Sunday, February 28, 2010

Priesthood

Yesterday and today I read Leviticus 7:28-11:11 and Mark 14:57-15:47. My favorite verses are:

Leviticus 8:36 So Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

Mark 15:27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

It is important that we obey God. It was especially important for the priests in the Old Testament because they represented God before the people. Aaron and his sons did everything commanded by God. God’s children are referred to in scripture as a “royal priesthood”. We too are responsible for obeying God because we are his representatives to the world. Lost people watch how Christians live, and their eternal souls may depend on what they see. If we are disobedient to God, we may cause one of these souls to follow our bad example and never receive salvation. Jesus set the perfect example, and the thieves who died on crosses on either side of Him had seen His life. One of them remembered that Jesus had done nothing to deserve death; he asked Jesus to forgive him for the sin in his life. Jesus, as He promised, forgave the man and gave him the gift of salvation. As we go through this day, may we consider everything we do as representing God to man. Perhaps it will help us to be obedient children.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Listen When God Speaks

Today I read Leviticus 6:7-7:27 and Mark 14:28-56. My favorite verses are:

Leviticus 7:22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Mark 14:28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.

God spoke to Moses as to a friend; He told Moses everything that he required of His people and Moses was to pass it on to them so that they could obey and be pleasing to God. Unfortunately, they either did not listen or did not obey or both. Over and over, God called them to repentance for their disobedience and He forgave them when they turned back to Him. In the New Testament, Jesus spoke to His followers as their Friend. He told His disciples more than once that He would be killed then rise from the dead. But they didn’t listen or they failed to understand. When He came out of the grave, they were as surprised as anyone else. We now have God’s written Word; He speaks to us through it. Do we “listen” when we read His Word? Read with prayer and listen to what God is saying to you through His Word today.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Sacrifice and Service

Today I read Leviticus 4:10-6:6 and Mark 14:1-27. My favorite verses are:

Leviticus 4:17 And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the veil.

Mark 14:6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

When the ancient Jews sinned against God, they “bought” forgiveness by sacrificing an animal and having its blood sprinkled before the Lord. The animal paid the price for one man’s sin with its life and was, of course, a type of our Lord Jesus paying the price for the sin of all mankind with His life. Before Jesus gave His life for our sin, He lived His life as a man so that He could understand what it is like for us to be tempted by sin. He met sinful people with forgiveness and love. Those who loved Him in return wanted to serve Him in whatever ways they could. The woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume was criticized for being wasteful. Jesus defended her right to give Him her best. We, too, should give Jesus the best that we have and know that He is pleased when we do.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Salt and Watch

Today I read Leviticus 1:9-4:9 and Mark 13:7-37. My favorite verses are:

Leviticus 2:13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.

Mark 13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

In the Old Testament God commanded that every sacrifice offered to him was to be seasoned with salt. In the New Testament Jesus told His followers that they were the salt of the earth. We no longer offer animals and other food in sacrifice to God; we give ourselves to Him. We are not the seasoning on the sacrifice; we are both the seasoning and the sacrifice. God wants us to give Him our all. And as we make ourselves completely available for His service, we are to heed the command of Mark 13:37—Watch! We must be alert to what is going on around us because Satan is at war against us. He wants to defeat us so that we are ineffective in our service to God. We must be willing to serve God and watching to avoid Satan.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

All that you are is His

Today I read Exodus 40, Leviticus 1:1-8, and Mark 12:22-13:6. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 40:34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

We serve a glorious God who is worthy of all our love. He has given many of us everything we need and much of what we want above our needs. He is generous with both material and spiritual blessings—IF we fulfill the first (greatest) commandment. We are to love Him with all that we are—heart, soul, mind, and strength—emotionally, spiritually, and physically, we are to be completely His. Just as the cloud covered and filled the tent, God’s glory can cover and fill each of us. Seek His presence today!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Beauty and Responsibility

Today I read Exodus 38:19-39:43 and Mark 11:26-12:21. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 39:3 And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.

Mark 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.

I love to do cross stitching—creating beautiful pictures by working different colored threads into a cloth background. That is what I was reminded of when I read Exodus 39:3. I can imagine the stunning effect of working gold wires in with blue, purple, and scarlet threads in a fine linen cloth. God must love beautiful things; you only have to look around at the beauty of his creation to know that. But God is not selfish. Jesus told those who asked about paying taxes that they were expected to “Render to Caesar” what was owed him; Christians are expected to pay taxes. We are also expected to pay tithes—at the very least. God wants what is due him, but he wants us to be faithful with our finances in other areas as well.

