Tag: obedience

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Upside-Down

Daily Reading

Deuteronomy 14-16

Daily Thought

Deuteronomy 15:4 says, “But there will be no poor among you.” Seven verses later, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land” (verse 11). Uh, which is it?

It’s the latter. Verse 11 is an admission of reality. Jesus repeats it years later, “For the poor you always have with you” (John 12:8), and it is still reality today. Verse 4 is conditional. It is not true, but it would be true if the second half of the sentence was true. I left off the second half: “if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.”

God would turn our world upside-down (which means the right side would be up) if we would 100% obey him, but we don’t. We don’t even understand what he is asking of us because we don’t understand the heart of God. For example, the eighth commandment, “You shall not steal” (Deuteronomy 5:19). We think stealing happens when someone who does not have sees someone who has and takes it from him. God says stealing is more than that. Stealing happens when someone who has sees someone who does not have and does not share with him.

Read that last sentence again. 

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.” ~Deuteronomy 15:7-8

Does God have rules? You bet he does, and he expects us to keep them–“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). But following God is not about following rules. It is about love–“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). And it is about life–“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). If we truly desire what life has to offer, if we truly desire to love others, if we truly desire that there will be no poor among us, there is a way. Desire God and do everything he says.

Daily Prayer

Lord God, You have come to bring Your justice into the land, to give Your grace to the repentant, to bless the meek and the poor, to comfort those who mourn, to bring righteousness and goodness to those who seek Your face. May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done.

Father, I pray that my heart would be free of darkness, full of light. That I would see others, love others, and serve others the way You do. God, that I would look at others as more important than myself, that I would be sensitive to needs, that I would have open hands, and feet ready to go wherever You lead. That people would praise Your name because of the faithfulness of Your followers.

Amen

Daily Question

How well do you keep God’s commandments?

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Five Expectations

Daily Reading

Deuteronomy 8-10

Daily Thought

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” ~Deuteronomy 10:12-13

God, right here, announces what he expects of his people. This is the good life.

    • A life of awe, fearing God not in a trembling terror, but rather a reverential appreciation of his wonderfully terrifying majesty–an all-encompassing attitude toward God that saturates my being and shows through in my actions.
    • A life of trust, believing God at all times, in all circumstances, following his lead and direction.
    • A life of love, grateful and full of joy, exhibited not only toward God, but toward all those he loves, that is, to each and every person I meet.
    • A life of service, using my God-given talents and abilities on behalf of and to better the lives of others.
    • And a life of obedience, reading, hearing, studying, living out His Word. The Lord’s commands are not a burden, but the very best way to live.

If you are seeking God’s will for your life, it is not hard to find. He made a list.

Daily Prayer

Father, thank you for giving me instruction that is for my best. You put me together according to Your plans. You have numbered my days, and set a path in front of me. My prayer is that I would follow that path.

Sometimes I don’t. Thank You for Your Son who paid the price for those times I stray. Thank You for Your Word which lights the path and leads me on the way to righteousness. God, as long as I stay on Your path, I live the good life and You get the glory!

Amen

Daily Question

Of God’s expectations of you, which are most difficult and which come easily for you?

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Listen

Daily Reading

Deuteronomy 3-4

Daily Thought

The verb shema: “to hear, to listen,” is used almost 100 times in the book we are reading right now, Deuteronomy. It shows up in our passage today, Deuteronomy 4:1, “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”

Some translations use “hear” instead of “listen.” Have you ever discussed the difference, perhaps with your parents? For me, it began something like this: Me: “I heard you!” Them: “Yes, but I don’t think you were listening,” and for the next hour (it seemed) I learned the difference. When Jesus said (repeatedly), “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” he was speaking as a parent. “Listen!”

Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me” (John 14:21). That’s listening–hearing and obeying, receiving what God has said to us and allowing it to penetrate and shape my heart and change my life. The words of God, “Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people'” (Deuteronomy 4:6).

