This Scripture specifically deals with immorality and adultery…but in the bigger picture, it deals with sin against God. Have you ever considered that every time you sin – you’re defying God to His face? For every time you allow evil to reign in your life, you’re in direct opposition to God and rebelling against Him. Joseph understood that giving into a temptation was a sin…but that sin isn’t self contained…for no matter how hidden we think it is, others will be affected by our lack of judgement. And ultimately, Joseph knew he would be sinning against God.
Tag: daily encouraging devotion
Luke 8:50 ” Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.’ “
Jairus was the President of the Jewish Synagogue in Capernaum, but at this moment in time all his power and authority meant nothing to him… for he had a little daughter dying. He was desperate enough to actually plead with Jesus to come to his house and heal her. But it would get worse. While they were headed there, someone from Jairus’s household ran up to tell him his daughter had just died…but it would get worse. When they got to the house the scene was utter chaos with people weeping, wailing and milling around. That’s when Jesus took control of the situation…moving all the people out except for the parents, Peter, James, and John. He then took a hold of the child’s hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” And she did. So what practical application can we take from this story? When you’re going through tough times, position strong people of faith around you…people that can believe for breakthrough and won’t give up or become discouraged. It’s friends that will gather around you and pray when you may not have the strength or ability to. Finally, realize it may get worse before it gets better. But through it all Jesus is saying to you, “Don’t be frightened, just trust in Me.”
Psalm 142:1-2 ” I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble.”
There’s been many times in my life when I’ve bared my soul to the Lord and complained loudly! I’ve spilled out my frustrations as well as my tears before Him…knowing He would be the only one that could fully understand my distress. And God does. There is nothing you’re going through today that has caught God by surprise…nothing He doesn’t already know about. The old Hymn, “What a Friend we have in Jesus” is so true…for when there’s no one else you feel you can confide in…Jesus is always there.
Matthew 8:3 ” Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ He said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”
When we come to Jesus, He says to us, “Be clean!” And at that moment we are purified from all the pollution, guilt, and shame of our sins. For it says in Psalm 51:2, “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Where we once were covered with the filthy stains of sin, we are now cleansed…our nastiness replaced by pristine purity and righteousness through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For it is only through the blood of Jesus that we can become cleansed from all our transgressions…it is only through Jesus we can be saved.
Psalm 33:8-9 ” Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him. For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.”
God spoke – and the world came into existence. He spoke – and there was light. He spoke – and the earth with everything we know was created. It says in Psalm 148:5, “Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.” It’s impossible for the human mind to understand the sheer power, authority, and energy when God speaks. But we do know that when He speaks, lives are changed. So how then can we hear Him? God speaks through His Word, the Bible. But when was the last time you opened His Word and allowed Him to speak to you? For the same words He used to create the universe lie within the pages of His book, the Bible. Allow God speak to you today…open His Word.
Hebrews 13:16 ” And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Last month my son and his wife flew to Haiti and brought home their newly adopted daughter. It was sad to see from the start that she had never played with toys in the orphanage. A few weeks later, I received a picture of her smiling with a dark-skinned doll in her arms. I called my daughter-in-law to find out the details of this transformation…and just where this doll had come from. When their other daughter was in kindergarten, (she’s 12 now), she had asked for an American Girl Doll for Christmas. But instead of choosing a look-alike doll with long blonde hair and blue eyes, she chose a dark-skinned doll. A doll that she then graciously gave to her new little sister to play with…and a doll she could call her own.
I Kings 17:14 ” For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.’ “
There was a great famine in the land due to a drought. The prophet Elijah had been instructed by the Lord to find a certain widow in Zarephath who would supply him with food. But when Elijah found her and asked for bread, she told him she had only enough flour and oil to feed herself and her son for the very last time. Elijah then said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But make a small cake of bread for me first.” In other words, “Before you feed your loved ones, I want you to trust God and feed me first.” Elijah was asking the widow to stretch her faith farther than it had ever been stretched before. He was challenging her to put her faith in God for the family’s provisions…no matter how long the famine lasted. He reassured her that by trusting God the jar of flour and jug of oil wouldn’t run dry…and they miraculously didn’t. Oh, to have the faith of that widow! Her eyes only saw a handful of flour and a dribble of oil left…but yet she bravely stepped out in faith, trusting God to provide for her family.
I John 2:1 ” My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
As it tells us in Romans 8:34, at this very moment, Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf. Jesus is our advocate…one who comes forward on behalf and as the representative for another. He is then also our intercessor and substitute…standing in our place before God…intervening in our defense. We have no greater advocate than Jesus…no greater champion and friend.
Isaiah 26:7 ” The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, You make the way of the righteous smooth.”
Elsewhere, Isaiah talks about God making the rough ground level, (Isaiah 40:4) and safely leading the Believer along unfamiliar paths, (Isaiah 42:16). If we allow Him, the Lord will make the crooked, straight…the rough, smooth…and the misunderstood, grasped. Our way in this life is a constant journey on a little understood, bumpy path…where we are required to make decisions that can affect our life forever. But when we allow the Lord to guide us…He will show us the most excellent way to go.
II Chronicles 6:7-9 ” My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father, David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a temple for My Name, you did well to have this in your heart. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood – he is the one who will build the temple for My name.’ “
Just because you have a desire and passion for something doesn’t mean you’re the one to accomplish it. David was one of Israel’s most famous kings, and the Lord had laid on his heart the desire to build a temple…a permanent place for the glory of the Lord to dwell. But God had different plans for him. I Chronicles 28:3 says, “But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for My Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’ ” David was a man of war, where his son Solomon, the successor to his throne, was a man of peace. Now David might have felt he needed to be the one to build the temple, but he didn’t argue with God. He then understood that his job was to do the preliminary planning…and before he died, David had procured and amassed many of the building materials needed so that his son Solomon could then start the project. For many of us, we’re God’s preliminary planners…we have God’s vision and the passion for the task at hand. But our job is that of prayer and intercession…for God has in mind someone else to fulfill the mission.
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