For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been away on business the last few days. I hope that my writing has not suffered from this. I am writing today’s before I catch my flight home. Thank you for all of your prayers during this time.

    Just as one iron tool can be used to sharpen another one, so too can our friends help us become better at serving God. We are God’s tools to accomplish His purposes. Let us spend out time with others who are also serving God so that we can make each other better tools for God’s use.

    Yesterday, the psalmist told us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Today, he tells us that it is a source of joy. It seems counter intuitive to us to think that fear can be a source of joy. Most of the time, fear is the opposite of joy. However, fear of the Lord will inspire us to obey God’s commands and following God’s commands will bring us joy. If we fear the Lord we need fear nothing else. Not only need we fear nothing else, if our fear of the Lord is as great as it ought to be, we will fear nothing else.
    As our fear of the Lord leads us to obey Him, good things will come to us and evil will find no foothold to bring us down. Let us infuriate the wicked by doing what is right, no matter what they may do to discourage us.

    The writer goes on to point out that many people did great things as a result of their faith, but not all of those whom we should admire for their faith did things which the people of this world would desire to emulate. Some people suffered mocking, torture, and some even painful death. They were destitute, mistreated, and persecuted because of their faith. Yet despite this they maintained their faith in Christ.
    Here the writer puts in something which has always touched me deeply, the KJV translates it as “Of whom the world was not worthy.” I can barely begin to communicate what that phrase means to me. Growing up there was a book in our house called the “Martyrs Mirror” which contained accounts of those who suffered death for their faith in Christ. It contained stories of how the authorities committed ever greater atrocities against such people because they would not stop joyously praising God in the face of horrible suffering. The world was not worthy to have such people in it. Yet they counted it as joy to suffer for the name of Christ. My greatest fear is that I would not be able to emulate those people if faced with even a fraction of what they suffered.

    Ezekiel prophesied against Egypt.Egypt’s fall came about for two reasons. The first was that the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt believed that the blessings they gained from the Nile were the result of their own actions. The second was that they had made promises to the nation of Judah to defend it against Babylon, but when the time came to do so, Egypt offered no support at all.
    Let us never forget to give thanks to God for the blessings He has given us. And let us remember the dangers of making promises that we will be unable, or unwilling, to fulfill, even if we think we will never be called upon to do so.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I am out of town on business for a few days. I expect to be able to get these completed each day, but may be a little later than usual in getting them published.

    No matter how positive what you have to say, if you say it loudly and forcefully early in the morning to someone who has not had enough sleep.

    I have spent the last several days studying how the writer of Hebrews sees this psalm as applying to Jesus. As a result I find it hard to see it any other way. As I read this, I realized that the world is divided into two camps; those who serve the Lord willingly and those who oppose Him. Christ will be victorious and those who serve Him willingly will join Him in glory. Those who oppose Him will be struck down and destroyed.

    Here the writer makes a stab at defining faith, and does a pretty good job of it. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Faith is the confidence and assurance that not everything can be explained by what we can experience with our five physical senses, that science does not answer all of the questions about the universe.

    It was because of their faith that the great figures of the Bible were commended. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah were all commended because of their faith. It was because of their faith that they did the things which lead us to hold them up as examples. It is impossible to please God without faith because in order to please God we must seek Him. But we will not seek Him if we do not believe that He exists. These forerunners in faith considered themselves foreigners upon the earth, waiting for their heavenly homeland. We, too, are foreigners in the land in which we live, citizens of God’s kingdom. Let us always remember that this is not our home.

    God sends troubles and trials to us and to our society to cleanse us from our sins, from our impurity. If we refuse to allow these things to cleanse us, God will have no choice but to throw us on to the fire for complete destruction. As a society, and as individuals, our impurity is lewdness and idolatry. Will we allow God to cleanse us of these impurities? Will we allow Him to remove the lewdness and idolatry from our lives?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I am away from home on a business trip for a few days. I am pretty sure that I will still be able to complete these as my daily devotions, but I may be later than normal in getting them published. I would appreciate your prayers for me and my wife while I am travelling.

    If someone offers their word as bond for a loan to someone they do not know make sure they offer to secure the debt.

    I strive to live as the psalmist describes. I will rely on God to defend me from the wicked. I will love them and pray for them, even if they slander me. I will not hold enmity against them, even when they seek to destroy me. If I do so I will not need to fear their curses because God’s blessings will overcome any curse they may cast.

