Title: Tell Us Pleasant Things/ Topic: Today's Church

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 29; Isaiah 30; Isaiah 31; James 1

Scripture: Isaiah 30:9-11, 15
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
"See no more visions!"
and to the prophets,
"Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!"

15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.

Observation: These words of the prophet Isaiah sound like they were spoken of our current Christian culture in America. There are many who grew up in the Church who echo the thoughts expressed here. "Don't speak to us of anything negative. Tell us God loves us, but don't tell us our sins will be judged." Deception is embraced as people make God in their own image by passing judgment on the words of the Bible that speak of anything other than blessing and the power God gives us to create our own future by positive thought and speech. Repentance has become an ugly word, yet God tells us it is the key to our salvation. He has so many blessings for us if we will but submit to Him and listen to rebukes when necessary. His judgments are for our good, so that He can bless us and keep us on the right path.

Application: As our world, even the religious world, eschews what God has said and creates its own version of an "acceptable Christianity" that avoids any correction or judgment, we must not allow ourselves to get led astray from the truth of the Word. We need to embrace all of it, whether it is culturally popular or not. I think there may well be fewer and fewer churches that preach the whole counsel of the Word as we near the time when Jesus will return to earth again.

Prayer: Father, I thank you for preserving the whole Truth for us and I commit myself to listening to and following what you have told us in the Bible. Bless your people as they choose to obey and live by every word that proceeds from your mouth. May we who love you be kept from being led astray by our culture and may we be persuasive and fruitful in leading others into your full truth. Give us influence that we may see many others come into your Kingdom. And come quickly Lord Jesus!
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Title: Two Observations/ Topic: Judgment and Righteous Living

Today’s Reading: Amos 7; Amos 8; Amos 9; Psalm 104; Titus 2

Scripture: Amos 8:11 and Titus 2:11-14
11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Observation: I was struck by two different passages in today's reading. The first was from Amos. In all three chapters the Lord is pronouncing judgments that will come on the people of Israel because of their indulging in sin without repentance. Verse 11 struck me as being the worst of the judgments that could happen to any people; a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. A society can become so sinful that God stops speaking to it. Those who are enjoying the temporary pleasures of sin don't care about hearing from God. The implication in following verses is that those who do seek the Lord will have to work harder to hear from Him. I'm afraid a time is coming in our land where freedom of speech for those who want to speak the Word of the Lord will not be tolerated well. Unless the words are words of comfort, people will not want to hear them. The second observation was from Titus. We think of grace as the power of God that forgives our sin, but it is also his power to give us control over our sin nature so that we can live righteously in an unrighteous world. He expects us to appropriate the power of his grace to purify ourselves from all things that are ungodly and to cultivate a heart that is eager to do what is good.

Application: We must intercede and pray for our society so that the word of the Lord is not a rare commodity and we also must grab a hold of the grace of God to overcome sin in our lives. We must excel in our desire to do what is good and to be examples of the overcoming power of God in our lives.

Prayer: Help your Church, oh Lord, to pray and intercede for our society. May the word of the Lord never be rare and hard to find. Speak to us through all of the gifts of the Spirit. May your Body grow in the use of the gifts you give us to stir one another up to pursue love and good works. May we grab a hold of grace so that we are overcomers; never allowing the enemy or the world to draw us away from living a godly life. May we all be eager to do what is right.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Title: Manifesting the Promises of God/ Topic: Faith and Prayer

Today’s Reading: Jonah 1; Jonah 2; Jonah 3; Jonah 4; 2 Timothy 2

Scripture: Jonah 2
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Observation: It's very interesting that the prayer of Jonah is all in the past tense, even though he was still inside the fish. He declares that God has delivered him (vs. 6,7) and affirms God's salvation with thanksgiving. It was after he prayed this way that God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah out of its mouth. This is an example of someone praying in faith as described in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Application: We are generally not taught to pray this way. It's considered presumptuous to pray as if what we are asking for has already been done. Could it be that this prophet Jonah had an understanding of prayer and faith that we need to grab hold of? I think so. And I think all we need to do to keep from being presumptuous in this practice is to make sure that our requests are within the will of God. The will of God, according to the scriptures, includes healing, salvation, deliverance, provision, everything we need for life and godliness. That's a lot. I need to pray like Jonah did much more than I do.

