Compassionate, Grace / Forgiveness, Loving / Kind, Praise / Worship / Glorify God, Protector / Deliverer, Thankfulness

The LORD Is Our Abundant Helper

The LORD is our abundant helper. What a gracious God to be such a helper to those who seek Him. He does not expect us to achieve what we are called to do or to serve Him all in our own power. He loves us and helps us. He makes a way for us through His goodness.

Psalm 146

The LORD an Abundant Helper.

1Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!

      2I will praise the LORD while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

      3Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

      4His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.

      5How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,

      6Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;

      7Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free.

      8The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;

      9The LORD protects the strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.

      10The LORD will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!

Take a few minutes to praise God for who He is and what He has already done in your life. Pray through this psalm focusing on each line and what it reveals to us about our God. Let it soak in. Do not rush it.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross

All Powerful / King of All, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Persecution / Glorifying God, Protector / Deliverer, Salvation, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Strong in Our Weakness, Wickedness / Evil

Keep God’s Commandments AND Hold to the Testimony of Christ

Revelation 12 lays out some key fundamentals in the spiritual warfare between Satan and YHWH’s people in some attention-grabbing visualizations. Notice you will find no labels of “Jewish” or “Christian”. These labels are not always meaningful as many call themselves by these names but do not follow YHWH or do not hold to the testimony of Yeshua. In verse 17 we see that the key is not what label someone claims, but if you actually “keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus”.

It seems obvious that the Jewish people do not hold to the testimony of Yeshua. However, it may only be slightly less obvious that most who identify as “Christian”, holding to the testimony of Christ, do not keep the whole of the commandments of YHWH. Common Christian teaching holds to some commandments and dismisses many others. It is not simply about “the 10 commandments”. There is so much more to be learned and followed in studying the foundational books of the Bible, the Torah (written by Moses), and the writings of the prophets. For many, they do well to genuinely focus on starting to really live out the 10 commandments in their lives. This is a good place to begin.

I encourage Jewish people to seek Messiah in Yeshua. I encourage Christians to seek to study the Bible and challenge to deepen our understanding of the Hebrew roots of our faith and the fullness of the wonderful things in the law of YHWH.  (Focused Ministries – Understanding the Hebrew Roots of Christianity)

Revelation 12

The Woman, Israel

     1A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

The Red Dragon, Satan

     3Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

The Male Child, Christ

     5And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

The Angel, Michael

     7And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12“For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

      13And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please help open my eyes to both the testimony of Yeshua and obedience to all Your commandments. Help me fully embrace You and Your ways and not only do so in part as so many do. I want to do more than just claim Your name and go to church. I want to live my life for You. I know I fall short, but please help me. Amen.  

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

 

Adultery / Sex Outside Marriage, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Holy / Set Apart, Homosexual Behavior, Self Control, Worldliness

Flee Sexual Immorality; Our Body Is for the LORD

Today we reflect on a simple, but profound principle in God’s word. Do not read this quickly. Dwell on it. It is more than just taking good care of our body physically. Our bodies belong to the Lord. They are not made for immorality. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Let us not abuse what God has given us with immorality and sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9-20

9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

      12All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” 17But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Do not think immorality is constrained to prostitutes as highlighted in the passage above. Immorality involves sexual activity other than between two people who are married in accordance with God’s word. This can take place between two who are not married (fornication), between one who is married with someone other than their spouse (adultery), between two people of the same gender (homosexuality), between close family members (incest), or involving animals (bestiality).  There are scriptures throughout the Bible to back up each of these as immoral and against God’s word.

Our bodies serve as temples for the Holy Spirit who is in us. We are not our own but have been bought with a price. Flee sin and glorify God in your body. Do not give up the kingdom of God for such sin.

