Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Quiet Time, She, Volume 2

Sapphira

Posted on by

Adapted from: She, Volume 2/pp77-78

Read: Acts 5:1-11

While Sapphira is one of the lesser-known women of the Bible, she is most definitely one that we should acquaint ourselves with, so that we do not fall into the same trap of sin. But, exactly what was the sin?

Sapphira serves as an example of how dangerous it is for us to portray to be something we are not.

She, Volume 2/p78

 Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property. 2 He kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land? 4 Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!”

5 When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped all who heard about it. 6 So the young men came, wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, but she did not know what had happened. 8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, were the two of you paid this amount for the land?” Sapphira said, “Yes, that much.” 9 Peter then told her, “Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!” 10 At once she collapsed at his feet and died. So when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things.

Acts 5:1-11

She and her husband deceived people by agreeing together to surrender a part as if they had surrendered all.

She, Volume 2/p66

Friends, to understand the outcome of this story, it is important to look at all the details. Here’s what we know from the immediate passage: Saphira and her husband owned property and were free to do with it as they pleased. Together, as a couple, they decided to sell a portion of their property, and then they gave some of the money to the church. It’s a nice gesture, but from Peter’s conversation with them, the problem seems to be that, somewhere along the way, they indicated they had given the church all the money. As Peter points out, the property was theirs to do with as they wanted, and the same was true of the money they made from selling it. So the problem (aka ~ the sin) is not that they kept some of the proceeds for themselves, the grievous sin was that they “lied to God”. The following details from Bibleref.com shed a little more clarity on the situation and outcome.

Ananias and Sapphira sold some land and, apparently, promised God they would donate all the proceeds to the church. Before they gave the money to the apostles, they either changed their minds and kept some, or never really intended to give all of it. Rather than being honest, the pair seems to have chosen to lie about their generosity. Ananias brought the money earlier in the day, but because of his dishonesty, God struck him dead. Sapphira has now appeared and knows nothing of Ananias’ death (Acts 5:1–6).

Peter uses a technique God has used throughout history, starting with Adam and Eve. When God came to the garden after Adam and Eve ate the fruit, He called out, “Where are you?” He didn’t ask this because He didn’t know where they were. He was giving them an opportunity to engage in conversation (Genesis 3:9). He wanted them to admit what they had done so He could restore some of their relationship. God also asks questions when He wants to direct the course of the conversation. He used this tactic with Moses (Exodus 4:2), and Jesus used it with the woman with an issue of blood (Mark 5:30).

God condemned Ananias with death for his lie. Sapphira still has a chance to tell the truth. Peter invites her to do so by directing the conversation. She doesn’t have to follow her husband into sin—Abigail didn’t (1 Samuel 25). Unfortunately, Sapphira is as deceitful as Ananias. She repeats the lie, and God judges her for it.

Bibleref.com

Some stories in the Bible are not easy to hear, and the lessons that come with them are often even more difficult. This is definitely not a feel-good story/lesson, but we would be wise to not brush it aside but rather to learn from what Peter says to them and the serious consequences that followed. Remember, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…” We would also be wise to remember Paul’s warnings to not only submit ourselves to God but to resist the devil. If we do not, we will find ourselves entertaining the temptations of the great deceiver, leading us to make choices that will not only hurt us but also the Church and the people around us. This is best explained by gotquestions.org.

The case of Ananias and Sapphira illustrates the fact that even believers can be led into bold, flagrant sin. It was Satan that had filled their hearts to lie in this way (Acts 5:3) and “to test the Spirit of the Lord” (verse 9). Covetousness, hypocrisy, and a desire for the praise of men all played a part in their demise.

The sudden, dramatic deaths of Ananias and Sapphira served to purify and warn the church. “Great fear seized the whole church” (Acts 5:11). Right away, in the church’s infancy, God made it plain that hypocrisy and dissimulation were not going to be tolerated, and His judgment of Ananias and Sapphira helped guard the church against future pretense. God laid the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira in the path of every hypocrite who would seek to enter the church.

Click the link for the full and excellent commentary

The More We Know

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

Featured
Posted in Birthdays

Celebrating Sixty-Three

Posted on by

This is the Day

Earlier this week, someone sweetly wished me an early happy birthday, followed by: “You’ll be thirty right?” I laughed at the comment but quickly and gladly claimed my real age. While I may wish my body felt like it did at the age of thirty, I have never minded celebrating another year of life. Celebrating sixty-three years of life is a blessing I embrace today. It is a gift of grace from God, given with a purpose and a plan for each day to carry out the works He prepared in advance for me to do (Eph 2:10). I don’t always do it well, and I have grown more and more weary of this world in the past year or two. I have whispered, ‘Come quickly, Lord Jesus,’ more than ever. Yet, with all my heart, I welcome each new day that He wakes me up to, saying with the Psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

When I come to the end of one year, I typically do some reflecting before embarking on the next one; and invariably, this little children’s song comes to my mind 💜🎂

Hey, if you missed my post from yesterday … check out my first birthday present!

My First Present

Featured
Posted in Abide, Abiding in jesus, Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Created for a Purpose

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Abiding in Jesus, w6d3

Read: Ephesians 2:8-10 and SOAP: Ephesians 2:10

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Paul makes it clear to his audience that salvation is totally an act of God’s love. It is a gift of God’s grace and not something we can take credit for. Salvation is not by any work that we can do, will do, or have done. On top of the fact that salvation cannot be earned, as bibleref.com explains, even the good that we do was planned for us long ago.

God calls us His workmanship or His artwork, from the Greek word poiēma. We are something crafted, with skill and a purpose, by God, for His purposes. Specifically, we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Good works do not give us salvation, but they are absolutely meant to be the result of salvation.

Bibleref.com/Ephesians 2:10

While it can be tempting to see someone else use their spiritual gift and try to imitate it or wish to be like them, be careful not to fall into that trap. For, as Paul teaches us here, each of us has been created in Christ Jesus to do good works – works that He created us to do.

Today’s journal entry by Love God Greatly points out that “God’s plan for each of us is personal, unique, and perfectly fitted for who He created us to be.”

“The ‘good works’ God prepared for you may look different than those He’s assigned to someone else, but each is essential and equally valued in His eyes. Some may be called to serve in their homes, nurturing their families with love and faith. Others may be called to workplaces, schools, or hospitals, bringing light and hope into environments that need Jesus.

Abiding in Christ means recognizing that wherever He places us, we’re equipped to bear fruit for His glory.

Love God Greatly, Abiding in Jesus, p179

Father, we are Your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that you prepared in advance for us to do. May our lives be a daily offering to You, in whatever You have called us to do; and may each act bring You glory- In Jesus’ name. – Amen

Friends, let’s praise Him daily for creating us with a purpose and equipping us with His Spirit that we might bear fruit for His glory. May God open our eyes to the work He wants us to do, and may our hearts and hands be yielded to serving Him well.

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Our God Who Pursues, Quiet Time

Glorious Hope

Posted on by

Based on Our God Who Pursues/w3d3

Read: Micah 5:2-7 and 10-15

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel,
    whose origins are in the distant past,
    will come from you on my behalf.

“O’ Little Town of Bethlehem” was always one of my favorite songs when I was growing up. It still brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. So, when I read chapter 5 of Micah, it drew me in. My mind pictures the scene of the little town that unknowingly welcomed the birth of a King, who lay wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger bed.

Micah 5:2 is a Messianic Prophecy that was actually quoted to the Magi; these wise men from the East were told that from the tiny village of Bethlehem would come forth the Prince of Peace, the Light of the world. Micah’s message of sin, repentance, and restoration finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:24-25) and the only way to God (John 14:6).1

The Hope of a Rescuer

Knowing the people had previously received a message of exile and destruction, I can only imagine what a beautiful message of hope Micah’s words offered the people, one they desperately needed. As today’s journal entry points out, “We all need words of hope in this fallen world. Hope keeps us going, and it helps us to keep things in perspective.”

“We all need words of hope in this fallen world. Hope keeps us going, and it helps us to keep things in perspective.”

Our God Who Pursues/p99

The message would have reminded them not only of God’s faithfulness but of God’s “promise in the Garden (Genesis 3:15) that He would send a Rescuer to save people from their sins. Over time, God had been slowly revealing more and more of who this Rescuer would be and what He would be like. Now, God was showing where He was to be born.2“

A Ruler from Bethlehem: Little is much when God is in it

Jesus left all the grandeur of Heaven to come to Earth, where He was quietly and unobtrusively delivered into this little, “seemingly insignificant” town of Bethlehem. Yet from it, God brought King David and, ultimately, used it as the birthplace of His only begotten Son, the promised Messiah from David’s line. Actually, gotquestions.org says this about the little town: “As the City of David, Bethlehem became a symbol of the king’s dynasty.“- As an old song comes to mind as I write, entitled, “Little is much when God is in it.” We have read and seen evidence of this truth on the pages of God’s Word, and as believers, we have experienced the reality of the truth in our own lives – as His presence takes our sinful, insignificant lives and changes everything! Friends, this is the greatest gift we can ever receive – to know the presence of Christ in our lives, His forgiveness, love, and power. Without Him, we are nothing, lost with no hope, but by faith, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and can truly bear witness to the fact that Little is much when God is in it!

“Bethlehem, while diminished in importance to a humble village in New Testament times, remains distinguished above all other biblical cities as the place where our Savior Jesus Christ was born.”3

gotquestions.org
Prayer of Response

Father, thank You for the gift of Jesus, sent as a baby into that seemingly insignificant little town of Bethlehem. A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger certainly would not have seemed like a king or anyone of any significance – yet we worship Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He’s our rescuer proclaimed from ages past, the One in whom we have believed and received so great a salvation – the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternity with You. The same King that we know will one day come again and take us to live with Him forever. Oh, what glorious Hope we have been given!

The More We Know
More Insight from LGG

“Today, you may be facing great difficulties or challenges. You may be in a season where you have turned your black on God. Know that God still has a message of hope for you. That coming Rescuer has come. His name is Jesus. He brings a message of hope that you can be forgiven and free of your sins. He wants to give you an abundant life full of love, joy, and peace, lasting for eternity. All He asks for is your heart. Will you trust Him today?4“

Know These Truths

Featured
Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Our God Who Pursues, Quiet Time

Choosing The Jesus Way

Posted on by

Based on the LGG Study, Our God Who Pursues,/w3d2

Read: MICAH 3:9-12; 4:1-5 and 4:10-12
Bad morals corrupt good character

Today’s journey through Micah reveals an unflattering picture of God’s people and disturbing news of what was to come. Israel’s leaders had forgotten the God whom they were committed to serve. Micah writes that they hated justice and perverted all that was right. They were building Zion through bloody crimes and Jerusalem through unjust violence. Legal cases were decided on bribes that the leaders received, even the priests proclaimed rulings for profit, and the prophets read omens for pay. As if this corruption was not bad enough, despite the fact that devastation and destruction were already wreaking havoc within the nation, the leaders continued to claim to trust the LORD and were telling the people, “The LORD is among us. Disaster will not overtake us!”

What About You?

We, too, face a similar choice. In a world that says that serving self and doing what seems right to you is the most important, we must, as Joshua told the people in his day, decide whom we will serve. Will we serve self or God? Take a moment to think about your own heart. Are you willing to set aside your wants and desires to follow what God may be calling you to? Are you willing to put others first over getting something you want? Is your heart’s desire to make the name of Jesus known over building your platform or building your own renown? It’s a choice we all must make.

Our God Who Pursues/LGG Journal p99
The hope of Future Days

In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. 2 People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. 3 The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore 4 Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise! 5 Though the nations around us follow their idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever.

Micah 4:1 -5

The Temple Mount/Mountain of the LORD’S House written about by Micah: A hill in the Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years, including in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Jesus Way

Admittedly, serving oneself or garnering the applause or approval of others can be pretty enticing. Goodness knows I have succumbed to those choices more than I care to admit, but I can tell you it generally led to disappointment or heartache. Choosing the Jesus Way isn’t always the easiest, most desirable, or most comfortable way, but it is most certainly the best way, for it leads to immeasurable blessings and joys.

As I wrote that last sentence, A group of women I used to lead on Sunday mornings came to mind. The name of our group was JOY, which stood for Jesus … Others … You. Seems like a great acronym for our focus today. Jesus first, then others, and then yourself. Whether it is in serving or living out our day-to-day lives, or even in our prayer lives, pay our eyes to stay on Jesus, the One we chose to follow.

23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

Luke 9:23-24

But I say love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 5:44

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Mark 12:29-31
Prayer of Response

Father, do not let us be like the leaders of Israel, who forgot their commitment to serve You and Your call on their lives to serve the people. Help me to remember Jesus’ similar call to let go of my life and follow Him. It isn’t always easy, but You knew that, and You sent the Spirit to empower us to do all that You have called us to do. Holy Spirit, keep my focus Heavenward, guard me from the distractions of this world and the enticements of the flesh. May I be known for living a J.O.Y.-focused life: Keeping Jesus first in all things and serving and loving others before myself. In the name of Jesus – I pray and believe – Amen!

The More We Know
The Jesus Way Devotional
The Jesus Way Song

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Love, Quiet Time

How Then Should We Live?

Posted on by

This treasure caught my attention because the question asked and examined by Michele Morin is similar to the one I often use at the end of my time exploring God’s Word. I frequently use it in the application portion of our journeys: How then should we live? – I don’t know if I just started asking it or if I learned it from my dad or another teacher/preacher. Regardless, I found Morin’s use of the question, as well as her response and application, an excellent example. Hope you enjoy – 🦋

When the Question You’re Asking is, “How Do I Respond to this Mess?”

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Love, Quiet Time

A Look at True Love …

Posted on by

Our next study, “Our God Who Pursues: Guiding Us Back to Him,” starts on March 3rd! Stay tuned for more details in the coming days – but for the remainder of February, we will be focusing on Love. Short and sweet treasures from some of my favorite bloggers and teachers/authors I follow. As always, I appreciate your feedback and welcome any questions. – 🦋

The first week of this two-week break between studies is from Michele Morin. I find myself encouraged by her words and her heart for God and her family. If you haven’t followed her from one of my past posts, I encourage you to do so. Today’s post is from five years back, during the season leading up to Easter – but it is fitting for everyday wisdom and living when our goal is to live and love like Jesus.

What Does Love Look Like?

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, Firm Foundation, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Quiet Time

Love Is Essential

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Firm Foundation, w1/d4

Scripture and Observation

Read: 1 John 4:7-10 and John 3:16-17 / SOAP: 1 John 4:8 and John 3:1

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:81

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Love is essential to Christian living because it is an essential part of God’s identity.

bibleref.com/1 Jn 4:8

Fresh off of yesterday’s journey exploring God’s call on our life to be holy as He is holy we are now met with the measure of His love and what it means if we do not love. I’m not sure which is harder to embrace: the act of being holy as God is holy or the act of loving others the way God loves us, and what it says about us if we don’t. Both callings are acts that God has called us to and equipped us for, but both can seem impossible to carry out. Actually, in and of ourselves, they are impossible. Holiness and love require the presence of God in us, and His presence is only received when we place our faith in Jesus – the second person of the Trinity – who Himself is holy and loved us enough to leave heaven’s splendor and die for our sins on a cross of shame. Now, this is love!

I don’t know about you but throughout the course of my life there have been some people that have been particularly hard for me to like, let alone love. So when I read our passages today, particularly 1 John 4:8 and the inference that if we do not love then then we do not love God – I knew I had to look a little deeper into the meaning behind it. I found the commentary from bibleref.com to be the most helpful:

To “know” God requires a person to have a relationship with Him … Love comes from God, so those who demonstrate love show they have fellowship with Him. The inverse is also true. The person who does not demonstrate love does not know (or is not walking in fellowship with)* God.

Bibleref.com/1 John 4:8

If we are walking close to God His love will naturally flow through us – even toward those who we don’t really care for. For this holiness and love to be seen and heard in us we must be in fellowship with God. To “know” God requires a person to have a relationship with Him, Love comes from God, so those who demonstrate love show they have fellowship with Him. 

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

1 John 4:10

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are filled with His Holy Spirit, the third person of the Triune God, who teaches, guides, and empowers us to live as God called us to live.2 Paul teaches us that believers are not only sealed with the Spirit but we are filled with and controlled by the Spirit. He also teaches that when we let the Holy Spirit guide our lives, we will be known by His fruit – which includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.3

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

Romans 8:9

 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Ephesians 1:13-14

The bottom line is this: if we want to live out God’s calling on our lives of holiness and love, we must first believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.4 Following our salvation, we must choose for ourselves which nature will control us – the old sinful nature or the new spiritual nature. 5One leads us away from God, and the other leads us to a life of holiness filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

It seems fitting to close with these words of Joshua to the Israelites: “But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”6

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, Your love is indeed powerful – it saves and actively, lovingly pursues. Yours is a relentless love, or as David described it, a “love that follows us all the days of our lives…” and for this, I am most grateful. I pray for everyone who is on this journey with me that they might be building their lives on the truths of Your Word. I pray that they might find their feet firm on the foundation of Your Word and live out Your calling on their lives. I pray that we will choose to live by Your Spirit and not by our old sinful nature. I pray for anyone on this journey who does not know you to believe in Jesus and be saved that they too might know and share in the power and promise of Your Love – In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray and praise You – Amen!

*Emphasis mine

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Quiet Time

God’s Existence – Do you believe?

Posted on by

Hey Friends 💕 Welcome to day 1 of our first journey in 2025! The LGG Study, “Firm Foundation,” is the perfect way to begin the new year, as the passages will help us build our lives on the unshakable truth of God’s Word. In this first week, we will be looking at “The Nature of God,” – starting with God’s Existence and the importance of believing what Scripture says about His existence.

Scripture and Observation
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-5; Hebrews 11:1-7/SOAP: Gen 1:1/Heb 11:6

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1

Now without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

What stood out in my mind after reading the familiar passage in Genesis was this one truth: It takes faith to believe what we have not seen and cannot even conceive to be possible. I’m sure that is why the study then directs us to Hebrews chapter 11 – where the author points out that it is only by faith that we can come to believe that in the beginning, before there was light or life, there was God, and He created the world.

The author of Hebrews goes on to make many other “by faith statements,’ including… the world being “put into order,” Enoch being “taken up to be with God without seeing death…” and “Noah building an ark when he saw no evidence of the need…” – It is why Hebrews 11:6 emphasizes that “without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”

Application – of today’s journey

It is clear that our faith in God’s existence, as told in His Word, is an essential piece of a “firm foundation,” specifically that:

  • God exists – and that
  • He spoke the world into existence out of nothing

Without faith in this truth, we are like those who were condemned in Noah’s day. For. as the Scriptures say, without faith, we cannot obtain the righteousness of Christ1, which is necessary for us to be made right with God. (see Rom 3:22; 5:9; and 2 Cor 5:21)

Friends, it is so important to understand that faith is not just hoping that what the Bible says is true; as Hebrews teaches, it is being sure of what we hope for and being convinced of it – even though we have not seen it or understand how it could be true.