All I have to do to hear is be there when a sound is made. It takes no effort on my part. To listen, however, means I pay attention. I show up. All of me.

Daily Prayer

My God, thank You for talking to me, for writing me. Your Words give me life. They lead me into the future, they give me hope, they shape my character. They are good.

May I be one who listens, and may I prove it by what I do. May I let Your Word have its way in my life so that my life will be different, that my life will reflect You, that others will see in me Your glory, Your goodness, Your grace.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you listened to God and done what he said?

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Bad Witch

Daily Reading

Numbers 23-25

Daily Thought

At first, it would seem, Balaam does well and obeys God. Balak, the king of the Moabites, needed outside help to attack the Israelites. By outside help, I mean supernatural, spiritual help, and he didn’t care what kind of spirit. So Balak contracted Balaam, a prophet for hire, to curse the Israelites. However God met Balaam on his way to the king. The angel of the Lord, with a drawn sword in his hand, made it clear to Balaam, “Speak only the word that I tell you” (Numbers 22:31, 35). Balaam feared the word of God more than the sword of Balak and obeyed. “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?” “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” (Numbers 23:12, 26) And finally, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’?” (Numbers 24:12-13). Those are good words, words we would do well to remember. So, rather than curse, Balaam blessed Israel.

So, the question of Balaam, borrowing from Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”

Reading a few chapters ahead, we come to Numbers 31:16 and discover the deceit of Balaam, “Behold these [women], on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord.” Balaam could not curse the Israelites, but he knew how to defile them. He enticed them with the women of Moab to worship Baal.

“But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.” ~Revelation 2:14

Sin is a seductress and we walk willingly into its hell. What Balaam couldn’t do by appealing to the demonic with a curse, he accomplished by appealing to the flesh with temptation. And it worked. Balaam was a bad witch.

Daily Prayer

My Father, may I always obey you, no matter how costly. And obedience is costly. Your Son obeyed Your will and paid the price of the cross, bearing My sin. And obedience is rewarded. You gave Him the Name above all names, that at the Name of Jesus every knee would bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord.

And obedience is costly. I offer my body a living sacrifices. And obedience is rewarded. Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your master’s happiness. May I store up treasures in Your home, not mine.

Amen

Daily Question

What has it cost you to follow Jesus? What has been the reward?

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Against Temptation

Daily Reading

Luke 4-5

Daily Thought

“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” ~1John 2:16-17

Jesus went from baptism to battle, being assaulted by Satan in the wilderness. “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread” (Luke 4:3). Perhaps Satan had been eavesdropping at Jesus’s baptism when coming out of the water heaven tore open and God spoke, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). The challenge seemed reasonable, Jesus had not eaten for forty days, but behind hunger hid the temptation to clutch again his deity for himself, the desire of the flesh. “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4), easier said when one is not famished.

If “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16), Satan offered Jesus an easier way and showed him what he loved, “all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time” (Luke 4:5), the desire of the eyes. All Satan demanded in exchange was Jesus’s heart. How often Satan need offer much less to get mine, but Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’” (Luke 4:8). 

Finally, boastful pride, Satan set Jesus “on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here’” (Luke 4:9). The angels will protect and the world will know, but “not my will, but yours, be done” is the answer to pride and Jesus rebuked Satan, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Luke 4:12).  

Jesus knows the power of temptation and I only its sting because I so frequently give in, but I know the power of Jesus.  

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. ~Hebrews 4:15-16

Daily Prayer

Dear God, I pray to You because You are the One true God. There are no others. I know that You are good and powerful and wonderful. I know that You care about me. I can’t quite figure out why, but I’m glad. You cared so much that You sent Your Son to heal me.

God, I need to be healed. I cave into temptation and sin leaves me broken, but by Your grace and strength, I am made new. You are the only wise God, my Savior. To You be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forevermore.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you best fight temptation?

