Day 15

GE 31:17-32:12, MT 10:27-11:6, PS 13, PR 3:16-18

Short and not very sweet today guys. God is burning it in my heart for us to draw closer to Him than ever before.  These were the instructions to the disciples (us) as Jesus sent them out to minister. This is what is required of us.  Read it carefully.
MT is a powerful passage of scripture. We have to take all that God has told us and let people know. God uses everything in our lives for the good of His message if we will allow Him to. Don't fear people or the devil, we've already established the devil has absolutly no power over us. He goes on to say the sparrows have almost no monetary value and yet nothing happens to them that God doesn't know about. Believe me God cares more about you than a bird...trust Him. VS 32-33 tells us that if we deny Him before man He will deny us as well. We can't be ashamed of Jesus and expect to sneak in the back door of heaven. You think that's a strong statement? Keep reading. It tells us that if we put anyone, even family, before what God is telling us in our lives...we are not worthy of Him. Life is not what YOU make of it. Life is what you allow GOD to make of it. If we are not willing to give up everything for Him why bother pretending to be a follower at all. Yes, it means denying ourselves...He told you that! So you're either in or your out, it's up to you!

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Day 14

GE 30-31:16; MT 10:1-26; PS 12; PR 3:13-15

GE 30:1-2: How often do we get upset with other or with ourselves over things in our lives that don't go the way we want them to.  We really need to get to a place in our lives where we stop looking around at ourselves and others to place blame and instead begin to look up to God.  It is Him that has answers to so many of life's questions.  I can remember a few years ago, when Joy and I were trying to have another baby. We went months and nothing happened. I don't think we said too much to each other but I know we were both wondering what was wrong with us.  Worry, discouragement, fear and any number of other emotions began to creep into my heart and then I read this verse. No I wasn't angry, but it served as a reminder that God is in control and He knows what he is doing.  It's amazing how often we need to be reminded of that.  I think God is trying to remind me to get my eyes off the things, people, situations around me and look to Him in everything.

This whole passage really shows that when you live your life for God, as Jacob was doing, there is nothing anyone can do to hurt you. Laban was trying everything possible to come out on the better end of their agreement but no matter what He did Jacob got blessed. We would be so much wiser to let God fight our battles for us. Again, just put your trust in Him and let Him be your provider and protector.

MT 10:16-20: This is another passage that shows the same point as above. This shows us again that we must simply do what God asks us to do and to be faithful in that. When we do that we can trust that He will take care of us.  It says that He will send out and there will be those (wolves) out to harm us. So we must be smart to not put ourselves into bad situations (wise as serpents) but at the same time we must keep our integrity and not be sneaky and deceptive (harmless as doves.)  As we follow these directions He tells us that we will be persecuted for our faith but not to worry about what to say because the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. He truly is our advocate. We spend so much time defending and fighting for ourselves and we really don't win anything.

PS 12 - Let's just continue with the theme shall we? I love how this starts..."Help."  That's what we are required to do. Ask God for help and do our best to live with integrity and righteousness.  As we've been learning in Proverbs to ask for help and then ignore His counsel.  This is what is known as a Psalm of Lament.  That is a Psalm that cries out to God and follows a certain format. I thought I'd explain this because you will see a few of these as you read through Psalms.  Here's what they normally look like:

1. An initial cry out to God

2. The lament itself

"I am hurting"

"You do not care"

"The enemy is winning"

3. A confession of trust

4. Reasons for God to act

5. Requests

"Hear me"

"Save me"

"Punish them"

6. A vow to praise God

The reason I wanted to show this is because this is a model of a godly response to suffering. The Lord does not expect us to remain passive when we face suffering. We can pour out our souls to the Lord. However in the middle of our cry, we must remember God’s loving care for us in the past so we can willingly trust Him with the future. As we remember, it gives us cause to praise Him not only for what has happened but for what will happen. 

Day 13

I just wanted to say that I'm so excited about how God is speaking to different people through His word. I know there are many who don't want to comment and that's okay. I do want to encourage you to click on the "FOLLOW" to the right of the screen though. This will allow everyone to see who is with them on this journey through the bible.  You don't have to talk and I won't send you crazy messages, I just really want people to know they aren't alone on this trip.  So press the button...come on.....click it. Thanks everyone.