For we walk (live) by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7

Perhaps this is why Paul taught, “We walk by faith, not by sight” in 2 Cor 5:7, a verse that I use often when I am facing struggles or when I don’t understand where God is leading. According to Bibleref.com, the verse is a testimony to the faith of Paul and His fellow believers, that “they so thoroughly believe the gospel, including their own resurrection and eternal satisfaction, that the struggles facing them are not the most important concern. What they “see” includes death, pain, suffering, opposition, and challenge. They feel the burden of those things deeply (1 Corinthians 1:8), but they count the unseen things waiting for them with Christ as more real than the suffering of the moment (2 Corinthians 4:18).” – The same was true of Noah in his day and should be true of us today – “for without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

Prayer in response to the journey

Father, it is good to be reminded of the importance of our faith – not just in Christ but in the ‘realness’ and existence of You. To believe that in the beginning, the world was dark and empty and without form until You spoke, saying: “Let there be light” is an essential element of our faith – for as we have been reminded, without faith it is impossible to please You, for the one who approaches You must believe that You exists and that You reward those who seek You. As we proceed through this journey, Father, continue to reveal Your truths to us and grace us with understanding so that individually and together, we might build our lives on the unshakable truth of Your Word.

The More We Know About the Journey

For more insight into today’s journey, be sure to check out today’s LGG Blog.

We will look specifically at the Trinity on day two, but in today’s passage, it is worth noting that in the beginning, when God created the world – Jesus/the Word was with God (Jn 1:1, 14) and that the Spirit of God was also present (Gen 1:2)

Today’s Footnotes
Recent Posts

Sapphira

While Sapphira is one of the lesser-known women of the Bible, she is most definitely one that we should acquaint ourselves with, so that…

Unknown's avatar by

Ruth, Part 4

Boaz was the one whom God had prepared to be her redeemer.

Unknown's avatar by

Ruth, Part 3

She held abundant grace within her hands.

Unknown's avatar by
Featured
Posted in Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Thanksgiving Worship

Posted on by

Today’s pathway takes us to Psalm 100 and comes through a sermon my Pastor preached this past Sunday. The sermon features teaching on “how to give thanks” and how thanksgiving can turn into worship. May our hearts be moved to give thanks to the Lord daily and to take up the challenge Pastor Lemming shares at the end of the sermon to read Psalm 100 every day through Thanksgiving Day.

Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with joy.
Enter his presence with joyful singing.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us and we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give him thanks.
Praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His loyal love endures,
and he is faithful through all generations.

Psalm 100
Listen to the Sermon here

Pastor Lemming shares the following points on Thanksgiving worship. He outlines the words of the Psalmist to teach us that worship is …

  1. Imperative
  2. Comprehensive
  3. Active
  4. Responsive
    • Because of Who He is
    • Because of What He has done
  5. Expressive
    • There is shouting
    • There is singing
    • There is clapping
    • There is praising
    • There is bowing
  6. Contemplative
  7. Transformative
  8. Persuasive

Featured
Posted in From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time, Some of My Favorite Things

Philippians 4:4

Posted on by

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 

Philippians 4:4

After reading my morning verse recently, I found myself journaling these words: “Father, You are good. How long ago did You show me this verse? How many years since I sat at my kitchen table reading and rereading it and the verses that followed? How many times and ways since then have you shown me the truth of those verses?”

Sometime in the early nineties, I sat at the table of our newly built home, enjoying the quiet moments of my baby’s nap time. Sometimes, when she slept, I would rest or clean, but most often, I would spend some alone time with God in His Word. As a newly “revived” believer, I was hungry for the Word and eager to build/rebuild a relationship with God.

Today’s verse brought that table and time to mind, as it was there that I first remember beginning to study Philippians 4:4-7, specifically – Paul’s words, “Rejoice in the Lord always. (I will say it again: Rejoice!) 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – note: while verse eight wasn’t included in my early study, it soon followed and has rescued me from more than one battle.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8

God seemed to embed those words in my mind that day. Through the three decades that have followed, He has continued to faithfully ingrain them and use the words to help me through many turbulent days/years of this life/world. These words … have taught me to fix my eyes on God and His will … to ‘rejoice’ even when the days are hard, sad, or downright scary. The words helped me develop a relationship with God, teaching me to spend time in prayer, talking to God, not just at Him. From there, I began learning to trust Him, to fix my thoughts on Him, and to experience the promised peace.

To this day, these words of Paul remind me that God is near, that His return is imminent, and that in and with God, I can have, know, and be filled with peace even in the tumultuous storms of this life! God’s peace is truly a peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a peace that gives strength and hope in both the good and challenging seasons; this strength and hope have led me to “re-joy-cing” in God for more than thirty years of my life.

As I read the words again this morning, they were not new to me but they caused my mind to stop and remember God’s goodness so many years ago and every day since to change my life from the inside-out!

“Joy is the flag flying high above the castle of the hear, announcing that the King is in residence there.”

~Unknown

Loving Heavenly Father, my strength and hope are from You and through Christ in me. Your grace and power fill me with the confident JOY to keep going when hope seems far away and sorrows weigh me down. When I am weak, You are strong! So in my sorrow for this world and despite my concerns – please continue to help me KEEP my eyes and thoughts fixed on You – and let the flag of JOY fly high above the castle of my heart – where You rule and reign – announcing to all that You – my God and King – are in residence here!💜 – And to borrow from today’s devotion from “Our Daily Verse,” “May my life be a testament to the unshakable joy found in a relationship with You. Let this joy be my strength, a light to others, and a reflection of Your constant grace in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

 

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Created With a Purpose

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w6d5

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Ephesians 2:1-10 (8-10)

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.

Ephesians 2:8-10
Observations and Applications

Much like the confession of the Israelites that we read in our previous day’s journey, what Paul writes in Ephesians chapter two reminds us that, like Israel, the Ephesians and believers throughout the ages—including us—have sinned against God. Paul’s list is explicit – and points to the beautiful truth that God’s grace is greater than all our sin.

  • We were dead in our sins. (1)
  • We were under Satan’s rule. (2-3)
  • BUT GOD… being rich in mercy, love, and grace...(4-5)
  • raised us up to demonstrate the boundless and free measure of grace in Christ (6-7)
  • By this grace, we are saved (through faith), which is a gift of God (8)
  • It is a free gift, not related to or requiring any work so that no one can boast (9)
  • We are God’s creation – created with a purpose – in Christ – to do good works, which God prepared for us to do (10)

Take hope in these words from the LGG Journal entry today:

In our study of the book of Daniel, we first saw that God fulfilled His words to remove the people of Judah from their land if they didn’t return to Him. The people had become prideful and were convinced that God would never remove them from Jerusalem. Yet, what they had not thought possible became true.

The people of Judah were taken to Babylon, a place famous for evil and sin. The 70 years of exile were tough for the people of God. Yet, while God humbled them, he also transformed and restored them.

As God provided for the people of Judah, He has provided in incredible ways for believers. God has given us the gift of faith. We can’t boast as we didn’t earn it and don’t deserve it. There is no place for pride. God has a plan and a purpose for our lives; therefore, we should listen and obey Him.

You can be sure that you are exactly where God wants you to be. Even if, like Daniel, you may be somewhere you wouldn’t have chosen to be, know that God is at work. He is interested in your character and how you choose to live in all circumstances.

Ask God to lead you to the good works He has planned for you. Look for the new opportunities God is now leading you into.

God is at work. His plans and purposes will be fulfilled throughout every season of your life. He can be trusted with your today, your tomorrow, and your eternal home. You are saved by His wonderful grace! Your future is sure. So go and live transformed by God’s amazing love, which saves even people like us!

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, thank You for saving us by Your grace and not according to our works. You have created us on purpose and for a purpose; help us fulfill that purpose to Your glory. Thank You to Your Spirit, who empowers us to do the good works that we were created to do. Thank You that we are no longer under Satan’s authority, no longer dead in our sins – and that we never have to worry about losing our salvation! What a joy to know that it is a free gift from You that no one can take away! Rejoicing in the power and depth of Your grace – in Jesus’ name and Your glory!💜

The More We Know

Don’t miss the last LGG Post of the study –

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Seeing God’s Unfailing Love

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithfully in a Faithless Land / w6d4

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Nehemiah 9:32-28

“So now, our God—the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity—do not regard as inconsequential all the hardship that has befallen us—our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people—from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day.

Nehemiah 9:32-38

Friends, I invite you to read beyond the prescribed passage for today, and by reading beyond, I mean reading what came before in this chapter of Nehemiah. While there is much to be seen in verses 32-38, those words come alive with a richer beauty and meaning when read with verse 1-31. The words that come before verse 32 actually give a wealth of understanding to our passage. They help us to see the visible truth of God’s unfailing love and infinite grace and mercy. The verses also help us to understand that our suffering has a purpose … It gives a beautiful picture and example of what true confession looks like – how it begins with acknowledging God is right and proceeds to confessing that we are wrong … It’s a wonderful reminder of how far away from God we can be even when things are going well …

Today’s Love God Greatly Journal entry is a perfect addition to our passage, as it breaks down the return of Ezra, Zechariah, and Nehemiah and the work God did through them, as well as how He transformed the people’s hearts, which led to “an increased faithfulness in God’s people at this time.” It has been an inspiration to me, and I hope it will be one for you as well.

SOAP

Nehemiah 9:33-38 (33)

“You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. It is we who have been in the wrong!”

INTO THE TEXT (borrowed and shared from Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / p186

God was faithful. After 70 years in exile were complete, God’s people were restored to the land. Things weren’t exactly as they had been before. They didn’t have their own king. But God allowed them to live in the land, rebuild Jerusalem, and have everything they needed to resettle back in Judah.

Ezra led the first set of people back to Judah. They were relatively small in number, and the task they had seemed overwhelming to rebuild Jerusalem, the city walls, their homes, and the temple. But God continued again and again to faithfully provide for His people.

Zechariah had also returned to Jerusalem in one of the first groups. God gave him an important message for His people worried about the task ahead. The task would not be accomplished by their power, nor might, but by the Spirit of the Lord (See Zechariah 4:6-7)!

Nehemiah came back from Babylon in a later group, about 13 years after Ezra had arrived. He helped to encourage and reignite the rebuilding of Jerusalem, particularly the temple and walls. The work on these structures had stalled due to constant opposition by their enemies and the resulting weariness of his people.

What about the people’s hearts? Has God transformed them? The people were ready to obey the Lord. They even wanted to sign a covenant! While they would be tempted and fall into sin again, we saw an increased faithfulness in the attitude of God’s people at this time.

God is still transforming hearts from death to life and has been doing so especially since Jesus returned to heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit.

God is the great promise keeper. We can be sure any promises He has made will happen. But He doesn’t always fulfill His promises in the way we might expect or want Him to. We can trust His ways are best. He is righteous and acts faithfully in all He does. His love drives all that He does, which provides us with grace after grace.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, you are righteous and faithful in all you do. Often when I have questioned your faithfulness, it is because you didn’t do what I wanted. O Lord, forgive me. I pray – not my will but yours be done.I thank you that I can trust and rely on your Word. Amen.

The More We Know

You can purchase the LGG Journals at lovegodgreatly.com; they are a great addition to our studies.

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Quiet Time

Hope For the Exiles

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w6d3

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Jeremiah 29:1-14 (11)

For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 is used to congratulate graduates, comfort those whose lives aren’t going the way they hoped, or encourage those who are facing some of life’s big decisions – but it is important to keep in mind that the verse was initially given to God’s people whose world had just been turned upside down. By God’s own hand, they were living as exiles in Babylon, which I can only imagine seemed like the furthest thing from hope and a future of any kind, but that is precisely the message God sent through Jeremiah, one of “hope and a future” and the reminder that God did not plan to harm them. He wanted them to remember “whose” they were and that He was in control, even when it didn’t seem like it.

It may not have seemed to the Israelites that God even remembered them, but He did, and as today’s journal entry points out, “God was working out His plan of salvation amongst all people, in all places, throughout all time. It wasn’t just for those in exile. God was at work to restore and rebuild what was broken when sin entered this world. From the returned exiles, a descendant would come who would be the Savior of the world!”

As we have seen throughout our journey, the faithless Kings and people of Babylon saw evidence of Israel’s true and living God—who protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace and shut the lions’ mouths to protect Daniel. When Israel’s restoration comes, it will be for all nations to know that He is the Sovereign LORD.

We may not always get what we want, and our plans may not work out the way we envisioned, but this promise of hope and a future is for us as well. Today’s journal entry says it best: “God’s plans involve you! His plans are to use you to encourage other believers and be a light to those who don’t yet know Him. You are the carrier of His hope to the world around you, which is often so hopeless.”

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Heavenly Father, you bring hope to me and this whole world. Help me to trust you, Lord, when my days are in turmoil, and I cannot understand. May I know you as the author and perfecter of my faith. Use me to bring You hope to someone in this hopeless world. – Amen

borrowed from Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, p189
Encouragement for the journey –

Friends, this group is not a place for political conversations, but it is a place for encouragement and hope between sisters and brothers in Christ – which is why I am sharing this verse and the story behind it … The day before the election, when my anxiety started rising again, God reminded me of this verse which we recently read in our Daniel study,

“…the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever HE chooses.” — Daniel 5:21

Regardless of how we voted or the outcome of the votes, we all need to remember that our God, the true and living God, is in perfect control! He rules and reigns over Kings and dominions. He is sovereign over all. 💜

The More We Know

For More Insight, be sure to check out today’s LGG Blog

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

The Reputation of God

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w6d2

Scripture: God’s Road Map For Our Journey / Ezekiel 36:16-28 (26-27)

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.27 I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative, and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations. Ezekiel 36:26-27

Observations and Applications

Sometimes, God’s Word leaves us wondering why certain things happen, or – as we have seen in the book of Daniel – there are visions recorded that we can’t quite understand because some things are meant to stay hidden from us. As we see in the journal page below, this is not the case with today’s passage and the unfolding events in the life of Israel, the people of God. Clearly, God was very open with what was going to happen and why –

– God was very open with what was going to happen and why –

Through Ezekiel, God makes it crystal clear to the people that His anger had been poured out on them because they had defiled their land with their “evil way of living.” It was detestable to Him, and because of this, God scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they chose to live. One would think this would have awakened them and caused them to change their lifestyles, yet, from there, it seems to have escalated, as even in the faithless lands where they were exiled, they brought shame to God’s name – to the point that He was concerned about His reputation.

God uses Israel to reveal Himself to the nations – and the same is true of believers in Christ today. God not only uses us but He has called us to be His light to the world. 🦋

The people had failed God, falling short of His glory despite the teachings they were to remember and obey, as well as the warnings God sent them along the way. So, “for the sake of His holy reputation,” God moved to magnify His great name by restoring Israel and making the nations know that He was the LORD. However, we must not miss this vital truth: God did not restore Israel for their sake but for His own. He uses Israel to reveal Himself to the nations – and the same is true of believers in Christ today. God not only uses us to make Him known but He has called us to be His light to the world.

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

Matthew 5:14-16

The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God created man and that He created him for His glory. Therefore, the ultimate purpose of man, according to the Bible, is simply to glorify God. – Gotquestions.org

One of the ways we glorify God is by walking faithfully in a relationship with Him. Apart from God, it is impossible to glorify His name. As we saw with the Israelites, sin separates us from God (Isa 29:2), not only hindering His glory through us but jeopardizing His reputation. Be encouraged by these words from gotquestions.org: while “sin separates us from God and makes it impossible to glorify Him on our own. – through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, our relationship with God is reconciled—our sin is forgiven and no longer creates a barrier between God and us (Romans 3:23–24).”

Since God created man in His image (Genesis 1:26–27), man’s purpose cannot be fulfilled apart from Him. King Solomon tried living for his own pleasure, yet at the end of his life he concluded that the only worthwhile life is one of honor and obedience to God (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14).

Gotquestions.org
Prayer Response to the Journey

Father, thank You for the reminder that this life You have given us and all that You do in and through us, and the callings You have placed on our lives are not about us – but are meant to be all for Your glory. Help us never to bring shame to Your reputation but to live as lights in this dark world— Let us heed the words of Jesus and not let our light be hidden. Help us to walk with You and talk with You and to live and speak in such a way that radiates Your love and grace to the world around us so that everyone will give You the praise and the honor due Your holy name. – In the name of Jesus – Amen.

The More We Know

Why did our journey lead us to Ezekiel? (borrowed and shared from got questions.org)

Ezekiel ministered to his generation who were both exceedingly sinful and thoroughly hopeless. By means of his prophetic ministry he attempted to bring them to immediate repentance and to confidence in the distant future. He taught that: (1) God works through human messengers; (2) Even in defeat and despair God’s people need to affirm God’s sovereignty; (3) God’s Word never fails; (4) God is present and can be worshiped anywhere; (5) People must obey God if they expect to receive blessings; and (6) God’s Kingdom will come.

Key Verses:

Ezekiel 2:3-6, “He said: ‘son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says.” And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.'”

Further Reading: Romans 5:6-11

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Be Brave …

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w5d5

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 10:5-19 (11-12)

Then he said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words – Daniel 10:11-12 NET

Daniel’s prayers had seemed to go unheard or, at the very least, unanswered – but that was not the case, and the Lord made sure that Daniel knew it. The truth is God always hears the prayers of His people who humble themselves before Him to pray. (Hebrews 4:16 and Matthew 7:7)

As can be imagined, Daniel’s vision was alarming both in content and delivery and challenging to understand. He describes his strength as being drained and his vigor as disappearing – to the point that he was without energy. Bibleref.com gives a little perspective to help us understand the effect the vision(s) have had on Daniel.

So, What does Daniel 10:19 mean?

In an earlier encounter, an angelic messenger referred to Daniel as “greatly loved” (Daniel 9:23). That assurance was repeated by Daniel’s current visitor (Daniel 10:11) and is echoed here, as well. Daniel’s experiences have been overwhelming (Daniel 10:1–2, 9, 15). Yet they are not meant to cause him fear, or to make him despair. Instead, Daniel is being given the awesome responsibility of seeing and recording these experiences. Bolstered by the angel’s help, Daniel wanted to hear the message. His desire to hear what the angel would say is reminiscent of the boy Samuel’s words, “Speak, for your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10).

Believers can be encouraged knowing the Lord greatly loves them. The apostle John writes in 1 John 3:1, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” The angel also wishes Daniel peace. Knowing that God is in control of every situation gives believers a peaceful mind and a peaceful heart (Philippians 4:6–7; 1 Peter 5:7). Just as the Lord had told Joshua to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9), so the angel tells Daniel to be brave. – Bibleref.com

Prayer of response to today’s Journey

Father, we don’t always know exactly what Your Word means, but we do know it is truth and wisdom. It can fill us with peace and guard us in all our ways. Thank You for loving us and for faithfully working in our lives—point blank and/or behind the scenes. Thank You for the encouragement that you love, value, and listen to my/our prayers. We are forever grateful and in Your debt. Help us now to heed the angel’s words and not be afraid but to remember that we are very precious to You, our God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong! – In Jesus’ Name – Amen💜

The More We Know
Read Today’s LGG BLOG
Daniel 10 summary +More
Spiritual Battles
Featured
Posted in Advent, Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

In the Steps of Jesus –

Posted on by

Based on the Love God Greatly study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey: Zechariah 1:7-17; 1 Peter 2:21-25 (24-25)

 For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. 1 Peter2:21-25

Jesus is our example of how to live faithful lives in a faithless land. He didn’t just suffer – He was sent to suffer. Peter says we are to follow in “the steps of Jesus.” I think most would agree this is a bit of a high mark to meet. Especially if we consider not only who He is and what He did, but why and how He did it. After all, as Peter goes on to say, Jesus bore our sins on the cross so that we would be able to stop sinning and “live for righteousness.” – But look again at today’s passage…

  • He committed no sin
  • His mouth did not utter deceit
  • He was maligned, but He didn’t answer back
  • He suffered but did not retaliate
  • He gave His life for our sins
  • He did it so that we could have a better way of life –
    • one of righteousness and eternal life instead of sin and death
  • His wounds rescued us from the death that we deserved
  • He brought us into a right relationship with God the Father

Considering all that Jesus did on our behalf, should we not choose to walk in the Jesus Way? Scripture lays out the “way” of Jesus throughout the New Testament, and Jesus Himself instructs us in the book of John to love as He has loved us.

