Tag Archives: God’s Word

November 21 – Easily Swayed

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Acts 13-14

Why are we so eager to believe everything we hear? (or see posted on FaceBook?)

Today we read about people who started out listening to Paul, then turned on him when some Jews instigated a persecution agains Paul and Barnabas. The Jews went to the “devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city” and put a bug in their ear.

“Paul is a blasphemer,” they said. Their motivation, we are told, was jealousy.

In Sunday School yesterday we talked about John’s warning against false prophets in His first letter, chapter 4:1. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Do you know a lie when you hear it, even if it’s cloaked in a Bible verse or two? Do you watch the TV preachers who preach partial truths, but spread lies? We’ve got to be in the Bible ourselves. We’ve got to be grounded in God’s Word or we’ll believe the lies.

Sometimes the lies come from what a preacher doesn’t say. Take Joel Osteen. Do you hear him talk about sin, or God’s holiness, or the depravity of man? Yet look at his following. He makes people feel really good about themselves.

What about the Power of Positive Thinking? Is that what the Bible teaches? That if we think good thoughts, good things will happen?

What about what your pastor said yesterday? Do you know if his sermon is consistent with God’s Word or not? Or are you assuming it is because he’s the preacher?

I think God would have us be active listeners, researchers, people who know His Word and stand by it. Otherwise, we’ll be easily swayed.

September 22 – The Burden

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Zechariah 8-14

I’m not sure I ever knew the word “oracle” could be translated as “burden.” The NASB says, “The burden of the word of the Lord is against the land of Harach…” (9:1) and “The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel.” (12:1)

I’m asking myself today how it is I view this Bible I hold in my hand. I would use words like precious, encouraging, convicting, saving, hope, the Gospel, love, direction, peace. I don’t think I’d ever think to use the word, “burden.”

But I should.

The weight of the Truth written in these pages should lay heavy on my shoulders. Because having this Word, recognizing the seriousness of its content, should drive me to my knees on behalf of my friends and loved ones who don’t know the Author.

I know, because of God’s Word, what their eternity without Him is going to be. That in itself should be a burden too great to bear without sharing what I know with them. Having God’s Word is not just a blessing… it’s a responsibility that should burden us until we share the Good News written inside.

August 15 – The Oracle From God

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Jeremiah 23-25

The Bible talks a lot about false prophets. They are out there! They’ve always been out there. They claim to have a message from God – but it’s not true. They write books and blogs, go on talk shows, and stand before some congregations every Sunday. They label themselves Christian, and even can quote Scripture. But they are polluted and wicked, (23:11) and “intend to make (God’s) people forget (His) name…” (vs 27).

Jeremiah says the more they proclaim this “oracle” from God the harder it will be to recognize the Truth.

For you will no longer remember the oracle of the Lord because every man’s own words will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. (vs 36)

Do you know the Truth when you hear it? Do you recognize a distortion of that Truth? You’ve got to read and re-read God’s Word for yourself. In these pages is the only Truth. And it doesn’t come by one or two verses taken out of context.

Read the whole Bible. Memorize passages that God lays on your heart. Ask Him to help you recognize the lies.

And He will.

August 7 – Making It Personal

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2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35

Josiah was young when he became king. His dad, the king before him, was evil. But somewhere along the way Josiah had leaned about God. So, after he’d been king for eight years, at the ripe old age of 16, he began to clean house. He purged Judah and Jerusalem of the high places where false gods were worshiped, he tore down the altars of Baal, got rid of the carved images. And he ordered that the temple be cleaned out and repaired.

“He did right in the sight of the Lord.”

When cleaning out the temple, someone found the written word of God, and took it to the king. Here’s what spoke to me today: Josiah had it read to him, then when he heard the law, the young king tore his clothes. Up to that point Josiah had been doing what he’d been taught was right. Now it was personal.

I think too many of us are satisfied hearing what the preacher says on Sunday, our knowledge of God’s Word comes from someone else’s encounter with God. And most of the time we are busy doing good things like serving as ushers or greeters, singing in the choir or taking a turn in the nursery.

Josiah reminds me how important it is for all of us to read God’s Word for ourselves. We can be busy doing good things, but until we make it personal, we aren’t the effective workers God deserves.

God deserves people who have had a personal encounter with Him, who have repented of sin and accepted His grace. He deserves more than people just doing good things. He deserves workers who serve Him out of grateful hearts, devoted to Him out of love.

I want to read God’s Word for myself and let Him speak to me about my own heart’s condition. May my relationship with God be personal, and my service a natural outpouring of love for Him.

June 1 -Go Ahead And Read It

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Psalm 119:89-176

It makes me sad when I hear someone say they don’t read the Bible because it’s too hard to understand. To me that’s like saying, “I quit eating because I can’t read a recipe.” Or a baby saying, “When I try to walk I keep falling, so I just won’t walk.”

Your handwriting ability improved with practice. You most likely weren’t successful riding that bicycle the first time, either. I imagine you kept trying, didn’t you?

When you realize the God of the Universe wants you to spend time with Him in His Word, that He wrote it with you in mind, that He will give you understanding, you’ll also realize you have no excuse for not reading it.

Verse 174 says: I long for your salvation, O Lord, and Your law is my delight.

Reading the Bible doesn’t have to be like taking that awful spoonful of medicine. Reading the Bible can be something you take delight in! Look forward to. The best part of your day.

I’ve read this precious Book several times, and I can honestly say I learn something every time I open its pages. God didn’t give me the ability to understand everything the first time I read it. He hasn’t given me the ability to understand everything even yet. But He gives me understanding as I am ready to receive it, and at just the right time.

