Category Archives: devotional

Try something new (Luke 5:34-39) September 28, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 114-116

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 5:34-39
Jesus: Imagine there’s a wedding going on. Is that the time to tell the guests to ignore the bridegroom and fast? Sure, there’s a time for fasting—when the bridegroom has been taken away. Look, nobody tears up a new garment to make a patch for an old garment. If he did, the new patch would shrink and rip the old, and the old garment would be worse off than before. And nobody takes freshly squeezed juice and puts it into old, stiff wineskins. If he did, the fresh wine would make the old skins burst open, and both the wine and the wineskins would be ruined. New demands new—new wine for new wineskins. Anyway, those who’ve never tasted the new wine won’t know what they’re missing; they’ll always say, “The old wine is good enough for me!”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We get really comfortable with old things, don’t we? We keep that old, worn out pair of shoes because they feel so good. We hang on to that thread bare pair of jeans because they have shaped themselves to our bodies over time and we just can’t part with them. Or that recliner that doesn’t look so good anymore, but it sure fits well when you sit in it after a long day. All the cushions are broken in just right and you can nap in it so well. You can’t let it go no matter how rugged it looks now.

We do it with our health, too. The lab tests tell us we need to change our eating habits to avoid diabetes or heart disease in the future, but do we change? No. We are too comfortable with our old eating patterns and just keep eating the same stuff, refusing to exercise, doing the same bad things we did before. We know a healthier life style would be better for us, but we’re comfortable with what we know, so we just don’t change.

Sometimes we do the same thing with old habits in our religious life. That’s the problem Jesus addressed with the Pharisees that day in Galilee. We get comfortable with the way things have always been and just don’t want to change whether the change is for our good or not. We do the same things. Read the same words, sing the same songs, go through the same rituals, and we let them slip by us because they’re comfortable.

Jesus had a new message for those who would listen to Him. He brought a new covenant to all people. The days of animal sacrifices for the atonement of sins were over because He would be the perfect sacrifice for all of us. The misuse of power through the priesthood and the misunderstand of their role was over as each individual could have a personal relationship with the God of the universe through His Son, Jesus, the Messiah, and Savior of all humankind.

He had something new for all of us. New life. More abundant life. Everlasting life. But unless we let Him change us, we will never experience it. Unless we are willing to give up the old life and let Him live in us, we will just stay comfortable in the world we live in and lose the way to His kingdom and His promises. We must be willing to try something new to enjoy what He has in store for us. And it’s not always comfortable.

This new life, new covenant, new path takes courage, though. It takes giving up yourself. It takes doing what we often find difficult. Letting go of the comfortable and taking on things that the world will tell us don’t make sense. But if you never take your first step, you’d never learn to walk. If you never got on a bicycle for the first time, you’d never know the excitement of riding faster than you can run. If you never got behind the wheel of a car for the first time, you’d never learn to drive. You get the idea. Everything you do starts with the first time you do it.

The same is true with following Jesus. It takes that first acknowledgement that He is God’s only Son and died for you. Then every moment of every day, acknowledging that truth is still alive and real in your heart. It’s first giving Him Lordship of your life, then every moment keeping Him in that place of Lordship, saying yes to His commands whenever He gives you something to do. It is something new. But if you never try this new life, you’ll never know what you’re missing.

So are you ready to try something new? Are you ready to enjoy the new life Jesus can give you? Are you ready to experience what millions have enjoyed through the centuries since He died for you? You can. But you must take that first step. Say yes to Him. Let Him be Lord of your life. You won’t be sorry you took that first step.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Where do you share the message? (Luke 5:31-32) September 27, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 6-10

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 5:31-32
Jesus (answering for the disciples): Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I haven’t come for the pure and upstanding; I’ve come to call notorious sinners to rethink their lives and turn to God.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We have done something as Christians I’m not sure Jesus would be too happy about. What is it? We cling together in little conclaves and hide ourselves away from the world when it comes to exploring God’s word. We get together with other Christians in our churches and cathedrals and we teach each other if we learn anything about scriptures at all. We build these beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful buildings, but then we put up a cross on the roof or on the side of the building or on a sign outside and expect people to come inside and find God.

But Jesus didn’t work that way when He was with us. He attended the synagogues on the Sabbath wherever He happened to be at the time. He went to the Temple whenever He was in Jerusalem. But to share the message His Father intended Him to share with the world, He went to the places people gathered and that was not the synagogues and temple. He taught in the markets and on the seashore. He picked hillsides and the homes of prominent and not so prominent people. He taught whenever and wherever people gathered to hear Him.

