SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 65

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 65:1-7 ~ The Lord says, “I made myself known to people who were not looking for me. I was found by those who were not asking me for help. I said, ‘Here I am. Here I am,’ to a nation that was not praying to me. All day long I stood ready to accept people who turned against me, but the way they continue to live is not good; they do anything they want to do. Right in front of me they continue to do things that make me angry. They offer sacrifices to their gods in their gardens, and they burn incense on altars of brick. They sit among the graves and spend their nights waiting to get messages from the dead. They eat the meat of pigs, and their pots are full of soup made from meat that is wrong to eat. But they tell others, ‘Stay away, and don’t come near me. I am too holy for you.’ These people are like smoke in my nose. Like a fire that burns all the time, they continue to make me angry. “Look, it is written here before me. I will not be quiet; instead, I will repay you in full. I will punish you for what you have done. I will punish you for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,” says the Lord….

APPLICATION

Shame on us if we think that we can fool God! Let’s be reminded that He sees all things, hears all things and knows all things. We may fool a brother, or a sister, but we can’t fool God. In fact we are reminded here that it makes Him sick when He sees us trying to impress Him or trying to pretend to be something we’re not. He knows our inmost intentions and although we may feel like we have pulled something off on our neighbor, or our friends, or our family, or perhaps our church, or even pulled something off on God, I am here today to repeat God’s Word in saying that we can’t fool God. In fact, all we are doing is making God sick and fed up with our littleness and self pride. God is in charge of everything that happens everyday to all of us. No need to go anywhere else for direction, guidance or answers to life’s challenges (simple or complicated in our eyes). He knows every hair on our head. He knows when the sparrow is hungry. He is saying to us ‘Here I am, Here I am’. He wants to hear from His children. He would love nothing better than to take us by the hand and lift us up and lead us on a holy path of righteousness.

PRAYER

Father, please forgive me of my littleness, selfishness and self pride. Please continually remind me that there is only One Way to a successful, happy, holy life, and that is through taking Your hand daily and allowing You to control my thoughts, actions and words. It’s You O Lord that I seek to serve, please help me to stay focused on You then, so that I may not be distracted with all the sinful, worldly things that will take me off Your perfect path. May I not be a stumbling block to anyone, but instead be so filled with Your Spirit that others will see Jesus in all that I say or do, and consequently be led to a need to know You in a personal way.

SCRIPTURE

Studied: 2 Peter 1

OBSERVATION

2 Peter 1:10-11 ~ My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won’t stumble and fall. Then our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give you a glorious welcome into his kingdom that will last forever.

APPLICATION

Growing up I remember always thinking about and always acting in a way that would make my parents proud of me. Because of that I believe that I stayed away from a lot of dangers that they had warned me about and stayed focused on the good and proven things that they had led me towards. I believe that this is similar to what is being taught here by James. I am convinced that God has called me to be His son and follow Him, so I should always act that way. In living the life (walking the walk and talking the talk), I will build strength and character in Jesus Christ and therefore will not be as apt to stumble or fall. When I live like this every day and show my sincerest effort to be like Jesus in every way, then there will be a glorious welcome into heaven that will last forever!! Praise be to God, the light at the end of the rainbow will be so bright with the face of my Master, that I will go on throughout eternity praising and worshipping Him! What a glorious day that will be!!

PRAYER

Father I pray for endurance, because I know that in living the type of life talked about here, Satan will be on a rampage trying to trip me up. Praise God though, because I know that He that is in me is greater than any other and He will see me through to the day I will be called out to live with You in glory. This temporal world will bring challenges every day, please help me to keep my mind and determination fixed on You with the ultimate goal of seeing You face to face and living forever at Your feet without the temptations and sin of this old world.

SCRIPTURE

Studied: 2 Peter 1

OBSERVATION

2 Peter 1:5-9 ~
Because you have these blessings, do your best to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add patience; and to your patience, add service for God; and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love. If all these things are in you and are growing, they will help you to be useful and productive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But anyone who does not have these things cannot see clearly. He is blind and has forgotten that he was made clean from his past sins.

