Sat.’s Devo - The Promise

Read:Genesis 16:1-18:15; Matthew 6:1-24; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 2:1-5 Sarai hadn’t produced a son so she gave her servant Hagar to Abram and told him to have a son through her. He reluctantly obeyed and Hagar became pregnant. She then made Sarai’s life so miserable that Sarai retaliated. Hagar ran away. God appeared to Hagar and told her to go back and submit to Sarai because she was pregnant with a son who she would name Ishmael. He would be an enemy to all his relatives but he would have more descendants than she could count. Hagar went back to Sarai and her son was born. Abram was eighty-six. Hagar called the place the Lord spoke to her, Beer-lahai-roi meaning “God sees me.” Thirteen years later, God appeared to Abram. He told him that he was making a covenant between them. Abram’s name would be changed to Abraham meaning “Father of many nations.” He was giving him and his seed the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. He and all his descendants would be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. Sarai would now be called Sarah meaning “mother of nations”. She would indeed have a son who would be named Isaac. He would be born the same time next year. Then God left. Abraham took all the male in his household and circumcised them and himself. He was 99 years old. God sent three angels as men to him. Abraham prepared food for them and as they sat to eat, they told him that when they returned in a year Sarah would have a son. Sarah heard them from inside her tent and laughed. They asked her why she laughed. She tried to tell them that she didn’t laugh but they didn’t accept her words. In Matthew, Jesus continued his sermon. He was teaching us how to be humble. Give, pray, and fast privately. He gave us an example of how to pray. We are to learn to forgive those who mean harm to us and to store up our treasures in heaven instead of on earth. We can only have one master so we need to choose wisely, our eternity is at stake. Lord, help us to live with eternity on the forefront of our minds. May we remember that you do see us and love us. You have a purpose for us and our posterity to be a blessing to the world.

Fri.’s Devo - The Battle of the Kings

Read: Genesis 13:5-15:21; Matthew 5:17-48; Psalm 6:1-10; Proverbs 1:29-33 Lot and Abram were traveling together but their flocks had become so numerous that their shepherds were quarreling over land. Abram told Lot it was time to go their separate ways so he gave Lot his choice of where he wanted to go. Lot chose the land that already had cities established so he would have a place of civilization to live. When Lot had gone, God told Abram to look in all directions because he was giving the land as far as he could see to his descendants as a permanent possession. Abram moved his camp to Hebron and settled near the oak grove of Mamre. He built another altar to the Lord there. War broke out in the region with the kings of Babylonia, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim against the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela. The five kings against the four. Kedorlaomer, a king of the five had ruled over the four and made them pay him tribute for twelve year. It was the thirteenth year and they were rebelling. The nine armies met in the valley of the Dead Sea and fought. The valley was filled with tar pits and many fell into the tar pits. Sodom and Gomorrah were captured and all their people were taken as captives including Lot and his family. When Abram found out what had happened he gathered relatives from Eshcol and Aber along with the 318 trained men from his family and went to fight Kedorlaomer and his army. They caught up with them at Dan and chased them to Hobah. Abram recovered everything they had stolen as well as the people. He met the king of Sodon on his way home. He also met Melchizedek the king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Melchizedek brought him bread and wine and blessed Abram. Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. The king of Sodom only wanted the people that Abram had recovered. He told Abram he could keep all the plunder from his city. Abram refused to keep any of it. He only asked that his relatives from Echol and Aner and Mamre be paid. Later, God appeared to Abram and told him not to be afraid and that his reward would be great. Abram complained that blessing did him no good if he had no son to pass it down to and to carry on his legacy. God promised he would have a son. He told him he would be given descendants like the stars in the sky - uncountable. Abram believed the Lord and his faith pleased God. God also promised him the land for his possession. Abram asked for assurance. God told him to bring a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon. The animals all had to be three years old. He cut each animal down the middle and splayed them. He didn’t cut the birds in half. Abram worked to keep the vultures away. The sun went down and Abram was put to sleep. God told Abram that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land for 400 years, then their enemies that enslaved them would be punished. They would leave with great wealth. After four generations his descendants would return to this land and the Amorites would be destroyed. Abram saw a smoking repot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. The land that God was giving Abram was now occupied by 10 different nations of “ites”. In Matthew, Jesus used the law to teach them spiritual concepts of his kingdom. It was not just the letter of the law they were to keep, but the spirit. Their heart was what would be judged more than their actions. The new law of the kingdom was love. Everything was to be done with the motive of love - even for their enemies. They were to go the extra mile. Jesus never said they couldn’t do it, but that they could. They could love their enemies and they could walk in righteousness. So can we. Lord help us to see that living a righteous life is our mandate and with the Spirit of God it is possible. Help us to seek the kingdom first and all these things will follow.

