29/3/14
S: Micah 6:6-8 What can we bring to the LORD?
Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
with offerings of yearling calves?
Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?
No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
O: We sometimes hear of big gangsters who try to keep on God's good side by supporting the church or donating money to good causes. However, God wants us to act rightly in the first place.
The late Keith Green wrote this song:
To obey is better than sacrifice
I don't need your money
I want your life
And I hear you say that I'm coming back soon
But you act like I'll never return
Well you speak of grace and my love so sweet
How you thrive on milk, but reject My meat
And I can't help weeping of how it will be
If you keep on ignoring My words
Well you pray to prosper and succeed
But your flesh is something I just can't feed
To obey is better than sacrifice
I want more than Sunday and Wednesday nights
Cause if you can't come to Me every day
Then don't bother coming at all
To obey is better than sacrifice
I want hearts of fire
Not your prayers of ice
And I'm coming quickly
To give back to you
According to what you have done
Keith Green was extrapolating what God might have said, but I think there's a lot of truth in what he said. Recently, Ann Graham Lotz (daughter of Billy Graham) shared about how she had been wounded by other believers and how she had to learn to forgive them. [Listen to the interview here.] Many people have left the faith because Christians who were faithful to tithe had not been doing what is right, showing mercy, and walking humbly with God.
A: Let us do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
P: Father, remind me when I am about to hurt another believer. Help me to remove the log out of my own eye, and to speak the truth in love. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
For such a time as this
8/3/14
Esther 4:14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?
O: Esther is actually a very entertaining and dramatic book. No wonder Hollywood made it into a movie. The Greek Septuagint version is even more dramatic than the Masoretic Text version found in most modern Bibles.
For example, Chapter 6 is dripping with irony -- Haman was all ready to ask the king to execute Mordecai, and ends up having to honour Mordecai!
And Chapter 5 (or Section D) in the Septuagint is even more dramatic -- my wife says it's almost Barbara Cartland-like.
A: However, hidden in this entertaining and dramatic story is an important moral lesson: God calls us to act rightly in difficult circumstances. If we do not, He can raise up someone else, but if we do, we will reap the blessing.
P: Father, when if I am called to be brave and do the right thing, give me the courage to follow You. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
Esther 4:14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?
O: Esther is actually a very entertaining and dramatic book. No wonder Hollywood made it into a movie. The Greek Septuagint version is even more dramatic than the Masoretic Text version found in most modern Bibles.
For example, Chapter 6 is dripping with irony -- Haman was all ready to ask the king to execute Mordecai, and ends up having to honour Mordecai!
And Chapter 5 (or Section D) in the Septuagint is even more dramatic -- my wife says it's almost Barbara Cartland-like.
A: However, hidden in this entertaining and dramatic story is an important moral lesson: God calls us to act rightly in difficult circumstances. If we do not, He can raise up someone else, but if we do, we will reap the blessing.
P: Father, when if I am called to be brave and do the right thing, give me the courage to follow You. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Second chance
2/3/14
S: Jonah 3:7-10 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
O: When God gave Jonah the prophecy, "In forty days, Nineveh shall be destroyed," He didn't say "unless they repent." However, it was obvious to Jonah that this was an implied clause -- which is why Jonah got on a ship headed the opposite direction! Jonah hated the Ninevites and didn't want them to have the chance to realise that they were wrong and in need of repentance.
A: God is a God of second chances. If you have messed up, repent and turn back to Him! "The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3:9
P: Father, thank You for Your great salvation! May I keep short accounts with you and quickly repent when I do wrong. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
S: Jonah 3:7-10 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
O: When God gave Jonah the prophecy, "In forty days, Nineveh shall be destroyed," He didn't say "unless they repent." However, it was obvious to Jonah that this was an implied clause -- which is why Jonah got on a ship headed the opposite direction! Jonah hated the Ninevites and didn't want them to have the chance to realise that they were wrong and in need of repentance.
A: God is a God of second chances. If you have messed up, repent and turn back to Him! "The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3:9
P: Father, thank You for Your great salvation! May I keep short accounts with you and quickly repent when I do wrong. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
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