I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this song with at least some of you along the way, but it bears repeating over and over until it is our own mantra as we strive to live faithfully in a faithless land. – You’ll find a link at the end, click and listen – it is beautifully convicting and inspiring.

If you curse me, then I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way
Oh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

[Verse 2]
If you’re helpless, I will defend you (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
If you’re burdened, I’ll share the weight (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
And if you’re hopeless, then let me show you (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
There’s hope in the Jesus way

[Chorus]
I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure, He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way

[Verse 3]
If you strike me, I will embrace you
And if you chain me, I’ll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is Heaven
For I choose the Jesus way

I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure, He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way

[Bridge]
And I choose surrender, I choose to love
Oh God, my Savior, You’ll always be enough
I choose forgiveness, I choose grace
I choose to worship, no matter what I face
I choose the Jesus way, I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way, I choose the Jesus way

[Chorus]
I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure, He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure, He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
Oh, I choose the Jesus way

(Song by Phil Wickham)

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, Jesus was cursed and spat on, but He chose to bless. He was hurt by others, but He forgave. He was hated, yet He loved even His enemies. We are helpless, and He defends us, burdened but He shares the weight; and even though we are hopeless, there’s hope in following Jesus. Help us choose to worship no matter what we face and to remember that You will always be enough. Help us to choose surrender and love – and to remember You’ll always be enough. Thank You for sending Him; thank You, Jesus, for laying down Your life so willingly. Thank You for wearing my sin, may I never cease to wear Your name – for we know and believe that Christ is our Shepherd- the treasure and the answer – Help us always to choose Jesus, The Way – The Truth – and the Life of every believer! Amen!

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, He Sees He Knows He Cares, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

The Hope of His Compassion

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land/w5d3

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 9:1-19 (9); Jeremiah 25:3-12

Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. Daniel 9:9 NET

Wow! I know I’ve said it before but it is worth saying again – I am loving this study of Daniel and the various Scriptures from others like Jeremiah and Peter where we get to see the interwoven tapestry of God’s fingerprints and hear His voice in both the Old and New Testaments.

I also love that Daniel is seen chasing ‘Scripture squirrels” as I do. We see it today in verse two of chapter nine, where Daniel describes how he came to understand from “the sacred books” that the number of years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem, would be 70 years. Please excuse me for overusing the word “love” in this post but I simply love his response to the realization that the “end time” wasn’t far off. Oddly enough, his first response wasn’t shouting praises but rather what seems to have been somber, rather gut-wrenching prayer. It was a serious, sackcloth and ashes and fasting prayer. It was a fervent from the-heart prayer of praise, petition, and confession- not just for himself but for the Nation of Israel.

Daniel acknowledged God’s greatness and faithfulness. He confessed the rebellion of the people, who were unfaithful, wicked sinners who had sinned against the Lord God—the great and awesome God. Then, he cites what I call a “But GOD” moment, writing, “YET the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving—even though we have rebelled against Him.“

Over and over, Daniel cries out to God on behalf of His people, Israel. – As I read it, I could hear the depth of his sorrow over the depth of their guilt. Listen to Daniel’s confession: “We have sinned against You! … We have rebelled against You by turning away from Your commandments and standards … We have done what is wrong and wicked … We have behaved unfaithfully toward You … we have not obeyed, we have ignored the messages of the prophets, we have not turned away from our sins … We have not obeyed the LORD our God by living according to His laws that He set before us through His servants the prophets … All Israel has broken Your law and turned away by not obeying You.” Three more times he says “we have not obeyed … we have sinned and behaved wickedly.”

If you have ever heard or asked the question, “So what is sin anyway?” Daniel makes it clear in his prayer that sin is disobedience to, or breaking, the law of God. Ignoring and rebelling against the teaching of God is sin. All of this, Daniel confesses, is worthy of the calamity and humiliation that came upon Israel by God’s own doing. – Jeremiah’s words in Jeremiah 25:3-12 verify the reality that while God allowed the captivity of His people, it was because they had not listened to what God had said through the prophet, which angered the Lord their God. “Thus,” the LORD said to them, “you have brought harm on yourselves.”

Disobeying God is to “break His law,” and this is sin. Sin is deserving of God’s wrath and worthy of exile, but our hope is in this truth that Daniel proclaimed in his prayer: “The Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.” 🦋

Encouragement from the LGG Journal entry, quotes from p163 –

We all struggle with certain sins we wish we could be done with once and for all. We feel bad asking God for forgiveness for the same thing yet again. God is patient, compassionate, and merciful. There can be a sin that you struggle to forgive yourself, and you think, “There is no way God can forgive me for this!” That is a lie. Don’t allow a lie to keep you from turning to Him to ask for forgiveness and receive it. – When you are praying over a sin, keep remembering that ‘the Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5;11B).

Daniel’s desire was for God’s people to worship Him in the temple and throughout the land. His desire was for God to be honored, praised, and glorified. God’s purpose for sending His people into exile was to discipline, cleanse, and restore them in order for them to renew their relationship with Him. So they’d no longer be adulterous seeking after other gods.

God’s intention for both Old Testament and New Testament believers is that they would be a faithful light to the nations, drawing others to Him.

Prayer, Our Response to the Journey

Heavenly Father, You are full of compassion, Your mercies are new every morning, and Your faithfulness is great. Thank You that through Jesus, we can know Your forgiveness for our sins. Thank You for setting us free from captivity to sin and from the law of sin and death. May we learn from the wayward ways of Your people before us and the prayer of Daniel – that we are meant to obey You – we are not to ignore You or stay in our sin. Instead, we are to love You with all of our being – and Your Word says if we love You, we will obey You. Remove any love of sinning that we might have and replace it with an unfaltering love for You, which seeks to bring You honor and glory. – Amen

The More We Know

Be sure and visit today’s LGG Blog- for more insight.

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Be On Guard

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, w5d2

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey/Daniel 8:1-2, 15-27; 2 Peter 3:8-18 (17-18)

17 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. 18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen. –

2 Peter 3:17-18

Observations and Applications

As I soaped the passage in my journal, I underlined and highlighted, drew arrows, and chased down some Scripture squirrels (all of which can be seen below). As I looked back at my journal entry for today, I was reminded of how it feels when you enter Disney World and try to take in the iconic castle and all of the other sights and sounds that vie for your attention. It’s a bit overwhelming, to say the least. You can only truly appreciate its fullness when you slow down, take a breath, put down your camera, and allow your mind/heart to digest the scene one attraction at a time.

WARNING: Today’s journey through the Word is wonderful but may also be overwhelming. There is much to read and try to tie together. We take in another of Daniel’s visions and its explanation, but we also visit the book of 2 Peter, where we find a warning to be alert, information on the timing and specific expectations of “the day of the Lord,” and encouragement/instructions on how to live as we wait on the Lord’s return. – Much like my experience at Disney, I had to make myself resist skipping ahead and instead slow down and take it all in one verse/detail at a time. Of course, you can do it either way, but to see and appreciate the beauty of how all of Scripture fits together and to better understand not only what Daniel/Israel was dealing with and waiting on then but what we, as New Testament believers, are living through and waiting for now.

I am going to zero in on Peter’s information, instructions, and encouragement, but I hope you will visit the ‘the more you know’ section below and explore the details of Daniel’s vision of the ram and goat.1 While it deals with what will happen at the end of Israel’s persecution, the prophecy and its first fulfillment foreshadow events that will occur during “the end times,” mentioned/detailed in the New Testament.

This same prediction appears to have dual fulfillment. Interpreters see similarity to depictions of the end times: the final era of earth’s history. During that time, a figure known as “the Antichrist” will echo the depravity of Epiphanies. He will be empowered by Satan (Revelation 13:1–4) and only stopped by the return of Christ (Revelation 19:11–16).

Bibleref.com / Daniel chapter 8 overview

I have been known to frequent this passage in 2 Peter, chapter three – specifically for the reminder that the Lord has neither forgotten His promise to return nor is He slow to do so. I find it helpful to recall that His timing is not only perfect but purposeful. It accentuates His patience toward us and His deep love and desire that none would perish but that all would repent and be saved.

Peter gives explicit instructions on how true followers of Christ are to live until that day comes. We must be careful not to believe the twisted versions of God’s Word thrown about by the “ignorant and unstable.” We are to “be on guard,” holding tightly to the truth of God and depending on His Spirit to teach us and remind us of those truths. However, we are not to be idle in our waiting; instead, we are always to be growing in our understanding of the grace2 of Jesus and our knowledge/relationship with Him.

But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

John 14:26 NLT

Friends, this is just one piece of our journey from today, but it is the piece that I believe will be most helpful in accomplishing the stated goal of our study and of God’s plan for us in Christ Jesus – which is to live faithfully in this faithless land. May we stay true to this call upon our lives, and may we share the truth in word and deed with those around us – as we wait with hope on Jesus’ imminent return.

Prayer Response to the Journey

Father, You are holy and good—righteous in all Your ways. Help us, as we wait on You, to live lives that shine as lights of holiness and godliness in this dark and faithless land. As Peter encourages us, may we be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when we come into Your Holy Presence. Help us to know the Truth and hold tightly to it so that we do not fall prey to the false teachings of the world. Please, instead of the world leading us astray – raise up an army of Your followers that will lead the world to You – and let us be numbered among the army. – In Jesus’ name!

My two-year-old grandson loves to play the drums (and really, any other instrument) and sing, and more often than not, the song he chooses is an age-old childhood favorite of mine, “I’m in the Lord’s Army.” I couldn’t help but think of the song as I was praying. Oh, may we march faithfully in His army – with the excited exuberance of my grandson but with the full understanding of who we serve and the grace He has poured out on us. May we serve at His pleasure and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior – Jesus, to whom belongs all glory both now and forever! 💜❤️

I may never march in the infantry, ride in the calvary, shoot the artillery – I may never zoom or the enemy – but I’m in the Lord’s army! Yes Sir! I’m in the Lord’s army …

Lyrics from “I’m in the Lord’s Army” / children’s song

Footnotes

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

The Undisputed Champion

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 7:9-18 (14)

I realize that some people love to read the end-time visions of Daniel and others, like John from the book of Revelation, but my mind struggles to comprehend them. So, when I read today’s opening paragraph in the Love God Greatly Journal entry, I was honestly relieved to read that: “We will go faster through the rest of the book of Daniel, which now shifts to recording the apocalyptic visions Daniel received from God.” I was further relieved to read these encouraging words, “don’t worry if you don’t completely understand some of the visions. Daniel didn’t either!”

The visions emphasize the main themes of the book, which are:

  • God has all authority and power.
  • He is working out His purposes through the seasons of history – and
  • He will humble the arrogant.

I will say that “soaping,1 the passage did help me, though I depended heavily on the bibleref.com commentary and some ‘Scripture squirrels’ I chased along the way.

The vision opens with our Creator God, or as Daniel sees Him in this vision, the Ancient of Days, taking His seat on His majestic throne and being ministered to by an overwhelming number of spiritual beings. We read of four different beasts; one is killed, its body destroyed, and thrown into the fire; the other three are allowed to go on living for a period of time, but they no longer have any authority. As Daniel kept watching the vision unfold, he was allowed to see “one like the Son of Man2,” to whom the Ancient of Days gave “ruling authority and supreme power over “ALL.” As He has been worthily called by many- Jesus, (the “Son of Man),” was revealed as the undisputed champion. Not only does He have all power and authority, but His Kingdom will never end.

I am not sure if Daniel could have fully understood or appreciated the magnitude of what he was being shown. Nor do I believe we can fully grasp just how encouraging the reality of this vision is for us. The simple albeit profound truth is – the vision is further confirmation that JESUS IS COMING AGAIN – and of His Kingdom, there will be NO END!

Daniel didn’t have the full canon of Scripture as we do, so you can imagine how he must have felt. In his own words, he was “distressed and alarmed,3” undoubtedly desperate to understand the meaning of the vision. So, he records, “I asked one who was standing beside the throne what it all meant.” “The divine interpreter gives Daniel good news to go with the prior bad news. These earthly human kingdoms will not last forever. Yet true believers in God will be given an eternal kingdom.4“

“These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. 18 But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.”

Daniel 7:17-18. NLT

Friends, I want to share one more quote from the LGG Journal, as an encouragement to all believers – “We live in the time between Jesus’ first and second coming. During this time, the devil has already been defeated. Yet, God has allowed him to remain for a season until his ultimate demise at the end of time. While the devil has power, it is limited. Jesus gives us the power to resist the devil. We know that ultimately good will triumph.

Prayer Response to the Journey /borrowed from the LGG Journal, p151

Lord God, You are the Alpha and Omega. I long for Jesus’ return when there will be no more sin or death, and Your kingdom comes in all its glory. Lord, I pray for the church, Your people across the world. Strengthen us. Help us to resist the devil and encourage us to live faithfully. Amen

The More We Know

For more insight, visit the LGG BLOG POST

Note: This vision of Daniel’s was one from the first year of Belshazzar’s reign

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

More Powerful than Lions

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w4d5

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 6:19-28 (26-27)

“I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.

For he is the living God,
    and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
    and his rule will never end.
27 He rescues and saves his people;
    he performs miraculous signs and wonders
    in the heavens and on earth.
He has rescued Daniel
    from the power of the lions.”

Daniel 6:26-27
Observations and Applications

Rescued by God

Yesterday’s journey left us hanging as Daniel was thrown into the Lion’s den. We pick up today with the king getting up early and hurrying out to the lions’ den.  When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?”What a beautiful picture we are given of the King’s concern for Daniel’s fate with the Lions and the hope that he placed in the power of Daniel’s God, which is evident in the king’s question. However, I’m sure the king’s call to Daniel paled in comparison to Daniel’s reply to the king: “My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me –

The king was so relieved and happy that he decreed throughout his kingdom that everyone should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. The words the king used to describe God were evidence of the impact Daniel and his God had made on the King. Read them again. Do they ring true in your heart? Is this how you see your God? If asked, would people you spend time with or neighbors in your community know you as a follower of Jesus, or would they be surprised to hear that you are a Christian?

For he is the living God and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end.
 He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders
   in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Daniel 6:26-27

Friends, God’s faithfulness isn’t in question – but ours is. In all the heartaches, struggles, and mountaintops of this life, our faith is to be on display. Paul said that we are to live as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ in whatever we say or do.1 We are His witnesses not only in what we do and say but, as today’s journal entry points out: “in what we don’t do or say. -Our lives can point people to the living God or just blend in with the world around us.”2

Friends, God’s faithfulness isn’t in question – but ours is. In all the heartaches, struggles, and mountaintops of this life, our faith is to be on display. 🦋

Daniel’s faith wasn’t made strong overnight. It grew firm layer upon layer from incidents demanding he trust God. I’m sure we haven’t been told about every difficult situation he faced, the trials he endured, or the heartaches he experienced, but we know from what has been revealed that with each situation, he turned to his God and encouraged others to do the same. I can’t help but think of the words of James, who encouraged believers to consider their troubles as opportunities for great joy. He reminded them that when their faith was tested, their endurance would have a chance to grow, and when their endurance was fully developed, they would be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 1:2-4) Our faith is built up, strengthened – layer upon layer of life – growing firmer and firmer in Christ, the object of our faith … so that when we stand at the entrance of a Lion’s Den or fiery furnace, we do not cave to the world – but instead we can answer – yes, my God is able.

Prayer Response to the Journey

God in heaven, You who rescued Daniel from the power of the lions have rescued those who believe in Your Son from the power of the grave and the cunning ways of the enemy. You have used the cancer of my daughter, the crippled feet of my younger daughter, a life-threatening tubal pregnancy, the hurts of friendships, a husband walking away, the loss of my brothers and father, and the dementia of my mother – and so many other troubles and sorrows – to grow my faith stronger day by day, every pit you’ve pulled me from, every valley you’ve walked through with me, and every hill You’ve strengthened me to climb. Through it all, I continue to learn that there’s always going to be an uphill battle, but of this, I am sure – You will always be there to see me through, and I will be stronger on the other side of the ‘battle.’ – Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow – and for this I give will continually give You all of my praise, glory, and honor! – Amen

The More We Know About the Journey

For more insight, visit Love God Greatly

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Depending on God’s Power

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w4d4

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 6:10-18 (16)

So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you. Daniel 6:16. NLT

Observations and Applications

Have you ever doubted the importance of your testimony as a believer? If so, this passage certainly validates the value of living out our faith in this faithless land. Perhaps Darius, a pagan king, had heard about the fiery furnace ordeal and what had happened to Belshazzar; Scripture doesn’t say he did, but what it does say is that because he had witnessed Daniel’s consistent living and active faith, when he realized that he could not rescue Daniel himself, he indicated that, at least in this, he would have to depend on the power of Daniel’s God.

No one should doubt the impact a believer’s consistent testimony can have on an unbeliever, even one hardened against faith (James 5:10; 1 Peter 3:16).

Bibleref.com

Oh, how I love Darius’ words of encouragement to Daniel and the hint of his belief, at least in the power of Daniel’s God. I also took great delight in knowing that the king wasn’t upset when Daniel continued to pray despite the edict but that the edict put Daniel in danger. – Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.” 14 Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. (Daniel 6:13-14)

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, Thank You for the reminder that Your people’s testimonies are tools in Your hands. They can impact a pagan king, encourage a struggling believer, and change neighborhoods and families. We may never know how our faith affects others, but we do know that we are meant to be salt and light in this dark and faithless land. So help us to be careful how we live, to remember that the world is watching, to remember that we were created for Your glory, and to live as such – not shrinking back but confidently and boldly pressing on to the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. – In His name, I pray and trust – Amen💜

The More We Know About the Journey

More about the Lion’s Den: This form of execution probably used a closed cave or manmade enclosure holding lions captured for this very purpose. The structure might have had multiple doors, including one on the top so that victims could be literally “thrown” in without the lions escaping or attacking the executioners (Daniel 6:17, 24). – Bibleref.com

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Confidence in Lions

Posted on by

based on the Love God Greatly Study, Living by Faith in a Faithless Land / w4d3

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 6:1-10 (10)

But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. Daniel 6:1-10

Babylon has fallen, just as Daniel saw in the visions and the handwriting seen in the earlier part of our journey. The once great and beautiful city of Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar had called it, was no longer. As we read in today’s passage, it was now known as the Kingdom of Medo-Persia and was ruled by a man named Darius.

It is essential to understand that under Darius’ rule, he appointed many leaders to be in charge of the kingdom and three supervisors over them, not surprisingly, “one of whom was Daniel.” Yes, our Daniel, who would have been close to ninety years old at the time. From our first encounter with Daniel, as a young exile from Jerusalem, Scripture has borne witness to his faithful and outstanding service first to his God and then to those he served under in Babylon. He was not only a man of integrity but also of skill, power, and position that clearly exceeded that of others. If this wasn’t enough, we must never forget that Daniel’s greatest asset was the unusual aptitude God had given him for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom and the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams.