Thurs.’s Devo Abram’s Beginning

Read: Genesis 11:1-13:4; Matthew 5:1-26; Psalm 5:1-12; Proverbs 1:24-28 God had told the people to be fruitful and multiply across the earth but instead they had all migrated east together and settled on a plain in the land of Babylonia. They all spoke the same language and decided to make a great city with a tower that had its top that reached into heaven. Because they were one, God knew they would do it and anything else they imagined to do. God went down with his angels and confused their language so they couldn’t communicate. This caused them to scatter throughout the earth like God had intended them to do. The name of the city they had built was Babel which means “confusion”. We are given Shem’s lineage. Man began to have children at a much younger age and died much younger than before the flood. Abram was in Shem’s lineage, the ninth generation. Abram’s wife was Sarah and she was barren. Abram’s father Terah had two other sons Nahor and Haran. Haran had a son named Lot, then Haran died. Terah took his family and Lot to the land of Canaan but stoped in Haran where they lived until Terah died. Then God called Abram to finish what his father had started out to do. Abram came to Shechem which was inhabited by Canaanites. God appeared to Abram and told him that he was giving this land to his descendants. Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord. He went on to the hill country between Bethel and Ai and built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord. Abram continued across the land toward the Negev. A severe famine struck the land of Canaan which forced Abram to go to Egypt for a while. He told his wife to tell everyone that she was his sister so they would spare his life because Sarai was so beautiful. She obeyed him and the Pharaoh took Sarai into his palace. He gave Abram many gifts to pay for her. The Lord protected Sarai and sent diseases to the Pharaoh and his household. They realized it was because of Sarah and when they investigated further, they found that Sarai was Abram’s wife. The Pharaoh was very upset at Abram and called him in. He ordered him to take Sarai and get out of his country. Abram left with all his gifts and all his livestock. He went back to where he had built his altar between Bethel and Ai and worshiped the Lord again. Jesus saw he had a drawn a large group of followers so he sat them down on the mountain and taught them. He pronounced a blessing on his followers for their many circumstances they might find themselves in. He told them that they were the salt or seasoning of the earth and the light of the world. He encouraged them to use these attributes to further the kingdom of God. Jesus explained that he didn’t come to do away with Moses’ law but to fulfill it. He then went through the Ten Commandments teaching the spirit of the law. Lord, help us to read your word with your Spirit as our teacher and our guide. Lead us in the way of righteousness.