He went to the people because He knew people needed to hear the message and knew those who needed to hear the message most would not come to the temple or synagogue to hear it. Like Adam, they would hide from God rather than come into His presence for cleansing. If Jesus was going to help them, He would have to go to them. And unlike most physicians today, Jesus made house calls.

So we find Jesus visiting the tax collectors and prostitutes and thieves and liars and all those other savory characters that you’d never expect to find in the temple because they would be afraid others would point out their sin instead of welcoming them into God’s presence for forgiveness – just like the Pharisees did.

And we in the Christian faith, too often do the same thing the Pharisees did. We cloister ourselves in our fine buildings and sing our songs, listen to sermons, attend our classes, and if anyone comes into our churches that don’t look or act like us, we send signals that help them understand they really aren’t as welcome as we say they are. Those visitors come in and sit in the back or maybe are even ushered to a middle seat somewhere, but they never return because we treat them like lepers. They are tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, liars, sinners. God forbid that we let them into our Christian clubhouse.

Isn’t it time that we take up the mantle as Jesus taught us? He went to the places where the people that needed Him lived and worked and gathered for mutual comfort. He went to the sick at heart. He went to those that needed cleansing from the sickness in their spirit. He found Himself in those places filled with people who would never darken the door of the temple or the synagogue. But He gave the same message to those they He gave to the people in the synagogue.

Do you understand why? Because all of us are sinners. And in God’s eyes there is really no difference between the tax collector and the gossip, the prostitute and those who would cause dissension in the church. All have sinned and come short of the God’s glory they seek. We are not worthy to stand in His presence, and yet He calls us to follow Him. He calls us to come to Him for healing, cleansing, a right relationship with our heavenly Father.

Jesus showed us what we should do, then He did something none of us would probably do if we were God. He entrusted His message to us. He told us to go share His message throughout the world. Can you believe that? God put the message of salvation into the hands of sinners who have felt the touch of His redemptive grace. We were His enemies, but He still gave us the mission of sharing the message that will give people hope and a future.

So who do we take that message to? Do we hold it in our churches and cathedrals? Jesus didn’t. We are to take it to work with us. We’re to take it to school and the grocery. We’re to take it to our neighbors. We’re to take it to the gas station and our mechanic. We’re to take it everywhere we go and we’re to take the message of God’s grace and forgiveness to those who need it most.

Do you remember who needs it most? Everyone. We’re all sinners. Some of us are saved by His grace, if we have asked for His forgiveness. But we all need His message. So share the hope and grace He gives to someone you meet today. Don’t invite them to church to hear the message, share it with them where you find them. It will make such a difference in how they hear it from you. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Let others see that you forgive (Luke 5:22-24) September 26, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Numbers 25-28

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 5:22-24
Jesus (responding with His own question): Why are your hearts full of questions? Which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven” or “Get up and walk”? Just so you’ll know that the Son of Man is fully authorized to forgive sins on earth (He turned to the paralyzed fellow lying on the pallet), I say, get up, take your mat, and go home.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Have you discovered yet that it’s easier to say something than it is to live it? If you haven’t learned that truth, you just haven’t lived very long or you don’t talk to anyone or something. Everyone knows it’s easier to talk about something than it is to do it. It just is.

I learned that lesson again recently when I undertook the task of building a pergola on our back porch. I did a lot of research, read a lot of different how-to web sites, looked at a lot of different designs. I drew out a simple blue print and figured out how much material it would take and made sure I had the right tools to do the job. Simple, right?

Then the lumber company delivered the 1,800 pounds of cedar it would take to put that monstrosity in the air. First, there was the fourteen gallons of stain it took to prepare the wood before I made the first cut. I figured it would be a lot easier to stain the wood at waist level before construction than after it was in the air (and a lot easier to clean up any mess I was sure to make in the process, too). By the end of the staining, I thought I had done some work, but that was only the beginning.

Yep, talking about something is significantly easier than doing it. And talking about doing something you can’t see is easier than talking about something you can see. It was much easier to promise to research the building of the pergola than to build it. The research was mostly in my head with just a few notes and drawings on a few pieces of paper. But the physical pergola that you can actually see and touch, that was a lot more difficult to put in the air.

So everyone understands when Jesus asked His question of the Pharisees, “Is it easier to say to this man, ‘Your sins are forgiven or take up your mat and walk?’” Things you can’t see are so much easier to promise than things you can see. Still, Jesus knew what He could do and made His most important promise to the paralytic first. “Your sins are forgiven.”