9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Consequences of Sin, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Fear / Reverence for God, Grace / Forgiveness, Heaven and Hell, Holy / Set Apart, Holy Spirit / Ruach HaKodesh, Justice / Judgment, Obeying God, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Self Control, Wickedness / Evil, Worldliness

Rejecting God Has Serious Consequences

We can not simply claim to follow Christ and continue in sin, in direct rebellion against Him. Those who genuinely turn their lives to Christ will show it through their actions and attitudes. We will not be perfect. Certainly not. However, we will strive to turn away from sin rather than embrace and accept it. Our Father could not be more clear… those who continue in sin and rebellion against the Father will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

      9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Take caution not to rationalize your sin. The world would have you believe that everyone will inherit the kingdom of God, regardless of sin and rebellion against the Father. God’s word could not be more clear. There are serious consequences for those who choose to remain in sin rather than repent and submit to Jesus as Lord.

Be encouraged. Our sins can be forgiven through Jesus. God has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Jesus.

Take a few minutes right now. Pray for God to help you overcome sin and rebellion against God through the Holy Spirit and submit to Him in obedience. Give thanks for Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for our sins to be forgiven.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus), be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Church / Body of Christ, Discerning / Judging, Justice / Judgment

Let Not the Righteous Rely on the Unrighteous for Justice

A community of true followers of Yeshua should be able to work through challenges and disagreements without having to come against one another in a legal court system. The righteous, living amongst a righteous community of believers should be able to resolve conflict internally. It is truly a disappointment when sin and selfishness divide the body of Christ and none within the body can step forward to help resolve the conflict.

1 Corinthians 6:1-9

Lawsuits Discouraged

      1Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? 2Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? 4So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? 5I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, 6but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?

      7Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

      9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

For the righteous to rely on the unrighteous for justice and to resolve conflict is disappointing… is a failure. Of course, it is a different matter when a believer is in conflict with an unrighteous person. Let us not look to the world to set the bounds of right and wrong, but internally look within the community of believers and to God and His written word as means of guiding our steps and resolving our conflict.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Faith / Trusting God, Protector / Deliverer, Strong in Our Weakness, Thankfulness, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

God Makes a Way Where We Cannot

When we see obstacles and challenges laid out in front of us, focus not on the size of the problem but rather on the size of our God! God makes a way for success where we cannot. Seek His help. Honor Him. Praise Him. Remain in faith even as you face what seems like overwhelming odds.

Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

      1And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD. 2Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver. 4‘Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

      5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7“Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

      8Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11‘Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? 12‘Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13‘Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer in the Temple

      14Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying, 16“O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17“Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. 18“Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20“Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.”

God Answers through Isaiah

      21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:
“She has despised you and mocked you,
The virgin daughter of Zion;
She has shaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!

      23“Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!

      24“Through your servants you have reproached the Lord,
And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.
And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest.

      25‘I dug wells and drank waters,
And with the sole of my feet I dried up
All the rivers of Egypt.’

      26“Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

      27“Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb,
As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.

      28“But I know your sitting down
And your going out and your coming in
And your raging against Me.

      29“Because of your raging against Me
And because your arrogance has come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back by the way which you came.

      30“Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31“The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32“For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”’

      33“Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege ramp against it. 34‘By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the LORD. 35‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

Assyrians Destroyed

      36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. 37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

Praise God that He is an ever-present help in times of trouble.  Take some time and prayerfully reflect on situations where God has delivered you or provided a way for you in the past. What are the key challenges you are facing now that you need to bring before God to ask for His help? Do that now, with humility and faith.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

 

All Powerful / King of All, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Faith / Trusting God, Mockers, Protector / Deliverer, Strong in Our Weakness, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

The World Will Tell Us That God Cannot Help

We will all face struggles in our life. We will face obstacles and enemies and challenges that are beyond our ability to manage on our own.  As we focus to put our faith in God, the world around us will tell us we are foolish and that God will not help us or does not exist. Stand strong. It is in God and God alone that we should trust in these circumstances.

Isaiah 36

Sennacherib Invades Judah

      1Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field. 3Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

      4Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you have? 5“I say, ‘Your counsel and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? 6“Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8“Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9“How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10“Have I now come up without the LORD’S approval against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

      11Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

      13Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14“Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18‘Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20‘Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

      21But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Take heart and be encouraged. God is our rock eternal. God is our shield and protector. Do not be dismayed by the words of the world spoken against God. Instead, put your faith in God and lean not on your own understanding.

