Wed.’s Devo - Unleavened Bread

Read: Exodus 12:14-13:16; Matthew 20:29-21:22; Psalm 25:16-22; Proverbs 6:12-15
The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a week of bread without leaven. Leaven is the picture of sin. Jesus told his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven represented their sin; they preached one doctrine and lived another. The seven days of unleavened bread represents the span of our lives. Once we are saved we are to be the righteousness of Christ on the earth. We start out as a green ear of corn where our seed is immature. But we ripen into a mature ear of corn that eventually spreads it seed all over the ground. The month they were to do this was called Nisan or Abib which both mean “a green ear of corn”. This feast started the day after the passover lamb was slain and applied to their doorposts. Jesus died on Passover and was buried on the first day of Unleavened bread. He descended down to Sheol and led the ones who slept in faith out and up to heaven (Ephesians 4:8-9). He had to die and his seed had to go into the ground in order to produce a harvest.
Moses told them that this observance would be like a sign on their hand and a reminder on their forehead that the law of the Lord would be on their lips. It is the same for us. The blood of Jesus is a sign on our hand which means that we are to use our hands as a means of contact to impart the spirit of God. The blood of Jesus is to be a reminder on our head which means that God will speak to us through our minds to tell us what to do. It also means that we have to put the Word of God in our minds and hearts. The word of God was to be on our lips that we would proclaim what it says.
As Jesus was leaving to go to Jerusalem he met two blind men by the side of the road. They cried out to him as their Messiah and begged to see. Jesus opened their eyes to see which was what he wanted to do spiritually for Israel but they refused to see.
Jesus entered Jerusalem on the path that the temple lamb had just walked to be the lamb for the whole nation. The people were assembled to praise the lamb so many of them were still there when Jesus came. Their spirits couldn’t help but praise Jesus. Many of them believed that he was the Messiah.
Jesus had come for Israel, the fig tree, but it rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Israel withered, like the tree, and God poured out his Spirit on the Gentiles.

Tues.’s Devo - The Spoiling of Egypt

Read: Exodus 10:1-12:13; Matthew 20:1-28; Psalm 25:1-15a; Proverbs 6:6-11
God hardened Pharaoh’s already hard heart causing him to not make sane decisions. Pharaoh was evil from the core so God used him for his purposes. God’s intentions were to show his power over all their gods and destroy their land and their harvest. Everything in the Old Testament is a natural picture to teach us spiritual things. God has put Satan under our feet. We are to use demons like slaves, they are to serve us just as Pharaoh served the Lord. Satan is after our harvest and our land so we need to spoil his to take it for the Lord.
The eighth plague was locusts which destroyed everything the hail had left alive. Even Pharaoh’s officials realized that all Egypt was being ruined. The ninth plague was darkness that could be felt. Pharaoh tried to bargain with Moses and told him he could go with his people but they had to leave their flocks and herds behind. Pharaoh wanted security that they were returning. Moses refused to compromise because he knew that they were never coming back.
God had one more plague which would be the one that would cause Pharaoh to drive them out, so God told Moses to prepare to leave. First they were to plunder the Egyptians of their silver and gold which would be needed for the tabernacle. The people had become more afraid of the Israelites and Moses than their own Pharaoh, who was suppose to be a god.
God told Moses that he was going to kill every first-born son in Egypt, including Pharaoh’s and everyone would know that God made a distinction between his children and Egypt’s. The same thing will happen in the end of time. The world will not be able to miss seeing God’s favor on his children.
Then God did something amazing; he gave them a new birthday. Now, the first day of the seventh month -Nisan - would be their spiritual birthday. They would keep their other birthday which was the birthday of the earth - Tishri One. This is the picture of us being born again. We have a natural birthday and a spiritual birthday. Moses gave them the instructions of how to kill the passover lamb which represented Christ. They were to apply its blood to the door of their house in the places that Jesus bled and then walk through that bloodied door to safety. The door was Christ.
God’s kingdom does not make sense to our natural minds. The parable about the landowner is one of those examples. God calls people at different times in their lives and they all are promised the same reward. He ended it with “the first shall be last.”
Jesus got to explain it again in another way in the next story. . The mother of James and John came to ask if her sons could sit on either side of him when he got to his kingdom. Jesus knew that she didn’t understand the ramifications of her request. He explained that if you want to be “first” in the kingdom of God then you have to be a slave which is “last” in this kingdom on earth. Jesus came first as a servant. He will come last as a king.
Lord, help us to humble ourselves in this life and serve one another as unto you.

Mon.’s Devo -God’s Power Displayed

Read: Exodus 7:25-9:35; Matthew 19:13-30; Psalm 24:1-10; Proverbs 6:1-5
God’s plagues over Egypt were not random plagues; they were a direct assault on the gods of the land. They worshipped the Nile, so God poured his blood on it. They worshipped frogs, so God gave them so many frogs they not longer saw them as a good thing. They worshipped their bodies so God sent stinging gnats to sting them. This was the first plague that the magicians of Egypt couldn’t copy. They said, “This is the finger of God.”
They were right. The gnats came from dust just like man did. Only God could make a man out of dust and only God could make gnats out of dust.
They finally acknowledged a power greater than their own. Pharaoh was hardened so God brought flies. This is when God made a line in the sand and said that no more of the plagues would be visited on his people in Goshen.
Pharaoh repented a little and told Moses that his people could sacrifice but they had to do it in Egypt. Moses refused his offer saying that their sacrifices would offend the Egyptians. They needed to go three days away. Pharaoh compromised to let them go…just not very far.
When the flies were gone, Pharaoh changed his mind again. The fifth plague killed their livestock, the sixth one touched their bodies with boils. The seventh plague of thunder and hail killed their livestock and their slaves and destroyed their harvest of flax and barley.
In Matthew, a rich man came to Jesus and asked him what he had to do to be saved. He prided himself in following the law but Jesus discerned his heart and told him to give that. His heart was his wealth. He could not do that. Jesus said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. He was referring to an expression known at that time. Houses or passageways with narrow openings were referred to as the eye of the needle. The only way a camel could go through them was to have their load taken off and to crawl on their knees. Jesus was saying that if a rich man could take off the load of his riches and humble himself, then he could enter. But that was the only way. That is the only way anyone can enter into the kingdom - empty and humble.
Lord, help us to recognize a power greater than our own is in control. May we be instruments of your hand.