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A Virgin Betrothed

Daily Reading

Luke 1

Daily Thought

“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary” (Luke 1:26). Gabriel is the same angel who 600 years earlier visited Daniel. Gabriel seems to be the angel God sends when he has a really important message. Mary, a virgin betrothed, is a pure young woman, legally engaged to be married. This is an important detail. Here is the important message.

 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” ~Luke 1:30-33

This is a huge announcement, but Mary zeroes in on one detail: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. That’s the proper order, and Mary is a proper virgin. She knows the facts of life. She knows how babies are made. If she is to bear a son, she wants an explanation. 

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” ~Luke 1:35

That was the explanation, and it is the delight of heaven, but Mary knew it would not play well on earth. Nazareth and Bethlehem are small towns. Tongues will wag, her reputation will be lost, Mary’s life will change forever. Gabriel may have called out to Mary, “Greetings, O favored one” (Luke 1:28), but Mary knew she is about to become a woman of shame. Mary is a young teenage girl, engaged to a righteous man, and she is about to be pregnant. That is the situation presented to Mary by the angel Gabriel, and this is her response. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Do not miss two small words, “to me.” Mary knows what is being asked of her. 

“And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38). Enough said, Mary heard all she needed to hear–and so did Gabriel. 

Daily Prayer

My God, You announced the coming of Your Son to a humble couple hidden in Judea, and they believed in You and faithfully obeyed. It is only in humility that a baby in a manger is recognized as Savior of the world. You showed Your great love and gave us Jesus and life is never the same. You change everything.

God, I don’t need to know the details, I need to know You, better and better. My faith in You is not blind, even if I do not know what is to come. I know You, and that is enough. 

Amen

Daily Question

What do you need to know in order to put your trust in God?

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The Performance

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 31-33

Daily Thought

“If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned…” ~Ezekiel 33:6 

Ezekiel was that watchman for the house of Israel, with the duty to speak what God has spoken. The people have a duty, as well–to listen and respond. “And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain” (Ezekiel 33:31). The people failed at their duty.

It was Rickey’s first time in Big Church. He watched everything his dad did and copied him. When Dad stood, he stood. When Dad sang, he sang. When Dad put a bill in the offering, he gave a quarter he’d brought from his bank. When Dad opened the Bible, he pulled his out of his pocket. 

The service ended, at last, and now for the weekly review on the drive home in the family van. “Sermon was pretty good today. Got lost in the middle.” “Music was okay, except for the last song. That was bad.” “I liked the solo.”

“All in all,” chimed in Rickey, “you gotta admit, Dad, it was a pretty good show for a dollar.” He’d watched everything. 

“You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it!” ~Ezekiel 33:32

The church is to gather on Sundays, not as an audience, but as actors prepared to perform, to listen to God and respond with a grand offering of worship and willingness.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, everyday You give me a gift. A new day. May I open it each morning with anticipation, use it with joy, and thank You when I lay down at the end. May my life be a wonderful offering to You.

I pray that Sundays will not be the day of worship, but the weekly culmination of 7 days of worship.

Amen

Daily Question

What are some examples in your life that you listen to God?

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Party On

Daily Reading

Isaiah 18-22

Daily Thought

Isaiah continues with chapter upon chapter of God’s judgment against nation upon nation; and so one may wonder why is God so judgmental? What have they done that is so bad?

Back in Genesis, the Garden, the beginning, God issued several commands to obey. They were God’s design for life on earth. First, he said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Mind you, he said this to a married couple, and he commanded them to have sex, and a lot of it. That does not sound like a mean God. Then he said, “I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food” (Genesis 1:29). He told us to eat, and to eat a lot–not gluttony, but quite a feast. After that, he made a day holy, the seventh day (later, it would be called the Sabbath), to rest. Right off the bat he told us to take a break once a week. Again, not so bad. We can do a lot of just about everything. Finally, he said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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” (Genesis 2:16-17). God lives large and his limitations are small. One tree, one piece of fruit. That is all.

