Joshua
6:10 There is a time to just shut up and march. Joshua told the people to not make a sound with their mouths until he indicated that it was time to shout. There is a time to shout and there is a time to shut up and march, time to do the drudgery of your everyday life’s work. Although with God it isn’t drudgery. Likewise in worship there is a time to shout and a time to shut up and listen to the trumpets blowing.
6:2, 16 I admire Joshua’s ability to just believe what God said. I should start rejoicing at verse 2 when God tells me He’s given me the city even though the city still stands looming in front of me because all His words are true. When He speaks He creates. Joshua called those things that are not as though they were in verse 16 when He says “God has given you the city” and up to that point nothing had changed in the physical realm.
Joshua 7
It was immediately after Jericho that Joshua got defeated at Ai. How often we get into trouble right after a major victory in life. Is it because we get cocky, overconfident, or let our guard down?
7:2-3 Before Jericho, Joshua spent time with God and received special instructions from God (march around 7 times, shout, etc). Before Ai, Joshua took his counsel from men instead of God. He became self-confident. Oops. Could this be the reason the church is dead today? We think we know how to do this, we have it all figured out (intellectualism)? We’re confident in our programs, in our ability to run a church that we can do this without the help or presence of the Holy Ghost?
Joshua’s first mistake was to act without praying. That takes away dependence on God and brings independence and we start to do things our way. No, no, no, no!
7:3-4 Joshua only sent a portion of his men to fight against Ai. This is ok when God specifically tells you to for His glory like with Gideon, but this was a foolish act without a direct command from God, and it serves as a good illustration to how quickly we’re defeated when the church is divided into small groups. It takes ALL of us, the whole body, operating together to advance the Kingdom. In chapter 8 God sends out Joshua with the whole army against Ai and He instructed Joshua to use all the men of war against Jericho in chapter 6.
7:6-10 It’s useless to whine about your defeats to God. He expects you to get up and figure out where you went wrong, fix it, and get going again.
Israel was defeated at Ai because of disobedience. It wasn’t the marching or the shouting that had brought down Jericho, it was their obedience in faith to God. It wasn’t them either; just because you’re used doesn’t mean it was you. It was God!
If one man’s sin could hold back God’s victory for Israel, could one person’s sin be hindering the move of God in your youth group? In your church? In our nation?
1-10 If you are facing defeat in your life something is wrong. God will allow us to go through difficulties, but difficulties are different than defeat. If you are being defeated in the midst of the difficulties instead of rising above, then start looking for the hidden sin and deal with it decisively.
2 Kings 4
6 - The prophet told the woman to get vessels to pour the miracle supply of oil in and stressed to not just get a few vessels. Scripture records that the oil stopped flowing because they ran our of vessels. When the last vessel she had prepared before the miracle was full the miracle stopped. Jesus said according to your faith be it unto you. This woman had faith to do what the prophet said but after the miracle began and stopped with the last vessel I bet she wished she had had more faith and gained more vessels. How big a miracle are you preparing for?
7 – Financial problems should not exist in the Kingdom. If God is willing to supply with this kind of creative miracle then money is no problem. There has to be a reason for financial hardships – either we are out of alignment with the Kingdom or we have a lack of faith or something else or maybe for a season God is allowing us to learn something through the need or something else…
42-44 Elisha was the first to multiply a small amount of food to feed a multitude. However he had a fairly good amount more than Jesus had to start with. And Elisha fed only 100 men whereas Jesus fed several thousand. If Elisha had a double portion anointing then Jesus had many times the anointing. And if we’re supposed to be doing greater things than Jesus…The church could easily end world hunger if we ever really got Kingdom minded.
1 Samuel 22
22:2 – This sounds like a revolution! All the discontented, the distressed, the indebted gather around David and align themselves with this “upstart” or is he a “revolutionary”? And doesn’t it also sound like Jesus who said “let the thirsty come” and in another place “let him who is weary and heavy laden come” and who also told the parable of the wedding banquet where the influential and the popular were invited but didn’t come so the street folks were brought in and were chosen for the King’s table. So here they are, aligning themselves while David is yet still living in caves an in the woods hiding from Saul. Much like the disciples (later to be apostles) first aligned themselves when Jesus seemed to be just a carpenter from Galilee who didn’t even own any worldly possessions and not even a place to lay his head at night. And now what are they? 24 elders? Heroes of the faith living in infamy or better yet, serving in the King’s throne room in Glory?
What a struggle too David must have had in his heart and mind. Knowing the promises of God were for him to get to the throne. He must have thought that as God brought him to play for Saul and gave him great favor with Saul and with the King’s son that this was the way God had chosen to bring him to the throne. Here was David becoming like one of the family, oh the favor of the Lord! David probably trusted God to take care of the particulars as to how it would all play out but he was certainly becoming positioned for such a marvelous fulfillment of God’s promises as he served regularly before the King and became best friends with the prince. And then WHAM! It all starts to fall apart! Why, God?? Everything was going so well and you were fulfilling your plan to get me to the throne like you promised and now I’m running from the King who was to make me his heir and I’m living in caves and thanks for this nice army of 400 but let’s get real…these are scoundrels and 400 against Saul’s thousands…You’ve only made me the captain of the most ridiculous army the world has ever seen. What gives? Maybe David didn’t think all this. After all he was a man of faith who didn’t seem to think it strange to go against the giant of Gath with only a sling shot. But until I get David’s faith, I sure think these things sometimes because God seems to work like this a lot. Just when you think you figured out where He’s going with your life He takes a sudden turn and it seems like you’re getting farther from the goal rather than closer. Sometimes God takes unlikely routes just to make things more difficult…it’s almost as if He says, “No, that’s too easy. Let’s try something a little more challenging.” And what good is coming from such insanity as that? Trust.
1 Sam 22:2 – It seems God is still calling an army of the discontent, indebted, and the distressed. Indeed the content would never want to change things so why would they start a revolution? The rich would not want to Kingdom to come where each man shares what he has and all are on equal footing. And I’d like to see the original word for “distressed”.