Sun.’s Devo - A Vessel For God to Work Through

Read: Exodus 5:22-7:24; Matthew 18:23-19:12; Psalm 23:1-6; Proverbs 5:22-23
I love Moses’ honesty with the Lord. He is mad because he did exactly what God told him and didn’t get the result he was expecting. When you obey the Lord, you do expect the outcome to be favorable, but God’s ways are not our ways. Every person we ask God to heal, might not get healed, and every person we ask God to save, might not get saved. But God is not asking us to do his part; he is asking us to do ours.
God didn’t get mad at Moses for his honesty, he let Moses in on the bigger plan. He explained how he revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but not as Jehovah. Jehovah means Eternal, self-Existent. He covenanted with them to give them the land of Canaan and it was now time to break the bondage of Egypt and go to their land. He made it very clear that He was going to do this. All Moses had to do was what he told him to do; God would do the rest.
Moses left his meeting with God reassured until he met with the Israelites who couldn’t hear because they couldn’t get past their discouragement and their cruel bondage. Discouragement and abuse leaves you weak and hopeless. It is hard to rise out of it, but with the Lord nothing is impossible.
Without a following, God told Moses and Aaron to go the Pharaoh to tell him to let the children of Israel go. God told him again that He was going to do it. God told him that He was going to lead them out and that He was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart, and that he was going to bring down judgments on Egypt. The only thing Moses had to do was what God told him to do. Sounds easy, but it wasn’t.
Aaron did his first miracle with the rod and the Egyptians were ready with their sorceries. Aaron’s rod swallowed up the Egyptians rods which was a picture of everything God was going to do to the Egyptians. They were about to be swallowed up by the Lord. Aaron finally stretched his rod out over the Nile and it turned to blood. I think it is amusing that Egypt’s sorcerers could do the same, but no one could turn that blood back to water. God let them wallow in this plague for a while.
In Matthew, Jesus gives us an illustration of mercy and forgiveness. The man who owed the most was forgiven but he couldn’t forgive one who owed him a little. God is the one who forgives us of all our sin, so we must forgive the things done against us by others. If we don’t, we will spend eternity in torture.
The Pharisees asked Jesus about divorce. He explained the spiritual side of union. His plan was that they marry and become one and no one would be able to split them apart. But because of the hardness of man’s heart, God gave Moses a law allowing people to divorce. They must have a written contract of divorce. If they didn’t have that then when they remarried they were committing adultery because they were still married to the first wife. We condemn people wrongly for divorcing. There are always two sides to a divorce. God divorced his people Israel and didn’t lose his position or power. We should give divorced people the same honor. Jesus explained that people should not divorce unless one of them have broken their original contract. We have all divorced the law to marry grace. Romans 7 talks about that. The way of the kingdom is not judgment but love and forgiveness.
Lord, help us to walk in love and forgiveness. May we be the vessel for you to move through.

Sat.’s Devo - The Trials of Leadership

Read: Exodus 4:1-5:21; Matthew 18:1-22; Psalm 22:19-31; Proverbs 5:15-21
God gave Moses three signs so that the Egyptians would believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and had appeared to Moses. All three signs pointed to salvation. The rod, the hand, the water are all pictures of what happens when the blood of Jesus is applied and salvation has come. The rod becomes what it is suppose to be - man’s authority in Christ, the hand is cleansed of a disease of the flesh - sin, and the water becomes the source of life instead of death.
Moses argued with God about his choice of leadership so God told Moses he could bring Aaron, his brother who was younger than him. Moses finally agreed to go and ended up doing the speaking too.
On the way, we have this crazy encounter between Moses and his wife, Zipporah. Apparently there had been a disagreement about circumcision. Maybe Zipporah was having a hard time with it and couldn’t do it, but when she saw it was literally making Moses sick to death, she submitted.
It would not just be the Pharaoh that Moses would have to convince that God had sent him but his own people also. They were behind him when they saw his miracles but when it started costing them, they were ready to send Moses back to where he had come from. They continued to be fickle the whole wilderness journey.
In Matthew, Jesus answered the question about who is greatest in the kingdom by brining a child up and explaining that the greatest is the humblest. He also dealt with the punishment of those who would try to harm a person who was innocent and childlike.
Jesus is the Great Shepherd who would leave his ninety-nine just to go a rescue a child.
For the second time, Jesus tells us that whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what ever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Today, Jesus says it right after he talked about restoration and discipline. When someone refuses to repent and seek forgiveness then he is bound up in their soul and their spirit but when someone repents and forgiveness is given then they are loosed on earth and in heaven.
Lord, help us to loose anyone or thing that we have held in bondage or judgment. Help us to forgive and have mercy.

Fri.’s Devo - God Orders Our Steps

Read: Exodus 2:11-3:22; Matthew 17:10-27; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 5:7-14
Moses was a little impulsive which almost cost him his life. He was feeling his destiny which was to deliver his people from the Egyptian bondage but the temptation is always to step out before we are ready. Moses was not ready.
He ran for his life and ended up by a well where he met Zipporah, the Midianite and married her. (Jacob and Isaac both found their wife by a well.) Moses and Zipporah had a son they named Gershom which means “a stranger there”. This was not where Moses was suppose to make his home. The Midianites were descendants of Abraham’s fourth son, Midian. Moses became a shepherd with Jethro, his father-in-law.
After a long time, back in Egypt, the Pharaoh died and the children of Israel cried out because of their oppression. God heard them and visited Moses to tell him it was time to go and deliver his people. The burning bush is a wonder because there were many brush fires in the desert but they were short and consuming. This bush refused to be consumed, arousing Moses’ curiosity. God spoke out of that bush and he and Moses had a conversation. This is what prayer is suppose to be - a conversation. God speaks, we ask questions, he answers them.
God gave Moses instructions and even told him what was going to happen and prepared him for what he was going to face. He answered every question Moses had. He even told him to plunder the Egyptians when he left.
In Matthew, Jesus explained that the spirit of Elijah comes when God is going to restore all things. The spirit of Elijah comes to challenge the worldly system and set a standard of righteousness. Elijah faced the prophets of Baal and the king Ahab. He was not intimidated with the world’s system.
John the Baptist challenged the king’s immoral relationship with his brother’s wife. He also challenged the Pharisee’s and the Sadducee’s false doctrine. Before Jesus comes back, God will send a person who will come and do the same thing (Malachi 4:5).
Jesus told his disciples that he was going to be treated just like John the Baptist. He would be betrayed, killed, and rise on the third day. He was at the end of his time with his disciples which was why he got exasperated with them when their couldn’t heal the man with seizures. They had been with him for three years and still had no faith to believe God would heal.
Then there was the talk about the tribute tax. This was a civil voluntary tax that the government expected everyone to pay. Jesus explained to Peter that God’s kingdom did not work this way. But, since they were in the world, they would pay it so as not to offend them. The world doesn’t understand God’s grace or his lavish love. Sometimes we need to go the extra mile to keep the world from tripping over our freedom.
Our Psalm was the one that Jesus was referring his disciples to on the cross when he said, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.” He wanted them to remember it and see that this day was prophesied so they would have peace.
Lord, help us to remember that our days have been prophesied by you before we came. You have ordered our steps. May we walk in them.

Thurs.’s Devo - From Death to Life

Read: Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10; Matthew 16:13-17:9; Psalm 21:1-13; Proverbs 5:1-6
Joseph had come a long way from boasting about his dreams of his brother’s sheaves bowing down to his, to submitting to the customs of a foreign land. Joseph honored the Pharaoh and his ways even allowing them to embalm his father and accompany his family to Canaan to bury his father. Joseph’s submission gave him favor, position, and many privileges. Jacob was buried in the family burying site and Joseph made his sons promise to carry his bones with them when God brought them out of Egypt and bury them here. Joseph remembered God’s promise that he would bring his people back to the land God had promised Abraham. Joseph understood the importance of sleeping in Sheol with his family.
Jacob’s family multiplied and grew in the land of Egypt and years after Jacob’s sons had died, a Pharaoh came to power who didn’t know what Joseph had done for Egypt. He saw the Israelites as a threat to his kingdom so he wanted to stop them multiplying so fast. He began with the midwives, but they feared God above him and refused to kill the boy babies. So, the Pharaoh commanded all the boy babies under two to be thrown into the Nile.
That was when Moses was born to a Levite family. Somehow, his mom understood that this baby was special so she hid him until he got too big to hide. She decided to put him in a basket and have his big sister, Miriam take him down to the Nile knowing that the Pharaoh’s daughter came there to bathe. Miriam was to watch from the bushes. Sure enough, the Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses and fell in love with him the moment she saw him. The plan had worked and Miriam was able to offer her mother as his nursemaid. How sweet to give Moses’ mom this time with her son. How interesting that Moses’s mom placed Moses in the same river that the other babies were losing their life in. God is the one who turns curses into blessings. He turns death into life. How interesting that every time God wants to bring a deliverer forth, the devil has the babies killed. That should be hope for us since abortion has killed so many babies in our day.
Rocks stand for promises so when Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter and told him that upon this rock he would build his church he was talking about what Peter had said. Peter had proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. That is the foundation of the church. Now that his disciples believed that he was the Christ, he was able to give them more of the plan. He had to go to Jerusalem, suffer persecution by the hands of the ‘religious’ leaders, be killed and rise on the third day. His disciples had a hard time processing this information.
So Jesus took Peter, James and John up on a mountain and he showed them his glory. He took them back to the time when he spoke to Moses and Elijah on that same mountain and gave them a glimpse into his plan. Since it was the feast of Tabernacles and everyone was building booths for the celebration, they wanted to build one for their guests also. Once again, they were thinking natural about supernatural things.
God spoke out of the cloud and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.”
Lord, help us to do just that…hear your voice out of our confusion. Help us to rise up and not be afraid.

