SCRIPTURE

Studied: James 1

OBSERVATION

James 1:12-15 ~ God will bless you, if you don’t give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him. Don’t blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and he doesn’t use evil to tempt others. We are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us. Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead.

APPLICATION

It is so easy to give up, especially when you feel like God is not even there for you. However, these verses remind me that there are times when our faith is tested, and God is patiently watching us to see the level of spiritual maturity that we have attained, and whether we would withstand the pressures of the testing. Is God there to help us? I believe that God is always there to help us, but think about it, even for us to ask for help from God requires a lot of faith on our behalf. If our faith is already being tested, will we truly have faith to ask God for help? There are several nuggets in these verses that could serve to help us in times of weakness and despair in our faith:

1. God will bless us, if we stay strong and keep the faith and not give up;
   
2. He will reward us with glorious life, or a crown of life, or life everlasting;
   
3. God cannot be tempted by evil, and He doesn’t use evil to tempt His children, so let’s be careful to not blame God when we are tempted;
   
4. Evil comes from the evil one, so let us stay far away from him. Let’s quote scripture to him and stay so strong in the Lord that Satan will have no power over us;
   
5. Our own sinful desires cause us to be tempted and ultimately sin. Remember from other scriptures that sin separates us from God. It is no wonder that we feel like He is not there to help us when we are tempted! Stay close to God and He will stay close to us. Let nothing come between us and our Savior.
   

Let us remember that: Whatever we feed, will lead.

PRAYER

Father, it is so awful to feel like we have separated ourselves from You. Please give us grace daily to stay close to You, and in turn, far away from sin, through prayer; Bible study; the friends that we keep, the TV shows that we watch; the company that we keep and the places that we go. Most of all Jesus, may we use this grace that You give us to be a blessing to others. Thank You for the patience that You have with us! Thank You for the gift of eternal life promised to us that have accepted You as Lord and Savior of our lives! Thank You for being God, and the freedom that I have to come before You and petition Your help so many times when things are just impossible in my own power! You are an awesome God, and I value the relationship that I have in You! Thank You for accepting me into Your Kingdom as Your child!

SCRIPTURE

Studied: James 1

OBSERVATION

James 1:2-4 ~ My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.

APPLICATION

It is so easy to be on cloud 9 when everything is going well for us and we are being blessed beyond measure. However these verses remind us that we should rejoice, or be glad in ALL things, yes even if we are encountering trouble. It is during these tough times that our faith is being tested, and that God is maturing us so that we not be lacking in anything. In other words, so that we may become strong enough to handle anything that may come our way. One might say that it is really tough to stay on top of the world when things are crashing around us, but if we are obedient to God and His Word in these verses, we will be reminded that God is always in control and that we will be especially sensitive to His voice and His miracles while we are down and out. Let’s hold firm to His hand through the good and bad times. Sing that old hymn, ‘

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 29; Isaiah 30; Isaiah 31; James 1

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 30:15 ~ The holy LORD God of Israel had told all of you, “I will keep you safe if you turn back to me and calm down. I will make you strong if you quietly trust me.”

APPLICATION

It seems like every time you turn around there was some battle going on, and while the stories of Israel and her surrounding nations often related to physical battles, today we can acknowledge that we have military wars going on also. However, I am equally concerned about the spiritual warfare going on among Christians and churches in which we serve, or at least attend. There are such areas of need in our communities and among our friends, yes in our own lives, but I feel like we are living in times similar to the times of Lot where God, and our people are looking for one holy people, or church, where they could use their newfound faith to serve and/or worship alongside. I heard of a new Christian yesterday and I started to think hard about a good church to recommend to them where they might connect with other Christians and grow in their spiritual walk and in turn, minister to others. Unfortunately I couldn’t think of one that I wouldn’t feel embarrassed about recommending, especially knowing about the issues that exist in one form or another at that church. What a pity! Churches have become so diluted and ineffective because God’s people have turned away from Him and stuck to their own, selfish and personal desires, that we are not good for any Godly purpose. In this verse I feel like God is still saying that if we (His people) will turn back to Him and quietly trust Him with all our being, He will keep us safe from the ills of this old world, and He will make us strong in our Godly desires to win the lost and grow the Christians. Bottom line is that if God’s people who are called by His name, will humble ourselves and pray, and turn from our wicked ways, then He will hear from Heaven and heal our land, our churches and our families. We should be on a mission to grow Christians, not tear them down; win the lost, not cause them to stay far away from the hypocritical attitudes and actions that they see in God’s people.

