August 6th One Year Bible Readings

Ezra 3:1-4:23 ~ 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4 ~ Psalm 28:1-9 ~ Proverbs 20:24-25
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Old Testament - Today in Ezra chapter 3 we read about the Israelites rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. We read in verse 10 – “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel.” There are some powerful chapters in Ezra as we read about the start of the rebuilding of the Temple, the opposition to it, and then its final completion. I like that verse 10 above tells us that the priests and the Levites praised God after the foundation to the Temple was laid. And I wonder about this in our lives today. Is there perhaps a “Temple” of some sort in your life that needs rebuilding? Is there a good habit that you have lost? A bad habit that you have picked up? Have you lost some of your zeal for God that you had earlier in your life? Do you want things to change? Do you want to rebuild a “Temple” in your life? How will you do so? Will you perhaps follow the example of the Israelites in Ezra and begin with the Foundation? Will you take the very first, maybe seemingly small steps to begin to rebuild your Temple? And – when you get to even just the foundation of your Temple being rebuilt, will you praise God as the priests and Levites did in Ezra? Many blessings to you as you begin your journey with God of rebuilding a Temple in your life!

New Testament - Bible.org's commentary on today's First Corinthians readings titled "True Wisdom" is at this link and "Substandard Saints" is at this link.  Below is a powerful image for First Corinthians 3:3 from today's readings:

Psalms - Psalm 28 verse 2 stood out to me today - "Listen to my prayer for mercy as I cry out to you for help, as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary."  The thing that stood out to me is the image of the Psalmist "lifting his hands" in prayer.  I'm curious about this - if you don't mind sharing in the Comments section below - do you periodically lift your hands in prayer?  Do you kneel when you pray?  Close your eyes?  Bow your head?  What do you do to really signify your worship and praise of God?  Do you think lifting our hands or doing other body movements can change the way we pray to God - rather than doing nothing unique with our body?   Let me know if you have Comments on this below...  thanks...  My quick thoughts are that we can absolutely pray at any time in any place without lifting our hands or closing our eyes or bowing, etc.   I think this gets toward the idea of "praying unceasingly."   However - I do think there is something special about the times in our day when we can really spend some quality quiet time with God in prayer.  And the best way for me to personally do this is by really changing my body language first - by kneeling down, closing my eyes, bowing my head, maybe lifting my hands, etc.  This somehow I think brings me closer to God - it doesn't bring God closer to me - he's always close.  But, somehow, what I do with my body before & during prayer can definitely make a difference in how long I will actually pray to God and how deep into prayer & listening I will go.  How about for you?

Proverbs - Today in Proverbs 20 verse 24 we will read – “A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?” This is a powerful Proverb for us to consider. Do you believe that your steps are directed by God? I think so often we want to be in control of our own steps. And when we really try to take control of our own steps is when we so often stumble. . . It is so powerful for us to realize that the best thing we can possibly do in our lives is let God direct our steps! Let God lead us. And then let us pray we will follow. The question posed by at the end of this Proverb above is probably frustrating to our modern minds – “Whaddya mean I can’t understand my own way! That ain’t right. I am in charge around here!” Are we really? I mean, really? The question posed by this Proverb reminds me of another wise and famous Proverb in chapter 3, verses 5 through 6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” We should not ever try to make our own paths straight! Let God do it. He knows where we should be going. All we need to do is trust God. Simply trust. Do you trust God to direct your steps and make your paths straight?

Worship God:  Today's Psalm reminds me of the Chris Tomlin song "Our God is Greater:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlA5IDnpGhc

Do you know true greatness? Click here to meet our Great God!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: "A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?" Proverbs 20:24 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray that all of your steps are directed by the Lord. Pray that you trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Pray that the Lord will make your paths straight.

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

Comments

[Ramona]

Ezra 3-4:23

Mike asked the question “Is there perhaps a “Temple” of some sort in your life that needs rebuilding?” That is an important question; however, we must take into account a pattern of distraction and danger that circles around our rebuilding effort that is laid out in Ezra.

1) The enemy will use any means necessary to block the Temple we want to build for God (Ezra 4:1-2). The first attempt to block or discourage is an attempt to join in or collaborate on the project. Amos 3:3 states, Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren't going to the same place? (MSG)

And Paul states In his 2nd letter to the Church at Corinth,

Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: "I'll live in them, move into them; I'll be their God and they'll be my people. (2Co 6:14-16 MSG)

2) Intimidation and sabotage: So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve. They kept this up for about fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezr 4:4-5 MSG). And the last trick I see in this reading, and probably there are more that I haven’t picked up.

