Category: Building a Faith-filled Life

Resolution 2: Exercise Less

Zechariah 7-8

It was roughly two and a half years ago when I sat down at a Walmart because I wasn’t feeling particularly well. My seat – the automated blood pressure cuff, because I felt like I needed to get a reading. I felt tense, short of breath, and was sweating for no particular reason.  My suspicions were confirmed when my blood pressure came up 160-something, over 100-something.  Yikes!  My wife was pregnant with twins at this point, and as a soon-to-be-dad, the mental, physical, and emotional stress hadn’t even really started.  With a history of heart issues running through my family tree, I thought, if my blood pressure is this high now, how am I going to be able to play with my kids?  I knew something had to change.  I made a few changes to my diet, but mostly, I began to exercise to get rid of extra poundage that was contributing to the toll I was placing on my body.

The super-short version of the story is YAY! My blood pressure is normal, I play with my kids, and I’m down about 50 pounds.  Running (a lot) is now part of my weekly routine.  But now that I’m where I want to be with my health, I am finding that exercise can simply be exercise. A repeated motion, causing a bit of sweat, but sometimes to no real purpose. If I run 40 laps around the track, I will start and end in the same place. Nothing achieved. I can celebrate the fact that I can snag an extra donut on Teacher Appreciation Day, or score,  a McDonalds breakfast (I didn’t say my blood pressure was great, just normal) without the guilt, or eat eight desserts at Thanksgiving (sad, but true), but I’m not really going anywhere.  I am in maintenance mode, like those awaiting a second temple here in Zechariah. 

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? – Zechariah 7:5-6

Now, before I move any further, it needs to be said I am healthier because I run. Spiritual disciplines are not unlike this. These routines are important, and even more, necessary. Prayer, worship, and reading God’s Word should be part of your to-dos every. single. day. BUT what those items shouldn’t be are chores sandwiched between taking the trash out to the curb and picking up the milk.  Are you doing these things because you want to draw into a closer relationship with God? OR are you doing these things because you are doing these things.  I mean, how did you get here to read this blog today?  Is it part of your exercise or your routine?  If so, is it because you desire more about your loving God and his calling on your life? Or do you use it as a means to build credit in the God bank so you can have the extra donut, or eighth desserts? It’s tough. Right? Live for a moment outside of the routine.  Today, start exercising less and engaging more. Throw out the score card because God already has you beat. Enter into the purpose of what you are doing, seek Him, and draw nearer to His Spirit.  Find a way to share His justice, His mercy, and His many compassions because you are compelled to show the love of God, not simply run to the next item on your list.

This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ – Zechariah 7:9-10

-Aaron Winner

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Zechariah 7-8 and Revelation 18

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Wrath and Reward

Revelation 16

If you’ve ever needed an incentive to remain obedient to God, read about the 7 bowls of God’s wrath as recorded in Revelation 16 – if a stick motivates you.

Bowl 1.  Revelation 16:2, “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.

This is a good reason not to worship the beast, better known as the antichrist.  But it gets better…

Bowl 2. The sea turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.

Bowl 3. The rivers and springs of water turned to blood.

Bowl 4. People were seared by the intense heat of the sun, which grew very hot.

Bowl 5. Darkness, and men gnawed their tongues in agony.

Bowl 6. Demons gathered the kings of the earth for the war of Armageddon.

Bowl 7.  An earthquake more devastating than any since man has been on the earth.  Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.  From the sky, huge hailstones of about 100 pounds each fell upon men.

This should give us the incentive to remain faithful to God in the midst of persecution from the antichrist.  But we can’t endure alone, we will need God’s help.  This brings us to a promise in Zechariah 4:6, also in today’s reading, which says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”

We need to be completely dedicated to living wholeheartedly for God.  And when tough times come, He will give us the strength to endure, with the power of His Holy Spirit.

Personally, I’m more of a carrot kind of guy.  So I look more at the promises of Revelation 21:4, which says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

So whether you’re motivated by a carrot or by a stick, the important thing is to be completely dedicated to living wholeheartedly for God today.  Once the tough times come, it will be really hard to start serving Him then.

