Author: SeekGrowLove

The Peaceful Tongue

Job 22-24

Psalm 98

James 3

-Devotion by Makenna Landry, née Cisler, a 2021 ABC graduate. Makenna is a licensed pastor of the Church of God General Conference working to service God by teaching His word and supporting His people through all aspects of life. She has two children, a passion for helping people, and loves Disney. She spends her time writing and enjoys playing board games with friends and family. 

Key passage: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” James 3:17-18 (ESV) 

James 3 starts off by making the claim that not everyone can be a teacher. This is similar to the lesson I wrote on 1 Timothy that not everyone has the right to understand or focus not on scripture but on other things that tickle the ears of the listeners. This warning from James ties into the passage of Job. Job’s friends are trying their best to help Job and Job refutes them at every turn. At the end of Job, we see neither party was in the right. Job and his friends hold an example to us to be careful what we say to others. 

This is why the entire chapter of James 3 is so important. It teaches and guides us on how we can speak to others and what wisdom we should pass along to others. 

Let’s break down the chapter. 

James 3:5 (ESV) says, “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”

James is not telling his readers that people should have low self esteem and a bad view of themselves. He warns against pridefully honoring yourself over others. This can be seen more as bragging about your accomplishments instead of humbly celebrating victories. 

James 3:8 (ESV) but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

This verse is pretty doom and gloom! It feels helpless and like we are in an endless maze. So the question arises what does that mean? What does it mean that the tongue is a restless evil that cannot be tamed?

You know how sometimes when you stub your toe really hard you cry out in pain. Some people swear others have swear alternatives like “gosh darn it”, “holy cow”, or “great googly moogly” (can you imagine someone actually saying that besides Major Monogram from Phineas and Ferb ha!). All these phrases and words, a lot of us have used in place of curse words. But does that make it good to say it? When I was young and really into the phase of finding alternative expressions from curse words, my mom shared a piece of advice that still shapes how I speak and talk to this day: any word used poorly becomes a curse word. When our intention is to express anger and pain towards an individual or object our words are no longer from God but from the evil that plagues this world. 

No matter how hard one might try not to use the socially deemed words with bad meetings, our heart behind anything we say reflects whether or not the words are bringing glory to God. This might not even be the words we say but the tone we say it in! Our language abounds in ways that we can be rude to others. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t try. We will mess up and we won’t ever be perfect, yet we can be reminded by James to try our best to tame our tongue. 

What are some ways you might be cursing in your life? Do you use curse words, do you use alternative curses, or does your tone reflect one of judgment and anger? What are ways you can work towards taming your tongue?

When we consider shaping the things we say to God, we have to consider what would bring Him glory. That’s why I started the lesson with James 3:17-18. It brings into the view the focus of our hearts and words. Wisdom is not just something we impart to others but something that should be imbued in our very being. Our thoughts, words, and deeds should be done in wisdom. 

From James 3:17-18, what does it look like to have wisdom in the way that we speak?

Psalm 98 is a great reminder of the heart behind our words to God. James is specifically focusing on our words to others, but Psalm 98 can be an example of the heart behind the words we say. 

Have you ever heard someone say, “I can’t sing so I make a joyful noise”? I know many individuals who have said it to me and they are some of the most joyful worshipers I have ever seen. To give them credit they also can sing a lot better than they think.  But worship isn’t about perfection. It’s not about a big band, special lighting, perfect pitch and harmony. 

When we worship God with Him as the focus, we are taming our tongue. The more we align ourselves with God’s goodness, faithfulness, and lovingkindness the more our words are shaped to reflect Him. Singing praise to God fills us with holy thoughts and focuses our attention on the one we should be following. 

Further QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

How can worship help you tame the tongue?

What are ways you can bring glory to God through your words?

How did you relate to the individuals in the book of Job in today’s reading?

PRAY:

Father in heaven may glory be brought to You in my words and deeds. Help me tame my tongue and speak gently to those around me. You have made all things and Your love endures forever. Be gracious to me and show me how to be gracious to those around me. In the name of Jesus Christ, my savior and mediator, amen. 

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The Righteous Judge

Job 20-21

Psalm 98

James 2

-Devotion by Makenna Landry (MN)

Key passage: “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together, before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.” Psalm 98:8-9 (ESV)

Psalm 98 is a psalm of praise. It sings great thanksgiving to God recognizing God’s good works and His never ending love. It ends with the reminder that God will judge the world with righteousness and fairness. 

Christians today, and across time, have been considered judgmental. Christians hold to the moral standards Scripture teaches and tries to hold others to the same moral standards. This in my own life has come across to people as overly innocent, stuffy, fake-y, and judgemental. I distinctly remember when I told a fellow classmate in my early years of elementary school that he should follow the rules because it shows respect to the adults. He did not agree with me, calling me all of the things I listed above. Needless to say, the years of elementary school he and I were never on good terms because he continued to do the wrong thing and I continued to try to correct him. He viewed me as judgmental and too proper and I was always annoyed that he refused to do the right thing. 

Thank the LORD that it is not on me to judge his actions. I think that’s the sentiment behind this psalm. God is the ultimate judge and He does so with great fairness. He has set forward a path to righteousness and He draws the lines on who will receive the reward of the kingdom and who will not. If I could tell my younger self to just let it go, it would have been a much more enjoyable time in my life. 