22:3-4 David took care of the mom and dad before he went off to finish his revolution. He didn’t put his life on hold for them, but he made sure they were taken care of.
22:5 Again, here’s David finding himself just getting comfortable in the cave of Adullam when God moves him on again…just when you are getting comfortable don’t be surprised if God moves you on. It was not long after I really started to feel totally comfortable and significant and like I had arrived in Beaumont that God finally moved me on. It almost makes me angry (not really I can’t get mad at Him, I trust Him) when you think about all those years of wanting to move on and I wasn’t allowed to and then when things are really good I get to enjoy it for about 6 months and then, snap, I’m whisked away.
22:9, 18-10 – What motivated Doeg the Edomite to be so horrid? Greed (vs 7)
22:8, 13 Saul’s fear made his imagination turn on him and he convinced himself David was trying to kill him.
23:1-4, 9-10 David inquired of God before he made big decisions and he did what God said even if it seemed like suicide. This is what they call trust.
23:8 – Saul amassed a large army to pursue David and his little band (about 600 according to vs 13). I think in Saul’s heart he knew he was not fighting David but God. That’s why he pulled together the largest army he could and that’s why he was so afraid and kept thinking David was lying in wait. It was God who kept trapping him, not David.
23:16-18 – What a picture of a true friend. Jonathan went to David in David’s moment of need where he was discouraged and knows just the right thing to say to build him up in God….let alone that what he was building him up to do was to take the fame and power that could have been his instead of David’s!
24:1-7 – This is certainly one of the things about David that earned him the title “man after God’s own heart” – mercy and humility.
24 – Showing kindness on your enemy heaps ashes on his head
24 – If Jonathan had not strengthened David his faith may not have been strong enough to let Saul go. Jonathans good deed and selflessness probably spared his own father.
25:36 Even the Bible admits that drunkenness makes for a good time for the endurance of the drink.
25 David wasa about to take his own revenge and so sin in his anger and haste. The wisdom and courage of a good wife saved the life of Nabal and kept David from sin. God still gave David his vengeance just like with Saul whom David refused to take vengeance on.
26:24 – I would expect him to say “in the eyes of Saul” but he said the eyes of “the Lord”. He’d figured out where true success comes from. Not favor of men but of God.
28:5-7 When it’s not easy finding God’s voice the world and sometimes the church threatens to cheapen things, like Saul going to this witch to hear a voice. It could be God isn’t speaking to us because we’ve been disobedient like Saul. Repent and keep seeking. Instead Saul goes to something he had formerly kicked out of Israel, went back to his vomit, because he was scared and refused to repent.
2 Samuel
2:1 Every important decision David had to make he inquired of the Lord and the Lord told him just what to do. Don’t tell me God doesn’t have a will or an opinion about the decisions we make for our lives.
12:14-23 What wisdom David showed. It was the custom of his people to mourn after a person had died, but David mourned and fasted while his baby was alive and acted normal after it died. David knew that fasting and prayers need to be offered while there’s still a chance at averting a tragedy. But if your “baby” is dead, then it’s time to move on.
12:26-29 I should be like Joab who was careful to make sure his king got the glory. This is somewhat different though because in Joab’s case he actually did the brunt of the work, but in my case I recognize that God does most of the work and I get to help. In the natural it may seem like I did it all (say after working with a kid for some time and seeing a change in him) but I know that it’s mostly the work of the Holy Spirit. So it should be easier to give Him the glory.
14:14 This is a description of how the mind of God works. “He does not take away a life, but He devises means so that his banished ones are not expelled from Him.” God devised a means through Christ and the cross that his banished ones (me) might not be expelled from Him!
15:4-6 Absalom was a very tricky character. For several years he used his good looks (14:25-26), his sly tongue, and his flattery to win the hearts of Israel. And yet it was all for the selfish purpose of mutiny. Don’t trust good looks, flattery, and persuasive speaking.
15:23 So David is back on his way to the wilderness running…only this time he’s running from his own flesh and blood. Why would God allow this to happen after David had reached the throne and reigned for a time? 1. Because of David’s sin. 2. Because people become cold without heat. 3. Because God was ready to advance David even further.
15:31 What a strategic prayer. We should learn to pray likewise that the council of the counselors of ungodly men would be turned to foolishness.
16 Interesting that now not only is David having to deal with his own son’s conspiracy but old junk in the trunk is coming out too. Jonathan’s son now lets his true feelings about wanting the kingdom back comes out now and this old Saul fan comes out cursing him…Through it all David just keeps on trusting God and letting God be the judge and submitting to His punishment or His rescue, whichever the case may be. (15:25-26, 16:11-12)
2 Samuel 6
6:6-10 Don't forget who you're dealing with. God is holy and yes, Jesus said he called us friends (if we do what He says) but He's still God and we're not. Uzzah treated God like He was common and died because of it.. The ark represents the Holy presence of God, usually abiding in the Holy of Holies. When we get into those divine places of God's presence, beyond the ripped vale, we must not treat that place as common.
They were doing this wrong to begin with. God gave specific instructions back in Exodus about how to carry the Ark. This ark on a cart business was all wrong and really, it lacked the proper respect due to God. To be carried on a cart seems rather humble. I mean this is the same stuff used to carry around loads of dirt or probably manure. But they get it right the 2nd time around (13-15)
The Lord insists that His presence be carried by men. He refuses to allow his presence to be carried around by a cart, or by a religious system which I believe the cart represents. We can't leave the church, our programs, our preachers, our TV Evangelists shows, etc to carry God's presence to our nation, our community, our families. WE have to be the ones to carry God's presence. The weight of the ark is on our own shoulders.
6:8-9 David had been around God a long time. God had taken him from the flocks, where he used to write and sing songs to God and have some nice alone time with God, to the throne of Israel. In between there was lots of depending on God and seeing God come through for him. However, after a while it's easy for God to become "common" to you or too familiar. I think that's what happened to David when he used the cart for carrying God's presence. David had used a NEW cart and had the instruments playing (vs. 3, vs. 5) but still these little acts of religious obligation will never take the place of obedience. Now that God has struck down one of his men David is angry and scared. He says "how can the ark come to me?" So now all the sudden the fear of God has returned to David and he feels like God is too big and bad and David can't make it around God.
