Saul’s stead.

Have you ever been in a situation when God just didn’t seem to be there for you in the timing you desired or as you had prayed for; and God just didn’t seem to be cooperating with life in the time sequence you felt was necessary? And as I ask that question, I can’t help but think of a passage written by a later king, … Solomon, who said, in Proverbs 3: 5-6, [NKJV] …Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. I all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

Saul’s pridefulness and impatience could not live by that truth; and his heart was not the heart God needed in the role of the King of His people. So, with Saul’s disobedience he set a series of events into motion which would later lead, as we know from past reading of God’s word, to the search for, anointing, and conflict with a young man who would one day become the “man after God’s own heart,” … as David becomes the next King of God’s chosen people.

The point of application for us today is very straight forward, prompting these questions …

>>> Do we have the faith and trust in our God to wait on Him, especially those of us who know and believe in His written promises and His proclamations of truth from His word? In other words, can we live by Proverbs 3: 5-6?
>>> Can we be what Jesus demands of His disciples (in Luke 9: 23) and deny our selves to follow Him?
>>> Do we believe and can we trust (as Paul wrote in Romans 8: 28) that ALL things in our lives, as Christians, are somehow for our good, even though God’s will and timing seem to be so, so slow?

And until we can answer “YES” to all of those questions, perhaps we should refrain from being critical about how Saul handled things early in his reign. Perhaps we should just take what we read into consideration as God’s word, showing us through the life of Saul, how we need to develop the faith and trust in God which helps us become “a man (or woman) after God’s own heart.”

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to develop the fruit of patience which You have given me from Your Spirit so that I will trust, this day, that You are leading me in the path which will help me to become a man after Your heart. Amen

April 3, 2012 … Samsonite Baggage

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Judges, Chapters 13-15 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage : Judges 13: 1-5 … 1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. … 2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

My Journal for Today: In the three chapters in Judges (Chapters 13-15) in my assigned chronological read today, we begin to see the life of the Judge, Samson, unfold. And as you read above at the outset of Chapter 13, Samson was to be born of a barren couple, Manoah and his wife; and he was to be set aside by God as a Nazirite, which was somewhat of a spiritual role of honor among the Israelites. Nazirites were Israelites who made a covenant to God and before the people never to cut their hair, touch a dead body, or consume alcohol; and for this they were viewed as set-apart and empowered by God in their lives. Samson’s parents had a visitation from the Angel of the Lord (likely Christ); and they made the lifetime vow for their son for him to be a Nazirite; and the Lord granted them favor with the son they named “Samson.”

Samson’s life is a study in spiritual contrast: spiritual strength versus fleshly weakness; and I charge the readers with me to read through these chapters today, as I have, to be taught or reminded of the lessons we learn when spiritual vows are broken and a man of God becomes, from his [or her] choices, weakened by ungodly breaches into disobedience.

When Samson, who was up against the Philistines in those days, … fierce warriors whom God had allowed to subjugate God’s people. The Philistines were warriors coming into the iron-age; and they knew how to forge weapons out of iron, a new technology of the day. But Samson had the power of the living God on his side; and as long as he surrendered, in obedience, to His Lord’s power, he could be – and was – victorious over these iron-age Philistine warriors.

And in reading about Samson, I am reminded from the New Testament (from 1st John 4: 4) that our God, Who now resides in the hearts of God’s chosen ones, is always stronger that the forces of our spiritual enemies; and as long as we’re fortified by obedience and surrender to God, we can be victorious over even the most powerful spiritual enemies. This is also the lesson of Paul in Ephesians 6: 10-20, where we now are given all the spiritual weapons we need to be victorious. And above all we’re given the victory which Christ won on the cross to defeat all those who would come against us. Samson didn’t have the latter advantage; but he did have the same Spirit of God to give him victory IF he was willing to be obedient to God.

But Samson is a living example of what happens when we allow our flesh and pride get in the way of our humble surrender to God’s power, working through our obedience to Him. Samson yielded to the flesh; and when he did, breaking the vows he had on his life as a Nazirite, he became spiritually, and even physically, impotent before the guile and power of the Philistines, especially the temptress, Delilah, whom we’ll be reading about tomorrow in upcoming chapters of Judges.

I pray we all take in this lesson of the “Samsonite baggage, “ as I’m calling this journal entry today. We cannot carry the baggage of disobedience around as Christians and expect God to pour His enabling and empowering grace into our lives to allow us to go up against our spiritual enemies. When we are disobedient to the vows we make to the Lordship of Christ, and we carry the baggage of self and the flesh around in our lives; and we will be too burdened with self to be empowered by our Savior’s grace.

Yes, God’s grace is always more powerful than our selves; but unfortunately, God, as He did with Samson, has given us the gift of free-will as well as offering His gift of sanctifying and empowering grace. So, we can choose to carry the burdening load of Samsonite-like disobedience; or we can throw off that baggage, and walk free and powerfully wearing the full armor of God, … unburdened by our own sin choices.

As I always say to myself … as I will today … my choice!

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to be in surrender mode to Your Spirit and unburdened by the baggage of selfishness. Amen

April 1, 2012 … KOKO In Christ !!!

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Judges, Chapters 8-9 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage : Judges 8: 28-35 … 28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land had peace forty years. ,,, 29 Jerub-Baal [i.e., Gideon] son of Joash went back home to live. 30 He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. 31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek. 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. … 33 No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god 34 and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35 They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.

My Journal for Today: Reading through the closing chapters on Gideon as a Judge for the Israelites (see linked chapters for your reading), we see that Gideon, once he surrendered to God’s leadership, under the guidance and authority of Yahweh and the Old Covenant, he was successful; and for many years he did well in leading Gods’ people, following His Lord; but as we read in the highlighted passages above, Gideon did not finish well.

We read in Judges 8: 28-35 that his later life was tinged by a lack of moral/sexual purity. He had many wives and likely many concubines (having 70 sons – and who knows how many daughters). And like we’ll later see in the life of Solomon, this lack of sexual vigilance produced one son, Abmelek, who later became a rotten apple, trying to become king and leading the people back into Baal worship (see Chapter 9 from the link above).

What this says to me – and probably should say to all Christians – has to do with steadfastness of faith. Our Christian lives are much better compared with a marathon than a sprint. Once our lives are converted and our eternal heavenly future is sealed by God’s grace because we have come into the family of God in faith, we begin the process of letting God’s Spirit reform us into the image of Christ (see Phil. 1: 6); but that process (i.e., sanctification), which God will accomplish, is either hastened and facilitated by our steadfastness and vigilance or, if we fail, it is retarded and dampened.