There are times that we might thank God for being the perfect judge, while other times we might question it like Job questions in Job 21. 

Zophar reminds Job of the downfall of pride and reminds Job of the importance of carrying for the needy. Job’s response is one filled with questions and a complete lack of reflection on himself. He instead looks outward towards the wicked people. He wonders why they would be receiving so much and living a healthy, long, prosperous life. Zophar stated evil faced death but Job turns it around on Zophar pointing to the sinful individuals living happily around them. This brings into question God’s judgment. Is he truly a righteous and fair judge when Job, a godly man, suffered while evil men had riches?

At that moment, Job couldn’t see the full picture of God’s judgment. He saw the moment he was living in and how unfair that single moment felt. 

Do you have moments like that? I know I do, as do my kids. 

When I was in high school, my younger sibling was being homeschooled while I had to attend public school. At the time I would have said it felt like the boils Job experienced with how much I disliked public school. It felt unfair to have to get up at 5:30 every morning and get home at 3 just to do homework all night when my brother could sleep in and finish with school before the rest of us were home. 

As an adult, I can recognize how that was better for both of us. Our learning styles and career paths were different so we needed different schooling. But in the moment, I felt like Job was pointing to other people and thinking that it wasn’t fair they had what he wanted. That phrase the grass is always greener in someone else’s yard was how I felt. Even four year olds feel this!

My four year old has started saying the phrase “that’s not fair”. It has blown me away how early children build that phrase into their vocabulary thinking they are owed some sort of evenness with their parents, siblings, and friends. Sometimes we look down on Job for having that perspective or on others when they ask why good things happen to everyone but me. 

What are some times in your life that you’ve questioned the fairness of life? 

In those times, we can remember that God’s fairness isn’t for this life but the life to come. His judgement is on our actions, attitudes, and beliefs during the trials of life. It’s for a glorious, perfect, eternal kingdom and not for the 80 years we are here on earth. 

This brings the question, what is God looking for? How do we find ourselves in a place that we can praise God for being the perfect judge instead of viewing life as unfair?

That’s where James comes in! 

James chapter two is really what the book of James is known for. It speaks on the fact that our faith should spur on our actions in order to live a righteous life. Simple belief doesn’t make us righteous. Belief is the first step to a life committed to God. James expands on what to do once you take the step of belief. 

He does this by pointing to Abraham and Rahab. For some background, Abraham is considered the founder of faith and a righteous man that we all want to strive to be like. His faith spurred him towards countless times of obedient action. The first was moving away from his home, family, and all that he knew to travel to a foreign land. During those travels he obeyed God at almost every turn. No one can claim perfect, not even Abraham, but his failures don’t define him. Instead his times of obedience do. James specifically points to Genesis 22. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac was Abraham’s only son with his wife Sarah. Isaac was a long awaited promise who took Abraham and Sarah many years to conceive. He was God’s promises fulfilled for Abraham and the other promises God had made rested on the shoulders of Isaac. Yet, Abraham was still obedient. His actions marked his righteousness. The same goes for Rahab. She risks everything to hide the Israelite spies in Jericho. 

But how do we show our faith? 

Living in the United States in the 2020s doesn’t give a lot of opportunities to help hide God’s spies, discover new lands, or sacrifice everything. Some of the things Abraham did would even be extremely frowned upon in today’s society!

We can be thankful for the book of James once again. It shows that faith looks like helping others, showing fairness to everyone around us and other key ways to have our faith displayed in every aspect of our lives that we will read in the days to come. 

God is our good, righteous, and fair judge. We can bring Him glory, honor, and praise through our actions towards those around us. Instead of judging others like in the story I shared from my past, we should show them love and kindness, helping when they are in need, and treating all people with respect and dignity. 

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

How can you remind yourself to trust in God’s judgment?

How can you praise God each day for what He has blessed you with even if the grass seems greener somewhere else?

What is one way you can show your faith to someone today?

PRAY:

Dear God, thank You for Your righteous judgment. Thank You for the Biblical examples You have gifted the world to show me how to be righteous. Heal my heart from judgement of those around me and replace it with a heart of love and kindness. Place in my life a way to show someone Your love today and open my eyes to the needs of those around me. Amen

Makenna Landry, née Cisler, an ABC graduate of 2021, is a licensed pastor of the Church of God General Conference working to service God by teaching His word and supporting His people through all aspects of life. She has two children, a passion for helping people, and loves Disney. She spends her time writing and enjoys playing board games with friends and family. 

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JOY

Job 18-19

Psalm 97

James 1

-Devotion by Makenna (Cisler) Landry (MN)

Key passage: “Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 97:10 (NIV)

Job, a man having faced great turmoil and distress. You by now have come familiar with the back and forth between Job and his friends. In today’s reading, Job laments that his friends have harshly and shamelessly reproached him not once, not twice, but ten times! His own personal inner thoughts are turmoil enough. To hear his friends speak to them aloud must have been devastating! His friends are still convinced that Job must have done something evil to deserve this wrath of God, but Job seems to see it as God simply putting him through the ringer with no clear reason. His friends blame him and he blames God. This blame game is not unfamiliar today.