“Because of these valuable attributes, Darius took notice of Daniel. He could trust Daniel to manage kingdom business with integrity and efficiency. As such, the king planned to make Daniel the most powerful of his advisors and governors. These plans set the stage for the hateful plans made by other politicians.

bibleref.com

I heard a statement years ago from the show West Wing that stuck with me: “If people are after you, you must be doing something right.” Well, Daniel was certainly doing something right—living the way of His God from the time we read of him being exiled. He had chosen to live faithfully in a faithless land, trusting God, praying through the difficult dangers, and refusing to bow or cave to the ways of the culture he now lived in.

It’s not the first time the king’s people have sought his demise or the demise of his friends. Daniel’s testimony was so strong that the other advisors and governors who served with Daniel could find no way to bring him down short of threatening his relationship with God. Oblivious to their plot, Darius agreed to have anyone who prayed to any other besides him would be thrown into the lion’s den.1 Daniel’s enemies had laid all the proper groundwork and covered all the bases, and were certain that their plan of the lion’s den would lead to Daniel’s demise – BUT – they didn’t account for the power of Daniel’s God.

Daniel’s faithfulness to duty, even in his old age, sets an example for believers today. A believer should never retire at any age from serving the Lord. He should always “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). – Bibleref.com

Regardless of the plot and the real and present danger of the lion’s den, Daniel remained faithful and did not deter from his daily habit of prayer. He did not try to hide it but went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. Please note this was not an act of defiance; it was his daily habit to meet with his God, and he wasn’t willing to give it up, even under the threat of a lion’s den.

Prayer of Response to the Journey

God in heaven, greater than any hungry lion, fiery furnace, or threatening people – I praise You for the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus. Greater is Your Spirit in me than all the powers and forces of his world. Help me to live like Daniel, who knew You could shut the lion’s mouth but also knew that You might not – yet he would not turn from his daily habit of kneeling down to You, the God of Jacob. He trusted in You and Your promises and remained a man of integrity and visible faith. Help this to be true of me – even in this world filled with so much wrong – help me to do what is good and right in Your eyes – so that others will see and know that Your Spirit is in me. – Amen and Amen!

The More We Know About the Journey

For more insight about today’s passage, read today’s Love God Greatly blog post.

For Further Reading: Matthew 10:28-31; Titus 2:6-8

  1. A lesson to be learned from Darius unknowingly jeopardizing Daniel: Pay attention to what others are asking you to do. Don’t just agree to something without thinking it through. ↩︎

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

God’s Way Versus Our Way …

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w4d2

Scripture: God’s Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 5:17-30 (23b)

For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! – Daniel 5:22-23

Observations and Applications

Every day, we make choices. I’m not talking about what’s for dinner choices, though I guess that could be a critical decision for some, but I’m referring more to this would be right vs this would be wrong decision. Decisions like, should we do this, go there, say that, watch this, hang out with them … or not? We have a 2-year-old in the family now, the ripe age of testing boundaries, which means we are often teaching him right and wrong and encouraging him to obey. Recently, at preschool, he did something that he had been told not to do. When his teacher told him he shouldn’t have done it – he replied, “I know.” So she asked him why he did it, and he answered, “I just wanted to.” It was tempting to snicker at this, but its cuteness fades when we remember the reality of today’s story about Belshazzar’s costly decision to live like he wanted rather than how he knew he should.

In our previous day’s journey, the king of Babylon’s party was suddenly interrupted by the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace. Daniel is summoned to tell the king what it means and does so, neither sugar-coating nor cajoling the king. He boldly relates what the message said, what the king could expect, and why. Yet, before the meaning was given- Daniel, in what I would call righteous indignation, courageously scolded the king with what some have described as a “scathing indictment”. He gives him a history lesson of sorts, telling him nothing new, for as a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, the king would have already known these things. Instead, Daniel said it all as a reminder that Belshazzar should have known better and chosen the way of Nebuchadnezzar. Instead, he had used the things of God for idolatrous purposes and would now, along with all of Babylon, pay for the drunken, blasphemous actions.

Babylon had conquered Jerusalem and taken Daniel and others captive, but God moved Belshazzar to honor one of those captives, and very soon He would use the Persians to conquer Babylon. God works in wondrous ways to accomplish His will.

Bibleref.com

Important and helpful commentary for understanding/appreciating this part of our journey through Daniel –

 After reminding the king about the experience of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:28–33; 5:18–21), Daniel now addresses the event which God’s supernatural sign interrupted (Daniel 5:1–5).

Belshazzar’s inebriated, blasphemous actions are described as direct rebellion against “the Lord of heaven.” Though he knew about Nebuchadnezzar’s encounter with the God of Israel, Belshazzar still chose to use Jewish holy objects (Daniel 5:1–2) as toys for drinking, and tools for idolatry. Failure to learn from Nebuchadnezzar’s example was one thing, but to actively desecrate the name of Israel’s God and use His objects (Exodus 30:22–29) to worship idols was even worse.

A deep contrast can be seen in the reaction of New Testament converts in Thessalonica. When they heard the gospel, they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Belshazzar’s refusal to see what God made clear (Romans 1:18–20; John 5:39–40) displayed his arrogance. Only when that brutally direct rebuke has been made does Daniel explain why it inspired God to send a sign, and what that sign means (Daniel 5:24–28).

Scripture does not record how Belshazzar took this news. It simply notes that the king made good on his promise. Daniel is immediately dressed in finery and proclaimed the “third ruler.” Scholars believe this is because Belshazzar was acting as a regent—second-in-command—while his father, Nabonidus, the “first ruler” and true king, was away. It is remarkable that a pagan Gentile ruler would elevate Daniel, a Hebrew and captive exile (Daniel 1:3–7), to such a prominent position. However, God was working in the situation to make this happen. It’s possible the king was trying to appeal to Daniel for forgiveness. He may have thought he could appease the Lord…but it was too late. As the next verse notes, Belshazzar met his death that very night (Daniel 5:30).

Babylon had conquered Jerusalem and taken Daniel and others captive, but God moved Belshazzar to honor one of those captives, and very soon He would use the Persians to conquer Babylon. God works in wondrous ways to accomplish His will.

Prayer of Response to our Journey

Father, we have Your word and the history of others before us who, like Daniel and the Apostle Paul, have faithfully followed after You despite the challenges and dangers. Likewise, we have those who have gone before us or are around us today who have chosen the way of the world and their own desires- Please help us to learn from the message Daniel gave to Belshazzar, who, through the life of Nebuchadnezzar, knew that he should humble himself before God but instead chose to exalt himself against the Lord of heaven. Help us to remember that the choices we make always affect others and to make them in light of Your Word and Will rather than our desires or feelings at the moment. Help us to stay sober and alert, as our enemy, the devil, is always on the prowl looking for someone to devour. Thank You for the reminder that You are sovereign, ruling from Heaven, working in wondrous ways to accomplish Your will. – In the name of Jesus – Amen!

Reflection for the Journey

So, what’s your criteria when making decisions? Is it based on what feels/looks/seems good to you, or is it based on what you know is right/wrong in God’s eyes?

The More We Know About the Journey

For further reading: Luke 12:15-21

Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Even When I’m Old

Posted on by

based on the LGG Journal, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w4d1

Scripture: The Road Map for Our Journey/Daniel 5:1-17; Isa 46:1-5 (4); Jude 1:24-25

Even when you are old, I will take care of you,
even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
I made you and I will support you;
I will carry you and rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4. NLT

Some commentaries differ on whether Daniel was 70 or 80 when he was called before King Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Regardless of his age, we again witness Daniel’s bold and faith-filled courage as he stands before the King of Babylon. I don’t know about you, but this gives me hope that despite the situations and demands of this faithless land, God will grace me with the strength to remain faithful for as long as I live.

Did you read today’s passage from Daniel 5:1-17? Did you read the part where Belshazzar called for the gold and silver cups that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem? Did it appall you that he did this so that he and the others partying with him could drink from them? Vessels once used in the Temple of our God were now being used by a pagan king, his nobles, wives, and concubines! I found myself heartbroken by this but somewhat delighted as I kept reading to find out that God interrupted the party with some handwriting on the wall. I also took great delight in the reaction of the king. Scripture says that his “face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear, and his legs gave way beneath him.”

they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace, – The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, 

Daniel 5:5

This time, Daniel is not commanded to interpret a dream but rather the handwriting on a wall. Still as confident as he was as a young man before Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel agrees to do as Belshazzar has asked but tells the king that he does not want the gifts that had been offered for his success. Remember, while it may impress us that Daniel was not looking to profit from the gift God had given him, we must remember that the king, his officials, and anyone watching would have most likely considered this a great offense. Oh, that we might live so boldly today.

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Teach us Your ways, Lord, and help us to walk in them faithfully and to share them with others, regardless of our age. Help us talk about you when we rise up, when we lie down, and when we go throughout our day. Thank You for Your promise never to leave us or forsake us, to help us, regardless of our age or place in life, to carry out Your call on our lives, and to stay faithful in this faithless land. Thank You for making this possible through Christ in us. – Amen

24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

Jude 1:24-25. NLT
The More We Know about the Journey

Did you notice how much Belshazzar resembles the young and very proud Nebuchadnezzar? Were you surprised that Belshazzar did not seem to know about Daniel or his gift of interpretation? – May these be lessons for us as parents or grandparents to share with the younger generation what God has done or is doing in our lives. May we introduce them to our God and teach them to follow Him faithfully so that they might not disregard the things of God but love and serve Him faithfully.

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

The King of Heaven

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Fatihful in a Faithless Land / w3d5

Scripture: The Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 4:28-37 (37); Philippians 2:5-11

“May all your dreams come true” would not have been a phrase King Nebuchadnezzar would have wanted to hear. Scripture doesn’t make it clear whether he was living in fear of the dream coming true or had dismissed it from his mind, given nothing had happened in the twelve months since Daniel’s interpretation. So, it is very possible that the king could have forgotten or assumed he was safe. However, while he was looking over his beloved Babylon, his pride, clearly in full bloom as he proclaimed the greatness of himself and what he had built – the dream began to unfold just as Daniel had foretold.

Pride goes before destruction,
    and haughtiness before a fall.

PRoverbs 16:18

While the king was still speaking these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence by my own mighty strength and for my majestic honor?”, he lost everything – his kingdom, his place in society, and his mental faculties. As Daniel predicted, the once mighty and reversed Nebuchadnezzar now lived as a wild animal—that is, until the day he looked up toward heaven and praised and glorified God, exalting God as both greater than himself and ruler over all.

His pride brought him down, but oh, the beauty of his humility and the restoration we hear and see – which, to paraphrase the Bibleref.com commentary, was the purpose of the Lord’s judgment on his life. The judgment brought hard lessons that ultimately taught the king that the one true God is “infinitely more exalted and powerful than him or any ruler-.” His pride was wiped out, and in its place, there was “an awe of the LORD.”

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, I have experienced the destruction of pride in my own life – sadly, more than once. It is not an easy thing to admit, but it is a joyful thing to know Your loving discipline and the beauty and strength of Your grace-filled restoration. Without You I am weak and utterly helpless, but through You = I can do all things. To You alone belong all glory and power and honor. Your Kingdom alone will last forever! Wherever You lead me and whatever You call me to do – may I do it al to and for Your glory – Amen!

The More We know about the journey

For more insight, be sure to read today’s LGG Blog

Featured
Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Creator, Ruler of All

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w3d4

Scripture, The Road Map for Our Journey / Daniel 4:18-27 (26); Luke 18:9-14

They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven rules. Daniel 4:26

Can you imagine being in Daniel’s position and having to explain to the king that not only was he going to be insane for a period of time—living like a wild animal—but he also had to convey to the king that he was merely a man? Nebuchadnezzar must understand that God, or as Daniel phrases it, “Heaven” rules.

Daniel makes it clear to the king that his kingdom will be restored only when Nebuchadnezzar truly understands that the God of Heaven rules over all powers and dominions.

True power is not found in Babylon, but in Heaven. The supreme Lord is not Nebuchaadnezzar, but the Lord God.

bibleref.com/Daniel 4:26

I love the commentary found in the journal for today’s portion of our journey –

“We can easily read this and think that God is being cruel, but He is not. Instead, He is more like a loving father who is warning his child, “unless your attitude changes, I am going to have to take away the thing you love for a while until you understand.” King Nebuchadnezzar would be humbled. It would take him the full seven years to realize that it is actually God who rules and who has given him wealth and power.” – LGG Journal / Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, p109

Of course, we are not kings or rulers, but we must still live with the understanding that God in Heaven rules.

Prayer of Response for the Jurney / borrowed from p109 of the Journal

Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe and ruler of all. You give, and you take away. All of my days are in your hands. Lord, I thank you for the many blessings and gifts you have given me. I confess there are times when I am foolishly proud when I should be humble and acknowledge Your provision. Transform my proud ways that I may bring glory to You. Amen.

The More We Know About the Journey

Friends, I hope you will check out one of my favorite books, HEAVEN RULES. Two words are sometimes all it takes to upset and overwhelm us.  Words like: treatment options, work layoffs, election season, pandemic spikes, family trouble, car repairs. They take up so little room, just two little words, and yet they can fill the whole day, the whole house, our whole lives with anxiety and fear.

Heaven Rules is the two-word answer for every two-word worry. The promise we need for every wave of trouble, every assault on our peace of mind. Heaven’s rule is God’s rule: His rule over nations and nature. His rule over renegade viruses, cancer, and concerns about your marriage, your kids, your job, and everything else. The Bible says God is personally, purposefully involved in all that’s taking place here on earth. He’s reigning over each tear and scar and crisis and conflict. Heaven is ruling, always ruling. That doesn’t mean we won’t experience distress, but it does mean we can find a refuge by looking upward and letting His peace rule in our hearts.

Using the timeless book and example of Daniel as a guide, author Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth reveals how seeing our lives and world through the lens of Heaven’s rule can shield us from panic and give us renewed hope and perspective. 

Job worries. Deadline pressures. Deep regrets. Culture wars. There will always be alarms screeching. But two simple words can quiet them, calm our fears, comfort our hearts, and give us courage to press on: Heaven Rules!  I encourage you to check it out HERE

Featured
Posted in Bible study

Stop and Let Me Tell You –

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w3d3

Scripture, Today’s Roadmap for Our Journey: Daniel 4:1-18 (2-3); 1 Peter 3:5-17

 I am delighted to tell you about the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.

3 “How great are his signs!

How mighty are his wonders!
His kingdom will last forever,
and his authority continues from one generation to the next.” Daniel 4:2-3 NET

Observations and Applications

The same king who had made a gold statue and commanded that his people bow down and worship it or face death – now makes a declaration to “all peoples, nations, and language groups that live in all the land”- about the signs and wonders that the most high God had done for him. What a change of attitude from ‘all about me’ to the joy of telling his people how great the most high God is, saying: “How great are his signs! How mighty are his wonders! His kingdom will last forever, and his authority continues from one generation to the next.” – Surely, these words speak to the change of heart the king has had concerning “Daniel’s God.”

Keeping it in Perspective

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes find myself “judging a book by its cover” or, in this situation, assessing someone by the words they speak. I believe it’s a common tendency of human nature—however, it is or can be risky. For instance, if we knew nothing else about the king and judged him by his words of praise, sharing what God had done for him, telling of His great signs and wonders, boasting not of his own authority and kingdom but of God’s forever Kingdom and authority – we may assume that Nebuchadnezzar had turned from his gods and placed his faith in the one true living God. This belief may lead us to fall back in our efforts to live out our faith as boldly in his presence. There are two dangers/lessons here that come to mind, one being we should never fall back on living out our faith boldly in anyone’s presence, and two, we may drop our guard and find ourselves erroneously following the king more readily, thinking him to be following God.

While we cannot say for a fact that he had not done this, by words he speaks later, there is reason to believe otherwise. There is certainly evidence of a heart change; as we see in verse nineteen of today’s passage, King Nebuchadnezzar, in reference to Daniel interpreting his dream, proclaims that Daniel “has a spirit of the holy gods in him.” These words reveal that the king does not view God as the one and only Creator God but as one of many “holy gods.”

Bibleref.com notes in verse three how “Nebuchadnezzar reveres the true God, whom he calls “Most High.” The commentary goes on to say, “It’s likely that, in Nebuchadnezzar’s beliefs, the Lord of Israel was the most prominent or powerful of a pantheon of lesser deities. He is probably not speaking of God as the one and only God and Creator. Yet the king recognizes the power and influence of the Lord worshipped by men such as Daniel (Daniel 2:47; 3:28).”

Nonetheless, the king said he was delighted to tell what God, “the most high God,” had done for him. Or as the writer of today’s journal entry wrote: “He couldn’t help but break into praise. This king, whom we had previously seen as being arrogant and proud, was describing God as great, mighty, powerful, and eternal. King Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t help but let everyone know.”

When I was a child, we used to sing a song in our Jr. Church that encouraged us to tell others about God and what He had done for us. The first portion of that song would have been perfect for the king to sing …

Stop! And Let Me Tell You
What The Lord Has Done For Me.
Stop! And Let Me Tell You
What The Lord Has Done For Me.

However, the song doesn’t end there. It goes on to boast of all that God has done for those who have been saved through the blood of His Son. It is a perfect script for us to use to share what God has done in our lives.

He Healed My Body
And He Saved My Soul,
He Forgave My Sin
And He Made Me Whole.
Stop! And Let Me Tell You
What The Lord Has Done For Me.

There is much we can learn from Nebuchadnezzar’s excitement in sharing what God had done for him. We may not have dreams that we need to have interpreted – but wherever we are in our spiritual life – a believer since childhood, a new believer, or still an unbeliever – one thing is for certain – if and when we understand who we are without God, and come to understand and believe in who He truly is and what He has done to make salvation possible for us1 we should also be moved with joy and excitement to break into praising the “most high God,” telling others what He has done for us.

Prayer ResponsE to our Journey

Father, may I never lose my excitement and the sweet but hard conviction to share what You have done for me. May I be quick to notice how You are working in me, around me, and for me – and even quicker to tell others about what You’ve done/are doing. Help me to make it of the utmost importance like the king did. Help me to always, regardless of the company around me, live my faith faithfully, boldly lifting You up and unashamed to hold fast to Your ways. – In the name of Jesus, I trust and pray – Amen!

The More We Know

For even more insight, check out today’s LGG blog post

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

They Would Not Bow Down

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w3d1

Scripture: Our Roadmap for the Journey / Daniel 3:1-18, (SOAP: 17-18); 1 Peter 1:3-8

If our God whom we are serving exists, he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. 18 But if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

Daniel 3:17-18. NET / KJV
Observations and Applications

When we last observed King Nebuchadnezzar,1 he had proclaimed the God of Daniel to be the God of gods and the Lord of kings. Yet, here he is threatening Daniel’s friends with ‘death by fiery furnace’ – saying, “Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” It is doubtful that the king had truly forgotten the god of Daniel and the interpretation of his dream, but rather that the king’s proclamation of “God of gods2” wasn’t necessarily an indication of a changed heart. This is proved true in today’s journey as he unveils a giant gold statue of himself and orders everyone to bow down and worship the statue.