Wed.’s Dev - First the Natural, Then the Spiritual

Read: Genesis 48:1-49:33; Matthew 15:29-16:12; Psalm 20:1-9; Proverbs 4:20-27
Jacob was about to die, so Joseph wanted him to bless his two sons. Jacob broke tradition and blessed the second born over the first. Manasseh was the first born and his name means “causing to forget”. Ephraim was the second born and his name means “double fruitful”. Jacob crossed his hands to put his right hand on Ephraim’s head and his left on Manasseh’s. Joseph tried to correct him but Jacob explained that this what what God wanted.
Everything God does is to teach us concepts about him. First Corinthians 15:46 says that the natural is first and afterward the spiritual. The first born represents our first birth. We are born into sin. When we are born again we are doubly fruitful and God will cause us to forget our past sorrow. The only way we can come to our second birth is through the cross. The only way we can forget our past is to be fruitful in Jesus.
Jacob called all his sons and prophesied the future over them. Judah’s prophecy has Jesus all in it.
Jacob died and was buried in the family grave site at Machpelah.
Jesus did in the natural what he was also doing in the spirit. He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame to walk. He is still doing that today.
Naturally, the people were hungry and Jesus miraculously provided more than enough. Jesus was trying to teach his disciples to see the spiritual in the natural but they missed it completely. When Jesus was telling them to be aware of the yeast of the Pharisees he was speaking of the doctrine of the Pharisees. Their doctrine was wrong.
Lord, may we have ears to hear and eyes to see and a heart to understand. May you give us your desires of your heart.

Tues.’s Devo - The Word of God

Read: Genesis 46:1-47:31; Matthew 15:1-28; Psalm 19:1-14; Proverbs 4:14-19
On his way to Egypt, Jacob passed through Beersheba, the burying ground of his Father, Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. This was the home of all three patriarchs at one time and God spoke to all of them here. To Jacob, God said not to be afraid to go to Egypt because God would surely bring him back. Beersheba was the beginning border of the Promise Land.
It is so true how God will send us to a place of bondage and idolatry and hide us. There we will go through trials and testings but the time will come when he will bring us out of it and we will be a different person. The world is our Egypt. God has planted each of us in a place of seemingly barrenness so that we can grow and mature and bring life to those with us. He will bring us out when our process is over.
You see the goodness of God toward his people throughout this whole story. Jacob’s family moved out of famine into the land of plenty. When everyone else is starving, they are given the best land, everyone’s cattle and food from the king’s table. That is our promise too. It doesn’t matter what the world is experiencing. We are blessed in the middle of famine. Everything God does on the earth is for the benefit of his chosen.
What is so amazing is that when Joseph was in control, everyone felt blessed, even those who gave him everything they had for seed. I bet what they did with their seed was what prompted Jesus’ parable many years later.
In Matthew, the Pharasee’s were chastising Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands according to their law. There is no law about washing your hands in the law of Moses. Jesus kept bringing them back to God’s law. Washing hands were their ad-on laws- their tradition. Jesus questioned them on honoring their mother and father which was a commandment of God. They were suppose to take care of their aging parents but they would give the money they were suppose to use for them to the temple with the excuse that that was more important. It made them look more important to those around them, but not to God who sees to the heart.
Lord, may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight today.

Mon.’s Devo - God’s Ways

Read: Genesis 44:1-45:28; Matthew 14:13-36; Psalm 18:37-50; Proverbs 411-47:31
I couldn’t help but read these two stories in Genesis and Matthew and see similarities. Benjamin was given five times the food yesterday, and now five sets of clothing. Jesus took five loaves of bread and fed five thousand. Both of these stories are about God’s grace. God chooses mercy instead of judgment whenever he can. Joseph’s brothers deserved to be punished for their hatred and deception. Joseph did get a little revenge when he tested them but it was for their good. He had to make sure their hearts were ready for the blessing he was about to give them. They traded their guilt, lack,and fear for forgiveness, prosperity and peace. What a picture of salvation.
Jesus took two fish and five loaves of bread and fed thousand, with left-overs, to show that he could provide for them just like he did for Joseph’s family. Then he calmed the storm to show that he could bring peace to any situation.
Lord, thank you that you guide us in the way of wisdom and lead us along straight paths. Our steps will not be hampered nor will we stumble.

Sun.’s Devo - The Rocky Path to the Kingdom

Read: Genesis 42:18-43:34; Matthew 13:47-14:12; Psalm 18:16-36; Proverbs 4:7-10
Yesterday, we read about Joseph’s brothers coming to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph devised a plan to test their hearts. He wanted to know if they were the same jealous brothers or if they had changed. They proved that they were at least sorry for what they had done to him. Now he needed to know if they would defend Benjamin since he would have been treated just like Joseph had…as the favorite. They passed. Lastly, he had to get Benjamin to come to Egypt so he could reveal himself to them all at the same time.
The story of Joseph reminds me of how God works in our lives. He sets up series of horrible-looking events to see how we will respond because our response reveals our heart. He has the plan out of the storm and back to safety.
It is interesting that Benjamin would get five times as much on his plate. Joseph wanted to see if his brothers would respond to it in jealousy but it is not recorded if they did.
Benjamin stands for the church since he was not part of throwing Joseph in the pit. He came along afterward and now is seated with Joseph and being honored with the biggest plate. The Gentile bride is going to cause the Jewish nation to jealousy when they see how God lavishes himself on her. Paul teaches all about it in Romans 11:11-27. The saving of the church will be the saving of the Jew.
Five is also the number of grace and the church is going to be saved through grace, not the law.
In Matthew, Jesus went back to his hometown and read and taught in the synagogue. They couldn’t receive from him because they only knew him after the flesh and couldn’t see who God was revealing him to be. I bet this was painful for Mary. Jesus couldn’t do many miracles because of their unbelief.
Herod’s birthday became John’s last day. He was beheaded in a most dishonorable way. He was the predecessor of Jesus so his death had to be violent. It was nothing to compare to the dishonor and humiliation Jesus would go through in his death.
John had fulfilled his destiny and got to go to his reward quickly.
This had to be a sign to Jesus that his time was short.
Lord, you arm us with strength and make our way perfect. You make our feet like the feet of a deer and enable us to stand on the heights.