6:11 - Living with God's presence in his house brought great blessing to Obed-Edom and all his house (family, servants, etc). Oh to make sure I LIVE in His presence and see that blessing come to not only me but those around me as well.
6:12 When David hears about Obed-Edom's being blessed because of the Ark, David finally decided he wanted God enough to do whatever it takes to get Him.
6:13-15 - Finally they get it right. The phrase "those bearing the ark of the Lord" seems to indicate they were carrying it on poles like they were supposed to. And this time the fanfare and pomp was appropriate - over the top!
6:16 - Not everyone is going to appreciate your lavish worship. Maybe because they don't understand why you act like that, maybe because they think you're fake or a hypocrite, or maybe because it makes their worship look banal.
6:18-19 - After David had spent time in God's presence with worship and sacrifices (which I believe speak of prayer and fasting) he went out and fed the people. After we've spent time in God's presence, we need to follow this example. But we can't go out to the people and feed them spiritually until we've been to the storehouse of God's presence and made a withdrawal from the supply.
6:20-22 When Michal said look how silly you look to your servants and to your servants' servants (about his worship) David replied with "It was before the Lord..." In other words, "My worship aint for them! So what do I care if they think I look silly or undignified? I'll become even more undignified because my worship is for the one who brought me out of the sheep herds and set me on this throne which He took from your dad because he didn't worship like he was supposed to." Oh, we must learn that it's not about us in worship and it's not about the others we worship beside - it's all for HIM alone! So what if Michal doesn't like it or if our students or parents or church board members don't like it - it ain't for them. It only matters if HE likes it. Those who mock and think extravagant worship like He deserves will be fruitless until the day of their death, just like Michal (vs 23).
2 Samuel 7
7:2-3 Nathan spoke before he asked God. It sounded like a great idea, makes sense, honors God, so why even pray about it? But that night God made Nathan go take back what he said because God's ways are higher than ours. God thinks about things we don't think about.
7:18 I notice how David heard the word of the Lord from the prophet but instead of talking to God through the prophet, he just left the prophet and went inside to be alone with God in his response. Man after GOD's own heart.
2 Samuel 8
8:11 In all these conquests it seems David continually gave spoils to God. Likewise in all the battles God helps us to win we must be careful to be sure He gets the glory. As a result of David's giving the glory and spoils to the Lord, "the Lord preserved David wherever he went." Vs. 14
2 Samuel 9
Here is the picture of God wanting to bless the sons Jesus. What am I but a dead dog (vs. 8) before He found me and set me free? But even so He insists that I be allowed to eat at the King's table. How sad that most of us go around still eating the crumbs like the dog instead of taking the place set for us at the table of the King.
Isaiah 5:8 This first "woe" is to those who join house to house and field to field. This refers to those who just can't get enough stuff. The American way. Woe to those who covet.
13 The result of covetousness and a party-time mentality is a famine of knowledge (especially of God). They were dried up with thirst for knowledge and even their honorable men were famished. Is there not a lack for meaty teaching and preaching in the church today? Has the church not been living on spiritual Ensure for decades? Could that be the result of our passion for selfish things - collecting stuff and entertaining ourselves to death? Vs. 14 explains that all the glory and pomp built up from multitudes of riches will perish into hell with them. And for those addicted to entertainment, their hearts may be jubilant off the latest party as they descend into the Sheol.
18 Vanity always goes before iniquity. You can't be vain and not sin. Vanity pulls sin along like a cart behind it - a wagon full of iniquity. Sin is always on the heels of vanity.
19 See the depravity which their vanity led them into - to mock and welcome the judgment of the Holy One.
20 Sin progresses and not only do you mock God but now you call evil good and good evil. No longer knowing between the two. So completely depraved and molded by the devil is your mind that everything is inverted to you.
21 and it goes back again to vanity - wise in your own eyes and prudent in your own heart.
29 Roaring in the Bible seems to always be an offensive move - not defensive. In a day when the body needs to learn to be offensive and not just defensive, we need to learn to ROAR in the spiritual realm. From Dakes: "The soldiers of Babylon and Assyria and other nations were taught to enter to battle yelling and fighting like demons. Here their noise is stated to be like many lions roaring up on their prey, and the roaring of the sea."
2 Chronicles 21
1 Satan stood up against Israel by going after their head, the king. It worked, too, because after the king angered God, all of Israel suffered (vs. 7, 14). How important it is for us to pray for our leaders and especially our president!
2-7 One thing we must pray for our president and other leaders is that God would surround them with godly and wise counselors like Joab, and not only that but that the leaders would have the humility and wisdom to listen to their wise counselors and to change their plans when they are wrong. If David had listened to Joab all these problems would have been averted.
2-7 The big question here is why was this census so wrong? Obviously if we look at God’s reaction to the census it was judged very sinful by God – he even judged this more harshly than the sin with Bathsheba! It could be because of the census not taken according to the levitical laws (Ex 30:11-16), but more likely it had more to do with David trusting the strength of men rather than God. It’s not by might nor power, but by the Spirit. David knew this well. Even as a boy he had known God would come through for him when he faced the lion and the bear. Then as a young man he faced Goliath and rejected the might of men (Saul’s armor and sword) and instead trusted in God. Again and again God delivered Saul into David’s hand until David finally reached the throne. Then as king David had seen victory upon victory as God fought for Israel and blessed him. The chapters preceding this list many victories, even victories against giants. After years of seeing God come through for him and being faithful to deliver him and win his victories, David begins to turn to the might of his armies and pride himself in flesh. I think I see why God was so ticked at him. David had learned this lesson well. God would be less harsh with someone who had not seen and experienced the truth of “it’s not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit” as much as David. When we’ve come so far and seen so much, we must remember we’re held accountable to a higher level. Never get your eyes on flesh. Isaiah 2:22.
