Thurs.’s Devo - Judgment on Eli

Read: 1 Sam. 2:22-4:22, John 5:24-47, Ps. 106:1-12, Pr. 14:30-31 To whom much is given; much will be required. Eli and his sons had been given the priesthood and they dishonored God in their service. Eli’s sons had sex with the women that worked at the temple. Eli didn’t do anything about it thus honoring them over God and he took the best part of the sacrifice for himself. Their punishment was that no one in their family would live their lives out to the end. They would all die young. To confirm this prophecy, Hophni and Phinehas would both die the same day. To make matters worse, God would raise up His priest and Eli’s offspring who would one day beg him for food and a job. God did raise up a faithful priest - Samuel. Everything the Lord said would happen did, and the ark of the Lord was taken by the Philistines. Eli and his son’s sought the honor of men and it cost them their lives. Jesus and Samuel didn’t seek the honor of men but of God. None of their words fell to the ground. Whatever they said came to pass. Lord, may we be like Jesus and Samuel; may we hear what you say and say it.

Wed.’s Devo - Curse to Blessing

Read: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21, John 5:1-23, Ps. 105:37-45, Pr. 14:28-29 In a time when the priesthood was polluted with Eli’s sons, God sent a special baby to a barren woman, Hannah. Hannah means “favored”. Her son’s name was Samuel which means “hears from God”. Hannah gave her son to Eli to raise in the temple. God turned her curse of barrenness into a blessing and she had three more sons and two daughters. God did the same for Israel. It was cursed under the priesthood of Eli’s two sons, but blessed under Samuel. Eli’s two sons were Hophni and Phinehas. Their names mean “my fist” and “mouth of a serpent”. They ruled the people with fear and a raised fist and spoke lies like the serpent. If they were a reflection of Eli’s parenting, he redeemed himself with Samuel. Samuel would grow up to be one of Israel’s greatest leaders and prophets. In John, Jesus took a feeble man who had been handicapped of 38 years and made him totally restored. Jesus offered salvation to a world that had been dying in sin for about 3800 years. Jesus was not concerned or bound by the religious laws, he was only bound by the will of His Father. In Psalms we read of the wonderful faithfulness of God to His people. He gave them health, provision, protection, food, water, joy and gladness. He gave them the land of their enemies and they prospered from their enemies’ labor. Lord, how graciously kind you are to your children. Cause us to remember your goodness today. Thank you.

Tues.’s Devo - Breakthrough

Read: Ruth 2:1-4:22, John 4:43-54, Ps. 105:16-36, Pr. 14:26-27 The story of Ruth is the Gentiles’ story. Ruth is a Gentile who chooses to come into a Jewish world and take their god. Boaz stands for Jesus, but there is a kinsman redeemer who is legally the one who Ruth belongs to if he chooses to take her and reproduce seed for her dead husband. When Boaz went to the city square to meet him, he was interested in the land, but not Ruth. This kinsman redeemer stands for the devil. He has legal rights to us, but all he is interested in is the land. Earth was his domain before God created beauty and nature. When God created man he told him to take dominion over the earth and subdue it. Just like he told Joshua to take the land in the promise land and drive out its inhabitants. That is what He told us to do. The devil is out to kill us, but he wants Earth. He wants the land. That is the big fight in the Holy Land. It’s over land, not people. People just get in the way and have to be moved or killed. Ruth chose Boaz just like we chose Jesus. Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed which means “servant of God”. He was from the line of Perez which means “breaking forth”. We are to break through and take the land from the devil. It is given to us by God. In John, Jesus returned to the sight of his first miracle which was turning the water to wine. For his second miracle, he saves a boy from death. Isn’t that what Jesus came to do…. be the water that was turned to wine - our Saviour, and save us from death? Lord, thank you for your Word. It is a light to our path. May we break through the enemies’ strongholds and take our land for You.

Sun.’s Devo - May God Increase

Read: Judges 19:1-20:48, John 3:22-4:3, Ps. 104:24-35, Pr. 14:22-24 I dislike reading this story more than any other story in the Bible. It shows how awful women were treated back then. How can a man give his wife or concubine over to be gang raped all night then tell her to ‘get up it’s time to leave’ the next morning when she’s passed out at the door. Only, she was dead. I find myself glad she died. How do you live with such memories. She would have needed a life-time of counseling to get through that. To me, the man should have been held responsible, along with the Benjamites. But the first sentence explains why this happened, “there was no king in Israel.” God was suppose to be their king and they didn’t acknowledge Him as their king so they did what they thought was right. Apart from God, nothing is right. They lost 40,000 men and Benjamin lost 50,000 men in battle. If only we could understand what John understood about ministry. It is not about us and numbers. John was losing popularity and people were going to Jesus to be baptized. When someone brought this to John’s attention he explained how much more important Jesus was than himself. He rejoiced in his part of building Jesus’ ministry to the detriment of his own. John got the principle of the kingdom. Jesus must increase in our lives and we must decrease. Lord, may we live with the attitude of John. May you increase and us decrease.

