Read: Genesis 16:1-18:19; Matthew 6:1-24; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 2:1-5
Sarah is so relatable! She gets tired of waiting for her promised son so she starts figuring out how she can make it happen. Her plan is Hagar. But that backfires when Hagar becomes pregnant and throws it in Sarai’s face. Sarai blames Abram and Abram must have been afraid of both of them so he told Sarai to handle it however she pleased. She chose to treat Hagar the way she was being treated. Hagar fled.
The angel found Hagar and told her to return to her mistress and submit to her. Then he gave her some incentive. He told her that her son would have descendants too numerous to count. He gave her the boy’s name and described his character. She went back to Sarah and had Ishmael.
Thirteen years later, the Lord appeared to Abram and told him it was time to have his son. He changed his name from Abram to Abraham. From “father” to “father of many nations”. He told him to circumcise his men as a covenant between them. He changed Sarai’s name to Sarah which means “a princess”.
He gave Abraham the name for his new son, Isaac, meaning “he will laugh in mockery”. He would mock the fact that it was naturally impossible for Sarah at 90 to have a baby. Sarah laughed in disbelief. She even lied to the angels about it. In spite of all of Sarah’s faults, God chose her. How encouraging!
In Matthew, Jesus continues explaining the spirit behind the law. We should do our giving, fasting and praying so that God gets the glory and not us. Then he taught us a great prayer. First we acknowledge who the Lord is and praise him. Then we acknowledge his purpose which is to bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth. This earth should mirror heaven. Next, we pray for our needs. Then we ask for forgiveness for our selves and others. Lastly, we pray not to be led into temptation but for deliverance from evil. We must forgive others to be forgiven ourselves.
Jesus said that we should treasure the things of God and heaven more than the things of this earth. We cannot serve both heaven and earth. We have to choose who our master is.
Lord, we choose to follow only You. Help us to have discernment to see the enemy and his deceitful tactics. Thank you for giving us your Name.
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Monday, January 6, 2020
Mon.’s Devo - God’s Unfailing Promises
Read: Genesis 13:5-15:21; Matthew 5:27-48; Psalm 6:1-10; Proverbs 1:29-30
God had blessed Abram and Lot so much that they had to split to find pasture for their huge flocks. Abram gave Lot first choice and he chose the most fertile grass with established cities in it. Abram went the opposite way but not before God told him that all the land he could see would one day be his.
Lot went to live in Sodom while Abram lived off the land.
Four of the kings from Babylon went to war with five of the kings including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. All nine kings were enemies of God and evil nations. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled with their army while their cities were plundered and their people taken. One man escaped and brought word to Abram. Abram took 318 of his warriors to fight them and recovered everything. Abram was met by Melchizedek, the King of Salem and God’s High Priest. Together they had communion. Afterwards, Melchizedek blessed Abram and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. He was also met by the king of Sodom who tried to repay Abram for what he had done but Abram wouldn’t take anything from him.
God came to Abram in a vision and told him that He was his great reward. Abram couldn’t imagine a reward being worth much without an heir to pass it to. He asked God about that and God told him to look up at the stars because that was how numerous his offspring was going to be one day. Abram wanted proof so God told him to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a young pigeon. He was to cut the animals in half and lay them opposite each other. All day, Abram had to shoo the fowls from trying to eat his meat. That night he fell into a deep and frightful sleep where God spoke to him and told him that he and his people would be a stranger in the land and afflicted for 400 years. They would come out of that foreign land with much plunder.
A smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the pieces and God made a covenant with Abram that he had given him the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates and all the nine tribes living in the land. This was Abram’s proof.
In Matthew, Jesus is teaching the spiritual lesson to the Ten Commandments. Yesterday he dealt with the commandment. to honor their father and mother. Only Jesus explained that the mother and father he was referring to was the law and the prophets. Then, he dealt with the commandment not to kill. He explained that murder was in their speech. Life and death are in the power of the tongue; we murder with words.
Today, he dealt with the commandment about adultery and explained that adultery is a heart attitude. Marriage is about covenant. To divorce is to break a covenant. If you divorce you are breaking a covenant and you have to make it legal.
He also dealt with bearing false witness against your neighbor. If you make an oath before God, you are to keep it.