David had nearly 2 million men in his army. God had indeed increased him greatly. If God increases you in power, or fortune, or wisdom, or favor, or anointing, or gifting etc; don’t let the increase become an issue to you. Turn a blind eye to it and stay focused on the Spirit!
8-13 Even though David screwed up from time to time, he was very good at repentance (psalm 51). When he realizes he messed up and has been found out he turns hard core from his sin. Even his answer to God’s unusual question of which of these 3 punishments do you want is an amazingly wise answer.
15-16 Even as the angel was destroying Jerusalem God relented. Was it an intercessor who stood in the gap? Would the punishment have been stopped earlier if there were more interceding on behalf of Jerusalem? David and his elders in sackcloth falling on their faces began to turn the tide.
18 Intercession might lead you to further action. Be ready to hear the Word of the Lord and then act on it as well as David did.
20-23 What is with this Ornan guy who just keeps working when he sees the death angel of God standing by him with the sword drawn, but when David walks up he stops and bows down and offers him anything he wants? He seems like a good guy but I’m not sure what to make of his reaction to the angel. Maybe it’s the surety of a man who knows he’s done nothing to tick God off, the peace that comes from being right with God.
23 Ornan was indeed a good guy…David wants to buy the threshing floor and Ornan insists on GIVING him not only the threshing floor but everything else that could be used to save Israel and serve the king.
24 What an incredible spiritual principle! A sacrifice must cost you something! David refused to give an offering to God that didn’t cost him anything. He insisted on paying full price for all the stuff Ornan wanted to give him so that the sacrifice would truly be a sacrifice. How many times have I tried to offer God a sacrifice which costs me nothing…$2 offerings when the plate is passed, little one meal fasts when He asked for a day, little 10 minute prayers, witnessing when it’s convenient or comfortable.
26 God answered by fire, consuming the offering. The only other time I know of this happening is with Elijah’s famous victory. Even this horrible tragedy was turned around into a victory and ended on a high point in David’s life.
28 Perhaps the best thing to come of all this was David’s humility. The tragic episode which started with David’s pride ended with David being humbly afraid of God.
1 Kings 17
3-9 Elijah had a very sweet deal God set him up with. He got to hang out by a nice brook while the birds brought him his daily meals, but as always happens to every "brook" in our lives, the brook dried up and God said it's time to go somewhere else. God takes us from brook to brook in life. They're great and when you're at that brook you hope it'll never end. But there comes a time when God says it's time to move on. And usually, if your "brook" runs dry it is an indication that it's time to go.
Also, when your brook dries up, it's a great chance for God to prove himself faithful, to perform a new miracle, a new provision. Elijah went from a brook where Ravens fed him miraculously day and night to a widow woman who's oil and meal never ran dry!! How I love the old miraculous provision but now he had two stories to tell instead of one. Thank God for a dried up brook!!
3-4 How impatient I am to get going and be useful. But times come when God asks us to be put away in solitude and wait. God help us to go when he says go and to stay put when he says stay put. And perhaps most difficult - to leave everything and go sit in hiding if he should ever ask that of us. "when we cannot be useful, we must be patient." (MHC)
7 - how discouraging when the brook God was using in your life dries up. Countless brooks have dried up in my life. Just recently Jeremy Austill moved away, which was a brook God was using to pour into me. I had to decide whether God wanted me to stay where I was or get up and follow the brook. It could have been discouraging, but I know God has other provisions. Sometimes it's not that easy to see. Sometimes we get so invested in one brook that when that dries up we feel totally abandoned and empty. Never forget, God has an endless supply of potential brooks for you. Notice how ridiculous the things God used to provide for Elijah: ravens and a starving widow. Why would he use such ridiculous means? I believe it was meant to show off, basically. To show us he can use anything and everything he wants to be a "brook" in our lives. No child of God who is willing to obey will ever starve. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God. And those who drink from that water will never thirst.
8-16 - I notice Elijah is always obedient here, never hesitating to do or say what God commands, even when it seems ridiculous and no matter how foolish and crazy he may sound when he says it. I see myself afraid sometimes to act on what I think God is telling me. Doubt followed by fear followed by hesitation followed by disobedience kills our usability and effectiveness in the Kingdom.
17 - Even though the man of God was living with them, God was doing a continuous miracle among them by replenishing the oil and flour, and they both lived lives of obedience and faith, this woman's son still died. Just because you're doing right doesn't mean difficult things will not happen to you. Like Jeremy said, favor of God doesn't mean an easy life without trouble. But we do have the promise that it all works to the good of those who love Him! We see the fulfillment of this in vs. 24 where the woman admits that because her son died and was brought back to life she now knew for sure that Elijah was a man of God and God was speaking through him. She got a revelation and a confirmation because of the seeming tragedy.
21 - Elijah had to stretch himself out 3 times and pray over the boy before he was raised from the dead. This is what they used to call praying through. Praying until something happens. There are those who say that if you pray once you should believe you have the thing you prayed for and not mention it again to God. This can be a conclusion drawn from Jesus saying "when you pray believe that you receive it and you shall have it." But then there are other scriptures such as the parable of the persistent widow (which can be explained away in one way of looking at it) and also the asking, seeking, knocking. It's a divided subject but from the scriptures presented I can see that the arguments for not praying anymore about it are based more on human arguments and reasoning than on direct scripture. There are good direct scriptural arguments for keeping on asking. I believe God wants us to keep praying so that we're drawing closer to Him during the seeking process. It's like the song goes that Stacy Johnson sings, "Turn me upside down so that I'll seek your face." If we had gotten what we wanted when we wanted it, we'd never have the experiences with God we gain during the seeking, during the 3rd, 5th, or 100th time we prayed about it.
1 Kings 18:16-18 - The men of God are often labeled as the troublemakers. Don't let it get you down and question yourself more than you should.
17-18 We often are quick to blame God for bad things. People think it's God's fault for the 9/11 attack or something. Even if that was something God brought into motion like the drought here, it's still not God who deserves blame, but rather those who's blatant and stubborn disobedience brought the punishment. It's not the parents' fault when the child gets time out. The fault lies with the naughty child.
