-Seventy Seven- Daniel The Disciple

Daniel the Disciple

Today’s Reading: Daniel 2:1-30

Focal Verse: Daniel 2:24

Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon.  He went and said thus to him:  “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation”

You can put on a good front and fool a lot of people into thinking you are religious, but the love or lack of love you display towards others will show the true quality of your relationship with Jesus Christ.
God had given Daniel the extraordinary ability to have “understanding in visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17b).  Daniel could have become proud, but Daniel kept his focus on where this ability came from (Daniel 2:28) and that God had a reason for it.  This kept Daniel humble (Daniel 2:30).
To Daniel, religion wasn’t a “front”.  It was real and vital to him and was the basis for all of life’s decisions, and others were blessed because of it.  Because of the mercies he received from God, he gave mercy to others (Daniel 2:24).
That is what a disciple does.  He follows his Master by passing grace on.

Are you a good disciple, or are you just putting on a front?

Confess your weakness, and ask God to draw you into a more intimate relationship with Him

-Seventy Six- Difficult Circumstances

Difficult Circumstances

Today’s Reading: Daniel 1:3-21

Focal Verse: Daniel 3:17

As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

God is the God of grace and it matters to Him that all nations and people have a chance to know Him (Matthew 28:19).  At times we, as His people, are put into difficult circumstances as a part of making that happen.
Daniel was one of these people.  He was in a foreign country being pressed into service for a king.  He was expected to change his name, his culture, his language and food.  They also wanted him to exchange his God for their gods.
God doesn’t leave us alone in difficult circumstances and He didn’t leave Daniel alone either.  He brought Daniel into the favor of others (v.9).  He equipped Daniel with skills he would need to excel in the kingdom (v.17).
God wants the people that your life touches to know Him.  He wants to extend His grace to them.  He may put you in unusual or difficult circumstances to bring it about, but He won’t leave you there alone.  Like Daniel, He will give what you need and your life can be both blessed, and bless others.

If you are in difficult circumstances, be encouraged that God has not left you there alone.

If you know someone in difficult circumstances, give them a call today to let them know you are thinking of them.

-Seventy Five- Can I Ask A Question?

Can I Ask a Question?

Today’s Reading: Habbakuk

Focal Verses: Isaiah 55:8-9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways”, says the LORD.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

You cannot understand all the workings of God.  No matter how brilliant you may be, your understanding doesn’t even begin to measure up to God’s.
We are human and sometimes this frustrates us.  Sometimes we question in our own minds and hearts the wisdom of what God is doing.
Habbakuk grew frustrated and he questioned God.  He was honestly seeking some answers and he stayed around to hear God’s answers.
Do you remember asking a parent or another authority “why?” at times and hearing the response “Because I told you so?”  God had the right to say to Habbakuk, “Because I told you so” and leave it at that.  Instead, in His grace, He patiently tried to reassure Habbakuk that He was in control.
Because of God’s gracious words, Habbakuk’s faith was increased to be able to look beyond circumstances, and this what he says:

Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls-

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The LORD God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

Habbakuk 3:17-19

**The Lord has an answer book for you – the Bible.  Let Him patiently guide you through it.

-Seventy Four- Manasseh

Manasseh

Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 33:1-13

Focal Verse: 2 Chronicles 33:13b

…then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

Manasseh was bad.  I mean really, really bad.
He built altars to pagan gods that his father had broken down.  He made idols.  He murdered his children by sacrificing them to false gods.  He practiced witchcraft and consulted mediums.  He set up an idol in the temple of God.  He convinced his people to do more evil than even the pagan nations.
Sounds like a hopeless cause, doesn’t it?  The Bible tells us that God spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.
God didn’t see them as a hopeless cause.  He wanted to give them grace.  They refused it, so He allowed them the consequences of their evil.  Manasseh was carried off.
But God didn’t leave them there.  Manasseh finally realized his wickedness and repented.  God, in His grace, heard him and brought him back to his kingdom.
Manasseh saw His grace.  Then he knew “that the LORD was God”.

