II Kings 4: 1-7
Elisha multiplies the widow's oil:
"Borrow as many large empty containers as you can from all your neighbors. Then close the door (for privacy) and pour oil into all those containers. When each one is full, set it aside."
..."There are no more containers." So the oil stopped flowing.
God supplied all the oil she needed to sell and support herself and her sons. When the last jar was full, the oil stopped being multiplied. God's provision was as bountiful as her faith and obedience.
He told her, "Sell the oil and pay your debt. The rest is for you and your children"
So I hope my own faith and obedience is as great as hers, that my preparation and efforts did allow me enough to pay all my debts, with enough left to accomplish what I need to do.
Father, show me the path to take, teach me how to do what is needful, and lead me into what will promote Your Kingdom and bring glory to Your Name.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Job's Story
Job 2: 10
... Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job was an amazing man, and a good example to follow.
He had been so wealthy that he was "the greatest of all the men of the East."
His family, his sons and daughters, all got along well together and honored one another.
And as the priest of the family he continually cared for their spiritual well-being (1:4-5).
But Satan accused Job of having selfish and self-serving motives. Satan cannot see into our thoughts and hearts, as God can, so He proved to him that Job really did love God, and allowed him to "ruin him without cause" (2:3).
And at the end, God rewarded Job with twice as much of everything he had lost, even giving him more children, everything even better than what he had before (42:10, 12-15).
This story teaches us several things. Among them are:
Bad things do happen to good people, not only as a consequence of our rebellion.
Satan cannot hear our thoughts or see into our hearts, as God can. He can only hear our spoken words, our tone of voice, our body language, and our history. So he deceives us into thinking he can also hear our thoughts. We need to remember this.
This World is our school--all of life's lessons are for us to learn. They are meant for our benefit.
And God rewards for faithfulness and loyalty to Himself. He is the only One Who can move events in the direction He has planned, and cause to happen all the things that will show His power, wisdom and lovingkindness.
God will also allow us to suffer the consequences of our poor choices, to teach us to do better.
And He will also provide the sacrifice to atone for our errors, our missing the mark, our sins.
God is Love, and everything He does comes from His Love, so when He allows us to go through suffering, anguish, sickness, and sorrow, it's all so we will learn to trust Him more. To teach us humility and patience and perseverance. To mold and make us into the very image of His Son, our Savior.
So when we feel the pressure of circumstances crushing us, God is making us into His diamonds. Trust Him, and never give up. He will reward us at the end of it, as He did Job.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
... Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job was an amazing man, and a good example to follow.
He had been so wealthy that he was "the greatest of all the men of the East."
His family, his sons and daughters, all got along well together and honored one another.
And as the priest of the family he continually cared for their spiritual well-being (1:4-5).
But Satan accused Job of having selfish and self-serving motives. Satan cannot see into our thoughts and hearts, as God can, so He proved to him that Job really did love God, and allowed him to "ruin him without cause" (2:3).
And at the end, God rewarded Job with twice as much of everything he had lost, even giving him more children, everything even better than what he had before (42:10, 12-15).
This story teaches us several things. Among them are:
Bad things do happen to good people, not only as a consequence of our rebellion.
Satan cannot hear our thoughts or see into our hearts, as God can. He can only hear our spoken words, our tone of voice, our body language, and our history. So he deceives us into thinking he can also hear our thoughts. We need to remember this.
This World is our school--all of life's lessons are for us to learn. They are meant for our benefit.
And God rewards for faithfulness and loyalty to Himself. He is the only One Who can move events in the direction He has planned, and cause to happen all the things that will show His power, wisdom and lovingkindness.
God will also allow us to suffer the consequences of our poor choices, to teach us to do better.
And He will also provide the sacrifice to atone for our errors, our missing the mark, our sins.
God is Love, and everything He does comes from His Love, so when He allows us to go through suffering, anguish, sickness, and sorrow, it's all so we will learn to trust Him more. To teach us humility and patience and perseverance. To mold and make us into the very image of His Son, our Savior.
