It's OK to Hate your Family?

 

In Luke 14:26-27Jesus says if you don’t hate your family, you can’t be a disciple of his. What does that mean? It means that unless you look first to Jesus and learn his ways, you won’t know how to love yourself or others, even family. Jesus’ life teaches what love is. 

Luke 14:26-27 (NIV) 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 

9/27/2020

Walls and Gates

 

Everyone has walls that protect personal boundaries. Innately you know to build towers to watch for what is coming, create gates that open and close as you choose and there are some things you simply bar from your life. Ask God to show you where to place them.

2 Chronicles 14:7 (NIV) 7 “Let us build up these towns,” he said to Judah, “and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

9/23/2020

Self Respect and Honoring Parents

In honoring your mother and father - even if they were not the best parents - you give respect for all that came before you, up to and including your creator, God. Self-respect is developed out of respect for others and is necessary for spiritual and psychological health.

Leviticus 20:9 (TLB) 9 “Anyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death—for he has cursed his own flesh and blood.

9/20/2020

...I Looked up to Heaven and my Sanity Returned

Nebuchadnezzar was proud of the kingdom “he” created. With that, he fell into into a dark night of the soul. When he realized all the people of the earth are nothing when compared to God, he looked up to heaven and was reestablished in right mind and with God. 

Daniel 4:30-37 (TLB) 30 ...“I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as the capital of my empire.” 31 While he was still speaking these words, a voice called down from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you: You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. 32 You will be forced out of the palace to live with the animals in the fields and to eat grass like the cows for seven years, until you finally realize that God parcels out the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he chooses.” 33 That very same hour this prophecy was fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar was chased from his palace and ate grass like the cows, and his body was wet with dew; his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. 34 “At the end of seven years I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High God and honored him who lives forever, whose rule is everlasting, his kingdom evermore. 35 All the people of the earth are nothing when compared to him; he does whatever he thinks best among the angels of heaven, as well as here on earth. No one can stop him or challenge him, saying, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’ 36 When my mind returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My counselors and officers came back to me, and I was reestablished as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before. 37 “Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of Heaven, the Judge of all, whose every act is right and good; for he is able to take those who walk proudly and push them into the dust!”

9/16/2020

Best Effort vs. Less Effort

Doing your best with what you have works everywhere. Abel trusted God and brought his best work to him. Cain put forth less effort. When God called him on it, he became angry at God and his brother, believing he was entitled to the same blessings while not giving his best.

Genesis 4:3-7 (NLT)  3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

9/13/2020

Day 4

 

Genesis 1 says God created land, seas and all the vegetation before he created the sun. Plants must have sun to grow so this is an important distinction. God made, and still makes, what he desires out of his power. This is how he makes a way when there seems to be no way.

Genesis 1:9-19 (TLB) 9-10 Then God said, “Let the water beneath the sky be gathered into oceans so that the dry land will emerge.” And so it was. Then God named the dry land “earth,” and the water “seas.” And God was pleased. 11-12 And he said, “Let the earth burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant, and fruit trees with seeds inside the fruit, so that these seeds will produce the kinds of plants and fruits they came from.” And so it was, and God was pleased. 13 This all occurred on the third day.14-15 Then God said, “Let bright lights appear in the sky to give light to the earth and to identify the day and the night; they shall bring about the seasons on the earth, and mark the days and years.” And so it was. 16 For God had made two huge lights, the sun and moon, to shine down upon the earth—the larger one, the sun, to preside over the day and the smaller one, the moon, to preside through the night; he had also made the stars. 17 And God set them in the sky to light the earth, 18 and to preside over the day and night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God was pleased. 19 This all happened on the fourth day.

9/6/2020

Freedom is not Free

The Israelites begged for delivery from slavery and God delivered them out of Egypt.  They thought freedom was for their political and physical realm.  Freedom means the conditions are there for you to know God and HIS freedom. It may or may not include political or physical matters.

Numbers 14:2-3 (TLB) 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron. “We wish we had died in Egypt,” they wailed, “or even here in the wilderness, 3 rather than be taken into this country ahead of us. Jehovah will kill us there, and our wives and little ones will become slaves. Let’s get out of here and return to Egypt!”

8/30/2020

Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego boldly showed that even the worst threats against them were no threat to God. Declare the same. Trust God in your worst circumstances. He will be with you and bring you out without bitterness or resentment and your faith will encourage others. 

Daniel 3:24-28 (MSG) 24 Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm and said, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound hand and foot, into the fire?” “That’s right, O king,” they said. 25 “But look!” he said. “I see four men, walking around freely in the fire, completely unharmed! And the fourth man looks like a son of the gods!” 26 Nebuchadnezzar went to the door of the roaring furnace and called in, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the High God, come out here!” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked out of the fire. 27 All the important people, the government leaders and king’s counselors, gathered around to examine them and discovered that the fire hadn’t so much as touched the three men—not a hair singed, not a scorch mark on their clothes, not even the smell of fire on them! 28 Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him! They ignored the king’s orders and laid their bodies on the line rather than serve or worship any god but their own.

8/23/2020

Unless the Lord Builds the House

The Psalmist says your best efforts will lead to naught if you do not include God in them. Earthly protections can be illusive or you can be deceived by others.  Only God gives you right foundation, purpose and protection in this world.  

