Acts 1-2

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:3

This is one of the most important truths of the Christian faith. As these men started the journey for the establishment of the church, Jesus knew they would need reassurance. It was a time they were shaken and fearful because of the trust they had in the Lord prior to "His suffering." He knew that new beginnings can be an uncertain time.

Life continually presents new challenges and changing events that keep our eyes fixed on the Lord.  A loss of a job, health problems, financial hardships, persecutions, or strained relationships are just some examples we may face on a daily basis. The point of these is not for us to "just suffer," but that daily we are being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It deepens our appreciation and dependance on the One who gave everything for us. Christ showed Himself physically to the apostles and some disciples, but today He speaks "through a more sure word of prophecy" and the Holy Spirit. As we face challenges daily it is our privilege and choice to lean upon all the resources He gives us.

For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. Psalms 103:14

Obadiah

But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. Obadiah 1:12

This book God has given us was written by a man that we don't really know much about. However, this book contains much wisdom concerning destruction and redemption. Here in verse 12 God commands Edom--who are Jacob's brother Esau's descendants--to not rejoice in the just destruction of Jerusalem. Throughout the Old Testament these relatives had continually been a foe to Israel. This book is God's final command that if they disobeyed His warnings there would be a final judgment that would result in the destruction of the people. This book also told the people of Judah that the destruction of Jerusalem was brought about by God, but He would not forever cast off His people. It does not offer the same promises to the Edomites because of all the years of being a foe to Israel.

The principle found in this little book is brought home to us again in the New Testament. Jesus told us to bless those who curse us. Love your enemy is not a suggestion; it's a command. It is always in our best interests to listen to God's commands not only for the benefit of His blessing, but because we love Him. Let us love not in words, but also in deeds.

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. Proverbs 24:17-18

Proverbs 26-27 humility & wisdom

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than of him. - Proverbs 26:12

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about humility and wisdom - they go hand in hand.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the 
humble is wisdom.  -Proverbs 11:2

By pride comes nothing but strife,
but with the well-advised is wisdom.  -Proverbs 13:10 NKJV

By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back,
but the lips of the wise will preserve them.   -Proverbs 14:3

The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor.  -Proverbs 15:33

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.  -Proverbs 16:18

I love how practical Proverbs is for the Christian's life.  Pride vs humility, foolishness vs. wisdom - It's our choice which path we follow.

“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Proverbs 26:12 - See more at: http://www.mercyisnew.com/2010/04/26/proverbs-26/#sthash.ucuPwYpp.dpuf

“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Proverbs 26:12 - See more at: http://www.mercyisnew.com/2010/04/26/proverbs-26/#sthash.ucuPwYpp.dpuf

Psalm 114-116 Your Name

"Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." Psalm 115:1-3

 

As morning dawns and evening fades, 

You inspire songs of praise

That rise from earth to touch

Your heart and glorify Your Name.

Jesus, in Your Name we pray;

Come and fill our hearts today.

Lord, give us strength to live for You 

And glorify Your Name!

Your Name is a strong and mighty tower;

Your Name is a shelter like no other.

Your Name, let the nations sing it louder

'Cause nothing has the power to save

But Your Name!

- Paul Baloche, Glenn Packiam

2 Chronicles 6-10 If my people

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  - 2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people who are called by my name...

God is calling upon His people, those known by His name. He isn't expecting the lost to listen or obey, but His expectations for His own are high. 

...humble themselves,..

Humility. Jesus called out the "poor in spirit" or humble in Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." He will not force anyone to yield their will to Him. He desires that we willingly give him first place in our hearts. "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6

...and pray and seek my face...

We have direct access to the King of Kings; He longs for a relationship with us. He calls on us to talk to him. Our praise, our desires, our burdens are all welcome at His feet. He is always there ready to listen; He will never turn us away. "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

 ...and turn from their wicked ways...

God wants His people to come clean with Him. The Holy Spirit resides in our heart if we are His child. We must agree with Him about the sins, the little lies, the big struggles and turn away from them.

 ...then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

 This obedience opens up the believer to blessings that can only come from God. He has so much in store for His children as they walk with Him. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV

Numbers 25-28 Christ, our Passover

“On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover,"  - Numbers 28:16

The Israelites were to celebrate the Passover each year as a reminder of God's leading them out of bondage in Egypt and His great provision while leading them to the Promised Land. 

The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.   - Exodus 12:13-14, 17

This celebration was also a foreshadowing of things to come when God would send His one and only Son to earth to die as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. - 1 Corinthians 5:7

Hebrews 1-4 Sandal tracks in desert circles

"For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." - Hebrews 3:16-19

Why isn't our present practice of Christianity working, and why don't we see more of God's promises fulfilled? The same reason the practices of the Israelites in the wilderness didn't work and they never reached the land they'd been promised. Like them, we can be dramatically delivered from bondage, leave our Egypt, and yet never make it to our Promised Lands. We, too, can find ourselves lodged in a desolate wilderness between. Hebrews 3:19 supplies the one-word explanation: "so we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." 