Wed.’s Devo - God’s Covenant

Read: Genesis 8:1-10:32; Matthew 4:12-25; Psalm 4:1-8; Proverbs 1:20-23 God sent a wind to dry the ground and finally a year later, Noah was able to exit the boat. Noah released the animals and sacrificed to the Lord some of the ones he had seven. God promised to never curse the ground again because of the human race even though everything they think and imagineer is bent toward evil from childhood. God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful and multiply. God put in the animals and the fish a fear of man because from then on, they would be food for man. God would require the blood of anyone who took another person’s life. Even if a wild animal killed a person, it had to die. If a person took the life of a man, then his life would be taken by a man. Never again would a flood destroy the earth. As a sign of God’s covenant, he gave them his rainbow in the clouds. Year later, Noah reaped the grapes from his vineyard he had planted. He made wine and got drunk. He lay naked in his bed and his son Lot saw him. He came out of the tent and told his brothers Shem and Japheth. They covered their father without looking on his nakedness. When Noah awoke and found out what had happened he cursed Ham’s son Canaan to be a the lowest of servants. He blessed Shem and Japheth and said that Ham’s descendants would be their servants. Japheth, Ham and Shem’s lineage is given. Japheth’s descendants settled in Europe, the peninsula of Lesser Asia, and the region lying on the east of the Euxine. The sons of Ham went southward into Arabia, Canaan and Mizraim in Egypt. Nimrod is mentioned as a famous warrior. He was know for killing wild beasts which gained him the public gratitude and was exalted as a hero. He founded the first kingdom in the world. Nimrod headed an army that went into Assyria and conquered some of the land of Shem fulfilling the meaning of his name “rebel”. Nimrod also built the town of Nineveh and other towns. Shem was the father of Eber, the ancestor of the Hebrews. Aram was the countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia and Syria. Included in his land was Shinar and the country of Eden. During the life of Peleh the earth was divided probably by an earthquake. All the nations came from Noah’s descendants. In Matthew, Jesus learned that John the Baptist had been arrested and went to his territory and encouraged all of John’s followers continuing his teaching repentance because the kingdom of God had come near. Jesus called brothers Simon Peter and Andrew from their boat to come and follow him. He then found James and John, also brothers, who were mending their nets and called them to follow him. They all did. Jesus spoke in the synagogues in Galilee announcing the Good New about the Kingdom of God. He healed every kind of disease and illness. People from as far as Syria heard and brought their sick and demon-possessed. Jesus healed them and set them free. Lord, may we do the works that you did and set people free.

Tues.’s Devo - Overcoming Evil

Read: Genesis 5:1-7:24; Matthew 3:7-4:11; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 1:10-19 God made man as a model similar to himself. He made both male and female. Adam had a son named Seth who was a model similar to himself, not like Cain. Seth replaced Abel. Adam lived 930 years and was able to see eight of his generations. He died forty-four years after Lamech was born. Lamech’s son was Noah and his father was Methuselah, the longest living man on the earth. Methuselah’s name means “when he dies, it will come”. Noah stepped on the ark the day Methuselah died and the flood came. The angels of God saw the women on the earth and took them as wives. They produced a race of giants which were bullies and tyrants. They were also cannibals. God saw this great defilement of man’s DNA and was sorry he had made man. But he found Noah whose DNA had not been defiled by this intermarrying. Noah walked in constant communion with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. The earth was so full of violence that God told Noah that He was ending all flesh and the earth. Noah was instructed to build an ark out of gopher wood and seal it with pitch so it would be waterproof. He was to take two of every sort of animal, a male and a female and seven of the fowls and the clean beasts. Noah, the animals and his family went into the ark and it began to rain. Noah was in the 600th year of his life, in the second month and the 17th day of the month. The flood was 40 days upon the earth covering everything on the earth with water. All flesh died and the waters stayed 150 days on the earth. In Matthew, John the Baptist told the people that they couldn’t rely on the fact that their roots went to Abraham because God was laying the axe to the root and cutting off those who did not produce good fruit. Jesus came to be baptized of John and John was hesitant to baptize him because of his greatness but Jesus told him that he had to do it to fulfill all righteousness. John agreed and baptized him. When Jesus came out of the water, the heavens opened and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove on Jesus. The voice said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus was led to the wilderness to meet the devil. He had fasted for 40 days when the devil came. He tempted Jesus to make the stones become bread. Jesus answered, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The devil then took him up to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple. He told him to cast himself down because scripture said that his angels would catch him and not let him be hurt. Jesus answered, “It is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Again, the devil took him on a high mountain and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He told him he would give them to him if he would fall down and worship him. Jesus replied, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” The devil left after that and angels came and ministered to him. Everything Satan tempted Jesus with had been promised to him by his Father. Satan’s way was instant without going to the cross first. God’s way was through the cross. Jesus had to die to receive his inheritance. Satan offered it without the sacrifice. The hook was that he would have to worship Satan who was a liar and a murderer so Jesus would have been left dead without a resurrection if he had chosen Satan’s way. Lord, help us to recognize the temptations of the enemy and refuse to engage in his game. May we discern rightly what is good and choose life.