So when we feel the pressure of circumstances crushing us, God is making us into His diamonds. Trust Him, and never give up. He will reward us at the end of it, as He did Job.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, July 2, 2018
Precious Promises
Jeremiah 25: 11-12
This whole land [Judah and the surrounding nations] will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.
When the 70 years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes, declares the Lord.
Here is where Daniel was reading, where he found that they would be in exile for 70 years, and realized that 70 years had gone by already, it was time. (See Daniel 9:2.)
29: 4-7, 10-14
This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all those who were taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.
Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and let your daughters get married so they can have sons and daughters. Grow in number there, don't decrease.
Work for the good of the city where I've taken you as captives, and pray to the Lord for that city. When it prospers you will also prosper.
... This is what the Lord says: When Babylon's 70 years are over, I will come to you. I will keep my promise to you and bring you back to this place.
I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.
Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will hear you.
When you look for me, you will find Me. When you wholeheartedly seek Me,
I will let you find Me, declares the Lord. I will bring you up from captivity. I will gather you from all the Nations and all the places where I've scattered you, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive.
There is so much in this chapter! Promises to His people of Judah who are in Babylon, and also for us as His people in Christ who are in the World.
The Jews will be in Babylon for a long time, 70 years, so they are to settle down and prosper in this Land of Exile, and grow their families.
And God will see to it that the politics will change and a new king will arise who will send Judah home. After that 70 years.
History tells us that this is exactly what happened back then. God was faithful to His promises, and everything worked out just as He said it would.
And these precious promises also are for us: To pray for the city where we live, for God to prosper it, and we will prosper with it; and God will also let us find Him when we wholeheartedly seek Him; and He will give to us a hopeful future also, according to His plans for us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
This whole land [Judah and the surrounding nations] will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.
When the 70 years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes, declares the Lord.
Here is where Daniel was reading, where he found that they would be in exile for 70 years, and realized that 70 years had gone by already, it was time. (See Daniel 9:2.)
29: 4-7, 10-14
This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all those who were taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.
Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and let your daughters get married so they can have sons and daughters. Grow in number there, don't decrease.
Work for the good of the city where I've taken you as captives, and pray to the Lord for that city. When it prospers you will also prosper.
... This is what the Lord says: When Babylon's 70 years are over, I will come to you. I will keep my promise to you and bring you back to this place.
I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.
Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will hear you.
When you look for me, you will find Me. When you wholeheartedly seek Me,
I will let you find Me, declares the Lord. I will bring you up from captivity. I will gather you from all the Nations and all the places where I've scattered you, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive.
There is so much in this chapter! Promises to His people of Judah who are in Babylon, and also for us as His people in Christ who are in the World.
The Jews will be in Babylon for a long time, 70 years, so they are to settle down and prosper in this Land of Exile, and grow their families.
And God will see to it that the politics will change and a new king will arise who will send Judah home. After that 70 years.
History tells us that this is exactly what happened back then. God was faithful to His promises, and everything worked out just as He said it would.
And these precious promises also are for us: To pray for the city where we live, for God to prosper it, and we will prosper with it; and God will also let us find Him when we wholeheartedly seek Him; and He will give to us a hopeful future also, according to His plans for us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, July 1, 2018
To Our Own Harm
Jeremiah 25: 7
... That you provoke Me with the works of your hands to your own harm ...
God loves us and He told us the way to live our lives that would be in harmony with how He designed this world, so we could have prosperous lives and good relationships.
Whenever we ignore what we know to be God's ways for us to follow His rules to love Him and one another, we'll end up doing or saying something or even adopting a whole lifestyle that is against what God wants for us, and it's always to our own harm. And it even harms other people, too.
Each one of us lives in a web of influence that continually reaches out to include more and more people, so there is no way to see how far our poor choices will affect others to make poor choices and ruin their lives, too.
So now our World is all messed up, teaching lies as truth, calling good bad, and trading sour for sweet. Turning everything around, until the whole World is dizzy and ready to fall down.