Unbelief. Oh, they believed in God. Their oversight was that they simply didn't believe the God they believed in. They talked a good talk, but their walk did nothing but tread sandal tracks in desert circles. The Israelites of the Exodus were promised land, blessing, productivity, and victory; but the masses never saw their theology become a reality. The question raised in the wilderness wanderings was not whether the Israelites belonged to God or where they would spend eternity. The place the chosen people of God would spend their earthly existence was the question. The King James Version of Hebrews 3:17 underscores the outcome most vividly: their "carcasses fell in the wilderness."

You and I can be safely tucked in the family of God and have the full assurance of a heavenly inheritance without ever occupying the land of God's fulfilled promises on earth. We can completely miss our earthly destinies, and our carcasses, too, can fall in the wilderness. While Keith and I were in Africa last summer, we came upon the spine-tingling sight of a cow's entire carcass polished to the bone by a lion. God's Word tells us Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8). Perhaps, like me, you could say that Satan has tried one ploy after another to destroy your life, your witness, and your fruitfulness. Will we let him have the satisfaction of cleaning our carcasses to the bone because we let them drop in a desert of defeat? God forbid.

I don't want to be counted among the faithless who never claimed the land God promised them. All that will matter about our earthly lives when we receive our heavenly inheritance is whether we fulfilled our callings and allowed God to fulfill His promises. I know I'm going to make it to heaven because I've trusted Christ as my Savior, but I want to make it to my Canaan on the way. I want to finish my race in the Promised Land, not in the wilderness. You too? Then we have to cash in our fear and complacency and spend all we have on the only ticket out: BELIEF.

- taken from Believing God by Beth Moore

John 19-21 Do not disbelieve, but believe.

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” - John 20:24-29

Thomas had spent several years by Jesus' side watching Him heal the sick, feed the hungry, still the waves, and raise the dead. He was a real live witness to the life of Christ. Yet when faced with the finality of Jesus' crucifixion he had lost all hope. He needed to see to believe. Jesus doesn't rebuke Thomas' unbelief; He meets him where he is and encourages him, allowing him to touch and see. He then calls on Thomas to strengthen his faith with the challenge, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

I think we can all relate to Thomas. I have seen God work and have experienced victories in my life; yet, my almost knee-jerk response when things in the present look bleak is doubt. I'm thankful God is just as patient with me as He was with Thomas. When I don't see what or how, and choose to resort to doubt, He meets me where I am; and is ready with grace to trust.

Amos 5-9 Herdsman Prophet

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ - Amos 7:14-15

"Amos addresses Israel's 2 primary sins: 1) an absence of true worship, and 2) a lack of justice. In the midst of their ritualistic performance of worship, they were not purusing the Lord with their hearts (4: 4, 5; 5:4-6) nor following His standard of justice with their neighbors (5:10-13; 6:12). This apostasy, evidenced by continual, wilful rejection of the prophetic message of Amos, is promised divine judgement. Because of His covenant, however, the Lord will not abandon Israel all together, but will bring future restoration to the righteous remnant (9:7-15)." - (John MacArthur)

Amos was God's chosen vessel to communicate with His people. Humanly speaking, he was not the "best candidate" for the job; he was from the hills with no "pedigree" of prophets to go before him and no background of leadership. When Amaziah came against him with accusations and demands that he leave and take his prophecies with him, Amos could have simply agreed and admitted defeat. He wasn't meant to be a prophet anyway. But Amos didn't back down; he acknowledged to Amaziah that he was a herdsman, a farmer, but the LORD took him.  He had the only backing necessary; he was doing the Lord's work. 

God has a way of doing this doesn't He? Oftentimes we are settled in our ways, contentedly doing life when God takes us and calls on us for something more. It can be unknown; it can be intimidating or even seem impossible. Our job is to respond with willing obedience and confidence in the knowledge of His calling. When God calls He enables.

Proverbs 25

Proverbs is full of seemingly logic-resistant statements. We see two of them in this passage: "If you find honey, eat just enough--too much of it, and you will vomit" and "It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor" (Proverbs 25: 16, 27). Are we to infer some sort of direct correlation between tasty bee product and self-aggrandizement?

"Direct correlation" might be going too far; honey is used primarily as a metaphor here. But there's a deep truth to be embraced about the seductiveness and danger of self-deification. We naturally thrive on encouragement, but afflicted by sin as we are, we overdo it and begin to crave our own honor in place of God's. 

We may find, in various seasons of life, that honor comes our way unbidden. There is nothing wrong with this in and of itself; God created honey to be sweet, too. The important thing is to recognize all good things as ultimately originating from God and to give Him all praise and glory accordingly.