Have you stopped praying for someone, thinking they are a hopeless cause?  They aren’t a hopeless cause to God.  Continue praying and allow Him to work in their circumstances.

You aren’t a hopeless cause either.  You can repent right now and receive God’s grace. http://thegracechronicles-penny.blogspot.com/2011/11/behold-i-stand-at-door-and-knock.html

-Seventy Three- Christ: Our Salvation

Christ: Our Salvation


Today’s Reading: Isaiah 53
Focal Verse: Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, everyone, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus died on a cross because of your sins.

In return, we despised and rejected Him.  We hid our faces from Him (Isaiah 53:3).  Isaiah 53 is prophecy of what was yet to come.  He knew before He came how it would be.

Why?  Why would He come?  Would you move out of a place where you are loved and respected to a place where you would be hated, rejected, and die a torturous death to reconcile a few to God?

He did.

Grace.

Please take time to read Isaiah 53 and meditate on it.
Thank Him for doing this for you.

-Seventy Two- Cry Out!!

Cry Out!

Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 20:1-11

Focal Verse: 2 Kings 20:3

“Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.”  And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

I have prayed and cried out for healing for myself and others, and my prayers were answered.  I rejoiced in the miraculous power of God.  I felt so close to Him.
I have also prayed and cried out for healing where God did not heal.  Still yet, I rejoiced in the miraculous power of God to sustain myself and others in our sorrow and suffering.  I felt so close to Him.
Sometimes God gives grace and heals (Matthew 8:16-17).  Sometimes He gives grace for us to continue when the healing doesn’t occur (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).  But whether in healing or not, He is there to give His grace.  Just cry out to Him.

Isaiah 30:19b

He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;

When He hears it, He will answer you.

**Praise God for the healing you have seen in your own life and the lives of others.

Sometimes, God doesn’t answer in the way we would have chosen.  Trust in His love for you.  Decide you will praise Him anyway for the grace He will give you to carry on.

-Seventy One- Who Is A God Like You?

Who is a God Like You?

Today’s Reading and Focal Verses: Micah 7:18-19

Who is a God like You,

Pardoning iniquity

And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in mercy.

He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast off our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

There are some people who will never forgive you.  You may have apologized and may have changed whatever behavior hurt them in the first place, but the memory of that hurt is stronger for them than your efforts since.  It is a sad thing to see relationships destroyed.
God had the right to stay angry with His people.  They rejected Him and turned to other man-made gods so many times that no one could have blamed for walking away or even destroying them.
But “He delights in mercy”.  It is a joy to Him to forgive us when we return to Him, and we can count on open-armed love and acceptance because He casts our sins away from sight.  No one can sit on a boat out where the ocean is deep and see the bottom.  There are recesses of the ocean never seen by man, and that’s how our forgiven sins are to God.
Who is a God like You?

Praise be to God who is so full of grace that He removes your sin from His sight.  Stop brooding over what He has already forgiven and cast away.

-Seventy- Hezekiah

Hezekiah

Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 30:1-20

Focal Verses: 2 Chronicles: 30:18b-20

Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, 

“May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.”

And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

Jesus loves even those who come to Him with messy lives.  Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know it from going in most churches today.  Many in the Christian community have it backwards.  They want someone to clean up their act before they come, instead of welcoming them with all their mess and letting God clean it up.
Hezekiah had it right.  They were preparing to eat the Passover and many were there to eat it without having done the ritual cleansing ceremonies.  Hezekiah did not want to keep from God those who were seeking Him.  Today’s focal verses are his prayer and God’s response.
It is time for the church, the body of Christ, to do what Hezekiah did.  He understood God’s grace.  He welcomed those with a seeking heart and interceded on their behalf.  And the Lord listened.

Let the Lord speak to you about your attitude towards those with messy lives.  Accept His grace and pass it on to others.

-Sixty Nine- Come, Let Us Return

Come, Let Us Return


Today’s Reading: Hosea 14:1-4
Focal Verse: Hosea 6:1
Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

Sometimes, life is miserable.  A devoted follower of Christ will have their share of trials and sorrow, but there is nothing like the misery of a life that has turned its back on God.