Sat.’s Devo - Dreams

Read: Genesis 41:17-42:17; Matthew 13:24-46; Psalm 18:1-15; Proverbs 4:1-6
We can learn a lot about dreams by looking at the dreams of Joseph’s life. The butler and the baker each attended the king and one of them was a traitor. This is the picture of two different kinds of people that God will judge in the end. One will be rewarded according to his righteousness and be allowed to live forever and one will be rewarded for his sin and be condemned to die.
In the Pharaoh’s dream he dreamed of things that pertained to his livelihood, like his cattle and his grain. A famine was coming that would touch both of these things. God gave the Pharaoh a heads up about it and he was wise enough to pay attention to the warning even if he didn’t know how to interpret it. He found someone who could.
We get another clue as to how to interpret dreams in verse 32. It says that the reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter had been firmly decided by God and God will do it soon. I have seen that so many times. Usually, we remember snippets of two or three different dreams and they are all saying the same thing. Here, we see why. It is because God has determined it and it will happen soon. We have to remember ’soon’ in God’s eyes are not necessarily ’soon’ in ours.
A famine was imminent but God had a plan of survival and prosperity through it. Since the Pharaoh was wise enough to seek, he found an answer. Joseph, once again, obtained favor and is now placed in his destiny. It was not to save Egypt as much as it was to save his family - God’s chosen people. God is working everything in the world for the good of his people.
We see the principle of many stories and the same meaning in Matthew. Jesus is explaining the kingdom of heaven. He gives us many parables to explain it. The sons of the kingdom are the good seed, the mustard seed, the yeast, the treasure and the pearl. In the first three, they begin small and grow. In the last two they are hidden and don’t immerge until they are found. We have an enemy who also plants seeds - bad seeds. These are the sons of the evil one. We are not to try to decide who they are because sometimes the worse weed produces the prettiest flower in the end. Only God knows what the seed really is.
Lord, help us to love wisdom and seek out what you are saying to us.

Fri.’s Devo - Dreams and Parables

Read: Genesis 39:1-41:16; Matthew 12:46-13:23; Psalm 17:1-15; Proverbs 3:33-35
I just realized that Joseph was sold by his brothers to Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt. Ishmael was Abraham’s son who was the born of a slave and Joseph was fromAbraham’s son, Isaac, who was the son of the promise. Egypt is the picture of slavery and false gods. Joseph was sold to Potiphar which means “dedicated to Ra”. Ra is the sun god.
Potiphar put Joseph over his household and immediately his business was blessed because God’s favor was on Joseph.
Everyone noticed, especially Potiphar’s wife. Potiphar must have gone away a lot so she took advantage of the empty house. When Joseph refused to fall into her seducing trap, she found a way to get him back. She falsely accused him of rape and had him thrown into prison.
Little did Joseph know, this was all part of the plan. He was getting closer and closer to his destiny even though nothing looked like it. In jail, his gift of administration once again gained him status and favor. When two of the Pharaoh’s top men, the cup-bearer and the baker, were thrown in jail because they had offended the king. I would guess there was a plot to poison the king and one of them would have had to be a part of it.
They both have a dream and since dream interpretation is one of Joseph’s spiritual gifts, he is able to rightly interpret them. God was setting things up for when the Pharaoh had his dream. The cup-bearer remembered Joseph and it was time for him to come to his destiny.
In Matthew, Jesus is summoned by his mother and brothers. I wonder if this is about Joseph’s death and them wanting him to come home and take up the family business which would be the job of the first born. Jesus refused to let customs or family define who he was. He made it clear that his family was the world and not just the one he was born into. He was about his father’s business and his father was God.
Then Jesus gives us the parable of all parables about the seed and the sower. All the parables and everything Jesus taught hinges on this concept. The concept is the Word can only be cultivated in a heart that is ready to receive it.
Lord, help us to cultivate a heart to receive your Word.

Thurs.’s Devo - God’s Kingdom

Read: Genesis 37:1-38:30; Matthew 12:22-45; Psalm 16:1-11; Proverbs 3:27-32
The story of Joseph is one of the clearest pictures of the story of Jesus. Joseph came with dreams foretelling his future just like Jesus came with many prophecies. Joseph was despised by his brothers just as Jesus was despised by his brothers, the Jews. Joseph’s brothers plotted his death and would have killed him had God not saved him. Instead he was thrown into an empty well and his robe bloodied so it would appear he was dead. He was raised up to be sold to foreigners. Joseph ended up in Potipher’s house. Potiphar means “my affliction was broken”. Jesus was sold by one of his disciples to the Romans to be killed on a cross. They thought he was dead but he came out of his grave also. His affliction was broken through his death and so was ours. Joseph’s brothers lied about the fact that he was still alive. The leaders of the Jews also lied about the fact that Jesus had risen from the grave.
Then, in the middle of the story we get a close-up of Judah’s life. Judah went down to Adullam and married a woman whose name means “pit”. Together they had three sons: Er, Onan and Shela. Er’s wife was Tamar. Er was so wicked, the Lord killed him so he died without an heir. Onan was given to Hamar to raise up a son in Er’s name. He refused to do this, so God killed him. (If this was a movie it would be R-rated.) Judah promised her his last son when he grew up but didn’t deliver so Tamar decided she would get her inheritance herself. She deceitfully played the harlot with Judah and got pregnant. When Judah wanted to have her stoned, she produced the proof of who the father was. There was no way Judah was going to kill his offspring. Tamar had twins: Perez and Zerah. Zerah stuck his hand out first and they put a red thread around his wrist. Then, Perez then came out first. Perez means “breaking out” and Zerah means “scarlet or brightness”. Perez was considered the firstborn. It is the second-born that is the picture of salvation. We are born first of the natural but again, secondly in the spirit.
This is such a bazaar story and yet it was the tribe of Judah that God chose to tell this same story many years later through Jesus.
In Matthew, Jesus gives the Pharisees a lesson on the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. They were trying to say that Jesus did all his good works by the power of Satan, but Jesus said that that was impossible because the subjects of a kingdom do not war against each other in the spiritual realm. But… if Jesus was indeed casting out spirits by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God was come. Then he began talking about the strong man and his house. He was explaining that Satan was the king of the world and this man was his house. It would take someone stronger than him to penetrate his ranks and the only one who could do that was God himself. Because Jesus could cast out the spirit of deafness out of the man it proved that he was from God and that God’s kingdom had come to earth.
Jesus took the whole conversation back to the root - their hearts. Their hearts were evil so they would never bring forth good or accept good. They were condemning themselves by their own words.
Lord, may your kingdom come in us.

Wed.’s Devo - The Struggle

Read: Genesis 35:1-36:43; Matthew 12:1-21; Psalm 15:1-5; Proverbs 3:21-26
God told Jacob to go back to the place where he first heard from Him and build an altar. Jacob immediately cleansed his household. God didn’t tell Jacob about his idolatrous lifestyle, he just gave him a task. When God speaks to us and gives us an assignment, our conscience is brought back to life. It tells us what we need to do and we realize our sinful state. Repentance is powerful spiritual warfare. When they buried their foreign gods the terror of God fell on the people so that no one tried to attack them.
Jacob built his altar in Bethel, the first place God spoke to Abram. It was also the place God had spoken to Jacob when he was running from Esau. It represents the cross - the place of repentance and salvation.
Verse 8 seems so unimportant and out of place. It says that, Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse died and was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak and the name of it was Allon-bacuth.
I have learned that nothing is insignificant in the Bible so I decided to investigate. Deborah has never been introduced until now. Her name means “her speaking”. I would think that since she was Rebekah’s nurse that she stood for Rebekah’s words. Rebekah had been the master mind of Jacob’s deceit and now God was showing us that her sin was forgiven and dead. The curse that she had evoked on herself (Gen. 27:13) was no longer alive.
We get the account once more of God changing Jacob’s name to Israel. Now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that man that wrestled Jacob was the Lord, himself.
Rachel also had to die but she died in childbirth, bringing Benjamin into the world. She was bitter and named him Ben-oni which means “son of my trouble” but Jacob changed his name to Benjamin, “son of my right hand.” This is a picture of the church being born. She came out of Christ’s great struggle on the earth, but God’s perspective was that that struggle brought his bride access to his throne. We are the son of God’s right hand; we move through him and do miracles through him.
The Bible is all about teaching us our identity in God. It is a struggle for us understand just as it was a struggle for the people to understand Jesus’ identity. The Pharisees kept calling Jesus out for not following their man-made laws when Jesus was operating from a different kingdom. He had help make those laws and now he was bringing a new law and replacing the law with himself. The Pharisees struggled with Jesus’ identity because they never understood their own. They were suppose to be the students and Jesus the teacher, but they became the judge and him the wrongly accused.
Isaiah had prophesied that Jesus would be the one God loved and put his Spirit on to proclaim justice to the nation. The public would not understand but there would be nations that would put their trust in Him.
Lord, thank you that we are that nation of people who put our trust in You.