Gideon is an example of one who surrendered in faith (with some degree of wrestling) to God; but over the course of his life, he waned in vigilance and the “stickability” to finish his marathon well; and viewing what transpired after his death, we see [at least in my estimation] that his lack of spiritual vigilance and steadfast faith resulted in God’s people falling away from God’s will. And when that happened, the cycle of sinful and idolatrous living once again caused God to have to force the issue by His people being cast – for a season of selective abandonment – into subjugation by the pagan cultures which consumed God’s people.

Sure, God would stay with His children and discipline them over and over again. But these cycles of disobedience and subjugation were so unnecessary … just as are the consequences of sinful living in the life of Christians. Satan cannot have our souls once we’re saved; but he can have a temporary victory in our lives if we cannot, or more likely, will not, stay in vigilant surrender mode to the ways and will of God. It is only through living a vigilant and well disciplined marathon of Christlike faith that we can and will remain powerful in being able to witness and carry out God’s will and purpose for our lives.

May we all keep-on-keeping-on in our relationship, walk, and witness for Christ in our lives, shining His light into an ever darkening world and allowing others to see us wearing His robes of righteousness rather than displaying our rags of sin when we let our vigilance wane for even a moment.

Stay strong, my fellow warrior; and become that “hero” which God saw in Gideon before this Judge let his life slowly fall apart. I don’t know about you, my fellow Christian, on this April 1st; … but I want to remain vigilant and God’s warrior rather than becoming Satan’s April Fool.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, I run the race, this marathon of living, doing all I can to remain strong by surrendering to Your grace in my life. Amen

March 30, 2012 … And the Beat Goes On … and On … and On

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Judges, Chapters 3-5 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage : Judges 3: 1-7 … 1 These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses. … 5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. … 7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

My Journal for Today: Back in the 60s, a time when I was off to college and feeling my oats, and separating myself from my relationship with God, a rather comical couple, Sonny and Cher, wrote and sang their signature song back then, And the Beat Goes On. If you’re too young to remember them singing it, here’s a link for a You Tube segment of that great 60s hit.

And what, you say, does that have to do with Chapters 3-5 of the book of Judges? Well, in these chapters we have the beginnings of a beat and refrain which began in Israel when Joshua took the Israelites into the promised-land and continued on with a repetitive chorus of sinful, disobedient living for over 300 years. And here, in these chapters of Judges I was led to read today, we see this pattern beginning.

Israel does “… evil in the sight of the Lord;” … God sends a JUDGE to rescue His people; … the people are shown the error of their ways – usually through some defeat or subjugation on the part of the pagan peoples who had not been eliminated from the promised lands as God had commanded; … God’s people repent, … which is followed by some years of peace and pridefulness, allowing again for the worship of pagan gods like the Baals or the Asherahs (see above in verse 7). And as you read ahead in Judges … “the beat goes on” … and on … and on.

Six periods of Judges – 12 Judges; … and the people, even though they would be given a leader, even a Judge like Deborah, whom we read about in today’s chapters, … a judge who broke all the norms of the culture being a female national leader, … but God gave His sinful, disobedient children a way out of their idolatrous living … over and over again; … and they kept falling into repetitive and redundant patterns of sinful, idolatrous living.

Maybe you have had or now have some stronghold of sin which has been the “beat which goes on” in your life. For some it may be drugs or alcohol; … for others it may be gambling or shopping: … for others – especially in this culture – it may be an obsessive/compulsive habit of viewing p0rnography. I was wrapped up in that one for over 22 years of my life before I came to know Christ as my Lord; and even now the beat goes on in my life in the area of gluttony, … my recurring bondage to my eating desires. I really don’t know what this beat may be in any of your lives; but I do know that the Book of Judges is, as I wrote yesterday, a mirror for our lives today; … and yes, in our sin natures, “the beat goes on.”

BUT (again, a very big “but”), … just as we read in Judges, if we’re willing to seek the LORD, just as in Judges, God never leaves nor forsakes His people; and for us, He sent His own Son as the final Judge, … the ultimate Redeemer, … the One Who shed His blood so that the beat of sinful living never has to go on in the life of a believer.

Yes, I still struggle with my sin nature; and yes, I still sing “the beat goes on” with regard to my pridefulness and my pursuit of the flesh. But when I choose to receive and use the grace which God has provided me in His final JUDGE, Jesus Christ, I have the song stopper; and that beat NEVER needs to go on in my life again.

We’re going to see more of this refrain as we proceed through the book of Judges; … so, get ready as the “beat goes on!”

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to sing Your son and not the song of my flesh which desires that the “beat go on.” Amen

March 29, 2012 … Again and Again and Again …

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Judges, Chapters 1-2 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Judges 1: 21-36… To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage : Judges 1: 21 … The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

My Journal for Today: Okay, for those who’ve trekked with me chronologically through the book of Joshua, we’ve been reading of promised-land conquest. Now, we move on into a period of over 300 years of cyclical failure and redundant disobedience as I’m led into the book of Judges, the first two chapters of which I’ve linked anyone reading with me this morning.

And if you’ve ever studied the six chronicled periods of the Judges in this book, it’s not easy reading, is it? In fact it’s like God holding a crystal clear mirror of truth in front of us, saying to believers, who look into His mirror, … “See what happens when you disobey!” I hope you take the time to read through these first two chapters; and when you do, you’ll get the picture of what’s to come in the entire book. … God has laid out the promised-land from His covenant promise; and even knowing that obedience to God’s ways and His will is the price the people will have to pay for God’s provision and protection, God’s chosen ones disobey, … over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Notice I said “over” six times, because that represents the six periods of judges represented in this book of the Bible, where twelve “judges” had to be sent after each of the six periods of disobedience to give the people the leadership they would need to get back on track and follow their God.

And as I said, the book of Judges is like a mirror of truth as we redeemed sinners read it, because in the history of Judges we see ourselves and the failures of our own recurring sinfulness; and we see, almost like a series of videos, how God, the heavenly Father, never leaves nor forsakes His children, … and how His mercy and grace keeps pursuing His beloved. And ultimately as the Old Covenant yields to the New, we know of God’s ultimate rescue mission, … where He sends His Son to save us all.

And as often happens, God gives me remembrance of a song to seal His love in my quiet time. I hope you take a few minutes in reading my journal into Judges to click on this link and listen to Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing one of my favorite songs of Christian blessing and God’s loving grace.

