The Lord makes it very plain in this verse…He will always be truthful, honest and fair with His people. From the very beginning God has never hidden His word from us or lied about what He can do. And when we call to Him it’s not some worthless action…for He will be there for us…today, tomorrow, and forever. For He is the God of truth and will always treat His people with justice and equity.
Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional
Proverbs 10:4 ” Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”
Elsewhere in Proverbs we find references to diligent hands. Proverbs 12:24 tells us, “Diligent hands will rule.” while Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit.” But in this particular Proverb above it’s interesting to discover that the meanings of the two “hands” in the verse are different. The first, (lazy hands) the Greek meaning is just hands…but the second, (diligent hands) means hands having power and strength to do physical labor. So the goal of this Proverb is simple…laziness will never get you anywhere, while diligent hands… hands that are busy, earnest, and energetic will get you far.
I John 3:18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
Romans 12:9 tells us that, “Love must be sincere.” But there’s no genuineness of our love when we talk about helping someone, but never actually do it. All it amounts to is a lot of hot air. Rather, this Scripture exhorts us to put our words into practice…to take action with good works that will demonstrate with sincerity and integrity our love one for another.
John 2:3-5 ” When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear woman, why do you involve Me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My time has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ “
Jesus, His newly called disciples, and His mother were attending a wedding when the wine ran out. This social blunder was quickly noticed by Mary, who in turn looked to her Son to resolve it. Jesus gently contended that His appointed time wasn’t yet, but Mary wasn’t take no for an answer. When she told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them, she had no idea what would happen next…but decades before when the angel Gabriel told her that her son would be called Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, she knew in her heart there was nothing beyond His capabilities. And so out of love and respect for His mother, Jesus performed His first miracle that night, changing water into wine.
Isaiah 45:5 ” I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged Me.”
Today, you may admit that you have no idea who God is… or you may confess that you’ve never heard the name of Jesus and the Gospel Message proclaimed…but the good news is God already knows you! For as He told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5) So while you may not recognize Him as Lord or concede your need for a Savior…yet… that doesn’t stop God from still working in your life. Why you ask? It’s simple, “The Lord declared you are My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He.” (Isaiah 43:10)
Psalm 112:4 ” Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.”
There is much hope in this Scripture for us today. For even in the darkness of loss, and suffering the light of a new day comes…and with it comes hope. That even when shadows shroud and obscure our view…dawn will break, and with it the Lord’s new mercies. Psalm 18:28 promises that “My God turns my darkness into light”. But where does this light come from? “For God made His (Jesus’) light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (II Corinthians 4:6) We need to look to Jesus for the light… for unfortunately, we know that darkness will come into all our lives, but our hope, joy, and peace will only be found in the light.
John 6:33-35 ” For the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘from now on give us this bread.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.’ “
Many of the crowd around Jesus here had been with Him earlier when He had fed 5,000 with a few barley loaves and fish. Having followed Jesus to Capernaum, they were looking forward to more miracles and food…in other words, they had come for Dinner and a Show. But instead, Jesus offered them something life changing…He offered them eternal life. Just as He offered living water to the Samaritan woman at the well…Jesus offered the bread of life to the crowd. And He offers it to all of us today! Think about it, the world-view philosophy is empty and will never quench our thirst or fill our soul like Jesus can…and our man-centered spirit is continually searching for fulfillment, but will never find it outside of accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Proverbs 31: 26-27 ” She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. “
The other day I was practicing a lost art…I was ironing! You know, that activity that uses a iron and a ironing board and you press wrinkles out of clothing. I imagine for many of you, this is quite a foreign concept, but before the advent of permanent-press clothing people ironed everything. And as a young lady, I was taught how to iron…starting out with flat pieces such as handkerchiefs, tea-towels, and pillowcases. My Mother would stand along side giving me instructions and encouragement as I learned how not to burn myself on the hot iron. Soon I would have a perfectly pressed item with her mark of approval for doing a good job. So the other day as I pressed her fancy, only for special occasions, ivory damask tablecloth, all those memories came crowding back…and when I was finally done, it too was perfectly pressed, just as she would of wanted it to look…and this afternoon, it will cover the display table at her funeral.
James 5:1 ” Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.”
In this letter, James isn’t writing to the general public…he’s addressing the early Church and Believers. He’s warning the rich Christians that they will be judged for hoarding their wealth, withholding pay to the workers of their fields, and living a self-indulgence life-style without regard for the welfare of others. Worldliness had crept into the early Church then…and it creeps into the Church today. For anytime more importance is placed on the elaborateness of the carpet in the sanctuary over helping the poor and oppressed among us…worldliness has found its way in.
Luke 9:49 ” ‘Master,’ said John, ‘we saw a man driving out demons in Your Name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.’ ‘Don’t stop him,’ Jesus said, ‘for whoever is not against you is for you.’ “
The “inner circle” of the disciples were having a melt down. “How dare a stranger use Your Name to pray for people. He hasn’t been given authority like we have. We’re the ones who have the close association and relationship with You…he’s not one of us!” But they were really shocked when Jesus reacted to their biased thinking and elitist attitude by saying, “Don’t stop him!” Christianity has a way, if we’re not careful, of developing into a “club” mentality…a them against us posture with a superior prejudice towards anyone outside our inner circle. But we’re not part of an elite group…we are an elected group, chosen and saved through grace… not by anything we’ve done or are part of.
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