Tues.’s Devo - God’s Package

Read: Genesis 32:13-34:31; Matthew 11:7-30; Psalm 14:1-7; Proverbs 3:19-20
The next great feat for Jacob was meeting Esau. He had a sleepless night fighting the Angel of God and came out of it with a limp and a new name. Jacob, the supplanter, was changed to Israel which means “he will rule as God”.
All of Jacob’s fears were for naught because Esau met him with open arms and a heart of forgiveness. They had both been blessed but Jacob insisted Esau take his gifts of cattle. It was his way of paying him back what he had stolen from him. Esau finally accepted and they went their own way.
Jacob, now Israel, went to Succoth and built a house for himself and booths for his cattle. This was Israel’s first place that Israel or any of the patriarchs built a house as a permanent dwelling. This was a very significant act. Succoth would be the first place the children of Israel would travel to on their way out of Egypt. Here they would eat unleavened bread. Succoth means “booths” and became the name of the last feast, the Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Tabernacles. It is symbolic of our dwelling with the Lord - living in him. For Jacob, it meant that he was free of all his past and now had a place of his own. For the children of Israel it meant that they had finally escaped the slavery of Egypt and were on their way to their new land and a new way of living. To us, it means that we came out of sin and now live in Christ. One day it will mean that we will live in a new earth with Christ as our king.
Unleavened bread has to do with sinlessness. On the Feast of Tabernacles, sin is gone and we are forgiven and righteous.
The story of Dinah is a tragic one. She was defiled by a Canaanite man named Shechem. His father was Hamor which means “an ass”…need I say more. Anyway, Levi and Simeon took out revenge on Shechem’s family and the whole town in a very violent and cruel way. They were condemned and cursed for it in Israel’s last prophecy in Genesis 49:5-7.
In Matthew, Jesus reached out to John’s disciples. He tried to win them over, explaining John’s mission. It was not to bring the attention to himself, John, but it was to point the way and prepare men’s hearts for him, Jesus. Jesus honored John and said that he was the fulfillment of the ministry of Elijah.
He went on to show that there were people who couldn’t receive John, who didn’t drink wine. They said he had a demon. They couldn’t receive Jesus because he did drink wine. They called him a drunkard. The point he was making was that people can’t be pleased unless God comes in the package they want him to come in. But God doesn’t do that on purpose. Jesus didn’t come with a bunch of laws they had to follow, his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Lord, help us to see you in the package you come to us in.

Mon.’s Devo - Confrontation

Read: Genesis 31:17-32:12; Matthew 10:26-11:6; Psalm 13:1-6; Proverbs 3:16-18
Jacob escaped the home of Laban with everything he owned: his wives, his sons and his cattle. Laban found out and pursued him in a rage and caught up with him seven days later. It would have gone violent had not God visited Laban in a dream and told him not to speak harshly to Jacob. They did confront one another and Jacob was able to get his frustration out after all the years of abuse by Laban. There was nothing Laban could do to stop him but he wanted his household gods that had been from his house. Jacob knew nothing about them and pronounced a curse of death on whoever had stolen them. Little did he know it was Rachel. She was able to deceive her father, but her heavenly father did not let her get away with it. Those household gods were symbols of idolatry and Rachel was bringing them with her. Laban gave up when they couldn’t find them but they cost Rachel her life.
Laban and Jacob made a heap of rocks as a witness of the covenant of peace they were making. They ate, then parted ways. Jacob faced Laban and came out alive, his next obstacle would be Esau.
God will bring us back to our unfinished business because he wants us to complete the task. He wants us to face our giants and lose our fear. Jacob and Esau had parted enemies. They had both spent years apart having to work out the emotions in their hearts and now the truth would come out.
As Jacob neared Esau he didn’t know if Esau will try to kill him or whether he had found forgiveness. He reminded God of his promise to make him a great nation. Jacob did exactly what we should do when we are in a trial. We have to go back to what God has promised us.
Jesus taught that the kingdom of God was worth more than anything on the earth. It would cost your your life, but it would also save your life.
We all are faced with confrontation and our response reveals our heart. We either defend our pride or humble ourselves and choose to forgive and love.
Lord, you are the tree of eternal life. We hold on to you more than earthly life. Help us to chose love.

Sun.’s Devo - We are Eternal

Read: Genesis 30:1-31:16; Matthew 10:1-25; Psalm 12:1-8; Proverbs 3:13-15
Rachel did what we often do. She looked for someone to blame and lashed out at Jacob. He pointed out that the real one she was mad at was God which is usually who we are mad out when things are beyond our control. So Rachel decided maybe she could control things and gave Jacob her handmaiden, Bilhah. She did exactly what her mother-in-law had done and Jacob did exactly what Abraham had done one this time it seemed to have been the plan. Bilhah had Dan and Naphtali. Leah realized she was no longer baring so she gave Jacob her servant, Zilpah. Zilpah had Gad and Asher. These children were all named after the emotions of Leah and Rachel.
God opened Leah’s womb again and she had Issachar and Zebulun. Finally, God opened Rachel’s womb and she had Joseph. His name means “may he add” because Rachel prayed that God would add more sons to her. God did but not before he got them out of that place to their new land because Benjamin could not be born there. Benjamin was the picture of the church.
How ironic that we would read the list of Jesus disciples on the day when we read about Israel’s twelve tribes. Jesus had his twelve also. They were being sent out to do the things they had seen their master, Jesus do. He warned them that they would be treated the same way he was. Some would willingly welcome them into their homes and take care of them and some would cast them out as false teachers and have them flogged. It is no different with us. We will be loved by those who are hungry and thirsty for truth and persecuted by those who think they have the truth. We are not to be afraid because the Holy Spirit is with us and will tell us what to say. Our lives is not what is important because we are eternal. We don’t run out of lives like a video game. We finish our race on earth and go to heaven to continue it on a new level. So… it is kind of like a video game after all, only, we just can’t die!
Lord, may we be like silver refined in your fire.

Sat.’s Devo - Family

Genesis 28:1-29:35; Matthew 9:18-38; Psalm 11:1-7; Proverb 3:11-12
God chooses sinful men and then molds them into what he wants them to become - what he intended for their lives. God chose Jacob to be the father of his twelve tribes even though he was sneaky and conniving. The way he chose to break him of his bad habits was to send him to a man that was even more sneaky and conniving than himself - Laban.
Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan Aram which means “their ransom is high”. It surely cost Jacob a lot. He worked for fourteen years for a wife he didn’t love and one he did. Poor Leah was the unloved one so God poured his love on her and opened her womb. Each son was the expectation of her husbands love but not the fulfillment. She had Rueben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, then stopped baring.
God lets us see into the family of Isaac and Jacob more than any other family in the Bible. We see right away that there are no perfect mothers or fathers and that sibling rivalry was just as strong then as now. Families are messy and heart-breaking at times but God chose the family to train us for our destinies. We can reject them or learn to love them in all their shortcomings and selfish ambitions. They are the mirrors to our own soul.
In Matthew, we see a Roman ruler who loved his daughter so much he was willing to humble himself before Jesus. He was desperate, but so was the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. God cared for the high and mighty and the low and humble. He healed her and brought the girl back to life. I would say he brought them both back to life!
Then, Jesus did a most important thing. The Jewish leaders had determined long ago that the criteria for the Messiah would be three miracles: he would heal a man born blind, a Jewish leper and a mute. He had already done the first two so when he the mute man spoke (vs. 33) the people all looked to the Pharisees to see what they would say. They couldn’t deny he had done all these things so they declared that he didn’t do them by the power of God but by the power of Satan. That marked a shift in Jesus’ ministry. That was the dividing line. He rejected the Jew and started ministering to the Gentiles also and his teaching went from public to more private.
Lord, thank you for our families. Help us to love and honor the place they play in our lives.