I remember this story being played out on the flannelgraph boards of many Sunday School classes and/or Jr. Church hours of my childhood: the powerful King Nebuchadnezzar, the golden statue, Daniel’s three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), and, of course, the fiery furnace. But what hit me as I was reading the story today is that Daniel wasn’t part of the story. Where was he? Why wasn’t he being forced to bow or die?

After digging through the Scriptures and some trusted commentaries, it appears that while the Bible never addresses where Daniel was3, the most plausible explanation is that he was away on the King’s business and not subject to the command to bow to the statue. However, his friends were there, and they faced the king’s ultimatum: to worship the gods of the Babylonians and the golden statue or die. The king not only threatened the three young men, but he questioned the power of their God. Yet, the men stood firm in their beliefs and bold in their stand against the idols, the false gods, and the King’s ultimatum.

A deep-seated faith leads to a firm foundation,
which graces us with bold courage
in the face of real and present dangers.

Me from the inside-out 🦋

They refused to bow not once but twice, assuring the king that their God could rescue them from the fiery furnace and the king’s power. For me, the most impressive and inspiring part of their response was their bold declaration that even if God did not rescue them, they would still not serve the gods of the Babylonians nor pay homage to the golden statue.

When I heard this story as a child, I’m quite sure that I did not fully comprehend the lesson with the clarity that I have today. As the LGG journal entry4 points out, “… the world is constantly pulling at us to worship false gods. We often find ourselves worshiping beauty, money, success, fame, popularity, family, politics, entertainment, etc. The truth is that these things have no eternal value. We are called to so much more?”

The journal entry goes on to say, “It is not always easy to stand firm for our faith. But like Daniel’s friends, knowing who God is and trusting His ways, no matter the outcome, allows us to persevere through trials. What we experience here on earth is not the end. We have an eternal hope waiting for us.”

Prayer of Response to the Journey

May this hope help us to stay faithful even in this faithless land. Help us to worship You with all our hearts. Over the difficult circumstances of our lives, we pray, not our will, but yours will be done. Help us know we can trust You in all situations. May how we react to difficulties and trials show the genuineness of our faith in You alone. Amen

The More We Know About the Journey

For more insight into today’s journey, be sure to check out today’s LGG Blog Post.

Would you like to share in the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Check out the Know These Truths Link –

Know These Truths

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Positioned by God

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living by Faith in a Faithless Land / w2d5

Scripture: Our Road Map for the Journey / Daniel 2:36-49 (SOAP verse 44)

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever. Daniel 2:44

Observation and Application of the Journey

Daniel’s godly disposition, one of faith, faithfulness, and dependence on God, positioned him in the center of God’s will—the place of God’s purpose —to give Daniel and the others with him hope and a future. 🦋

Both the king’s dream and its interpretation were revealed as he had demanded. The interpretation did not entirely favor the king and his kingdom. While King Nebuchadnezzar could feel good about the fact that he was the head of all the earthly kingdoms represented in his dream, he was also delivered the news that “the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed… It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.” Yet, even at this news, rather than becoming angry, the king showed his gratefulness to Daniel – he gave credit to Daniel’s God – elevating Him above all gods and kings

Not only did the king elevate Daniel’s God above all gods and kings, but because Daniel had courageously used the gift of vision and insight that God had given him, he allowed Daniel and his friends to live,  “and he elevated Daniel to a high position and bestowed on him many marvelous gifts. He granted him authority over the entire province of Babylon and made him the main prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. And at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon. Daniel himself served in the king’s court.1

All earthly kings and kingdoms will be brought down by God’s kingdom, which will stand forever!

While the King showed his gratefulness to Daniel – he gave credit to Daniel’s God – elevating Him above all gods and kings.

God had given Daniel and his friends gifts2, and because they used them well,3 the King saw God for who He was, and the four young men were positioned where God wanted them to be. Friends, when we choose to obey God rather than men and when we use the gifts He has given us, we, too, will find ourselves in the center of His will.

When they had brought them, they stood them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood on us!”  But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people. The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Acts 5:27-32. NET / KJV
Reflection on the Journey

When I look back over the course of my life, I can see so many ways God protected me because of where He had positioned me. One example that quickly comes to mind is when, for a myriad of reasons, at 29 years of age, I left the Baptist church I had grown up in, literally from the cradle, and began attending a Reformed Presbyterian Church. Through a series of events that included my parent’s Pastor, the death of my grandfather, the birth of my first daughter, and other underlying issues, God led me away from where I was comfortable to the place where He wanted me to be. Ten years later, nearly to the day, my daughter became sick, and because I had followed God out of one door and into another very unfamiliar door, not only was my life transformed by the teaching of God’s grace, but I had been positioned over the ten years in friendships and a school and a community of believers that God alone could have orchestrated and used to save my daughter’s life. He has continued to lead me through the 35 years that have followed, positioning and repositioning me through the years – some harder than others, but I can look and see and say through it all, my God has been in control.

Friends, this is only one of the ways that God used that one move of agonizing obedience to not only redirect my life but literally save and protect myself and my children in life and from death and other horrible outcomes. It is rarely easy to “follow” where God leads when we can’t see or even imagine the why or the outcome, but when we choose faithful obedience over our comfort or pleasing others, we will find (even when things don’t always have a happy or miraculous ending) that God positions us just where we are meant to be.

Prayer of response to the Journey

Father, how very great and loving You are. Thank You for the reminder of how You have worked in and throughout my life. Thank You for Your hand of mercy and of all-sufficient grace that I have seen through the years of my life. Thank You for being the God above all other gods and for the reminder of how what we choose to do and say can lead others to see Your greatness. Thank You for leading and guiding me and positioning me where You want me to be. Thank You for Your forgiveness when I have gone my own way. Thank You for working all things together for the good of those who love You and are called according to Your purpose. Thank You for equipping me with Your Spirit and gifts to serve You, and please help me use the gifts of teaching and encouragement for Your glory. Help those reading this post seek and follow You, know the gifts You have given them, and use them faithfully in this faithless land. Continually position us where You want us, where You can use us for Your glory and honor and praise. – In and for the name of Jesus, I pray – Amen! 💜

The More We Know about the Journey

Many scholars have contrasted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 with Daniel’s vision in chapter 7. Both passages reveal the coming world kingdoms, but the symbolism is strikingly different in each. The pagan king sees the kingdoms of this world as a towering work of art, impressive in size, value, and grandeur (albeit with feet of clay). God’s prophet sees the same kingdoms as bizarre, unnatural beasts, terrifying in aspect and behavior. It’s a difference of perspective: where man sees a stately, glittering tribute to himself, God sees a menagerie of aberrations. “Let us not be desirous of vain glory” (Galatians 5:26, KJV). gotquestions.org

For more insight, check out today’s blog post by the LGG team.

For further reading: Luke 1:31-33NET / KJV; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18NET / KJV

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

To God Be All the Glory

Posted on by

Scripture: Our Roadmap for the Journey: Daniel 2:24-35 / SOAP: 28a

When God gave Daniel the gift of interpreting the meanings of visions and dreams, He was clearly setting him up with a platform to make Him known to the King. We also see that Daniel sets God up for praise by boldly extolling God’s power to the King (2:28-30). As someone who isn’t always as confident and courageous as I would like to be, I stand in awe of Daniel’s confident and brave spirit. I also appreciate that he clarifies that his confidence is not in himself but God.1

Today’s Love God Greatly Journal entry offers a beautiful insight into today’s journey.

  1. We hear this in his prayer (2: 19-23) and in his response to the King (2:28-30). ↩︎
Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

The Transformative Power of Faith

Posted on by
Scripture for the Journey: Daniel 2:19-23

 19 That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. 20 He said,
“Praise the name of God forever and ever,
    for he has all wisdom and power.
21 He controls the course of world events;
    he removes kings and sets up other kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the scholars.
22 He reveals deep and mysterious things
    and knows what lies hidden in darkness,
    though he is surrounded by light.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
    for you have given me wisdom and strength.
You have told me what we asked of you
    and revealed to us what the king demanded.”

Daniel 2:19-23. NET

When we last saw Daniel, he had learned that the King had issued a decree for him and his friends to be killed. Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon.

Today’s portion of the journey reveals – “that very night, their prayer was answered.” Daniel 2:19

Distress led Daniel and the others to pray… prayer led to God’s answer through a vision given to Daniel … and the answer led to praise – 🦋

The Prayer Was Answered

“The secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. He said, “Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.” Daniel 2:19-23  NET

Like the Psalmist in Psalm 118, Daniel and his friends prayed to the Lord at the thought of what the King had decreed. Today, our journey reveals that the Lord heard their plea and rescued Daniel and his friends from the ordered execution. As He was with the Psalmist, the Lord was Daniel’s strength; the Lord gave Him victory over the threat of death at the hand of the executioners! – and that is exciting – However, the answer of living by faith in a faithless world lies in the truth of verses 20-22

Both Psalm 118 and Daniel 2:18-22 “reflect not only the urgency of seeking divine help but also the transformative power of faith in God.”

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, thank You for reminding us to trust You and do what is right. Help us to “settle in this land” and maintain integrity. Then, we will delight in You, and You will answer our prayers. Help us to commit our future to You, LORD, and to trust You to act on our behalf. – Let us be quick to praise You when we see Your answers, even when and if that answer is ‘no.’ – for we know that even then, You are Good.

A Song of Worship in response to the Journey
The More We Know

For more insight be sure and check out this post by LGG

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

From Courageous Faith to Bold Prayers

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, w2d2

Scripture: Our Road Map for the Journey / Daniel 2:1-18 / SOAP verse 18

Nebuchadnezzar Has a Disturbing Dream

2 In the second year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar had many dreams. His mind was disturbed and he suffered from insomnia. 2 The king issued an order to summon the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and wise men in order to explain his dreams to him. So they came and awaited the king’s instructions.

3 The king told them, “I have had a dream, and I am anxious to understand the dream.” 4 The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its interpretation.” 5 The king replied to the wise men, “My decision is firm.[n] If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered[o] and your homes reduced to rubble! 6 But if you can disclose the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts, a reward, and considerable honor. So disclose to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They again replied, “Let the king inform us of the dream; then we will disclose its interpretation.” 8 The king replied, “I know for sure that you are attempting to gain time, because you see that my decision is firm. 9 If you don’t inform me of the dream, there is only one thing that is going to happen to you. For you have agreed among yourselves to report to me something false and deceitful until such time as things might change. So tell me the dream, and I will have confidence that you can disclose its interpretation.”

10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man. 11 What the king is asking is too difficult, and no one exists who can disclose it to the king, except for the gods—but they don’t live among mortals!”

12 Because of this the king got furiously angry and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So a decree went out, and the wise men were about to be executed. They also sought Daniel and his friends so that they could be executed.

14 Then Daniel spoke with prudent counsel to Arioch, who was in charge of the king’s executioners and who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon. 15 He inquired of Arioch the king’s deputy, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. 16 So Daniel went in and requested the king to grant him time, that he might disclose the interpretation to the king. 17 Then Daniel went to his home and informed his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the matter. 18 He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon

Observation and Application of the Journey

Our journey through the first chapter of Daniel bore witness to God’s fingerprints. We saw how God was working behind the scenes on Daniel’s behalf, making the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel, endowing Daniel and his friends with knowledge and skill in all sorts of literature and wisdom, and giving Daniel insight into all kinds of visions and dreams. On top of this, we hear the King announcing that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are ten times better than any of the magicians and astrologers in his empire.

In today’s journey, King Nebuchadnezzar demands an impossible thing from his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and wise men. He not only requires them to interpret one of his dreams but to tell him what he had dreamed. When the men are unable to satisfy the King’s request, he becomes furiously angry and gives orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, including Daniel and his friends, who had been seen “as ten times better than any of the magicians and astrologers in his empire.”

I love that Daniel didn’t run from the danger; instead, he sought the LORD, his God, and encouraged his friends to pray with him. Daniel’s prayer was for more than mere protection; it was also, and perhaps even more so, for revelation and interpretation of the King’s dream. Once again, Daniel was courageous in his faith and bold in his prayer, both of which set God up to be seen and glorified by the King and all who would witness what God would do.

Daniel’s hope wasn’t in his abilities but in God. He knew that all things were possible with his God. 🦋

Many years ago, I prayed for a specific job for my daughter – not just because she needed a job but because I truly believed, because of things God had already done, that He had positioned her for this job and was opening a door for her to fulfill His call upon her life. To our delight, she was given the job. However, while it was a learning experience, the end result of the job brought much heartache, sorrow, many hurtful losses, and even a certain amount of danger.

There were times when it was hard to see God’s hand, but we trusted His heart and prayed through the losses and, by his mercies, survived the dangers. Our faith was challenged but grew, as did our prayer lives; our hearts were broken and torn apart – even scarred – but those scars are becoming reminders of just how merciful our God is. To God’s glory, much good has come from the devastating ending of what we thought was her dream job – as He has and is showing her/us that while His plan is never to harm us – sometimes the pathway to His will and way can bring hurts and even fearful situations as we see with Daniel.

Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart, take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar –

Heal the Wound / Lyrics by Point of Grace
Prayer/Worship Response to the Journey

Father, may we learn from Daniel that we do not need to run in panic but rather trust You and commit our way to You, walking courageously by faith, praying bold prayers – even when the request seems impossible, knowing that with You, nothing is impossible. May others see You, not only in our lives but in the miraculous way You answer us, and may we boldly and quickly give You praise – drawing attention to You, for You are worthy of all blessing, honor, and praise! Give us good and godly friends who we can ask and trust to pray with and for us. And Father, when danger or heartache appears, help us not to grow weary and lose heart, In the name of Jesus -Amen

Featured
Posted in Bible study

Courageous Resolve

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, w2d1

Scripture, Our Road Map for the Journey: Daniel 1:8-21

But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine. He therefore asked the overseer of the court officials for permission not to defile himself. 

Daniel 1:8. NET
Observation and Application from the Journey

It would have undoubtedly been a great honor to be offered food and drink from the King’s table. So Daniel’s resolve not to partake in the food and drink is impressively courageous. The reality of his courage is made evident in the fear expressed by the King’s overseer. However, Daniel persisted, and God honored Daniel’s resolve not to defile himself with food from the King’s table. Some commentaries say the reasoning for Daniel’s concern was because the food would have been offered to the Babylonian god, and others say it was because the food would not have been kosher; whatever the case – Daniel knew something about the food and/or drink that he believed would defile him and the others if they ate/drank it, and he was resolved to remain faithful to God.

You have to admire the quietness with which Daniel handled his concerns. He didn’t make a loud protest, and there is no indication that he asked with a demanding or angry tone – but rather one of concern and faith in His God. The outcome from beginning to end bore witness to God’s fingerprints, as Scripture acknowledges that God was working behind the scenes on Daniel’s behalf, and the King acknowledges that he found Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to be ten times better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were In his empire.

Faith in God was Daniel’s source of courage, strength, wisdom, and insight. As the old hymn says, “Faith is the victory …” 🦋

Let’s be honest; it isn’t easy to be different than the culture around us, and it isn’t always easy to follow the ways of God. I don’t know about you, but I’ve made some pretty bad decisions in my life in order to fit in or be included or simply because it was the easier choice. The good news is that it’s never too late to follow in Daniel’s footsteps and resolve to stand firm in our faith, choosing what would please God over what the world expects us to do. – These words of Joshua came to mind as I was writing that last sentence; “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

There are times when living for God causes us to be different or live differently from what is considered ‘normal.’ Pray for wisdom in knowing how to live faithfully and how to respond when something crosses into a compromise you can’t make. Let’s be wise in how we live in both the seemingly little things an the big things. LGG Journal entry, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / p67

Prayer Response to the Journey

A portion of today’s prayer is borrowed and shared from today’s journal entry, p67

“Lord of All, it is so easy to be comfortable living like everyone else, and it is hard to be different. Give me strength and wisdom, Lord, to live your way.” Help me to be firm in my resolve to live faithfully and to know how to respond when compromising situations arise. To You be the glory and honor – Amen.

The More We Know

For more insight, visit lovegodgreatly.com/blog

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

The Value of God’s Word

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / w1d5

Scripture: The Roadmap for our Journey / Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:1-15 / SOAP: Deut 6: 6-9

These words1 I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 7 and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. 8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. 9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NET

Paul wrote to Timothy that the Word of God is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. The author of Hebrews wrote, “The Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates, even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” And Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit, whom the Father would send in Jesus’ name, would teach the disciples all things and remind them of everything Jesus had said to them to them.2 Obviously, God considers His Word to be of great value and purpose. And, as we see through today’s passages, we should also value It. We are wise when we take to heart the words of David, who, in an effort to not sin against God, stored up God’s Word in his heart.

How can a young man keep his way pure?
    By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
    let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
    that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:9-11. ESV

God’s Word is so valuable and such an important part of our faith that It is to be on our minds when we wake up and when we lie down. We are not only to know His Word, but we are to teach It to our children and talk about it throughout the day. Paul wrote that we should let God’s Word dwell in us richly.3 David wrote that he had hidden It in His heart so that he might not sin against God.4 The Psalmist also said that God’s Word was a lamp to guide his feet and a light for his path.5 Paul also taught that the Word of God is to be used daily as armor so that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.6

Look again at today’s passage:  “(These words) I am commanding you today [must be kept in mind.]”

Friends, I realize that even the thought of “memorizing” Scripture tends to strike fear in the heart or mind and/or elicit an “I can’t” response, but that doesn’t change the fact that God initiated and even insisted on His people keeping His Word, specifically the commandments He gave through Mosses, in their minds.  Why? Because He knew they would need it to be strong and faithful in the land where He was sending them. Take heart, though, and remember that when God tells us to do something, He equips us to do it. Consider again the words of Jesus, who, before leaving His disciples, comforted them with these words, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.”

How do we keep God’s Word in our Mind?
  • God equips us with the Holy Spirit to help us remember what we need to know and do or not do
  • Moses gave us some helpful ideas for using visual reminders/prompters of the Word
    • though our visuals might be note cards and post-its, … the idea is to keep His Word present
    • He also instructed them to make a habit of talking about God and His Word throughout the day.
  • We are blessed in the 21st century with technology that allows us to have God’s Word at our fingertips –
    • meaning we can read/re-read it more frequently, which helps us keep His Word in our minds
    • We can listen to it as we drive or walk/run …

So don’t be thrown by the thought of memorizing—while it is a good and profitable thing to do, it is not the only way to keep God’s Word alive and active in our minds and lives. If you want to try to memorize, start with Jesus’ summary of the law and prophets, what He considered to be the greatest of the commandments: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’e 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  – Friends, if we live this out in our everyday lives, we will be found living faithful in a faithless land.

 In response to a question from one of the experts of the Law,
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’e 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’f 40The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40. NLT
Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, I confess the difficulty of living faithfully in this world. Be it temptations or simply the easier way, following You can be costly and sometimes scary. However, You have shown me that it is by far the best way. Help me to stay in Your Word and presence daily so that I remember and follow the desires of Your heart and Your teachings rather than my own desires and understanding. May I be careful not to forget that it was You who delivered me from slavery to sin. May I not go after the gods of this land but honor and serve You alone. Thank You for Your Spirit, who keeps Your Word before me. Help me stay alert to His promptings, faithfully hide Your Word in my heart, and faithfully follow hard after You all the days of my life. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray – Amen

The More We Know about the Journey

Many Jews have taken the concept of putting God’s laws on doors, hands, and head literally, yet the emphasis in these passages is on the importance of the Law. The Law of the Lord is perfect, according to Psalm 19:7. Psalm 1  emphasizes the importance of meditating upon God’s Word both day and night. We should never forget it; it should be a part of our daily lives. The Word belongs in our hearts, not just on our foreheads. gotquestions.org

The law that God had given to Israel in written form was flawless. As such, it can revive the soul. It gives life to those who heed it and revival when the human spirit is downcast.

gotquestions.org
Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

Conformed or Transformed?