APPLICATION

In the earlier part of this chapter Peter addresses the blessings that are ours as children of the King. Now he is telling us to not settle for this, but proactively seek ways to enhance our Faith, Goodness, Knowledge, Self-Control, Patience, Kindness and Love. In fact he goes on to say that if these things are evident in our lives, and that we are growing in the wisdom and nature of our Lord, then we will be useful and productive for our Lord. A Christian without these things cannot see the truths of God clearly, and could easily forget the miracle of new birth in Jesus. Like a marriage, the day we walk the isle is not the end of the story, it is the beginning of a new wonderful life. In Christianity, it is the beginning of a lifetime learning of the character of God and striving to be more like Him every day. The characteristics mentioned are those that represent God, and He would have us work towards these being very prominent in our lives so that others will see Jesus in us and through our actions.

PRAYER

I just thank You for Your Word today. It is so powerful, timely and applicable to us regardless of the age in which we live. I pray that I may strive to grow in each of these areas so that I may become more in line with Your character every day. I pray that any success in these areas will serve to lift up Your name and be a witness of the true and living God. “

SCRIPTURE

Studied: 2 Peter 1

OBSERVATION

2 Peter 1:3-4 ~ We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.

APPLICATION

Enough with the excuses, we have everything that we need to live our lives in a way that pleases God. I believe that this verse refers to the Holy Spirit that dwells within us from the time that we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives. In fact God also made many promises in His Word as well, and because of the power of the Holy Spirit and all these promises that He has given to us, our nature becomes more like Christ. As we become more like Christ we allow the power of His Holy Spirit to help us escape the evil desires and corruption of this evil world. This is very powerful, because just as I would stop and fill the gas tank in my automobile because I know that it is needed to complete my journey, I have also been reminded here that there is no excuse for giving in to the evil desires of this world, because I have this awesome power within me that helps me to escape this, in fact, I have everything I need to live a life that pleases God.

PRAYER

1. Thank You Father for providing all that I need to live my life in a manner that pleases You. Please help me to tap into that power daily. Help me to listen to Your voice as You direct my paths and share Your goodness with me. Please help me to be consistent in Your Word so that I may learn, and be reminded of all the promises that You have made to those that know You. As a result of all this, I pray that Your nature will be very evident in my walk and in my talk – in the way that I live. Praise God for the reminder that “

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Psalm 92

OBSERVATION

Psalm 92:1-4 ~ It is wonderful to be grateful and to sing your praises, LORD Most High! It is wonderful each morning to tell about your love and at night to announce how faithful you are. I enjoy praising your name to the music of harps, because everything you do makes me happy, and I sing joyful songs.

APPLICATION

Those of us that have a friend that we can trust and who watches out for us as best they can, we will always be ready to praise them and lift them up before a brother or sister. Let us therefore do as much for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave it all that we might have eternal life. He guides and protects us each and every day. He blesses us with jobs so that we may support our families. He blesses us with the good health to enjoy each and every day that He also provides for us. Wow, our God is awesome and so worthy of our praise! Let’s follow the way of David and praise our Savior each morning and each evening. Let’s learn to rejoice through the music that we have been blessed with by so many Christian artists. Let’s sing songs on our own as we worship our Lord and sing praises to Him! Here are two examples, sing with them as You worship God for a moment: ‘

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 50

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 50:10-12 ~ Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? Let those who walk in darkness and have no light trust the name of the Lord and depend upon their God. But all of you light fires and arm yourselves with flaming torches. So walk in your own light and among the torches you have lit. This is what you will receive from me: You will be tormented.