Next he dealt with what to do if someone steals from you. You are to give them what they want and more. Then you are to love and forgive them. None of this is easy and it goes against our natural instincts; it takes God’s grace to be able to do any of this.
Lord, give us your abundant grace that we might live in your love and forgiveness. Help us to remember that you never lie and what you promise, you will do.
God had blessed Abram and Lot so much that they had to split to find pasture for their huge flocks. Abram gave Lot first choice and he chose the most fertile grass with established cities in it. Abram went the opposite way but not before God told him that all the land he could see would one day be his.
Lot went to live in Sodom while Abram lived off the land.
Four of the kings from Babylon went to war with five of the kings including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. All nine kings were enemies of God and evil nations. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled with their army while their cities were plundered and their people taken. One man escaped and brought word to Abram. Abram took 318 of his warriors to fight them and recovered everything. Abram was met by Melchizedek, the King of Salem and God’s High Priest. Together they had communion. Afterwards, Melchizedek blessed Abram and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. He was also met by the king of Sodom who tried to repay Abram for what he had done but Abram wouldn’t take anything from him.
God came to Abram in a vision and told him that He was his great reward. Abram couldn’t imagine a reward being worth much without an heir to pass it to. He asked God about that and God told him to look up at the stars because that was how numerous his offspring was going to be one day. Abram wanted proof so God told him to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a young pigeon. He was to cut the animals in half and lay them opposite each other. All day, Abram had to shoo the fowls from trying to eat his meat. That night he fell into a deep and frightful sleep where God spoke to him and told him that he and his people would be a stranger in the land and afflicted for 400 years. They would come out of that foreign land with much plunder.
A smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the pieces and God made a covenant with Abram that he had given him the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates and all the nine tribes living in the land. This was Abram’s proof.
In Matthew, Jesus is teaching the spiritual lesson to the Ten Commandments. Yesterday he dealt with the commandment. to honor their father and mother. Only Jesus explained that the mother and father he was referring to was the law and the prophets. Then, he dealt with the commandment not to kill. He explained that murder was in their speech. Life and death are in the power of the tongue; we murder with words.
Today, he dealt with the commandment about adultery and explained that adultery is a heart attitude. Marriage is about covenant. To divorce is to break a covenant. If you divorce you are breaking a covenant and you have to make it legal.
He also dealt with bearing false witness against your neighbor. If you make an oath before God, you are to keep it.
Next he dealt with what to do if someone steals from you. You are to give them what they want and more. Then you are to love and forgive them. None of this is easy and it goes against our natural instincts; it takes God’s grace to be able to do any of this.
Lord, give us your abundant grace that we might live in your love and forgiveness. Help us to remember that you never lie and what you promise, you will do.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Sun.’s Devo - Unity
Read: Genesis 11:1-13:4; Matthew 5:1-26; Psalm 5:1-12; Proverbs 1:24-28; Proverbs 1:24-28
The whole earth spoke one language. They all went east and built the city in Shinar which became Babylon. The word for language denotes their speech, what they said and their attitudes. They all had the same determined goal which was to build a pyramid to heaven and control the earth from there. They made it of brick and bitumen from slime pits. Everything they did was to promote man as the god of the earth. God knew that their unity would bring the results they were wanting so he had to stop them. He confused their language and gave them different languages which caused them to scatter across the earth. Babylon is the seat of Satan which is the essence of confusion.
Just think of what the Church could do if we were one!
God chose Shem’s line to put his name on the earth. Shem means “a name”. Abram was the seventh in Shem’s line. God spoke to Abram and told him to leave his country and go to a land that he would show him and He would make him a great nation. Through Abram, the whole earth would be blessed and God would curse anyone who cursed him. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and left Haran and set out for the land of Canaan.
He stopped in a place between Bethel and Ai and built an altar to the Lord and offered sacrifices to the Lord.
There was a famine in the land so they had to go to Egypt to get food. Abram told Sarai to tell everyone that she was his sister instead of his wife so he would not be killed. If he died, she would be left defenseless also. Abram should have trusted God but he was learning. God did come to his rescue. They took Sarai which caused a curse on the men of Egypt. They came down with a serious disease and traced it to the time they took Sarai. The king gave Sarai back to Abram and rebuked him for lying. He sent them on their way. Abram had become a very rich man by then.