PRAYER

Lord, please keep us safe and strong. Make us bold to take a firm stand for You, one that will reflect Your love, mercy and grace towards all men. May we be so full of You and all that You represent to fallen man, that the unsaved will feel welcomed, and that they would not hesitate to make a decision to accept You as Lord and Savior of their lives, and to follow through by plugging in to Your work of the ongoing ministry of Your church.

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 29

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 29:15-16 ~ You are in for trouble, if you try to hide your plans from the LORD! Or if you think what you do in the dark can’t be seen. You have it all backwards. A clay dish doesn’t say to the potter, “You didn’t make me. You don’t even know how.”

APPLICATION

Too often we try to keep certain things to ourselves, or we might do certain things that we do not want anyone else to know about. In these verses we are reminded that God knows all things about us. Furthermore God warns that we are in trouble if we try to hide things from Him, and I believe that this could have multiple meanings. First of all I believe that God is reminding us that we can do nothing successfully without His help, or His direction, but with God we can do all things. Secondly I believe that this is also saying that we needn’t fool ourselves into thinking that just like we could hide certain things from our spouse, or mom or dad, that we cannot hide anything from Him. After all, He is our creator, our omniscient (always present) God, so He is well aware of all that occurs around us! God is the potter that made us, but molding us and reshaping us is an ongoing necessity as we are often marred by the Evil One and all of his followers that we come into contact with each day.

PRAYER

Dear God, I pray that I will listen closely to Your Word today and allow You to be an active part of my life, including my decisions, my plans, my words and my actions. You have outlined the path that I should follow and You have reminded me here in these verses that You are there to continue molding me into Your likeness. Please take a major role in my plans for today, because I want others to see Jesus when I speak or when I act on circumstances. May I represent You well today. I pray also that I will openly communicate with You about all my plans, actions or words so that I may benefit from Your wisdom, Your love and Your everlasting mercy. You created me, now help me to always be pliable and moldable each and every day as I travel this earthly road where obstacles seem to always move into my path. Please help me to recognize these as landmarks or places where You took me by the hand and helped me over, not as Satan’s vices to stop, hinder or discourage me from doing Your will.

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 29

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 29:13 ~ The Lord says: “These people worship me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is based on nothing but human rules.

APPLICATION

Unfortunately we could read this verse and say “Oh those people were soooo hardened” but if we are honest with ourselves, we could read this and see a lot of semblance to our churches today. After all, who is the church? It is the people…. us. We are the church, and unfortunately too often we come to worship with hardened hearts, with envy in our hearts, with anger against a brother or sister, with unforgiveness that separates us from a child of God and from God Himself, and sometimes probably a lot more. Each of these things I cited show that our hearts are far from God. Because if we were close to God, we would be filled with love, for God is love, and we would exemplify His character and obey His Word by drawing close to each other and not letting things of this world and of Satan himself separate us from God and His people. Too often our worship (not our church service, but our ability to praise our risen Lord and worship Him in spirit and in truth) is nothing more than tradition itself, or form, or something that we feel we have to do in order to look like that upright person to our friends. Out of a right relationship with God, comes a heart of appreciation filled with love, and an appreciation for a God that loves us so much that He demonstrated it at Calvary, and continues to demonstrate it each and every day. This is the heart that will be honestly ready to truly ‘worship’ and sing praises to our Savior, our Lord, our Master and our King. This will give fresh new meaning to our worship services as there will be sincerity and purpose in our worship, not because we are following some human or earthly or worldly rules.