    The writer continues his theme that we do not need to have a guilty conscience for the sins we have committed. Christ’s sacrifice covers over our sins, allowing us to approach God directly. We no longer need any priest other than Jesus to intercede between us and God. Since Jesus is God, this means that we can approach God directly.
    As a result of this we should seek to motivate each other to acts of love and to good works of all kinds. In order to do this we need to meet together with our fellow believers. There are those who believe that because they have a personal relationship with God and with Jesus they do not need to regularly join with their fellow believers. They are mistaken. We need the relationship with our fellow believers, both to encourage them and to be encouraged. If we do not spend time with fellow believers being influenced by them to more closely follow God, we will be influenced by the non-believers around us to drift away from God.

    The people of Samaria and Jerusalem were not satisfied with being God’s people. They were not satisfied with the power and wealth that came from doing God’s will. Rather than follow God’s will, they sought to become client states of those two powers. Rather than trust in God for their security, they sought the protection of Assyria and then of Babylon. Do we make the same mistake? Do we seek the protection of earthly powers, rather than trusting in God for our security>

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I am going to be out of town on business for the next few days. I should still be able to get these devotions finished each day, but I may be a little late in getting them posted (or even like this one, a little early).

    It is prudent to make plans for potential danger. Only a simpleton ignores possible dangers and moves forward without taking them into account. This does not mean that you should allow those potential dangers to stop you from doing something, merely that you should plan what to do if they actually come to pass.

    I am confident in God and my faith will not be shaken. I will sing His praises (I am warning you that you probably want to sing loud enough to drown me out). I will not refrain from doing so, no matter whose presence I am in. I will trust in the Lord to give me triumph over my enemies. God will help me to do mighty things.

    If my reading of yesterday’s passage is correct, then the writer is continuing by emphasizing that God does not want us to spend our time seeking to “make right” our past sins. He wants us to spend our time seeking to do His will. As I say this, I realize that I could be interpreted as saying that all that is needed is that we move on from our sins and seek to do God’s will. However, we need to realize that our sins need to be paid for, and that Jesus offered the sacrifice which pays for them. We need to recognize that our sins are greater than anything we could do to offset them. It is only because God offered His own Son as a sacrifice that we are able to now approach Him to discover what His will for us is now.
    I will sum up the message I am seeing in this passage today. We must acknowledge that we have sinned and cannot do anything to make right the sins we have committed. We should feel remorse for our sins and a desire to follow a different path going forward, avoiding the mistakes (the sins) of our past. We follow this by accepting the gift of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins (and it is important that we recognize the magnitude of His suffering, endured on our behalf). Once we have done these things we should seek to identify and accomplish what God’s will is for us going forward. What we are not to do is spend time thinking about our past sins and striving to make them right. We cannot do so. The sins of our past can only be made right through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Let us put those sins behind us and seek to “Go, and sin no more.”

    God’s sword is being sharpened to strike out against those who sin against Him. Ezekiel prophesied that the omens had been cast and God had directed where the sword of God’s judgement would fall next. However, he issued a warning to those it passed over on this occasion that the sword would be sharpened for them. I have not received a vision from the Lord, nor a message as to where His judgement will fall next. However, I can read the words of Ezekiel where he describes the sins that led to the fall of Jerusalem.
    Ezekiel describes the sins of the leaders of Jerusalem, I will let you decide:

1. fathers and mothers are despised
2. foreigners are forced to pay for protection
3. orphans and widows are mistreated
4. people despise holy things
5. people accuse others falsely
6. idol worshipers
7. those who do obscene things

The list goes on, and as I look at that list, I see so many of them (and items from the rest of the list) going on in the society around us. Time is running out for our society. God will not forestall His judgement much longer. Even the common people are oppressing the poor and robbing the needy. God is looking for someone, anyone, willing to rebuild the walls of righteouesness in the land. Will we stand in the gaps in the wall? Will we work to rebuild righteousness in this land?
    I want to state here that this is not about changing the laws. This is about what people actually do, whether it is legal or not. We cannot bring righteousness back to this country, or any other, by passing laws. We must reach people and convince them to allow the Holy Spirit to transform their hearts. Let us kneel down and pray. Let us beg God to send His Holy Spirit to transform the people around us. Let us demonstrate righteousness to them so that they will desire to live likewise. Oh God, use me to bring glory to Your name, inspire my words and my acts to cause others to come to You.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

    If you act with wisdom you will bring joy to your parent’s hearts, and those who criticize them will be in the wrong. The signs that someone was a good parent is that their children act wisely.