We chose that tree. We keep choosing the forbidden tree. All sin is choosing the tree, and though it seems there are a lot of ways to sin, it is all the lone tree. We miss this feast for a piece of fruit. These nations are living small. They say, “There is joy and revelry,  slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!'” (Isaiah 22:13). Turn out the lights, the party’s over. That is the fruit, party until you die. They allow what is unnatural and unlawful to become their norm, then wonder at the consequences.

On the other hand, for those who choose God:

God says, “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine-
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces.” ~Isaiah 25:6, 8

Both the ungodly and the godly party. The difference is one party ends when the other is just getting started. And lasts forever.

Daily Prayer

My God in heaven, Your Name is Wonderful. I put all my trust, all my life in Your Name. I gladly exchange anything life has to offer me today for eternity with You. I have only just tasted Your glory here on earth. What will it be like when I am in Your presence. What a party!

To You, all glory and majesty, honor and praise.

Amen

Daily Question

If you were the Garden in place of Adam or Eve, would you have eaten the forbidden fruit? Why do you think you would or wouldn’t?

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Truth

Daily Reading

Psalm 119:89-176

Daily Thought

When have you mastered a foreign language? I’m told that you truly know a language when you use it until you no longer translate it, you simply read and speak and hear and do and even dream in the foreign language, which then is no longer foreign.

Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day. ~Psalm 119:97

There is a reason to pay attention to the law of God and follow his commandments, and it is not because it works. Well, it is not only because it works, because it does, and that is good, but it goes deeper than that. It works because the law is established by the Creator, It is part of creation itself, part and parcel with nature. God’s law serves his will and reflect his ways. When I follow it, I reflect him. I become godly. It makes me “wiser than my enemies” and gives me “more understanding than all my teachers” (Psalm 119:98-99). Bottom line, it is the bottom line; it is true and it is Truth.

The Law begins with “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5), ends with “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), and everything in between reflects one or the other or both. No gods, but God; no idols; don’t use God’s name in vain; keep the Sabbath; honor your father and mother; do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not covet what your neighbor has.

I do not follow God because it benefits me, but it does benefit me to follow God. I follow God because he is God. “But,” you ask, “isn’t that circular reasoning?” You bet it is, and God gets to do that. Truth is truth because it is. It does not have to defend itself; disobey it often enough and you will crash right into it. Obey it and you will know God.

Daily Prayer

My God in heaven, You established the earth and all that is in it and all of its ways, You are my Beginning and my End. I have life because of You and live life for You. Your word expresses Your desires and delights; may they be mine, as well. I empty my heart of You when I sin; fill it again. Teach me to love anew because I spend too much time loving only myself. Teach me to love others like I love myself.

May I truly love You with all of my heart, all of my soul, all of my strength, all of my mind.

Amen

Daily Question

Is following God’s Law easy or difficult?

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The Call

Daily Reading

Acts 21-23

Daily Thought

Paul had been a good Jew, a devout scholar, a Pharisee “educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers” (Acts 22:3). He believed Jesus to be a fraud and rightly crucified, and all who followed Jesus deserved the same. “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women” (Acts 22:4).

Then, suddenly, on the road to pursue Christians in the city of Damascus, a bright light streamed from heaven and flooded Paul’s path of persecution. The beam from heaven blinded him to the visible world and opened his eyes to things unseen. Paul, now on his knees, was introduced to his Savior. Jesus, put to death as a would-be Messiah, is alive and seated on the throne of heaven. This changes everything and it changed Paul. Paul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” and once that question had been asked and answered, a second must follow, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10). The truth of Jesus is more than a matter of belief, it is a call to action.

Daily Prayer

God, open my eyes to the Truth. Do not let be enamored and deceived by what glitters in this world, but may I always delight in the glory of heaven. I know who You are because You made Yourself known. I’m now responsible for what I know, but it is no burden, it is the greatest privilege and pleasure of my life. I now look to You to show me what to do, and whatever You say, I will say, “Yes”; wherever You lead, I will go.

Amen