GE 28-29; MT 9:18-38; PS 11; PR 3:11-12

GE 29 - Talk about your love at first sight stories. The first time Jacob sees Rachel he kisses her and then starts to cry.  That's quite a first impression he must have made on her.  But really, you have to remember how his mom and dad met. Remember when Abraham's servant went out and prayed and as soon as he arrived he found the right woman.  Well I'm sure Jacob had heard that story a couple times and now here he is looking for a wife in a certain town at a certain time from a certain family and BOOM there she is. So with that said I believe the weeping was out of thankfulness to God.  But it really is quite a love story. He is so taken by her that he agrees to work for 7 years to earn her hand in marriage. Then it says that he was so in love with her it was like only a few days. Finally the 7 years is up and he asks for her hand in marriage and Laban pulls a fast one on Jacob and switches daughters.  The custom at the time was for them to head into the bridal chamber that night, so it was presumably dark and the bride wore a veil until it was time to consummate the marriage so Jacob had no idea what was going on until the light of day showed that he had just married the wrong girl.  He is understandably upset and still in love with Rachel so he agrees to work another 7 years for his true love but out of obligation he stays married to Leah as well.  In case your wondering what the whole "give Leah her week" thing is about. The marriage celebration lasted for a whole week not just one day. So Laban was saying let the people celebrate Leah's marriage and then I'll let you marry my other daughter. This chapter and chapters to come are the very definition of "what goes around, comes around." Jacob deceived his brother, Laban deceives Jacob, and in just a minute you are going to see Laban get his.  What you sow, you shall surely reap.

PS 11 - You kind of have to read the first verse and the last verse of this Psalm to really see what David is saying. "(1) In the Lord I put my trust...(7) For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright."  No matter what happens in between, He is going to trust God because God is righteous.

PR - Don't get mad at God when He corrects you. He is only doing it because He loves you.  I really believe it hurts Him more than it hurts you.

MT - Great stories of faith in these verses today:
1. The man with a dead daughter. - Amazing faith just to ask Jesus to come. How many things have you ever given up on because it looked dead and gone to you?
2. Woman with the issue of blood. - All she wanted was to touch his clothes. Her faith didn't need a big dramatic encounter with Jesus.  She just needed to be close enough to touch Him. I think sometimes we get distracted and discouraged when we don't see the "mighty" moves of God. We want to hear God with some big booming voice. But sometimes I think we need to take comfort and have faith in those times when we don't necessarily hear Him talking but we can feel him close enough to touch.
3. The two blind men. - "do you believe I can do this?" Jesus was like a polygraph machine.  It wasn't enough for the two men to ask Jesus to heal them, He wanted to know if they really believed that He could.  See it wasn't simply His touch that healed them. Jesus made it very clear, it was their faith in Him that healed them.  A lack of faith is like spiritual kryptonite.  God won't move where there is a lack of faith in our lives.

vs. 35 - He healed EVERY sickness and EVERY disease.

vs 36 - He was moved with compassion not because of their physical state but with their spiritual state.  They were ready, hungry but no one was there to lead them.  They were ripe for the picking but no one there to harvest.  How often  are we surrounded by people who are ready to be lead to Christ and we are not available to help?  We are the laborers Jesus was praying for.

Day 12

GE 26:17-27:46; MT 9:1-7; PS 10:6-18; PR 3:9-10

I always find it interesting how they name everything when something happens. In Genesis they dig a well get in fight and name the place "Esek" = Quarrel.  Dig another well, get in a dispute and call it "Sitnah" = Enmity. Dig another well, everything goes good so they call it "Rehoboth" = Spaciousness.  I don't know why, I just find the names interesting.

vs 26-31: This is a great passage of scripture that truly demonstrates the idea that if God be for us than who can stand against us. Here these guys are causing all these problems then one day they show up and want to make peace. Why? Verse 28 "We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you..." They realized they better make peace because if anything were to really go down they were going to be on the wrong side of the fight.  Be patient and loving and peaceful in all that you do and let God work on the hearts of your enemies.

vs. 34-35: It wasn't just the fact that Esau took two wives but it was the women themselves that caused the grief.  Every parent wants the best for their kids right?  Well these women weren't the best.  They came from a tribe of people who were idol worshippers and Isaac and Rebekah knew that they would be a bad influence on their already straying son.

Ch. 27 just made me think about what we are capable and willing to do to get ahead in life. Are we willing to lie, cheat and steal? What about pretending to be something or someone we aren't? We see it spelled out on the pages and think what a horrible person this guy is, but really how often have we done the same thing. Could you imagine reading your life in a book?  There are probably some chapters and stories we would rather didn't get told. Yet one day they will.  And all these things are done for temporary gain.  God help us!

PR - I like the way this is worded. "Honor the Lord with your possessions." We always talk about the command to give and tithe.  Which it has been said that we are to tithe from our 1st fruits but what if we stopped looking at the "command" and started looking at what it really is...giving honor to God.  I can give because I'm told I have to or I can give because I want to honor my God.  When we do this, we will have all we ever need.

MT vs 12-13: Jesus spent time with those who needed Him the most.  This is why we have to take the church outside of our walls and go to where the people are hurting and most in need. 

vs 14-17:  I'm still studying these but it may be later tonight before I get to them.