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless World / w1d4

Scripture: A Roadmap for our Journey – Daniel 1:3-7; Isaiah 39:6-7; Romans 12:1-2

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2. NET

If we belong to God, He is our Father, and He wants us to live according to His plan and His ways—which are righteous and holy. This will not and cannot happen if we copy the behaviors and customs of the world around us. God’s plan and desire is to transform us into new people, and this starts with changing the way we think. He wants to mold us and make us into His image, specifically, the righteous and holy image of His only begotten Son, Jesus.

Paul exhorts the believers in Rome to present their bodies to God as living, holy, and pleasing sacrifices. This means we will have to forego all the pleasures of the world and our hearts’ desires that do not align with God’s will and pleasure. Please read that again, making sure to understand that we do not have to forego all pleasures or give up all of our heart’s desires – only those that do not align with the will of God. How, in the world we live in, with all of its demands and tempting pleasures, can we faithfully do this? I believe the answer is found in Paul’s instructions: we should not conform to the ways of the world but instead be transformed by the renewing of our minds. One question we can ask ourselves every morning is, will we conform to the ways of the world, or will we be transformed by the renewing of our minds by allowing God to change the way we think?

As God’s people, we are not to adapt to or adopt the ways of the world around us. 🦋

The picture we see played out on the pages of Daniel Chapter 1 is one of a king attempting to transform Daniel and the other Jews, who were God’s chosen people, into the image of a ‘true’ Babylonian by reshaping the way they thought and spoke. At the end of a three-year training program, they would enter the king’s service. Even their names were changed from names that pointed them to the true and living God of Israel to Babylonian names that pointed them to the gods of the Babylonians.

“Everything was going to challenge what they had been taught in Judah.” The question was, “How would they choose to live? Could they make a home in Babylon and remain faithful to their God?”

Love God Greatly / Living Faithful in a Faithless Land / p53 – emphasis added

“What about you, MaryEllen?” Those were the words that popped into my mind as I was rereading the first part of this post that I had written earlier in the day. More questions followed that question … Do my ‘name’, my character and the things about me – ie. my words and the things I do and say point me and others toward the true and living God – or toward the gods and things of this world? – It’s a hard but important question, one I believe is good to ask ourselves from time to time – along with, “How have I chosen to live? Am I remaining faithful to God as I live in this sin-saturated world?”

Paul strongly urged the believers in Rome to give themselves over to the pleasures of God instead of self – to no longer live as though they were still dead in their sins but as ones made alive in Christ, holy and pleasing to God. What he wrote to the believers then is still vital for us as believers today — who “live in a culture that seeks to challenge what the Bible teaches.”1Remember the King in Daniel’s story, how he worked to change the way the young men from Judah thought and spoke and even ate by filling their minds with the literature and language of the Babylonians and their bodies with royal delicacies? The Lord’s Word, His literature, and language have the power to transform us, to reshape the way we think and speak and live, and – as I have found – to change us from the ‘inside out’ as we learn to live by the good, pleasing, and perfect will of our God.

“We need to renew our minds over and over with the Word of God. The better we know God, the more likely we are to trust Him and know that His ways are best even when we can’t understand what is going on.”

Love God Greatly / Living Faithful in a. Faithless Land / p53

Father, how easy it is to let my thoughts be filled and influenced by the world/culture around me. Guard me against this, Father, and let Your ways, Your Words, Your love, and desires saturate – not just my mind but my heart – so that I can know Your good, pleasing, and perfect will and live accordingly. Change me from the inside out – I pray this in the name of Your Son, my Savior – Amen❤️

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

A Letter of Hope

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless World / w1d3

Scripture – Our Roadmap for the Journey: Jeremiah 29:4-14/soap 29:7

And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

Jeremiah 29:7 NLT
The Right Perspective

Perhaps one of the most challenging things for a Christian to come to grips with is the realization that we do not live a “charmed life.” The hope and future we have in and through Christ do not guarantee that everything in our lives will be easy or go well. Scripture warns believers that there will be suffering and difficulties in this life, but praise God 💜 It also promises that a beautiful future awaits us.

Observation and Application for the Journey
Exiled with Instructions

We must not overlook that the exiles were God’s people, and they were instructed by God to work to see that the city where they were exiled enjoyed peace and prosperity; they were also to pray to God for “the city” to prosper. In other words, they were to be concerned about the place where God had sent them and the people they were now forced to live in exile with. I can’t help but think of the command Jesus gave to His disciples in the NT to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecuted them.1

The RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

Having the right perspective requires knowing and remembering that God exiled His people only after they refused to do what He told them to do. 2 Reread Jeremiah’s warning and the people’s response in Jeremiah 18:1-12, paying careful attention to verses 11 and 12.

So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ 12 But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” Jeremiah 18:1-12. NET

We also must not miss the “right perspective” we are given through the prophet Jeremiah’s identification of God as the orchestrator of the exile. Yes, God sent His people into exile as a consequence of their rebellion,3 but He had a plan for both the ‘city’ and the ‘exiles.’ The plan was not to harm them but to prosper them, and as Jeremiah went on to write, God knew what He had planned for His people—which was “to give them a future filled with hope.”4

I don’t know that we can fully understand this type of exile, but the thing that hits me with some semblance of understanding is knowing that this world is not our forever home. Peter referred to his fellow believers as “temporary residents and foreigners.” And Paul wrote, “We are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.” He goes on to say that “we are eagerly waiting for Christ to return as our Savior.” For then, “He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.”5

Friends, it is important to understand that this promise was specific to the “Nation of Israel,” even more specifically, to the Jews who were in exile in the days of Daniel. However, all who are in Christ share in God’s promise of hope and a future forever with Him! Without this truth and perspective, we will get lost in our misery and struggles, or we will get caught up in the ways of the world around us and turn from our God – missing out on the purpose He has for us here, which is not just biding our time – but working and praying for the salvation of the lost until He returns.

The return of Christ is always presented in Scripture as a great motivation to action, not as a reason to cease from action. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul wraps up his teaching on the rapture by saying, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:6, Paul concludes a lesson on Christ’s coming with these words: “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” To retreat and “hold the fort” was never Jesus’ intention for us. Instead, we work while we can. “Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). Gotquestions.org

Prayer of Response from the Journey

Father, thank You for the reminder that this is not our forever home. We are foreigners and aliens in this world. However, this has also reminded me that we are not to be simply biding our time until You return and we receive our promised citizenship in Your Kingdom. Instead, we are to work and pray for the salvation of the lost as Jesus commissioned His disciples to do – until He returns. Help us, Father, not to be caught up with the cares and struggles of this world but to keep our eyes on You, Your promised return, and Your call upon our lives to live faithfully in this faithless land. – I pray these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus – my Savior and Lord – Amen

WORSHIP RESPONSE TO THE JOURNEY/ BORROWED AND SHARED FROM YOUTUBE
Reflection on the journey
  • How can you work in your “city” for peace and prosperity?
  • How/what can you pray for “the city”?
The More We Know

For more insight, read today’s Love God Greatly Blog Post

For further reading and understanding: Psalm 137:1-4; 2 King 25:4-12

The Plans I Have for You

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

A God-Given Desire

Posted on by

Scripture: Our Roadmap for the Journey: Jeremiah 24:1-8 / SOAP: verse 7 / w1d2

I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.

Jeremiah 24:7. NLT
Observation and Application from today’s journey

The Heart of God for His People is seen in the “I will” statements God gave through Jeremiah. They must have been great words of encouragement to Jeremiah, words of hope for a heartwrenching and seemingly hopeless situation. God had sent His people into exile because of their rebellion, but here, God tells Jeremiah, “I consider them to be good.” He then proclaims that He will look after their “welfare.” He will also restore them to their land, build them up, and not uproot them. He will give them the desire to acknowledge Him as Lord; He will be their God, and they will be His people. Why? Because God loves them with an everlasting love and, from the beginning of time, was working all things out – not to harm them but to give them hope and a future. The LGG journal for today’s portion of our journey explains this so well that I am sharing it with you here. May it help us as we move forward through the lessons of living faithfully in the land of the faithless.

Today’s devotion is borrowed and shared from the pages of the LGG Journal, Living Faithful in the Land of the Faithless, p 45.

Love God Greatly is More Than a Bible Study

The More We Know

For further reading: Daniel 1:1-2 and 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

What is the significance of the baskets of figs in Jeremiah 24?

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

The Potter and the Clay

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless World / w1d1

Scripture, Our Road Map for the Journey: Jeremiah 18:1-12 / SOAP verse 6

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over…

“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.” –

Jeremiaah 18:1-6. NLT

God is the potter, and we are the clay. He will mold us and make us according to His will.

Observation and Application from the Journey

I love it when God uses memories from our past to highlight the present lessons He is teaching us. When I was a little girl – still in elementary school, my best friend was Penny. Penny’s dad had a workshop in their basement where he worked on ceramics, using molds, paints, and other tools to create works of art that he would place in a kiln, which would eventually reveal their beauty. Penny and I loved going down to the basement when he was working because he would occasionally let us help him create. While I know the process of ceramics doesn’t quite compare to the beautiful picture of the potter and his clay, the memory of Mr. Tucker’s detail and attention to his creations flooded my mind as I began to journal my observations of today’s Scripture about the potter.

I also could not help but think of my life verse, the verse that gave a name to this blog site, mefromtheinsideout, from 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ Jesus the new creation has come, the old has gone the new is here. 🦋

In fact, the old version of a Christian, who they were before they were “in Christ,” is not recoverable. The old is gone, Paul writes. The new has come. All the old dreams and ideas and agendas and purposes have ceased to exist and have been replaced by Christ’s ideas and agendas and purposes in an entirely new creature called “Christian.”

– read more @Bibleref.com

Friends, this truth and challenge/question are from the LGG study journal today and are too good and necessary for the study not to share. I pray you will read them and give them thought and prayerful consideration. After all, we waste our time with these studies, or any others for that matter, if we only read them and walk away, ignoring or quickly forgetting what God has made known.

  • TRUTH:
    • “We all like to hear the positive things people say about us. We enjoy being reminded that God loves us, just as we are. But we can be less keen to hear truths such as God detesting our sin. He wants more for us, or He wants us to grow to be more like Jesus.”
  • CHALLENGE:
    • Look again at the SOAP verse (Jer. 18:6) . Read it aloud, but replace “nation of Israel/O Israel” with your name
    • How teachable are you? We are often more focused on the temporary things of this world. God wants to develop your relationship with Him and your character because He is interested in molding us into His likeness. Are you willing to be molded?
Prayer of Response from the Journey

Father, how blessed we are to know Your grace and mercy. How heart-wrenching it is to recall some of the days of my past, but oh, how sweet it is to know Your transforming power! The old has gone, and the new has come! Because of You, I am forever changed, a new creation in Christ Jesus!

As we begin this new study/journey on “Living Faithful in a Faithless Land,” please help us to be teachable, to hear Your Word, and to put it into practice. Guard us from being focused on the temporary things of this world. Help us to grow in our relationship with You, and please develop more of Your character in us. Let us be yielded to You as You mold us and make us according to Your will. – In the Name of Jesus, this is my prayer – Amen and Amen!

Responding in Worship to the Journey (borrowed/Shared from YouTube)
The More We Know

For further reading/understanding: Jeremiah 18:18; 25:1-3, 11

Dear reader, have you known/experienced the life-changing power of God’s mercy and grace? If not, I invite you to read Know These Truths and/or message me so I can share with you the way to a new life in Christ 🦋

https://atomic-temporary-62140760.wpcomstaging.com/2023/03/14/know-these-truths/

Connect with me on Facebook or via email. @mryelnb@aol.com (subject line: Journey through the Word

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Following Jesus

Posted on by

Then Jesus said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23

Jesus outlined it for His disciples and anyone who wanted to follow Him, with this invitation in Luke 9:23 – when He said: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” We know from other places in Scripture that true disciples, faithful followers of Christ, must choose a different path than the world. The world teaches a “me first/self-love first” –>then others … but Jesus taught clearly and unapologetically that the love of God and others is most important.1 He even defined that this love was to mimic the way that He had loved us.2

One of my favorite Phil Wickham songs is The Jesus Way. I listen to it far more than any other song in my playlist and was delighted to find a recording of the story  behind the song recently. As we approach our new journey on Monday, from the book of Daniel, “Living Faithful in a Faithless Land,” this song and the story behind it seem very appropriate to share today. I pray it’s a blessing – 🦋

If you curse me, then I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way

If you’re helpless, I will defend you
And if you’re burdened, I’ll share the weight
And if you’re hopeless, then let me show you
There’s hope in the Jesus way

I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way

If you strike me, I will embrace you
And if you chain me, I’ll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is heaven
For I choose the Jesus way

I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way

And I choose surrender
I choose to love
Oh, God my Savior, You’ll always be enough
I choose forgiveness
I choose grace
I choose to worship, no matter what I face

I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way

I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way

I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
Oh, I choose the Jesus way

Source: Musixmatch / The Jesus Way lyrics © Be Essential Songs

Songwriters: Jonathan Smith / Phil Wickham /

  1. Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 NLT ↩︎
  2. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. John 13:34 NLT ↩︎
Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Even There

Posted on by

\

This was the verse of the day on the youversion Bible app yesterday morning. After listening to the video and reading the devotional, I knew it had to be what I shared with you today. The verse and the teaching by youversion are beautiful reminders that regardless of where we find ourselves today, scared … lonely … sad … lost … confused about what to do … sick … etc., – we are not alone. We are not stuck. We are not without someone who cares, and who’s able to save. Thank God, there’s no escaping His presence. May the truth of this passage bring hope and peace to your heart and mind and strength and joy to your day.

Start with this short but wonderful video, but don’t miss the encouraging devo –

Even There

David, who was Israel’s king around 1000 BC, is the contemplative soul who wrote our verse for the day:

“… even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Note: Any time a verse seems to start mid-sentence, it’s wise to investigate the broader context of the story. In this case, David is exploring the mind-blowing fact that he can never escape God’s presence.

David realizes that it doesn’t matter if he’s sitting down or standing up, traveling abroad or resting at home, up in heaven or down in the grave, speaking his mind or keeping his thoughts to himself, or even if he somehow ends up next to the most remote ocean on earth.

It’s then that David continues:

“… even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

Even there, even here, even everywhere—God is always present to lead and guide, to strengthen and support.

Even if we try to avoid God, or run from His calling on our life, He’s patient to pursue us, to correct us, to direct us.

One thing is certain: He will never leave us.

So, when you’re scrubbing dishes, scrolling on your phone, or sorting through a difficult decision; when you’re hard at work, lazy at home, or soaking up time with the people you love; when you’re heartbroken, when you’re joyful, when you’re doubtful, when you’re hopeful, and even when you’ve made a horrible decision …

“… even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

Wherever you find yourself today, know that you’re not alone. You’re not stuck. You’re not without someone who cares, and who’s able to save. Thank God, there’s no escaping His presence.

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Keeping A God-Shaped Focus

Posted on by

Today, I’m sharing with you a prayer by Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of the late Billy Graham. As I read the prayer, I thought of the Psalms that are filled with praise to the God of the universe—like Psalms 8, 19, and 139—but I also thought of Paul’s words to the Colossian believers to think about the things of Heaven and not the things of earth.1 This is so important for all believers to remember because the truth is – it is very easy to “give more weight to the pressures and stresses around us than to God’s sovereign plan and awesome power… and lose our focus on God.”

When we lose our focus on God, it is very easy to live according to our old sinful nature rather than the new nature that showcases God in us to the world around us. After all, as Paul wrote, “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus.”2 This lifestyle requires a God-shaped focus.

A Prayer to Stay Focused

True, Living Lord,

I acknowledge that You are Lord. Lord of the universe, Lord of this planet, Lord of this nation, Lord of this city, Lord of this community, Lord of my life . . . ​ You are Lord of lords. I thank You and praise You, O Lord, for Your blessings and Your grace.

I humbly confess that I too often give more weight to the pressures and stresses around me than to Your sovereign plan and awesome power. I seek out worldly wisdom rather than turning to Your perfect wisdom. I boast in my own strength rather than leaning on Yours. I tend to lose my focus on You.

Lord, help me never forget that, in a world of confusion, You are the Way. In a world of political correctness, You are the Truth. In a world of death, You are eternal Life.

As I refocus on You and Your Word, give me wisdom to make decisions that are right. Give me courage to stand against that which is wrong. Give me patience to navigate my relationships with grace and truth, reflecting the light of Your love in a way that brings life to all I encounter.

Give me everything I need so others may see Jesus in me.

O God, I pray for these things not because I deserve them but because You have invited me to boldly ask for Your blessing in the name of Your Son, our Savior—Jesus.

Amen.

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Join The Hunt

Posted on by

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29;13. ESV

When I was growing up, it was not unusual to be out with my mother on a hunt – a treasure hunt, that is. I honestly don’t remember a lot of rummage sales, but I do remember thrift shops and even alleys of our neighboring city bringing her great joy. The target of her hunting was most typically furniture, but dishes, books, and toys or bikes were among the hauls as well. Once spotted, she would size up the target, and if she could envision a place or use for the newfound pieces, she would squeeze us all closer together in the family station wagon and load up the treasure, or on some of the hunts, she would have to make arrangements to return. for the bounty at another time. When we arrived home, we would spill out of the wagon and help her haul the treasures out of the station wagon and into her large treasure chest, otherwise known as the big old garage that was on the back of our property.

Oh, the joys of that garage as a kid. It was the setting of a schoolhouse for this want-to-be teacher and her friends; It was the place of wild west shootouts for my brothers and, yes, me – when they dared to let me join in the fun. And it was the place where my mom would create, or should I say recreate, the treasures from her hunts. Of course, Dad would get in on the action from time to time as well – helping her sand or paint. However, I fondly remember his hands on his hips as he stared at the treasure, saying, “Eleanor, what in the world are we going to do with this?”

She may not have known the answer at the time, but our house eventually and continually bore the evidence of her treasure hunting – as restored tables and chairs became the place for family dinners, game nights, and my dad’s old typewriter (a valuable treasure from one of the hunts). Cabinets that were once eyesores were made beautiful and filled the rooms of our wonderful old home, holding dishes, books, and other treasures produced by the hunts. Couches, chairs, and ottomans, once tattered and worn, were recovered and transformed into pieces that not only made our home both attractive and comfortable for our family and countless friends who frequently stopped by. Both the hunting process and the restoration were just part of our simple living.

Many of these treasures now fill my home. So, I suppose it was natural for today’s verse to stir up memories of those hunts from long ago. Of course, seeking God as the treasure has a vastly different outcome than hunting treasure with my mom. You see, Mom’s treasures needed to be restored, but when we seek and find God, we are the ones who are changed. He reclaims us and restores us; He takes what was once ugly, tattered, and worn, and He changes us from the inside out, making us beautiful new creations meant to fill the world around us with the evidence of His handiwork and the joy of His presence.