Abram returned to his altar between Ai and Bethel and offered more sacrifices and prayers to the Lord. He was back where he had started and ready to begin anew.
What a great lesson to us when we mess us. We need to repent and start over, not wallow in our mistakes and condemnation. Every day, God’s mercies are new and fresh and we can start over clean and forgiven.
In Jesus’ sermon on the mountain he gave great rewards to those who were humble, mourning, hungry and thirsty, merciful, peacemakers and persecuted for the right. They would receive the kingdom of heaven, be comforted, inherit the earth, be filled, see God, and be called his sons. He told us we are the light of the world because his light is in us. We are the salt of the earth because we bring flavor and eternity to the earth. He ended with something that is most important. He said that he didn’t come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. The law is our inheritance and we need to know what it says. The words of the prophets are still speaking to us today. He taught how important it is to have right relationships here on earth because it affects our relationship with Him. We must get our earthly relationships right first before we can bring an acceptable gift to God.
He encourages us to do it quickly before it has time for Satan to get involved because he is the unjust judge. He will turn a little misunderstanding into a huge bitter root.
Lord, help us to free our lives of wrong attitudes and judgments against your people. May we be one as you and the Father are one.
The whole earth spoke one language. They all went east and built the city in Shinar which became Babylon. The word for language denotes their speech, what they said and their attitudes. They all had the same determined goal which was to build a pyramid to heaven and control the earth from there. They made it of brick and bitumen from slime pits. Everything they did was to promote man as the god of the earth. God knew that their unity would bring the results they were wanting so he had to stop them. He confused their language and gave them different languages which caused them to scatter across the earth. Babylon is the seat of Satan which is the essence of confusion.
Just think of what the Church could do if we were one!
God chose Shem’s line to put his name on the earth. Shem means “a name”. Abram was the seventh in Shem’s line. God spoke to Abram and told him to leave his country and go to a land that he would show him and He would make him a great nation. Through Abram, the whole earth would be blessed and God would curse anyone who cursed him. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and left Haran and set out for the land of Canaan.
He stopped in a place between Bethel and Ai and built an altar to the Lord and offered sacrifices to the Lord.
There was a famine in the land so they had to go to Egypt to get food. Abram told Sarai to tell everyone that she was his sister instead of his wife so he would not be killed. If he died, she would be left defenseless also. Abram should have trusted God but he was learning. God did come to his rescue. They took Sarai which caused a curse on the men of Egypt. They came down with a serious disease and traced it to the time they took Sarai. The king gave Sarai back to Abram and rebuked him for lying. He sent them on their way. Abram had become a very rich man by then.
Abram returned to his altar between Ai and Bethel and offered more sacrifices and prayers to the Lord. He was back where he had started and ready to begin anew.
What a great lesson to us when we mess us. We need to repent and start over, not wallow in our mistakes and condemnation. Every day, God’s mercies are new and fresh and we can start over clean and forgiven.
In Jesus’ sermon on the mountain he gave great rewards to those who were humble, mourning, hungry and thirsty, merciful, peacemakers and persecuted for the right. They would receive the kingdom of heaven, be comforted, inherit the earth, be filled, see God, and be called his sons. He told us we are the light of the world because his light is in us. We are the salt of the earth because we bring flavor and eternity to the earth. He ended with something that is most important. He said that he didn’t come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. The law is our inheritance and we need to know what it says. The words of the prophets are still speaking to us today. He taught how important it is to have right relationships here on earth because it affects our relationship with Him. We must get our earthly relationships right first before we can bring an acceptable gift to God.
He encourages us to do it quickly before it has time for Satan to get involved because he is the unjust judge. He will turn a little misunderstanding into a huge bitter root.
Lord, help us to free our lives of wrong attitudes and judgments against your people. May we be one as you and the Father are one.
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Sat.’s Devo - Change
Read: Genesis 8:1-10:32; Matthew 4:12-25; Psalm 4:1-8; Proverbs 1:20-23
God’s rain cleansed the earth and after 150 days, the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat which means “the curse reversed”. It was now time to bless the earth again. Noah means “rest” which is what God did on the seventh day and why seven is mentioned so many times in this account.