Day 11

Good afternoon everyone.  I'd like to welcome my dad as the newest follower to our little discussion group.

Gen. 24:52-26:16; Matt. 8:18-34; Ps.10:1-5; Prov. 3:7-8

Psalm: You get the distinction impression that the bottom is going to fall out for this "wicked man." You can see where David sincerely believes these people are so blind to their wrongs. It sometimes looks as though they are prospering in their wickedness, and for a season they are, but in reality their judgement will come in God's time.

Proverbs: Stop wanting to be right all the time. There is a word for that...PRIDE!  For some reason we think we can outsmart God don't we. Come on, be honest.  We find perfectly logical reasons to act the way we want to so we feel better about ourselves. Heck, sometimes we can even find a verse or two we can take out of context to sound really spiritual. Give Him the honor and respect due Him as your Lord and leave your sinful ways completely behind you.

Matt. 8:18-23: Have you fully counted the cost to follow Jesus?  He is asking for everything. What are you willing to give up? It's not always going to be comfortable. You won't always be able to do what you want. Notice Jesus doesn't promise fame or fortune in return for their sacrifice? Just the sacrifice, just what it's going to cost them. We don't follow Christ for the reward, but rather for our own lives.

Matt 8:28-34: This is an amazing story. Jesus comes down the road and two demon possessed men jump out and won't let them pass.  That is until they see Jesus. Then they start backing up a little bit. "Uh...hey Jesus. Listen we don't have a problem here with you."  They immediately resign themselves to the fact that they are going to be cast out of these men. That's cool enough right there. There is no fight in the demon when they see Jesus, they already know it's over.  All they have left to do is negotiate an agreement for their release. Instead of being cast away completely the ask for permission to enter the nearby herd of pigs.  The folks there watching run to town and tell everyone what just happened.  Now look at the reaction in the last verse.  Were they excited Jesus had set these men free? Nope, they begged Him to leave town. Those pigs were someone's way of life.  Their career. He was upsetting their way of life.  How many times do we do the same thing. Jesus comes to do something miraculous in our lives and we ask Him to leave because that might disrupt our lives too much. God open our eyes to what you want to do and help us not to turn you away.

Day 10

Genesis 23:1-24:51, Matthew 8:1-17, Psalm 9:13-20, Proverbs 3:1-6

Snow is on the ground, it's day ten of our journey through the bible and day one of a 21 day fast at FWO. God isn't just good...He's awesome.  Let's go!!

Matthew 8:1 - To me this speaks of what faith should look like in all of us. The leper comes to Jesus and says, "Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean." The wording of this statement is so important.  He didn't just come to Jesus and say, "you can make me clean." See many of us come to Jesus with an expectation of great things and then lose our faith if it doesn't work out the way we had planned or hoped. The fact that he preceded this statement with, "Lord if you are willing" implies that even if Jesus didn't heal him he was still going to believe in Him as Lord.  We all need to get to that place in our lives where we can say "Lord this is what I am believing for, but in your greater wisdom, discernment and timing I yield myself to your will and no matter what happens You are still my Lord."

Vs 12 - "the sons of the kingdom" refers to those Jewish people who would not believe that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.  In the preceding verse Jesus is amazed by the faith of this centurion. A man born outside of the Jewish race. A Gentile. In essence a heathen, and yet he has this great faith in Jesus.  The point that Jesus is making is that the Jewish people looked down on this man and thought of him as lost because he was born a Gentile. But in reality, those that were born Jews, God's chosen people, would also be destined for an eternity in hell if they did not put their faith in Jesus Christ.  Even as "sons of the kingdom" they needed to have a personal relationship with Jesus. It's the same today, your mom or dad being a Christian is not a get into heaven free card. We all need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 3:1-6
What jumped out to me today was how everything we are instructed to do, we are told to do it with our hearts not our heads.
vs 1 - "let your heart keep my commands"
vs 3 - "tablet of your heart"
vs 5 - "Trust...with all your heart"
We have to get out of our minds for God. Notice in verse 1 it says "do not forget my law."  Where do we forget things? In our minds.  It's so easy for us to be shallow with God and think everything is okay. We can get into the routine of keeping a surface relationship with Him where we just simply go to church, read occasionally, etc. but nothing ever moves past our minds and penetrates our hearts.  How do we combat this? Verse one continues "let your heart" not your minds "keep my commands."  Same in verse 5. We are to trust God with our heart, and not lean on our own understanding when we look at the situations around us. It doesn't matter what we see with our eyes and process with our minds, we must allow the truth of God in our hearts to steer us through everything in life.

Psalm 9:20 - loved verse 20 and how the cry goes out that "the nations would know themselves to be but men."  When we realize that we are "but men" we will realize our need for God.