In today’s psychological world, the blame game is ever a rising issue. People tend to try to place the blame on anything but themselves. Why else would someone be facing hardship if not from an outside source? Just as Bildad blames Job and Job blames God, we are constantly trying to find someone else to blame. It makes it easier to handle the hardships in life. Or so we want to think.

In reality, once we reach the end of Job we will see God speaking that neither Job nor Bildad are entirely right. We see at the beginning of Job that it was Satan causing the misfortune! The same goes for the bad things that happen in our world today. James reminds us in the reading today, that “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17a NIV). How do you remind yourself to stop playing the blame game in your life?

Here is my suggestion:

Read the book of James! Especially the first chapter like we did today. It reminds us that trials are bound to happen and that we must persevere through them because the one who perseveres will receive the crown of life (James 1:12). Let’s take a closer look at chapter one to help understand and apply the scripture.

James opens his letter to the scattered Jewish Christians by identifying himself as a servant. He was likely the leader of the Jerusalem church and even likely to have been the half brother of Jesus and yet he identifies himself as a servant. One who gives his life in humble service to God. This humility is common among the New Testament writers and is one that we need to remind ourselves to copy. It can be easy to get wrapped up in titles, talents, awards, but our identity should always be rooted in God. He grants every good and perfect thing in life. How do you show that your life is rooted in God and not the world? This theme of rooted in God is seen throughout the book of James as it explains how to be doers and not simply hearers of the Word of God. 

What does James mean when he says to “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2 NIV)? Consider Job once again. Even though he was struggling and played the blame game with God and his friends, he still held fast to hope. Chapter 19 of Job ends with Job’s excitement and hope to see God one day. He trusted that God would restore all things even if it wasn’t during this age. James gives his readers the hope that can be held onto during trials that can help produce joy. That hope is the crown of life! This crown of life is the promise of restoration in the Kingdom of God. When all things are made new and we will live eternity with our loving creator. 

How do we display joy during trials? James answers this question as well. He first reminds his readers that temptation and evil is not from God. Similarly we see this theme in today’s Psalm that wicked is the opposite of God. Wickedness can not come from something that is good. Reminding ourselves of this can help focus that God will bring good even while we are persevering through trials. 

Joy is also shown through verse 19. James wrote “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.” (James 1:19 NIV).

It’s hard to do that when you are facing hard times. I was recently listening to the book Vertical Marriage. It was discussing this verse and how it’s so easy to do this when life is easy, finances are secure, jobs are good, everyone is healthy and on the same page. But as soon as a snag happens all of those things fly out the window. The more we don’t listen, the more likely we will say something hurtful, and the higher chances not only yourself but the person you’re disagreeing with is to become angry. This anger comes from frustration, hurt, a lack of joy, and much more. It’s extremely easy to jump to anger when you are facing something difficult. Let this passage encourage and remind us to seek joy in all that we face. 

QUESTIONS TO POUNDER

How have you found joy this week?

What are things that bring you joy? How can you praise God through those things?

PRAY

Dear Heavenly Father, Allow Your Holy Scripture to draw me closer to You. May Your Words fill me with Your gift of joy.  Teach me to know Your good and perfect ways and protect me from evil. Forgive my sins and heal my wounds. May I see You, my loving heavenly father, in every moment today. Give strength for the hardship and joy that lasts. I praise you for the greatest gift of Your son. In the name of Jesus, Amen

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Final Reminders

Job 16-17

Psalm 97

Hebrews 13

-Devotion by Paula Kirkpatrick (originally posted for SeekGrowLove on Oct 27, 2021)

When children finish high school, and they go off to college or to live on their own for the first time, those frenzied final weeks before leaving are usually a flurry of activities.  To-do lists are checked off and then added to, last minute shopping trips become a daily occurrence, and packing everything needed seems an impossible task.  Finally, the day arrives, and the slightly panicked parents are often confronted with this stark realization:  did I prepare them sufficiently for the challenges they will face in life?  And so ensues final reminders, gentle warnings, and many sentences starting with “Don’t forget,” or “Remember.”  The parents want the best experience for their children at college and in life.

The writer of Hebrews also desires the best outcome for his dear readers, his spiritual children, as he finishes his letter.  Of course, that best outcome is eternal life in the Kingdom of God.  Thus, Hebrews 13 concludes with straightforward instruction to reach this prize.

Consider the direct instructions found in verses 1-7, and the reasons WHY these instructions are important.  

  • “Keep on loving each other as brothers”
  • “Do not neglect hospitality to strangers—(WHY?)—”for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
  • “Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are badly treated—(WHY?) – since you yourselves also are in the body.”
  •  “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; – (WHY?) – for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.”
  • “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; – (WHY?) – for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you.”
  • “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; – (WHY?) – considering the result of their way of life, imitate their faith.”

Verse 17 goes hand in hand with verse 7.  “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, – (WHY?) – because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”

Hebrews 13:8 can be a stand-alone statement and beloved promise, easy to memorize (and it should be) and underlined in your Bible.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

What an assurance to us that Jesus has not changed and will not change—he is our Savior and coming King.  Perhaps the writer felt a plain statement of our basic hope was warranted after his beginning list of directives. 

Building on that simple reassurance, verse 9 warns the early Christians and us today, not to “be carried away by varied and strange teachings,” just as parents might advise their departing children—stay true to your foundation, the principles of your upbringing.  It is firm, it is solid, it will keep you grounded. 