-Steve Mattison

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Zechariah 3-4 and Revelation 16

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Give Careful Thought to Your Ways

Haggai 1 – 2

The book of Haggai records events that took place in 520 B.C.  The foundation of the temple had been laid in 536 B.C. (Ezra 3:8-13), but building stopped because of opposition.  In Haggai 1:2, we see that people were making excuses, “The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.”  The people themselves were living in fine houses, but just hadn’t gotten around to building God’s temple.  Their priorities were wrong.

God pointed out that He had been undermining the people’s prosperity because they hadn’t made God a priority.  Haggai 1:6 tells us, “You have planted much, but have harvested little.  You eat, but never have enough.  You drink, but never have your fill.  You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

Once confronted with this, the people obeyed God and began to work on the temple.  The word of the Lord came to Haggai again in chapter 2, where God told Haggai in 2:9, “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the Lord Almighty…”

Interesting.  When Solomon’s temple was dedicated, fire fell from heaven to consume the offering, and God’s shekinah glory appeared so the priests couldn’t enter the temple.  The ark of the covenant, the representation of God on earth had been there.  But in this new temple, there was no ark of the covenant, no urim or thumim, no fire from heaven, no shekinah glory.  So how would this new temple have greater glory than Solomon’s magnificent temple, you may ask.  Here’s how:  Over 500 years later, Jesus taught in this new Temple.

Further, God promised that starting on that very day, God was going to bless them because of putting one stone on another.  In Haggai 2:19, we read, “From this day on I will bless you.”  Because they were finally putting God first in their lives.

How are things going for you?  Does it seem that you’re working harder and harder, but getting farther and farther behind?  Does it seem like your wages go into purses with holes in them?  Could it be that you have prioritized enjoying the good life for yourself, but haven’t made serving God the priority you should?  Only you can answer these questions.

If this is true for you, I challenge you to rededicate your life to serving God wholeheartedly.  He will certainly bless your commitment to Him.  Maybe even materially.  But ultimately, you will gain a far greater reward – eternal life.

I’m reminded of Joshua 24:15, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

May we each say that – and live it.

-Steve Mattison

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Haggai 1-2 and Revelation 14

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Life and Death – and Life Again

Zephaniah 1 – 3 and Revelation 13

Today’s reading contains some disturbing imagery, so readers be warned.

In Revelation 13, we find details of the person we call the antichrist. In Revelation 13:7, we’re told “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them…”  In Revelation 13:9-10 we read, “He who has an ear, let him hear.  If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.  If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.  This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

In a nutshell, we know that at some point in the future (I believe in the relatively near future), a person we call the antichrist will arise.  He will deceive the nations and will control the economy such that only those who receive the “mark of the beast” will be able to buy or sell.  (We will find out in Revelation 14:10 that those who do receive the mark of the beast will be tormented in the lake of fire.) And he will successfully conquer Christians.

As a Christian, this doesn’t sound very appealing.  If all we’re focusing on is this life, it won’t seem worth maintaining our faithfulness to God.  When that time comes, we’ll need to remember what God has promised for the wicked, as recorded in Zephaniah – also part of today’s reading.

In Zephaniah 1:2-3, we read, “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares the Lord.  I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.  The wicked will only have heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth, declares the Lord.”

In Zephaniah 1:18, we read, “…In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for He will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.”

Zephaniah 3:8 tells us, “…I have decided to assemble the nations to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them – all my fierce anger.  The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.

But then we find hope in Zephaniah 3:12-13, where we read, “But I will leave within you the meek and the humble, who trust in the name of the Lord.  The remnant of Israel will do no wrong; they will speak no lies, nor will deceit be found in their mouths. They will eat and lie down, and no one will make them afraid.”

In short, terrible times are coming for Christians, when the antichrist will try to annihilate us from the earth.  It will be critical to remain faithful to God during those difficult times, even if we lose our lives.  Because ultimately, God will judge the world, and completely destroy the wicked.  Even if we die, we will be resurrected to live in peace forever.  While the wicked will be completely destroyed forever.

I’m reminded of Deuteronomy 30:19 where we read, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”

Choose to remain faithful to God.  Choose life.  Even if you have to succumb to death.