Psalm 127:1 (TLB)  1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders’ work is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, sentries do no good.

8/16/2020

Biblical Legality

The Pharisees misinterpreted God’s standards and felt superior to others  This persists today in Biblical legality. Jesus said his work was for those out of relationship with God and in sin, not the self-righteous.  He wants all to know his mercy and forgiveness. 

Matthew 9:9-13 (TLB) 9 As Jesus was going on down the road, he saw a tax collector, Matthew, sitting at a tax collection booth. “Come and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him, and Matthew jumped up and went along with him. 10 Later, as Jesus and his disciples were eating dinner at Matthew’s house, there were many notorious swindlers there as guests! 11 The Pharisees were indignant. “Why does your teacher associate with men like that?” 12 “Because people who are well don’t need a doctor! It’s the sick people who do!” was Jesus’ reply. 13 Then he added, “Now go away and learn the meaning of this verse of Scripture, ‘It isn’t your sacrifices and your gifts I want—I want you to be merciful. ’For I have come to urge sinners, not the self-righteous, back to God.” 

8/12/2020

No Downside to God's Ways

God’s ways are not all as direct or written in stone as the 10 Commandments. Many come from inference, metaphor and patterns in passages in the Bible. They protect us, make us wise, and give us joy and light. There is no down side to learning God’s laws and ways. 

Psalms 19:7-11 (TLB) 7-8 God’s laws are perfect. They protect us, make us wise, and give us joy and light. 9 God’s laws are pure, eternal, just. 10 They are more desirable than gold. They are sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb. 11 For they warn us away from harm and give success to those who obey them. 

8/9/2020

Made in Holiness

Psalms 51:1-6 is an honest confession by David for luring Bathsheba to his bed and then killing her husband Uriah so he alone could have her. It is against you and you alone I sinned.  Sexual sin and murder transgress the holiness and sacredness of life God created.

Psalms 51:1-6 (TLB) 1 O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. 2 Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. 3 For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night. 4 It is against you and you alone I sinned and did this terrible thing. You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just. 5 But I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness. Oh, give me this wisdom. 

8/2/2020

The Rich Man and the Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus said you must want to find the Kingdom of Heaven so much that a relationship with God and wanting to live within his will is more compelling than the riches of this Earth. Yet, with God’s help, anyone - rich or poor - can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Matthew 19:23-26 (TLB) 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “It is almost impossible for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 24 I say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!” 25 This remark confounded the disciples. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. 26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, no one. But with God, everything is possible.”

7/26/2020

Idolatry, Promiscuity and Adultery

In the Bible, what appears to be one thing may be representative of something else. Here, the mother is Israel, God is the husband and other men are the false gods Israel prefers. Idolatry, promiscuity and adultery were all linked to grief and destruction, and they still are. 

Hosea 2:2-4 (TLB) 2 “Plead with your mother, for she has become another man’s wife—I am no longer her husband. Beg her to stop her harlotry, to quit giving herself to others. 3 If she doesn’t, I will strip her as naked as the day she was born and cause her to waste away and die of thirst as in a land riddled with famine and drought. 4 And I will not give special favors to her children as I would to my own, for they are not my children; they belong to other men.

7/19/2020

Strength in Oppression

In Egypt the Israelites became stronger the more they were oppressed. The early Christians multiplied and expanded under persecution also. Relying on God, regardless of circumstances, is an internal decision. You and God are stronger than any conditions of this temporal world.

Exodus 1:11-14 (CJB) 11 So they put slavemasters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built for Pharaoh the storage cities of Pitom and Ra‘amses. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, until the Egyptians came to dread the people of Isra’el 13 and worked them relentlessly, 14 making their lives bitter with hard labor — digging clay, making bricks, all kinds of field work; and in all this toil they were shown no mercy.

7/15/2020

The Meaning of War in the Bible

The Hebrew language is precise in the names of people and places. Wars are wars within yourself, depending upon the names involved.  The Amalekites represent giving into thoughts and actions of darkness. God wants to help you to defeat darkness, “from generation to generation.”

Exodus 17:16 (NIV) 16 He said, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

7/12/2020

Respect for Authority

“All authority comes from God.” He lets leaders be in their positions for reasons only he knows. Your holy place is to seek God’s will for what you are to do, be peaceable and law abiding, pray and trust God completely. God will change what you cannot and do it right.

Romans 13:1-2 (NLT) 1 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. 2 So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.

7/5/2020

Jesus and the Criminal on the Cross

One criminal at the cross said he deserved his fate; he made a conscious choice to live apart from God. All people are criminals in this sense. You can live separated from God or accept reconciliation and peace in him. Anyone can have this peace. 

Luke 23:39-43 (NIV) 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

6/28/2020

Resisting Oneness with God

Paul struggled to keep his connection with the Lord at times.  Despite sacrifice and obedience to Christ (torture, prison, teaching, and writing), he said he still came up short. All humans innately resist their oneness in God. It is only possible in relationship with God. 

Romans 7:15 (NIV) 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

6/21/2020

Go Tell that Fox

In this verse, Jesus says he will continue his service on earth despite threats or resistance from “that fox” Herod. He was given a job by God and he will see it through, not matter what.  Keep going with the purpose God has given you, knowing his timing is always right. 

Luke 13:32 (NIV) 32 “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’

6/17/2020