God still calls to those He has chosen, though, and more and more people are turning away from the World and its ways to embrace the One Who made them, loves them, and sent His Son to be their Sacrifice to pay the debt they owe for sin.
So the good is getting better, the bad is getting worse, and there is less and less middle ground between.
If you feel the tug of God's Spirit calling you, don't ignore it. Don't try to drown it out. He won't shame you. He will embrace you in His arms of Love, cleanse you, and forgive you. He will make you His own child, and one Day crown you as co-regent with King Jesus to rule in the Kingdom of God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
... That you provoke Me with the works of your hands to your own harm ...
God loves us and He told us the way to live our lives that would be in harmony with how He designed this world, so we could have prosperous lives and good relationships.
Whenever we ignore what we know to be God's ways for us to follow His rules to love Him and one another, we'll end up doing or saying something or even adopting a whole lifestyle that is against what God wants for us, and it's always to our own harm. And it even harms other people, too.
Each one of us lives in a web of influence that continually reaches out to include more and more people, so there is no way to see how far our poor choices will affect others to make poor choices and ruin their lives, too.
So now our World is all messed up, teaching lies as truth, calling good bad, and trading sour for sweet. Turning everything around, until the whole World is dizzy and ready to fall down.
God still calls to those He has chosen, though, and more and more people are turning away from the World and its ways to embrace the One Who made them, loves them, and sent His Son to be their Sacrifice to pay the debt they owe for sin.
So the good is getting better, the bad is getting worse, and there is less and less middle ground between.
If you feel the tug of God's Spirit calling you, don't ignore it. Don't try to drown it out. He won't shame you. He will embrace you in His arms of Love, cleanse you, and forgive you. He will make you His own child, and one Day crown you as co-regent with King Jesus to rule in the Kingdom of God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Our Weakness, God's Strength
Jeremiah 1: 1-8
(V. 1) The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.
Here's Jeremiah's pedigree: he was a priest, born into the upper society, living in the territory that was given to the tribe of Benjamin.
(V. 5) Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the Nations.
Even before he was born God had chosen him to Himself and planned out his life.
(V. 6) Then I said, "Alas. Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am only a youth!"
Jeremiah was 20 years old when God called him to be His prophet; in that society he was still considered a child.
(Vs. 7-8) But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, I am only a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them..."
God's telling him not to use his weaknesses as an excuse. When God decides to do something, it's time to do it. And it doesn't matter what I think, He's God, I'm not, and He will use whatever He has given me to perform His will for me. I am just to believe Him and trust Him to work through me, even if I think it's crazy! It's not my decision, it's His, and He knows best.
Father, help me to trust You this way. Help me to see myself the way You see me, not how the World sees. You told Gideon to "go in the strength you have" (Judges 6:14) when he saw himself as very small and weak, but You knew he was a "valiant warrior" (Judges 6:12), and You made him into that strong soldier.
And You will make me into whatever You have planned for my life, even if I don't see myself that way yet.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
(V. 1) The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.
Here's Jeremiah's pedigree: he was a priest, born into the upper society, living in the territory that was given to the tribe of Benjamin.
(V. 5) Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the Nations.
Even before he was born God had chosen him to Himself and planned out his life.
(V. 6) Then I said, "Alas. Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am only a youth!"
Jeremiah was 20 years old when God called him to be His prophet; in that society he was still considered a child.
(Vs. 7-8) But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, I am only a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them..."
God's telling him not to use his weaknesses as an excuse. When God decides to do something, it's time to do it. And it doesn't matter what I think, He's God, I'm not, and He will use whatever He has given me to perform His will for me. I am just to believe Him and trust Him to work through me, even if I think it's crazy! It's not my decision, it's His, and He knows best.
Father, help me to trust You this way. Help me to see myself the way You see me, not how the World sees. You told Gideon to "go in the strength you have" (Judges 6:14) when he saw himself as very small and weak, but You knew he was a "valiant warrior" (Judges 6:12), and You made him into that strong soldier.
