Tues.’s Devo - Hagar’s Plight

Read Gen. 16:1-18:19, Matt. 6:1-24, Ps. 7:1-17, Pro. 2:1-5 Today, I was drawn to Hagar. It must have been hard enough to be Sarah’s maid, but now she must be Abraham’s sex slave and bear his child. When the child is born, he won’t even be considered Hagar’s child and she won’t get to make the decisions about his life. How devastating. No wonder she hated Sarah when she found out she was pregnant. Abraham chose Sarah’s side and Hagar was left to the cruel hands of Sarah. When it got too hard for Hagar, she ran…. right into God’s arms. He told her to go back and submit to their abuse because she was going to have a son named Ishmael. He would be wild and hated by all. For thirteen years, Abraham thought Ishmael would be the heir and treated him like the firstborn. Then God and three of his angels appeared to Abraham and told him that Ishmael would not be the heir, but that he and Sarah would have a son. Sarah heard his prophecy and laughed in her heart. The Lord commented on Sarah’s hidden reaction and asked her a great question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” When Sarah tried to denied that she laughed, the angels said, “No; but you did laugh.” In Matthew we read that things done in secret, are very important in heaven - good or bad. Little did Sarah know that her unbelief would be written about in a book called the Bible and that people for generations would know what she did. I wonder if we would change our reactions if we realized heaven was watching and recording. Actually, we do know that our good deeds are being written down in a book of remembrance. In spite of Abraham and Sarah’s shortcomings, they were both given a new name that was a promotion. In spite of our shortcomings, we have been given a new name that cleanses us from all our sins and makes us useful to the kingdom. God, you are our shield and Most High God; a righteous judge. We cry out for understanding and knowledge.

Mon.’s Devo - Abraham’s Belief

Read Gen 13:5-15:21, Matt. 5:27-48, Ps. 6:1-10, Pro. 1:29-33 Yesterday, we read where God called Abraham out of a Gentile nation and told him to blindly trust Him and just leave. God would guide him and make him and his descendants into a mighty nation that would bless the whole earth. Abraham obeyed and took Lot, his nephew, with him. He got side-tracked and went to Egypt when the famine came instead of looking to God to feed him, but now he is finally back on track. When Abraham and Lot became so rich that there was not enough room for both of them to travel together, Abraham gave Lot his pick of land. When Lot left, God gave Abraham all the land, even Lots. God told Abraham just to walk the land and it would be his. In the meantime, Lot has gone and gotten entangled with the wicked people of Sodom. They were attacked by their enemies and taken captive. When Abraham found out, he went after them to rescue Lot. God gave them a victory even though Abraham had to fight with the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. When they offered Abraham some of the spoils, Abraham refused. Instead, he gave Melchizedek his tithe and worshipped God with him. Melchizedek was a high priest and a shadow of Jesus, our High Priest. God came to Abraham again and promised him he would one day be a mighty nation. When Abraham whined about not having an heir, God promised him one and Abraham believed Him. His belief made him righteous just like it does for us. It has always been about our hearts, not our actions. Our actions follow and confirm our heart. Jesus tells us to love our enemies… what better way to show what is in our hearts. Lord, may we listen to You and live in safety, and be at ease, without fear of harm.

Sun.’s Devo - Babel’s Kingdom Vs. God’s

Read Gen. 11:1-13:4, Matt. 5:1-26, Ps. 5:1-12, Pro. 1:24-28 Gen 11:1 says that the whole earth was of one language and one speech. It sounds like it is saying the same thing, but speech means “purpose, power, reason” and language means “talk or words”. They both mean more than what we think of when we think of “language”. They thought the same and had the same basic beliefs. This unity gave them power. Enough power to be able to build a portal into heaven. Jesus spoke about this in John 10:10 as being thieves and robbers that come into the sheepfold by some other means than the door which is Jesus. Notice what they use to get there - burning bricks and slime. These are pictures of the materials found in hell. Their reason was to raise themselves up to heaven and make a name for themselves. Satan has been trying to do that forever. That was his quest when he rebelled in heaven. In today’s reading he using his subjects to do his dirty work. They would have succeeded because of their unity which empowered them if God hadn’t confounded their language so they couldn’t understand one another. They were scattered which was the one thing they didn’t want to happen (verse 4). This place was called Babel which will one day be called Babylon, which means “confusion”. It is Satan’s capital on earth. When ever we feel confused about God’s plan or what is going on in our lives we know who is bringing it. 1Co. 14:33 says that God is not the author of confusion but of peace. In Matt we have Jesus explaining his kingdom. He states that it is the meek that will inherit the earth, not the powerful. His subjects are the persecuted, not the exalted. Our deeds should point others to heaven….not to us. Let all who take refuge in you be glad: let us ever sing for joy!

