Sun.’s Devo - God’s Mercy

Read: Jonah 1:1-4:11; Rev. 5:1-14; Pr. 133:1-3; Pr. 29:26-27 I’ve heard so many sermons about Jonah and why he didn’t want to go to Nineveh but I wonder if he didn’t want to go because he was afraid of all the evil people and what they would do to him if he went and cried out against them. God was adamant about Jonah going. He wasn’t interested in Plan B. Jonah was a type of Jesus in that he was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights (Matt. 12:40). When he was spit out by the whale, he was a changed man. He probably look like he had surfaced from the bowls of earth. I’m sure that the prayer Jonah spoke in chapter two was the same prayer Jesus prayed as he ascended into hell. Don’t you know, Jonah was shocked when they repented! Shocked and dismayed since he hated the very people he preached to. I think that Jonah was more concerned about his reputation than the hearts of the people. What would they think of him if his prophecy didn’t come true? He couldn’t trust God’s eternal purposes. The book of Jonah should be a great encouragement to us. If God would spare a heathen city because they repented, how much more will he spare us if we repent? In Revelation we see that there is only one worthy to open secrets in heaven. That person is Jesus. These secrets are sealed with seals. God reveals revelation a little at a time. “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” (Isaiah 28:10) This is true in our lives; only the spirit of Jesus can give us wisdom and understanding into the Word and He metes it out in small portions. Lord, may your Spirit give us wisdom and understanding into the Word of Life.

Sat.’s Devo - Obadiah and the Throne

Read: Obadiah 1:1-21; Rev. 4:1-11; Ps. 132:1-18; Pr. 29:24-25 The backdrop of Obadiah was the age-old struggle between Esau and Jacob. When they parted ways back in Genesis 27, Esau took the land of Edom and Jacob went the way of Cannan. They remained bitter enemies through the years. When the Babylonians came to attack Jerusalem, the Edomites joined the Babylonians. In 586 B.C. the Babylonians took Jerusalem and exiled them to Babylon. This prophecy or vision was given during the time of exile. It is a warning of God’s vengeance on Edom for joining forces against Judah. Notice that one of the things God does when he punishes a nation is to take wisdom and understanding out of the land. Next, God attacks their physical strength and causes their enemies to triumph over them. For Edom, that would be the people of Judah. We see this progression in our own land. We have leaders devoid of godly wisdom and understanding and we see our enemies encroaching on our land. In Revelation, John is invited to walk through a door into the very throne room of God’s presence. God was on his throne surrounded by brilliant colors. It was encircled by 24 seats in which sat white-robed elders wearing gold crowns. Lightning and thunders proceeded from God’s throne and he saw the menorah of heaven which stands for the 7 spirits of God. The floor was shining crystal and before the throne stood 4 beasts. They were the same cherubims described by Isaiah in Isaiah 6:2 and Ezekiel in his first chapter. Cherubims are the highest ranking angels in heaven. They are symbolic of the courage (lion), strength (ox), intelligence (man) and speed (eagle) of God. The beasts and the elders continually gave glory and praise and worship to God. Lord, we put our trust in You and in You we will be safe.

Fri.’s Devo - The Church of Laodicea

Read: Amos 7:1-9:15; Rev. 3:7-22; Ps. 131:1-3; Pr. 29:23 God showed Amos a plumbline that He would use to judge Israel for their idolatry. The priest, Amaziah, turned Amos over to the king of Israel accusing Amos of conspiring with God against them. If that wasn’t crazy enough, he told Amos to take his prophesies and leave their town and go to the land of Judah. Amaziah told Amos to leave Beth-el because it was the king’s chapel and the king’s court. Did he not know that “Beth-el” means “house of God”. It was the place that God spoke to Abraham and Jacob. It remained a place where priests dwelt but obviously the priests had become defiled. Instead of running, Amos stood up to the priest and prophesied even greater judgment on the city and the people of Israel for their sins. He told Amaziah that his wife would be a harlot in the city and that his sons and daughters would die by the sword. Israel would go into captivity. Today we read of our church age - the church of the Laodiceans. Laodecea means “peoples rights”. The city was one of the most politically important and financially prosperous cities in Asia Minor. It had a medical school and was known for its arts and sciences. It was striving for a one-world government and one-world religion. Sound familiar? So what is our admonition? We are to buy gold tried in the fire which will make us rich. These are our trials that we go through to try and test us and refine us. We are also to buy white raiment to cover our nakedness. In other words, we are to walk in righteousness and covered with the blood of Jesus. Lastly we are to anoint our eyes with eyesalve that we might see. That means to let the oil of the Holy Spirit enlighten our spirits that we might understand the Scriptures. Lord, may we be overcomes in the age we live and may we hear what the Spirit is saying.

