Exodus 16:11-36
The manna God gave the Israelites in the desert was not like anything else found on Earth. It was found on the ground when the dew was gone. It looked like thin flakes of frost (v. 14), it was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey (v. 31). The people were to gather about two quarts per person per day (v. 16), and they were not to keep any aside or it would become garbage (vs. 19-20). The exception was that, since they were to rest on the Sabbath, they could gather twice as much the sixth day and it would still be fresh to eat on the seventh day (vs. 23-26). Some people always have to see for themselves, though, instead of trusting what God said, and they found that there wasn't any to gather on the Sabbath (v. 27).
So it would spoil if kept overnight, except each sixth day it would keep and be fresh each seventh day. This is amazing, the food of the Angels (Psalm 78:25).
God is so good to all of us. He knew that there was no food for all these people in the desert, so He provided, miraculously, enough food for them all, along with instructions. Since this was not Earthly fare, He told them how to find it, gather it, and deal with it. God always provides the information we need to deal with whatever situation we face in life, not just the special times, but all the times.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Friday, March 18, 2016
Have You Chosen Him?
Job 23:13
But He stands alone, and who can oppose Him? He does whatever He pleases.
God stands alone, the only God, none equals Him. There is no other anywhere in all Creation that can stand beside Him; He has no rival.
He has the power and authority to do whatever He pleases, and He only pleases to do what is good--for our benefit and for His glory. Even when He punishes the wicked, it displays His power, authority and goodness to those who love Him.
His favor extends to every man (mankind), but not every man chooses Him. He has given us the authority to choose, and, even though He wants us all to choose him, He still allows those who reject His goodness to have what they have chosen--an eternity without Him.
Since God is light, they will have no light; He is love, they will experience no love; He is good, they will know no goodness; He is hope, they will have no hope.
Have you chosen Him?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But He stands alone, and who can oppose Him? He does whatever He pleases.
God stands alone, the only God, none equals Him. There is no other anywhere in all Creation that can stand beside Him; He has no rival.
He has the power and authority to do whatever He pleases, and He only pleases to do what is good--for our benefit and for His glory. Even when He punishes the wicked, it displays His power, authority and goodness to those who love Him.
His favor extends to every man (mankind), but not every man chooses Him. He has given us the authority to choose, and, even though He wants us all to choose him, He still allows those who reject His goodness to have what they have chosen--an eternity without Him.
Since God is light, they will have no light; He is love, they will experience no love; He is good, they will know no goodness; He is hope, they will have no hope.
Have you chosen Him?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Child-Rearing
Proverbs 22:6,13
Train a child in the way he should go, --
Start him off on the right path for him, according to his "bent."
and when he is old he will not turn from it. --
When he grows older, he will have it to fall back onto, or it will keep him on the right path for him.
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, --
Foolishness, childishness, is natural in a child, but he needs to learn that fun is not the goal in life, and it will never satisfy.
but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. --
Whether it is an actual rod or paddle for a spanking, a time-out, a withholding of privileges, extra assigned chores, or whatever, a child needs to experience (not be rescued from) the consequences of his actions and choices, in order to learn how to make wise, right decisions in his life.
We, as parents and grandparents, are given the most solemn responsibility ever devised in this world: to prepare the next generation for God. Faith is often lost in just one generation, so we need to view this opportunity to have input into the lives and thinking processes of those who come after us very seriously, to influence them for good and make sure they understand clearly what is important both in this life and in the next.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Train a child in the way he should go, --
Start him off on the right path for him, according to his "bent."
and when he is old he will not turn from it. --
When he grows older, he will have it to fall back onto, or it will keep him on the right path for him.
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, --
Foolishness, childishness, is natural in a child, but he needs to learn that fun is not the goal in life, and it will never satisfy.
but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. --
Whether it is an actual rod or paddle for a spanking, a time-out, a withholding of privileges, extra assigned chores, or whatever, a child needs to experience (not be rescued from) the consequences of his actions and choices, in order to learn how to make wise, right decisions in his life.