Fri.’s Devo - Wells of Salvation

Read: Genesis 26:17-27:46; Matthew 9:1-17; Psalm 10:16-18; Proverbs 3:9-10
A well was a picture of a filling station for your spirit. In our day, a well might be a church or your place of spiritual fellowship, refreshing, and deep revelation. So there was much spiritual warfare and physical warfare over wells. Isaac just kept on digging till he dug one that wasn’t contested over.
Isaac was met with Abimelech who had sent his father, Abraham away when he found out that Abraham had lied to him about Sarah. Now he wanted Isaac and his people near because he recognized the Lord’s favor on them. This is a picture that is playing out in our lifetime. Where government has hated the Christian and especially the prophet, now they are seeing the significance of having them close and are seeking them out.
Isaac and Abimelech ate together and made a covenant of peace. Then they went their own way. When they did this God was able to open a new well for Isaac and his people on their own burying ground. This signified the reopening of Abraham’s promise that God had given him at this very spot. He had promised to bless him and make a great nation of him and his decedents. They were to bless the whole world, and not be enemies of the world.
Next we see the struggle for the blessing. While Esau was out finding game for his father, Jacob sneaked in and deceitfully took his blessing. Esau got a blessing, but it was not the one he wanted so he planned to kill Jacob. This showed that Esau didn’t know a lot about God. Rebekah found out and planned a way of escape for Jacob. She would send Jacob to Haran to find a wife.
In Matthew, Jesus healed and forgave the paralytic, shut the mouths of the teachers of the law and called a tax collector to be his disciples. Then Jesus gave them the picture of the new patch on the old garment and the new wine and the old wineskins. Jesus came to do something new but the ones who couldn’t make the switch would not be saved.
Lord, may our hearts be new and fresh so that we can receive your mercy’s that are new every morning.

Thurs.’s Devo - Gaining Authority

Read: Genisus 24:52-26:16; Matthew 8:18-34; Psalm 10:1-15; Proverbs 3:7-8
Rebekah came back with Abraham’s servant and married Isaac. Abraham also married Keturah and had six sons. Abraham gave them gifts and sent them eastward, but his inheritance was saved for Isaac. Abraham was 175 when he died and was buried in the same cave Sarah was buried in.
Rebekah was barren until Isaac prayed for her and God opened her womb. She had twins, Esau and Jacob. Esau was loved by his earthly father and Jacob was loved by his mother. They were total opposites and since Esau was born first, he would get the inheritance of the first born. Jacob came out holding on to his heel. There was a struggle in the womb because they were fighting for position even there. Jacob got the birthright when Esau sold it for a pot of stew, thus hating his birthright.
A famine came, yet God told Isaac not to go to Egypt but to stay there so he did. Isaac fell into the same sin his father made. He told Sarah to tell people she was his brother. When Abimeleck found out, he was mad but did everything he could to protect Isaac and Rebekah.
God blessed Isaac and be became very rich. The Philistines envied his wealth so they filled up all the wells the ancestors had dug with dirt. Finally, Abimelech told him he needed to move on.
In Matthew, Jesus was on a mission to reach the demoniac. Satan sent a storm to deter them or scare them off. Jesus calmed the storm in the waves as a precursor for what he was going to do in the man. Jesus had to establish his authority.
I think this is a great teaching lesson. When God has a task for us, he will send trials to train us for the big one. We have to see the opportunities around us to grow and take them. We gain authority by using the authority we have. It grows with use.
Lord, help us to grow in our faith and authority

Wed.’s Devo - Evidence

Read: Genesis 23:1-24:51; Matthew 8:1-17; Psalm 9:133-20; Proverbs 3:1-6
Sarah died in Kiriath Arba which is the city of four. Abraham sought to buy the field in Machpelah to be his family’s burying place. This field and these trees are the very place that Abraham first went to after he and Lot parted ways. Abraham had built an altar to the Lord here. Now he wanted to bury his people here. Machpelah means “he brought low the set apart”. That means that God’s righteous people were buried (brought low) at this place. This would be their resting place until Jesus came to set them free. He bought it for 400 shekels of silver. Four is the number of righteous rule. One day, the righteous will rule the earth and Jesus will be king.
Abraham was getting old so he sent his chief servant to find a wife for Isaac. He didn’t want him to marry a Canaanite so he sent him to his homeland to get a wife from his bloodline. Through a series of prayers and fleeces, the servant found Rebekah who was Isaac’s cousin.
In Matthew, we see Jesus fully moving in his ministry. He heals a Jewish leper, a Roman centurion’s son who was paralyzed, Peter’s mother-in-law who had fever and commands demons out of many others. The one that was most important to the Jews was the Jewish leper. The Pharasees had a certain criteria for the Messiah. He would heal a Jewish leper, heal a man born blind and heal a deaf person. Here Jesus heals the Jewish leper and tells him to go and show the priest. He was giving them the evidence they required even though the Word doesn’t. He met all the criteria, yet they still wouldn’t or couldn’t believe.
Lord, help us to believe even when we don’t see our prayers answered right away. The evidence of your presence is all around us.

Tues.’s Devo - The Seed

Read: Genesis 20:1-22:24; Matthew 7:15-29; Psalm 9:1-12; Proverbs 2:16-22
As bad as women were treated in the Bible, I love how God comes to their defense. He certainly came to Sarah’s while she was in Egypt. God completely vindicated her and gave her a thousand shekels of silver which is the metal of redemption. Then, God opened her womb and gave her her promise. Isaac was born and circumcised. Abraham was 100 and Sarah laughed with joy. Isaac means laughter and don’t you know he brought them much laughter! Ishmael was thrown out because there was no room for a substitute when the promise had arrived. God provided for Hagar once again and she was able to raise her son in the desert. She got him a wife in Egypt. Ishmael would grow to have 12 sons just as Jacob would and he would become a great nation but they would always be at enmity with one another over the birthright.
Abraham had to contend with Abimelech for a well he had dug. Wells have to do with deep revelation, salvation and life. This well was in Beersheba. Jacob would come back to this very place and live.
God tested Abraham’s faith to the breaking point and Abraham passed with flying colors. God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the fulfillment of Abraham’s promise on the altar. Abraham obeyed and God saved Isaac right in time. Isaac was a type of Jesus who willingly went to the cross just as Isaac willingly allowed his elderly father to tie him to the altar. Isaac trusted in Abraham’s love just as Jesus trusted in his Fathers’s love. God allowed a substitute for Abraham but Jesus had to complete the process for us to have eternal life.
Abraham received news that his brother Nahor has had 8 sons. The last one would be the father of Isaac’s future wife, Rebekah.
In Matthew, Jesus taught us about the seed. A tree is determined by its seed as to what it will become. We see what it is by its fruit. If the seed is bad, then the fruit will be bad, but if the seed is good, then the fruit will be good. Anyone can pretend to have good fruit but God knows the truth because the seed is planted in the heart.
Lord, we praise you because you are a stronghold in times of trouble. You will never forsake those who seek you.