Prayer: Teach me Lord, to pray in faith. May I call those things that are not (but should be) as though they already are. May my faith, spoken and declared by my mouth, bring the manifestation of your promises into existence in my life and the lives of others.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Title: Healing Ourselves and Healing Our Land/ Topic: Repentance

Today’s Reading: Joel 1; Joel 2; Joel 3; 2 Timothy 1

Scripture: Joel 2:12-19
12 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."
13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "
The LORD's Answer
18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people.
19 The LORD will reply [a] to them: "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.

Observation: The book of Joel is a plea from the heart of God for his people to turn from their wickedness and repent so that the Lord can relent from sending devastating judgment that will cause many to die. God is gracious and forgiving but he will only let wickedness go so long before he metes out judgment in order to turn people fro their sin and cleanse a society. He would rather that we cleanse ourselves through repentance. We start with confessing and turning from our own sins and then we can intercede for our land so that our whole society is benefited. There is a time for spiritual leaders to call everyone who loves the Lord to put aside their amusements and fast, pray, weep, and seek forgiveness and healing from the Lord. These times are not fun and far too many Christians are unwilling to discomfort themselves to enter into this spiritual work.

Application: I believe we are in a time when the Church needs to fast, mourn, weep, repent, and intercede for ourselves to be filled with passion for God and for our land to be healed. It takes engaging our will to obey this sort of Word from God, because when we are in a state of spiritual apathy, our emotions won't lead us to “feel” like doing this. We must discipline ourselves to fast and to enter into weeping and mourning for our sin and the sins of others by faith and an act of our will.

Prayer: Father, help me to obey you in this and to lead others into this also. I feel your coming is near and we need to live holy lives and heal ourselves and our world by interceding for revival. Pour out your Spirit upon us Lord. Forgive us for indulging our flesh and letting our world become so polluted morally. Come, heal your people and our land. Move among us in power and show your glory through us.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Title: You Can Run but You Can't Hide/ Topic: God's Sovereignty

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 18; 2 Chronicles 19; Colossians 4

Scripture: 1 Kings 22:31-36
31 Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, "Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel." 32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, "Surely this is the king of Israel." So they turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, 33 the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel and stopped pursuing him. 34 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, "Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I've been wounded." 35 All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died. 36 As the sun was setting, a cry spread through the army: "Every man to his town; everyone to his land!"

Observation: After hearing a prophecy about how the Lord had it in for him, Ahab tries to foil God's plan by having Jehoshaphat be the only one to go into battle wearing royal robes. Ahab disguises himself. But God's sovereignty will not be thwarted. When he has determined that a certain thing will happen, no amount of hiding or trying to trick God will work. Arrogant people are sometimes foolish enough to believe otherwise.

Application: God's sovereignty is a difficult subject to understand. Many people think that if God is all-powerful, then he must bear the blame for all the murders, rapes, wars, illnesses and diseases that ravage mankind. But God has given man a free will to make choices, and those choices bring about most of the evil in the world. There are times, though, when God determines that certain judgments or events need to take place. It's as if,in his sovereignty, he allows man to determine how life will be, but he also has established boundaries beyond which man cannot go. He will not allow our sinfulness to totally destroy his creation. I have heard complaints lodged against God for this; either that he does not act soon enough and allows too much evil before he judges it, or that he does not allow enough free choice. But God has laid out clearly in his Word what the consequences of our choices are and what the end of the world will be like. We have been warned ahead of time about the boundaries he has set. It is up to us to choose to live in the bounds of his will.