Those words are easy to say. In fact, it’s easy for us to say the words to someone else. “I forgive you.” It’s easy to put those three words together and project them toward someone who has wronged you. But can you make that promise in a way that is visible to the one to whom you project them? Can you say the words and mean them when the pain for the wrongs done still lingers? Jesus did. He forgave the paralytic his sins knowing he would carry the man’s sins to the cross and die for them.

We can say the words pretty easily, just like I could say I would build a pergola on my porch. But the proof is in the seeing. The paralytic knew what happened right away because he felt the guilt of his sins melt away with the words Jesus spoke. No one else knew the proof right away because they couldn’t see the evidence. It was only as he lived his life and they could see the joy in his face that they could see the evidence of what Jesus had done for him. But just because others couldn’t see the results right away, didn’t mean the work hadn’t been done.

It’s like my pergola. If I hadn’t done the research and planning, I wouldn’t have bought the right amount of wood and hardware and stain. As it turns out, I over estimated by two and a half gallons of stain and four pieces of lumber. That’s enough to touch up all the ends I cut, that I haven’t stained yet, and maybe enough to build a bench attached to the rail at the edge of the porch. You couldn’t see the planning except by way of the end result. Neither could you see Jesus’ forgiveness expect by way of the end result of the paralytic’s joy in his freedom from the guilt of his former sins.

Jesus wanted others to know He never lied and had the power to do what He said He could do, though. So He did something others could see, not just hear about. Like my building the pergola, so others could see it when they sit on the porch instead of me just talking about it, Jesus healed the paralytic so the Pharisees knew He could do what He said He could do. He did what seemed impossible. He healed a man who could not help himself, physically or spiritually.

So, like Jesus, when you forgive, do so in a way that others can experience and know you’ve forgiven. Let them see the truth of what you say and not just hear the words.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Don’t hide anymore (Luke 5:10) September 25, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Hebrews 1-4

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 5:10
Jesus: Don’t be afraid, Simon. From now on, I’ll ask you to bring Me people instead of fish.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

If you’ll remember, Jesus said these words to Simon after Simon told Him he should not be around Him because he was a sinful man. Simon’s words remind me of Isaiah’s vision in the temple when he saw God sitting on His throne high and lifted up. Isaiah knew he was about to die because he was a sinful man and was in the presence of God.

Daniel did the same. John on the Isle of Patmos did the same. Everyone who comes into the presence of the Almighty falls to their face and recognizes their sinful state as they see the purity and holiness of His very essence. Simon felt the same way. He heard Jesus preach from one of his boats that he had pushed off from the shore so He could be heard better by the crowd. It was a common practice for speakers to large crowds in that day. The speech would echo off the water and create an amplifying effect rather than standing in the middle of the crowd where the robes and turbans and tunics would muffle the sound.

Simon was just minding his own business, literally when Jesus borrowed one of his boats. He and this fellow fishermen were mending their nets. But while he was working, he heard the message. He saw this preacher from Nazareth. He heard this man expound on the scriptures in ways he had never heard before. Simon knew there was something different about this man. That’s why he trusted His command to cast his nets into deeper water.

But when Simon saw the evidence that this man was more than just a carpenter turned preacher, he was shaken. Simon knew this man was more than anyone he had ever met before and he had met some important people in his many business dealings. Simon knew this man had a special relationship with the God of the universe. I’m not so sure Simon understood yet that Jesus was God incarnate, but he certainly knew he was in the presence of a holy man with power over nature.

Isn’t it interesting that our first reaction is to get away from the presence of God instead of toward Him when we find ourselves in our sin? Just like Adam and Eve, we want to hide. We want to get away from Him. We don’t want to be in His presence for fear we will experience an outpouring of His wrath because of our sin.

But Jesus tells Simon, don’t be afraid. Come close. Just like God called Adam after his sin in the Garden of Eden. God didn’t want Adam to fall. He didn’t want Adam to leave His presence. That was Adam’s choice because He failed to obey God. But then God instituted ways to get back to Him. He showed us how to get back into a right relationship with Him. He set up a means of redemption with that very first sin.

He says, “Don’t be afraid. I want to restore your relationship with Me. I want to bring you back home. I want to put your life back on track. Don’t be afraid. Come close. I have good news for you and for everyone who will listen. You don’t have to stay estranged from Me. You don’t have to stay mired in your sin. You don’t have to be separated from Me. You can be cleansed. You can be made whole again. You can have your sins forgiven.”