The first thing Noah and his sons did when they exited the ark and set foot on dry ground was to offer God a blood sacrifice from the clean animals. They had brought seven of them for this very purpose. God promised them this: seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night as long as the earth remained. To me, this means that change will always be happening. When we are in despair we can know that it will not continue because day is coming. If everything is going well, we can know that a trial is coming. Change is good and it is how we mature and grow.
Everything changed after the flood. Lifespans shortened and even their diet changed. Before the flood, they didn’t eat meat but after the flood, they were given everything to eat. Animals that were once friendly were given the fear of man so they would have a chance. They were instructed not to eat an animal while it was still alive because that is merciless! That is also disgusting!
Moses was instructed to multiply and replenish the earth. He was also promised that God would never destroy the earth with water and to seal that promise he gave him a rainbow to remind him of that covenant.
Moses planted a vineyard and got so drunk he couldn’t dress himself. His son Canaan found his father naked and told his brothers who took a blanket and walked it backwards so they wouldn’t look on their father’s nakedness. This is a picture of honor. We are never to dishonor our parents or our leaders when they sin or make mistakes. We are to cover their sin and leave it to God to rebuke and take care of. How we speak of those in authority says much about our confidence in the Lords lordship.
Canaan and his family were cursed to serve his brothers because of what he did. What we do affects future generations for good or for bad.
In Matthew, Jesus began selecting his disciples. The first four were fishermen. They stood for the evangelists. We have to catch the fish before we can pastor or teach them. Jesus began his ministry with much freedom. He taught in the synagogues and preached and healed everyone who came to him all throughout Galilee.
Lord, may we honor you through all the changes in our lives.
God’s rain cleansed the earth and after 150 days, the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat which means “the curse reversed”. It was now time to bless the earth again. Noah means “rest” which is what God did on the seventh day and why seven is mentioned so many times in this account.
The first thing Noah and his sons did when they exited the ark and set foot on dry ground was to offer God a blood sacrifice from the clean animals. They had brought seven of them for this very purpose. God promised them this: seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night as long as the earth remained. To me, this means that change will always be happening. When we are in despair we can know that it will not continue because day is coming. If everything is going well, we can know that a trial is coming. Change is good and it is how we mature and grow.
Everything changed after the flood. Lifespans shortened and even their diet changed. Before the flood, they didn’t eat meat but after the flood, they were given everything to eat. Animals that were once friendly were given the fear of man so they would have a chance. They were instructed not to eat an animal while it was still alive because that is merciless! That is also disgusting!
Moses was instructed to multiply and replenish the earth. He was also promised that God would never destroy the earth with water and to seal that promise he gave him a rainbow to remind him of that covenant.
Moses planted a vineyard and got so drunk he couldn’t dress himself. His son Canaan found his father naked and told his brothers who took a blanket and walked it backwards so they wouldn’t look on their father’s nakedness. This is a picture of honor. We are never to dishonor our parents or our leaders when they sin or make mistakes. We are to cover their sin and leave it to God to rebuke and take care of. How we speak of those in authority says much about our confidence in the Lords lordship.
Canaan and his family were cursed to serve his brothers because of what he did. What we do affects future generations for good or for bad.
In Matthew, Jesus began selecting his disciples. The first four were fishermen. They stood for the evangelists. We have to catch the fish before we can pastor or teach them. Jesus began his ministry with much freedom. He taught in the synagogues and preached and healed everyone who came to him all throughout Galilee.
Lord, may we honor you through all the changes in our lives.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Fri.’s Devo - Walking in Righteousness
Read: Genesis 5:1-7:24; Matthew 3:7-4:11; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 1:10-19
Yesterday we read the genealogy of Cain and today we read Seth’s. Man lived so much longer because the ozone layer had not yet been pierced by the flood. The oxygen level was higher and the air healthier. The ground was full of nutrients that hadn’t been depleted like they are now.
We don’t learn much about their personal lives until it comes to Enoch. Enoch lived 65 years then he must have had some kind of encounter with the Lord because once he had Methuselah, he walked with God for the next 300 years. He walked with God so closely that he walked right off this dimension into heaven bypassing death. He was a picture of the rapture of the Church.