Sat.’s Devo - Wearing Light

Read: Judges 17:1-18:31, John 3:1-21, Ps. 104:1-23, Pr. 14:20-21 Both of our main readings start with: “There is a man of ______ whose name is ________. One was an Israelite in deep deception thinking he had the truth and the other realizing he didn’t have the truth and seeking it. The first, Micah, was trying to serve God in his own terms by breaking God’s law. He stole from his own mother, had graven images in his house and set up a system of worship not laid out in God’s law. He lost everything. Nicodemus knew and followed the law, but saw something worth risking his own perception of God and his reputation. Nicodemus stretched his faith to seek out Jesus and hear about His salvation. He gained everything. Jesus made the statement that whoever lives by the truth comes into the light. In our Psalms today it says that God wraps himself in light as a garment. God wears light! I wonder what we would look like if we wore light. We actually do. The light is inside us, but God wants it to shine out of us like we wrapped ourselves in Him. Lord, may we break open so You can spill out. May our light so shine before men that they will see our good works and glorify You.

Fri.’s Devo - Binding the Strongman

Read Judges 15:1-16:31, John 2:1-25, Ps. 103:1-22 Pr. 14:17-19 The first sentence reads: “…at the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a kid.” Wheat harvest is the time of Penticost so it could read: “on Pentecost, God presented his wife, the church, with the perfect gift, the Holy Spirit.” In the life of Samson we see the reason the Holy Spirit was given us. It is to bind the strong man, fight our enemies, and to move in supernatural power. The number 3,000 is used in the story. The first Pentecost was on Mt. Sinai when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments. As a result, 3,000 were killed when they made the golden calf. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost and 3,000 were saved when Peter stood up, filled with the Holy Spirit, and preached. Another interesting tidbit in today’s reading was how Delilah brought Samson down. Samson in this story is the picture of the strongman. Mark 3:27 says, “No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.” Delilah needed to know how to bind this strong man, Samson, so when she kept failing she had to find the secret of his strength. When she did, she could bind him and subdue him. Sometimes in our lives we need to know the source of our problem before we can successfully fight and win. If you are fighting depression, then you might want to find out how it started. If it was passed down from your mother, then you need to find the source of why she was depressed. Then you have the tools to bind it successfully. It’s like pulling weeds. If you don’t get the root, you will continue to fight weeds, but if you can kill the root, you have gotten rid of your weed problem. In John we see another picture of the Holy Spirit which is wine. The Holy Spirit is the new wine, the new covenant that was better than the old. God saved the best for last! Lord, thank you for the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit. May we honor His presence in our lives today.

Thur.’s Devo - Baptized in the Holy Spirit

Read: Judges13:1-14:20, John 1:29-51, Ps. 102:1-28, Pr. 14:15-16 There are many barren women in the Bible. They represent the people. The people were spiritually barren - producing no fruit just like Manoah’s wife. After the forty years of punishment for turning from God, God is ready to move on his people again. He causes a barren woman to conceive and bear a deliverer. Samson is born and he seems to have a weakness for pretty women, especially pretty Philistine women. The Philistine’s were in control over Israel so God used Samson’s weakness for His purposes. Samson is drawn to a Philistine woman in Timnath and takes his parents to see her. On the way he is met by a lion that he takes apart with his own hands. Samson knows that he has a supernatural power, but he tries to keep it to himself. When he is tricked by the Philistines his power is no longer a secret. He went home mad and his fiancé was given to another. In the New Testament, John sees Jesus and knows He is the Messiah. When he baptizes Him, John witnesses the Holy Spirit coming down from heaven and remaining on Jesus. John knew that he came baptizing with water, but this man, Jesus came baptizing with the Holy Spirit. The water in the baptismal stands for the Holy Spirit. It is a picture of us being baptized into the Holy Spirit and coming up to walk in the Spirit. John lost two of his disciples to Jesus. One of them was Andrew who ran home and got his brother, Peter. Jesus picked up Philip the next day. Phillip went and got Nathanael. Nathanael was skeptical until Jesus gave him a word of knowledge and he was convinced. Jesus promised them they would see greater things than that if they followed him. They would not be disappointed. Neither will we be disappointed when we choose to give up everything and follow Him. He is worthy. Lord, help us to see Your big picture and be our part in Your plan.