I have always loved today’s verse from Jeremiah. The thought of seeking God as “treasure” reminds me of the words of the Psalmist, who wrote,

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge … The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them, there is great reward.“

Psalm 19:1-2, 7-11 (ESV)

His fingerprints, His still small voice, His untold gifts of grace that fill our days, His mercies that are new every morning, and His word that can never be fully mined are just some of the daily treasures that fill my mind and heart and a treasure chest of journals. And, they are indeed more precious to me than the finest of gold or the sweetest of honey. Perhaps the best part about this treasure hunt and what reminded me so much of my hunts with Mom is found in the truth of this quote:

“This verse isn’t about a frantic spiritual scavenger hunt. It’s a gentle invitation to open our eyes to the everyday moments where God is already present. He’s in the sunrise that takes your breath away, the unexpected kindness of a stranger, the quiet strength that rises within us when we need it most.” ourdailyverse.com:

Friend, seek God with all of your heart and soul; desire Him more than you desire the wealth and sweet things of this world. Through prayer and worship and time in His Word, you will find Him. Ask Him to open the eyes of Your heart, and you will see His fingerprints all around you. Pray for ears to hear even His still small voice, and you will hear sweet whispers of His love. Stay alert, and you will see and experience the abundance of His grace and faithful mercies. You will be delighted and inspired by His strength in your trials and weaknesses, and you will know His peace that passes all understanding over your fears and burdens. May these treasures become the treasures of your heart and draw you closer to Him. Never stop seeking the treasures that are yours through Christ Jesus. When and if you feel far from Him – draw close to Him, and He will draw close to you.

Seeking God “with all your heart” isn’t a call to religious perfection. It’s an invitation to bring your authentic self to each moment. Your doubts? Bring them. Your joy? He delights in it. Your mess? That’s where His grace shines brightest. God is as present in your tears as He is in your laughter, in your questions as much as in your certainties.

ourdailyverse.com
The More We Know
Know These Truths
Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Fiery Darts Nor Thorns & Thistles

Posted on by

Yesterday, my morning prayer journal entry started like this: “Father, You are Good. Your Word and the timing of the Spirit’s reminder are treasures in the morning and throughout the day. I do not know what lies ahead today, but I do know that it is my greatest strength, pleasure, comfort, and peace to know that You walk with me 💜 And I do not need to fear! – Fiery darts and thorns and thistles that litter the way cannot keep us from Your protective presence💜 When You are near, we have nothing to fear, for You will hold us up with Your victorious right hand.”

The entry was prompted by the “our daily verse ” email devotion that I received. Yesterday’s verse of the day was from Isaiah 41:10, and those of you who have been a part of the group for very long may recognize it as one I often use because it is among my top 10 life verses.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

I am sharing it again with you today, along with the “ourdailyverse.com” devotion from yesterday. I pray it is a blessing of encouragement for your Friday and the weekend ahead. – “Today, let’s rest in the assurance that God walks beside us through every challenge. We’re never alone in our worries. – Have a blessed day.”

“Fear, it’s a familiar adversary, a shadow that threatens to darken even the brightest of days. But in the face of this relentless foe, God speaks a promise that has the power to change everything: “Do not fear, for I am with you.” – read the full devo at https://www.ourdailyverse.com/p/verse-of-the-day-isaiah-41-10

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time, Spirit

Off the Beaten Path 2.0

Posted on by

Love Your Enemies – But Why?

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Once again, God met me where I was this morning – and provided more words of encouragement for me to share with my friend who is struggling with someone who is making life really difficult for her. Plus, the words served as a good reminder for me of all the ways God has used them through the years to grow and strengthen my faith and to teach me the practice of loving others well and treating them as I want to be treated. It hasn’t always been easy, and I don’t always excel at it, but God has shown me many times over that I can indeed do all things through Christ, who gives me strength – even loving my “enemies.”

Friends, if we are being honest with ourselves, today’s message from God’s Word is difficult for our human minds to understand and practice- Loving those who hate or mistreat us, who terrorize or seek to destroy us, doesn’t only seem impossible -but somehow it just doesn’t seem right! As right as I know it truly is and as I’ve grown in my understanding of it through the years – I will admit when I read it again, sometimes my knee-jerk reaction is … why should our enemies not be paid back evil for evil or why should be do good to those who hate us? Why should we pray for our enemies unless it is for their destruction or to bless those who have cursed us? Why should we do good to them – when they only continue to abuse us?

The answer to all the whys is profoundly yet simply this: BECAUSE Jesus tells us to love them. So before we dismiss or even gloss over this less-than-pleasant and very difficult calling on believers, let’s remember this truth- Our God is abounding in love, full of mercy, and rich in grace. We only have to look back over the course of our life to recall just how long-suffering God has been with each of us – who are by nature sinners and, as Paul said, “children of wrath” (Eph 2:3), sinners (Rom 3:23) deserving of death but instead given the free gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ His Son (Rom 6:23).

So, yes! Nothing, absolutely nothing, seems right about this command and/or God’s expectation for the believer — that is, UNTIL we remember God’s love for us. When we remember Jesus, the One we believe in, the One who literally lay down His life for those who were enemies of the cross – enemies of His Father in Heaven – who loved the world so much that He gave — literally sent His Son, God in the flesh to the earth in the form of a man who would not only be hated – but abused and hunted down, entrapped and crucified for the sins of His enemies!

Jonathon Edward said it better when he commented on the greatness of God’s love in giving the Lord Jesus Christ: “God has given us what is of more value than all the kingdoms of the earth. He has given his only-begotten and well-beloved Son–the greatest gift he could bestow. And Christ has not only done, but he has suffered, great things, and given himself to die for us; and all freely, and without grudging… And what great things hath God done for those of us who are converted, and have been brought home to Christ; delivering us from sin, justifying and sanctifying us…And all this, when we are not good, but evil and unthankful, and in ourselves deserving only of wrath.”
  
“When viewed in this light, things begin to look a little different. By God’s grace, the desire to love our enemies should suddenly seem to come into reach. Because we were 
once the enemy who was loved.” quotes by Laurie@Thistlebend

Maybe you don’t have someone you would call an enemy in your life, but perhaps you have that person who hurt you, and you can’t or won’t forgive them. Maybe you have someone who hates you or abuses you and the last thing you want to do is repay them by doing good to them; and I’m guessing if someone struck you, you wouldn’t want to turn the other cheek.

However, consider with me the following statements from the writer of the Thistlebend posts as we close:

We once were enemies of God. While we were still His enemy, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us. This is not normally how people treat their enemies! –

Because “God first loved us, we should want to reflect Him and love others in return.” The question is, “Will we die to our self and love our enemies – Just like God did for us?”

Featured
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time

Off the Beaten Path 2.0

Posted on by

It’s Not About Gritting Our Teeth

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13. ESV

It’s funny, yet not surprising, how God knows exactly what we need to hear and when we need to hear it, and He supplies it. Such was the case this morning, as I read from OurDailyVerse.com again. This time, it wasn’t just me that needed to hear it. He knew there was someone in my life who needed to hear not just the verse but this one particular statement: “It’s not about gritting our teeth, but about acknowledging our limitations and allowing His power to course through us.”

These devotionals are typical prayer starters for me in the morning and sometimes at the end of the day. This morning’s flowed something like this:

Father, You are Good. You enable Your people with STRENGTH to live as You have called us to live. Whether in a prison cell like Paul or facing the daily cares and fears and other challenges or enemies of this world – that trap us and “weaken” us — causing us to feel like “we can’t” press on or stand firm in our faith. Yet, we are without excuse, Father, because we are filled with the powerful strength of Christ, our Lord and Savior, who endured death on a cross when He could have called 10 thousand angels to get Him down — and who three days later walked out of the grave! – (did you just say glo-ry hal-le-lu-jah!? I know I did!)

It’s not about gritting our teeth, but about acknowledging our limitations and allowing His power to course through us. This doesn’t erase challenges, but it shifts how we face them, replacing fear with unwavering faith and weakness with His might.

OurDailyVerse / September 17, 2024

Sometimes, Father, the days seem filled with seemingly impossible tasks or demands. Today is one of those days for a friend of mine, and as I was praying for her, I realized that you had already given me the perfect words to encourage her. Even when we think we can’t possibly deal with a problematic/anxiety-spiking problem, Your Word declares that we can do ‘all things through Christ Who gives us strength!‘We cannot do it in our own might or will – but in the STRENGTH of CHRIST! Paul declares that “we have been crucified with Christ.” – He goes on to say that “the life we now live in the flesh we lie by faith in Your Son, who loves us and gave Himself for us.” According to Romans 8:37, We are more than conquerors – NOT by anything we have done or can do or will do but because of what Jesus did for us. The cross was ours to bear, the death was ours to die, But Christ took them for us – He was pierced for our transgressions… He was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that brought us peace was placed upon Him – and by His wounds, we are healed – and set free from the chains that had rendered us lost and powerless! And when we belong to Him, His Spirit lives in us, teaching and reminding us of all that Christ taught and giving us strength in our inner being.

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,1

Ephesians 3:16. ESV

I shared the prayer from the Devo with my friend, and now I am sharing it with all of you. Perhaps you need to hear it today; I encourage you to make it your own and to be strengthened by it. If it isn’t one you need to hear today, I encourage you to tuck it away for a day when life is full of more challenges than you think are possible and need to be reminded – You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you – ❤️

Dear Lord, As I confront the challenges of today, fill me with the strength that comes from You alone. Remind me that I do not face these trials by myself but with Your power within me. Help me to rely on Your strength, not my own, transforming my worries into confidence and my fears into faith.

Guide me through each moment, and let Your peace reign in my heart. Thank You for making me more than a conqueror through Your love and grace.

In Jesus’ name, I pray – 💜 Amen
  

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, She, Volume 2

Ruth, Part 4

Posted on by

Adapted from She, Volume 2/p69-72

Read: Ruth 3:1-20; Ruth 4; and Matthew 1:5

As someone who used to scheme and manipulate situations to get a desired result, the opening lines of Ruth chapter three catch my attention every time. Whether it was culturally acceptable to arrange marriages in that day and time, the conversation that ensues seems to fall under the plotting and scheming category of any generation or culture.

One day her mother-in-law Naomi said to Ruth, “My dear daughter, isn’t it about time I arranged a good home for you so you can have a happy life? And isn’t Boaz our close relative, the one with whose young women you’ve been working? Maybe it’s time to make our move. 

Ruth 3:1-2

Naomi knew that Boaz was working in the threshingfloor,

and what Ruth needed to do1

It is worth noting that marriage arrangements were the custom of the day in which Naomi and Ruth lived. So, the argument could be made that they were simply following the lead or path that was opened when Boaz extended her the kindness, protection, and provision of gleaning in his field. As bibleref.com commentary explains, “Naomi has a problem. She wants Boaz, an older, highly honored Jewish man, to marry Ruth, her young Moabite daughter-in-law. Culturally, there is nothing about this scheme that makes sense. But Naomi knows Ruth deserves the best in life, and she’s resolved to make it happen. Naomi must balance several things all at once. She needs to figure out how Ruth can propose to Boaz while keeping safe and maintaining enough privacy that Boaz doesn’t lose face for talking with a foreign widow.”

Ruth Proposes

Ruth was a willing participant and followed all of the instructions Naomi gave her. After seeing/hearing all that Boaz had done thus far, there was no reason for either woman to doubt that Boaz, as a “near kinsman who could redeem them, would do what he could”2. Whether it is the man or woman who proposes, I think we would all agree that no one wants to hear the answer, ‘Yes, but…’. Unfortunately, however right he was, this is the answer that Boaz gives Ruth.

The Lord bless you, my daughter!’ Boaz exclaimed. ‘You are showing even more family loyalty now than you did before, for you have not gone after a younger man, whether rich or poor.3 Now don’t worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman. But while it’s true that I am one of your family redeemers, there is another man who is more closely related to you than I am. 

Ruth 3:10-12

Despite her Moabite heritage, Ruth had come to be known as a kind and virtuous woman, and even though another man was a closer redeemer than Boaz, Boaz was the one whom God had prepared to be her redeemer.

12 But while it’s true that I am one of your family redeemers, there is another man who is more closely related to you than I am. 13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning I will talk to him. If he is willing to redeem you, very well. Let him marry you. But if he is not willing, then as surely as the Lord lives, I will redeem you myself! Now lie down here until morning.”

14 So Ruth lay at Boaz’s feet until the morning, but she got up before it was light enough for people to recognize each other. For Boaz had said, “No one must know that a woman was here at the threshing floor.” 15 Then Boaz said to her, “Bring your cloak and spread it out.” He measured six scoops[a] of barley into the cloak and placed it on her back. Then he[b] returned to the town.

16 When Ruth went back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “What happened, my daughter?”

Ruth told Naomi everything Boaz had done for her, 17 and she added, “He gave me these six scoops of barley and said, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

18 Then Naomi said to her, “Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won’t rest until he has settled things today.”

Ruth 3:12-18

Ruth Waits … but not for long

While Naomi told Ruth she wouldn’t have to wait long, she also told her to “be patient.” Those two words can be very good advice, however they can also be a very annoying and often challenging statement. Yet, according to the commentary by Bibleref.com, just as Naomi had predicted, it is only a few hours later that Boaz goes to the city gates. Determined to do all he could to help care for Ruth and Naomi, Boaz follows the cultural demands of the day, which are described in the first twelve verses of Ruth, chapter four. They are a wonderful display of Boaz’s character, and I believe, his respect and heart’s desire to marry Ruth.

As today’s study guide points out, the sandal represents so much more than the transfer of property. It was a declaration that Boaz was now legally able to marry Ruth.

The Story of the Sandal

Boaz went to the town gate and took a seat there. Just then the family redeemer he had mentioned came by, so Boaz called out to him, “Come over here and sit down, friend. I want to talk to you.” So they sat down together. 2 Then Boaz called ten leaders from the town and asked them to sit as witnesses. 3 And Boaz said to the family redeemer, “You know Naomi, who came back from Moab. She is selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem it if you wish. If you want the land, then buy it here in the presence of these witnesses. But if you don’t want it, let me know right away, because I am next in line to redeem it after you.”

The man replied, “All right, I’ll redeem it.”

5 Then Boaz told him, “Of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow. That way she can have children who will carry on her husband’s name and keep the land in the family.”

6 “Then I can’t redeem it,” the family redeemer replied, “because this might endanger my own estate. You redeem the land; I cannot do it.”

7 Now in those days it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a right of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party. This publicly validated the transaction. 8 So the other family redeemer drew off his sandal as he said to Boaz, “You buy the land.”

9 Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”

11 Then the elders and all the people standing in the gate replied, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make this woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.” Ruth 4:1-12

Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”

Ruth 4:9-10

Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse. Matthew 1:5

Scripture paints a beautiful picture of the story, allowing us to see the amazingly personal hand of God carrying out His purposes and plans for generations upon generations to come.

So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. (Ruth 4:13) – Cue the water works and celebration, for Naomi (and Ruth) have been redeemed and restored!

Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. 15 May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”

Ruth 4:14-15

She was given a legacy of redemption. And she serves as an example of the beautiful picture of redemption that Christ has provided for us.4

As the study journal points out, Ruth’s son would be the grandfather of King David of Israel. And fourteen generations after him, Jesus Christ would be born of the same lineage. ~ for even more details on the beautiful plan of God in and through the story of Ruth and the glorious arrival of Jesus, “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace5“, click here.

Reflection and Application
  • Why do we need a Redeemer?
  • What was the name of Ruth and Boaz’s son, and how does he play a part in the life of Jesus, our Redeemer?
The More We Know

Would you like to know more about Jesus, My Redeemer?

Know These Truths
Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time, She, Volume 2

Ruth, Part 3

Posted on by

Adapted from She, Volume 2, pp 67

Read: Ruth 2:14-23

There is a version/translation of the Scriptures called the Message. I’m assuming most are at least familiar with it but if you aren’t it is, as Christianbooks.com describes it, “a unique, contemporary paraphrase of the Bible that captures the heart, tone, and vibrant imagery of Scripture in everyday language—making it an inspiring choice for personal devotion, fresh insights, and connecting with God’s Word in a relatable, emotionally engaging way that speaks powerfully to both new believers and longtime readers alike.” ~While I do not use the Message as a study Bible, I do appreciate its tone and imagery – particularly in books like Ruth, as it seems to capture the heart and voice of the characters and the all-encompassing love and personal care of our God.

14 At the lunch break, Boaz said to her, “Come over here; eat some bread. Dip it in the wine.”

So she joined the harvesters. Boaz passed the roasted grain to her. She ate her fill and even had some left over.

15-16 When she got up to go back to work, Boaz ordered his servants: “Let her glean where there’s still plenty of grain on the ground—make it easy for her. Better yet, pull some of the good stuff out and leave it for her to glean. Give her special treatment.”

17-18 Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. When she threshed out what she had gathered, she ended up with nearly a full sack of barley! She gathered up her gleanings, went back to town, and showed her mother-in-law the results of her day’s work; she also gave her the leftovers from her lunch.

19 Naomi asked her, “So where did you glean today? Whose field? God bless whoever it was who took such good care of you!”

Ruth told her mother-in-law, “The man with whom I worked today? His name is Boaz.”

20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Why, God bless that man! God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!”

Naomi went on, “That man, Ruth, is one of our circle of covenant redeemers, a close relative of ours!”

21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “Well, listen to this: He also told me, ‘Stick with my workers until my harvesting is finished.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth, “That’s wonderful, dear daughter! Do that! You’ll be safe in the company of his young women; no danger now of being raped in some stranger’s field.”

23 So Ruth did it—she stuck close to Boaz’s young women, gleaning in the fields daily until both the barley and wheat harvesting were finished. And she continued living with her mother-in-law.

Ruth 2:14-23 ~The Message

What a beautiful love story that unfolds on the pages of Scripture as God leads Ruth to the field of Boaz, one of their Kinsman Redeemers, and the heart and actions of Boaz respond with tender compassion and protection for Ruth and her mother-in-law.

Equally as beautiful is the visible melting of Naomi’s bitterness when she hears what God has done for them and declares, “Why, God bless that man! God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!” (Ruth 2:20).

Friends, this is such an important truth for us to know and remember throughout all of life. Even when life is overwhelming and the way ahead seems uncertain, we have the promise of God’s never-ending love and wisdom. We have the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us, and that He will lead us and guide us by His Spirit and His Word.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

Isaiah 42:16

Isaiah 42:16 was the passage of a morning devotion I recently read, and it came to mind as I was working on today’s journey through Ruth chapter 2, where Ruth knew no one and was desperately trying to help provide for herself and Naomi. There is no indication that she knew which fields were safe or who they belonged to. There is, however, overwhelming evidence that God was guiding her along unfamiliar paths, turning her darkness into light, and making the rough places smooth. Ruth had chosen to leave her pagan gods and family behind, committing herself not only to Naomi but to her true and living God, the faithful God of Israel. Now, she would begin to realize His love and personal involvement in her life as He provides not only safety but the attentiveness of a kinsman redeemer and the handfuls of barley purposefully dropped along the path for her to pick up as she gleaned.

She returned home to Naomi with the reserve of barley, and the amount sparked the interest of her mother-in-law.1

She held abundant grace within her hands.2

The passages (Ruth 2:14-23 and Isaiah 42:16) are worth rereading, for they reveal the absolute beauty of God leading, guiding, planting … us where He wants us, both for our good and His purpose and glory. Even the Isaiah passage is evidence of that truth in my own life, as I had not gone looking for the verse, the people who post the daily verses do not know me or what I would be studying – nor do I believe it is a mere coincidence, but rather the beautiful direction and timing of our lovingly purposeful, sovereign God.

