Scripture for Tuesday, August 15 (8/15)

The scripture for today, August 15 (8/15), is Romans 8:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.”

I knew someone a long time ago who went through a period of being afraid of everything, something she just could not control. Then she found this scripture and applied it to all her fears. She had read it many times before, but this time was able to apply it to her constant fear. She thought to herself, “Stop being afraid! You are a child of God! He is right there with you. Be brave now. And rest in God.”

Are there times in your life when you are a slave to fear? What do you fear right now? Perhaps it is fear of the dark or someone breaking into your house. Or fear of losing health. Or fear of strangers. Or of a certain nationality. Or of losing a job or home. Or of losing a loved one.

Stop being afraid! Children of God are not afraid. God is right there with you. Be brave.

And rest in God.

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#loss, #fear, #terror, #bravery, #courage, #ChildOfGod, #slavery, #loss

Scripture for Wednesday, August 9 (8/9)

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The scripture for today, August 9 (8/9) is 2nd Corinthians 8:9 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Such love!

 

  • Jesus gave up streets of gold for streets full of trash.
  • Gave up a heavenly mansion for a barn.
  • Gave up the ability to be everywhere at once, to being confined to a body.
  • Gave up eternal bliss for 33 years of struggle.
  • Gave up adoring angels for crowds that hated him.
  • And finally, he gave up sinlessness to take the blame for our sins and allow himself to take our punishment.

What have you given up for him lately?

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#selfishness, #sacrifice, #love, #ambivolence, #heaven, #hell

Scripture for Tuesday, August 8 (8/8)

The scripture for today, August 8 (8/8), is Zechariah 8:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

The Jews had done terrible things against God. They had worshiped terrible idols that required ghastly things be done in their honor such as setting up brothels with so-called male and female “priestesses” and sacrificing their children on an altar of fire. They had nailed the doors of the Temple closed. They had broken every one of God’s rules. They had sworn at him, rejected him, hated him.

So God punished them with 70 years of exile in Babylon. It was the boomerang effect. They had rejected God, so God rejected them.

But it was not permanent. God is love and has no choice but to love and give people a second chance. Isn’t He amazing? The God of Second Chances?

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#rejection, #betrayal, #hatred, #resentment, #punishment, #SecondChance, #repentance, #forgiveness, #mercy

Scripture for Monday, August 7 (8/7)

00-COVER-KINDLEThe scripture for today, August 7 (8/7), is Hosea 8:7 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”

This is the boomerang effect. We throw a boomerang into the air and no matter how we throw it, it always comes back to us. In the same way, God treats us the same way we treat him.

If we draw near to God, God draws near to us (James 4:8). If we don’t have time for God, God doesn’t have time for us. If we don’t want to do what he says, God doesn’t want to do what we say. If we reject God, God rejects us:

Psalm 9:15-16; Psalm 10:2; Psalm 37:14-15; Psalm 140:9; Proverbs 3:34; Proverbs 6:27; Proverbs 26:27; Isaiah 33:1; Isaiah 59:18; Ezekiel 7:8; Obadiah 1:15.  Look them up.

Also, there may be people out there mistreating you. Someday their mistreatment will boomerang right onto themselves. In the meantime, your assignment is to remain true to God with patience and calm. God will take care of the boomerang.

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#boomerang, #meanness, #victim, #abuse, #selfishness, #recompense, #reward, #punishment

Scripture for Sunday, August 6 (8/6)

The scripture for today, August 6 (8/6), is 1st Corinthians 8:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-cover-kindle-medium-new“Yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord [Word], Jesus Christ, through whom all things came [by a Word] and through whom we live [by the Word]. But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols.”

We all believe in Jesus, so we think we’re not involved with idols. But we all sometimes idolize something when we should be idolizing Someone. With advertising of things all around us, we are tempted to trade God for things. Having once turned things into our idol, we set Jesus aside.

Oh, we may still worship at least once a week. And pray every morning. We may even read a chapter of the Bible every day. But what do we spend the rest of the day thinking about? Yes, when we’re on the job, we must think about giving our employers an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wage. And we have families we must love and attend to.

But after that……..

                                 Then what?

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#idols, #things, #power, #position, #status, #GoodWorks, #time, #attention

Scripture for Friday, August 4 (8/4)

The scripture for today, August 4 (8/4), is Acts 8:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

Sometimes our plans get scattered, our dreams shattered. We lose our home, our job, our chance at an education, our savings, our family.

Satan loves to discourage us. He’s good at it. But Romans 8:28 says that God can make something good come out of all things ~ good or bad.

What about you? What if, for instance, you lose your home or job or worse? Will it make you bitter?

 It apparently did not make the early Christians bitter. How could that be? They had been forced out of jobs, out of homes, out of their country. Some Christian friends had been killed before they could escape.

