Tag: Christ Will Return (Our Hope) - Mark 7-8

Mark 8:38

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Tag:  Christ Will Return

In the teaching in Mark we see much of Christ’s activities.  Mark seems to move fast and picks up on the many things that Jesus did.  Unlike John, who focuses on the “Word” (living and written), Mark seems to focus on the acts of Jesus.   We have to look and watch for the teachings, as they seem to be embedded in the stories and activities of Christ.  The above is an example of Mark’s approach.   Jesus is teaching the disciples about His death and resurrection.  Peter rejects this teaching, as it doesn’t fit the narrative he created in his head about Jesus the King Messiah.   However, in the midst of that teaching on the death and the burial and resurrection of Christ, we have the above teaching on Christ’s return.   It is only a short line and Mark does not develop it.   But, there it stands, loud and clear for all to hear:  Christ will return in glory and with angles.   This is such an exciting and marvelous truth to dwell upon.  God has and will give us hope because of Christ’s returning.   We can rejoice in God’s plan that Christ did die and rose again for us.  But, we can also live in hope that Christ will return and return in Glory.  Three of the disciples saw Jesus in glory on the mountain with God, Elijah and Moses.   Soon, some day, all of Jesus’ disciples (us) will see Him in complete glory.  He will come with legions of angels.   For this we rejoice and live in hope.   

Tag: Why Is Life So Tough - Jeremiah 7-11

Jeremiah 9:12-16

Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? And the Lord says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink. I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

Tag:  Why Is Life So Rough? 

Jeremiah speaks out in this paragraph what many people, especially Israel at the time, ask - why is life so tough?   We wish we had some psychological gymnastics we could applied to such a simple question.  We wish there was some complex answer and we were told the “secret” to solving the issues.  But, God answers Jeremiah and He is not confused about the answer, nor does He make the answer confusing for us.  The reason life is so tough on the nation (and all mankind) is that we have abandoned our first love (God) and we have forsaken His Word AND we have gone after false worship (in this case, the Baals).   In Deuteronomy 28 Moses warned the nation that if they did not obey God’s commands than they would have curses instead of blessing.   They did not obey and, therefore, the land is suffering for it; the people are suffering for it.   You can’t escape the consequences of disobedience.   Notice that God had taken the nation to a place of “milk and honey.”  Now God describes it, above, as: 

Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink. 

How quickly milk and honey can turn to bitter food and poisonous water.   But, that is what happens when you reject truth.  Satan caused Eve (and subsequently, Adam) to reject truth.  The consequences: Tossed from a beautiful Garden and into the wilderness of life.   Psychology would like to to explain our “wilderness” as something happened to us.  God says, no, when we reject truth we end up out of the place of milk and honey and the Garden of Eden and into the wilderness.  Our issue is submitting to the truth of God’s Word and Commands.  When we reject that truth, God gives us over to:

 Romans 1:24

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, 

Romans 1:26

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

Romans 1:28

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

If the reason for our “wilderness” of life is God giving us over to lusts, passions and debased minds, the solution to get back to the Garden of Eden and the Promise Land is obedience to Divine Truth.  

Tag: Maintain Your Integrity in the Midst of Suffering - Job 27-28

Job 27:1-6 (Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity)

And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

“As God lives, who has taken away my right,

and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

as long as my breath is in me,

and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

my lips will not speak falsehood,

and my tongue will not utter deceit.

Far be it from me to say that you are right;

till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;

my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

Tag: Maintaining Integrity, Despite Suffering

This entire story of Job centers around Satan wanting Job to curse God because of his suffering.   God and Satan have a bet.   Satan accused the “righteous” Job of holding onto God and his righteous living because God had blessed him so.   Satan, coercive in nature, believed that Job, once caught with suffering, would, like Satan and all others, curse God.  Note the earlier verse:

Job 1:9-11

Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

Yet, as we have seen so far (and it will be repeated to the end), God was right.  Job did not curse God.   Instead, he even refuses (as the above verses state) to agree with his friends accusations:  That this suffering was a result of his evil walk.  Job will maintain his integrity to the end.  God will, in the end both correct Job’s pride and, still, bless him.  But, Job will keep his integrity and walk in it, despite the circumstances around him.   In our modern society we often see those who are caught in bad circumstances disregard their integrity.  Job simply wanted to maintain who he was despite what was happening to him.   Perhaps the definition of integrity is in this example:  Be who you are despite what has happened to you.  In God’s grace Job did just that.  