Mon.’s Devo - God’s Judgement

Read: Genesis 18:20-19:38; Matthew 6:25-7:14; Psalm 8:1-9; Proverbs 2:6-15
God visited Abraham and let him know what he was about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah because he knew that Abraham had a special interest in Sodom. Lot was there and Abraham was responsible as his relative’s care. Abraham whittled the Lord down to ten righteous men when God knew all the time there was not one righteous man in Sodom. Lot had assimilated into the culture and lived among them. His wife didn’t even want to leave and Lot hesitated more than once. He had allowed his two daughters to be promised to men of Sodom and had made Sodom their home. Because of the blood line of Abraham, God rescued Lot against his will. Only his two daughters followed him then got him drunk and had sex with their own father to produce an offspring - the Ammonites and the Moabites. Both of these tribes became enemies and opponents of Israel throughout their history.
In Matthew, Jesus tells us not to worry about our body because our spirit is more important than food and clothes. I guess even back then they worried about what they were going to wear. LOL!
I’m afraid that Matthew 7 hits me in the face. Jesus is talking about judging and that how you judge others will be the way you will be judged. Living with family, it is hard for me not to find myself judging. I do pray for mercy and a heart of grace.
God is the good father and he will give us what we ask of him but Jesus sums his sermon up with this: “In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you. This is the main point of what the law and prophets taught.
God is the judge and he knows when to judge sin, like Sodom and he knows when to give mercy and grace. We can rest in the fact that he is the God of Justice and Judgement.
Oh Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Sun.’s Devo. - God’s Treasures

Read: Genesis 16:1-18:19; Matthew 6:1-24; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 2:1-5
Sarai got impatient because God’s promise was not coming to pass so she decided she might need to help God. That sounds ridiculous but it is the temptation of man to hurry God along when God’s timing is perfect. It is not the end result that God is interested in as much as it is the process of getting there; it is all the lessons to be learned on the way.
Sarah’s impatience brought pain and sorrow for her, Abraham and Hagar. Hagar was the victim in the whole thing but she got a son out of the ordeal even if he was like a wild donkey. Most importantly, she had the most incredible experience of hearing God talk to her and she realized that God knew her and cared about her plight. She was honored to be able to name her son the name God had given her.
Fourteen years later, God met with Abram again and changed his name to Abraham and reestablished his covenant with him promising him the land and to make him a great nation. He gave him the sign of circumcision. He also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah and told him she would have a son and his name would be Isaac.
In Matthew, Jesus continued to teach us the way of his kingdom. He told us not to do our acts of kindness so that men would be impressed, but to do them quietly so that only heaven would see. Earth is not where our investments are going to pay off eternally. Heaven is where we want to store up our treasures. We cannot serve both God and money.
Our Proverbs says it all. Lord, help us to cry out for your wisdom and your treasures because they are truly more satisfying and greater than anything the earth can produce.

Sat.’s Devo - Walking Out the Promise

Read: Genesis 13:5-15:21; Matthew 5:27-48; Psalm 6:1-10; Proverbs 1:29-33
It came time to divide and multiply so Lot chose the good land and gave Abraham the rest. When Lot had gone, God told Abraham to look in every direction because he would give him all the land for him and his descendants. Abraham’s job was to walk the whole land that God had promised him.
Amraphel was king of Shiner. Shiner was Babylon which means “confusion” and Amraphel means “sayer of darkness”. Amraphel along with three additional evil kings went to war against five other evil kings, Sodom and Gomorrah being two of the five. To make it simple, one of the four kings, Chedorlaomer was the king of Persia who was taking tribute from all of them. The five kings decided to rebel so Chedorlaomer gathered his other kingdoms and was coming for his money. He took everything from Sodom and Gomorrah along with Lot and his family.
Abraham was told about it and gathered his 318 trained servants and pursued Chedorlaomer and attacked by night. They pursue them and brought back all the people and things they had stolen. This in itself was a total miracle. Abraham’s 318 men conquered four armies and brought back everything that had been stolen.
The king of Sodom met Abraham in the valley of Shaveh which is known as the Kidron Valley. It became known as the place where they threw all the objects of sin and idolatry. Melchizedek brought bread and wine and had communion with Abram, sanctifying the valley. Melchizedek is God’s High Priest in Heaven. He did a prophetic act that Jesus would one day do to sin once and for all. There, Abraham offered a tithe of his spoils to Melchizedek. He refused to take anything from the king of Sodom who was a type of Satan. God then blessed Abram and cut a covenant with him promising to give him the land of Canaan for his possession.
In Matthew, Jesus went through the law with the people explaining that the law was not meant to be a list of rules but to change their hearts. He taught us to love even our enemies and pray for those who persecute us that we may be sons of our Father in heaven.
Lord, help us to have the love that you have. Help us to take possession of our land and fight for what you have promised us.

Fri.’s Devo - Jesus’ Teaching

Read: Genesis 11;1-13:4; Matthew 5:1-26; Psalm 5:1-12; Proverbs 1:24-28
The whole earth had the same language and the same cause which was to build a portal to heaven. Because of their unity, they were going to succeed. This tower was a pyramid that would access the spiritual realm. God confused their languages so they could not finish their tower and scattered them over the earth.
Next we have Shem’s line, Noah’s oldest son. Abram came from Shem’s line and his dad’s name was Terah. Abram’s brother, Haran had a son named Lot, then he died. Abram, his father, his wife (Sarai) and Lot left Ur to go to Canaan. Terah, Abram’s dad died in Haran and God spoke to Abram. He told him to leave his country, his people, and his family to go to the land he would show him. There he would make him into a great nation and bless him. He would be well-known and be a blessing to the earth. So Abram took Lot and went to Canaan. When he got to Shechem, God spoke to him again and told him he would give his offspring this land. This became known as the Promised Land. Abram made an altar here. Jacob would come back and buy this land. He would first rid his family of all their false gods and make a new commitment to the Lord. To seal the promise he would dig a well by an oak. Joshua would come back to this exact place and read the blessings and the curses to the people. They would make a covenant to follow the Lord and let him be their God. Joshua would place a stone by the oak to seal the promise.
This city became a city of refuge where those who had no advocate could run and be safe. This is a place of repentance and salvation.
From here, Abram went to Bethel which means “the house of God”. We have to come to the cross before we can approach God with a clean heart. Then Abram was led into Egypt to be tempted just as Jesus was. Abram didn’t fare so well because he lied about Sarai instead of trusting God to take care of him. Abram did come back to where he started and called out to the Lord.
In Matthew Jesus began teaching the people. The people had been taught Judaism which was a religion that was formed in the time between the Old and New Testament. It was a religion of man-made laws and had very little to do with the law that God gave Moses. Jesus’ teaching went back to the Mosaic law. Everything he taught made the scribes and Pharasee’s mad because it opposed their laws. They taught that it was unlawful to teach the Torah to a woman. Jesus welcomed women and children. They also believed that righteousness was only found in obeying their laws. They made them more and more hard to obtain and tedious. They believed that if you were righteous before God you would be blessed with riches. Jesus came to the poor and thirsty, and taught that they were rich in the kingdom of God. Jesus taught humility and love which was the exact opposite of the hearts of most of the religious leaders. At first, they just sat and listened to his teaching. Our Proverb tells of the end of most of the religious leaders.
Lord, help us to stay humble and let love guide our moves.

Thurs.’s Devo - Baptism of Fire

Read: Genesis 8:1-10:32; Matthew 4:12-25; Psalm 4:1-8; Proverbs 1:20-23
God had not forgotten Noah. On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat. God called the seventh day a day of rest. Ararat means “the curse reversed”. Sin had brought a curse on the earth and God had to destroy it so he could start over. He will do the same thing when the seventh millennium comes.
The story of Noah is full of sevens because it is dealing with a type of the end times. God changed their food from herbs to meat. I think that is a picture of God changing our spiritual food from earthly to heavenly meat.
God gave man a covenant that he would never destroy the earth again by waters of a flood. The next time it will be fire. John the baptist came baptizing in water but Jesus would baptize with fire. Over and over the Bible talks about God’s eyes being a flame of fire. So I have to wonder if his glory will bring the fire. God set his rainbow in the sky as a sign of his covenant. Noah and his sons began their lives on the new earth. Right away we see the unrighteous line raising its head in Ham. He dishonored his father and was cursed. His line produced the kingdom of Babylon which is the center of Satan’s kingdom. All the nations of the world came from Noah’s line.
In Matthew, John the Baptist was thrown into prison and at that time, Jesus began his ministry. John would die in prison, but his work would be continued through Jesus. John had finished his destiny and would get his reward early. Jesus called Simon and Peter to be his first disciples and then began preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and healing every disease.
Lord, thank you for reversing the curse of sin and death over us and giving us the blessing of salvation and eternal life. Baptize us with the fire of your presence.

