August 1st readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21 ~ Romans 15:1-22
Psalm 25:1-15 ~ Proverbs 20:13-15

Old Testament - Great readings today in Second Chronicles chapter 30 about King Hezekiah inviting all of Israel and Judah to celebrate the Passover of the Lord!  Yeah, sure, they ended up celebrating it a month later than normal because not enough priests had been purified, nor enough folks gathered in Jerusalem at the original time.  But, in light of the Passover not being widely celebrated in many years, this was huge. I love Hezekiah's letter that he wrote - and verse 9 in particular: "For if you return to the LORD, your relatives and your children will be treated mercifully by their captors, and they will be able to return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful. If you return to him, he will not continue to turn his face from you."  Think these words of Hezekiah's could apply to us in our lives today as well?  Do you need to return to the Lord in any area of your life?  Is there a sin that you are still indulging in that is hampering your relationship with God?  Will you confess and repent of that sin?  Will you return to the Lord?  For the Lord your God is indeed gracious and merciful...

New Testament - Romans 15 verses 2 and 3 definitely give us much to think about - "We should please others. If we do what helps them, we will build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didn't please himself."  That's a bit of a counter-intuitive statement compared to what our culture preaches.  We should please others?  I think our culture would say instead, "We should please ourselves!  It's all about you!  You are #1!"  and so on.  This is the beauty of the Gospel.  It is counter-cultural in so many beautiful ways.  It's the great revolution.  It turns the world upside down.  The last shall be first.  Blessed are the peacemakers.  Rejoice when you are persecuted.  We should please others.  So, are you living your life to please others?  Are you doing what helps them?  Are you building them up in the Lord?

Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Romans titled "Pleasing Others and Praising God" is at this link.

Psalms - Psalm 25 has some amazing verses today!  I think I could write some reflections and questions on each of the verses today...  Maybe a good thing for each of us to do is to re-read this Psalm today and really reflect on what the verses are saying to our hearts.  David wrote this Psalm as a prayer for God's mercies when he was suffering affliction for his sins and when enemies were seizing this occasion to attack him.  It's a very penitential Psalm.  One that we might need to pray to God from time to time as David did. I do like verse 5 a lot and I believe it will speak to each of you going through the One Year Bible this year - "Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you."  Do you believe that reading God's Word each day is allowing you to be led by God's truth?  Are you being taught each day?  Then - that last sentence in verse 5 is amazing.  I cannot honestly say that all day long I put my hope in God.  I pray that I do... but I think sometimes I drift away from putting my hope in God and I put my hope in myself - or maybe even sometimes I lose hope!  I get discouraged about a situation.  I get stressed.  I worry. If we put our hope all day long in God, do you think we would get discouraged, stressed, or worried?  I don't think we would...

Psalm 25 verse 15 really stood out to me today - "My eyes are always looking to the LORD for help, for he alone can rescue me from the traps of my enemies."  I have come to realize more and more lately that the Enemy is indeed constantly setting traps for us.  I don't mean to scare anyone here - but I think this is something very important for us to realize.  It has been said that the greatest trick the Devil can play on us is to make us think that he does not exist.  If we don't think the Devil exists, then we logically won't think that he's setting any traps for us.  Let me assure you - this is clearly Biblical - the Devil exists.  Evil exists in this world.  Temptation exists.  And evil does not rest.  However - the good news - God is so much bigger and stronger and brighter (and this list can go on) than the Devil - the Enemy.  David says in this Psalm that his eyes are ALWAYS looking to the Lord for help.  Why?  Because God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit alone can rescue us from the traps of the Enemy.  Again, the traps are out there for us in this modern world.  The temptations and dark alleys and wrong turns call to us unceasingly.  But - again, great news here - we can be saved from all of that nonsense; all of that darkness; indeed all of that death, through a relationship with Jesus.  Jesus saves.  Jesus saves us from ourselves.  From our sin.  And from the Enemy that sets traps for us.  Like David in this Psalm, are your eyes always looking to the Lord for help?  Please don't ever take your eyes off God and His mercies, power, and strength.

Proverbs - Proverbs 20 verse 15 is so true for our modern world - "Wise speech is rarer and more valuable than gold and rubies."  I hope I don't come off sounding too critical or judgmental here, but I seem to notice that people today talk more and more about "nothing."   I mean, I guess it just seems to me that so many of us - myself included - major in minor things.  Meaning, we will know every single statistic about our local sports team (or rock band U2? ;), and talk about these things all the time.  Which then makes me wonder - do we invest as much time into know God's Word, knowing God's Will, as we do in knowing stats?  Or knowing gossip on celebrities?  Or knowing what's going on with the latest TV reality show?  I guess this Proverb today just rings so true for me - Wise speech is rarer and more valuable than gold and rubies.  It is rare.  And it is valuable.  What type of words are coming out of your mouth these days?  Is it wise speech?  Or is it perhaps on occasion a whole lot of nothing?  Let us invest our words thoughtfully each day in wise speech.  Let us share with others that which is more valuable than gold and rubies.

Comments from you - What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[John]

Genealogy

I was looking at Romans 15:4 about the scripture (OT) were written for our learning and to give us hope. Then I ran across this:

Look in Genesis 5. I buckle sometimes at reading genealogies, but if you look at names from Adam to Noah and look at translations (meanings of names) - it gets kind of interesting.

Seth - Appointed
Enosh - Man
Kenan - To Acquire
Mahalalel - God's Praise
Jared - To descend
Enoch - Dedicated
Methusaleh - Man who was sent
Lamech - Mighty
Noah - Rest, Quiet, Peace
http://www.biblicalbabyname.com/

So we have:

Appointed Man to Acquire God's Praise to descend...Dedicated Man who was sent..Mighty...Rest,Quiet, Peace

I guess you have to assume that the appointed man was to bring: Rest, Quiet, Peace. However, I think this is a good enough description of Christ.