And You will make me into whatever You have planned for my life, even if I don't see myself that way yet.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, June 29, 2018
He Is Lord
II Kings 20: 9-11
Isaiah said, "This is your sign from the Lord that He will do what He promises. Do you want the shadow to go forward ten steps or come back ten steps?"
Hezekiah replied, "It's easy for the shadow to extend ten more steps forward. No, let it come back ten steps."
Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow that had gone forward on Ahaz's stairway to back up ten steps.
Here's something God did that was impossible--He made the Sun go backward ten degrees on the sundial! That means that He added time to the day.
This is the Stairway of Ahaz which was a westward-facing flight of stairs which served as a sundial. The setting Sun's shadow would go up on the stairs as the Sun went down, but the shadow went back down ten steps before going back up again.
How could God do this? Did He stop the Earth? Did He move the Sun? We don't know how He did it, but whatever He did, it affected the whole Universe, because NASA's scientists found the anomaly in Time in their calculations.
Hezekiah thought he would die of this serious boil, but God told Isaiah to make a poultice of figs to put on it (v. 7), and he was healed, to live another 15 years (v. 6).
Nothing is impossible with God. He is God, He is the One Who made everything, and designed it all to run like clockwork. Since He made it, He can also mess with it, without causing a mess in it.
We think that if the Earth stopped or went backward, that the inertia would cause everything to go haywire! But God is God, we are not, and if God wants to suspend the operation of His rules a little, who can say He can't? He's Lord, He's the Boss!
Just like when my son made his villages and castles with Legos, he could move them around and remake them anyway he wanted, because they were his creations. He was the boss of them, just like God is the Lord over what He made.
This blows my mind! God can do anything He wants, even fool with Time!
O Father, You really can do anything! And what You do is always good, because You are good. You can mess with Time without everything crashing and colliding, because You hold us all in Your hand. Your power goes beyond anything I can imagine.
And You love me more than I can imagine. Thank You, Daddy, for making me Your little girl. Thank You for Your power, for Your greatness, for Your goodness. Thank You for calling out from every Nation, from every people, from every language, from every family line, to be Your own children, born spiritually into Your own family.
Thank You for telling me about how You will help me whenever I'm at the end of my rope; teach me to call on You before I reach the end. Let me turn to You first, not make You my last resort.
And thank You for telling me about the wonderful future You are preparing for me right now. I look forward to that indescribable time I will have with You in that eternity future.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Isaiah said, "This is your sign from the Lord that He will do what He promises. Do you want the shadow to go forward ten steps or come back ten steps?"
Hezekiah replied, "It's easy for the shadow to extend ten more steps forward. No, let it come back ten steps."
Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow that had gone forward on Ahaz's stairway to back up ten steps.
Here's something God did that was impossible--He made the Sun go backward ten degrees on the sundial! That means that He added time to the day.
This is the Stairway of Ahaz which was a westward-facing flight of stairs which served as a sundial. The setting Sun's shadow would go up on the stairs as the Sun went down, but the shadow went back down ten steps before going back up again.
How could God do this? Did He stop the Earth? Did He move the Sun? We don't know how He did it, but whatever He did, it affected the whole Universe, because NASA's scientists found the anomaly in Time in their calculations.
Hezekiah thought he would die of this serious boil, but God told Isaiah to make a poultice of figs to put on it (v. 7), and he was healed, to live another 15 years (v. 6).
Nothing is impossible with God. He is God, He is the One Who made everything, and designed it all to run like clockwork. Since He made it, He can also mess with it, without causing a mess in it.
We think that if the Earth stopped or went backward, that the inertia would cause everything to go haywire! But God is God, we are not, and if God wants to suspend the operation of His rules a little, who can say He can't? He's Lord, He's the Boss!
Just like when my son made his villages and castles with Legos, he could move them around and remake them anyway he wanted, because they were his creations. He was the boss of them, just like God is the Lord over what He made.
This blows my mind! God can do anything He wants, even fool with Time!