Now, remember our reading from Hebrews 10 a few days ago. 

“But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,waiting from that time onward until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” (Heb. 10:12-14)

Continuing in Hebrews 13, verses 15-16 should be OUR response for this sacrifice. 

 “Through Him then, let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips praising His name.  And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

Our Salvation Gift from God:

Jesus—ONE SACRIFICE for all time

Our Response:

CONTINUAL SACRIFICE of

  • Praise
  • Doing good
  • Sharing

As the end of verse 16 says, “for with such SACRIFICES God is pleased.”

The writer concludes with a benediction or ending prayer in verses 20 and 21 that sums up his thoughts in this chapter. 

“Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

This prayer serves as the perfect final reminder for young adults off to college, and for each one of us. 

Reflection Questions

  1. What reminders would you pass on to your children (biological, adopted and spiritual children)? What spiritual instruction do you want them to hear one more time?
  2. What did you need to hear again (or for the first time) from Hebrews 13?
  3. What do you love about Jesus’ once for all sacrifice? What will your continual sacrifice look like today?

Prayer

“Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

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Looking Unto Jesus the Captain of Our Salvation

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith
Job 14-15
Psalm 96
Hebrews 12

-Devotion by Tom Siderius (MI)

We just returned from General Conference in Atlanta and wonderful fellowship with all the people that were there.  The theme of the conference is “Pillars and Pathways”.  As we read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews yesterday, we were shown what the pillars of faith from the Old Testament had stood for and with.  The pillars of our faith run back to Abraham who believed God and it was counted for righteousness because of his faith.  As we begin chapter twelve the focus turns to the central theme of the whole Old Testament.  All this faithfulness from the believer in the OT brought us to Christ who is the perfect representative of the Father who formed him and filled him with the holy spirit giving him power to do God’s will.

Look together at the first verses of chapter 12:

Hebrews 12:1-3(NLT) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

The direction of our walk following Christ is a straight path of endurance that we follow as our champion and captain of salvation goes before us showing us the way to walk.  The path he has given us is straight and direct, going to the Father God that has called us to a life of faith and service.

Matthew 6:22(NKJV) The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.

What we focus our eyes and our mind on will be the things that come into our thoughts and hearts.  The word “good” in verse Matt 6:22 can also be translated as “simple” or “straight”.  When our eye is looking “straight” at our champion, and we follow him in this race of life our path will be straight and our way direct.  Following Jesus is a simple path, he has shown us the way.  For our lives, families, fellowships and churches the path has been given to us by the pillars of our faith, and Jesus Christ has shown us the path to follow. 

When our eye is simple, following Jesus, our whole life will be filled with the light of God’s presence and fellowship with us.

Psalms 96:1-4(NLT) Sing a new song to the LORD!
Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!
2 Sing to the LORD; praise his name.
Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.
3 Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
4 Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise!

Psalms 96:11-13(NLT) Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
12 Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
Let the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the LORD, for he is coming!
He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with his truth.

All the peoples of the earth will be judged by the Word of God spoken to us by the pillars of our faith, and by our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Reflection Questions

  1. What Old Testament pillars of faith do you love to look to for example, encouragement and instruction? Who in your life has been a pillar of faith for you, teaching you the wonderful words of God and what to do with them?
  2. What do you love about Jesus? What have you learned from him? How would you describe the path he is setting before you?
  3. Would you describe your eyesight as good, simple and straight, following Jesus to the Father? Is anything clouding your vision or is anything in your peripheral vision distracting you from good, simple and straight vision following Jesus? How can you improve your eyesight?

Prayer

Father God, we reach out to follow your champion of faith that is before us.  Make our eyes and hearts straight to follow him.  Give us this day the bread of our need and keep us from turning to the right or left away from You.  We sing Your praises from our hearts of joy that You have given us.  In the name of the champion of our faith, Jesus Christ we pray.

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Title Deed to Our Hope

Job 12-13

Psalm 96

Hebrews 11

-Devotion by Tom Siderius(MI)

Hebrews 11:1-3(NLT) Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. 2 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

Hebrews 11:1(AMP) Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].

Faith is our complete believing trust in the Word of God and it’s truth. It  comes from mixing the personal believing of our hearts with the trustworthy and perfect words which God has given for us to know and understand.  When we completely trust the Word in our hearts then we will act in accordance with that trust.  This is why the Amplified Bible shows the phrase “title deed” to things prayed for and hoped for.

If I have the title deed for my farm in my hands do I have the farm in my hands?  No it is impossible to have the farm that way.  But the reality is that when we have the deed with Tom and Sandy written on it, with no lien or obligations connected with it, we have the farm.

This is the way that we trust God in our hearts and then receive the promise for the things that God has made.  Ephesians 1 gives us another assurance of God’s plan.

Ephesians 1:4-5(NLT) Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

God chose you before the foundation of the earth!  Wow!! And it says that it gave Him great pleasure to save you in Christ. Double Wow!!  Then we get a guarantee even better.

Ephesians 1:13-14(NLT) And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Have you believed God in your heart about what God has testified about Christ?

Did you receive the gift of holy spirit when you believed and became God’s child?

What does that mean for your life?