But in future days, we’ll continue to see ourselves in the Judges mirror of truth; though I’m afraid, my dear one, it’s not going to be a pretty picture.

My Prayer Today: … LORD, thank You for staying with me. Thank You for pursuing me. Thank You for rescuing me. Thank You for saving me. Thank You for redeeming me. Amen

March 23, 2012 … Our Commander in Chief

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Joshua, Chapters 5-8 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passage : Joshua 7: 24-26 … 24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.” >>> Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from His fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

My Journal for Today: Reading through Joshua’s Book, chapters 5-8 today, we see how God began to assert Himself on behalf of His chosen people as Joshua began to assert God’s power in taking the lands God had promised to His people. They marched across the Jordan, with miracles happening in their march; and hearing about these miracles, the Canaanites folded before them; and of course, we know the so oft repeated story of how the walled-city of Jericho fell in the wake of God’s, power, chronicled in Joshua, Chapter 6.

Then in Chapter 7 of Joshua’s book, there is the troubling story of one of the leaders of God’s people, Achan, … who, after the defeat of Jericho and against God’s specific instructions, stole some of the spoils of Jericho which, according to God’s instructions were to be thoroughly destroyed and left behind. Nothing was to be taken into the lives and culture of God’s people from the leavings when Joshua led God’s army to victory. In this way, God’s people would not be impure and involved in the covetous culture of the pagans the Israelites defeated.

The story of what happened to Achan and his family is a tough one to abide as we view our God as a loving God so full of grace and mercy. But we must never forget that, though our God truly is a God of grace, He is also a God Who is jealous of His holiness; and the Lord will not abide anything which defiles that holiness. Note that the effects of Achan’s sin, which was felt by an entire nation. Achan’s sin even dampened the power of God’s army in going up against the men of Ai; and Joshua’s army sustained a temporary set-back against these Canaanites until the sins of Achan could be eradicated from the midst of the Israelites.

Sometimes, we underestimate the effects of what can seem like such a momentary and minor-league lapse into sin; and then, in dealing with the after-effects of the sin, we come to realize that no sin against God, … no disobedience of His will, … no transgression of God’s word is unimportant or trivial. And do not be surprised if the ramifications of one’s sin can overflow into carnal damage involving one’s entire family – as was the case with the stoning of Achan’s family along with his own punishment.

The overflow circumstances from sin can be devastating; and I have seen that in the ministry I lead where men, who “dabble” in sexual sin, when it’s uncovered, will often see their marriage severely damaged, their ability to parent dampened significantly, and often irreparable damage sustained in leading God’s ministries/missions. Cases like Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, and others are more modern, Achan-like, stories where one’s short-term, selfish, sexual sin has enormous consequences for God’s people and a crippling effect upon the family of the sin-tarnished Christian leader.

I hope we all read and internalize these chapters, and especially the story of Achan, realizing that one cannot “dabble” in sin without reaping the potential whirlwind of circumstances which can result when that any sin choices which are revealed. May we all walk-the-walk of purity so that we can march toward the promised-land in the strength of a purified relationship with our Lord.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, that is my prayer today. Amen

March 19, 2012 … Choosing Our Course In Life

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 28-29 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage : Deuteronomy 28: 64-66 … 64 Then [if Israel disobeys God’s Covenant] the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
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Highlight Reference Passage #2 : Deuteronomy 28: 9 … Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.
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My Journal for Today: Okay, Moses reviews and lays out God’s Covenant with His chosen people who’ve been purified in the wilderness for 40 years in preparation for their cross over into the promised-land; and when you read Chapters 28-29 of Deuteronomy, knowing what the people knew, hearing Moses lay out God’s promise for obedience and His warnings for disobedience, and looking ahead to the exciting promise of finally being able to claim what God had promised His people in the land across the Jordan, I just have to shake my head with ire as I read the prophetic promise and historically fulfilled truth in the first highlight passage in Deut. 28: 64-66.

Obviously, we know that God’s people did, in fact, disobey the Mosaic Covenant [see Deut. 29] and were dispersed all over the known world (Israel by the Assyrians and Judah by the Babylonians and then all of the Jews by the Romans). And we know that they have – for centuries – lived in oppression, awaiting the complete fulfillment of God’s promises, which we Christians know will take place when Jesus, the Messiah, returns for His Bride (i.e., His chosen peoples), … the Jews and His Church.

But I charge you today to read through what I studied this morning in these two chapters in Deuteronomy. If you were a family, hearing what Moses laid out by reviewing the consequences of obedience or disobedience to the Covenant God had given His chosen people, and you believed what Moses was saying as the very word of God, what would your choice be – obedience or disobedience?

>>> No brainer; right?!!

Well, then we have to ask ourselves, knowing what we know from having all of God’s word [i.e., our Bible] and having the New Covenant from the life, death, and resurrection of THE MESSIAH, why do so many today refuse to believe and live according to the word which God Himself says is the only truth we can rely upon in the world (see Numbers 23: 19, Isaiah 55: 11, and 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17)?

Duh! … We falter in this world – today – for the same reasons which God’s people faltered when they finally crossed over the Jordan and moved into the promised-land for the first time. And God did exactly what He said He would do – through Moses – by dispersing His chosen people into every corner of the world. And we know – from history – that His people have been chastened and challenged throughout known history, … just as God promised would happen. BUT – big “but” - God’s promise to His people, including that promise now available to those of us, through Christ, in the New Covenant, is still out there, awaiting all who believe in His Son, the bearer of the promise of eternal life.

And what we have ahead of us is to believe and to cross over our Jordan, from our past into our future, headed for the promised-land, our place in Heaven, which is reserved for us by the One Who shed His blood so that we could be saved from our own deceitful hearts. But we have to choose to believe and to live as God demands by His word. And when we do, we will become children of the promise, living in the light of His promised-land and avoiding all the pitfalls of death and despair which come from disobedience. I pray that you are living in that light and doing al you can – as am I – to be children of faith in the promise of life rather than those who must live in the despair produced by sin and death.
And if you have about five minutes and would like to tag on to this devotional a wonderful song about the promise which comes by living in the faith of Christ, go to this link and hear a great song, by Keith and Kristyn Getty, which will raise your faith and make your choice of obedience much stronger.

My Prayer Today: … Thank You, Lord, for pursuing me until I saw that believing and following Your light was my partially fulfilled promised-land in this life, and being realized completely in the next. Amen

March 18, 2012 … Where’s the Fruit?