I apologize if this is "old hat" to some, but I found it kind of neat and wanted to share.

[Vance Brown]

I heard a statement on "Family Life Today" (sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ) with Dennis Rainey that really blessed me:

"Spiritual growth occurs when we exercise our soul in response to the problems of life not on the basis of our feelings, but on the basis of the Word of God."

WOW! I agree 100%, and that is excellent.

When we are born again, we are born again in our spirits. We feed our spirits by reading and feeding on the Word of God.

Romans 8 (Amplified Bible)
10
But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].

I Peter 2 (NKJV)
2
as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby [up to salvation]
3
if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

~~

Yet, the rest of our personality --

(our souls: mind, will, emotions, etc., and our bodies) --

then also need to fully surrendered, brought to maturity, and saved.

THANK GOD that "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ". (Philippians 1:6)

PRAISE THE LORD!
~~~

2 Chronicles 30 (NKJV)
18
For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone
19
who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.”
20
And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

NOTE:
THANK GOD that He looks on our hearts. THANK GOD that we do not have to “perform with perfection” every one of God’s commands. (Of course, if we love God, we will WANT to obey with all of our beings!)

We can prepare our hearts to seek the Lord. We can trust the Lord to help us to exercise our souls in response to the problems of life not on the basis of our feelings, but on the basis of the Word of God.

We can feed our spirits so they become stronger and stronger!

2 Chronicles 31 (NKJV)
20
Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the LORD his God.
21
And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.

NOTE:
God desires to truly prosper us—that is, that we be enriched spiritually so we walk in God’s wisdom to be blessed in every area of our life.

THEN, WE CAN GIVE MORE AND SACRIFICE MORE to the Lord. A godly heart with a deep thirst to honor God always wants to serve the Lord and God’s people.

WHAT AN HONOR! To offer all of what we have that God has given to us out of worship and love for God--

and to suffer persecution for the Name of the Lord Jesus! This is the calling of Jesus.

"Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God." (Romans 12:1)

Romans 15 (NKJV)
1
We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2
Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.

NOTE: AMEN! May we be so established in the Lord that we are unbendable and unshakable witnesses of God’s Word!

Romans 15 (NKJV)
20
And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation,

NOTE: I wonder if “where Christ is not named” now applies to America as well as other countries in which the Gospel historically has been planted.

I just met another person last Sunday who forcefully informed me that Jesus in the early years not recorded in the New Testament studied and learned from a Buddha in India. He also informed me that there are more “gospels” than what are included in the New Testament.

I had a chance to share God’s Word with him.

May we pray for all to know Jesus, and may we embrace the passion that others will really see and know the Lord Jesus!

Psalm 25 (NKJV)
12
Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.
13
He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth.
14
The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.
15
My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.

NOTE: Amen and Amen!

“The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”

May we spend time in secret with the LORD away from the cares and distractions of family and of the world.

May we place ourselves under God’s grace and authority so He can teach us the secrets He has for us, and so we can personally learn from God His covenant.

AMEN!

Vance

[John]

Romans 15:1-22

Paul continues on the idea of the "strong in faith" subordinating themselves to the "weak in faith. In Romans 15 he adds a caveat.

Don't yield yourself to the weak because it makes you feel good, or smug. Do it out of goodness, love for your brother, and to build up his faith.

We are to reflect the qualities of Christ who humbled himself by coming to earth as a "man", who came because He loved us, and it was the Father's Will. In all things we should strive to emulate Christ.

[NOTE: Yielding to the one with weaker faith is not about condoning unbiblical practices, it is about yielding to one who has a sincere belief in his non-essential practices. Paul is very tough in later Epistles on those who Sin continuosly or practice deceit within the church.]
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Rom 15:4 "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." NIV

Paul writes this after citing Psalm 69 to emphasize the OT was written to teach us.

Teach us what?

That through the steadfastness and encouraging promises of the Scripture we see: That God keeps his Word, that his plan is unfolding by His Will, and thus God's Word and plan will be fulfilled in the future according to the prophecies.

So what are we to be hoping (having certain expectations) for?

Not justification, that is already accomplished. We now are to look forward to the day when Jesus comes the second time.
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WE CANNOT DO IT ON OUR OWN

Paul comes back to the idea of unity in the church, and prays:

Rom 15:5 "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus," NIV

In Rom 7:18 makes clear there is no power in the new nature. The power to do the suggested items in the last few chapters is not in us. It goes against the "flesh".

When we access the Holy Spirit by offering ourselves as a continual living sacrifice - focused on God, His Word, and prayer - then God will unleash the power and abundance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Then the changes will occur and we will start fulfilling suggestions of Paul. It is an on-going process and will not be completed until we reach heaven.

Paul repeats this concept here by asking God to "give" (Gk. didomi: give, grant, bestow) the spirit of unity amongst the "brotherhood".

We should want this because this is how Christ accepted us - and twice Paul mentions it is to praise and give glory to God.
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Paul gives four OT verses to encourage the Gentiles - this was suppose to happen, God foreknew it in his plan, it was foretold, and it came to pass. That the Gentiles would be part of the elect and co-heirs to heaven.
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Paul has written to the Romans to reaffirm things they know. In other words, Paul was long-distancing his encouragement and exhortation phase of ministry.

He had been busy preaching from Jerusalem to Yugoslavia and back to those who had not heard of Christ. Not that he reached EVERY person, but he established churches, as beacons of light that would emit more light to the area through its members.

Now that that has been done - his eyes are westward, and he hopes to finally get to Rome via a trip to Spain. Paul gets there but he gets there by God's plan :)