Scripture for Saturday, July 15 (7/15)

The scripture for today, July 15 (7/15), is Matthew 7:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

REV-Cover-Kindle“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

Jesus said this. Maybe sometimes the “false prophet” is within ourselves. We have a pet theory that we want very much for God to agree with us on. So, we read through the Scriptures trying to prove our point correct. Of course, taking a verse here and a verse there, you can “prove” anything you want.

So how do we find out if we are being our own “false prophet”? When we see a verse that contradicts our pet theory, look for other scriptures similar to this one. Use a concordance ~ a book that lists alphabetically every word in the Bible and every verse it appears in.

Buy discount paper here:  http://bit.ly/BibleHouse  

Search online here: biblehub.com/concordance

Or, if we believe in a different holy book of a different world religion, we can read it, then honestly search for built-in proofs it is truly holy. Thereby we can decide if we’ve been listening to a false prophet.

And as you honestly struggle, pray about it.

Yes, it is humiliating to believe we just might have been wrong, and then actually admit we were wrong. But it is also liberating.

Many people have already gone through this and can testify that changing from our viewpoint to God’s viewpoint is not only liberating but ultimately brings peace.

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#FalseProphets, #FalseTeachers, #truth, #error, #scriptures, #Bible, #honesty, #opinion, #viewpoint

Scripture for Monday, July 10 (7/10)

The scripture for today, July 10 (7/10), is Psalm 7:10 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-COVER-KINDLE“My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.”

We wouldn’t need a shield if everything on earth was good. But God gave us free will to love him or not, to follow him or not. He did not want robots to love and follow him, for that is not true love or true commitment.

Each of us has an assignment in life: To be strong in the Lord when others want to tear us away from him. To be an example. Remember Romans 8:38 ~ we cannot be more than conquerors unless we have something to conquer.

So, when sometimes things get too difficult for us (and they do from time to time), God stands ready to shield us while we rest.

He will never leave us alone.

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#problems, #troubles, #obstacles, #enemies, #conquering, #prayer, #persistence, #loyalty, #blessing, #reward, #success, #rest

Scripture for Friday, July 7 (7/7)

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

inside-cover-medium“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

How beautiful. The Creator of the universe pays attention to each and every one of us. How does he do it? How does he even sort us all out when thousands of us are praying to him at the same time?

Sometimes we may not think he is listening to our prayers. But it takes time to answer some of them. If I am praying to meet my future husband or wife, God may have to move him or her from the other side of the country, get a new job for him or her, and arrange for us to “accidentally” bump into each other. This is just one example.

Also, when Jesus said whatever we seek will be given to us, he had already explained that we must “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). So only within that context will God give us our heart’s desire.

Maybe today you can do a little bit of extra seeking and extra knocking.

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#prayer, #requests, #priorities, #answers, #time, #hearing, #listening, #patience, #Seek&Knock

 

Scripture for Thursday, July 6 (7/6)

The scripture for today, July 6, is Mark 7:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

Clouds in blue sky“He [Jesus] replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ “

It is the trend today to say that all religions ~ even those who teach opposing things ~ are right and all are good. But Jesus did not say this. Well, then, how do we know which religious things we are taught and do today are from God and which from men?

You are smart. Read the sacred writings of all major world religions for yourself. Do they have built-in proofs they are really sacred ~ scientific, archaeological, ancient inscriptions, prophecies fulfilled? Here is a website with nearly 400 proofs the Bible is from God:

www.churchofchrist-cg-az.com/Bible

Then, if you conclude the Bible is true, use a concordance and do a study of everything the Bible says about any topic. That way you will have God’s opinion, not men’s.

Here is a website with an online Bible concordance and it’s easy to use:  http://bibletab.com/

You can find out for yourself, you can KNOW, whether what you were told to believe by family, friends, and leaders is what God told you to believe.  Remember, your religious leaders will be judged by God just like everyone else.

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#Christianity, #Isalm, #Buddhism, #Hinduism, #Wicca, #Shamanism, #denominations, #creeds, #Bible, #Quran, #Koran, #proof, #scriptures, #hypocrites, #WorldReligions

Scripture for Tuesday, July 4 (7/4)

The scripture for today, July 4 (7/4) is Romans 7:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 5-FloodGates-Cover-Medium-New“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”

This is not talking about just any law. It is talking about the law, a specific law ~ the Law of Moses.

Have you ever tried wading through Leviticus, the third book of the Bible? It’s full of all those laws in the Law of Moses (over 600 of them). Thank God Jesus nailed them to the cross and we are no longer bound by killing animals, stoning people for adultery, tithing, having priests, burning incense, going to the temple three times a year, only traveling 1/3 of a mile on the Sabbath, paying for traveling mercies, and on and on.