God called for Israel to turn back to Him and He calls for us to do the same today.  He knows, in your disobedience, you have encountered some wounds. In His grace, however, He is ready to heal them.

He promised Israel a time of restoration and He promises the same thing to us today – if we will only return to Him.

“Come, and let us return to the LORD.”

Praise God for being a Healer, Restorer, and Grace-giver in your life.

-Sixty Eight- God Of Hope

God of Hope

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7

Focal Verse: Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

God doesn’t want His people to despair. Even in the darkness of the captivity of Israel, He gave His people a hope:

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given”


His Son, Jesus Christ, has already come now. He still holds out hope for those who are in the darkness of the captivity of sin:

For unto you a Child was born.

Unto you a Son has been given.

　

Do you have that hope?

Are you sharing that hope with others?

-Sixty Seven- Unclean

Unclean

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 6:1-7

Focal Verse: Isaiah 6:5

So I said, “Woe is me, for I am undone!

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

In our day, it’s all about how you look. If you don’t like your hair or don’t have any hair, it can be changed. If you don’t like your body, that can be changed, too (surgically if need be). In this world, our appearance is the first thing that is judged.

We can spend all our money on the best haircuts, manicures, tanning beds; all our time on getting the perfect “abs”. But while there is nothing wrong with having a great appearance, it is worth nothing if we are unclean inside.

Jesus tried to tell the religious leaders of His day this. They criticized Him when He went to the house of Zacchaeus, a “vertically challenged” tax collector (Luke 19:1-10). He called them “whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27), for although they put up a good appearance, there was nothing but decay and death inside.

Confronted by the presence of a Holy God, we see just how filthy we are, but praise God, He is willing to clean us up (Mark 1:40-41). Through the blood of His holy Son, we can be washed clean and He will say to us as He said to Isaiah: “Your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged” (Isaiah 6:7b).

Although you may already be a believer, sometimes a little “foot-washing” is in order (see John 13:10). Spend time in His presence today.

-Sixty Six- Grace For The Innocents

Grace for the Innocents

Today’s Reading: Jonah 4

Focal Verse: Jonah 4:11

“And should I not pity Ninevah, that great city, in which there are

more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot

discern between their right hand and their left – and much livestock.”

God has great compassion on those who cannot fend for themselves. Part of the reason He wanted to spare Ninevah was because of the 120,000 small children who were there. Jesus insisted that the little children be allowed to come to Him (Matthew 19:14). We see in Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 1:5 that even in the womb, God is already caring for us. His word shows His care for widows (Proverbs 15:25) and orphans (James 1:27).

In a world where at times we feel so small, isn’t it a relief to know that we have a God who has compassion and doesn’t see anyone as too “small”.

Read James 1:27. Compare what this verse says about religion to your form of religion and see how it measures up.

-Sixty Five- Prejudice

Prejudice

Today’s Reading: Jonah 1-3

Focal Verse: Jonah 1:2

“Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry out against it;

for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

Most of us know the story of Jonah and how he tried to run from God’s assignment. We know the miracle of the fish swallowing him and Jonah living in that fish 3 days and 3 nights until he becomes obedient to God. We make jokes about not wanting for God to send a fish to swallow us.

But what if God sent you to a country that was your enemy and that you were raised with a prejudice against? Would you be willing, or would you run like Jonah did?

God wants us to lose our prejudices. He is graciously patient with us as He teaches us His truth and changes our hearts, but if we refuse to allow God to change our views of people into His views, we are in rebellion like Jonah.

God may choose to use you to bring a people to Him that you have been prejudiced against. He has been patient with you. He chose you even though you were His enemy (Romans 5:8-10). Begin allowing His grace to dissolve your prejudices today.

Prejudices can extend to things beyond race. Ask God to reveal to you any prejudices you may have. Thank Him for being patient with you. Let God speak to you through this verse:

Galatians 3:28

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”