Mon.’s Devo - The Fall and the Plan of Redemption

Read: Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2;1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9 Satan chose the most shrewdest of the wild animals to embody and came to deceive the woman as a serpent. He asked the woman if God really told them that they couldn’t eat from any of the trees of the garden. That was when the woman should have walked away. Instead she engaged in conversation with the serpent and told him that they just couldn’t eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. They couldn’t touch it or they would die. That was not the truth either. The serpent then told the woman what would happen if she ate it…she would have eyes opened to see like God saw and she would know both good and evil. The woman looked again at the tree and saw how delicious the fruit appeared and wanted that knowledge so she took a bite. Adam was right there so when she didn’t die, he took a bite also. Their eyes were opened at the same time and they felt shame for their nakedness first time. They sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. God came to talk to Adam that evening and Adam hid in fear. God called Adam out of the shadows. Adam explained his shame of being naked and God asked him if he had eaten from the tree he commanded them not to eat. Adam confessed that the woman the Lord gave him gave it to him and he took a bite. The woman told God that the serpent deceived her so the serpent was cursed first. He was the source. He would be cursed above all the other animals and have to crawl on his belly. There would be hostility between Satan and the woman and between her offspring and his offspring. Man would strike Satan’s head but Satan would bruise man’s heel. The woman was cursed with pain in pregnancy and childbirth. She would desire to control her husband but he would rule over her. The ground was cursed for the man so it would be a struggle to grow food from it. He would have to work really hard to provide. Adam named the woman Eve which means “life-giver”. God banished Adam and Eve from the garden so they wouldn’t eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in that state. He placed mighty cherubim and a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Adam had sexual relations with his wife and she had two sons Cain which means “fabricator” and Abel which means “transitory vanity or mourning”. Both brothers offered a sacrifice to the Lord and God respected Abel’s, but rejected Cain’s. Cain ended up killing Abel because of his anger. Abel’s blood cried up from the ground bringing a curse on Cain. Cain would be a fugitive and a vagabond all his days on the earth. Everyone would want to kill him. Cain cried out to the Lord and said that his punishment was too great so God put a mark on Cain and said that whoever killed Cain would receive vengeance seven times. Cain went to live in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. Cain and his wife had Enoch who had Irad, who had Mehujael who had Methushael, who had Lamech. Lamech had two wives who had Jabal, Tubal-cain and Naaman. Lamech killed a man in self-defense and pled his own cause. He said that the person who tried to kill him would be punished 77-times. Adam had Seth to replace Abel. Seth had a son named Enosh meaning “mortal man”. Cain’s seed is associated with the seed of Satan and Abel and Seth’s seed was associated with God’s seed on the earth. In Matthew, once the wise men had left visiting with Mary and Joseph, they went home another way and didn’t return to tell Herod where the child was. God warned Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt because Herod would come to kill Jesus. He left that night and stayed in Egypt. Herod was furious when the wise men didn’t return. He ordered all the boys in and around Bethlehem two years and younger to be killed. After Herod died, the angel told Joseph it was safe to return and they ended up living in Nazareth as the prophecy foretold. John the Baptist began preaching for the people to repent of their sins and turn to God for the Kingdom of Heaven was near. He was the voice of one shouting in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. People walked for miles to hear his preaching and to be baptized for their sins. Lord, your plans always succeed and accomplish what they are suppose to do. Thank you for your great wisdom and mercy for humanity. Thank you that you love us and always had a plan of redemption for us.