Take a few minutes in prayer to reflect and thank God for specific things He has done and is doing in your life to deliver you from difficulty. In what areas of your life are you now facing a difficulty for which you need to put your full trust in God? Ask Him to help in Jesus’ name.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Blessed, Joy / Happiness / Rejoicing, Praise / Worship / Glorify God, Prophecy, Through Prophets

In Yeshua, We Find Joy!

Isaiah 35 looks ahead to the joy and celebration we find in our Messiah, Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus). It is cause for celebration and hope! It is cause for joy even today!

Isaiah 35

Zion’s Happy Future

1The wilderness and the desert will be glad,
And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;
Like the crocus

      2It will blossom profusely
And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the glory of the LORD,
The majesty of our God.

      3Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

      4Say to those with anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.”

      5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

      6Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.
For waters will break forth in the wilderness
And streams in the Arabah.

      7The scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground springs of water;
In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

      8A highway will be there, a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for him who walks that way,
And fools will not wander on it.

      9No lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;
These will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk there,

      10And the ransomed of the LORD will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will find gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

It is encouraging to put our hope and focus on Yeshua. Let it transform you. Do not miss it. He has come. The Spirit dwells with us now. Do not miss out on the joy we find in Yeshua, waiting only for the second coming. Yes, there is a joy to be had then, but our eternity with the LORD has already started when we submitted our lives to Him.

Take a few minutes in prayer. Thank God for sending Yeshua. Spend time thanking and praising God for making a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Yeshua. Reflect on the joy and hope you should be experiencing even today. If you are not experiencing that joy, ask God to help you and show you why. Put your full trust in Him.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Discerning / Judging, Discipline / Correction, Help / Serve Others, Wickedness / Evil

Remove the Wicked from Among Us

Believers and followers of Jesus Christ are not to accept immorality in our church body. Contrary to common public opinion of today’s culture, we are not to just accept everyone in our church fellowship regardless of behavior and attitude. Those who are immoral are to be removed from our midst and treated as part of the world of non-believers. If they repent, we can of course accept them back. This is not to say we treat them badly or with meanness. Remember, we also are called to treat everyone with a basic level of love and respect.

1 Corinthians 5

Immorality Rebuked

      1It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

      3For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

      6Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

      9I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

It is important to remove the immoral from our midst rather than accept them so that they might recognize the need to repent. They suffer for a while, but then have the best chance to repent and return to true fellowship with God and the family of believers. If we just keep accepting one immorality after another, then soon the church family looks a lot like the world and culture around it… filled with unrepentant sinners who do not believe they need to change. Many of our church fellowships look like this today because of failure to heed Paul’s instructions.

Let us focus on helping, and yes, rebuking one another when necessary. As a family of believers, we are to help one another remain on the right path with God. Part of that requires that we remove the wicked from among us.

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Am I too late?, Parables, Salvation

There Is Still Time to Accept His Offer!

In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus helps us to understand what the kingdom of heaven is like and what God is like.

20 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’

8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. 9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. 10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. 11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’

16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

God is so different from the world that many struggle with this passage. They read it on the surface and agree with the workers who came early in the day. They say it is unfair that all workers get paid the same wages. Many even miss the point that Jesus is telling us about salvation, not people working in a vineyard.

I am glad God is not “fair” in the eyes of the world. “Fair” means I should have eternal separation from God due to my sinful nature. “Fair” means that Jesus should not have died for my sins so that I could be reconciled to God. And I am very thankful that the lost people of this world have as much time as possible … until they die… to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Then we can rejoice together for each person that is saved, even in their final moments.

Take a few minutes to pray. Come humbly before our God. Thank Him for not being fair. Thank Him for His mercy and grace toward us. Now try to show mercy and grace like that toward others in your life who do not deserve it.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

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