Wed.’s Devo - Noah’s Charge

Read: Genesis 5:1-7:24; Matthew 3:7-4:11; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 1:10-19
There are seven generations from Adam to Enoch. Enoch’s life is a picture of the raptured Church. He walked with God until God came and took him. Enoch’s son was Methuselah who lived longer than any other human being - 365 years.
God told Noah to build an ark because the human race had become so wicked and violent. The demonic angels came to earth and had sex with the human women and produced off-spring that were supernaturally evil. God had to rid that seed from the earth or it would corrupt every man. Noah was the only man on earth that had a righteous blood line.
God told him exactly how to make it and filled it with two of every animal except the animals that he was to sacrifice. Of those, he chose seven.
Methuselah’s name means “when he dies, it will come” talking about the flood. He died the day Noah went into the ark. Noah was 600 years old when he entered the ark being a picture of the ones who would go through the tribulation in the 6th millennium. In 2 Peter 2:5 it says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. It never says how the people responded to his building the ark or if they tried to get on the boat. All of that is speculation. It does say that water sprang from the deeps of the earth and the heavens which caused the earth to fill with water very fast. Creation scientist teach that the water that sprung up from the earth punctured holes in the Ozone layer causing the atmosphere to change and the lifespan of man to shorten. Waters flooded the earth for one hundred and fifty days. All men and animals were killed except Noah.
In Matthew, John the Baptist came preaching the same message of Noah. John spoke to the children of Israel to repent and come back to God or God would find a new family. John baptized with water, but the Messiah would come baptizing in the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus came to where John was baptizing and John immediately recognized the spirit of God on Jesus. He told him that he should baptize him. Jesus told him that now he needed to be baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness. When he was baptized, the spirit of God came down like a dove and lit on him. God spoke from heaven and said, “This is my Son, whom I love: with him I am well pleased.” Then the Spirit of God led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The devil offered Jesus everything that God would give him after the cross. The devil just wanted Jesus to bypass the cross. That is always the devil’s tactic. He wants us to be impatient with waiting on God and take his plan which will always be the wrong advice.
Lord, help us to see your plan and wait for it.

Tues.’s Devo - Our Enemy

Read: Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9
Right away, God wants us to know the nature of our enemy. He is deceitful, a liar, and only wants to kill what God has made. He will do anything to defy God and he uses God’s creation to get back at him. Satan deceived Eve into eating the apple, but Adam took the apple of his own free will. So sin entered through the first Adam and exited through the second Adam, Jesus.
When God found out what they had done, he cursed the serpent first and said he would put enmity between his offspring and Eve’s. Satan has an offspring and we see it right away. Even has two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain cannot please God but Abel does. Cain is the devil’s offspring and Abel is the Lord’s. Cain kills the Lord’s offspring just as Satan’s offspring killed Jesus on the cross. God replaced Abel with Seth just as God replaced Jesus with his Holy Spirit. Seth was the third son of Adam just as the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity.
We see the murdering spirit of the devil in Matthew. He will do anything he can to stop the Messiah from coming to save the world. Satan used Herod to kill all the babies of Bethlehem and its vicinity to try to kill the Messiah. We see that Satan is not all-knowing. That is why God hides his plans in mysteries encoded for his people to search out and find. Proverbs 25:2 says that it is the glory of God to hide things and the honor of the king to search them out. God is the king who hides things for us, the princes to find them out.
God introduces John the Baptist as the one Isaiah spoke of: the voice calling in the desert to prepare the way for the Lord and to make straight paths for him. He was calling to the people to get their hearts right to receive the Messiah. He baptized them to clean their souls.
Lord, help us to be aware of the wiles of our enemy and be awakened to the spirit of God.

Mon.’s Devo - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The word for the year is “clarity”. I had a dream that Dave and I were asked what we wanted the most and we both in unison said, “to hear from God more clearly”. Immediately, God started speaking to me and it was my pastor’s voice. He was talking to me so clear and loud that I didn’t miss anything he said. I didn’t remember what he said so I know it went straight to my spirit but I heard him clearly.
I think that God is going to be speaking so clearly this year that there will be no question that it is him.
Last year was a huge transition for us as our son and his wife and their two kids moved in with us so Hannah could go to school and we could help out with the kids and finances. It has definitely had its challenges but we are still partly sane and happy. My sense of family has grown and so has my patience.
Sometimes growth happens gradually and sometimes it is thrust upon you.
Two Thousand and Eight means a “new beginning”. God is starting things over for us like he did when Noah came out of the ark to start the world over. It’s like we get a second chance on things we thought were dead and impossible to redeem. It is truly the time we are going to see dreams realized and birthed.

Read: Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6
God works in sevens. His week is seven days and then he starts over. We are in 2008 which means we are starting over with a new beginning. One means beginning. God began his Word teaching us basics about himself. On the first day, God gave light a name which was “Day” and he gave darkness a name: “Night”. He separated the two on the first day showing that light and darkness were opposites. There is a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness.
On the second day God separated the waters with the sky and gathered the waters under the sky in one place and called it the seas. Waters stand for spirit so God was showing us that there is are good spirits, the ones that went up and evil spirits - the ones that went down.
On the third day God gathered the water into one place and exposed the dry land. He called the land: Earth. He told the land to produce vegetation which bore seeds. The seeds would produce fruit according to the kind of seed that the plant bore. He was teaching us that there is the natural and the spiritual. We live in the natural - the earth, but we also plant seeds and bare fruit according to the seed that has been placed in us.
On the fourth day, God put lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. These lights stand for the glory of God - the sun, the glory of the church - the moon, and the glory of the saints - the stars. This glory divides day and night like the Word divides soul and spirit.
On the fifth day, God created flying fowls, and swimming fish. He told them to be fruitful and multiply. The fowls represent man’s spirit and the fish represent his soul.
On the sixth day, God created the land creatures and man. Man was to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. They were to subdue it and have dominion over all the other moving creatures God created. Man was to eat the herbs and the fruit. Animals were only to eat herbs. God was showing man his authority and place in the world.
God rested on the seventh day to show us his plan for the world. Every day represents a thousand years so in the last millennium we will rest in Him.
God created Adam and placed him in Eden. Adam had to realize his need for a helpmeet so God had him name the animals so he would realize this. Adam was put to sleep so Eve could be born from his side just as Jesus had to die on the cross so the Bride could come from his side.
In Matthew we are given the lineage of Joseph, Mary’s husband and Jesus’ earthly father. In this lineage were four women mentioned: Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah), and Ruth. Everyone of them were married first to an unfruitful husband and then again to one where they bore fruit. Romans 7 talks about how we are married first to the law, and then to grace. Mary was the first woman of the New Testament and her seed was the righteous spirit of God. She was fruitful before she married her natural husband. We who are born again into grace are always fruitful.
Our beginning Psalm explains what a fruitful tree is like and our beginning Proverbs tells us why we are to read this book. Both show us that we read the Word to know wisdom, instruction and understanding so that we will bear good fruit in the earth.
Lord, may your Holy Spirit guide us and reveal your heart as we read through your Holy Word this year.