Sun.’s Devo - The Reward of Justice

Happy New Year! What a year we just finished! I see 2023 as being the year of the “Rude Awakening” for some and the “Great Awakening” for others. For those who haven’t had their eyes open to what has been going on under the surface, it will be a rude awakening. They will find out how evil the system has been that we have all been under. For those who have been awake already it will be a much waited retribution. Evil is going to be exposed and righteousness is going to rise. Our nation is shifting toward the light and toward good. We are being given one more chance to do it God’s way. The whole world will be going through this cleansing as we attempt to eradicate evil and return to the Lord. It will take years to rebuild and restructure but that will be the great part as we will use the gifts God has given us to bring life to the world. My word for this year is “justice”. God has been bringing justice for a while but I feel like this year we are going to begin to see the reward of justice. Justice is such a powerful relief and gift from God. Only God can bring true justice. In Scripture, justice and judgement go hand in hand. Proverbs 21:3 says “to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” You can’t have justice without God’s judgment. He judges then brings his decision which is his justice. God is going to decide many cases this year in respect to humanity and how they have governed his world. His decisions will bring a just reward. Jesus is the reward of justice. We will get to know him better and better as our Salvation. Read: Genesis 1:1-2:25; Matthew 1:1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6 Today we go back to the beginning of our roots on earth. God created the heaven and the earth. Heaven is singular meaning the visible arch in which the clouds move under our ‘dome’. Another name for earth is “a field”. Jesus talked about ‘a field’ many times in his parables. Earth was empty and worthless until God began shaping it and adding to it. It was full of wickedness and an abyss of water. God’s spirit moved upon the waters and declared light in every sense. He declared happiness instead of depression. This light would be summed up in the word “Day” and the darkness would be called “Night”. Night means “a twist away of the light; adversity”. On this first day, God declared two different kingdoms: one of light and one of darkness. We are called to be children of the light and of the day. (1 Thessalonians 5:5) On the second day, God called forth a visible arch or dividing line in the sky to divide the waters (spirits) of the earth from the waters in the sky. The waters in the sky were called Heaven where the celestial bodies move. On the third day, God established the waters under the heaven to gather in one place and dry ground appeared. The dry ground was called Earth or common field and the waters were called the Seas. God brought forth grass and fruit trees with seed in them. Every tree bore the tree of its seed. On the forth day God spoke forth lights in the heaven to light the earth. He made two great lights. The greater light would rule the day and the lesser light would rule the night. They were to make a difference between light and darkness. On the fifth day God told the waters to bring forth moving creatures that had life and fowls to fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. God blessed them and told them to multiply on the earth. On the sixth day God told the earth to produce animals that were small, wild animals and livestock. They would all produce after their own kind. Then God created human beings to be a resemblance and representation of him. God blessed the male and females and told them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. They were to have rule over the fish, fowl, and every living thing on the earth. God gave man and animals the herbs as food. On the seventh day, God rested from his work and blessed the day. God kept everything watered with a mist that came out of the earth. Man was created from the dust of the earth as God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He became a living soul. God planted a garden on the east side of earth and put a man in it who he called Adam. The garden had a river that ran from it that branched into four heads. The first branch was called Pison (meaning “increase”) which flowed in the land of Havilah where much gold was found. It was also filled with aromatic resin and onyx stone. The second branch was called Gihon (meaning “breaking forth”). It was in the land of Ethiopia (meaning “black”). This was the land that Ham would inherit. The third branch was called the Tigris or Hiddekel (meaning “riddle of lightness”). This branch went toward the east of Assyria. The fourth branch was the Euphrates (meaning “fruitfulness”). God placed Adam in the garden with one rule. He was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he did, he would die. God declared the it was not good for the man to be alone so he would make a helper for him. Instead, God brought the animals to Adam to name. Adam noticed that there was not an animal suitable to be his mate. God put him to sleep and took a rib from his body and used it to form a woman. When he awakened, he knew this was his mate. God explained that they would be joined into one. They were both naked and felt no shame. In Matthew we are given Jesus’ lineage from Abraham to Joseph, Mary’s husband. His was the kingly lineage of Jesus. His lineage was divided into three groups which included fourteen generations each. We are then given the story of how the Holy Spirit came to Mary and filled her with a seed from God. God sent an angel who told Joseph in a dream the same thing so he would not be afraid to marry Mary. The angel reminded Joseph of the prophecy of Isaiah about a virgin that would have a son and be named “God is with us.” Jesus was born in Bethlehem just as the prophecy said. (Micah 5:2). Astronomers from Egypt had been looking for his star. When they saw it, they came to worship him. They stopped off at Herod’s to ask about the new king and got him all stirred up. The astrologers followed the star and found Jesus. They blessed Mary and Joseph with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They did not return to tell Herod about Jesus. Lord, thank you for teaching us your concepts of good and evil from the very beginning. May we grow in wisdom and understanding.