If you aren’t in the habit of reading the Bible, get it out. Go ahead and read it. Pray and ask God to give you understanding (something He is eager to do anyway), then read expecting to have Him open your eyes to exactly what He wants you to know today.

This is God’s love letter to you! Let Him help you understand what He’s done for you. Let Him reveal Himself in the pages you have in front of you. I pray that you will delight in reading and re-reading God’s Word.

Beginning today.

May 30 – The Testimony Of God’s Mouth

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Psalm 119:1-88

Have you ever had an argument with someone over Scripture? Maybe with someone who doesn’t believe the Bible at all, or maybe someone with an opinion not consistent with God’s Word? Some people might enjoy debate. I don’t.

God tells us to be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in His Son. But I am thankful he doesn’t call us to engage in a war of words in order to win someone to the Lord. I have found that when I do, the other person isn’t as interested in what I say as to how I say it. It’s like they try to set a word trap for me to fall into so they can twist it to prove their point. I find myself wanting to shake the dust off my feet and keep moving.

The psalmist expresses how I feel about this. In verse 85 he says: The arrogant have dug pits for me, men who are not in accord with Your law.

He goes on to say it feels like persecution to the point of destruction. Then the psalmist says “Help me!”

What he says in the verses following is my prayer:

But as for me, I did not forsake your precepts. Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of YOUR mouth. (emphasis mine)

If you are one who came to know the Lord by losing a debate, I praise God with you. If you have led someone to the Lord by winning a debate, I thank God for you. You have a gift!

For the rest of us, let’s stand firm in the Word of God alone, and allow Him to speak through what He inspired men to write.

He can say it all so much better than I can, anyway.

May 10 – Our Only Hope

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Psalm 50, 53, 60, 75

I am once again in awe of how relevant God’s Word is today, thousands of years after it was written. God still has no use for sacrifices or service from people who say they follow Him, but whose hearts are still unyielding. How dare you even speak God’s Word, He asks them. I think God must hold a special contempt for those who use His Words to rationalize their evil.

The psalmist says it’s a fool who denies the existence of God. I read some blogs where so-called atheists spout their intellectual sounding opinions, and realize how true God’s Word is. They don’t even know how foolish they sound. God is real whether we want to believe it or not. And he is no fool. Don’t you be.

I look at our world with its terrible unrest, our own country with two arrogant, ungodly presidential candidates, our churches where blatant sin is tolerated and even proclaimed, and recognize what the psalmist says in 60:1.

O God, you have rejected us. You have broken us. You have been angry. O restore us.

Is restoration even possible at this late date? Scripture gives us one example after another of restoration. When God’s people humble themselves, when they call on God and repent of sin, He heals every time.

Get on your knees, Christian. We are the only hope for this world.

April 19 – When God Is Silent

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I Samuel 28-31, Psalm 18

I am having one of those mornings where God seems to be silent as I read His Word. My mind wanders. My eyes fill with tears.

So I will pray back to God His own words from the eighteenth psalm. It’s all I have to offer today.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.” You are my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge. You are my shield, my salvation, and my stronghold. I call upon You, Lord, because You are worthy to be praised. I am saved from Satan’s hold on me, I am protected from his arrows. You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me. Your gentleness makes me great.

The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock; and exalted be the God of my salvation. (from psalm 18:1-3, 35, 4)

Feb 6 – Dinner With God

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Exodus 22-24

It must have been exciting to be one of the seventy elders of Israel who had dinner with God on the mountain. (Exodus 24:11) It wasn’t just Moses who saw God.

They saw the God of Israel and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky itself. (verse 10)

Think of it!

Sometimes I find myself wishing I could sit and talk with God over a bowl of chili. I’d like to see the pavement under His feet, to hear His voice.

But while I walk this earth I have the privilege of having that very same God living right inside of me. I have His very words written as a love letter to me. I have His attention every minute of every day.

When the seventy elders walked back down that mountain, they walked away from God’s Presence. And that’s something I’ll never have to do.

One day I’ll see His face. I’ll hear His voice. I’ll feel His arms around me. I’ll know exactly what it was those seventy elders experienced that day on the mountain, and more.

Forever.

Dear God, I look forward to that day. And I thank You that until that time comes, You promise to stay right here with me. I love You.

How Do You Know What is True?

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Satan has been twisting God’s Truth since the garden when he told Eve God didn’t really mean what he said. “You won’t really die,” was the lie that changed everything.

Jeremiah, in chapter 14, asked God not to be mad at the people, saying the prophets were telling them they were ok. God said – “my prophets aren’t telling them that. The people are believing a lie.”

No different than today.

The Truth of Scripture is being twisted, and edited, and denied. So how do you even know what’s true any more?

Well, are you reading and studying God’s written Word? Do you pray over it, think about it, talk about it? Are you familiar with the things God inspired men to write for your benefit? God isn’t going to let you believe a lie if you include him in your search for Truth.

You might not like what you read in the Bible. It’s not politically correct. You might recognize yourself as a sinner damned to hell. But you don’t have to be.

The Truth is Jesus died to forgive your sins. He went to the cross so you don’t have to pay the debt you’ve accumulated. He is eager to mark that debt “paid”, if you’d only ask Him to.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and no one, not even you, will go to God without Him. There is no other name – not Mohammed, or Buddha, or some positive energy – that can save.

No other name!

Please read the Bible. It’s God’s word to you. But don’t just read the parts that don’t offend you, or those that make you feel good. Read it all. It’s the only way to be able to recognize when Satan is twisting the Truth.

Don’t miss out on what God wants to say to you today.