We are so afraid of what other people might think if we go to an altar to ask God to forgive us of our sins. We’re afraid someone might think we are a sinner! Well, guess what? All of us are. None of us escape that title. So the question is really whether you will let someone else’s thought about you destine you to an eternity separated from God or whether you will use some common sense and fall on your face before a forgiving God and beg Him for cleansing from your sin.

It is ironic the response we have when God wants so desperately to bring us back into His kingdom. He created us to worship Him. He created us for a relationship with Him. He even came to live with us in human flesh to show us how much He longs to restore that relationship with us. And when He came, He told Simon and us the same message. “Don’t be afraid. I have a message for you and I want you to give that same message to the rest of the world.”

So will you trust Him like Simon did and do what He says? Or will you continue to do like Adam and hide from Him. As always, it’s your choice. Make the smart one, choose to stop hiding and live for Him.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Move into deeper water (Luke 5:4) September 24, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Acts 1-2

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 5:4
Jesus: Move out into deeper water, and drop your nets to see what you’ll catch.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Simon was a fisherman and knew about fishing. That’s how he made his living. He and his family probably fished for years. They supplied their village with fish. They sold their catch in the markets and earned a pretty good living. So much so that they had several boats, lots of nets, hired other workers. Simon had a pretty good business catching fish, so he knew what he was doing.

But Jesus asked him to launch out into deeper water and see what he would catch. Jesus was a carpenter by trade. He knew a lot about wood, but not so much about fish, you’d think. He understood what wood you should use to make the boats Simon used, but how to use those boats to catch fish? Folks wouldn’t have bet money on His knowledge of fishing. But Simon pushed out into deeper water and dropped his nets and if you know the rest of the story, you know all those nets he had been mending started breaking with the weight of the fish he caught.

But I thought about something else as I read those words today. Jesus asks us to move into deeper water, too. What does He mean by that? I think we get so consumed in the shallowness of life that we forget that Jesus want us to launch out into the deep. He wants us to get past the shallow things of life and dig deep. But into what?

Maybe into His word first of all. We can’t expect to learn much about what He wants from us if we don’t read His instruction manual. We can’t understand much about who He is and what He wants to do in our lives if we don’t get into His word and see what He says to us about His purpose, the life He lived and the more abundant life He promises.

That understanding doesn’t come from just casual reading or just listening to someone else read God’s word every once in a while. It’s important that we move into deeper water. Take a passage of scripture and let it work on you. Figure out what God says to the people the words were originally written to and the culture in which they heard those words. Then apply those words to your culture and your life. How does God want to speak to you within the framework of your culture and your life?

What does God want you to change or what does He want you to do because of what you’ve learned from a deeper study of His word? That’s what this moving deeper is all about. It’s like getting married. When you first get married, you think you know a lot about each other. You dated for a while before you were engaged. And then once engaged, you really got to know each other. You talked about all your plans for life together. You talked about money and kids and careers and places to live. You talked about everything you could think of to talk about. You thought you knew each other well.

Then you got married. Suddenly, you figure out you didn’t know each other quite as well as you thought you did. Those little habits and idiosyncrasies you never saw pop up when you are in each others company all the time. Not that they are good or bad, it’s just new stuff that you find out that you didn’t know. Maybe it’s little things like which side of the bed she prefers to sleep on. Or does he shave first or brush his teeth first? Does he leave his dirty clothes on the bathroom floor or put them in a hamper? Does she save the dishes until there is a decent amount to wash or wash them as soon as your through eating?

You see, it takes a while to really get to know someone. We learn more about our husband or wife each day. We move deeper in love as we get to know each other. I’m afraid most of our divorce problems today are because we don’t appreciate what it means to move deeper into a relationship. We want to stay on the surface. We want to keep that shallow infatuation that brought us together and don’t want to spend the time or effort to really get to understand each other beyond that. That’s one of the reasons divorce is so rampant.

But Jesus invites us to move deeper with Him, too. Get closer, learn more about Him, get to know His habits and idiosyncrasies. He wants us to really know Him. It’s the only way we can really figure out what He wants us to do and what He wants us to be. He has a purpose for each of us and we can find it when we move into deeper water with Him. You never know what you’ll catch when you do.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

What do you do when you walk? (Luke 4:43) September 23, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Obadiah

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 4:43
Jesus: No, I cannot stay. I need to preach the kingdom of God to other cities too. This is the purpose I was sent to fulfill.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

When I was growing up, we had tent revivals, camp meetings, Vacation Bible School, teen camp, childrens camp, all kinds of things that could get you a spiritual high. Remember those? Sometimes those announced two week tent revivals would really get going and suddenly we figure out we didn’t want them to stop, so we go for another week or two. People would run the aisles, pray at the altars, talk about the services during the day at work or at the grocery store. Every night the tent would be full. There would be lots of music and the sermon seldom lasted less than an hour. But no one left.