How did “we” in today’s scripture die to the law? He said in the previous chapter (6:4) “we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death” and in Colossians 2:14 where Christ “having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” and in Hebrews 9:13, 10:1 “By calling this covenant ‘new’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear….The law was only a shadow of the good things that are coming.”

God now freely gives us His gifts through Jesus Christ our Lord without the impossible Law of Moses. How blessed.

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#law, #Moses, #Leviticus, #freedom, #testament, #shadow, #covenant, #baptism

Scripture for Monday, July 3 (7/3)

The scripture for today, July 3 (7/3) is Acts 7:3 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

REV-Cover-Kindle” ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ “

This is part of a speech by Christian Stephen soon after the church began. He was reminding the Jewish leaders how God told their ancestor Abraham to leave his religion, home and family, and move to where God had something special for him ~ to begin the Jewish nation and religion.

But when Stephen got to the part where now God wanted them to leave the Jewish religion and move on to a still better one ~ the Christian religion ~ they got mad. They were not like Abraham; they did not want to change. So, not liking the message, they killed the messenger. These religious leaders stoned Stephen to death.

It is hard to change. It takes a great big “leap of faith.” But when God does the recommending, we can know he has something special in mind for us. So, if you have been learning new things in the Bible you did not realize were there,  gear up and get ready for that leap!

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#religion, #faith, #change, #discovery, #scriptures, #Bible, #insight, #paganism, #Judaism, #Islam, #Christianity

Scripture for Sunday, July 2 (7/2)

The scripture for today, July 2 (7/2), is Proverbs 7:2ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-Medium“Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call understanding your kinsman.”

It seems, everywhere we turn, we are given differing religious opinions. They cannot all be true, but everyone who says them seems to be so good. They all pray and do good deeds, and never lie, cheat or steal. But how can they all be right when they contradict each other? Preachers and creeds and elders and dogmas. When it comes down to it, only God’s opinion counts.

So how do we get God’s opinion? We look up everything in the Bible using the keyword we are concerned about. We look it up for ourselves and decide for ourselves. We do not let other people decide for us.

Well, how do we find all those verses? By using a concordance which is like a large dictionary listing all the words in the Bible and what verses carry those words. It is the size of a large-city telephone book. You can also get it on the internet free here:  http://bibletab.com/

So today look up something about Christianity you have always been curious about. Then you’ll have wisdom, understanding, and God’s opinion.

 

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Scripture for Friday, June 30 (6/30)

The scripture for today, June 30 (6/30), is 1st Kings 6:30 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

FunWithBibleNumbers-Cover-Kindle“He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.”

About 40 years ago it was figured that Solomon put $3 trillion worth of gold in the temple to line the ceiling, walls, and floor. And that figure would probably be around $12 trillion today. Talk about streets of gold in heaven!

There are some people today asking for money to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Even if they accomplished it, what would it do for Christians? The book of Hebrews in the New Testament explains to the Hebrew (Jewish) Christians that they no longer need or want the temple. Why? Hebrews 8:13 says, “By calling this covenant (Testament) ‘new’ he has made the first one [Old Testament] obsolete.”

Let’s look at the temple in a spiritual sense through the eyes of a Christian ~ and of Jesus himself in Hebrews 9:1, Now the FIRST COVENANT [TESTAMENT] had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 7 Only the High Priest entered the inner room [Most Holy Place]…and never without blood.…. 11When Christ came as High Priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle [temple] that is not man-made. 12. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood [He being the Lamb of God ~ John 1], having obtained eternal redemption. 24. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered HEAVEN ITSELF. For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a NEW COVENANT [TESTAMENT].

So, who of us would want an imitation temple and holy of holies made with hands back in Jerusalem again, along with all the animal sacrifices on the altar, and priests who would have to be of the Tribe of Levi, and tithing and all the other over 600 laws of Moses? It makes no sense.

Thank God, we live in a more spiritual age ~ the age of Christ and the temple of heaven itself.

 

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Scripture for Tuesday, June 27 (6/27)

The scripture for today, June 27 (6/27), is Daniel 6:27 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Bk3-HeartsAfire-COVER-Kindle.medium-new“He [God] rescues and he saves, he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

This was proclaimed by none other than Darius, Emperor of Persia and Babylon. He normally worshiped idols. What made him respect God? It was Daniel’s example of being true to God no matter what.

Everyone has problems. You can consider them opportunities. People of the world do not see any benefits to Christianity in their everyday life. You can show them the advantage by how you face your own difficulties. They will notice.

A friend of mine was a logger (lumberjack). This big guy got up at 4 AM every day and didn’t get home from work and finish eating dinner until about an hour before bedtime. So, he began reading his Bible out in the forests during his lunch break. The other men made fun of him.