Genesis - This is the end of Abraham's life and the beginning of the story of Isaac finding a wife. It also marks one of the craziest oaths I've ever seen in the bible.  There are a lot of odd things done to make an oath in the bible but this one takes the cake. I don't know why I've never seen it before but Abraham calls in his servant and says; "Please, put your hand under my thigh..."  Now that's an oath!!
Thought it was kind of interesting so I looked into it a little more and thought I'd share my findings with you. Basically, it goes back to the covenant made with God through circumcision. They would place their hand on the mark of circumcision and the basic meaning of the oath was like saying: "As the Lord God is unchangeable in all His ways and in His promises, so also will I be in the task which I have sworn to you."  Thankfully, in the NT we have "let your 'yes' be yes and your 'no' be no."

Day 9

Gen. 20-22, Matt. 7:15-29, Psalm 9:1-12, Prov. 2:16-22

Remember how I said Abraham didn't always display that faith that made him the "father of our faith?" Well, here we are again and he's telling someone else that his wife is his sister because he is afraid of what might happen if he doesn't. By doing so, once again he put someone else (Abimelech) at risk of sinning greatly.  God spares the king because of his innocence and when confronted about it, Abraham goes to justifying his actions. I have a little saying I use when people start justifying their actions to me. "If you have to justify it, you already know it's wrong."  All you are doing when you try to justify your actions is convince everyone around you that you aren't nearly as bad as it seems. "There is a reason I don't like that person." "Here's why I think it's okay to act this way."  "It's okay for me to get divorced because...."  Hang with me in reading through the bible and we are going to see God sees through our excuses and into our hearts.  Scary!

By the way Sarah was believed to be Abraham's half-sister which at the time was a some what common practice to marry in order to keep the family lineage close. It wasn't until later that those types of close relational marriages were prohibited.

Sarah concieves and has a son. They name him Isaac.  Why? His name means "he laughs." Which is what Abraham and Sarah both did when God said they would have a son at such a late age. 
Side note for you here. This is where I got the name for my son. I was reading this one day while Joy was pregnant. I'm not even sure if we knew we were having a boy yet. But I read this and thought, "what a great name." If any of you know my son, you know he lives up to this name. He is one of the goofiest kids I've ever met and he loves to laugh and make me laugh. There really is something to a name.

Chapter 22 - Now we see the true faith of Abraham come out. All you parents out there, read this again. Could you do this?  Talk about a last minute intervention.  Abraham has his son tied laying on the altar and the knife over his head before God intervenes.  We are all willing to be tested by God...to a point.  But where is the line that you cross before you say, "that's it God, no more?"  Abraham traveled for three days just to get to where God was leading them to build the altar. He had three days to think about this.  What conversation do you have with your son while you are traveling?  What do you think about?  Are you looking behind every rock and bush for some sort of deliverance?  Yet, nothing came. They just kept walking.  All the way to the place, all the way up the hill, all the way to the point of near death. THEN, God shows his provision. This is what it takes to have the faith of Abraham.  Being willing to go...until God shows Himself. We give up too soon sometimes I believe.  We have great faith in the beginning but when things start to get rough we start taking back control of the situation. Soon we have completly strayed from the path and never arrive at the point of God's salvation.  Stay with God's plan, see it all the way through.  There will be provision at the place of His choosing.

Matthew - We need to not get caught up in the carisma of man.  We can't become followers of someone's teaching just because they have a great delivery, they look good and it sounds good to our ears. Jesus is telling us in this passage you need to look at the whole package and to weigh it against the word of God.  Fruits here includes their actions and their words. Do they practice what they preach? Are they living a godly lifestyle?  What is their language like outside the pulpit? Do they become a different person on stage then they are off stage?  Don't get caught up in the public character but dig into their private character. 

21-23 - We all know about God, but do you really know Him. I coined a phrase a couple years ago in a message I preached on this passage.  "God-stalkers"  If we are not careful that's what we become. We read His word, we go to His house, we talk about Him a lot to other people, but we never really know Him. Just like people can talk about their favorite celebrity. They feel like they know them becuase they have observed them on screen, through magazines, etc... Let's be honest though, if they went up to them on the street, that celebrity will look at them and say, "I don't know you."  The same will be said of us if we never persue a true relationship with God. He is not some far off being that is unaccessible. He's right there waiting for us to truely get to know Him.

24-27 - Notice both men heard the words of Jesus?  The only difference was the wise man acted on them and foolish man did not.  The foundation of our lives is not simply hearing the word of God, but rather doing the word of God.  Act out your faith.

Proverbs 2:16 - This kind of goes along with the passage from Matthew. Notice what the "seductress" uses? She "flatters with her words."  Again, we have to start looking past the words of man and look into their hearts. This is why Proverbs encourages us to pray for wisdom and discernment.  We need that discernment in our lives everyday.