Tag: Boast in God’s Blessings - Psalm 39-41

Psalms 40:5

You have multiplied, O Lord my God,

your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

none can compare with you!

I will proclaim and tell of them,

yet they are more than can be told.

Tag:  Blessings are for Boasting

God has “multiplied” the wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us!  What an amazing thought.   God has and does rejoice over us.  He gives us blessings and KEEPS giving us blessings.  No one can compare to Him.   The “gods” the world worships, “TAKE” - but our God GIVES!  He gave His Son!!  

John 3:16

For God So Loved the World

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

He gave His Spirit!  

Acts 15:8

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,

He gives us Peace!! 

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

He gives us fruit in our lives, like love, joy, peace, etc.!!    

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Psalm 40:5 is a great verse to mediate upon during a given day.   When we consider the blessings God gives us we can rejoice in the fact that God is a giving, not a taking god.   The world (and all its “gods”) take.   But, our God gives.   However, that giving produces an obligation in our hearts.   Notice in this verse what David says about God “multiplying” His wondrous deeds in our life:

“... I will proclaim and tell of them and yet they are more than can be told.” 

When God blesses we are to boast in Him.   We are to be so excited about what God has done in us and for us that we overflow with praise for Him and to Hm.   Our daily conversation ought to be to brag about what God has done in our lives.   We rejoice in God’s blessing and tell of them during even the worst of circumstances.  Why?  Because “they are more than can be told.”  When we know about good things for our kids, we boast.   When we know about good things about a friend, we boast.   When we know about the good things (like the few above) that God has done for us, we are to boast.   People who boast in God and about His blessings draw others into their lives and toward God.  That is our role as children of the King ... Boast about our King and our citizenship in His Kingdom ... that is full of blessings.   

The Spirit of God Empowers - 1 Samual 16-20

1 Samuel 16:13-14

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.

Tag:  Spirit of God Empowers

In the Old Testament, we repeatedly see that the Holy Spirit did have a ministry. However, the ministry of the Spirit was for the empowerment for service.   In the New Testament we see the indwelling of the Spirit for power in regard to service, BUT ALSO, an indication of God’s presence, giving us insight into God’s Word and to produce fruit in our lives.   In the above passage we see the Sprit of God come UNTO David and to LEAVE King Saul.   God is the power behind our service for Him.   God not only wants us to serve Him, He also empowers us to serve Him via the Spirit of God.    We know that God gives us power to serve Him via the Spirit:

2 Corinthians 4:6-7

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God does enable when we have a struggle to face.  In the next chapter, David is empowered to defeat Goliath.   God first provides the power and then He provides the problem we need to put the power to use.  

Tag: Where God Calls - He Provides - Exodus 1-4

Exodus 4:14-17

Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

Tag:  Where God Calls - He Provides

Most who have been in Christianity for some time have come to learn the truth:  Where God Calls Us to Service, He Provides Us the Equipment to Serve.   The above passage is probably one of the most prominent passages to reflect upon in regard to that statement.   Moses was called to return to Egypt to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity and into the promise land.   The problem we come across, is that Moses was either a strong introvert and didn’t feel talking in a leadership role, or, he may even have had a stuttering challenge or a speech impediment of some type.   He had just complained that he did not speak well and felt inadequate to serve God.   God becomes angry with Moses as a result of his excuses to not serve God.   We are equally the same way.  We use some fear to create a false narrative in our heads to tell us e are inadequate to serve the God who has called us to serve.   God’s solution to Moses’ challenge was to send Moses’ younger brother to speak for him.   Where God calls He provides.   We can rejoice in the fact that God knows our challenges and is able and willing to provide for us to accomplish the plan He has for us to complete.   Where God calls He provides.  

Tag: God Was Not Pleased!! - 1 Corinthians 9-10

1 Corinthians 10:5-10

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

Tag:  God was not Pleased!

Before reading the above passage, it would be good to remember what the writer of Hebrews stated: 

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

God is pleased when we act in faith toward His promises and His Word in general.   God is “not pleased” when we seek something in His place, via the flesh, and fail to seek Him.  In the above passage we have the account by Paul of the nation of Israel and their failure to follow God in faith, and instead seeking idols.  They failed to follow in faith.   They put worth on pleasing the desires of the flesh.  Paul states plainly:  God was not pleased with them.   When we act in the flesh we fail to act in faith.   The flesh puts something else in front of God and deems that thing as having more worth.   Each example Paul gives from the nation’s past was to highlight how they failed in faith and lusted after their flesh.   God is pleased when we act in faith.   God is not pleased when we act in the flesh.