I’m afraid I haven’t seen one of those kind of revivals in a long time. We get too busy with life and now if we can get people to go to a weekend gathering, it’s like pulling teeth. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen hanky wavers and aisle runners, too. We’re afraid of what someone might think if we let our emotions get out of hand if God really blesses us in a service, I guess. It’s just not done. We’re too formal and we might scare away the visitors if they came to our churches and saw something like that, right?

I’m not sure what started me down that path except thinking about the circuit Jesus made as He taught and preached and healed. He never stayed in one place very long because He had a mission to complete. He also had to make sure His schedule put Him in Jerusalem three times a year for the feasts Moses told the Israelites to observe at the temple – Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. So Jesus had an agenda from His Father and it wasn’t to stay in one spot. He didn’t expect people to come to Him.

He set off to go to as many people as He could to share the message God gave Him that the kingdom of God was at hand. It was time to get right with God because you didn’t have much time left. It was time to make sure your relationship with Him was right. Judgment day was coming and it wasn’t that far away. He also preached about love, though. In fact, Jesus talked a lot more about love than He did about judgment and punishment., we just don’t remember those words as much because of the way we’re built and the world we live in. But Jesus gave us a message of love.

I read an article the other day by Arthur Blessitt. He did some homework on how far Jesus walked during His life. As you are probably aware, everyone walked everywhere. Not many people had horses or donkeys or carts to ride around in. The only time Jesus is recorded as riding anything, in fact, was when He rode the new colt into Jerusalem. So we can assume that everywhere else He went, He went on foot.

So Arthur Blessitt looked at all the scriptures and all the places Jesus traveled during those three years of His ministry and determined He walked 3,125 miles in those three years. But then he looked at all the other walked He would have done with His family on the way to Egypt and back to Nazareth. The trips to Jerusalem for the feasts three times a year and so forth.

Jesus walked 21, 525 miles according to Blessitt’s calculations. That almost all the way around the circumference of the earth! At an average of 20 miles a day, that means He spent at least 1, 076 days and nights on the road in His life. That’s almost three years of His life just walking.

Jesus traveled to get God’s message to everyone He could. The gospels record His three year ministry from the time He was baptized in the Jordan River, but I wonder how much of the time before that He share His story with anyone who would listen? How many people did He talk to about the scripture and His understanding of what they meant. Remember He confounded the scribes at the young age of twelve. I doubt if His confounding others stopped at that one event. He was about His heavenly Father’s business.

I expect Jesus took Deuteronomy 6:6–9 to heart and spoke about God’s word continuously to anyone who would listen. Remember those words that Moses gave the Israelites before he died? "Make the things I’m commanding you today part of who you are. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re sitting together in your home and when you’re walking together down the road. Make them the last thing you talk about before you go to bed and the first thing you talk about the next morning. Do whatever it takes to remember them: tie a reminder on your hand and bind a reminder on your forehead where you’ll see it all the time, such as on the doorpost where you cross the threshold or on the city gate.

I expect during every one of those 21, 525 miles Jesus walked, He was remembering the words of His Father. How do you spend your time walking every day? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

We can join the party (Luke 4:23-27) September 22, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 25

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 4:23-27
Jesus: You’re about to quote the old proverb to Me, “Doctor, heal yourself!” Then you’re going to ask Me to prove Myself to you by doing the same miracles I did in Capernaum. But face the truth: hometowns always reject their homegrown prophets.
Think back to the prophet Elijah. There were many needy Jewish widows in his homeland, Israel, when a terrible famine persisted there for three and a half years. Yet the only widow God sent Elijah to help was an outsider from Zarephath in Sidon.
It was the same with the prophet Elisha. There were many Jewish lepers in his homeland, but the only one he healed—Naaman—was an outsider from Syria.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Have you ever tried to convince your brothers and sisters about some new information you’ve learned that would really benefit them? I remember my younger sister trying to tell me a few things along the path of life, but she certainly couldn’t know any more than me, right? She’s four years younger, so how could she have learned any life lessons ahead of me? I’m her older brother and should be teacher her.

It’s the same with parents and aunts and uncles and often with cousins and even with neighbors who watch you grow up. It’s really hard to convince those who know you best that you know something that will help them when they know all your faults. They watched you make all those mistakes when you were a teenager, so what could you add to the discussion?