PRAYER

Father, may our hearts be pure and sincere as we worship You. Help us to stop trying to impress others, but instead help us to express our true, honest love to You. By doing this corporately, may we be an influence and encouragement to our brother or sister that may be near us but discouraged or hurting in some form. Please also direct us to a brother or sister that You would have encourage us also, so that together we may lift up holy hands and hearts in praise to You. May we get our eyes and our minds off self and instead fix them on You, the one that died for us and truly deserves our full attention and who is worthy of all our praise.

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Hebrews 9

OBSERVATION

Hebrews 9:25-28 ~ The high priest enters the Most Holy Place once every year with blood that is not his own. But Christ did not offer himself many times. Then he would have had to suffer many times since the world was made. But Christ came only once and for all time at just the right time to take away all sin by sacrificing himself. Just as everyone must die once and then be judged, so Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And he will come a second time, not to offer himself for sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

APPLICATION

A comparison was used here in these verses between what the high priests did in the Most Holy Place annually using the blood of an animal (not their own), compared to what Christ did when His blood was shed on Calvary once and for all. Near the end of these verses I am reminded that Christ will come again a second time, not to repeat the offering of Himself on a cross, but to save us, or collect us that are watching and waiting for Him. My child might wait at the front door of my home waiting for me, but not a stranger visiting our home, so it is with the return of Jesus. He will return for those who are ready, watching and waiting for Him – His kids! Praise God that I am a child of the King longing to see the return of my Savior to take me out of this sinful, stressful, mean world.

PRAYER

While I anxiously await your return Lord Jesus, I pray that You will give me the gift of encouragement to speak with those that I come in contact with, and my family members that still have not accepted You as Lord of their lives, so that on that day when You return to take us home, we all will be ready, watching and waiting for You. Please speak to individuals even today so that they we will be a people ready for Your return. There would be no greater joy than to know that all of my family members would be by my side as You welcome us home! At this time, I don’t believe that all members have accepted the gift that You offer, and this troubles me deeply. Please speak with them again today and help them to realize that TODAY is the day of salvation. Not because of my impatience, but because of the urgency of Your calling and the lack of assurance that they will have another chance tomorrow. Thank You for loving me so much that You gave, so that I may enjoy that gift throughout eternity!

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Hebrews 9

OBSERVATION

Hebrews 9:9 ~ … It shows that we cannot make our consciences clear by offering gifts and sacrifices.

APPLICATION

No matter how much we give financially, no matter how much work we do for God and/or the church, there are two key elements to maintaining a good healthy relationship with our Lord and Savior:

1. Know Jesus as Lord, and this can be done through:
   
   1. Admit/Acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of God’s grace;
      
   2. Believe that Jesus died and arose from the dead and lives at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf;
      
   3. Confess your sins and shortcomings to Jesus and ask His forgiveness.
      
2. Maintain an ongoing relationship with the Savior that you just accepted into your life, and this can be done through:
   
   1. Prayer – conversation with God, where you would admit and seek forgiveness of any sin committed, as you did not become exempt from sin when you accepted Him in the steps under (a);
      
   2. Bible Study – as this is the key to learning about the character of Jesus, so that you could mold yourself into being more like Him every day. Plus this will also help you to understand the things that please/displease God, as this will help you to stay obedient to His perfect will for your life. Additionally, this will give you opportunity to worship God as you learn more about His awesome power and how He protected His people in Bible days and how He will also watch over us even today;
      
   3. Worship personally and corporately – Be careful to give God the praise for all that He accomplishes in and through you. With Jesus as our Master, Friend, Guide and Lord, we should never attribute blessings to ‘good luck’ or ‘chance’, for just as He knows the very hair on our head, He also knows just what we need each and every day, so acknowledge that through praise and worship to Him. Worshipping corporately is commanded in the Bible, so God saw the importance of us meeting together to worship our Savior, lift up (encourage) a brother or a sister, and allow them to be a blessing to us.
      