We, as parents and grandparents, are given the most solemn responsibility ever devised in this world: to prepare the next generation for God. Faith is often lost in just one generation, so we need to view this opportunity to have input into the lives and thinking processes of those who come after us very seriously, to influence them for good and make sure they understand clearly what is important both in this life and in the next.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Living That Eternal Life
Romans 8:9-17
You, however, are not controlled by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. --
If God's Holy Spirit does not live in you, then you cannot be controlled by Him, only by your flesh, your sin-nature.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. --
God puts His Spirit into every person He gives New Birth to, to be born into God's own family, when he trusts Jesus to pay his eternal debt in his place on the Cross, and knows that Jesus rose from the dead. Otherwise, he doesn't belong to Him.
But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, --
When the Spirit of Christ enters a person, the power of sin that resides in his body, his sin-nature, cannot any more compel him into sin, because that power was defeated at the Cross, so is considered dead.
yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. --
The righteousness of Jesus Christ is put into that person, not earned by him, by the miracle of the New Birth, making his once-dead human spirit alive with the life of God's Holy Spirit.
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead --
That's God's Holy Spirit.
is living in you, --
If you have been re-born spiritually, through your faith, your trust in Jesus Christ.
He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give Life to your mortal bodies --
God's Holy Spirit will give us also that Resurrection Life, that is eternal and supernatural, to these same bodies we're living in now, only changed and enhanced, like Jesus' body was when He was Resurrected.
through His Spirit who lives in you. --
This same Holy Spirit that will Resurrect our bodies is here, living in our bodies right now.
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-- --
Because of this, we are responsible to God for something.
but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. --
We never need to obey our fleshly urges or be primarily focused on meeting our worldly needs any more now.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; --
All of our worldly and fleshly needs and desires only fuel the natural, mortal life that will die.
but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, --
If you repent and turn from and repudiate whatever immoral or unlawful or simply spiritually useless things you used to do. This is what we are now obligated to do.
you will live. --
You will be living that eternal life you received, that will last forever.
Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
If you are living that eternal life, that life of much higher quality than the merely natural, human life, that shows that God's Spirit in you is leading you to live that better life, because you are a son of God, Himself.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear --
Any spirit that leads to fear cannot be God's Spirit.
but you received the Spirit of adoption [sonship].
God's Spirit causes us to be born into God's personal family, and will, at our Resurrection, pronounce us adult sons with all the rights and authority to "run the family business," His kingdom.
And by Him we cry, "Abba" (Da-da), "Father" (Daddy).
Children born into an intact family will often say as their first word, Da-da, which acknowledges that the father in the family is their Daddy. We are those children, born into God's family.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. --
That's how we know that we are, right now, today, God's own children.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs-- --
We just determined that we are His children, so that means we are also His heirs, He's put us in His "last will and testament."
heirs of God --
We stand to inherit God's riches.
and co-heirs with Christ, --
Everything Jesus will inherit, we will inherit with Him, as His co-heirs.
if, indeed, we share in His sufferings --
Jesus suffered, then received glory and riches and authority and power.
that we may also share in His glory. --
We will suffer as Christians, being persecuted by the world and those who belong to the world. Because we will also suffer, and we are God's children, then we also will inherit glory and riches and authority and power with Jesus, to rule with Him in His kingdom forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
You, however, are not controlled by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. --
If God's Holy Spirit does not live in you, then you cannot be controlled by Him, only by your flesh, your sin-nature.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. --
God puts His Spirit into every person He gives New Birth to, to be born into God's own family, when he trusts Jesus to pay his eternal debt in his place on the Cross, and knows that Jesus rose from the dead. Otherwise, he doesn't belong to Him.
But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, --
When the Spirit of Christ enters a person, the power of sin that resides in his body, his sin-nature, cannot any more compel him into sin, because that power was defeated at the Cross, so is considered dead.
yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. --
The righteousness of Jesus Christ is put into that person, not earned by him, by the miracle of the New Birth, making his once-dead human spirit alive with the life of God's Holy Spirit.
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead --
That's God's Holy Spirit.
is living in you, --
If you have been re-born spiritually, through your faith, your trust in Jesus Christ.
He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give Life to your mortal bodies --
God's Holy Spirit will give us also that Resurrection Life, that is eternal and supernatural, to these same bodies we're living in now, only changed and enhanced, like Jesus' body was when He was Resurrected.
through His Spirit who lives in you. --
This same Holy Spirit that will Resurrect our bodies is here, living in our bodies right now.
