Category: Inspirational

Scripture for Wednesday, November 8 (11/8)

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The scripture for today, November 8 (11/8), is Proverbs 11:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“The righteous man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked instead.”

We know that God does not always rescue us from trouble here on this temporary earth. He certainly didn’t rescue Jesus all the time. Sometimes God has an assignment for us to be in the midst of trouble so we can demonstrate the contrast ~ God’s ways and Satan’s ways.

But eventually in eternity, if we have followed God’s ways, he will indeed rescue us from trouble. He will indeed welcome us into his home ~ heaven.

So, fight on. Persist.  Stand firm. Do the right thing. Win. Then rest.

 

Scripture for Tuesday, November 7 (11/7)

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The scripture for today, November 7 (11/7), is Psalm 11:7 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-cover-kindle-medium-new“For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.”

The face of God! How we who believe in God long to see his face. We cannot comprehend it. But we can comprehend this…..

God’s eyes ~ “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good” (Proverbs 15:1).

God’s mouth ~ “I have put my words in your mouth” (Isaiah 51:16).

God’s nose ~ “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma….The smoke of the incense together with the prayers of the saints went up before God” (Genesis 8:21; Revelation 8:4).

God’s ears ~ “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.”

Perhaps when we continually watch both good and bad people around us with the same kind of care that God does…

…perhaps when we speak the words that come out of the mouth of God…

…perhaps when we send our prayers like sweet incense to God…

…perhaps when we are attentive to the silent cry of those around us…

~ just perhaps, in some way, we are seeing the face of God.

Perhaps.

 

 

 

 

Scripture for Monday, November 6 (11/6)

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The scripture for today, November 6 (11/6), is Nehemiah 11:6 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-Medium“The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 able men.”

Just who was Perez, and why was this even mentioned in the Bible? Perez was a descendant of Judah, and an ancestor of Jesus (Matthew 1:3).

Why was living in Jerusalem a big deal at that time? Because Jerusalem had been attacked and destroyed. Other Jews had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. Now it was time to rebuild the walls.

These 468 brave people had to agree to move into a burned-out city and rebuild on the ashes of previous homes. In the process of moving building stones out of the way to reuse in the city wall, they surely found skeletons of those who had been slaughtered in the attack.

At first, the Jews had blamed the Babylonians for destroying their city and temple. But eventually, they began re-reading what the prophets had warned them about their own sins. Finally, they turned inward and placed the blame where it really belonged: Themselves. Their own pride had destroyed their temple and their city.

Following repentance, they acted. Was it easy rebuilding a broken city? Not any easier than rebuilding a broken home, a broken congregation, or a broken life. We look at our own part in our own destruction and begin building anew.

A descendant of Perez ~ Jesus ~ had the same grit. What is yours like? Have you rebuilt anything important lately?

Lazarus ranked #11

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Today, Lazarus is ranked #11 in Amazon’s top 100 New Testament biographies. Here is a screenshot:

Amazon Best Sellers Best Christian NewTestament Biographies

Amazon Ranking

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Today on Amazon, my Mefiboset: Crippled Prince, ranked #28 in the top 100 Old Testament biographies ahead of some well-known authors. This book was written to inspire people with handicaps. (Below is a screenshot.)

Amazon Best Sellers Old Testament Biographies

Scripture for Sunday, November 5 (11/5)

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The scripture for today, November 5, is Ecclesiastes 11:5 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-Medium“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

Are you ever frustrated because you cannot touch God or see God? In times of deep unbearable distress, probably a lot of people feel that need. But, if we could touch or see him, he could not be everywhere at once; he could not be omnipresent. That means, if he was with you where you could see and touch him, the rest of the world would have to wait for him to get done with you and go to the next person.

Are you ever frustrated because you cannot figure out God? In times of great challenges to faith, probably a lot of people feel that need. But, if we could figure out God, He would not be superior to us. It means that either he would not be God, or we would be God also.

Let us be grateful that we cannot touch or see God. Let us be grateful that we cannot fully understand God. Let us be grateful that, despite all his greatness, he dearly loves us.

Scripture for Saturday, November 4 (11/4)

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0-REV-Cover-No Logo-KINDLE-mediumThe scripture for today, November 4, is Psalm 11:4a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne.”

No matter what happens in our life, in our town, in our nation, God is still on his throne. No matter how confusing things become, God is still on his throne. No matter how discouraging, God is still on his throne.

Therefore, no matter what, we will worship him

Scripture for Friday, November 3 (11/3)

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The scripture for today, November 3 (11/3), is Luke 11:3 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Bible Puzzles for Young And Old-Cover“Give us each day our daily bread.”

This is part of the ideal prayer that Jesus taught his followers to say. We claim to agree with it. But do we completely?

Do we feel like it is our hard-earned money that bought that bread? Do we claim it is our ability to cook that created that bread? Do we claim it was the hard work of the farmers and their equipment that brought us the grain from whence the bread is made? Or the mills that ground it into flour? Or the stores that brought the flour to the consumers?

Ultimately we must look past all of this to that which is beyond our control. It is God who makes the sun to shine down upon the seed. It is God who makes the rain to come down to water it. It is God who places life in the buried wheat germ for it to reproduce with a flourish.

Many activities of man bring us our daily bread. But ultimately it is God the Creator who makes it all possible. He not only makes it possible for good people, he brings bread also to the bad.

He loves everyone so.

Scripture for Thursday, November 2 (11/2)

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The scripture for today, November 2  (11/2), is Proverbs 11:2 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 2-DreamMaker-cover-kindle-medium-new“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

The word “disgrace” comes from Hebrew qalon meaning confusion. It is also translated dishonor and reproach.

Pride is so hard to control. With the church or clubs or other organizations, we think our ideas, our points of view, our ways of doing things are the right ideas views and ways.  We accuse others of not cooperating if something is our ideas, views, and ways they don’t go along with. It is so hard to give up our ideas views and ways for the sake of peace.

Even in doing daily business, our pride shows up. We become impatient with clerks in stores who do not help us, with other drivers on the road who are too slow or fast for us, with people delivering things to our homes who do not deliver them right to our door, with kids throwing rocks at things that belong to us, people who try to cut in line ahead of us, fellow workers who take credit for our work, and on and on.

It is hard to sit by and let others be praised when we do better work than they do, or we work harder than they do, or they get the promotion we deserve.

How do we control our pride? Perhaps by comparing ourselves, not with others around us, but with Jesus. In the same circumstance, what did he do?

Scripture for Wednesday, November 1 (11/1)

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The scripture for today, November 1 (11/1), is Hebrews 11:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible;

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV).

Notice, faith is not based on a feeling. It is full of substance, for it is based on evidence. What evidence?

First, faith is complete confidence that the Bible is divine. We know this in large part because the prophecies about nations and empires during Bible times came true after the lifetime of the prophets. Today, most people never heard of many of those nations and empires because their destruction was so complete. But an investigation of encyclopedias shows that, in Bible times, they did exist.

Second, faith is complete confidence that Jesus on earth was divine. We know this in large part because numerous prophecies about his birth, ministry and death came true centuries after the prophecies were made. No one man could have contrived and forced all those prophecies to be fulfilled in his lifetime.

Finally, faith is complete confidence that the account of Jesus’ life was written accurately by witnesses who saw him and talked with him. These witnesses afterwards traveled the world telling people about him, suffering hardships, and often torture and death. They would not have gone through all this for a lie. Further, we have manuscripts that date back to less than a century of the actual events, something no other ancient writing can do.

Yes, faith has substance because it is based on evidence. And in the Bible, we have all we need.