21 – “How long will you falter between two opinions?” Elijah’s words are never more appropriate than when we address them to our current culture. Only now, we have many more than two opinions that toss us back and forth like waves tossed on the ocean of relativism. How practical is Elijah’s advice about this, “If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” Easy logic there…no tricky theology or hard reasoning. Only one of two (or 1,000) opposite views can be true, so find which is true and go with it.
You either have to follow the Lord completely or not follow him at all. There is no fence to ride here.
30-35 Elijah intentionally made a most impossible circumstance to give God more glory. If your circumstance is impossible, rejoice that it gives God an opportunity to show off more. Maybe He's just adding water to the sacrifice because he's getting ready to send down fire.
43-44 Just like when we pray for an answer, often we may have to pray over and over again, looking for the answer the whole time and when it finally appears it may begin as small as a cloud the size of a man's hand. Don't be discouraged. Pray through. This is the second chapter in a row where we see Elijah "praying through".
46 - Any time you feel like you just physically can't go on, remember God gave Elijah physical strength and ability to outrun a chariot (horses).
1 Kings 19:2-4 Before, in chapter 17, Elijah left and hid because of a word from God. It was a strategic plan of God to put Elijah out of sight for a while and let Ahab reap the fruits of his own wickedness so the circumstances could speak to Ahab for a while instead of Elijah. But this time, Elijah fled because he was just plain scared. Like Peter stepping out of the boat onto the water, Elijah began well - he had manipulated the weather, called fire down from heaven, and slaughtered the prophets of Baal. The man was walking on water. But like Peter he got his eyes fixed on some threat and forgot his faith in God's sovereignty over it and immediately sank. But perhaps some good does come of this as he comes to a realization that without God doing the work through him, he is "no better than his ancestors". May I never have to come to such a point of defeat to remember that I'm no better than my ancestors or my contemporaries.
1-18 It's also amazing to me how patient God is with Elijah! He doesn't come to Elijah with anger in his voice because of Elijah's lack of faith, he doesn't come with a sarcastic, negative tone ridiculing him for how ridiculously his emotions and fears have got the best of him. He comes 1. meeting his physical need, 2. drew him back into his presence (symbolized by the mountain of God), 3. spoke, reasoned, and revealed truth to him, 4. put him back out into the war.
6 As a side note, I think it's interesting how the Lord meets us within the context of our own culture. I mean he could have brought Elijah any number of delicacies he wanted: crème brule, turkey and dressing, a bowl of cheerios, a hot pocket. But instead he chose to give him stuff he would recognize and relate to: baked bread on hot stones and a jar of water. If God appears to us, he doesn't come in the form of a Chinese sushi chef. Jesus didn't come in a business suit and wingtips. That's a challenge for me in ministry. Can I be relevant to the culture I am trying to reach without compromising the gospel? Coming to a skater kid in Vidor in a business suit and singing Hillsongs music and preaching about the blood of Jesus (without making it relevant to them) would be like God giving Elijah a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs - he wouldn't know what to do with it and probably would find it very unappealing.
19-21 Elijah found Elisha not doing something spiritual or with the school of the prophets, but plowing in the field. Elisha had a great calling but he was working. What made his call worthy was not that he was super spiritual but that he was willing to leave it all to follow Elijah, even in this time when the prophets were so persecuted.
1 Kings 20
28 God will defends His name and His honor. He makes decisions based on it. Remember that in intercession, remember it when you're trying to find the mind and will of God.
31-43 wow. Things aren't always as they seem! I mean you would think our good God would be happy with Ahab for being merciful to this man. But what was probably really happening was not an act of mercy but of personal gain. Ahab knew that the king would be more use to him alive than dead now that he was in a position to bargain. So thinking he had conquered the problem, he allowed the problem to go on existing, and now the Lord is displeased with him for not finishing the task given to him and God is requiring his life for it, or possibly God is explaining what the true results will be of his decision - not gain but loss for not obeying the Lord. When you're in a battle and God gives you victory over the problem, be sure to finish it. If God delivers a person from pornography, they need to not assume it's ok now because they got victory, but go ahead and finish burning all the magazines and locking down the internet.
1 Kings 21
1-6 Don't be like Ahab, sitting in the palaces and still coveting a poorer man's vineyard. Be like Paul - content in whatever situation you find yourself, sing praise even in the prison cell. Ahab had a sickness of the mind because he had forgotten all he had and focused only on the one thing he wanted but didn't have. What a retard! But so often I'm the same way.
7 - we can learn a good lesson from Jezebel - she understood authority. Even though it was wrong, she knew that her authority could make this happen. Don't let stuff get you down that you have authority to rule.
10 - This is very similar to how they killed Jesus - made him a public figure, honored him, then brought in false witnesses to say he blasphemed God, then violently killed him. Not sure what significance this has.
8-15 Jezebel was a woman of great moral depravity. She had no problem killing this man for his property. She hated the true God and did everything in her power to eradicate HIM from her nation. She had become so corrupt that she didn't bat an eye at this atrocious frame, false accusation, and cold blooded murder; all for the sake of a vineyard! America has a spirit like Jezebel among it. I see it in our politicians (Hillary), I see it in our news, I see it in our entertainment. The only thing that will take America back from her is the true prophets and apostles of God coming back and equipping the church to be the force it's supposed to be.
25 - What an influence a mate can have on us. More reason to give long thought and consideration to whom you choose as a lifelong partner.
1 Kings 22
5-7 It is a good and wise King who honors and seeks the Word of the Lord and doesn't accept some watered down fake word given by men who profess to be prophets but are not. Keep seeking till you get a REAL Word from God.
8 - how typical. Don't hate the messengers of God (apostles, pastors, evangelists, prophets, teachers) because they have a negative word for you. Instead hate the sin that makes God have to be negative toward you. Fix the sin and see if the messengers' message doesn't change. Or you could surround yourself with 400 fake prophets who will prophecy a good word to you no matter how wicked you are, just like Ahab (vs. 6).
8 - notice how few the true prophets of God numbered against the number of false prophets (400 to 1). In an evil day like Ahab's false prophets were abounding. We need to be so careful to know those who minister among us.