There was something about them.  Something different. They counted it joy to be considered worthy of suffering for Christ. (James 1:2) They did not slink around or hide so it wouldn’t happen again. They rose up out of the ashes. They rose up and declared they had an eternal home no one could snatch from them.

How about you? If you lost everything, would you keep your joy or turn bitter?  What if that loss was because of Jesus? Would you turn right around and declare him again anyway? Really and truly, would you?

What stuff is your Christianity made of? Getting up in front of a congregation and expounding or performing, or being on committees? Or is it teaching one on one how to be saved? Where are your priorities? What part of Christianity brings the kind of joy that keeps on going, even in the ashes?

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#joy, #bitterness, #loss, #salary, #education, #house, #fire, #flood, #war, #persecution, #RunAway, #troubles, #problems, #priorities, #Christianity, #SoulSaving

Scripture for Wednesday, August 2 (8/2)

00-COVER-KINDLEThe scripture for today, August 2 (8/2), is Matthew 8:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lor if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.’ “

People in Jesus’ day who had leprosy had to live outside of town in what we would call a leper colony. And if someone without leprosy started getting close to them, they were required to call out, “Unclean! Unclean!”

But here was a man who apparently pushed his way through a crowd where he didn’t belong. He didn’t ask Jesus if he could heal him; he asked if he was willing to. After all, he was “unclean”. Remarkably, Jesus said yes.

Then Jesus did another remarkable thing: He touched the man. He touched the leprosy. Not only was he willing to be seen with an unclean man, he was willing to touch him.

Jesus still does this today. When we come to him with a diseased heart wondering if we are good enough, Jesus reaches out across the centuries and touches us. And his voice echoes across the centuries and says, “I am willing.”

No matter how much sin mars your life, Jesus still today can say, “Be clean.”

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#sin, #dirt, #unclean, #touch, #prayer, #diseases, #heart, #blessing, #cure, #cleansing, #healing, #brokenness, #problems, #troubles, #compassion, #humility

Scripture for Monday, July 31 (7/31)

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The scripture for today, July 31(7/31) is 1st Corinthians 7:31b as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“For this world in its present form is passing away.”

How easily that which we have slaved for over a period of years can pass away. It can happen as the result of fire, flood, storm, war, economic crisis. Every day something in this world “is passing away.”

What are you working for day to day? That which can so easily pass away? Or that which is eternal and will never pass away? What are your plans for today? Think about it.

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#time, #EndOfTime, #deaath, #fire, #flood, #disaster, #storm, #war, #job, #economy, #eternity, #spiritual, #GoodWorks, #souls, #saved

Scripture for Saturday, July 29 (7/29)

The scripture for today, July 29 (7/29), is Ecclesiastes 7:29 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-CHILD'SCartoonMetJesusCOVER-Medium“This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.”

We begin our lives upright ~ sinless. But as we grow out of innocent childhood, we begin to want recognition, power, money, beauty. And we tend to scheme to get them.

True, God does not want to deprive us if we can obtain these things. But Solomon (who wrote this), with all his worldwide fame, power, wealth, and beauty, still felt empty. Actually, we can even read the Bible and go to worship and still feel empty. Why? Because we need to think of someone else besides ourselves. We need to add good works to our faith (James 2) ~ helping others with the same enthusiasm we pursue our own recognition, power, money, and beauty.

Sometimes to fill our emptiness, we need to just return to our early childhood when we saw life through innocent eyes. Through simple eyes. Through eyes that believe so easily in God, and so easily love everyone.

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#recognition, #power, #money, #beauty, #fame, #wealth, #selfishness, #others, #infancy, #childhood

 

Scripture for Wednesday, July 19 (7/19)

The scripture for today, July 19 (7/19) is found in Romans 7:19 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do ~ this I keep on doing.”

Doesn’t this pretty much describe all of us in some area of our life?  It may be eating too much, breaking the law by going over the speed limit, laughing at dirty jokes, habitual lying, stealing “little things” at work, cheating on tests, jealousy ~ any number of things. Sins of habit and attitude are hard to break. So, we go to God over and over asking him to forgive that which, deep down, we know we’re going to do again.

Perhaps this emphasizes the importance of us forgiving others who habitually do wrong to us. If we say, “I’m not going to forgive you anymore. You’ve done this to me too many times,” then God is likely to say the same thing to us.

Jesus said, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14).

Satan wants us to quit trying to do better. And he wants us to quit forgiving each other. Let us not give in to Satan. Let us give in to God.

God’s way leads to ultimate forgiveness.

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#forgiveness, #grace, #mercy, #habits, #sins, #insults, #attitudes, #littlethings, #revenge, #Satan