We have received the title deed and seal of promise to the future hope of Christ’s rulership and kingdom to come.  You have the proof in your hands that what God has said will come to pass in the future.  The faithful of the past all believed this and received the same sure promises. Please read Hebrews 11 for the rest of the story.

Hebrews 11:13-16(NLT) All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

The title deed we have received is the deed to a future with God and a place to live in righteousness and peace with our Savior Jesus Christ and his and our Father God.  As you go from here be the child of God that you are with all the rights and privileges that come from the trust that God is faithful to that which He has promised and performed.

Reflection Questions

See Questions above – and also – Where do you keep your title deed of faith?

Are you excited by the future hope you have received?

Prayer

Father please be with us this day, and we thank you for the bread of our need as we walk with You.  Thank you for the kingdom to come, that what You have promised will come to pass.  Please give us living hearts of faith and trust in You in all we do.  God bless the prayer and works of our lives to honor You.  Love in Christ, your children

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God is Worthy of Our Praise and There Is No Other

Job 10-11

Psalm 95

Hebrews 10

-Devotion by Tom Siderius (MI)

What a great day to be in Christ and have the praise of our Father on our lips and in our hearts.  Is there truly anything else we can do for God?  Our gifts to Him can only be from our hearts and lips.   Psalm 95 gives us the beautiful music of this praise of our hearts.

Psalms 95:1-7(NLT) Come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the LORD is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.
6 Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,
7 for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care.

We are the flock cared for by the God who is our Shepherd and help in time of need.  Jesus is now given the power to gather the church of God today with the same care as the Father who has loved us.  He is the shepherd of our hearts and lives today.

Hebrews 2:11-15(NLT) So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. 12 For he said to God, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.” 13 He also said, “I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.” 14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

How does it feel to know that you are the child of God Almighty and the brother of the Christ who died for you.  Raised with him from the grave and set free from the chains of sin and death.  Only God and His Son are worthy of our praise.

Ephesians 1:5-11(NLT) God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. 9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

Reflection Questions

Why did God choose YOU?

What is the response of your heart to Him and our Lord Jesus Christ?

What do we need to do today?

Prayer

Father, Father, we love You so much and look in awe on all You have done for us.  We praise You with our hearts and mouths.  Be with us this day as You have promised and give us the bread and help we need to do Your will.  We love You because You first loved us. In our precious Savior’s name Jesus Christ

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The Mediator

Job 8-9

Psalm 95

Hebrews 9

-Devotion by Jeremy Martin (TN)                

            We begin our reading today with Job again arguing with his “friends”.  His buddy Bildad leads (in chapter 8) with “2′How long will you say these things, And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?‘”, which seems to be a less-than-gracious approach at best (and pretty rude at worst) from someone who’s supposed to be your friend when you’ve hit rock bottom.  He then goes on to say that God rewards the righteous, and offers a number of helpful suggestions to Job on how to regain his righteousness, assuming that Job has become unrighteous in some way.

            Job steadfastly insists on his innocence, but points out the futility of arguing with God.  In Chapter 9 he says “5God is the One who removes the mountains, they know not how, When He overturns them in His anger; 6The One who shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble; 7The One who says for the sun not to shine, And sets a seal upon the stars; 8Who alone stretches out the heavens, And tramples down the waves of the sea;” to highlight the futility of arguing with such a powerful being, and then comes a key understanding later on in this same chapter.  This is the heart of his argument, the point of pain in his disagreement with his treatment.

            Job understands that he is just a man, a mortal human being, and that God is the creator and master of the universe.  What argument can you offer?   Job feels hard done by, and it boils down to this: “32For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him,That we may go to court for judgment together. 33There is no adjudicator between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both.“.  He feels as if he has no recourse, there’s no one to stand between him and God and offer up a defense.

            David also, even though his tone and approach are different at the time, acknowledges this simple fact in Psalms 95: “3For Yahweh is a great God And a great King above all gods, 4In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. 5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. 6Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before Yahweh our Maker 7For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand...”.  All of this is true, God is the Creator of all, the ruler of all, a great King above all, who owns the very earth we live on because He created it.  The very level of His power can be, to a tiny insignificant human, a little bit intimidating.  Enraging the Most High God is generally just not considered to be a good career plan. 

            Throughout scriptural history though, there are a few very special men who pleaded with God on behalf of others, insanely brave men who placed themself in the gap and risked their own selves for the compassion of others.  Abraham pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah in Gen 18:23. If Moses had not interceded with God on behalf of the Israelites after the events of the golden calf in Exodus 32, we might have had a very different account in scriptures.  Very rarely, historically, a man would stand in the breach and plead with God for the sake of others.  Then Jesus came.

            So here’s a quick age test: did you ever watch an older black and white episode of Perry Mason?  What would have happened to any of his innocent clients if Perry had not taken their case?  Our reading today in Hebrews 9 explains to us fully that now we have a mediator, that we now have a new covenant, and that our mediator is the Christ: “15And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”.  Hebrews 9 goes on to list a number of the differences between the old and the new covenants, and explain how and why the new covenant is better.  A very good portion of Hebrews is written for the express purpose of showing that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, whom God had chosen from among the people (see Heb 5) to become the high priest and mediator of the new covenant.  He’s representing us as a mediator right now, in the Courts of Heaven (see Aug 5 devotion for a better understanding of the Courts).