That’s the story we’re faced with as Jesus reads the scripture from Isaiah that day in the synagogue. Those who knew Him best couldn’t believe He could be the long awaited Messiah. He was just a carpenter’s son. They knew Mary and Joseph and they knew the rumors about His birth. He came too soon after the marriage. There were some things that just weren’t right about this guy, so how could Jesus be the Messiah.

It’s kind of sad that we have such a hard time telling those we love the most about important things like how to find eternal life. If those closest to us can see Christ in us and see the difference He makes in our lives, maybe, just maybe, they will want that something different, too. But they will want to see the long term results, because they also know about the fads and false starts you’ve made in the past to try to straighten out your life on your own. Those didn’t go so well, so family and friends usually have a “let’s wait and see” attitude about a radical change in your spiritual life.

But the other things Jesus talked about really excite me. He pulled out two really important stories from the Old Testament to prove His point, but they tell us something about God that should make you want to sing and dance around the room for a while. The stories Jesus mentioned about Elijah and Elisha helping two widows during famines are significant. Those two prophets were two of the nation’s greatest prophets in their history. You’ll remember that in Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain, Peter, James, and John saw Elijah with Jesus and Moses in the garden that night. Elijah and Elisha were special men.

So what’s so great about these two stories? They went to help outsiders. Jews just didn’t do that. Devot Jews had nothing to do with outsiders. If they talked with or touched a non-Jew, they had to go through some ritual cleansing before they could participate in any of the worship activiites that surrounded their daily lives. So when Elijah and Elisha went outside their countrymen and helped these two widows from foreign nations, this was a really big deal.

And what it tells me is that God cares about the outsiders. The Jews are His chosen people. They are set aside for His special purposes, but He hasn’t forgotten the rest of us. He still loves us and cares for us. In fact, He cares for us so much, that during those two incredibly savage famines that swept through the countries surrounding Israel, Elijah and Elisha ministered to people outside their own culture and faith. God directed them to two women in foreign countries that were considered unclean by the Jews. These two men listened to God and determined even the outcasts needed God and His sovereign power in their daily lives.

And that means He cares for us. We are outcasts, outsiders, enemies, yet God still pours out His love and makes it known through His Son, Jesus, that He cares for us immensely. In fact, He cares so much, that He gave His only Son to die on the cross for our sins. All we have to do is believe in Him as the Son of God. Believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. Believe in Him for the guidance He will give you each day as you allow Him to live in your life and teach you His ways.

We don’t have to be outsiders anymore. Jesus made a way for us to join the party. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Know your scriptures (Luke 4:12) September 21, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 111-113

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 4:12
Jesus: Yes, but the Hebrew Scriptures also say, “You will not presume on God; you will not test the Lord, the one True God.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Don’t you love it when someone argues scripture with you? I know I do. Yeah, right! But scripture says, this is okay. But scripture says I shouldn’t do that. But scripture says… And that’s exactly what Satan did to Jesus that day in the wildernes.

Hey, Jesus. You’re the Son of God. Scripture says, angels will watch after you so that you can jump off of this temple and they won’t let you get hurt. Give it a try and see if it works. Let’s see if you really are who you think you are. Maybe you’re just dreaming and your mom was just feeding you a line all these years to cover up that pregnancy story. Go ahead and jump. You’ll be okay. Angels will catch you.

And Jesus knows they would have. He knows His true Father. He’s talked to Him every day for years. He’s learned His words. He heard the story of His birth and saw the fulfillment of those obscure Messianic scriptures in His life from the time He was just a youngster. He knew who He was and also knew the path He would take to the cross at the bequest of His Father. He also knew Satan’s words were true that angels would come to His rescue and would not let Him be harmed before it was time for His execution.

There was a problem with Satan’s request, though. Satan wanted Jesus to violate a more important aspect of God’s word – obedience to His will. Jesus knew what would Him feel good for the moment. He knew would might fuel His human ego, but He also knew what would give His heavenly Father the most glory and that is what He wanted most. He wanted to satisfy His Father’s will more than His own. And that’s the point.

A verse or two taken out of the context of the whole Bible can let you do just about anything you want to do. There is justification in God’s word for all kinds of things. There are stories of violence, murder, vengeance, sex, adultery, theft, embezzlement. Pick a vice or crime or just about any sin you want to commit and it has been done and is recorded in God’s word. Just pick a few of the verses around that sin and you can figure out how to justify whatever you want to do. But that’s not God’s will.