May God continually open our eyes and hearts to behold all the wonderful things in His Word and His work in and around our lives. May we, as Naomi, trust, see, and declare that, regardless of how difficult our days and situations may be, God has not abandoned us, He still loves us – “in the bad times as well as good,” and may we bless His Holy Name.

“Why, God bless that man! God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!” Naomi went on, “That man, Ruth, is one of our circle of covenant redeemers, a close relative of ours!”

Ruth 2:20

I love that we not only see Naomi’s scales of bitterness falling away, but we can hear the restored hope in her words to Ruth (2:20). We can also hear the beautiful evidence that she truly considered Ruth her daughter. As we move toward the end of our journey with Ruth over the next day or two, we will see that those around Ruth could see these truths as well.

Reflection and Application

What have you recently gleaned from the Word of God?

The More We Know
  1. She, Volume 2/p67 ↩︎
  2. She, Volume 2/p67 ↩︎

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Quiet Time, She, Volume 2

Ruth, Part 1&2

Posted on by

Adapted from She, Volume 2, pp 63-66

Read: Ruth 1-2:13

In yesterday’s journey, we focused on Naomi, who, along with her husband and sons, had left their Bethlehem home during a drought to dwell in the land of Moab. While they were there, not only did Naomi’s husband die, but her sons, who had married Moabite women, also died. For at least ten years, Naomi continued on in Moab with her widowed daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Our journey picks up today with the story of Ruth, who, when Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, left all that she knew behind and committed herself not only to her mother-in-law but to her God.

Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”

Ruth 1:16-17

Ruth did not have to do this; Naomi had released both of her daughters-in-law from any obligation they may have felt by cultural tradition or allegiance to her sons that they owed her. She encouraged them to return to the homes of their own mothers. Orpah chose to do so, but Ruth, as Scripture bears witness, chose to leave not only her family but the gods of Moab behind.

Ruth was strong, courageous, bold, brave, and determined.

She, Volume 2, p64

As today’s study journal points out, Ruth was not only strong but she was also courageous, bold, brave, and determined. As we journey through her story, we will see how God used these characteristics to accomplish not only His purpose for her life but also for His people. We will watch Naomi’s bitter spirit come alive with joy, and we will see God divinely direct Ruth’s path to a “happily ever-after, purpose-filled ending”. Though I’m sure it didn’t seem that way to her at first.

Ruth is new to town, widowed, along with her widowed mother-in-law, who is admittedly struggling with bitterness. “They have no man to protect or provide for them, and no source of income,1” but Ruth does not shy away from doing what is necessary to survive and provide. It would not have been uncommon, in their situation, for her to have to beg, become a prostitute, sell herself as a slave, or glean.2 However, as God would have it, Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest, so Ruth sought Naomi’s approval to glean. While gleaning sounds like the best of the options the women had, it came with its own problems and dangers, and, depending on the field you found to glean in, there was little to no promise of a profitable haul, as gleaners were limited not only in what would be left but in what they could take. In addition to these hurdles, there was the added challenge that Ruth was a Moabite and may not find a field where the owner would allow her to glean. There was also the real and present danger of assault because she was not only a young widow but a foreigner.

“There is nothing safe about Ruth going to glean in an Israelite’s field. She is wise to request permission from the harvest manager.”

I am a firm believer that there are absolutely no coincidences with God. So when we read that Ruth ended up in the field of Boaz, a relative of her dead father-in-law, Elimelech, we are allowed to see that she was divinely directed by God to this particular field.

So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.

Ruth 2:3

When Boaz arrives and sees Ruth, he is curious and talks to his foreman about her. The foreman explains who she is and gives a glowing report of her work, which moves Boaz to talk to Ruth and encourage her to stay and work with them, telling her she will be safe and enjoy the privilege of water to drink and food to eat. Ruth is so moved by his kindness that she fell at his feet with gratitude, and asked him, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?“

Boaz gave Ruth his field to glean from freely.
God has given us His Word and He shares it with us freely.

May we be mindful of where we are spending our time, and from what (whose) field(s) we are gleaning.

She, Volume 2, p66

As we read in verses 15 and 16, Boaz also made sure she would have good success in her gleaning. She had so much success that when she arrived home, Naomi’s surprise and joy were evident as she gathered details from Ruth about the day and how the Lord had blessed them by sending her to Boaz’s field.

That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.

Ruth 2:20

Friends, it is worth noting that if Ruth had returned to her mother’s home as Naomi had encouraged her, she might never have met Boaz and known the blessing of God’s hand on her life in the days and years to come.

It was no accident that God directed her to the field of Boaz.

“she went”
God gave her the faith to go.
“and came”
God directed her steps of where she should go.
“and gleaned”
God provided exactly what she needed, when and where she needed it.

She, Volume 2/p45
The More We Know

I love that the journal for today points out that not only did Boaz encourage Ruth to stay, but that he knew no other field could meet her need, and that “the field” is a picture of the Word of God. Oh may we continually glean3 from His Word.

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Quiet Time, She, Volume 2

NAOMI

Posted on by

Adapted from She, Volume 2 / pp 49-52

Read: Ruth 1:1-22

When a famine descended on the town of Bethlehem, Naomi and her husband, along with their two sons, left their home for Moab. Their intent was to dwell there for the duration of the famine, however they were there for at least ten years. During that time, Elimelech died, after which the sons both married Moabite women (which, for the record, Jewish law forbids).1 After they were married, the sons also died, leaving Naomi both widowed and childless, her only close family the two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Not surprisingly, when Naomi received word that the famine was over in Bethlehem, she decided to return to her homeland, the land of God’s people.

With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and the took the road that would lead them back to Judah.

Ruth 1:7

Shortly into their trip, Naomi, willing to go on alone, urged both girls (the only family and connections to her sons that she had left) to return to their “mother’s house’, for they had dealt kindly with her through the years. I can only imagine the great sacrifice this was for Naomi.

Her explanation to them, found in Ruth 1:12-13, revealed that she felt that the Lord’s hand had gone out against her. However, as David Guzik notes in his commentary, “she still moved back toward Him (Jerusalem/Bethlehem) rather than further away. This was a sign of trust and drawing closer to God.”

Ruth’s Conversion

While Orpah chose to return home, Ruth chose to continue on with Naomi, declaring, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth not only pledges herself to Naomi and her people, but to Naomi’s God – the true and living God of Israel.

Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Where ever you go, I will go; and where ever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.2

Ruth 1:16

When they arrived back in Bethlehem, Naomi told those who greeted her not to use the name Naomi but to use Mara instead, explaining that the Lord had dealt very bitterly with her; she had gone away full but had returned empty. She no longer felt worthy of the name Naomi, which means ‘pleasantness’, because clearly bitterness had consumed her.

It is important to note, as the study guide points out, that there are many names changed by God throughout Scripture (Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, Saul to Paul…), but here, Ruth changed her own name because she was convinced that “the Lord had testified against her and the Almighty had afflicted her.”

It is important to notice that Naomi wasn’t oblivious to the drastic changes that occurred in her life, which were having a great impact on her. One commentator points out that this is most evident in her statement that “the Almighty(supreme ruler) had afflicted her,” instead of using the more personal name of Yahweh (the God who cares).

I went looking for answers as my own mind started questioning if the suffering of Naomi and her family was due to sin, such as their leaving Bethlehem due to the famine, or dwelling in the pagan land of Moab instead of staying and trusting God to carry them through the famine.

Concerning Naomi’s belief in the trouble that had come to her family, commentator David Guzik points out:

i. It is hard to say that this was the direct hand of God’s judgment against them. It is sometimes difficult to discern why tragic things happen. What is certain is that the change of scenery didn’t make things better.

ii. We sometimes think we can move away from our problems, but find we just bring them with us. No matter where you go, you bring yourself with you – so the same problems can continue in a different place.

Reflection and Application

Reflection: Naomi serves as an example that:

  • Even after great pain and sorrow, we can return to where God would have us be.
  • Sorrow can change our character if we let it.

Application: Consider these questions:

  • How have you needed to return to the Lord in the past?
  • Has bitterness ever affected you?

The More We Know

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Quiet Time, She, Volume 2

Mary Magdalene

Posted on by

Adapted from the study, She Volume 2, pp41-44

Read: Mark 16:1-15 and John 20:1-18

SHE WATCHED HIM DIE ON THE CROSS.
SHE SAW HIS BODY BURIED INSIDE THE TOMB.
SHE WAS THE FIRST TO SEE JESUS AFTER HE HAD RISEN.

SHE, VOLUME 2, P41

Mary Magdalene is the Mary from whom Jesus cast out seven devils (Mark 16:9), and according to Mark’s gospel (16:9), she was the first to see Jesus after He arose from the grave. Her master and teacher, whom she had seen brutally tortured and crucified, was no longer in the grave but standing behind her calling her name (John 20:16). She had seen HIm, but had mistaken Him for the gardener (Jn 20:15), until He said her name: Jesus saith unto her, “Mary,” and she immediately turned and called Him Master.

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 

John 20:16

I love that the study guide for this journey points out that “He knew her name, just as He knows ours,” but I am just as moved and somewhat convicted by the evidence that even though she did not recognize Him when she saw Him, when He called to her, she recognized His voice. “Knowing the Lord’s voice indicates experiential knowledge through a relationship with Him.”1 This is an important lesson Jesus had taught the disciples earlier in His ministry. May we never be so busy or preoccupied with life that we fail to see Jesus, and may we always know His voice when He calls our name.

“…she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher..”

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him”

John 20:1-2

“Mary neglected to remember what Jesus had said would happen.”

We know from Mark’s writings that Jesus had taught His disciples that men would take Him and kill Him, but that He would rise again on the third day (Mark 9:31). However, when she found the tomb was empty, she forgot what had been said and panicked she found the tomb was empty. In her panic, rather than running with the jubilant cry that Christ had arisen, Mary Magdalene ran to tell the others His body had been stolen, and we do not know where He is.

Friends, we would be wise to learn from Mary Magdalene and not allow fear or other distractions to cause us to forget what we have heard and seen from Him.

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, She, Volume 2

Pharaoh’s Daughter

Posted on by

Adapted from, She, Volume 2/pp 57-58

Read: Exodus 2

“She had a Specific Task, for which the LORD had a Great Purpose.”

RECAP: During the Hebrews’ period of enslavement in Egypt, Pharaoh decreed that all male Hebrew babies should be killed (Exodus 1:15–16). When that plan did not work, he issued another decree to throw all Hebrew baby boys into the river (Exodus 1:22—2:4). A mother named Jochebed, however, kept her baby son hidden for three months. “But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile” (Exodus 2:3). The baby’s name was Moses, and his mother’s faith and courage in saving her son would be pivotal in shaping world history.

Today, we explore another woman who was pivotal in the story of baby Moses. We only know her as the daughter of Pharaoh, ironically, the same Pharaoh who issued the decree to throw all Hebrew baby boys into the river. While we do not learn much about her in this passage of Exodus, we do know that she was a princess. We also know that God used her for a specific task and a great purpose. Ironically, that purpose was to rescue baby Moses from the Nile.

As explained by Bibleref.com: “The daughter of Pharaoh’s identity is uncertain, though there are possible candidates to fit this description. One is Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. She would have been the appropriate age at the time of Moses’ birth. Her historical account also portrays her as a kind princess who could fit the description found in this biblical passage. Another possibility is Sobekneferu, the daughter of Amenemhat III. Amenemhat had no surviving sons, and Sobekneferu had no children, making her more likely to adopt a child. Whoever this daughter was, her attitude is clearly much different than her father’s”, who, as previously mentioned “commanded all infant sons to be thrown into the Nile River to die.”

Bibleref.com goes on to explain that “This royal woman comes to the Nile to bathe, a common practice in her time. Her servant girls would have been present. Moses’ mother also likely knew the location. She probably placed Moses there in hopes he would be cared for by this woman or one of the other women who bathed there. Though this verse says Pharaoh’s daughter “saw the basket” and had a servant get it, her very first notice might have been hearing him cry (Exodus 2:6).” And this is where we learn of her compassion.

“And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maids to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child and behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’”

Exodus 2:5-6

It is worth noting again the irony of the story that unfolds here. Moses’ mother, in order to somehow protect her son from the edict Pharaoh had given, places him in a basket, prepared for the water, and leaves her daughter to watch and see what happens to him. Pharaoh’s daughter spots the basket, has her maids bring it to her, and despite her father’s edict, she has compassion on the child when he cries. Her compassion results in her adopting Moses; this presented an immediate need to provide a means for him to be fed and cared for in the early years. Of course, God had perfectly orchestrated everything. Miriam(the sister of Moses), who had been planted there by her mother, speaks up, offering to get a Hebrew nursemaid for Pharaoh’s daughter, who sends her to do so, which resulted in Moses’ own mother, was blessed by God to not only nurse and care for her son during those early years, but was also paid to do so.

“And the child grew and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’”

Exodus 2:10

As our study guide for today points out, “God saw the plan for Moses long before he was placed in the ark of bulrushes.” He also chose who would find him, who would nurse him, and who would be his adopted mother. (It should be noted that while some would say Pharaoh’s daughter converted to Judaism and is numbered among God’s children, there is no Scripture that I could find that makes that clear.)

SHE WAS USED BY THE LORD TO PRESERVE & PROTECT THE LIFE OF MOSES.

SHE VOLUME 2, P58

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, She, Volume 2

Jochebed and Miriam

Posted on by

Adapted from She, Volume 2, pp 35-36

Read: Exodus 2

Jochebed, was the mother of Moses, Miriam, and Aaron. She had Moses during the days when Pharaoh had given an order to throw all Hebrew baby boys into the Nile River. (Exodus 1:15–16).  She was a devoted and godly mother who found a way to protect her son (Ex 1:17-19 and 2:3) from Pharaoh’s order (Ex.1:6-18). As bibleref.com points out, “Ironically, this very command from Pharaoh will frame the life of the man who eventually leads Israel out of slavery. She was a devoted and godly mother, trusting God to protect her son.

“She carefully prepared an ark of bulrushes, covered it with slime and pitch, and placed him inside.”

She Volume 2, p35

As with Hannah and Samuel (1 Samuel 1 and 2), when Jochebed we can only imagine how difficult it was to place her son into the basket – and then into the water. She actually found it so difficult that she couldn’t bear to leave him unattended, but the Bible says her daughter Miriam is there to watch over Moses. so they would know what happened to him.1

Jochebed refused to leave Moses unattended.

Miriam (yet another woman of the Bible – bonus addition to our journey), was used in the plot to save Moses from certain death. She watches over her baby brother, Moses, among the bulrushes on the banks of the Nile. Their mother had hidden Moses in a basket on the riverbank to protect him from Pharaoh’s decree to throw all Hebrew baby boys into the river (Exodus 1:22—2:4). Oddly enough, (or perhaps – perfect as planned) as Miriam watches, it is Pharaoh’s daughter who discovers and pities Moses. Miriam quickly intervenes to ask if the Egyptian princess would like a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for her. The princess agrees, and Miriam quickly gets her mother, Jochebed. Not knowing that Jochebed was Moses’ mother, Pharaoh’s daughter commands her to nurse him and bring him back to her when he is older. By the sovereign grace of God, Moses’ was saved from the waters and Jochebed was not only able to nurse and care for him in the early years of his life, but she was also paid for it (Exodus 2:5–10).

“Jochebed (and Miriam) serve as examples that God can use the most unique situations to protect His children and His plan for their lives.”  She, Volume 2, p36

When Jochebed placed Moses in the river that day, she had faith that he would not only survive, but also thrive.

She, Volume 2, p36
Reflection and Application:
  • What have you placed in your basket in faith that God would intervene?

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, She, Volume 2

Eve

Posted on by

Adapted from, She, Volume 2, p 17-18

Read: Genesis 2 and 3

Eve, “The woman who was instrumental in sin entering the world and from whom we can learn “what not to do”. She was the first woman created by God from Adam’s rib, placed in the Garden of Eden as a helpmate to her husband. Given the privilege of God’s company, of knowing His goodness, and the beauty of His creation prior to sin entering the world. She could be the poster child for Peter’s warning to be self-controlled and alert, because our enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion (or in Eve’s case, like a serpent) looking for someone to devour.1

The study guide for our journey focuses first on the creation of Eve:

  • She was taken out of the man (Gen. 2:22).
  • She was created in the image of God, (Gen. 1:27).
  • She was created with purpose, (Gen. 2:18).

In these truths, we see Eve as “the first woman“, who “serves as an example that God creates each woman with purpose and has a unique plan for her life.“

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

23 And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 2:15-20

And then our attention is turned to her conversation with the serpent and her subsequent fall.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2 (And the woman said to the serpent), “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

Genesis 3:1-3
  • Eve not only entered into conversation with the serpent, she also embellished what God said, using the words, “nor shall you touch it.” These words were not part of the original command, and they are confirmed nowhere else in the Bible (Genesis 2:16-17).
    • ‘Oh, be careful, little mouth, what you say.’

But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (If you eat) its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 2:16-17

  • She desired what the tree had to offer (Genesis 3:6).
    • So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, (Genesis 3:6a)
      • ‘Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.‘

The verse reveals Eve’s three motivations for crossing that line: The tree’s fruit could satisfy her body’s appetite for food, the tree was visually attractive, and the tree could make her wise. Those motivations line up closely with the Apostle John’s description of the things which still drive the world as we know it today: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).

Bibleref.com
  • She was deceived.
    • ‘Oh, be careful, little ears, what you hear; and be careful, little mind, what you think.’
      • She knew what God had told Adam, and yet she added to His words and justified her desire
  • She had a choice to make...
    • she took of its fruit and ate… (Genesis 3:6b)
      • She gave it to her husband, and he ate it too… (Genesis 3:6c)
        • ‘Oh, be careful little hands what you do.‘

Friend, if you’re wondering what good can come from focusing on Eve’s fall, I encourage you to consider these truths- one is an important warning and the other is life-changing encouragement:

  • Sin will take you farther than you want to go, and cost you more than you want to pay.
  • He can use us despite our sin and fulfill His will through us if we will simply yield to Him.

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, She, Volume 2

Anna

Posted on by

Adapted from She, volume 2, p11-12

Read: Luke 2:36-38 and 2 Cor. 9:15

Anna, a prophetess, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher,1 and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four.  She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.

Luke 2:36-38

I love and appreciate that God allowed Anna, who had heard prophecies about the coming Messiah for many years, not only to believe in Him but to meet Him face to face. Luke wrote that, “She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.”

Anna, one of the few prophetesses mentioned in the Bible. “She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying” (Luke 2:37). After becoming a widow, Anna dedicated herself wholly to the Lord. She never left the temple in Jerusalem but spent her time worshiping, fasting, and praying. Her many years of sacrifice and service were worth it all when she came face-to-face with Jesus, the Messiah, the One for whom she had waited so long. I see the fingerprints of God in the timing described by Luke with these words:  “She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God.” What stands out to me most is not only her devotion but her delight in seeing Him turned into praising Him and then to sharing Him with “everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.”

Friends, may we be faithful and alert, like Anna, so that we do not miss the presence and work of Jesus in and around our lives. When we see Him, may we faithfully praise Him, and, like Anna, may we then faithfully proclaim Him to everyone.

The More We Know