Prayer: Father, I want to always heed your Word and obey what you say. May my choices bring good into my life, the lives of others and the world. And I thank you that your will, which is always good, cannot be changed.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Title: Our Attitudes and Actions/ Topic: Holy Living

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 20; 1 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 17; Colossians 3

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-17
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Observation: The entire chapter in Colossians spoke to me. It is all about the attitudes and actions that we should be living by in order to please God and live a righteous life that will be blessed by God. Attitudes we must have are: 1. Realize that we died with Christ and our life is now in Him. He gets to call the shots and we don't. We subject our will to his voluntarily. Because of this, our hearts are to be focused on things above and not on this life. 2. We are to have an attitude of love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness toward others. 3. We are to cultivate a grateful heart. 4. We are to let peace rule in our hearts. If peace isn't reigning in our hearts, it's a sign that something is wrong in our relationship with the Lord. Actions that we must take are: 1.We have an obligation to God to put to death anything that belongs to our sin nature. 2. We must not use filthy language. 3.We must take time to dwell in the word of God and teach each other God's wisdom. 4. We must work diligently at everything we do as a testimony to Christ. Laziness does not become us. 5. In addition to an attitude of gratitude, we must also express gratitude often.

Application: The application is simple; just do all this! Simple does not mean easy. The hardest part about doing all this is that we must submit ourselves to God. Submission is not easy. We have to spend time with God, in prayer, worship and the Word to be able to do it. Only when we have experienced his great love for us and know that he truly has our best interest at heart and will bless us when we follow his plans for us.

Prayer: Help me Father, to be submitted to you fully in all things in my life. Thank you for sacrificing yourself totally for my good. Sometimes I don't see the blessing right away; I only experience the pain of having to put my flesh to death.
But I know that pain is temporary and that the blessing you bring to my life as a result of me battling my flesh is more than worth it. Nothing compares to knowing you and having you in my life.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Title: Lessons from Elijah/ Topic: Perseverance and Faith

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 17; 1 Kings 18; 1 Kings 19; Colossians 2

Scripture: 1 Kings 17:19-22; 1 Kings 18:36-38, 42-44; 1 Kings 19:1-3
19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!" 22 The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." 44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." 3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert.

Observation: Elijah is one of my favorite Bible heroes. I observed a number of things concerning perseverance in prayer, faith, and human frailty and God's grace in these stories. First, when the widow's son dies, Elijah takes him to his room and begs God three times to restore the boy's life. God answers after the third request. The next time we see Elijah praying is when he has a showdown with the prophets of Baal. God answers his prayer immediately. After this, he prays for a miracle seven times before he sees the answer begin to appear. In the last group of verses we see Elijah giving in to fear. It's amazing to me that after seeing God work such awesome miracles on his behalf that he is so afraid of Jezebel that he flees for his life! But God is gracious to him and does not rebuke him for his weakness. Instead, he ministers to his needs and comforts him. It is an example of how God understands our weaknesses and our propensity toward depression and anxiety, and how he extends kindness to us to help us through those times.

Application: I don't understand why God sometimes answers prayer immediately and why he sometimes wants us to persevere in prayer before he answers, but the lesson is to KEEP PRAYING until we see the answer come. In our culture of instant gratification we really need to get this lesson. We want results now and if we don't get it, we tend to just give up. We need to not give up on God. The second lesson from these verses is that God doesn't give up on us! Even when we have breakdowns in our faith and endurance, he ministers to our needs and cares for us until we come again to understand that he will never leave us or forsake us.

Prayer: Father, I need to persevere in prayer much more than I do. Help me to keep extending my faith and to not grow weary in doing what I should do. I want to pray until I see the manifestation of the miracles that need to happen for me and others. Move in the Church so that others see that you are the only true God. And I also thank you so very much for not giving up on me when I succumb to depression or negative thoughts. You always bring me back to understanding that you are the Rock and Foundation on which I can firmly stand. Thank you for sending your Spirit to be my Comforter when I need one.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.