Thurs.’s Devo - The Church Ages

Read: Amos 4:1-6:14; Rev. 2:18-3:6; Ps. 130:1-8; Pr. 29:21-22 Amos refers to the rich as cows. They oppressed the poor, corrupted justice, and did evil. Even though God sent them famine and pestilence, they refused to turn to the Lord or consider changing, so they would be the first to be carried away. God warned them to seek good and not evil and to restore righteous judgment in order to live. Yesterday, I said that the church ages have to do with the history of the church so I thought I would break it down in a chart: Ephesus - 30 AD - 100 AD Smyrna - 100 AD - 313 AD Pergamum - 313 AD - 590 AD Thyratira 590 AD - 1517 AD Sardis 1517 AD - 1790 AD Philadelphia 1730 AD - 1900 AD Laodicea 1900 AD - to the end So you see, we are in the days of Laodicea. Notice that in every church age it ends in “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The world can not head the warning because they can not hear it. God has given his people ears to hear what the Spirit says so that we can have no excuses. God always warns his people of what they are doing wrong, then he gives them a space to repent. If they refuse, they will be judged. If they turn, they will be blessed. Each church age has an “angel” assigned to it. I don’t know who our “angel” is but I’m thinking Billy Graham isn’t a bad guess. The angel is a person who carries the message of that age. Dr. Graham came with an uncompromising message of repentance and being born again. He was loved and admired by more presidents and foreign leaders than anyone I have ever seen. His legacy lives on. Lord, help us to have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us individually and to our nation.

Wed.’s Devo - Amos

Read: Amos 1:1-3:15; Rev. 2:1-17; Ps. 129:1-8; Pr. 29:19-20 Amos was not a professionally trained prophet like most of the others. He was a herdsman who lived in the Judean hills. He wrote his prophesy down as opposed to giving it orally like so many others did. His name means “burden-bearer”. Amos’s prophesy was given to Israel at a time when she was living in great prosperity outwardly but even greater spiritual and moral decline. Amos makes two statements that stand out to me found in the third chapter. The first is in verse three: “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” Jesus talked about the power of agreement. If you are married, or have been in any business deal with another person, you know the truth in this statement. The other is found in verse seven: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” We can know trust that God is not going to surprise us with anything that He hasn’t already warned us about. I find the “Elijah List” to be so informative about what the prophets of our day are saying. You can get this in your e-mail by going to elijahlist.com and signing up for it. It is totally free. Today we start going through the church ages. In every church age there is an encouragement to the true church and a warning to the false church. Every church age had a messenger which was a person of that age that carried the message. It will be impossible for me to blog in detail what all these mean but you may go back into my archives where I dealt extensively with Revelations. In every church age, we are given a clue to its history. They are in order from the earliest church age to the present. Lord, thank you for your encouragement and truth. Reading the prophets and Revelation gives us assurance that You are in charge and everything is in your hand.

Tues.’s Devo - Joel and Revelation

Read: Joel 1:1-3:21; Rev. 1:1-20; Ps. 128:1-6; Pr. 29:18 “Joel” means “Yahweh is God”. He lived in a time when a plague of locusts blew through the land and in hours stripped the countryside of all vegetation. It even stripped the bark off the fir trees. All crops were lost and the seed for the next harvest was gone. People and animals were dying of starvation and Joel could only conclude that God was judging them. Moses had warned the people that locusts would destroy their land if they turned away from Him (Deut. 28:38-46). Everyone was affected by the plague. Joel explained that this plague was nothing to compare to God’s judgment in the end of time. The sound of locust will be small compared to the voice of God when He roars. But even in judgment, God promises to pour out his Sprit on all flesh. People of all ages will prophesy and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We are experiencing this right now. The theme of Revelation is “the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!” John has the vision of Revelation during a time of extreme persecution of the Christians by Nero. As John was contemplating the persecution of his age God thrust him into the future where he saw an even greater persecution coming to the church. John blesses anyone who reads or hears this prophesy read aloud. John tells us that Jesus will come with clouds and every eye throughout history will see him. John was to write everything he saw in a book and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Jesus spoke this prophesy from the midst of the seven candlesticks or the menorah in heaven. John was to write the mystery and we are left to unlock it with the help of the Holy Spirit - the light of the menorah. Lord, help us to understand the future and the day we are living in that we might be encouraged to stand strong.

Mon.’s Devo - Jude

Read: Hosea 10:1-14:9; Jude 1:1-25 Ps. 127:1-5; Pr. 29:15-17 Israel was called out of God and from her moment of conception chose other gods. God extended arms of love to them and they repaired Him with rejection and rebellion. God said that they were bent on backsliding from Him. Over and over, Ephraim chose other gods over the True God. They destroyed themselves by their hard hearts. Hosea pleads for Israel to return to God. Jude is a most interesting book. He warns us to contend for the faith we have in Jesus. God delivered many people out of Egypt that he had killed later because of unbelief. There were angles who left the abode of heaven and came to earth and had sex with women (Gen. 6) who had to be locked up until the final judgment. Sodom and Gomorrha were filled with people who gave themselves over to sin and homosexuality who had to burn as an example of the final judgment. Jude warns us to let God bring the judgment. If the archangel, Michael didn’t rebuke the devil himself but did it in the Lord’s name…we should follow his example. God will bring judgment in His timing. We are admonished to keep ourselves in the love of God. You are the One who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of Your glory with exceeding joy.