2-16/17-2019 Take It Through The Week

Monday – Deuteronomy 32:43 God has a people. He has always seen fit to show the world who He is, by having a people who are familiar with His ways. Rejoice, you nations, concerning His people.  His intent is that when His people go into a nations, that there would be joy. Think about it and compare world religions. What religion other than Christianity exists that rampant grace is given freely to sinners? Therefore when the Gospel Good News comes to a people there should be joy because sinners can freely partake of the Water of Life that is Jesus Christ. So what happens when there is rejection and persecution of His people? He will avenge…take vengeance…purify.  God will not take likely the blood of His servants. In the halls of eternity, if every idle word man has spoken will be judged, how much more so acts of violence against Christians? There is coming a day of reckoning. Jesus himself talked about it.  Read Matthew 5:11-12. Jesus plainly said that there would be those insult…persecute…falsely say ever kind of evil against you. He said that these things would happen because of me.  Evil hates good, and Jesus is “good” personified. When we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, even though we love people, there are some people who will hate us.  But rest assured, God will avenge the blood of His servants. When we see Him face to face, his adversaries will also see Him. We long to see Him, partially for selfish reasons, we want to see Him. But also in the heart of every believer, is the desire to see Him Glorified. For the world to see that He is all that He has said He is. Lord, come quickly, You are our great “I am”.  (Ex. 3:14)  
Tuesday – Job 36:26-28 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge…We can know Him. That is what He wants. He wants us to know His heart. He wants us to know His character. He wants us to know we can rely on Him, above all else in life. But we can’t know the extent of His exaltation and glory. To know such a thing in this life, would end our mortal days. We would die, if we saw Him as He is.  I love to watch nature shows. Documentaries. Its so funny because many of them mention evolution as if origins and purposes were explained by the concept. But I worship when I see all that God has created. For He makes waterdrops evaporate; they distill the rain into its mist, which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.  How did Job describe such a thing? Science only caught up a few hundred years ago. And yet God revealed to Job exactly how He sustains all life on earth. We can know certain things about our God. What He has chosen to reveal to us. How He does it is beyond our knowledge. Take a few minutes and thank Him for who He is, in your life.
Wednesday –  Psalms 50:3-6 Our God is coming; He will not be silent!  Have you ever been around someone who just wouldn’t be quiet? They just kept saying something over and over again, even though you were tired of hearing it? The Bible is plain and clear and God has said it over and over again. On high, He summons heaven and earth in order to judge His people. He will judge the earth and those who are in righteous (in Christ) will receive their reward. Gather my faithful ones to me, those who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.  We who have been born again, have a covenant with God. It has indeed been consummated by sacrifice. In the Old Testament it was ritual sacrifice. In the New Testament, it is an irrational sacrifice. It is an unpredictable and improbable sacrifice. That the Righteous One would die for the unrighteous millions makes no sense, humanly speaking. Would you sacrifice your good child for a murderous, lying, manipulating one? God did. And He even called the unrighteous faithful because of the sacrifice of the Righteous One. Pray with me. O Precious Righteous One, thank You. Thank you for the Cross. Thank you that Your Faithfulness made me into a faithful one. You did this for me, I could never have dreamed or accomplished anything like this. You did this. And I long to thank You personally, face-to-face, for all You have given me. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.
Thursday – Ps. 76:8-10  Even human wrath will praise you; you will clothe Yourself with their remaining wrath. What an odd statement! We know that God will someday judge humanity and angels. We know that the earth will be completely re-made. But how and where in that process will human wrath praise You? The key is in the Book of Revelation. Much of what all of that symbolism means we will find out someday, hopefully after the fact because we passed that time in heaven. I’m talking about after the Rapture and before the Battle of Armageddon. Humanity will find out first hand what God has said through His prophets for centuries. And in the midst of God’s exclamation point to humanity, (the tribulation period) there will be a pivotal moment for much of humanity. They can see the power of God and turn from their sin. Or they can continue in their sin and hatred, disregarding the fact that God told them ahead of time what would happen.  Read Rev. 9:20. After plaques have come on mankind, less than halfway through the Tribulation Period, God notes that there could have been a turning point. Men could have listened to the prophesied Word. The events that are happening have been foretold. They could have repented. From that point on, in the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world (Rev. 3:10) mankind will endure wrath. And because God has given every opportunity for men to repent before the end, even human wrath will praise You. You will clothe Yourself with their remaining wrath. Because the hour of Jesus’ return is so close at this point even the wrath that man endures will speak of the Glory of God. Even the wrath man levies at God, will ultimately praise Him, because the end is so near. Even in their rebellion, they are actually confirming the Word of God.
Friday – Isaiah 51:12-16 I-I am the One who comforts you. Look at the world around us. There are some pretty scary people out there. There are some pretty scary religions out there. There are some pretty scary nations out there. But in this passage God says some pretty important things to believers. Don’t fear those who can’t effect your eternity. Don’t be in constant dread. Rather, be aware…the prisoner is soon to be set free. We will be free someday. We will be perfect and healthy and happy for all eternity. Heaven is so good that it makes even the best days here, pale in comparison. I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of My hand. In Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear from our past, our present, or our future. Our past has been forgiven and He is the One who comforts you. Our present is protected because I have put My words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of My hand. And our future is certain because He is going to plant the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, “You are My people”.  
Saturday – Hebrews 1:10-12 You are the same, and Your years will never end.
My favorite shirt is no more. It has worn completely out. It is only five years old and I have worked in it as an overshirt several times a week, in cold weather. It is time to replace it with a new one. Of course there are improvements. The pockets are not deep enough. The next one needs to have better pockets. God says the same thing of the earth and the heavens. He will replace them. They will all wear out like clothing. You will roll them up like a cloak, and they will changed like a robe. Frightening? Everything that we see and know burnt up and replaced? No it is not. Our constant is our Lord. He is always the same. Read Hebrews 13:8. Will our Lord’s love for us ever change? Will it ever weaken? Past, present, and future, we are His and He is ours. Even if all around us changes.