Psalm 111-113

My favorite line in this entire set of poems is, "Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands" (Psalm 112:1). Why is such a man to be emulated? Because out of reverence and worship for God he seeks to grow in obedience to Him. Some of God's requirements for us can seem arbitrary--and since we lack God's knowledge and wisdom, some indeed are inscrutable--but we can rest assured that God not only knows what's best for us but He knows how best to give it to us (Psalm 111: 7,9, etc.).

Not simply obeying God's commands but actively delighting in them is a high standard for all of us, but by grace an attainable one. Praise God!

2 Chronicles 1-5

Can you imagine having God come to you and say "'Ask for whatever you want me to give you?'" What would you say? Solomon found himself in precisely this situation in 2 Chronicles 1:7. Solomon, who must have possessed a fair amount of common sense already, asks God for wisdom so that he can better lead God's people (2 Chronicles 1: 9-10).

It's important to note that God did not say "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you." He simply asked Solomon what he would LIKE for God to give him. And it shortly becomes clear that there were a number of potential "wrong answers" to that question (such as wealth or longevity; 2 Chronicles 1:11).

Solomon, to his credit, asked to be enabled to take better care of the people to whom God has entrusted him (which evokes John 18: 8-9). Few of us will be presented with as explicit a choice as Solomon was, but God has given all of us innumerable blessings we didn't even think to ask for. How can we be good stewards of those things and use them to bless others?

Numbers 21-24

Balaam is one of the more interesting characters in the book of Numbers. King Balak of Moab sends for Balaam, a pagan prophet, to ask him to curse Israel out of fear of their recent military and territorial conquests. Balaam asks God for permission to go and is initially turned down, though eventually God allows him to go on the condition that he only say and do what God tells him (a condition Balaam initially will have trouble meeting).

The episode with Balaam's donkey is especially noteworthy. For starters, Balaam doesn't find it remotely strange that his donkey begins talking to him (Numbers 22:30). Secondly, it is only by dint of the animal's aversion to the angel that God did not destroy Balaam on the road (Numbers 22: 33-34). Fortunately for Balaam, the new lease on life his donkey gave him was adequate to temporarily allay God's wrath (though Balaam is later condemned as a false teacher in 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, and Rev 2:14). 

So what are we to learn from this episode? The obvious answer is "Don't oppose God," which is certainly a meritorious precept, but there's a deeper truth at work too: God knows our hearts. And even beyond that, God is concerned less with what we do than the condition of our hearts as we do it (Amos 4: 4-6, etc.). Doing right for selfish reasons is never preferable to a humble, whole-hearted pursuit of our Creator.

Philemon

Midway through his letter Paul tells Philemon "in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love" (Philemon 1: 8-9). I'm struck by Paul's decision not to compel Philemon to act in a certain way but rather to make a loving request. It's reminiscent of Jesus' statement in the Garden of Gethsemane that he could have called up an army of angels to defend him from the soldiers seeking his arrest but instead he would obey and accept his fate (Matthew 26: 53-54).

As Jesus says elsewhere, power is not to be used for lording over others. Rather, the path to greatness is through service (Mark 10: 42-45). Paul, writing from prison, understands and embraces this teaching to the fullest. 

Was he successful? Did Philemon take Onesimus back in accordance with Paul's wishes? To my knowledge, no conclusive evidence exists one way or the other. But this is one case in which the ends themselves are much less edifying than the means.

John 16-18

If you had only one more night with the people you loved most in the world, the people in whom you had invested more time than any others, the people who would carry on your work after you were gone, how would you spend it?

Jesus spends the last night before his arrest with the disciples, teaching them and enjoying fellowship with them. The last thing he does before going to Gethsemane is to pray, first for himself, then for the disciples, and finally for all believers. 

This episode says a lot about the power of prayer in daily life as well as in times of great duress!

Amos 1-4

It's easy to read the prophecies of destruction in Amos 1-4 and distance ourselves temporally, culturally, and even morally. It was a different time, place, and people than anything we've ever known. Yet the Israelites of Amos's day were themselves distanced from those prophesied against elsewhere in the Old Testament, albeit to a lesser degree, but that didn't insulate them from sinning grievously and incurring God's wrath.

God, through Amos, makes this very point in Amos 4: 6-11. He has punished past generations for the same sins but this generation continues to make them. He has even punished THIS generation for sinning yet they have refused to take heed and turn from their ways.

How can we make maximum benefit of this passage? For starters, it's worth repeating that we are not any different from the Israelites to whom Amos preaches. Each of us was born with a corrupt nature and a sinful heart, and if we continue unrepentant then eternal death awaits us (Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23. etc.). 

Fortunately, repentance and forgiveness is available to us if we so choose. The annals of man's offenses against God are extensive volumes indeed, but the penalty for sin past, present, and future has already been paid. We just need to make the decision to turn from our sins and accept the free gift of redemption and eternal life in Christ Jesus.