There is no greater joy in knowing Jesus personally and intimately! There is nothing that can take the place of, or get one into Heaven other than the steps outlined above. If you are tired of leading an uncommitted life and now ready for the A,B,C steps outlined in (a), and you would like a friend to pray with you and help you through these steps, please leave a reply to this blog and I will quickly get back in touch with you. It is THE most important life changing event that will take place in your life!

PRAYER

Father, I thank You for the day that You knocked at my heart’s door and encouraged me to follow the steps in (a) above. I pray for that brother or sister that reads this blog today and realizes deep within that this is a necessary step for them, I pray that they will be led of Your Spirit into action and not procrastinate on such important business, as none of us know the day that You will call us out of this old world, when it will be eternally too late to make such decisions. Please give boldness to ones that need to follow these steps today, for it is in Your name that I pray and only You will I praise as I see the results of Your hand at work. Amen!

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 14

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 14:24 ~ The LORD All-Powerful has made this promise: Everything I have planned will happen just as I said.

APPLICATION

1. I know that it is easy to say that we read the Bible and we believe it is true, but I believe that if we sincerely believe all that God promises us in His Word and if we take heed to all the warnings given, and stop finding excuses and stop looking at which brother or sister a particular verse is more applicable to, but instead look deep within and allow God’s Word to penetrate into our own evil minds, then I believe that God will accomplish much through us. I know that we hate to pray selfishly for ourselves instead of praying for others, but unless we clean up our own selves, we can’t effectively minister to others. God needs a clean, broken vessel to work in and through. One totally devoted and committed to Him. Everything that God has planned will happen just as He said it would. Am I, are you on board with Him so that we may reap the benefits of being a part of the winning team and not the team doomed for ultimate destruction? I love that little song, “

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 13

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 13:9 ~ I, the LORD, will show no mercy or pity when that time comes. In my anger I will destroy the earth and every sinner who lives on it.

APPLICATION

This is a clear warning to those who have not repented of their sin and sought God’s forgiveness of their sin. God will one day become weary in trying to melt the heart of the stubborn, the wicked, the ones that try to reason themselves out of everything – the sinners, then He will destroy them along with planet earth that they reside on. The good news is that this will then be a very peaceful time for those of us that have surrendered our lives over to Him, for we will be with Jesus in glory free from the stresses of all those that constantly try to lead us astray. So for some, this will be a day of mourning, weeping and total destruction, but for others this will be the day that we have lived for, praise God! I often hum the tune or sing the words of that chorus “

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Isaiah 12

OBSERVATION

Isaiah 12:1-2 ~ … O LORD, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid;

APPLICATION

There comes a day when we all come to our senses and realize that we are in need of a Savior. This sounds very much like a maturing teenager, when they realize that they don’t know it all! God is loving and He is merciful, He is awaiting our cry to Him, as He wants to be our Savior and our Lord. Another scripture (Isaiah 55:6) says: Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Yet another verse (2 Corinthians 6:2) says: Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. The reason “now” is so important is that we are told in scripture that no one knows the day or the hour when Jesus will return. We should therefore be ready to meet Him ‘NOW’ if He chooses to call us home ‘NOW’.

PRAYER

Thank You Father for giving us the warning in Your Word to be ready ‘NOW’. Thank You for providing the simple means for us to have that assurance. You created us, and so we are to return to You and surrender ourselves to our Creator so that You may mold us into Your likeness. What a glory it is to know You as Lord and personal Savior, and to have the assurance of life eternally with You in Heaven! Thank You Father for loving me so much that You gave, so that I may live forever with You!