O Father, You really can do anything! And what You do is always good, because You are good. You can mess with Time without everything crashing and colliding, because You hold us all in Your hand. Your power goes beyond anything I can imagine.
And You love me more than I can imagine. Thank You, Daddy, for making me Your little girl. Thank You for Your power, for Your greatness, for Your goodness. Thank You for calling out from every Nation, from every people, from every language, from every family line, to be Your own children, born spiritually into Your own family.
Thank You for telling me about how You will help me whenever I'm at the end of my rope; teach me to call on You before I reach the end. Let me turn to You first, not make You my last resort.
And thank You for telling me about the wonderful future You are preparing for me right now. I look forward to that indescribable time I will have with You in that eternity future.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, June 28, 2018
"Spread It Out Before The Lord"
II Kings 19: 32-33
Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, "He shall not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor throw up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city," declares the Lord.
Rabshakeh came from the king of Assyria with a letter to Hezekiah that equated the Lord God with all the idols the other Nations worshiped, that they had destroyed.
So Hezekiah spread the letter out before the Lord, admitting that this foreign king really had conquered all those peoples, and destroyed their temples and idols. And he thought he could do the same here; but the Lord God is not anything like any of these idols, He really is God.
So God told him He would take care if this guy. And He did.
The Angel of the Lord struck 185,000 men in the camp (v. 35), so King Sennacherib went home to Nineveh. There he was murdered as he worshiped his god Nisroch (vs. 36-37).
When we pray, and lay out before Him whatever it is we need help with, He will always answer. He loves to fight our battles for us.
The better we get to know Him, the better we understand His ways, then the more we'll trust Him to do what He wants to do for us.
We never need to be afraid of Him, but have the "fear of the Lord" that is a reverential awe for His greatness and power and ability to do everything. There is nothing He can't do, even if it's impossible for us.
O my Father, thank You for Your greatness and Your gentleness, thank You for Your justice and Your mercy, thank You for Your lovingkindness and Your grace.
Father, You are the Creator, and You made us in Your image, so we are creative, too. You are intelligent, and You gave us intelligence, too, to understand Your ways. We are Your imagination, and You have given us imagination also, so we can imagine You and what You have planned for us.
Whatever we can imagine, though, what You are preparing for us, is beyond anything we can imagine. I find that fact so exciting! O Father, You love me so much more than I can imagine, my future with You will be beyond exquisite, beyond wonderous, beyond any words I have to use.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, "He shall not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor throw up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city," declares the Lord.
Rabshakeh came from the king of Assyria with a letter to Hezekiah that equated the Lord God with all the idols the other Nations worshiped, that they had destroyed.
So Hezekiah spread the letter out before the Lord, admitting that this foreign king really had conquered all those peoples, and destroyed their temples and idols. And he thought he could do the same here; but the Lord God is not anything like any of these idols, He really is God.
So God told him He would take care if this guy. And He did.
The Angel of the Lord struck 185,000 men in the camp (v. 35), so King Sennacherib went home to Nineveh. There he was murdered as he worshiped his god Nisroch (vs. 36-37).
When we pray, and lay out before Him whatever it is we need help with, He will always answer. He loves to fight our battles for us.
The better we get to know Him, the better we understand His ways, then the more we'll trust Him to do what He wants to do for us.
We never need to be afraid of Him, but have the "fear of the Lord" that is a reverential awe for His greatness and power and ability to do everything. There is nothing He can't do, even if it's impossible for us.
O my Father, thank You for Your greatness and Your gentleness, thank You for Your justice and Your mercy, thank You for Your lovingkindness and Your grace.
Father, You are the Creator, and You made us in Your image, so we are creative, too. You are intelligent, and You gave us intelligence, too, to understand Your ways. We are Your imagination, and You have given us imagination also, so we can imagine You and what You have planned for us.
Whatever we can imagine, though, what You are preparing for us, is beyond anything we can imagine. I find that fact so exciting! O Father, You love me so much more than I can imagine, my future with You will be beyond exquisite, beyond wonderous, beyond any words I have to use.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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