Elsewhere in Mark 13:6-7, Jesus told His disciples, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.” Now if you’re like me the idea of being deceived by someone attempting to take the place of Jesus…claiming to be His counterpart yet actually being His antithesis is hard to imagine. But yet Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:24, “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.” And according to I John 2:18 they exist and are among us right now, for it reads, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come…” So how can we heed this warning from Jesus not to be deceived? The first thing is to know the truth…the Word of God, so when we hear lies or warped, twisted truths we will recognize them immediately. The other is to listen carefully… “If there is denial that Jesus is the Christ from such a man, he is the Antichrist – for he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; for whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” (I John 2:22-23)
Tag: daily inspirational devotions
I Timothy 4:9-10 ” This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, Who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”
Hope…there’s a big difference between what the Believer and non-Believer thinks about this word. For the non-Believer, it’s about wishing for something which may or may not occur. In contrast, to the Believer, hope is based on their faith of a living God with assurance to what He has promised in His Word. In addition, this eternal hope is found in their trust and confidence in God’s Son, Jesus Christ…their Lord and Savior.
Deuteronomy 6:13 ” Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in His name.”
When you go to court, before you are allowed to speak, you are sworn in. This swearing in is a pledge of allegiance to give your word or truth…so help you God. But God also used oaths to show with absolute certainty that His promises would be kept…and since there was no higher authority than Himself, God swore by Himself. In Isaiah 45:23 He said, “By Myself I have sworn.” And in Jeremiah 22:5, He exclaims, “I swear by Myself.” When we take an oath in God’s name, it is a binding agreement or covenant…a solemn pledge not to be taken lightly.
Exodus 20:11 ” For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
As it gets closer and closer to Christmas we get busier and more anxious about getting everything done. So this Scripture is giving us a heads up as to what we can do this Sunday. It’s called a Sabbath rest…a reminder of God’s creative and redemptive work, but also something that was first demonstrated by God Himself on the seventh day. The Sabbath rest is a God-given gift…to serve not enslave us…to be a blessing not a burden as we find rest in Him.
Hebrews 3:1 ” Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus…”
The Author of Hebrews wasn’t writing to unbelievers…He was addressing Followers of Jesus, just like you and me. He was urging them to keep their mind set on Jesus and not the peripheral distractions around them. And I think this is the perfect Scripture to consider a little more than a week out from Christmas! For at this time of the Holiday Season the “To-do” list looms large in front of us…with so many details that need to be done, and so little time to do them. It’s very easy then to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas and just get caught up in the commercialism and hype. When the stresses of Christmas have you anxious this week…do as this verse suggests…fix your thoughts on Jesus.
Proverbs 7:2 ” Keep My commands and you will live; guard My teachings as the apple of your eye.”
To have something as the apple of your eye is to cherish and call it precious. But do we place that much importance on the Word of God as it tells us to in this Scripture? Proverbs 4:4 says, “He taught me and said, ‘Lay hold of My Words with all your heart; Keep My commands and you will live.’ ” Both verses you notice use the phrase, “Keep My commands and you will live.” It’s only for our good, God is telling us, that we should give careful attention to His Word and obey what it says…for His Word leads to life.
Galatians 2:20 ” I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
What does it really mean to be crucified with Christ? Again, we have this picture of putting off the old and putting on the new self. It starts at the moment of redemption when as Romans 8:10 tells us, “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” But it also becomes a lifetime journey of deliberate and intentional decisions on our part to subdue our worldly and fleshly lusts and desires. And in doing so, our old self is crucified together with Christ so that sin cannot have preeminence in our life. (Romans 6:6)…as we purposefully live for the Will of God. (I Peter 4:2)
Matthew 9:17 ” Neither do men pour new wine into old wine-skins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wine-skins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine-skins, and both are preserved.”
Old wine-skins were hard, rigid, stiff, and unyielding. Does that sound like you or someone you know? On the other hand, new wine-skins are flexible and malleable…able to receive the newly pressed wine. They change as the fermentation process happens…they expand as the wine ferments…finally stopping when the wine is perfect inside. As Believers we must never stop growing until the God-given purpose inside us is perfected. At the wedding feast in Cana what did the Master of the Banquet tell the Bridegroom after tasting the water Jesus had turned into wine? “You have saved the best for last!” I originally wrote this back in 2008…but it still remains pertinent today. Just as you don’t pour new wine into old wine-skins, you don’t sew a new patch on an old garment, (Mark 2:21)…or both will be destroyed. The journey of a Christian is a pathway of newness…new covenant, new hearts, new minds, new selves…of the process of constantly putting off the old and putting on the new. For when we stop growing in the Lord, we become stagnant and unusable. The Lord is looking for new vessels to contain His new works. The question is, are you willing to be that new wine-skin?
Psalm 56:3 ” When I am afraid, I will trust in You.”
As I studied this verse I discovered that the Hebrew word for afraid, Yare, has two separate meanings. The first is the negative emotion of fearful…while the second is the positive emotion of reverence and awe for God. So what David is explaining here is that in the time of fear he consciously shifted his mind from one meaning to the other… from dwelling on a negative emotion to focusing on a positive one. So instead of standing on the shifting sands of fear and anxiety David planted his feet firmly and confidently on the solid rock of Christ.
II Corinthians 1:10-11 ” He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in an answer to the prayers of many.”
You may know them as Prayer Chains, or a Prayer Wall where requests and concerns are brought so that many can lift them to God…or maybe you’re part of a Prayer Warrior Group that regularly unite in focused prayer on behalf of others. Here Paul is thanking Believers for their continued prayers, telling them that he knows their prayers have rescued him from many dangers. He looks at these answered prayers of God’s grace in his life with hope and gratefulness…knowing those praying for him are praising God also. For the beauty of answered prayers is that they touch everyone….those who pray and those who were prayed for.
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