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 24-27 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage #1 : Deuteronomy 26: 16-19 … 16 The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. 18 And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

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Highlight Reference Passage #2 : Deuteronomy 27: 9-10 … 9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God. 10 Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”
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My Journal for Today: In the chapters I was led to read/study for my chronological read in Deuteronomy today (i.e., Chapters 24-27), Moses was reviewing the law for the people and laying out God’s protective guidelines (i.e., His rules and regulations for their living when they crossed into the promised-land). And the bottom-line charge to this sin-purged generation of Israelites was “obey and live as God’s mercy will provide; … disobey and die in ignominy.” And this is born out by the review declarations by Moses in the two highlighted study passages above.

Do you realize that if you, as have I, accepted Jesus Christ as your Messiah and Lord, you have crossed over the Jordan, leaving behind the old life of sin; and being cleansed by the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God, you can walk into the promised-land, pure and clean, to become a light of God’s love as you take the land of eternal promise which our Lord has for us in Heaven. It’s the Apostle Paul’s promise in 2nd Cor. 5: 17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Okay, let’s say you’ve crossed over your own, personal Jordan River, declaring in your own mind of faith that Christ is the Lord of your life, … that He died on the cross to save you, and allow you to move into His promised-land of eternal life. So, therefore, as a promised-land disciple of Christ you believe and aspire to what Christ said of His followers (in Luke 9: 23: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” And, … you also know the truth of Christ’s proclaimed way to tell the real-deal Christian from the pseudo-christian, when he used the fruit-tree word picture, declaring, in Matt. 7: 20: ”20 Therefore by their fruits [i.e., of false witnesses] you will know them.”

So, knowing what Moses declared to God’s family of believers about disobedience and obedience to His word; and also knowing what Jesus has said about His family of disciples, what fruit do we have in our lives to show that we are obedient disciples of the One Who, by His blood shed on the cross, has allowed us to cross over the Jordan river, leaving behind the wilderness of sin behind and claiming the life He has for us in His promised-land?

I will leave that question for you to ponder as you walk, prayerfully WITH Christ in this life, shining your fruit-bearing light to lead the way so that others can walk out of the darkness, cross over the Jordan river of faith, and walk themselves into the Promised-Land, showing clearly, by our fruit, that we are part of the family of God.

My Prayer Today: … Oh, my dear Lord, I pray that others see Your light shining in me and there is obvious fruit on my tree of life for others to see and sample, leading them to You by the way I live. Amen

March 14, 2012 … Say it again, Moses!

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 11-13 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Deuteronomy 11: 26-28: … [The Choice!] … 26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

My Journal for Today: Actually, as we read through Deuteronomy, Chapters 11-13 (if you’re with me), I was taken by Chapter 11 today where Moses (AGAIN) lays out God’s choice for His chosen ones with regard to the Mosaic Covenant. I hope you’ll use the link above and read all of Chapter 11: but THE CHOICE is spelled out again for us by Moses, laying it out for a people who had a track record of forgetfulness, selfishness, and blatant childish disobedience [sound familiar?]. And Moses was concerned that the children of the current generation of Israelites, those who had never seen all that God had done for His people, miraculously delivering them from Egypt, providing for them in the wilderness for 40 years, and being there with them in the Tabernacle as they traveled, would very easily lapse into disobedience as they went into the promised-land. The Prophet could easily foresee the likelihood that this youngest generation would be vulnerable to disobedience and, therefore, breach their obligations to follow God’s commands as they traversed into God’s promised-land; and Moses knew what the result would be. So, the aging Prophet laid the fateful choice out for God’s people once again, writing it down in what was to become God’s Book of the Law. And, my friends, we of the New Covenant, in this age of God’s grace, really have the same choice, don’t we?

We can choose to live or die under the covering of the blood of Christ. We can choose to believe in Jesus and obey Him and live eternally as His disciples; or we can choose to reject, in disbelief, what He did on the cross; and the result of the latter choice is eternal death, … i.e., never being allowed into God’s heavenly promised-land. And even after we make the choice which leads to eternal life, it is God’s New Covenant (in Christ) to give us His resurrection power in our lives, living eternally blessed in God’s promised-land. In other words, even as saved believers, we can choose to be disobedient and experience the deathly consequences of our disobedience in sin, which will render us impotent against the powers of our spiritual enemies, … Satan, the world, and our own flesh. The choice is still obedience and power in the promised-land … versus … disobedience and death in our lives; … and WE CHOOSE.

I’m praying this morning – as I do so many mornings – that I will see the power of surrender to God’s will, seeking and finding His way by following God’s word, which was what Moses laid out for God’s people in God’s Book of the Law; and it is what we have laid out before us as believers in the truth of God’s word. Let me pray that you see the choice as Moses and Jesus have laid it out for us; and I pray that we all choose life.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, I pray that all who read here with me have made their choice, as I have, and we choose to follow You in obedience to Your word, knowing that You will provide life for all who do. Amen

March 12, 2012 … Hear … Learn … Obey!

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 5-7 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Deuteronomy 5: 1: … [Hear, Learn, and Obey] … [God to His people] … Moses summoned all Israel and said: “Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them”
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Deuteronomy5: 29: … [Again … To Obey and Live] … [God to Moses] “Oh, that their hearts [i.e., the people of Israel] would be inclined to fear Me and keep all My commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

My Journal for Today: Wow! Two verses and two three point sermons right from God’s mouth to the ears of Moses, who, in writing them the Book of the Law, transmits these two power-packed homilies to all of God’s people; and that includes you an me.

The first three-point sermon [in Deut. 5: 1] says “Hear My Laws! … Learn My laws! … and … Obey My laws!” Could God be any more direct and any clearer? I think not! And as I’m confronted by this God-given directive to His people, God’s Spirit in me bubbles forth, from my memory, a powerful truth from another part of His Book … this one from Isaiah 55: 11, which states, for followers of the one, true God, …

“ … so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

How much clearer could God’s directives be for those of us who are covered by both of God’s Covenants (Old and New)? Through His prophets, Moses and Isaiah, directly to us, God is saying … [my humble summary and paraphrase of God’s Deut. 1 and Isaiah 55 sermons] … “HEAR what I say, … LEARN what I say, … DO what I say; and everything you do will be powerful and productive to accomplish My WILL, in My WAY, through My WORD?”