            Think about this for a moment.  If Jesus had succumbed to temptation in the wilderness, would we be reading about Jesus today in scripture?  Jesus became our mediator specifically because of his complete devotion and utter obedience to God.  We know that sin and death entered the world through the actions and disobedience of one man (Adam), and we also know that through the actions and obedience of one man (Jesus) that God grants us grace and life (Romans 5).  It specifically says that in Romans 5, “through one man”, go read it.  I have some friends of a more “complex” interpretation of scripture that this is a hugely difficult text for, because they say “how could a mere man atone for the sins of the world?“, and they will usually offer the rationalization of “oh, well that was because when he died it was as a man…” as an argument (implying that after the resurrection and ascension, Jesus wasn’t a man any longer).

            That argument doesn’t hold water though.  Scripture is very clear, that there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5).  This was written by Paul in @62-65 AD.  That’s about 30 years after Jesus died and was raised again by God, well after the ascension of the Christ.  What’s the holdup?  What’s wrong with Paul, doesn’t he understand who Jesus was?  The answer is clearly yes, Paul has a very clear understanding of who Jesus was but today’s modern orthodox understanding has become greatly confused except by a very lucky few:  Jesus was born as a man, died as a man, and sits now even still at the right hand of the Ancient of days as a man (see Dan 7:13-14).  A man glorified by God, but a man nonetheless.

            That is the reason Jesus is qualified to act as our high priest (for every high priest is taken from among men, Heb 5:1), and being a man is the only reason he is qualified to act as a mediator between God and the other humans, because he went through the exact same trials and temptations that we go through every day.  The difference is, our mediator, our high priest…he passed every test.  He was obedient, even unto death (and beyond).  He is the perfect role model of humanity, and teaches us the way of complete love and obedience to the Father, while acting on our behalf as a compassionate and understanding intercessor between us and God.  God is an ultimately fair and righteous judge, but I am still very thankful to have Jesus to plead my case before the Father.  I can only speak for myself, but I need all the help I can get.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

Have you ever had to go to court  (or seen a court trial taking place on tv)?  Do the defendants usually fare better or worse without representation?

We have a great big God, and God is loving and fair, but have you ever considered how blessed we are that we have a mediator who speaks to God on our behalf when we fall short?

PRAYER

Father God, you are just and fair.  You have created us, and loved us, and we have been rebellious and proud.  Please forgive us.  Thank you for sending us Jesus, help us to follow his instructions, please grant us your spirit and teach us wisdom.  In Jesus name, Amen.

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What is man, that You magnify him?

*Job 6-7

Psalm 94

Hebrews 8

 -Devotion by Jeremy Martin (TN)

            I’ve  been married for 28 years now, and even in the depths of my dumbness (which as mentioned previously in other devotions, can run pretty deep), one of the things I learned early on in the relationship is that we hear and react to conversation differently.  For the longest time this caused conflict, because when a problem is presented to me (eg, “I feel like I’m being unproductive at work”), my problem-solving skills as a man immediately kick in and I started proposing a (very helpful, in my opinion) list of solutions that would help my wife overcome the “problem” of X (in this example, being unproductive).  “Oh, a problem? That’s what I do, I’m a manly man, I fix stuff! Let me give you a list of solutions.”  If you’re laughing out loud right now, you’ve been there too, and know exactly where this is going.

            As I presented my (again, extremely helpful) list of solutions to my wife, I could see the stormclouds gathering in her expression.  When the storm burst, she would always exclaim something along the lines of “I don’t want you to fix it! I just want you to listen!”.   The keyword in the beginning of her statement, that I didn’t key in on, was “I feel.”.  She just wanted me to listen to, understand, and sympathize with her feelings.  What I heard instead was, “here’s a problem I need your help resolving.”, which is not at all what she was saying.  It’s just a social (and perhaps cultural) difference in how we’re wired as men and women.  Sometimes, life is hard, and we just want a little empathy.

            This sounds like exactly what was going on in the early chapters of Job.  His friends are all offering an extremely helpful list of solutions (eg, “God is good to the just and only punishes the wicked, what did you do? let’s talk about it, and maybe we can fix you”…), but what Job needs is just a little bit of empathy.  In our reading of Job 6-7 this morning, we can really see the stormclouds bursting as Job replies to his friends “I don’t need you to fix me, I just want you to listen!” (obviously paraphrased).

            Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why would God allow X to happen to this person?  These are great questions, and cause a lot of people to reject God, but we know that “time and chance happen to all men” (Ecc 9:11).  We also know that God tests men (James 1:3, 1 Pet 1:7), and that the reason for this testing is not only to gauge where we’re at spiritually, but to refine us and provide spiritual growth (Prov 17:3, Rom 5: 3-4).  God disciplines those he loves (Heb 12:6, Rev 3:19), just like a parent disciplines their child at times, in order to correct their behavior.  Here’s the thing, nobody likes to be tested.  It’s usually stressful physically, mentally, and emotionally.    Tests are, by their nature, testing.  Here are a couple deep points to consider though: we do not advance without tests, and we usually don’t get the test results immediately.  You may not even get the results in this lifetime, but keep in mind: *beeeep* this is a test, this is only a test.