So what is God’s will? What does the Book really tell us? It’s the story of God’s plan for our redemption. It’s His will that everyone would come to Him for the forgiveness of sin and follow His commands. It’s His will that all would recognize that He is the one and only true God and would worship Him as such. It’s His will that we would love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbors and we love ourselves. That’s the message of the Bible.

It’s pretty simple. Sometimes not so easy to do, but pretty simple to remember. Just love. That’s it. Jesus showed us how. He didn’t let Satan distract Him from that simple mission or the simple message His Father gave Him to deliver to the rest of the world. Satan tried his best, but it didn’t work. Why? Because Jesus understood the message of the Book. He wasn’t about to let Satan use one little piece of it to persuade Him to do something that contradicted the message of the whole Book.

That’s where we get messed up today. Someone shows us something in scripture that tickles our ears and shows us where we can get what we want, but it doesn’t fit with the rest of God’s word. The problem is we don’t read it enough to understand the whole message. We let those little snippets that we like overpower our emotions and our will and forget we are supposed to be doing God’s will.

So how do you figure out what the Bible is about so you don’t end up falling for one of Satan’s tricks? First, you need to give your whole self to God. Let Him be Lord of everything in your life. Let Him take control of all of it. Family, job, money, everything. Then, read His instruction book. He tells us how we are to live. We just don’t like what we read and don’t do what it says most of the time. Or we just don’t read it and don’t know what it says and go about our merry way.

Jesus knew scripture. His example shows us that if we expect to stand up to the schemes Satan will use against us in this world, we should know them, too. No matter what your age, there is no better time than today to start seriously reading and studying His word. You never know when you might need just the passage you read this morning.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Get out of my face (Luke 4:8) September 20, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 1-5

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 4:8
Jesus: Get out of My face, Satan! The Hebrew Scriptures say, “Worship and serve the Eternal One your God—only Him—and nobody else.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Have you ever gotten into one of those situations that you just knew Satan was trying his best to trap you into doing something you knew was wrong? I know I have. He seems to know just what buttons to push for each of us. He knows the things that we like and dislike. He knows what makes us tick. He is an angel, a fallen one, but one of God’s created angelic beings nonetheless. So Satan has some powers that we do not understand or can even begin to comprehend.

So Satan knows exactly how best to approach us to entice us with the things that will turn us away from God. Satan had already tried to lure Jesus by trying to get Him to satisfy His physical desires through means Jesus knew were wrong. Now Satan asks Jesus to shortcut the path His Father had asked Him to take by worshiping Satan and thereby gaining political power over the world. But Jesus also knew the shortcut didn’t meet the demands the Father asked of Him. And to worship a fallen angel, or an angel of any sort, would violate the Fathers command.

Satan knew this mission was a weak point for Jesus. Our Savior wants the whole world to bow to Him and recognize Him as Savior and Lord. But He wants everyone in the world to come to Him as Lord as their choice, not as a dictator with the political power to force them to do so. The shortcut Satan offered Him would not suffice. It took away the power of choice for God’s greatest creation and He would not do that. Nor would Jesus, the man, worship anyone other than the Father.

So when Satan pushes that sensitive button, when He offers something that would entice Him to get off the path His Father laid out for Him to follow, Jesus does something we should we should emulate often. Listen to those first few words again: “Get out of my face, Satan!”

When is the last time you uttered those words? When is the last time you even thought those words in your head? I think we’ve gotten so sophisticated in our understanding of scientific principles and knowledge of the universe that we forget there is a real heaven and a real hell. A real fallen angel the Bible calls Satan, the father of lies. We forget there is a created being who rebelled against God and is trying his best to capture our souls and turn us away from God, too.

We, in our modern, what we think as an intelligent world, forget that Satan still roams the earth like a lion seeking those he can devour.

The good news, though, is that Satan is weak compare to our God. And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, “Any temptation you face will be nothing new. But God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle. But He always provides a way of escape so that you will be able to endure and keep moving forward.”

Our problem is two-fold. First, we don’t look for those ways of escape. We don’t look for the exit signs. We don’t try to get away from the temptation or do things to keep from getting into those situations in the first place. We too often just let Satan beat on us with those same temptations and think we can stand there and take it for as long as he can dish it out. We can’t. Remember, Satan knows which buttons to push. He knows our weak spots and those are the ones he will go after.

But sometimes, we just can’t find an exit, or there isn’t one. There wasn’t an exit for Jesus in the desert that day. He was there. Satan was right there in front of Him. Satan was doing his best to push Jesus’ buttons and get Him to take a shortcut, skip over the tough parts of His Father’s journey for Him, take the easy road to success. Jesus saw that He couldn’t leave that desert place quite yet, so He did the next best thing. Did you get it? He rebuked Satan with those very precious words that we just don’t use enough, “Get out of My face, Satan!”