Sat.’s Devo - Life After the Flood

Read Gen. 8:1-10:32, Matt. 4:12-25, Ps. 4:1-8, Pr. 1:20-23 The ark finally rested and Noah sent out both a raven and a dove. The raven stood for the devil and the dove stood for the Holy Sprit. The raven did exactly what the devil does, he roamed to and fro over the earth, never tiring, waiting for something to dry up that he could devour. The dove was faithful to Noah and always coming back with clues so Noah will know what was going on on earth. God promised he would never do anything that he didn’t first tell his prophets. It is the job of the dove, the Holy Spirit to tell the prophets what to do. On the first day of the six hundred and first year, God called Noah out of the ark. In God’s 6,001st year, God is going to call us back to earth to replenish it after the great battle of Armageddon. The first thing Noah did was to make an altar and offer a sacrifice to God. For the first time in history, the animals were afraid of man, because now man was told to eat them. Remember what the food was at the Marriage feast in Revelation? It was the bodies of the sinners and demons. This makes me wonder if that isn’t the food we will eat then. God warned them they couldn’t eat anything that still had live blood in it. Sounds awful to me, but then our bodies aren’t going to be the same and eating will be of a totally different nature. If the devil’s job is to devour us now, it makes sense that we will devour him then. The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus when he came back in his resurrected body. I wonder if the men born after the flood were different than the ones before the flood? Food for thought. Another thing that stood out to me was in Gen. 9:20-27. Ham shamed his father, by not covering his nakedness, but Noah cursed Ham’s son, Canaan. What we do does affect the next generation. Lord, let the light of Your face shine upon us and fill our hearts with greater joy!

Fri.’s Devo - Noah and John

Read Gen. 5:1-7:24, Matt. 3:7-4:11, Ps. 3:1-8, Pro. 1:10-19 There are so many interesting nuggets to note in today’s reading. Did you notice that Cain and Abel are not mentioned in Adam’s bloodline. That is because Cain was not his blood. Cain was God’s blood. When Eve had Cain, she said she had a child from the Lord. Cain is the unrighteous seed. His twin, Abel, was from Adam’s blood only he was killed. Abel was a type of Jesus killed by an agent of the devil. So the only child Adam had left was Seth. When the “son’s of God” (6:1-3), the fallen angels, cohabited with the “daughter’s of man” their offspring were half-human, half-demons. This is the bloodline God had to destroy in the flood. So we have God waging a flood against these demonic forces. In Matthew, we have the same thing. John the Baptist is paving a way in the hearts of man for Jesus to walk right into their hearts and bring them salvation and transformation. The first thing John does is call out the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He calls them a brood of vipers. They are the ones who watched carefully as Noah built the boat and are now watching John’s ministry and will try to end Jesus’. John lets them know that just because they are a child of Abraham, that is not enough. God was laying the axe to the root and if you were bearing good fruit, you got to continue to live, but if you didn’t, then you were cut down and cast into the fire… or as in Noah’s time…into the water. Noah brought a baptism to the earth. John the Baptist brought a baptism to the heart of the individual. Noah and John came to call the world to repentance. In Noah’s day only one family was saved. In John’s day a new family was saved. That family was to be called the family of God. Lord, today be our shield and our glory, and the lifter or our head. Let your blessing be upon your people.