-Steve Mattison

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Zephaniah 1-3 and Revelation 13

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“Why, God?”

Habakkuk 1 – 3

One widely assumed fallacy about Christianity is that once you choose to follow God, all of your problems will just go away.  Habakkuk wasn’t that kind of believer, and we shouldn’t be either.

Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah – living at a time when things were really bad for Judah.  He loved the Lord with all his heart, and longed for justice.  But he saw only violence and injustice wherever he turned.  He had some complaints, and took them to the right place – to God.

In Habakkuk 1:2, Habakkuk complained, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “violence!” but you do not save?”

In Habakkuk 1:3, he complained, “Why do you tolerate wrong…?”

Then in Habakkuk 1:13, he complained, “…Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

His basic complaint was, “God, I’m pouring my heart out to you in prayer, why don’t you do something?”  And “Why do you let the wicked persecute those more righteous than themselves?”  As we pointed out yesterday from 2 Peter 3:9, the answer may be that God is just being patient, wanting to give people as much time as possible to repent, before he steps in and judges.  And from Romans 3:10-12, we recognize there is no one that is righteous, no one who does good, not even one.

In God’s response to Habakkuk in 2:2-3, God said, “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end.”  Then God gave a series of 5 “woe”s.  God was reminding Habakkuk that eventually, God will punish the wicked, but until then, Habakkuk needed to be patient and trust God.

I love Habakkuk’s response in Habakkuk 3:17, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  

This ties into our Revelation 12 reading for today, where we read in Revelation 12:17, “Then the dragon went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”  For the last 3.5 years of this evil age, Satan will try to annihilate the Jews, but God will miraculously protect them.  So Satan will vent his wrath against Christians.

As Christians, there may come a time when we cry out to God, “Why don’t you answer my prayers?  Why do you let the wicked persecute those more righteous than themselves?”  But no matter how bad it gets, we need to have the same response as Habakkuk.  “Even though it appears that there is no hope, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

-Steve Mattison

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Habakkuk 1-3 and Revelation 12

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Get Right with God

Micah 5-7

Many people point to Micah 6:8 as a simple, straightforward verse telling us how to get right with God:   Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  

Let’s look at this in context.

Micah 6 starts out as a courtroom scene.  “Plead your case”… “For the Lord has a case against his people”.  God then reminded His people of the things He had done for them including leading them out of Egypt, protecting them from Balaam’s cursing them, and leading them into the promised land.

We might pause here to remind ourselves how the Israelites reacted to each of God’s protections that He pointed out to them here.  

  1. He led them out of Egypt to be His people, but they grumbled repeatedly, wanting to go back to Egypt; worshiped a golden calf; and didn’t trust that God could bring them into the promised land – so they had to wander in the desert for 40 years.
  2. He caused Balaam to bless Israel instead of cursing them.  This was a spiritual battle God was fighting on their behalf, without them even knowing about it.  Their response was to sin sexually with Moab’s women and worship Moab’s gods – so God sent a plague and killed many of the Israelites.
  3. He caused the Jordan River (at flood stage) to dry up, letting the Israelites cross on dry ground.  This was reminiscent of what He had done for the Israelites when they had left Egypt 40 years earlier.  God had done for Israel what they could not have done for themselves – but the people didn’t remember all the righteous acts God had done for them, and turned away again and again.

In Micah 6:6-7, we see that things we do can’t reconcile us to God, including bowing down to Him (presumably in hollow worship), performing sacrifices (remember that to obey is better than sacrifice), even sacrificing things most precious to us – including our children.  None of these things can reconcile us to God.

Then, we find the beautiful verse of what God really wants.  Not religious ceremonies, but moral and ethical conduct – “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

None of us can do these things until we first submit to God as broken sinners and allow Him to transform our lives.  We can only act justly once we have been justified.  We can only love mercy (and extend it to others) once we have experienced and recognized God’s mercy.  We can only walk humbly with our God after we bow humbly before Him, confess our sins, and claim his promise of forgiveness (I John 1:9).