So what do you think would happen if the next time you faced a really tough temptation you did what Jesus did and yelled, “Get out of my face, Satan!” I bet if you’re not alone, you’ll get some pretty strange looks, for one. But I also bet that whatever is going on around you will take a quick stutter step and give you an opportunity to get out of there pretty fast. It’s amazing what happens when you call a spade a spade. People don’t like the truth sometimes and when you’re in the middle of something you know is wrong and call it what it is, it’s amazing how many others you will help by lending them your strength and keeping them from going down that path, too.

Jesus teaches a great lesson for us, today. When the tempter comes, get ready with your response, “Get out of my face, Satan!” With Jesus on your side, he will.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Do you want to be a zombie? (Luke 4:4) September 19, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Numbers 21-24

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 4:4
Jesus: It is written in the Hebrew Scriptures, “People need more than bread to live.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Yesterday, we talked about the importance of scripture in Jesus’ life. He proved it with His temptation experience in the desert after His baptism. Satan tried to get Him to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger after forty days of fasting, but Jesus answered Satan’s challenge with the words we read today. Those words come from Deuteronomy 8:3 where the rest of the verse says, “what makes you truly alive is not the bread you eat but following every word that comes from the mouth of the Eternal One.”

A lot of people walk around thinking they are alive, but as we see all these movie trailers and TV show advertisements that flood the airways today, I’m reminded of exactly what we really see moving around us. We really do live in a land of Zombies. We live in a world of the walking dead! They act like they are alive on the outside. They wake up in the morning and go to work. They eat and drink and go about the routine of what many call every day life.

Those zombies out there make money, get married, have children and raise more zombies teaching them to grow up just like them. We have created generations of zombies. I bet you didn’t know that zombies reproduce, but they do. Just look around. They’re everywhere. People who think they have life, but they’re really just biological organisms destined for eternal death because they haven’t taken this verse to heart.

You can’t live by the bread or the food you eat. You can’t live by the job you have or the money you make. You can’t live by the socioeconomic status to which you climb or the number of likes on your Facebook page. Satan tried to get Jesus to let His physical hunger pangs become the most important thing to Him at that moment, but Jesus knew that a few moments of physical pain didn’t constitute life or death. Creature comforts aren’t what real life is about.

Life isn’t about satisfying our desires, it’s about satisfying God’s desires. Life isn’t about us, it’s about Him. It’s about doing His will. Life is about thirsting after God and drinking deeply from the fountain of life He shares with us from His word. Life is about doing what God wants, not what we want.

But that goes against everything the zombies around us believe. The world makes them think they are alive and well. The world makes them think life is about all those material things that go away with the last breath we take. The world says life is about money and beauty and stuff. So the zombies run blindly after all those things and when they get them, they find they still don’t have the life they are looking for. There is still no joy, no comfort, no assurances. Just fear of the unknown and questions about what’s next.

But for those who listen to Jesus’ words and believe them, we don’t walk in the way of the zombies. We know what life is about. Life isn’t limited to the few years we spend in these bodies made of clay. There is something more. We feel it deep inside and know from God’s word and the testimony of His spirit in us that there is something after these few years. We know there is an eternity out there and it only begins with the time we spend in these bodies.

How do we find real life? By doing what God says in His word. You say, “but that’s too much. How can we follow all the rules God gives us in scripture. How can we even know what He said. There is so much there.” I’d beg to differ with you, though. Most Bibles are about 1500 pages and most of those pages are not rules, but stories of God’s redemptive love. Have you ever read the tax code? I think the last version is about 20,000 pages. You’re expect to follow that and it’s just one part of our law. Then there are all the other laws and codes and bills and regulations you obey everyday. We don’t seem to have a problem keeping those and they constitute a whole library full of text.

So why do we think it is so hard to keep God’s laws? There really aren’t that many and Jesus sums them all up in two commands. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as you love yourself. So if we can just keep those two rules in mind and do those two, Jesus says we’ve done all the rest because all the rest are based on those two.

So what will it be as we look toward the beginning of another season of new zombie programs hitting the airways. Are we going to be part of that crowd and go around pretending to live like zombies do but without any real life? Or are we going to follow the words that come out of the mouth of God?

Once again, we get to make the choice. For me, I never did like those zombie shows. I’ll take real life every time. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.