And then we read in Deut. 5: 29 God’s promise to His people (and to you and me in Christ), God’s three-point sermon of promise and what will result (God never lies!!!) when/if we hear, learn, and obey God’s word. God says (again my humble paraphrase), “LISTEN to My word, … REVERENCE My word, … and … OBEY my Word; … and YOU WILL LIVE FOREVER!”

I certainly couldn’t make it any clearer than God gave it to His people through Moses and how God promised power to His people through Isaiah. God was giving His laws to His people so that they [we] could learn them, obey them, and live. But we know that so many of these people, hearing the straight stuff of love from God Himself, couldn’t – or wouldn’t – cut it; and they disobeyed and died.

I don’t think I need to go on here any more about this, do I? God says it! Done deal! … Now, … I need to say to myself here this morning; … knowing God’s truth and dwelling in it daily, … I’m deeply convicted by my memory of the old Nike company motto, which used to say, “JUST DO IT!”

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to hear Your word, learn Your word, and do Your will … today and everyday. Amen

March 11, 2012 … Obey – Disobey … Our Choice

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 3-4 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Deuteronomy 3: 23-29: … [The Price of Disobedience] ... 23 At that time I pleaded with the LORD: 24 “Sovereign LORD, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do? 25 Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.” >>> 26 But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the LORD said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. 28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
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Deuteronomy 4: 39-40: … [Obey and Live] ... 39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.

My Journal for Today: Reading through Chapters 3-4 of Deuteronomy today in my chronological Bible reading, I’ve decided to back off a bit with minimal comments as to what you’ll read and understand from these two chapters. I’ll make a few brief comments below (yeah, I know – “promises, promises!”); but I am going to ask anyone who’s here to read my blog to read the two chapters to which I link you above for study. Then I’ll ask you to see if you’re not a bit overwhelmed with conviction – as was I when I meditated on these two chapters today.

I think you can tell from my titles above that obedience and/or disobedience of our God was as the heart of the reading today; and that fact carries my degree of conviction. If we are serious about living as our God demands of His people and we want the results of what God promises His followers, … OBEDIENCE is the key to living the God-promised and God-fulfilled life our Lord lays before us as we trek toward His promised land.

Below you see a picture I’ve copied into this blog which was taken from the highest peak of what is now Mount Nebo in Jordan [the highest peak in the mountain range referred to in Deut. 3: 27 above as “Mount Pisgah”]. In the photo you see a group of pilgrims, which included yours truly, looking over at exactly what Moses would have seen, … the land God would not allow him to enter because of his disobedience. As I took that picture, looking out over the promised-land from Jordan into Israel, I just couldn’t help but imagine how much more in my life I could have realized if I had lived so many years of my life in obedience, rather than in disobedience to God’s established order and His teaching from His word.

BUT … I do have the rest of my life ahead; and if I cross the Jordan of decision and trek through the wilderness of this life, keeping my eyes on the prize ahead, as Paul wrote about in Philippians 3: 13-14; and if I live as my Lord, Jesus, charged me to live in Acts 1: 8 and Luke 9: 23. following Him in faith with the witnessing power of God’s Spirit in me, as well as living in obedience to His word, … I will have the success that God promised to Joshua (see Joshua 1: 8) in living out my life successfully as an obedient follower of God’s word and law.

What about you? Are you on board with this obedience deal? Come along, my friend; let’s cross over any Jordan of decision we need to cross and let’s trek toward the promised-land, living obediently and following our Lord in the battles of life which lie ahead. His promise is to take us home; and that’s all we need to follow Him, isn’t it?

My Prayer Today: … Lord, lead me; … I will follow in obedience. Amen

February 22, 2012 … God Smiles on Obedience

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Leviticus, Chapters 26-27 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Leviticus 26: 3-5 : … [Obedience and Blessing] … 3 “‘If you follow My decrees and are careful to obey My commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
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Leviticus 26: 14-17 : … [Disobedience and Cursing] … 14 “‘But if you will not listen to Me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject My decrees and abhor My laws and fail to carry out all My commands and so violate My covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.

My Journal for Today: Reading and meditating onward in Leviticus, today in Chapters 26-27, we read about God’s promises to His people concerning their obedience OR their disobedience. And in Verse 13 of Leviticus 26, God openly reminds His children of how HE, their God and keeper, had delivered them. His word: ... 13 I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Certainly God’s chosen people, the Israelites, could not deny God’s deliverance, … nor His promises. So, if you were followers of Moses and Aaron in those days, which plan (reviewing the choices copied for you above) would you choose. >>> DUH!!! >>> No brainer, right?! … But if you’ve read the rest of the Old Testament, you know what happened. God’s people … over … and over … and over … and over again were disobedient.

But are those of us who’ve been grafted into God’s family, … His chosen people via the New Covenant and our belief in the hope and promises of the Lamb of God, any different than these Old Covenant believers? Unfortunately, I think not!

Personally, given the choices above – God’s promised outcomes for obedience and disobedience - I’m choosing the first one. But then I look at who I am and my track record for obedience in faith; and I see – IN ME – the truth of Paul’s declaration as a New Covenant Prophet (see Romans 3: 23 that “… for all have fallen short of the glory of God.” I, like all of us, do fall short; but then I’m shored up by the rest of Romans 3: 22-24, which states, 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Note that I, as an occasional disobedient sinner, because I have faith in the redeeming grace of my Lord and Savior, Jesus, The Messiah, am covered by His blood and New Covenant. But does this give me license to sin in the face of His grace. Hardly!! … And that was also covered by the Apostle Paul to the same Roman believers. Go back and read and meditate on all of Romans 6 [linked here for your study]; and you will see that it is only when we follow Jesus’ command to His disciples in Luke 9: 23 (and I hope you know that one by heart), that we will find our true purpose and experience all of God’s reward for our obedience.

So, I’m going to pray here that I recognize that God only smiles on our obedience. Yes, He will forgive our disobedience; but personally I’d rather keep Him smiling and receive the benefits of obedience to His commands and promises.

How about you?

My Prayer Today: … LORD, help me to be an obedient follower and disciple so that I my feel You smiling on me in this life and into the next. Amen

February 4, 2012 … And the Beat Goes On!

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Exodus, Chapters 16-18 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Exodus 16: 1-3 … : … [Discomfort Yields Disobedience] ... 1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
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Exodus 17: 1-4 … : … [Same Ole – Same ole!] ... 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” 4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

My Journal for Today: If you read/meditated with me yesterday in Chapters 13-15 of Exodus, we see a pattern beginning with the recalcitrant people of Israel, having been delivered so mercifully by God from Egypt. And this pattern is going to repeat itself over and over and over again throughout the Old Testament. God gives His children His promises; … God delivers on His promises; … Got gives His children some rope to hang themselves in selfishness and sin; … and Israel, over and over again, hangs itself in selfishness and sinfulness. >>> And the beat goes on … and on … and on … and on!