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-- --
Because of this, we are responsible to God for something.
but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. --
We never need to obey our fleshly urges or be primarily focused on meeting our worldly needs any more now.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; --
All of our worldly and fleshly needs and desires only fuel the natural, mortal life that will die.
but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, --
If you repent and turn from and repudiate whatever immoral or unlawful or simply spiritually useless things you used to do. This is what we are now obligated to do.
you will live. --
You will be living that eternal life you received, that will last forever.
Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
If you are living that eternal life, that life of much higher quality than the merely natural, human life, that shows that God's Spirit in you is leading you to live that better life, because you are a son of God, Himself.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear --
Any spirit that leads to fear cannot be God's Spirit.
but you received the Spirit of adoption [sonship].
God's Spirit causes us to be born into God's personal family, and will, at our Resurrection, pronounce us adult sons with all the rights and authority to "run the family business," His kingdom.
And by Him we cry, "Abba" (Da-da), "Father" (Daddy).
Children born into an intact family will often say as their first word, Da-da, which acknowledges that the father in the family is their Daddy. We are those children, born into God's family.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. --
That's how we know that we are, right now, today, God's own children.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs-- --
We just determined that we are His children, so that means we are also His heirs, He's put us in His "last will and testament."
heirs of God --
We stand to inherit God's riches.
and co-heirs with Christ, --
Everything Jesus will inherit, we will inherit with Him, as His co-heirs.
if, indeed, we share in His sufferings --
Jesus suffered, then received glory and riches and authority and power.
that we may also share in His glory. --
We will suffer as Christians, being persecuted by the world and those who belong to the world. Because we will also suffer, and we are God's children, then we also will inherit glory and riches and authority and power with Jesus, to rule with Him in His kingdom forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Humility And Serving
Philippians 2:6-8
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
O my Father, I am astounded by the humility Jesus showed when He submitted Himself to His enemies! He did not speak out to defend Himself, but silently allowed them to torture and kill Him.
Please help me to humble myself. I have considered myself as equal to or even above others in terms of education or quality of moral living or extent of life experiences; but You have told me to "consider others better than" myself. Please help me, Father, to even just "think more" often of others than I do myself, and start there. Teach me to do this, and then I may be able to grow more mature in living out my faith to think of others as "better than" myself. Show me how to serve them, according to their needs, not just what I think they "should" need. And thereby to serve You.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
O my Father, I am astounded by the humility Jesus showed when He submitted Himself to His enemies! He did not speak out to defend Himself, but silently allowed them to torture and kill Him.
Please help me to humble myself. I have considered myself as equal to or even above others in terms of education or quality of moral living or extent of life experiences; but You have told me to "consider others better than" myself. Please help me, Father, to even just "think more" often of others than I do myself, and start there. Teach me to do this, and then I may be able to grow more mature in living out my faith to think of others as "better than" myself. Show me how to serve them, according to their needs, not just what I think they "should" need. And thereby to serve You.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, March 14, 2016
Are You Still Condemned? Or Rescued?
John 3:17-18; Ephesians 2:3b-5,8,10; Hebrews 4:16
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of God's one and only Son.
Like the rest (of humankind), we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this (faith) is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
God's own Words speak eloquently, with no need of further comment from little me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of God's one and only Son.
Like the rest (of humankind), we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this (faith) is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
God's own Words speak eloquently, with no need of further comment from little me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Death Or Life, Our Choice
Romans 5:10-14,21
For if, when we were God's enemies, --
Before we turn to God in repentance and trust in Jesus to pay our debt for us, we were at enmity with God, his enemies.
we were reconciled to Him --
We were changed, as I change my checkbook to agree with the bank statement, so we were reconciled to God, to agree with His holiness, and remove the things that were against us to becoming His righteousness: a miracle in each one of us.
through the death of His Son, --
Because the Son of God, Jesus, God's Christ, was born a Man and died Man's death, the debt we each owe, in the place of each one of us; this is how we have been reconciled, because our debt is paid.
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! --
Because Jesus conquered Death, He rose from the grave. The life He rose with was more than the human life had been, He returned with Resurrection Life. And because He was Resurrected, so will we. This is the full Redemption, when we will be fully and completely saved, when we also will be Resurrected.