APPLICATION

This passage is very clear about what will happen to those of us that walk, or are guided by our own understanding, or guided by our own principles, or are short sighted enough to walk in only the knowledge of what we know. We are blessed to have an all knowing, all powerful and almighty God that love us so much that He provided a means for us to get into heaven, by sacrificing His one and only Son. He is anxiously awaiting our dependence on Him. He wants to lead us down a path to righteousness, one that is right with, or lines up with the character and teachings of God. When we try to do things on our own, we base our decisions on the limited knowledge that we have about the present, and the total lack of knowledge about what we know of the future. Why would we do this to ourselves? Let’s tap into the source of power for all Christians, let’s place our trust in Jesus, let’s seek His face in prayer daily so that He could properly guide us towards a right path. Let’s dig into the Word of God daily so that He may reveal His will and way for us to follow. Jesus is my guide, my friend, my everlasting and all loving Father. I know that I can fully trust Him with the life that He has blessed me with. ‘What A Mighty God We Serve‘ ‘Lead Me, Guide Me Oh Lord‘ be my strength and guide each and every day!

PRAYER

1. Father it is clear from Your Word that following my own path, my own direction, or any direction that is not directed by You will lead to eternal damnation. My decision to live for You and serve You all of my life requires me to stay in close communion with You, and seek Your face daily through Your Word. Thank you for guiding me today by reminding me of the importance of allowing You to direct my path. Please help me to always be sensitive to Your voice and Your leading so that I may be more like You each day. Thank You for being such an awesome God to me! ‘I Love You Lord, and I lift my Voice‘ to worship You, Oh my soul rejoice!

SCRIPTURE

Studied: James 1

OBSERVATION

James 1:26-27 ~ If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

APPLICATION

We often think of religion as we know it in the form of various churches and/or denominations that have similar interpretations of the Word of God, and therefore they worship together. When we become a part of that group, we often feel like we may have religion and that we are a part of a religious group. I don’t know that we will find this anywhere in God’s Word. Instead it is clear from these verses what religion truly is:

1. When we, as God’s people, practice keeping a tight rein on our tongues. – I don’t believe that this means that we must never say a word, but rather we should never say an evil word about our brother or sister that God is undoubtedly working on, just as hard as He is doing with us. Let our tongues or mouths or words be used to lift up the name of Jesus, and to lift up His children that are so precious to Him that He sacrificed His Son for.
   
2. Look after orphans and widows – While I don’t have any good examples of orphans that are close enough to use as an example, I do have a very close situation in widows. My dad passed away about 6 years ago and this has placed a tremendous strain on my mom. She is lonely, in spite of having children that she could come and live with. I am especially happy when I call her and find that there are Christians visiting with her. She and my dad always discussed things that needed attention, so now she has no one there to fill that role so it becomes very overwhelming for her to make decisions. These are just two examples of what a widow that we may know may go through. I believe we can understand why it is so important that we look after the orphans and widows., for they are needy people that we can show mercy to and fulfill this characteristic that God used James to speak with us about.
   
3. Keep ourselves holy, and not polluted by the world – we hear so much about what pollutes this earth and its inhabitants. Things of this world that pollute us as Christians are: television, gossip, non-Christians (for their beliefs and life direction is not fed or led by the same biblical beliefs as us), movies, entertainment in general. These are things that pollute and distract us from our goal – to be more like Christ.
   

PRAYER

1. Father, I fall short of Your ideals and too often into the worthless religious concepts warned about here in these verses. I know that time is very short before You come to earth to take your bride, the church, away to be with You in glory. Please help me to live in light of that urgency each and every day. Please help me to look for ways to minister to the orphans and widows. Please help us to identify and keep them in the forefront of our ministry and keep them under close watch. I also beg You Jesus to help me to keep my eyes fixed on You and that old rugged cross. Help me to understand Your ways and the paths on which You would have me trod. With less time to be influenced by this old world and the evil things brought on by Satan, may I always have a closer walk with You and exemplify You and Your character before a lost and polluted world.

SCRIPTURE

Studied: James 1

OBSERVATION

James 1:22-25 ~ Obey God’s message! Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it. If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget.

APPLICATION

It may not seem important to repeat, but I must! If we look in the mirror, take an honest look at ourselves, then we turn around and walk out of the door still remembering who we are, then why would we be foolish enough to listen to the voice of God through His holy Word and not obey it? God, our Creator, says in this passage that we are only fooling ourselves. Let me be bold enough to say that we have hardened ourselves to the wonderful grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Another passage of scripture says that we have seared our consciences as with a hot iron (