11-12 Just because it sounds good doesn't make the prophesy right. Just because a sermon is fiery or intellectual doesn't make it right. Oh how the devil mimics the prophets and other good things of God. Be careful little ears what you hear, and be careful little heart what you believe. Be careful little mind to test every word spoken by the Word of God.
13-14 Behold the mark of a true prophet. Peer pressure means nothing to him and sparing people's feelings can't justify holding back God's Word. He must be true to the Word of the Lord.
19-23 Wow. What a difficult passage. Difficult because it's hard to imagine God doing this. It messes with our theology and view of God. The commentaries say this is a figurative prophecy, yet there is no indication in the text that it is so, and certainly there is a literalness about the lying spirit in the prophets. There are other such times when God is seen in the Old Testament messing with men in such ways: hardening Pharaoh's heart, the tormenting spirit on Saul. I notice a trend - they're all kings. My best interpretation of this passage is that God can and will steer the hearts of Kings and manipulate situations around them to cause His purposes to be fulfilled. When a king or ruler signs up for the job, you put yourself in a position to not be treated as an individual by God, but as a demi-god who is at war with God if indeed you lead the people of God astray. All's fair.
2 Kings
2:2-6 I notice the repetition of Elisha’s faithfulness in spite of opposition from Elijah (pretend opposition). Faithfulness to a spiritual father will get you his anointing. I also notice the sons of the prophets are good at hearing right but they are bad at knowing when to speak what they hear.
2:10 When Elisha asked for the anointing to fall on him, Elijah gave the condition of that happening. Amazingly the work to make that happen had already been done. Because of his faithfulness and persistence Elisha had already made it through the three cities where he faced discouragement but stayed with Elijah. Persistence pays off.
2:11 Once before the law a man was taken up to heaven (Enoch). It happened again in the law (Elijah). Once it happened in the gospels (Jesus). Guess who’s next!
2:14 The danger in this spiritual father movement is the tendency to get our eyes on man instead of God. It would seem a big part of the father’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen. I see Elisha had it right because after Elijah was taken up he says, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” instead of asking, “Where is Elijah?”
6:8-23 Oh I’ve got to get to where Elisha was at! He just saw everything prophetically. He heard the words of foreign threats speaking in their private chambers, he saw the reality of the spiritual realm more than the reality of the physical realm (“those who are with us are more than those with them”) and whatever he asked God for he got! Kings even recognized his authority and called him master. I believe that today Christians can get to that place, but there must be a great price or else we would all be there.
Proverbs
16:1 The Lord promises that if we will do the preparation of our hearts and stay ready, that he’ll give us the answers we need when we need them.
Job 12
13-25 This section would make good material for prayer for government officials - whether praying for the good officials (with Him is wisdom and strength, counsel and understanding; He makes a nation great, enlarges nations, guides them) or for praying out of office bad officials (he makes fools of judges, overthrows the mighty, takes away the understanding of the chiefs and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness)
Job 13
5 Sometimes the best thing to do when someone is grieving or hurting is to just be there and be silent, don't feel like you have to say something. How much better for Job had his friends just been silent encouragers.
20-21 What a strange balance - just like the sun has to be a just the right distance from the earth so as not to burn us up or freeze us to death, God has a balance of Himself that we can handle...too much of His glory and we'd surely die, and if He were to withdraw from us completely we'd die still.
Job 41
The main idea God seems to be getting across to Job is that no matter how big you think you are, Leviathan is bigger…and so how much more the creator of both you and Leviathan.
Jeremiah
1:4 Jeremiah uses the phrase “the word of the Lord came to me” a lot throughout his book. It came at 1. Jeremiah’s calling (vs.4), 2. in times of reassuring Jeremiah (vs 7-10), 3. when God stated His case against Israel (vs 14ff). How we need the Word of the Lord to come to us in times like this!! All our lives we must be eating a steady diet of the WOTL.
1:5 Compare this verse with Is. 49:1 and Galatians 1:15. Both Isaiah and Paul knew they had been called before birth as well. God declares HE is the one who forms the baby in the womb…it’s not just a mass of cells, it’s a masterpiece of God in progress. And not only is He forming the baby, He is also already calling out that child’s future destiny and calling, even to the point of sanctifying and setting him apart. And could it be that God called and ordained me before I was born or even conceived?
1:5 If God ordains you what other ordination do you need? This lines up with what I’ve been getting from God lately about not having time to worry about Masters degrees or putting a lot of time into getting licensed. If He anoints and calls me, the credentials of men are not priority.
1:6-8 Jeremiah didn’t think he was right to speak to the leaders of Israel being that he was a youth. Culture says it’s not right for a youth to speak to adults in the way God was calling Jer to speak. But when God sends you on a mission, His sending supersedes what’s right in the customs of men. Paul said, “Let no one despise you because of your youth.” We should not discredit what our youth preach at us because obviously God likes to use them. What a great verse for young people who feel too low on the totem pole or too inexperienced to minister.
1:6-8 Jer focused at first on his physical condition, seeing through eyes of the natural and identifying himself by his issue, “I am a youth”. But God corrects him and says, “Do not say ‘I am a youth’…For I am with you…” God had to help Jer to get his focus off the natural and onto the supernatural, and also to get his identity from “youth” to “one called by God from his mother’s womb”. At first he focused on his limitation which led to hesitation and reservation. But then God promises to be with him and declares that he will speak all that God gives him to speak and says, “Do not be afraid of their faces”. Don’t let your limitations make you afraid of man. If God sends you you’re not limited by your own issue. You’re only limited to God’s resources – which are infinite.
1:9 This is so similar to the calling of Moses who at first focused on his limitations and God had to get him past that. Both of them He promised they would speak HIS word (not their own). See Ex 4:12
1:10 God sent Jer to “root out and to pull down, to destroy and to thrown down, to build and to plant.” Compare that to 2 Cor. 10:4-5, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” So Jer’s calling is now our calling and we are called and EQUIPPED with the tools or weapons needed to fulfill it. So limitations are no issue. And as God promised Jer that He would put His word in his mouth, God has given us His word and it enables us to do this destroying and throwing down warfare (Heb 4:12). He also promises to honor our words and proclamations (Matt 18:18).