I find it interesting in today’s reading that God leads Moses/Aaron and the Jewish people out of the “Desert of Sin,” which really has nothing to do the English word “sin;” but coincidentally (or maybe not) it was the actual name of the place they began to grumble (back to Chapter 15) about their discomfort. And over and over again, from today’s reading in Chapters 16-18 and onward through Exodus; and even reading onward, we see that every time the Jewish people are tested with challenges in their comfort zone where God delivers on His promises, they begin to grumble; … and then they move into disobedience, selfishness, and sinful choices.

My mother used to say, “Out of the boiling pot into the frying pan.” And here we see God’s people getting display after display of God’s wondrous deliverance and protection; and they still begin to grumble as soon as their selfish desires are not being met. To them it was out of the Desert of Sin and into the Promised Land of challenge; and these baby believers couldn’t handle any of the tests which God led them through to show them His mercy and grace.

And I’m sure you know that, as we continue to read on in the Old Testament, we’re going to see that old song title from Sonny and Cher, playing itself out over and over again: … And the Beat Goes On

But we shouldn’t point fingers of blame at these Jewish wanderers, should we? Isn’t it true that all of mankind – including you and me – begin to grumble when we’re thrown into the testing pot of discomfort and denial? It’s just human nature to want everything to stay in the warm-fuzzies of life. And as soon as the heat is turned up with denial of our comfort, or most certainly some degree of privation, we begin to grumble; … and then we seek to find our own ways to move back into the comfort zone. And this latter pattern so often leads to outright disobedience and denial of God’s promises and His plans.

Yep! Been there, done that, and I have several T-shirts to prove it!

Need I say more! … ”And the Beat Goes On!” … And on and on and on! >>>

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to break out of the desert of sin and into the promised land of faith. Amen

June 6, 2011 … Integrity Enjoys God’s Favor

Passage of the Day: Daniel 1: 8 – 9 … 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, …

My Journal for Today: My wife and I had a Christian friend, named Loretta [who is now with the Lord]. We often heard Loretta say, “First obedience, then God’s blessing.” I call her truth statement, “1st Loretta 1: 1” somewhat jokingly; but in reality her statement, which is dead-on truth, is certainly illustrated in what happened to Daniel in today’s passage. First, there was Daniel’s obedience to God’s will and law, i.e., His spiritual integrity, and then we read in today’s highlight passage of God’s provision of blessing in response to Daniel’s obedience.

Daniel stood on God’s word at the risk of his life; and he meekly (but in no means, weakly) appealed to Ashpenaz, the eunuch Babylonian commander; and God saw to it that the heart of this leader from Nebuchadnezzar’s court was softened enough to listen and comply to Daniel’s proposals and requests (read ahead in Daniel 1, verses 10 – 14).

Often in scripture we read of the favor of God being visited upon obedient believers, such as Noah (see Gen. 6: 8) or Joseph (Gen. 39 – 41) or Moses (Exod. 11: 3). And in the New Testament, Peter strongly wrote of this principle in 1st Peter 2: 19 – 20 …

SCRIPTURE: 1st Peter 2: 19 - 20 ... For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

As John MacArthur succinctly writes his version of 1st Loretta 1: 1, “God’s favor is the rich reward of obedience.” And we should also remember that disobedience to God’s word and His commands leads to the opposite of God’s favor. In the story of Samson in the book of Judges or in Paul’s writings in the New Testament, Romans 1, we read that God’s wrath against disobedience can ultimately release the sinner, or even a nation, to his own reprobate mind and choices, allowing him to become captive to the world and Satan’s devices. However, there are many stories in God’s word (for example about Job, of the Prodigal, or the parable of the Good Shepherd seeking out the lost sheep) where God’s patience and mercy are exhibited when the protagonist of God’s story is obedient to his Lord. But just how long can we expect God to be patient when we, individually or as a nation, choose to reject God’s way and turn to our own selfish and sinful desires? I often read the news of the day and wince, praying, “Oh, Lord, have mercy on this land, growing ever darker in disobedience.”

It’s all right there in God’s book … that He compassionately gives His favor (i.e., His grace) to His obedient children. And we have example after example, … true, biblical references of Godly integrity, … of those who benefited from God’s blessing following their obedience to His word and His will and His way. But when are we going to “get it?!” And when are we going to “do it?!” Because seeing what God sees going on in this country, with the rampant disobedience of His truth, even to the point of mockery of His word, how long can we expect God to hold back a spiritual tsunami from occurring; and as they say, “The rain falls on the righteous as well as the unrighteous.”

My Prayer Today: I get it, Lord; but help me to do it today! And I pray for your mercy to extend to those who actually are obedient to Your will and Your ways. Amen

June 2, 2011 … Integrity Triumphs Over Adversity

Passage of the Day: Daniel 1: 1 – 2 … 1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

My Journal for Today: You’ve gotta love the openness and reality of the Bible, more specifically today in the Old Testament book of Daniel. As we read in today’s highlight passage, God never coddles the sinfulness of His people. For many years God’s people, the Jews, had been disobedient and recalcitrant; and so God allows the wicked nation of Babylon to consume His chosen ones in captivity.

John MacArthur in Strength for Today points out that this illustrates that “… judgment [begins] with the family of God (see 1st Peter 4: 17). “ And it also shows that God’s discipline is always levied against His children to produce greater righteousness and Godly integrity (see Hebrew 12: 5 – 11 - linked for your study).

It was this stage of historical captivity, involving the Jews with all of the associated Babylonian cruelty, which produced the remarkable display of faithful spiritual integrity which I’ll be highlighting this month … as Daniel and his young Hebrew friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are tested and found to be pure jewels in God’s crown.

Think of the word picture involving a jeweler desiring to show his best gems, possibly his prime diamonds. To do this, the jeweler always displays these prime jewels or sparkling gems on a blackened backdrop, shining a focused, bright light to reflect off of the facets of the cut gems to entice a buyer who is looking at the gems. And that is what we will see in the book of Daniel as the shining integrity of these four young Hebrews is displayed, shining against the dark backdrop of their Babylonian captors.