I wonder if when he had Methuselah, God didn’t tell him that when he died the end of the world would come. He named him Methuselah which means “when he dies, it will come”. The day Methuselah died, Noah walked on the ark.
Why did God destroyed the earth? I think we get a clue in 6:4. There were Nephilim on the earth which were the offspring of the union of Satan’s angels with the women of the earth. These offspring were covering the earth and could do mighty things under the power of evil. The Book of Enoch tells how they taught man how to make drugs from plants and weapons of destruction from the metals of the earth and much more. God found Noah whose line was not contaminated with this demonic seed and saved him and his three sons and their wives. They would repopulate the earth with pure seed.
Creation scientists tell us that when the springs of the deep burst open (6:11) that the ozone layer was pierced letting our good oxygen begin to leak out. Man’s lifespan from that time on became shorter and shorter.
Just like Enoch was a picture of the rapture of those who follow Jesus, Noah was a picture of the new believers who will follow God after the rapture and go through the tribulation. They go through the storm with God.
In Matthew, John the Baptist set the Pharisees and Sadducees straight. He made it clear that just because they were Jews didn’t mean that they were God’s children. Their hearts would decide that.
Jesus came to John to be baptized and God sealed his baptism by sending his Spirit to visibly rest on Jesus. He spoke from heaven declaring Jesus to be his son. Then Jesus was immediately sent to the desert to be tempted.
I don’t know if Satan appeared to him in a form or a thought but I think it is important that we understand that temptation is not a sin. It is what we do with temptation that determines if it is a sin or not. Having a bad thought is not a sin, it is a firey dart from the enemy. We will have those darts thrown at us but we can learn from what Jesus did that we can fight them with the Word. Satan used the Word against Jesus but He knew the spirit of which it was coming to him and answered it with the Word for the moment.
Our Proverbs tell us that if sinners entice us we don’t have to give in to them. We have been given power over sin and are no longer its slave. We can obey God, every time, because we have the nature of God in our beings and have crucified our flesh to the cross. As we mature in our walk with the Lord, I think that it is harder to sin than to choose rightly because we have trained our senses to obey. It is no longer us that live!
Lord, help us to live in the inheritance you purchased for us at Calvary. You are righteous and holy and we can walk in that same spirit.
Yesterday we read the genealogy of Cain and today we read Seth’s. Man lived so much longer because the ozone layer had not yet been pierced by the flood. The oxygen level was higher and the air healthier. The ground was full of nutrients that hadn’t been depleted like they are now.
We don’t learn much about their personal lives until it comes to Enoch. Enoch lived 65 years then he must have had some kind of encounter with the Lord because once he had Methuselah, he walked with God for the next 300 years. He walked with God so closely that he walked right off this dimension into heaven bypassing death. He was a picture of the rapture of the Church.
I wonder if when he had Methuselah, God didn’t tell him that when he died the end of the world would come. He named him Methuselah which means “when he dies, it will come”. The day Methuselah died, Noah walked on the ark.
Why did God destroyed the earth? I think we get a clue in 6:4. There were Nephilim on the earth which were the offspring of the union of Satan’s angels with the women of the earth. These offspring were covering the earth and could do mighty things under the power of evil. The Book of Enoch tells how they taught man how to make drugs from plants and weapons of destruction from the metals of the earth and much more. God found Noah whose line was not contaminated with this demonic seed and saved him and his three sons and their wives. They would repopulate the earth with pure seed.
Creation scientists tell us that when the springs of the deep burst open (6:11) that the ozone layer was pierced letting our good oxygen begin to leak out. Man’s lifespan from that time on became shorter and shorter.
Just like Enoch was a picture of the rapture of those who follow Jesus, Noah was a picture of the new believers who will follow God after the rapture and go through the tribulation. They go through the storm with God.
In Matthew, John the Baptist set the Pharisees and Sadducees straight. He made it clear that just because they were Jews didn’t mean that they were God’s children. Their hearts would decide that.
Jesus came to John to be baptized and God sealed his baptism by sending his Spirit to visibly rest on Jesus. He spoke from heaven declaring Jesus to be his son. Then Jesus was immediately sent to the desert to be tempted.