1:10 It doesn’t matter if you’re a little old lady in a little rundown economy apartment or nursing home somewhere, or if you’re a junior higher in your youth group’s prayer room, if God says He has set you over kingdoms and over nations, then you are more than meets the natural eye, and you have a responsibility to it.
1:17 After God told Jer the severity of the message He was going to give him for Israel, I’m sure Jer probably got a little intimidated again thinking of how the men of Israel would react when he began to deliver such a condemning message of doom. But knowing this, the Lord reminded Jer who he should fear more – the men of Israel or God. And he said, “speak all I command you.” Many times the Lord has given me a word that I was afraid to speak, but He demands I speak ALL and reminds me to be more afraid of Him than of them.
2:2-3 You can hear the heartbreak of a Father or of a lover as He says this. And see how that Israel brought Him glory and pleasure when she was faithful to Him. We can bring such glory and pleasure to Him or we can bring such heartbreak. In the first part of verse 2 you see how much God loves to be pursued. When we gut up early for prayer, stay late in the altars at church, stay after Him in the Word, turn off the ungodly and pursue Him, it Him brings a lasting memory of love between us.
2:2 I see in this a reflection of my story. How that in the beginning of my relationship with Him (my youth, my betrothal) I went after Him and pursued Him. After a few years and He began to heal a lot of things in my life I began to enjoy my new found freedom and popularity and went after other “lovers” and left Him behind (in my heart, not in deliberate action or decision). I spent more time pursuing the praise and approval of men, seeking friends more than I sought Him. And though He didn’t send an army from the North upon me to recompense me, I did eventually find His presence was gone from my life and it was punishment enough. This is why in Revelation He says “repent and do the things you did at first.” I had to return to this kind of pursuit I had in my youth and in my “betrothal”. And ultimately this is the intention of all this book of Jeremiah and all the doom God put in Jeremiah’s mouth – to try and get Israel to return to her first love.
2:5-8 God knows what it’s like to be abandoned and betrayed, even before Jesus had to go through it. Vs 5 He’s hurt that the leaders in Israel have quit pursuing Him and rather gone after idols of their own making. Vs 6 the leaders don’t even remember what all God did for them. In vs 8 He’s even been abandoned by the priests and betrayed by His prophets. God’s capacity to hurt is huge, and our ability to hurt Him seems to stretch pretty far.
2:1-9 This description also fits America whose fathers started out with a pursuit of God and then somehow along the way she forgot and went after other gods of her own making.
2:13 When you live beside a flowing stream that never stops flowing there’s no reason to dig wells. When you have God, the fountain of living water, inside you, and you forsake that for trying to dig wells that are dry are you not a fool? Water here is symbolic of life and fulfillment. He is life, He is our ultimate happiness and fulfillment. And yet we would sometimes rather try to find life in things of the world at the cost of leaving the fountain of life behind. What lunacy.
2:19 This is a very encouraging statement here in the midst of all this charge brought against Israel. God says, “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you.” I pray this over my sons and daughters who have fallen away, who have left the fountain of life to try and make cisterns that can’t hold any water. May their own wickedness and backslidings correct and rebuke them to the end that they may wake up and see they’re eating out of the pigs slop and could be eating at the Master’s table.
2:25 This attitude of hopelessness and depravity which says, “I have loved aliens and after them I will go” or in the modern application, “I have failed God and I love my sin and after my sin I will go,” is an attitude I’ve seen in my own wayward kids.
2:31 This brings a word to the modern day church who is supposed to be the bride of Christ. But what bride can forget to make herself look good for her wedding day? This bride has forsaken her own glory, Christ himself. She has run after wisdom of man, programs and earthly strategies and forsaken true spirituality.
2:36-37 Israel was told by God at the beginning that He’d help them in all their wars against other nations and keep them if they’d keep His commandments. But instead they did not keep His commandments and went looking for other peoples to be their ally and increase their military strength. They tried to find safety and help in the wrong places – in treaties and relationship with men. That’s why Isaiah said, “Put no more trust in man who has only the breath in his nostrils. What is he really worth?” Every time their trust in man failed them. How applicable to our lives today. We want to trust everything in the world but God and turn to everything except God for strength. The church wants to trust in its fine sounding choir, the lovely flower arrangements in front of the stage, the beautiful building, the great programs built by men and the $100,000 preacher they bought to fill their pulpit. Those things might work if all they need is to fill the church with upper middle class who will tithe a lot, but they will fail when a heroine addict walks into their church looking to be set free. We as individuals want to trust in our allies of money, good job, insurance, 401K, social security, our church, the nice car and house we’ve paid for or are paying on, our relationships, our hobbies, our talents, our plans. All these might work if all we want is to not be poor or to be entertained, but the minute the doctor says, “It’s cancer” all these allies will start to come up short. Who are your allies? Where is your trust? (see vs 23)
3:1 Now God makes it more personal and compares Israel to a wife that played the slut and left her husband to jump from lover to lover and then try to come back to her husband. I think God really does take it this seriously. I think He’s trying so many ways to express to Israel what she’s done to Him, the way He feels, the way He hurts. No one illustration can capture the heart of God, but by using so many different comparisons He can come closer to getting her to understand His heart. And so He feels equally strong for me and for the Church today.
3:3 Israel “polluted the land with her harlotry and wickedness” and for that reason God withheld the showers and the latter rain. Why does revival tarry? Because of our wickedness. We pray for showers of blessing, we pray for the latter rain, but God said there was more involved than praying hard for it, He said if we will “humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and TURN FROM OUR WICKED WAYS”. We have to meet all the conditions if we want to receive the promise. We have to fill the whole prescription if we want to be cured of our disease.
3:15 Part of the wickedness in fallen Israel was the false prophets who tickled the ears of the people and told them what they wanted to hear. Part of the promise of restoration if Israel will turn back to God is shepherds who will feed them with knowledge and understanding, shepherds with God’s heart. God, help me be a shepherd with your heart, who feeds my youth with knowledge and understanding!