Titus 3:5 reminds us, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”  So people are misguided if they think they can follow this formula from Micah 6:8 to be saved.  It’s only because of our saving relationship with God that we can do what He requires in Micah 6:8.

As we continue reading Micah, we see that Israel hasn’t lived up to God’s requirements, so in 6:13, He says, “Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins.”  If God treated Israel this way, and if God doesn’t change, I’ll let you consider for yourself the implications for you and the implications for our nation.

Micah 7:13 is pointing to a time still in the future to us, when “the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds.”

But the last 3 verses of Micah remind us of who God is and what He has done in the past. 

Micah 7:18-20: “18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

19  You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

20 You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.”

To quote Warren Wiersbe from his Bible commentary, “the better we know the character of God, the more we can trust Him for the future.  The better we know the promises and covenants of God, the more peace we will have in our hearts when things fall apart.”

In closing, 

  1. We need to recognize we can never measure up to God’s requirements on our own.  
  2. We need to humbly come to God as broken sinners, confessing our sins, and asking for His forgiveness.  
  3. We need to remember who He is, what He has done in the past, and what promises He has made for the future.  
  4. We then need to develop a deep personal relationship with God.  

Only then can we “be imitators of God as dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1).  And only then can we live a life acceptable to God – “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

-Steve Mattison

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at Bible Gateway.com here – Micah 5-7 and Revelation 10

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Who is Like the Lord?

Micah 1-2

Have you ever wondered, “what’s so special about Jerusalem?”

I mean, think about it. Maybe look at a map. That area has been hotly contested by kingdoms, empires, nations, world religions, and people groups since the dawn of time. Why? The reason for each group is a little different, but practically speaking, it’s the only strip of land that connects Europe, Asia, and Africa all together. Everything around it is pure desert. 

So Israel, since the days of Moses, has been an impossibly small tribe in an ocean of military conquests and empires. Over and over again, though, God had protected Israel and preserved their residence in the top real estate of the ancient world.

Until the days of Micah.

During the time of the Old Testament minor prophets, Israel had walked away from God and His protection. The northern half of the kingdom (which split off from Judah, the southern half)) was about to be destroyed by the kingdom of Assyria. Micah was pleading with his countrymen to return back to God and His protection before they fell to a similar fate.

Micah means “Who is like the LORD?” and his name fits the theme of his message perfectly. Chapter 1 is a call for Judah to start mourning for the fate that is sure to befall them. It’s also a reminder that all of this will happen because they turned away from their covenant to God (see our discussion on Amos 5 earlier this week). 

In chapter 2, Micah goes on and on about the many ways that his country has totally forgotten about their God. My favorite verse in this section is 2:7b: “Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?” In other words, God asks Judah, “if you were following my Word, wouldn’t you be so much better off?” And this is the lesson for the reader today: God’s Word is beautiful and practical. We don’t just learn about God in His words! We also find life, love and contentment in God’s words!

-Levi Salyers

Read or listen to today’s Bible Reading Plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Micah 1-2 and Revelation 8

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God’s Business

Jonah 3-4

Yesterday, we saw Jonah’s reluctance to God’s call for his life. Actually, “active rebellion” against God’s call is more accurate! However, we saw Jonah pray to God during his time in the belly of the great fish. We were left asking the question, “Will Jonah finally answer the call to proclaim God’s message?”

He does. In 3:1, the word of the LORD comes a second time to Jonah. In 3:3, “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.” As the story goes, which so many of us learned in our childhood Sunday school, Jonah preaches that Nineveh will be destroyed, and so the Ninevites repented. And our happy ending occurs in 3:10: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” 

But wait. There’s more.

Why was Jonah SO reluctant to preach to Nineveh? Why did he run in the opposite direction to avoid God’s call on his life? Why did it take a great storm, being thrown overboard, and three days in the belly of a fish to learn his lesson? And why did Jonah scoff at the mercy of God in 4:1? 

The truth is, we will never be able to see Nineveh or Assyria in the same way Jonah did. We didn’t grow up witnessing the brutality and evil that Assyria committed with every passing year, and we will never experience the same wars and terrible things that it did to Israel. But Jonah was very close to the evil that Nineveh did. In fact, Jonah had some really good reasons to really, really dislike Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to see God’s mercy extended to his enemies. He actually wants to see the destruction of a city with 120 thousand people because he dislikes them so much! In fact, he camps out at the edge of the city hoping that their repentance doesn’t last.