I don’t know if Satan appeared to him in a form or a thought but I think it is important that we understand that temptation is not a sin. It is what we do with temptation that determines if it is a sin or not. Having a bad thought is not a sin, it is a firey dart from the enemy. We will have those darts thrown at us but we can learn from what Jesus did that we can fight them with the Word. Satan used the Word against Jesus but He knew the spirit of which it was coming to him and answered it with the Word for the moment.
Our Proverbs tell us that if sinners entice us we don’t have to give in to them. We have been given power over sin and are no longer its slave. We can obey God, every time, because we have the nature of God in our beings and have crucified our flesh to the cross. As we mature in our walk with the Lord, I think that it is harder to sin than to choose rightly because we have trained our senses to obey. It is no longer us that live!
Lord, help us to live in the inheritance you purchased for us at Calvary. You are righteous and holy and we can walk in that same spirit.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Thurs.’s Devo- Redemption!
Read: Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9
When Eve listened to the serpent and allowed herself to be deceived by him she was changing masters. Your master is who ever you listen to and obey (Romans 6:16). Interestingly, sin didn’t enter through her eating the fruit but it entered when Adam ate the fruit. He was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14) and clearly knew the consequences of his actions, but to not eat it would mean that he would be forever separated from Eve. He chose to eat the fruit of sin just as Jesus chose to eat the fruit of sin to redeem his bride back. Adam had to leave Eden for his bride and death entered the world. Jesus had to leave heaven for his bride and through his death, death was defeated.
What Adam lost in the garden, Jesus redeemed in the garden.
Dust is mentioned several times in today’s reading so I did some digging. “Dust” is mentioned 103 times in the Bible and it refers to man at his basic beginning - his lowest denominator. Satan was cursed to be as low as that. He would be cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust which is his goal - to kill and destroy man, who is made of dust. God was showing us that we are above Satan and we tread on him, not vice versa. Jesus would one day crush his head on the cross and all he would be able to do is strike his heel. A crush to the head is death. A strike to the heel was the picture of Jesus on the cross but it was death that lead to eternal life. There is definitely enmity between Satan’s seed and God’s seed. We see that in our country as there are two sides and no gray area.
We also see the two seeds in Cain and Abel. Abel was a type of Christ who modeled the sacrifice that God honored. Abel gave his first and best and it was a blood sacrifice. Cain offered his left-over and it was from the dust of the earth. Hebrew 11:4 tells us that Abel’s sacrifice was more excellent and it witnessed to the fact that he was righteous. His blood spoke from the ground just as Jesus blood still speaks and is alive.
Cain could have repented and corrected his offering but instead he murdered Abel just as Satan murdered Jesus out of jealousy. Cain’s fifth generation was Lamech who was also a murderer.
Adam and Eve had another son, Seth to take the place of Abel. Seth means “appointed” and he stands for the Body of Christ who are appointed to carry out what Jesus started on this earth.
In Matthew we see God giving Joseph dreams twice so he will know what to do. God still speaks through dreams if we are listening. God had to bring Jesus out of Egypt as a picture of how God brings his children out of bondage into light.
John the Baptist appeared on the scene at the right time to prepare the people’s hearts to receive Jesus.
Psalms says it so well: the devil plots great things against God and God’s people, thinking they can win. God sits in heaven and laughs. We are on the winning side!
Lord, we rejoice in our salvation. We rejoice that You are our Father, our Keeper and our Deliverer. Today we will walk in your Spirit, doing your mighty acts on the earth.
When Eve listened to the serpent and allowed herself to be deceived by him she was changing masters. Your master is who ever you listen to and obey (Romans 6:16). Interestingly, sin didn’t enter through her eating the fruit but it entered when Adam ate the fruit. He was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14) and clearly knew the consequences of his actions, but to not eat it would mean that he would be forever separated from Eve. He chose to eat the fruit of sin just as Jesus chose to eat the fruit of sin to redeem his bride back. Adam had to leave Eden for his bride and death entered the world. Jesus had to leave heaven for his bride and through his death, death was defeated.
What Adam lost in the garden, Jesus redeemed in the garden.