And right now in history, knowing what God has communicated to His people (including His remnant in this country) … a stark warning that He can, at any time, as He did with the Jews in today’s passage, turn a nation over to its own selfish ways and let Satan deal with His people for a season. Reading the passage in Romans 1: 18-32 (please read it as it’s linked here) gives me pause, and makes me wonder if God hasn’t already begun to leave this country to our own fleshly captivity. Certainly something to ponder; and about which we should pray.

My Prayer Today: Shine through me, Lord! Have mercy on Your people, Lord! Amen

2010 – August 20 – Longing for the Bad Old Days

Study from God’s Word… Chapter 23 of Ezekiel … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 23: 27 … NIV So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.

My Journal for Today: I’m sure that those of you who follow my journal entries here don’t often read through the entire passages which Dr. LaGard Smith has me read in my quest, with his guidance, to read through The Daily Bible in Chronological Order. You probably just read my devotional entry and let it be your way of vicariously letting me do your reading for you. I understand that; but today I’m asking more of you.

Today, I implore you to read what I’ve just read, … the entire 23rd Chapter of the book of Ezekiel; because it is one of the most troubling chapters – at least to me – in its word pictures and analogy of two sister prostitutes representing Israel, whom God named “Oholah,” the older sister, and Judah, the younger, whom God called “Oholibah.” Oh, I’ve read Ezekiel before, but not until now did I read this chapter with such personal intent and careful meditation, being led by Dr. Smith’s devotional; and I must say that I’m now reeling with self disgust and even a raging fear for two other prostituted sisters. One is an older sister who has slowly given herself as prostitute. We know here as “Europe.” And we, “America” are the younger sister who is now following in our older sister’s pattern of shame.

As I read Ezekiel, Chapter 23, the graphic sexual references first took me back to the many years I, personally, prostituted my Judeo-Christian values to live a hidden double-life into many forms of sexual sin. But now I see that what God led me out of, in repentance, has now become a cultural pattern, where our nation has fallen prey and moved far away from being the identified as the “Christian Nation” she once was, a nation which was founded by staunch believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the nation who followed their seed, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Now, I’m afraid I see our fate as a nation becoming much the same as the two prostituted sisters, Israel and Judah. What form of wrath will be visited upon us as a seriously prostituted nation? I don’t know; but I just don’t see how we can avoid it. Perhaps it will be falling prey to the clutches of Islam, which is slowly, but doggedly taking over our older, but prostituted sister, Europe, who has made herself a bed for her Muslim pursuers.

I’m not a prophet with enough vision to see where God is going to lead America, who is more resistant than Europe. Hopefully there is a Christian remnant who is holding on by our knuckles; but assuredly, if America, cannot refrain from lifting its skirts to allow Islamic radicalization into our loins, she will fall to them as our sister Europe, which is crumbling in shame to Islam as I write this. Go read Ezekiel 23 and see if you can’t see this as well.

And if you agree with me, one must ask, “What can I do to see the younger sister, America, be saved from the fate we have seen for a century in our older sister nation, Europe?” And the answer is found in that very pregnant charge of 2nd Chron. 7: 14 [linked], which I would hope you know by heart. And I also hope that you join me in this refrain of confession and commitment as the people of God’s Name, who are mentioned in this charge, become a unified force, pleading for repentance, restoration, and renewal as a nation.

My Prayer for Today: O, dear Lord, we are nation who has prostituted ourselves to grieve You and shame Your Holy Name. Have mercy on us, dear God; and whatever You do, we know you’ll do it because You love Your children who cry out for Your mercy. Amen

2010 – August 17 – Sins of a Nation

Study from God’s Word… Ezekiel, Chapters 12 – 14 … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 14: 12 – 14 … NIV 12 The word of the LORD came to me: 13 "Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, 14 even if these three men — Noah, Daniel and Job —were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

My Journal for Today: After reading the designated Chapters in the Book of Ezekiel today from The Daily Bible in Chronological Order as well as Dr. LaGard Smith’s devotional in The Daily Bible Devotional if I had any lingering doubts that this country, One Nation UNDER God, whose motto is almost laughingly, In God We Trust, will in some way experience God’s wrath coming down upon those who have been and are mocking His sovereignty, they are gone.

However, I do find it most interesting that there is also a message of reassurance for those, of whom I count myself to be one, who stand firmly for right and take action to alert the people of THE God Who saves. But my reassurance is tempered when I see those mentioned as examples of that remnant, especially Job and Noah, who were not able to help many of their family and/or friends, who became consumed when the wrath of Satan was visited on Job and upon all but Noah’s family when God wiped the earth clean of unbelieving people via the great flood. As I’ve said and speculated in the past, “When the rains fall on the unrighteous, the righteous often get wet as well.”

It would frighten me, if I were our President, to declare that America is “… not a Christian nation.” I’m concerned that my kids/grandkids, being Christians (save maybe the youngest of our grandchildren) live in a culture that is becoming increasingly anti-Christ. But, as Job learned, and Noah experienced, God will some how save the righteous remnant unto eternity to be with Him. Job may have lost his kids to Satan’s attacks; but God kept them for Himself in heaven where Job would one day be reunited with them. Daniel’s young friends, renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, declared, before they were put in the fire of the furnace, “[in Daniel 3] 17 If that is the case [that the boys would be put in the fire], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

But we know the outcome of the latter true story. God did deliver the faithful boys; and I believe, as God did with Noah, He will deliver or take directly to heaven, those who stand for righteousness when His wrath of wrath of abandonment or death is delivered upon those who now mock Him or turn from Him into evil idolatry and wicked practices.

That is why it is so imperative that we do all we can to fulfill the Great Commission, even, and especially, in our own families, so that whenever God decides to lift his mantle of protection – by the Holy Spirit – off of this “Christian nation” in denial, those who have come to know Christ will be saved eternal destruction. Oh, we who believe and stand for Christ in these modern days of Sodom and Gomorrah may be martyred by Satan or the evil in the world; BUT … we will live on with Christ in glory because of our belief in His saving grace and the reality of His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His now sitting on the Throne of Glory at the right hand of God, the Father.

My Prayer for Today: Save us from peril, oh, Holy Spirit!! Amen

2010 – August 16 – Spinning Ezekiel’s Wheel

Study from God’s Word… Ezekiel, Chapters 8 – 11 … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 10: 9 – 10 … NIV 9 I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like chrysolite. 10 As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel.

