Scripture for Friday, December 23 (12/23)

The scripture for today, December 23, is 1st Samuel 12:23 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:


HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good
 and right.”

It’s a sin not to pray for others!

Do your prayers get bogged down in the mire of me’s? Do you wonder why you can’t pray for more than a couple minutes ~ five on a good day? Satan gets you to do this; he is the enemy of prayer because he knows how powerful it is.

Who is on your prayer list? Pray for people by name. Your neighbors. People you work with. Your government officials ~ both good and bad. People in a nursing home. People in your congregation. People in the military. People being persecuted, imprisoned and even killed because they are Christians. Missionaries. Children in an orphan home. Sales people at the store. Local school teachers.

Pray for 15 minutes a day. Half an hour. An hour. It’s oh so easy when we stop praying only for self and pray for others.

Pray for them by name. And tell them that you do. Some people have never been told, “I am praying for you”.

Let us not sin by praying only for “me”.

#Prayer, #Selfishness, #GoodWill, #Love, #Power

The scripture for today, May 2, is Micah 5:2 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

This amazing scripture prophecies where the “ruler…from ancient times” will be born. It gives the exact city Jesus (who had been in heaven before his human birth) would be born in, written seven centuries before his birth.

The Bible is the only religious book in the world with built-in proofs that it is of divine origin. Prophecies of many events in the life of Christ flow throughout the Old Testament. He wasn’t just a prophet, he wasn’t just a good man, he wasn’t a fraud.

Thank God, He thought of everything to help us believe Jesus was, indeed, the Son of God!

The scripture for today, April 30, is Ephesians 4:30f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Letters-of-Apostles2-Cover-Kindle“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

Do we think that God has no choice but to let us into heaven because we do not steal, cheat or murder? Think again.

There’s more to it than that; it’s called attitude. Are we bitter about anything? Do we have a problem with rage and anger? Do we enjoy a good mental or physical brawl? Do we slander people who have done us wrong? Do we harbor grudges year after year?

The average person does not have trouble with bad actions. The big problem is with bad attitudes. Let go of them. God will take care of the problems. Let go of those you consider your enemies, wish them well. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Do not grieve yourself. Live in sweet peace.

The scripture for today, April 29, is Deuteronomy 4:29 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

God is always nearby, but we do not always acknowledge it. He will not force himself on us. So he waits.

There is an old expression, “To know him is to love him.” This is true also of God. God is talking to you in his Bible, explaining what he is like and how he reacts to every possible situation in life. Seek him there. He is talking to you.

The conversation turns the other way when we talk to him in response to what we have read, or what we are trying to apply to our lives, or our concern for others.  This mutual conversation with God is the with-all-your-heart-and-soul kind.

And it is good.

The scripture for today, April 28, is Mark 4:28 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-

Jesus was explaining that the kingdom of heaven is like a seed planted in the ground. It grows almost miraculously. The church is, indeed, like this. Planted some 2000 years ago, it has survived through every adversity and attack contrived by man. Sometimes the attacks were even from within. But at such times, just when it looked as though it was going to die, just like a seed dying in the earth, it would begin to sprout and grow up stronger than ever.

A little seed turning into a stalk is miraculous and amazing. The survival of the church for some 2000 years is even more miraculous and amazing.

God is still on his throne, and all is well.

The scripture for today, April 27, is Acts 4:27b as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 5-FLOOD GATES-Cover-Print“…your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.”

In this prayer of early Christians, they acknowledged that God had anointed Jesus. What does anointing mean? In the Old Testament, men were anointed to become the high priest or the king.

Aaron was the very first high priest (Leviticus 6:20,22) and his son [and descendants] who succeeded him as high priest was also anointed. Saul was the very first king of the Jews (I Samuel 15:1) and he and all succeeding kings were anointed. This was a form of coronation.

And so when God anointed Jesus, he made him both high priest and king. Hebrews 4:14 says, “we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.” And in Mark 15:2, Jesus acknowledged that he was King.

And so we worship him.

Campbell-Cover-KIMBLEThe scripture for today, April 26, is Galatians 4:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.”

What is “the Jerusalem that is above”? Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

Aha! The New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ! So, what is the Bride of Christ? Ephesians 5:25,27 says, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy…and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

The Bible always interprets itself. Search through it, and you will find the answer to all your questions.

The scripture for today, April 25, is Proverbs 4:25 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-COVER-KINDLE“Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

There are a lot of interesting and fun distractions in life, so we have to remind ourselves over and over what is most important to us. We have only so much time in a day and in a lifetime. We can run back and forth from one fun thing to another, one power thing to another, one great–looking thing to another and keep wondering what our life is for.

God pretty much treats us the way we treat him. If we don’t like being around him, he doesn’t much like being around us. If we don’t like listening to his word (the Bible), he doesn’t much like listening to our word (prayer). If we don’t like to spend special time with him, he doesn’t much like to spend special time with us. God gives us the same courtesy we give him. God will not force himself on us, for he is a Gentleman.

So what do you have in your sights to do today? Next year? The rest of your life?

The Scripture for today, April 24, is Jeremiah 4:24 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“I looked at the mountains and they were quaking, all the hills were swaying.”

REV-Cover-KindleWe have expressions that something is “as eternal as the mountains” or “as old as the hills”. Perhaps earthquakes are a good reminder to us that nothing on earth is eternal. That also includes things, people, power, position, belongings.  Eventually they quake and sway and are gone. Only that which is spiritual is forever.

The scripture for today, April 23, is Mark 4:23 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

FunWithBibleNumbers-Cover-Kindle“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Some of us read a passage in the Bible and say, “I know it says that, but it doesn’t mean that.” We just don’t want to hear it.

It’s hard to admit we are wrong, isn’t it? It’s human nature. And in the realm of religion, it is even harder because we’re talking about our eternal soul. So reading that we’re supposed to be doing or not doing something that we’ve never followed before is like being on a bridge over a roaring river, and suddenly realizing the bridge is breaking and we are not as safe as we thought we were. Let us take our human egos out of the way.

Let’s say, for example, you have a wood or cooking project. If you leave a major step out, it results in your creation not turning out right. You might turn a blind eye to the correct way, give up and throw your creation away so that you never have the joy of whatever you were creating. Or you may go back and check what you have done until you find your mistake, are glad you found the mistake, see it with seeing eyes, correct it, and then have the joy of your creation.

Let us not fight God like spiritual teenagers trying to boss their parents. We are God’s creation. He is just trying to help us.

Instead of spiritual blindness and deafness, let us have eyes that truly see, and ears that truly hear the Word of God.