Give Him Your Best

Today (February 21) I read Exodus 37:1-38:18 and Mark 11:1-25. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 37:7 And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.

Mark 11:9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Much of what was made for the Tabernacle of God was made from pure gold. The angels on the ends of the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant were gold. Gold was, and still is, a precious metal, highly valued. Its use in the Tabernacle showed obedience to God as well as high regard for the place of His presence. God is always worthy of our very best. Jesus Christ, His Son, is also worthy of our best. When He entered Jerusalem before He was sold to His enemies to be crucified, He was surrounded by people who were praising Him. As we worship and praise the Father and the Son, may we be aware of their awesome majesty and give Them our very best.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Giver or Hoarder?

Today I read Exodus 36 and Mark 10:20-52. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 36:5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.

Mark 10:23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

We can never outgive God. How good it is when we are blessed by Him and can give “more than enough” to His Kingdom work. Since Jesus reminds us that it is very hard for a rich man to enter God’s kingdom, it makes sense to give as much as we can back to Him so that we won’t have that “rich man” worry. Are you a generous giver or a hoarder? Most of us fall somewhere in between—we give, but not as much as we could or should. Maybe tomorrow we can try giving more than usual and see if God responds with more than usual blessings!

Friday, February 19, 2010

God is Gracious, Good, and True

Today I read Exodus 34:3-35:35 and Mark 9:41-10:19. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

Mark 10:16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

Wow! God described Himself perfectly. What a great and wonderful God to be so patient with us when we are so prone to sin against Him. He is always good and true and He wants us to strive to have those same qualities. One of the ways God showed His goodness was in the way Jesus treated children. Can you picture in your mind the Son of God picking up little children in His arms and blessing them? He truly loved the children and was upset with His disciples when they tried to keep the children away from Him. How blessed we are to be able to worship and have fellowship with such a loving, gracious God!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Believe and Rest

Today I read Exodus 32:10-34:2 and Mark 9:12-40. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 33:14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

If you are a child of God, you are blessed. His presence is with you wherever you go, and He meets your needs. We can rest in Him because He will take care of things according to His will, and we do not need to worry or stress over anything. All things are possible if we believe in Him. Most of us don’t have the kind of faith it takes to trust fully in God and Jesus as we should; but as we learn to trust Him more, our faith grows and our rest becomes more fulfilling. God is in control; we need to let Him direct our lives in our best interest. Will you hand over everything to Him today?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Are You Stiffnecked?

Today I read Exodus 30:15-32:9 and Mark 8:21-9:11. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

Mark 8:29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

What does God see when He looks at you? Does he see a stiff neck or a tender heart? There are many people who are set in their ways and will not change for the sake of other people or even God. God wants people to serve Him who are willing to make changes when He asks them to. Recently, I have begun breaking ties with my Fremont Hills Church Family because I feel God calling me into full time ministry at Stained Glass Theatre. It is not easy to say goodbye; but at the same time, it is exciting to begin a new walk with God. The biggest change God ever asks for is when He calls upon the unbeliever to declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world. Peter made that declaration to Jesus Himself. That was the first step toward his becoming a powerful preacher of the Word. The change wasn’t immediately complete—Peter had setbacks on his way to becoming a faithful servant of God. But Peter would repent—change his direction—each time he went astray, and He came back to God each time. Today, consider what God is asking you to do.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Does God dwell with you?

Today I read Exodus 29:10-30:14 and Mark 7:29-8:20. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 29:45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

Mark 8:11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

God chose the children of Israel to dwell among. He chose to be their God. But they did not remain faithful to God even though He has always remained faithful to them. The Pharisees were a group of Israelites who were very religious. They claimed to know and serve God, but they would not accept that Jesus was God’s Son. They tried to convince Him to give them a special sign from heaven to prove that He was the Son of God. Mark said they were tempting Him. Jesus performed many signs during His ministry on earth, but He did not have to perform signs and miracles to prove who He was. As He followed the leadership of His Father, people who encountered Him had to decide whether or not to believe what they saw. They could not tell Jesus what to do; He did the will of His Father. Each of us today must choose whether or not to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world. To those who choose to believe, He will give eternal life.

Obey out of Love

Today (February 15) I read Exodus 26:9-29:9 and Mark 6:27-7:28. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 28:35 And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.