3) Use the same political system that gave the go ahead to build to stop the project. The enemy waited for a regime change.
Again later, in the time of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their associates wrote regarding the Jerusalem business to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated. (What follows is written in Aramaic.) (Ezr 4:7 MSG)
This worked for a while in stopping the rebuilding effort because the new king searched the archives for history of the city and citizens of Jerusalem. However, the search was not to locate the original decree giving the O.K. to rebuild. We humans have a tendency to forget what God has said, because we either stop believing the Word or we don’t keep reading it and forget what it says.

We must always keep before us the promises of God or else we will become discouraged and stop working on our Temples.

I Corinthians 2:6-3:4

We now go on to speak of another letter, but this letter was not written to discourage Believers but to straighten out and encourage. Paul in this section of his first letter to the church at Corinth explains to them the “Wisdom” that is of God and not the wisdom of this world. This Wisdom that can only come from God and is given to Believers only allows us to know the mind of God and to operate in that Wisdom.

However, Paul also says that this body of believers at Corinth is acting like children who have no teeth yet so he was and is unable to impart to them any kind of information because what he desires to impart requires teeth to chew on. Therefore, he can only “feed” them milk, like babies.

Hmmm, failure to grow up will cause one’s Temple not to be built ‘cause babies are not employed on construction projects and babies cannot handle the Wisdom of God. Maybe this is the fourth number that should go with Ezra and Temple building.

Psalm 28:1-9

[A Psalm] of David. UNTO YOU do I cry, O Lord my Rock, be not deaf and silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those going down to the pit [the grave].
(Psa 28:1 AMP)

I can’t get this Temple building thing out of my head so everything I’m reading points me to building a foundation and the Temple. David calls out to the Lord who is his rock and juxtapose to the first verse, Paul states again to the church at Corinth (We will be reading this tomorrow),
According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect and master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it, For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done. If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. [Job 23:10.] Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God's temple (His sanctuary), and that God's Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, collectively as a church and also individually]? If anyone does hurt to God's temple or corrupts it [with false doctrines] or destroys it, God will do hurt to him and bring him to the corruption of death and destroy him. For the temple of God is holy (sacred to Him) and that [temple] you [the believing church and its individual believers] are.
(1Co 3:10-17 AMP)

The Temple we are building has already been preceded by a foundation that if not built by Christ is not really a solid foundation.

Proverbs 20:24-25

An impulsive vow is a trap; later you'll wish you could get out of it. (Pro 20:25 MSG)

We are apt to make a vow or utter a “rash promise” in the confines of a body of believers, a church. Someone has an idea, a vision to do “something for the Lord.” We are caught up in their enthusiasm and don’t consult God in prayer. We sign up and instead of it being a joy when we do the “work of God” it becomes a burden and drudgery. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy my burden is light (Matthew 11:30). I believe what we have done is signed up under someone’s vision that God did not give us or tell us to do. We didn’t count the cost and we certainly didn’t consult the Master on the “work at hand.”

Could it be we are building with hay and stubble on our Temple foundation with someone else’s material and not God’s? If we find that, we are doing the wrong work we must continue because we must be people of our word. But don’t do it again.

Mike, your question regarding Psalm 28,
“I'm curious about this - if you don't mind sharing in the Comments section below - do you periodically lift your hands in prayer? Do you kneel when you pray? Close your eyes? Bow your head? What do you do to really signify your worship and praise of God? Do you think lifting our hands or doing other body movements can change the way we pray to God - rather than doing nothing unique with our body?”

The stance of prayer can become a ritual that sets aside the communication with God for the posture. Since God hears us, believers, when we pray, I find that the stance we take is immaterial. If God speaks to you to lie prostrate on the floor while others around you are kneeling, then lie prostrate on the floor. If you can lie in bed on your back and pray, without falling asleep, then do that. I have walked 3/12 miles from or to my job to a subway connection because God told me to and I heard mightily from Him. I have been told to lie on the floor, sit on the floor, stand with my hands raised, because I felt led by the Holy Spirit to do so.

The key to communicating with God (Prayer) is submission of our spirits, not our physical bodies. Once our spirits our submitted our bodies will follow whatever way we are led to pray. By the way, Prayer should be more about us listening to God then us bring our laundry lists to God.

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Wil]

I loved Ann Voscamp's comment in the book, One Thousand Gifts; "Praying with eyes wide open is the only way to pray without ceasing."

I was glad when our prayer chairman at church suggested that when we intercede, we pray with our eyes open, so that we can be aware of how the person with whom we are interceding is doing. It is actually a really nice freedom to feel free to keep my eyes open during prayer!

[Billy]

I was taught to pray with my eyes closed and with my hands clasped and kneeling. I think it all depends on what helps you focus best.