Thurs.’s Devo - God’s Plan Always Prevails

Read Gen. 3:1-4:26, Matt. 2:13-3:6, Ps. 2:1-12, Pro. 1:7-9 In Genesis we read about the fall of man. God warned them not to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden and the woman and man both did. So why did God put that tree right smack in the middle of the garden instead of hidden away so they wouldn’t be so easily tempted. I don’t know if it would have mattered, because the woman and the man seemed to be camped out right there at the tree. If they hadn’t have been close to the tree, the serpent couldn’t have tempted them. That is so true about sin. If we never go into a bar or buy a bottle of liquor, we will never be tempted to drink and get drunk. The devil pointed to the one thing in all the garden that God was withholding from them, instead of reminding them of all the wonderful things God had given them. That is his tactic. He makes us concentrate on the small details of want rather than be thankful for the abundant blessings we have. In Matthew we have the account of Joseph’s watchful care over Jesus. I love the way God led them - one step at a time. God first sentan angel to warn them to flee to Egypt. He doesn’t tell them where in Egypt - just Egypt. After 2 years, Joseph was told in a dream that it was safe to come back to the land of Israel. Not a specific place - just Israel. God had a specific place in mind but he wanted Joseph to figure it out. Joseph heard in another dream that Judea was not safe so he opted for Nazareth. When he did - he fulfilled the prophecy about Jesus that he would be a Nazarene. Sometimes the way God leads us seems random, only nothing God does is random. I am reminded of the Borne Supremacy movie where Julia Styles says about Matt Damon: “It’s not random. He doesn’t do random.” That would describe God - he always has a plan and he makes sure we fall into it. Thank you Lord, for your watchful care over our lives. May we do “purpose” today.

Wed.’s Devo - A New Year - A New Word

Every year I ask God for a word for the year. Last year it was “blue skies” which is two words, but God explained to me that the year before had been full of deaths (or promotions) and some pretty hard things. He promised that this past year would be happy and bright like the blue skies on a cloudless sunny day. I was reminded of this word many times throughout this year. I saw my last son, Daniel, get married to Hannah and have their first son, Asher. I saw my oldest son, Josh, and his wife, Charm finally get pregnant after two miscarriages. Noah will be born next year. I was able to form a special bond with my second son and his wife, Katy and their two boys Abel and John. It has been a definite reprieve from the last year. So, about this next year….the Lord gave me the word “Revelation”. I know I just finished blogging Revelations and God has this principle of first the natural and then the spiritual. I feel like God is going to give us revelation in His Word like never before. He is going to unearth some hidden mysteries that we never knew were there. I also feel like we are going to actually experience angels and heavenly visitations. I know many have already had these experiences and written books about them, but I feel like these are going to become much more prevalent. I think that if we want to see angels, we just need to ask. To sum this up, I feel like we are going to see more of heaven coming down to earth. I think we are going to feel God empower us to do things we never thought we could do, just like Samson did when God’s spirit came over him and he picked up the city gates and carried them away. We are going to need to be more bold and daring. When God empresses us to do the impossible, we need to do it. We are going to have to kiss fear good-bye. Either God is on our side or he isn’t. We have to decide that. Fear is the opposite of faith and we are going to need great faith to appropriate heaven. The more we excersize this faith, the easier it will get. Now about the next Bible study… I want us to go through the Bible this year together. I have a One Year Bible and it tells me what to read. I’m just going to let God lead me about what to blog about. The only thing different is that we will have to read on the week-ends also. I started reading through the Bible in college and have now read it 40 times. It never gets old or boring- just more interesting and alive so here we go! I would love to get feed back from y'all. Feel free to comment or add to anything I say. I am thankful for all of you! Read Gen. 1:1-2:25, Matt. 1:1-2:12, Ps. 1:1-6, Pr.1:1-6 First the natural, and then the spiritual. In Genesis, we have the account of creation and the first man, Adam. In Matthew, we have the genealogy of Joseph, who was chosen to be Jesus, father and the miracle birth of Jesus. Joseph came from a kingly line just as Adam’s father was the King of all Kings. Both sons came into the world supernaturally of God’s seed. Both had a walk with God that no other man has had and both came with a mission. Adam brought the knowledge of sin into the world. Sin was in the world. The serpent was in the garden. Adam just opened our eyes to sin. Jesus took the shame of sin away. He opened our eyes to righteousness and that it is attainable on earth by allowing his blood to atone for our sin and walking with God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Both Adam and Jesus were given the earth as their responsibility. Adam was to tend it and keep it; Jesus was to redeem it and die for it. Both did their job. Both were given a bride who came forth from their bodies. Eve came from Adam’s rib and the church came from the side of Jesus that was pierced. Both were not ashamed to be stripped and naked. Lord, thank you once again for your plan for us. Open our eyes to see you more clearly this year.