They had to ride a small bus together to get deep into the forest, and the guys would harass him on the bus. One day they harassed and teased him so bad because of his Christianity (he wouldn’t cuss and swear with or at them) and Bible reading, that he asked the bus driver to stop. He got out and walked ten miles toward his home.

Some time later, one of the men who had teased and harassed my friend went to him in private with a problem. He said, “I teased and harassed you with everyone else, but deep down I admired you.” Then he went on to explain his problem to my friend “because you are the only one I know to turn to.”

So today, if you are facing a problem, face it together with God. Face it with courage. Face it with the belief that it is for a reason and that reason may be so you can be an example of godly strength to others. Give it a try.

You can do it!

 

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Scripture for Monday, June 26 (6/26)

The scripture for today, June 26 (6/26) is 1st Chronicles 6:26ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Oldoldstory-COVER-KINDLE“Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son, Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son and SAMUEL his son. The sons of Samuel: JOEL the firstborn and Abijah the second son.”

This is a little long, but I think you will enjoy it.

The prophet Samuel came from a musical family who descended from Levi’s son Kohath. Samuel’s son listed in this scripture was Joel. Verse 33 called the son of Joel and grandson of Samuel “Heman the musician”. Just what did Heman the musician do?

David told the Levites to appoint “singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps, and cymbals“. Heman was the first one they appointed (I Chronicles 15:16f) and he had two assistants ~ Asaph and Merari (I Chronicles. 6:39, 44). David put them in charge of the music in the house of the Lord and they performed their duties according to the regulations (verses 31f).

So what David appointed was a choir and orchestra.  When David first appointed them, Heman had 120 relatives in his clan, and his assistants had 220 and 130 in their clans (I Chronicles. 15:5-7; 19-22; 27-28) so they had a total of 470 musicians. Wow! And these musicians had a full-time job!

They were to minister before the Lord “according to each day’s requirements” of sacrifices as written in the Law of Moses. Heman and the others were responsible for sounding the trumpets and cymbals and playing the other instruments ~ lyres, harps, and cymbals (15:19-21) ~ for sacred song (16:37-42). In addition to playing the prescribed lyres, harps and cymbals, trumpets were to be sounded to announce sacrifices, etc. (16:4-6).

By the time David was old, there were “four thousand…to praise the Lord with the musical instruments” (I Chronicles 23:5)! What an amazing choir and orchestra they had by this time! Remember, they were all male Levites, and were to help Aaron’s descendants, the priests, in the temple every day and at special feasts (verse 28, 30f). And what instruments were they still playing? Cymbals, lyres and harps “for the ministry at the house of God” (I Chronicles. 25:1 & 6).

Years later after David died and his son Solomon had completed the grand Temple in Jerusalem (II Chronicles. 5:1), “all the Levites who were musicians…stood on the east side of the altar dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres, accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison as with one voice to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and the other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord” (verses 12-13).

Can you imagine such an orchestra and choir? The tinkling of the harps and lyres, with cymbals keeping the tempo, and trumpets calling attention to it all? And all those singers! Was God pleased? Indeed he was, for in the form of a cloud “the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God” (verse 14).

All this occurred around 1000 BC. Three centuries later when Hezekiah was king, the same instruments were being played ~ cymbals, harps and lyres (II Chronicles. 29:25f). Why? Because they were prescribed by David, Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet as commanded by God through his prophets. (Acts 2:29-30 says David was a prophet too.)

So we see that during Old Testament times, God commanded that they have full-time musicians to sing and play during daily sacrifices and special feasts and they had to be male Levites and they had to play cymbals, harps and lyres, sometimes accompanied by trumpets.

What a family Samuel had! And I’ll bet he was musical himself. How proud he would have been of his descendants.

Interestingly, although God specified every detail of the instruments that had to be played in the Old Testament, nothing like that was specified in the New Testament. Did God forget? Perhaps God took us to a higher plain in the New Testament era. We do know that in I Corinthians 14:15, we are told to both pray and sing with mind and spirit.

About 40 years ago when my father died, the funeral was in a little country church. The music consisted of a small group from the congregation who sang hymns without the accompaniment of an instrument. They were not good performers ~ they twanged a lot and sometimes were a bit off key. But it was some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Why? Because their singing was accompanied by their heart. They were telling my family, “We love you,” and I really felt they did.

And in Ephesians 5:19 we are told to “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” The term “make music” in the original Greek language of the New Testament is to play on strings. Since we are to make music in our hearts, then we are to play on the instrument of our heart. How beautiful! 

God looks down at our singing ~ no matter how good or feeble ~ and says, “I can tell you love me.” And that’s all that matters.

 

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