And so God decides to teach Jonah a lesson. He grows a plant that gives shade and comfort to Jonah, and then kills it. Jonah reacts with anger once again. And finally God teaches Jonah the lesson he needed all along: Nineveh is like the plant in this story. God grew it and has concern for it (see 4:11). But on the other hand, he scolds Jonah for caring about a plant he never grew in the first place. In other words, just like the plant, Jonah has no right to be angry about a people that are actually God’s business all along.

So what do we learn here? There are a lot of lessons that come out of Jonah: God’s ways are far higher than our ways. His sense of justice and mercy will sometimes be at odds with our understanding of justice and mercy. We are challenged to lay down our prejudice and serve others in the name of God. And when God calls you to Nineveh, don’t run away– just go!

-Levi Salyers

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Jonah 3-4 and Revelation 7

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Mercy

Amos 7-9

When you think of judgment, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of a judge, sentencing a convict. Maybe you think of punishment. The minor prophets have a lot to say about “judgment” against Israel. First, we need to understand why God has so much to say to Israel before we can understand God’s judgments against Israel.

In Deuteronomy 30, God is covenanting with the people of Israel. A covenant is not like today’s modern-day transactional relationships, like an employee and client relationship. Rather, a covenant is a binding union between two parties. It can have conditions or strings attached, but the point is that a covenant is not fickle or nonchalant. It’s intimate and binding. Marriage is a form of a covenant: there are expectations (or vows) between the two parties, and it is an irrevocable binding of two parties. In Deuteronomy 30:15-16, Moses says “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees, and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”   

This is a covenant. You may remember yesterday, in Amos 5, God said “Seek the LORD that you may live.” In other words, life is ONLY found in devotion to God. So what happens when God’s covenant partner utterly forsakes the agreement? We find our answer in Amos 7-9.

This passage can be hard to understand. It’s rife with visions. In chapter 7, God shows a series of images depicting total destruction–this is what Israel deserves– but He promises mercy instead (see 7:3,6). Chapter 8 describes horrific famines that affect even the strongest men and women in the land. But in chapter 9:11-15, after these fearsome images of judgment and punishment, God says something the reader might not expect. God says that He’s going to restore Israel, build it up, and make them prosper. He’s going to pick them back up, dust them off, and help them to be the nation He designed them to be. In other words, God is keeping His end of the covenant, no matter what.

Amos shows us an image of judgment (in fact, most of the minor prophets do). However, even moreso, Amos shows us that God is loyal in spite of our sin, merciful in the face of our sin, and blesses us when we don’t deserve it. He is so good! Praise God! 

-Levi Salyers

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Amos 7-9 and Revelation 4

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Seek the LORD and Live

Amos 5-6

Amos. A prophet to Israel in a difficult time. Amos introduces himself as a mere shepherd rather than as a prophet–and God still used him to deliver a mighty message to His people. His words still ring loud for us today:

Seek me and live. (Amos 5:4b)

Every culture, every civilization, and every era of history has given false promises about where to find life to the full.

Seek the LORD and live (Amos 5:6).

God uses Amos to tell His people over and over again: life is only found in Him.

The God who made the stars, brings each passing day and night, and moves each and every tide of the ocean waves– the LORD is his name! (Amos 5:8).

We have a great God, who is glorious and mighty beyond comparison. He is a beacon of goodness, and if we seek him, we can pass that onto others. A major theme of Amos is a call to pursue justice and righteousness.  Verse 14 says “seek good, not evil, that you may live.”

What does the LORD require of us? Church traditions?  Heartless obedience? Quite the opposite. God tells us in verses 22-23 that the sacrifices, songs, and festivals mean nothing without– you guessed it– justice and righteousness. Treat your neighbors justly, and live rightly.

How do we know what justice and righteousness even look like? Where do we go? 

Seek the LORD, that we may live!

-Levi Salyers

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Amos 5-6 and Revelation 3

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