Dust is mentioned several times in today’s reading so I did some digging. “Dust” is mentioned 103 times in the Bible and it refers to man at his basic beginning - his lowest denominator. Satan was cursed to be as low as that. He would be cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust which is his goal - to kill and destroy man, who is made of dust. God was showing us that we are above Satan and we tread on him, not vice versa. Jesus would one day crush his head on the cross and all he would be able to do is strike his heel. A crush to the head is death. A strike to the heel was the picture of Jesus on the cross but it was death that lead to eternal life. There is definitely enmity between Satan’s seed and God’s seed. We see that in our country as there are two sides and no gray area.
We also see the two seeds in Cain and Abel. Abel was a type of Christ who modeled the sacrifice that God honored. Abel gave his first and best and it was a blood sacrifice. Cain offered his left-over and it was from the dust of the earth. Hebrew 11:4 tells us that Abel’s sacrifice was more excellent and it witnessed to the fact that he was righteous. His blood spoke from the ground just as Jesus blood still speaks and is alive.
Cain could have repented and corrected his offering but instead he murdered Abel just as Satan murdered Jesus out of jealousy. Cain’s fifth generation was Lamech who was also a murderer.
Adam and Eve had another son, Seth to take the place of Abel. Seth means “appointed” and he stands for the Body of Christ who are appointed to carry out what Jesus started on this earth.
In Matthew we see God giving Joseph dreams twice so he will know what to do. God still speaks through dreams if we are listening. God had to bring Jesus out of Egypt as a picture of how God brings his children out of bondage into light.
John the Baptist appeared on the scene at the right time to prepare the people’s hearts to receive Jesus.
Psalms says it so well: the devil plots great things against God and God’s people, thinking they can win. God sits in heaven and laughs. We are on the winning side!
Lord, we rejoice in our salvation. We rejoice that You are our Father, our Keeper and our Deliverer. Today we will walk in your Spirit, doing your mighty acts on the earth.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Wed.’s Devo - Our Inheritance
HAPPY 2020!
Prophecy is a wonderful thing. Last year my word was “clarity” and boy did God clarify some things in my life and in the world! I saw some prayers that I had been praying for for years manifest on the earth. I have been praying into next year and had a dream the other night that I think sums up what is coming to the Body of Christ.
I dreamed that an enemy entity had killed everyone but this small group of people I was a part of. We were in a house with a young couple who were worldly prosperous and I thought friendly. I copied something off the wife’s computer. Next thing I knew we were running across an open field to get away from the enemy. I heard silenced guns hitting the ones I was with and they all went down. I went down too but didn’t feel pain. The young couple came to assess the damages and I realized they had shot us.
As I lay on the ground, I realized they couldn’t kill me - I was supernatural! But, when I breathed in I sounded asthmatic so I knew I needed to get to a hospital.
Next scene, I’m in the kitchen of their house washing my hands. The man peeked in and stared at me, wondering why I am still alive. I said, “I can’t believe all this is over an inheritance.” He laughed nervously and left. I knew he was going upstairs to get his gun to finish me off. I had my phone and my keys in my hand and ran out the back door to get in my car and drive myself to the hospital before he could return.
The interpretation is that we hear so much about our identity in Christ but I rarely hear anyone say that we are supernatural. The enemy is afraid of us knowing our inheritance and what Jesus bought for us on Calvary. He is out to steal our voice on the earth. Until we realize that we are to do the same things that Jesus did and more, we won’t do them. But when we realize that is our inheritance, we will go for it. We need to go to God’s hospital and get healed. Whatever our insecurities or fears are, we need to let the Holy Spirit heal them so we can be whole and function with 100% of our God-given capacity.
My word for the next year is “inheritance”.
Read: Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6
Genesis is the most doctrine-packed book in the Bible. We could spend hours on the first chapter but can’t so I’ll share something I had never seen before. God does everything in “three’s”. He is Father, son and Holy Spirit. We are body, soul and spirit. The earth is made of three components: earth, water and air. Everything God created for the earth came from the earth like the animals and vegetation that the earth produced. The water produced the living creatures. The sky produced the birds, the sun moon and stars.
God even made man out of the dirt of the earth.
When God made the trees, they bore fruit with seed in it to bear more. God created man and women told him to be fruitful and multiply because they were like the trees with seed in them to bear fruit.