My Journal for Today: Today my devotional shepherd, Dr. LaGard Smith, had me reading from the enigmatic sections of Chapters 8 – 11 of the Book of Ezekiel in his edited The Bible in Chronological Order; and I must admit that it is mysterious language to me. But then again, it must have been difficult – if not impossible – for Ezekiel to find words to represent what God led him to see as The Lord let the Prophet see Him lifting His glory from the Temple in Jerusalem because of how His own CHOSEN people had abandoned Him. God obviously wanted His Prophet, Ezekiel, to be the witness to God moving His glory from the Temple built for Him by Solomon. And we know that the glory of God would not visit that Temple again until Jesus, Himself, was brought into the Temple by Joseph and Mary to be circumcised and blessed by the Priest, which we read about in Luke 2. And there we read of God’s blessing of New Testament Prophet, Simeon and Anna, who recognized that God had entered back into the life of the Temple and had fulfilled His covenant in the life of this baby, Jesus.

The scenes and imagery Ezekiel uses to describe what God allowed the prophet to witness are difficult for this limited mind to interpret, especially visages like the famous word picture of “Ezekiel’s wheel” in our passage highlighted by Dr. Smith in his devotional entry for today. As Dr. Smith reports, many different interpretations have been offered up as to the meaning of what Ezekiel wrote about in this passage; and whatever it was, it had to have been incredible to be a mental witness to God moving out of His Temple as part of the judgment for the rebellion and disobedience of His people.

If any reader of my devotional here will allow me the license of a very limited mind, not having the gift of prophesy or of any great Spirit-driven discernment, it is of great concern to me to read what I’ve been reading from the inspired writings of Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and now, Ezekiel, to see how God will – at least for a season – visit His wrath of abandonment on a collection of His chosen people who turn their backs, as a nation, on the God Who had a covenant with those people. And … though we are not God’s original chosen people, I do believe that it was God’s hand which led Christians to America. And I believe that it was God’s protection and leading which brought about the incredible founding and freedom to worship the one, true God which brought America through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the World Wars … so that the USA could be a witness for God, much like the ancient Hebrew nation. But also like we are reading about from these OT prophets, God may be incredibly patient, as He was with Israel and Judah; but His patience has limits; and He will only visit His protection on a nation so long when they are turning their backs on Him.

And as I’ve been reading in the times of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God can – and will – lift His Spirit-imposed hand of protection to let His people experience His “wrath of abandonment,” which is a term I heard some time ago in a sermon by Dr. John MacArthur, who was reflecting on that incredible passage in Romans 1: 18 – 32 [linked for your study]; and this, to me, is one scary passage when one considers what is going on in our country and culture these days. Yes, I know that God’s promise is true (see Hebrews 4: 12, which quotes Deut. 31: 6) never to forsake those who believe in and have a deep/abiding relationship with God through Christ; but God does not promise to stay with individuals, or collectively with a nation of people, who turn their backs on Him or His ways. And that is my concern for what we may be seeing happening in America today.

Yes, it may be a far cry to go from “Ezekiel’s wheel” to seeing God move out of America and allow us to be turned over to reprobate forces of evil; but I pray that God has mercy on His remnant of believers, of whom I count myself as one, just as He promised He would for those in Israel and Judah who were willing to ride out the tide of captivity and enforced evil in Ezekiel’s day.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I know You’ll stay with us during these times of evil. Amen

2010 – August 7 – Contempt for God’s Word

Study from God’s Word… Jeremiah 36: 1 - 4; Jer. 45: 1 – 5; Jer. 36: 5 - 32 … Passage for Reflection: Jeremiah 36: 23 – 24 … NIV 23 Whenever Jehudi [the agent for Jehoiakim, King of Judah] had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.

My Journal for Today: Just this past week an activist US District Judge (his name is Vaughn Walker) defiantly declared that the controversial “Prop 8” California constitutional amendment, passed by the citizens of CA, declaring for traditional marriage and banning gay marriage, was unconstitutional and thereby null and void. In doing so, this one judge has deactivated the vote of the citizens of California and made his own law which has also, in turn, declared (in the legal opinion Walker wrote) that no law can be based on the premise of faith or faith traditions. So, … in the headlines of our times we have a very similar case to what happened when the King of Judah, Jehoiakim, bad son of the good King Josiah, ordered that Jeremiah’s prophesies of God’s word, which had been written down in a scroll, be cut up and burned.

It is sad; but I don’t think that Judge Walker has a clue as to the ramifications of his declared legal opinion … just like King Jehoiakim (see verse 24 above) was so brazen about his decision to burn the truth of God written down in Jeremiah’s scroll [which BTW was later restored and re-written]. Now we don’t know what will happen in the appeals process since this District Court opinion will be challenged. It may ultimately be restored by the US Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court; but like Jehoiakim’s challenge of God’s word and will, Judge Walker has acted brazenly to affront God’s written truth. Prop 8 in California was simply a written affirmation of thousands of years of Judeo-Christian values concerning marriage; and it is affirmed by the Bible itself. Judge Walker saw fit to write his legal “tearing up” of Prop 8; and in the process struck out directly and brazenly against God’s way and His will. And like God’s recompense against Jehoiakim, somehow and in some way, Judge Walker is going to pay God for his actions. May God have mercy on him; and may he repent of his decision before God’s hammer of wrath falls as it did on Jehoiakim and his family (see Jeremiah 36: 30 – 31).

But even more importantly for you and me is the application of God’s word in Jer. 36 for our personal lives and how we follow God’s word. And testing this premise, Dr. Smith closes his devotional for today with one of his redundant personal challenges, writing, ”Are there any verses ‘MISSING’ from my Bible (application) because I’ve purposefully chosen to ignore them?” Because, … if the answer to the latter question is “YES,” we are no better in living out our lives than was Jehoiakim trying to eradicate God’s written word or Judge Walker trying to make Judeo-Christian truths null and void in support of gay marriage.

We simply cannot treat God’s word like a smorgasbord, blissfully taking in things which seem to be easy for our palates and ignoring those parts of our truth diet we find difficult to consume. God’s word is ALL truth, as declared by the Apostle Paul to his young Mentee in 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17, … ALL of it is necessary for our living our lives; and we cannot “tear out” concepts or pages from it because they don’t seem appealing to our tastes. We cannot be like Jehoiakim or Judge Walker; because if we do, we risk the very wrath of God coming down like it did for the defiant king in today’s historical account of Jehoiakim or it very likely will for Judge Walker.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I pray that I – and any who read here – take this lesson to heart and live by ALL of Your word … ALL of the time. Amen