    This psalm makes a good point; let those whom the Lord has saved tell others their story. Perhaps by telling your story you will give someone the hope to turn to God for redemption. This psalm does a great job of listing the various ways in which people find God’s redemption.
    Some are wanderers, seeking for something, they know not what. They are lost and alone, hungry, thirsty, and homeless. For some this was physical, for others this was spiritual. In either case, if they cry out to God, He will offer them a home, a family, food, and drink. There is nothing like coming home to the family of God.
    Others were imprisoned by misery (or miserable because they were imprisoned). Their imprisonment (whether literal or figurative) was the result of their refusal to listen to God. However, when they were willing to call on Him, He was ready, and able, to free them from their misery. No matter how imprisoned they were, God was able to give them freedom.
    Still others were fools and rebelled against God, reaching the point where nothing brought them satisfaction or pleasure. They were ready to die. Yet when they called out to God, He answered them and redeemed them. He showed them how to find joy once more.
    And still others went about their lives believing that they did not need God. When the troubles of life overwhelmed them, they too cried out to God and He saved them. No matter what our story is, whatever circumstance God saved us out of, let us praise His name. Let us tell our story so that others will see that God can save them from the trouble they face. I will not keep silent about what God has done for me!

    Under the old covenant, sacrifices had to be made again and again for sins. However, Jesus offered Himself up on the cross once and for all. I have often struggled with what this passage means for us. I get the fact that Jesus died for our sins once and that is all that is needed. However, the writer hear spends a lot of time talking about that. So, it seems like there must be more to it than that. And I think that the “more” struck me today.
    I am aware of a lot of people who spend time feeling guilty for what they have done, struggling with seeking forgiveness for their past mistakes. I think the point the writer is making here is that we need to admit our mistakes and move on. When we commit a sin we need to recognize that we have done wrong. Then we need to put it behind us and strive to do what God wishes us to do. When we spend time worrying about, and feeling guilty for, the sins we have committed we do not have time to seek and do what God wants us to do now. Instead of spending time seeking to “make right” and gain forgiveness for the sins we have committed, let us accept the forgiveness God offers us through Christ and move on to the next thing He wants us to do. The only reason we should spend any time thinking about the sins we have committed in the past is to seek to avoid them in the future. Let us ask God’s Spirit to show us the sins we are unaware of which have led us to commit the sins we are aware of.

    The leaders of the people of Israel came to Ezekiel requesting a message for God. God answered them through Ezekiel, telling them that He would not give them the answer they were looking for. God told them how their ancestors time and again rebelled against Him, choosing to worship idols rather than dedicating themselves to God alone. They wished to be like the people around them so they worshiped idols and sacrificed their children. I was going somewhere else with this, but as I wrote that last sentence I realized that is the message for us today. Do we wish to be like the people around us?
    Well, God has an answer for that. The people of God will never be like the people around them. They may try, they may even go so far as to worship idols like those around them, perhaps they will even offer their children as sacrifices to those idols. However, God will purge His people of those who do such things. He will use His strong arm to cause us to abandon such idolatry. Those who seek to be like the people around us will be purged from God’s people. We are God’s people and He calls us to be different from those around us. Let us live lives so that those who do not follow God will see that we are different. That God has transformed us. If we are not different than the people around us, why should they wish to join with us?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

    Never abandon a friend, either your own or of your father. Maintain the friendships which you have inherited and those which you have made. You may need those friends one day when you are far from your family. When trouble strikes it is better to have a friend close by than a brother far away.

    Time and again the people of Israel sinned against God, going so far as to sacrifice their children to idols. As a result of their sins they suffered tragedy followed by disaster. Yet God is a loving God and when they cried out to Him, He came to their rescue. Even today, despite all of our society’s sins, if people will turn to God, He will gather them to Him. Let us praise His holy name and rejoice in the wonders of His love.
    I remember that when I was young I was horrified at the thought that parents could kill their children as sacrifices to pagan gods. I could not imagine how any parent could do such a thing. I learned about abortion. At first I did not make the connection, but as I read the Bible time and again, I cannot help but see the parallels between the horrific acts of those who would kill their own children as sacrifices to appease an angry god and those who would kill their children just so that they would not be inconvenienced by them.

    Under the covenant which God established through Moses, only the high priest could enter into the presence of God, into the Most Holy Place. And he could do that only once a year after offering blood sacrifice for his own sins and those of the people. All of this shows the limitations of the old covenant. Under the old covenant, we were still separated from God and only an intermediary could enter into His presence, and then, only after offering a sacrifice before each occasion. The sacrifices given were imperfect and thus did not have lasting effect. This system was established to show us the need for a better way.

    Ezekiel tells us that God does not hold the children accountable for the sins of their parents, nor will He give the children credit for the righteous behavior of their parents. The righteous will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior and the wicked will be punished for their own wicked behavior. God does not wish to see the wicked die. He wishes to see them turn from their sins and live.
    This passage is perhaps the clearest statement in the Bible that wicked behavior leads to death because that is the consequence of wicked behavior, not because God wishes to punish people for doing other than what He commands. God gets angry when we are wicked because He loves us. He knows that our wickedness will have consequences which harm us and does not wish to see us suffer those consequences.