Then God took one man and put him in a garden and set him aside to be the type of Jesus. He appointed him to name the animals so he would notice that he didn’t have a mate. When he did, God caused him to go to sleep and took Eve out of the bone in his side. She was the type of the Church. She was the fruit of his labor and all the seed he had scattered. She came out of him. We were chosen before the foundation of the earth to be in Christ. We are not born of the earth but of the spirit of God. We have the same advantage that Jesus had. We are half human/half God. When we became Christians the half God part is birthed out of us. Now, that is the part that takes over - the old man is crucified with Christ.
In Matthew we see how much the devil did not want Jesus to be manifested on the earth. That is the same objection he has to us being manifested on the earth. We are no threat to him as long as we stay in our churches and remain quiet, but when we know how supernatural we are and what our mission is on this earth, we become a great threat to his kingdom. Jesus was the greatest threat to his kingdom and he defeated Satan and won, so we can too.
Lord, may we grow in our knowledge of who we are in You and become a threat to your enemies and an asset to your kingdom.
Prophecy is a wonderful thing. Last year my word was “clarity” and boy did God clarify some things in my life and in the world! I saw some prayers that I had been praying for for years manifest on the earth. I have been praying into next year and had a dream the other night that I think sums up what is coming to the Body of Christ.
I dreamed that an enemy entity had killed everyone but this small group of people I was a part of. We were in a house with a young couple who were worldly prosperous and I thought friendly. I copied something off the wife’s computer. Next thing I knew we were running across an open field to get away from the enemy. I heard silenced guns hitting the ones I was with and they all went down. I went down too but didn’t feel pain. The young couple came to assess the damages and I realized they had shot us.
As I lay on the ground, I realized they couldn’t kill me - I was supernatural! But, when I breathed in I sounded asthmatic so I knew I needed to get to a hospital.
Next scene, I’m in the kitchen of their house washing my hands. The man peeked in and stared at me, wondering why I am still alive. I said, “I can’t believe all this is over an inheritance.” He laughed nervously and left. I knew he was going upstairs to get his gun to finish me off. I had my phone and my keys in my hand and ran out the back door to get in my car and drive myself to the hospital before he could return.
The interpretation is that we hear so much about our identity in Christ but I rarely hear anyone say that we are supernatural. The enemy is afraid of us knowing our inheritance and what Jesus bought for us on Calvary. He is out to steal our voice on the earth. Until we realize that we are to do the same things that Jesus did and more, we won’t do them. But when we realize that is our inheritance, we will go for it. We need to go to God’s hospital and get healed. Whatever our insecurities or fears are, we need to let the Holy Spirit heal them so we can be whole and function with 100% of our God-given capacity.
My word for the next year is “inheritance”.
Read: Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6
Genesis is the most doctrine-packed book in the Bible. We could spend hours on the first chapter but can’t so I’ll share something I had never seen before. God does everything in “three’s”. He is Father, son and Holy Spirit. We are body, soul and spirit. The earth is made of three components: earth, water and air. Everything God created for the earth came from the earth like the animals and vegetation that the earth produced. The water produced the living creatures. The sky produced the birds, the sun moon and stars.
God even made man out of the dirt of the earth.
When God made the trees, they bore fruit with seed in it to bear more. God created man and women told him to be fruitful and multiply because they were like the trees with seed in them to bear fruit.
Then God took one man and put him in a garden and set him aside to be the type of Jesus. He appointed him to name the animals so he would notice that he didn’t have a mate. When he did, God caused him to go to sleep and took Eve out of the bone in his side. She was the type of the Church. She was the fruit of his labor and all the seed he had scattered. She came out of him. We were chosen before the foundation of the earth to be in Christ. We are not born of the earth but of the spirit of God. We have the same advantage that Jesus had. We are half human/half God. When we became Christians the half God part is birthed out of us. Now, that is the part that takes over - the old man is crucified with Christ.
In Matthew we see how much the devil did not want Jesus to be manifested on the earth. That is the same objection he has to us being manifested on the earth. We are no threat to him as long as we stay in our churches and remain quiet, but when we know how supernatural we are and what our mission is on this earth, we become a great threat to his kingdom. Jesus was the greatest threat to his kingdom and he defeated Satan and won, so we can too.
Lord, may we grow in our knowledge of who we are in You and become a threat to your enemies and an asset to your kingdom.
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