            In Job 7:7-8, Job laments his fleeting mortality and then asks God a question in 7:17-18: “17What is man that You magnify him, And that You set Your heart on him, 18That You examine him every morning And test him every moment?” (LSB).  In v19, Job then asks “Will You never turn Your gaze away from me, ,,,” because he’s basically saying “I’m an  insignificant man, why are you testing me so hard?”.  Interestingly, in Psalms 8:4, David asks the same exact question: “What is man that You remember him, And the son of man that You care for him?” but when David asks it, it’s out of a devout awe of God, an awestruck attempt at understanding why God would show such favor to him, an insignificant man.  So let’s think about it for a moment: what is *man? (*by man we are clearly not talking about gender, but mankind or humanity in general, more accurately).

            In Genesis 1:26, God says “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion …”. (LSB, See 8/5/26 devotion on my opinion why God says “us” here, btw).  So, God made us in His image so that we would have dominion on the earth.  That is a much bigger deal than most people think.  Consider this for a moment: rulers both ancient and recent alike  put their “stamp” on things, in order to claim ownership.  In ancient times, one of the first things a ruler/king/pharoah would do when they conquered a land would be to put up a statue of themselves in that place.  This is just a plain statement to everyone that “This is mine!”.  That’s why you’ll find all across the ancient world statues, obelisks, steles, arcs, and other various memorials.  Each one makes a specific claim, each one has specific communications it’s trying to convey, but at the end of the day what they are all saying is “MINE!”.  We see that even today.  Modern rulers don’t go in for statues as much as they used to in ancient times, but they will paste their names on large buildings, monuments, or bridges.  It’s all just a claim of ownership.

            In Psalms 24:1, it says “…The earth is Yahweh’s, as well as its fullness, The world, and those who dwell in it “.  Let’s consider that for a moment: everything, and everybody, on this planet belongs to God.  “But what about the…” Yep.  “Well, what about the…” Yep, that too.  “But surely you don’t mean…” Yep.  EVERYTHING, and EVERYBODY that are existing, have existed, or will exist on this planet belong to God, because He created us.  If you can see it, smell it, hear it, taste it, feel it, talk to it, etc…it belongs to God.  As humans, we have taken a rather proprietal view of “our stuff” and “our lives” and “our (insert anything here)” but the reality is: both we and everything that we think we own belong to God.  Everybody.  Everything.  It all belongs to God.  Full stop.

            So in answer to the question “What is man, that You magnify him?”, well, God told us at the beginning.  We are created in the image of God, because we are here as representatives of God, and we have been given dominion over this earth, in God’s name.  We’re actually a big deal, not because we are anything more than insignificant little winds passing quickly through His marvelous creation, but because He placed us here with His image so that we could represent Him.  This particular iteration of creation was created for us, and we are supposed to be representing God in it.

            So as representatives of the Most High God, as human beings who have been given dominion/rulership over this beautiful creation, a good test question might be “so, how’s that working out for you?”.  Unfortunately, as we look around at our society, at our dysfunctional systems, and our hardened hearts I think if we’re being honest the reply would be “Not great, Bob.“.  There is coming a day though, and coming very soon unless I am greatly mistaken, when the Kingdom of God will be established here on the earth.  When our king the Christ will return and cause us all to seek to represent God again, with all our hearts.  When all of us who have passed our tests and pleased our God will enter as citizens of the kingdom.  What is man?  We are God’s representatives.  Let’s act like it.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. Think of a test or trial in your past: when it was over, looking back, are you able to see how you had advanced or developed because of it? 
  2. Think of a test or trial that you are currently undergoing: what do you think the intent or desired outcome of this test is? 
  3. If you are not undergoing a test right now, consider that God tests those He loves, and ask why not and what can you do differently?

PRAYER

Father God, what is man?  Help me to be the person that I was created to be.  Help me to reflect and represent Your perfection here on Your creation.  Please forgive me of the many times I fall short, and when I stumble please lift me up.  Help me to overcome.  In Jesus name, Amen.

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Testing the Spirits

Job 4-5

Psalm 94

Hebrews 7

-Devotion by Jeremy Martin (TN)

            There are going to be some bits in today’s reading that are going to be a little bit scary once we dig a little, fair warning.  Potentially terrifying, if you hyperfocus on it (don’t).  If you are an anxious type of person already, you may want to skip over today’s devotion and quickly skim over the Job portion of the reading without looking too closely, and I’m being completely serious.  Nothing to see here folks, move along, move along…

            Last chance.  No?  Ok, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Today we’re going to be talking about some disturbing stuff.  If you are ever fortunate enough to look at a really, really old world map (mappae mundi, or “map of the world”, there are about 1100 surviving from the middle ages) that ancient mariners used, you’ll see a number of interesting illustrations and often a written note to warn the sailors along the lines of “Heere therre be Monsters“.  Well, they be here too, let’s talk about it.

            Firstly, are you aware that God sometimes tests and instructs us in our dreams?  It’s true, it’s scripturally and experientially proven.  If you want to do a deep dive on that subject, check out the devotion from 2/21/26 (my birthday!).  Job 33:14-18 has one of the clearest explanations of that: “14Indeed God speaks once, Or twice, yet no one perceives it. 15In a dream, a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, While they slumber in their beds, 16Then He opens the ears of men, And seals in their discipline, 17That He may turn man aside from his conduct, And keep man from pride; 18He holds back his soul from the pit, And his life from passing over to death by a weapon.” (LSB).  This tells us clearly that God (or, God’s agent/s) not only speaks to us in our dreams, but instructs us, for the purpose of correcting our conduct and keeping us safe and from dying.  It also lets us know it’s often subtle, so subtle that we may not perceive it (unless we’re really paying attention).