Mark 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

Some of the consequences in the Old Testament seem extremely harsh. The High Priest was to have bells sewn on the hem of his robe so that it would make noise. He had to be heard when he entered the holy place in the tabernacle; otherwise, he would die. God made specific requirements for the priests; if they did not obey those requirements, they were punished. The penalty for disobedience to God was death. God still expects obedience from his children; but since we are living under the New Testament rules, we experience more mercy. Jesus had compassion on the people who were wandering around like lost sheep because they did not understand what God required from them. Instead of striking them dead, he taught them many things. As His children, we need to be willing learners and obedient followers.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Commune with God

Today I read Exodus 24:16-26:8 and Mark 5:41-6:26. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 25:22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

Mark 6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

When God gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle and all its furnishings, there was one special piece called “the mercy seat”. It was not something to sit on, however; it was a covering for the ark of the covenant. God told Moses that He would meet him there, so apparently God sat on the mercy seat! God said that He would commune with Moses there. It was a very special place where God would tell Moses all the things that he needed to pass on to the Israelites. Do you have a special place where you meet with God and commune with Him? Of course, we can pray anywhere we happen to be—and should—but isn’t it wonderful to be able to have a place you can go back to time and again where you feel especially close to God and can commune with Him without any distractions. If you don’t have such a place, consider choosing one; or better yet, listen to God and let Him choose the place. Then meet Him there regularly to receive instruction from Him.

In Mark 6:6 we see that Jesus, as well as He knew the hearts of men, marveled at the fact that they would not believe Him. They heard the message that He preached and saw the miracles that He did, and yet they did not believe that He was the Son of God. He continued to teach—reaching out to mankind as their loving Messiah. He still reaches out to us today; He wants us to believe His Words and accept Him as the Savior and Lord of our lives. Receive His teaching today, and believe the Word that He has given to us; allow Him to live in you.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Believe and Obey

Today I read Exodus 21:14-24:15 and Mark 4:24-5:40. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 21:15, 17 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. 17And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

Mark 5:36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

God was serious about children honoring parents. We hear much about child abuse, but sometimes it is the other way around. Sometimes children, both young and adult children, mistreat their parents. It may be physically abusing or attacking them, or it may be a case of verbal, mental, or emotional abuse. In either case, God said the penalty is death. I’m sure that all of us have disobeyed parents at times in our lives. But if we resort to cursing or striking them, God demands serious punishment. If you are harboring a bad attitude toward your parents, consider making amends today.

I love the words of Jesus in Mark 5:36. He spoke them to a particular ruler in this instance, but I believe they apply to all of us. If we believe in Jesus and His ability to take care of our needs, there is no reason for us to be afraid. When we receive bad news, we need to filter it through our faith in Jesus. He was not surprised or upset by it; He knew it was coming, and He has a way prepared to care for us in spite of it. God is Good, and we can rest in Him.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Honor Your Parents

Today I read Exodus 19:14-21:13 and Mark 3:30-4:23. My favorite verses are:

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Mark 4:23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

I have honored my earthly father for as long as he lived; and from now on, I will honor his memory as one of the greatest men of God that I have ever known. I am thankful that God allowed me to be raised by a man after His own heart. My mother, too, is a woman deserving of honor. She was a faithful wife for nearly 65 years and a Godly mother to her children. As we consider her future, her children and grandchildren are ready to do what is best for her because we love and respect her. So for all of you with ears, hear what God says—honor your parents if you wish to have a long life. I know that some children have earthly parents who may not be worthy of honor. I am sorry for that, but I know that we all have a Father in heaven who can change the way things are here on earth if we ask Him. But we must use our ears to listen to what He says, and we must obey.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Personal Update

I got caught up on reading my Bible through today.  I plan to start doing daily devotions again tomorrow.  Thank you for your patience during this past, difficult, week.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Daddy's Funeral

Today at 1:00 we are having my daddy's funeral.  My brother and sisters and I will be singing "Gone Home".  We miss him, but we know he truly has gone home and one day we will all be together again.  Pray for God's grace and strength for my mother and all of our family.  Thank you!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

I am still busy with my family making arrangements for my daddy's funeral.  I will be getting back to writing a daily devotion soon.  Thank you for prayers and concern.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Personal Note

This morning my Daddy died.  He was 86 years old and had lived a life of service to God for most of those years.  He was a deacon, teacher, church planter, and preacher at different times in his life.  I am grateful for the Christian legacy this man of God gave to me.  He is home with his heavenly Father and his Savior Jesus Christ.  I will miss him, but I know that I will be with him again some day and for eternity.

Followers