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Sunday, July 26, 2015

Monday, July 20, 2015

We need to get back to a world where mercy and truth meet and righteousness and peace kiss. Whatever it takes we must stop our current folly!

Psalm 85:8-11

I will hear what God the Lord will speak,
For He will speak peace
To His people and to His saints;

But let them not turn back to folly.
Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
That glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.

Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Bible Gateway link: Psalm 85:8-11


Friday, July 17, 2015

One of my favorite expressions in the Bible: stiff-necked. The word means stubborn, untractable, not to be led, like an unyielding ox in a yoke. I have softened my neck. I recommend it.

2 Chronicles 30:8

Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
Bible Gateway link: 2 Chronicles 30:8 (ESV)


Thursday, July 16, 2015

Grace and glory plus a blessing. Our only job is to trust.

Psalm 84:11-12
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!


Monday, July 13, 2015

How relevant this seems today; ISIS and Iran making a tumult, taking crafty counsel against us. "Do not be still, O God!" Please.

Psalm 83:1-4

Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O God!

For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.

They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.

They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
Bible Gateway link: Psalm 83:1-4 (NKJV)


Saturday, July 11, 2015

Be like Lydia. Let the Lord open your heart.

Acts 16:13-14
And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.
Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
Bible Gateway link: Acts 16:13-14

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Why would he fall so far from the tree? This was King Solomon's son but he was not wise. The last verse here explains it. (Hint: prepare your heart to seek the Lord. Things work out better.)

2 Chronicles 12:13-14
Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.
And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.
Bible Gateway link:2 Chronicles 12:13-14 (NKJV)


Monday, July 6, 2015

It is a fair question in our world today; nations asking "Where is their God?" America should have an answer. I am not sure we do.

Psalm 79:9-10
Help us, O God of our salvation,
For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
For Your name’s sake!
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let there be known among the nations in our sight
The avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed.
Bible Gateway link: Psalm 79:9-10 (NKJV)


Thursday, July 2, 2015

This is the CliffsNotes version of the greatest story ever told. But Peter's phrase: "oppressed by the devil" is so striking to me. That is what happens. We get oppressed by the devil. Jesus heals us.

Acts 10:36-39
The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—
that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.