Not only is this so, --
This is our hope in the Lord, that He will return to take us to be with Himself forever, Resurrected with His Eternal Life, like Him.
but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. --
We can be joyful in realizing the Truth of both our future Resurrection and being right with God right now.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, --
The first man Adam chose to disobey God, which was the first human sin, and the paycheck for sin is death, so death entered the world through this one man.
and in this way death came to all men because all sinned. --
We all are born from the genealogical line of Adam, so we genetically inherit the sin-nature that Adam's natural life became when he sinned. So each of us has that bent toward sin, that makes it easier, or more convenient to choose to do the wrong thing, or to not do the right thing. So we have all, each human person that has ever lived, missed the mark of God's perfection, so we all deserve to die, and we all die.
For before the Law was given, sin was in the world. --
Even before there were rules given to describe what was wrong, people still made foolish and evil decisions to do what they knew was wrong, they still sinned.
But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. --
When there's no law or rule against it, no one can be convicted of it.
Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as Adam did --
People still died, even though they couldn't be charged with breaking a rule, they still suffered the consequences of their choices.
who was a pattern of the One to come.
Adam was a pattern of a member of Mankind who had a decision, a choice to make. Adam made the wrong choice; Jesus made the right choice. He is the One to come, the second Man who had the authority to make a choice that would affect not only himself, but many others, even, all others.
Adam's sin affects every human person who lived or lives or will live.
Jesus's righteousness can affect every person who lived or lives or will live. He is the Second Adam, who can reverse the harm the First Adam caused.
Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might rein through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. --
So we each have the choice to do right or to do wrong. Each of us is responsible to choose rightly, and is accountable to God for the choices we make, rightly or wrongly. In Adam we all will die. In Jesus Christ we are given the possibility of living forever.
It's our choice.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For if, when we were God's enemies, --
Before we turn to God in repentance and trust in Jesus to pay our debt for us, we were at enmity with God, his enemies.
we were reconciled to Him --
We were changed, as I change my checkbook to agree with the bank statement, so we were reconciled to God, to agree with His holiness, and remove the things that were against us to becoming His righteousness: a miracle in each one of us.
through the death of His Son, --
Because the Son of God, Jesus, God's Christ, was born a Man and died Man's death, the debt we each owe, in the place of each one of us; this is how we have been reconciled, because our debt is paid.
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! --
Because Jesus conquered Death, He rose from the grave. The life He rose with was more than the human life had been, He returned with Resurrection Life. And because He was Resurrected, so will we. This is the full Redemption, when we will be fully and completely saved, when we also will be Resurrected.
Not only is this so, --
This is our hope in the Lord, that He will return to take us to be with Himself forever, Resurrected with His Eternal Life, like Him.
but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. --
We can be joyful in realizing the Truth of both our future Resurrection and being right with God right now.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, --
The first man Adam chose to disobey God, which was the first human sin, and the paycheck for sin is death, so death entered the world through this one man.
and in this way death came to all men because all sinned. --
We all are born from the genealogical line of Adam, so we genetically inherit the sin-nature that Adam's natural life became when he sinned. So each of us has that bent toward sin, that makes it easier, or more convenient to choose to do the wrong thing, or to not do the right thing. So we have all, each human person that has ever lived, missed the mark of God's perfection, so we all deserve to die, and we all die.
For before the Law was given, sin was in the world. --
Even before there were rules given to describe what was wrong, people still made foolish and evil decisions to do what they knew was wrong, they still sinned.
But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. --
When there's no law or rule against it, no one can be convicted of it.
Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as Adam did --
People still died, even though they couldn't be charged with breaking a rule, they still suffered the consequences of their choices.
who was a pattern of the One to come.
Adam was a pattern of a member of Mankind who had a decision, a choice to make. Adam made the wrong choice; Jesus made the right choice. He is the One to come, the second Man who had the authority to make a choice that would affect not only himself, but many others, even, all others.
Adam's sin affects every human person who lived or lives or will live.
Jesus's righteousness can affect every person who lived or lives or will live. He is the Second Adam, who can reverse the harm the First Adam caused.
Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might rein through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. --
So we each have the choice to do right or to do wrong. Each of us is responsible to choose rightly, and is accountable to God for the choices we make, rightly or wrongly. In Adam we all will die. In Jesus Christ we are given the possibility of living forever.
It's our choice.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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