Sat.’s Devo - Hearts Are Exposed

Read: Genesis 37:1-38:30; Matthew 12:22-45; Psalm 16:1-11; Proverbs 3:27-32 Joseph was 17 and helped his half-brothers (Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher) out in the field. Joseph told Jacob some bad things they were doing. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite since he was Rachel’s son and reminded Jacob of Rachel. Jacob had a special coat made for Joseph that showed his love for him. This made the other brothers jealous. To make it worse, Joseph had dreams about them bowing down to him and worshipping him. He even had one where his mother and father bowed down and worshipped him. *** Joseph’s brothers had gone to Shechem to pasture their sheep and had been gone a while, so Jacob sent Joseph to bring him back a report of how they were doing. Joseph found them in Dothan. As he was approaching him, they were plotting how to kill him. Reuben stepped in and suggested to just throw him into an empty cistern and let him die there. He planned to come back and rescue him. They took off his coat and threw him into the cistern, but then saw a caravan of Ishmaelite traders with their camels. Judah came up with the idea of selling him and making a prophet. They sold him for twenty pieces of silver and the traders took Joseph to Egypt. *** When Rueben returned to save Joseph, he found the cistern empty and he was distraught. The brothers killed a wild animal and dipped Joseph’s coat in the blood. They took it back to their father to let him figure out what had happened to him. *** Jacob believed wild animals had attacked and eaten Joseph and was so sad he wept for a long time, refusing to be comforted. *** Judah left home and moved to Abdullah and stayed with a man named Hiram which means “hollowness.” Judah married a Canaanite woman and had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah in that order. Jacob chose Tamar to marry Er. Er was so evil, God killed him. Jacob had Onan marry Tamar to have a son for his dead brother’s name. Onan didn’t want to do this, so God killed him. Jacob had promised Tamar that he would give her Shelah when he was old enough to marry, but Judah was afraid his sons were dying because of Tamar so he didn’t give Shelah to Tamar. *** When Tamar realized Judah was not going to fulfill his promise she tricked him into having sex with her. She heard that Judah was sheering sheep in Timnah and she set up a prostitute’s tent on his way. He fell for the bait and gave his staff, his ID seal, and its cord to guarantee his payment to have sex with the veiled Tamar. He had no idea she was his daughter-in-law. *** Tamar became pregnant and when Judah found out he sent someone to stone her. She presented the staff, seal and cord and said that the father was the owner of these things. Judah realized what Tamar had done and was not going to kill his off-spring, so he let her live. *** Tamar had twins and while she was delivering them, one of them put out his hand and the midwife put a scarlet string on his wrist, but the other boy came out first. They named him Perez which means “breaking out” and the one with the scarlet thread was named Zerah which means “brightness.” *** This is a spiritual concept. The first born is the one they were to offer to the Lord. He was the one who received the most when the father died. The first born represents our natural life. When we present our lives to the Lord, we die to our sins and are born again. This second birth represents the second born. He was the one with the scarlet thread who is now a light in the world. He is double blessed with the inheritance naturally and spiritually. In Matthew, Jesus healed a man and he could now see and speak but now the Pharisees had to explain why this man couldn’t be the Messiah. They came up with the statement that Jesus got his power from Satan and was the prince of demons. This showed that the more light the people were shown, the more blind the Pharisees became and the more lies they had to speak. They accused Jesus of being the very thing they were. *** Jesus explained that the kingdom of Satan would not be bringing healing and salvation or it would be fighting against its cause. The cause of Satan is to steal, kill and destroy, so how could Jesus be of that kingdom. Because Jesus was casting out demons this was evidence of what John preached was here. John preached that the kingdom of God was near and Jesus was proving that now it had come. Jesus was plundering the camp of Satan. *** Jesus said that the only sin that could not be forgiven was to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. He said, people could speak against him, but not the Holy Spirit. What is in our hearts will come out of our mouths. It is with our mouth that we confess Jesus, and it will be with our mouth that we will give an account on judgment day for every idle word spoken. It is our words that will justify or condemn us. *** The Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus asking for a sign to prove his authority. What? Everything Jesus did was a miraculous sign that proved his authority. Jesus said that only an adulterous, evil generation would ask such things. The only sign they would get was the sign of Jonah. The people of Nineveh had repented when he showed up and now the Messiah was here and the people still wouldn’t repent. Their sign would be the empty tomb. *** Jesus added that this generation was like a person who was delivered from demons and yet when the demon couldn’t find a place to go, it came back to the original person bringing with it more demons and now that person is worse off than before. Jesus was predicting what would happen when he left. They already wanted to kill him, they would try to kill all his followers once he was gone. (Their demons would increase.) *** God forces demons out into the light which is what he is doing right now in our society. He is forcing the demons to show themselves and what their agenda really is. They can’t hide anymore and we can’t sit on the fence anymore either. We have to choose between light and darkness. *** Lord, you are our refuge and place of rest. Your are our inheritance and you guard what is ours. May we watch over our words and only speak what is gracious and true. May we not tolerate darkness in our society.