            In Job 4:12-19 (or -21 if you prefer the longer reading) we see a very disturbing thing.  It appears that spiritual beings that are not of a benevolent disposition can also communicate in this same manner.  “12“Now a word was brought to me stealthily, And my ear received a whisper of it. 13Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, 14Dread came upon me, and trembling, And made the multitude of my bones shake in dread. 15Then a spirit swept by my face; The hair of my flesh bristled up. 16It stood still, but I could not recognize its appearance; A form was before my eyes; There was silence, then I heard a voice: 17‘Can mankind be right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? 18He puts no trust even in His slaves; And against His angels He charges error. 19How much more those who dwell in houses of clay Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth!” (LSB).  Is it just me, or does this diatribe seem like it’s coming from a disgruntled former employee?  The scary thing to me is, this is clearly not a benevolent spirit.  I’m not sure if it’s actually malevolent or not, but it’s certainly seditious.  It reminds me of the character Wormtongue, in the Lord of the Rings books/movies; using clever words to plant seeds of death and decay. 

            I pointed this out a few months ago to a beloved friend of mine who attends a bible study with me, and the information genuinely disturbed her.  The thing is, in our modern “scientific” world, we often disregard anything that we can’t explain away conveniently.  Scriptures tell us, however, that the world around us is much, much bigger than we perceive with our limited senses.  We know that there are spiritual beings, because scripture tells us there are.  I’m not talking about ghosts and stuff like that, I’m talking about spiritual beings that are outside our immediate range of perception, other species that exist differently than we do.  Do we understand it entirely? Probably not.  Do we have evidence of it’s existence in scripture? Absolutely.

            2 Kings 6:16-17 describes Elisha praying for his terrified servant to “open his eyes”, the servant can then see the myriad flaming chariots of God’s army surrounding them.  In Daniel 10: 12-13 we see a messenger angel telling Daniel that he was delayed because “a prince of the kingdom of persia” resisted him (we assume this is a spiritual being).  In Acts 12, we see Peter freed by an angel from a prison where he was soon to be executed.   Paul warns us explicitly in Ephesians 6:12 that we don’t fight against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil, and John tells us in 1 John 4:1 that we must “test the spirits, to see whether they are from God.”.  As human beings, our perceptions are limited, there are things unseen that we dwell within and among.  It’s very scary, it’s hard to punch something in the face if you can’t see it, even harder if you can’t or won’t even acknowledge it’s existence.  So, what are we to do?

            Right now would be a very good point to ask you to take a peek at yesterday’s devotional about the “Courts of Heaven” if you haven’t already.  In it there’s a very important understanding: every heavenly being and spiritual creature is under the authority of the Most High God.  In Job 1, when Satan (literally, “The Adversary”) wanted to do Job harm, God’s express permission was required before it was allowed.  EVERYTHING IN EXISTENCE IS UNDER GOD’S AUTHORITY.  That’s not in and of itself a guarantee of your personal safety, but here are a couple practical steps that you can take to help you in the spiritual battle:

PRACTICAL SPIRITUAL SELF DEFENSE (AND OFFENSE)

  1. Be a child of God.  Fathers protect their children, fiercely.  God will tear apart anything that tries to harm His children.  If the spirit of God is within you, lesser beings will flee.
  2. Pray, constantly and without ceasing.  When you see a cute bear cub you’re unlikely to go try and pet it if Mama bear is staring at you, growling loudly, hackled up and drooling while baring her teeth.  If you are talking to your Father, He is listening and watching closely and the spiritual enemies that seek to offer you harm will slip away and try to avoid notice.
  3. Put on the Armor of God.  Read Eph 6:10-18, it’s no accident that this comes during the same talk about being in spiritual warfare  Every defensive item listed is there to protect you.  Examine and then put on every item discussed.
  4. Carry a Sword.  In that little Armor of God section, there is only 1 offensive weapon that we have, and that is the word of God.  It’s not a coincidence that as a response to every temptation that Jesus overcame, he responded with scripture.  Carry your sword, the bible.  I don’t mean just put a bible in the glove box, I mean read it, study it, memorize it, and apply it to your life.  Don’t take lightly the fact that God gave His words, the same words that can birth galaxies and life, to you as a roadmap.
  5. Love God.  Know in your heart that God is supreme.  There is nothing greater than God.  No force, no power, no being, nothing is more powerful than God.  Lean into that, and cling to God.  If God allows something, even if it may be painful momentarily, know and trust that it will be for your benefit in the long run because “God works all things together for the good of  those who love Him”. (Rom 8:28)

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. Have you thought about this much?
  2. Were the above steps helpful to you? What other ideas can help?
  3. Have you ever been under spiritual attack?  Consider the instance(s) and the outcome(s), what could you have done better?

PRAYER

Father God, Creator and Ruler of all things, thank you for my life.  Please guide me, teach me, help me to be a child who pleases, and keep me safe from those who wish to do me harm.  Instruct me on the way that I should go, and grant me Your spirit.  Thank you, in Jesus name, Amen.

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