Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
God’s commands are based on His omniscience and His perfect will. There are always consequences when we refuse to follow his instructions. True worship and submission to God begin with an attitude of “Lord, you know best. Please give me the strength and determination to follow your instruction.”
If you have the needed information, speak up! When you don’t your silence is sin.
The death of Jesus on our behalf brings forgiveness and reconciles us with the Holy God. Amazing, isn’t it? Wherever you are in the Old Testament, God the Father is preparing us for God the Son.
What a response to God! What generosity! Remember these were “freewill offerings” the people were bringing. They were giving voluntarily from a heart of worship in response to God’s amazing love and grace. How are you doing with your freewill offerings?
Today, thank God for his compassion – his affection that leads to action. Thank God for his grace – acceptance without condition. Thank God for his patience – his slowness to become angry. Thank God for his love – the love that sent Jesus to the cross to pay the penalty for your sin. Thank God for his faithfulness – He will always keep his promises. Thank God that through his Holy Spirit, he is standing with you right now.
Only God can make us holy. Maybe that has been one of your struggles. You have been trying to make yourself good enough for God. Good luck with that. But here’s the good news – Jesus came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
God so loved the world that He sent His Son. Jesus, fully-God and fully-man, died on the cross as the penalty for our sin. When we trust in the Son, the Father accredits Christ’s righteousness to us and declares us “not guilty.” God the Spirit takes up residence in us and enables us to live a life that pleases God.
From the Old Testament to the New, giving is an act of individual worship. Giving out of compulsion, legalism, manipulation or force is not worship at all.
The question for today is the following: Are you bowing down before any god other than God? That god can come in the form of a person, possession or position. It may be something you are living with, living in or living for. Whatever it is, it’s a pathetic substitute for the real thing.
Our spiritual flight has many ups and downs. The wind currents of life lift us up and drag us down. The atmosphere of sin causes us to stumble and fall. We grow weary from the journey and start a dangerous descent. But God is there every time. Like a mother eagle, he carries us on his all-powerful wings.
What banner do you hold high as you go into battle each day? If you hold the banner of self-sufficiency, independence or personal ambition, you will lose the battle every time. But if you hold high the name of the Lord, marching under his standard, he will give you the strength to defeat each foe.
So here they come rolling in . . . the waves of fear and doubt . . . caused by sickness, job loss, a relationship break-up, illness of a loved one, discouragement, death. You can’t stand up under the force of the crashing waves. But you don’t have to. The Lord will absorb the powerful force for you. You need only to be still.