3:16-17 No longer do we have to live on the victories and visitations of the past. Now we can become the present day habitation of the Lord! And when that happens the heathen will be drawn to His presence.
3:18 During her defeated and fallen time, Israel was a divided kingdom. Part of the promise of restoration was the kingdom coming together again. The church is currently so divided in her fallen state, while she comes so short of God’s intentions for her. Make us one!
3:22 Something about the very act of backsliding itself brings conviction and condemnation. Earlier in 2:19 he said “your own backslidings will rebuke you.” Now here in the promise of “restoration if…”, He says “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” The very backsliding has to be healed, the backsliding that before rebuked them, I would say it implies a thorn or splinter in their flesh that wore at them and caused great discomfort…it keeps a person in a backslidden state from being able to find true peace or comfort. The concept reminds me of the words He spoke to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, “You have left your first love. Remember therefore the height from which you have fallen.” Could it be the knowledge of the height of where you’ve been compared to the lowliness of where you are now as a backslidden Christian that serves as a constant rebuke in your mind and heart?
4:3 “Break up your fallow ground,” The word “fallow” implies neglect or farmland that has not been seeded. Since He tells them to break it up I think He’s talking about ground that has been neglected and left alone for a while, especially since the next phrase implies it has grown wild, “And do not sow among thorns.” To repent and return to the Lord we must allow the ground of our hearts to break, to be turned over and weeded. To sow seed into the thorny soil of our rebellious hearts would be a waste. We must first work with God to change our hearts, to have a pure heart free of thorns and weeds and a heart that is ready to receive the seeds. The thought is carried on in 4:4a where the idea is cutting away the junk off their hearts.
Jeremiah 2:19, 24 - here is a picture of how God pursues the sinner or the Christian with idols in his life. Sometimes he lets our own wickedness correct us. Our backslidden state will frustrate us with its emptiness and loneliness for God. Eventually the idol we have chosen to put before God will seen an evil and bitter thing. And notice that our problem in the first place is that we didn't fear Him. Then in verse 24 He compares us to a wild donkey in heat who runs all over the mountains chasing lovers (idols) at any opportunity. The one phrase "Those who seek her will not weary themselves, In her month they will find her" shows us that God knows better than to try and ask us to come back during our season of "heat" when we're going hard after selfish pursuits. Rather if we chose to leave Him he'll wait until the fruit of our idolatry has slowed us down and made us still (we've hit rock bottom). Then He'll come after us.
26 - Christians who are in sin are often like a thief - they won't confess they're doing wrong until they're caught red handed. Don't be surprised if you beloved youth act like you don't know what you're talking about when you try to confront them. You have to catch them or prove to them how their actions have impacted them, others, and God.
28 - We often have a multitude of gods or idols we put before God. But when trouble comes which "god" do we turn to? None of them, we turn to the True God. Why let idolatry take root in your life to the point where God has to allow or bring trouble on you to get you right again? Stay true.
30 - Even God couldn't correct his children. Don't take it as a personal failure when you lose a student here and there. If they chose to not be corrected but kill their prophet (you) instead, then there's nothing you can do about it.
Jeremiah 3:15 - Oh God, help me be a shepherd according to your heart! Help me feed your peeps with knowledge and understanding. And by the way, back on verse 10, help me to be yours with my whole heart and not in pretense. And help me discern those who are yours in pretense and those who are wholly yours.
16-17 Here's prophecy of the day when we no longer have to have a symbol of God's presence like the ark, but we will be the ark, the temple of God.
Jeremiah 4:3-4 - This seems to be to the men. 1. "break up the fallow ground and not sow among thorns." How incredible that Jeremiah makes reference to a parable that Jesus would give yet for hundreds of years! If your heart is hardened and you have no fear of God all the sermons and Bible studies will never make it into the good ground of your heart where it can produce fruit. 2. Here he tells us the true meaning behind circumcision. This is unusual for the old testament to so clearly explain the symbolism in itself. It's all about the heart; cutting away the dead, wasted, useless shell over your heart. 3. If we don't do this, there is hell to pay.
19 - Jeremiah is pained to think of the coming horrors of judgments. Yet because of his love for the people, he can't hold his peace. He has to tell them, he has to sound the alarm. We don't like to think of hell and so we never talk of it.
23-26 Is this a prophecy of a coming judgment so severe that it shakes the earth: shakes the mountains, transforms the landscape, man and beast having fled, and Jerusalem laid flat?
Jeremiah 5:2 - Just because someone talks like a Christian doesn't mean they are. Beware of those whose talk doesn't match their walk - judgment is on the way for them.
3 - Just like in the tribulation people hardened their hearts and would not return no matter how great the wrath and judgment.
20 - 31 How currently relevant as we are the people without understanding and who have eyes and see not (eyes in the Bible have to do with understanding, ears have to do with wisdom) and we are the people who fear not the Lord.
22-24 It would be much easier for the Israelites if they would decide to fear God simply by the very evident signs of His greatness in everyday life, such as how He gives rain (vs. 24) or how He holds back the oceans (vs. 22). Since they do not fear God based on these everyday acts of might, they must go through something much worse before they repent and turn to Him. At least they eventually repent, though. In Revelation we see a group of people in the tribulation who never turn to God no matter how bad it gets. How it displays the three choices before each of us. 1. See the evidence of Him all around you and come to Him. 2. Refuse to listen to reason and run from God like Jonah, and when the storms of life have all but swallowed you up, then finally repent and turn to Him. 3. Harden your heart like the people in Revelation and never find the Love of the Father, choosing hell over eternal life with God who loves you.
25 - How many blessings do we miss out on because of our sins? Very key principle here. Sin withholds God’s goodness from us. What an abundance of blessing and goodness the Father has laid up for His kids if we’d only obey. But sin holds them back.
26 - 31 Surprisingly this reminds me of some ministers among God's people: wicked men among the people, setting traps, full of deceit, become great and rich, grown fat and sleek, do not plead the cause (of the fatherless and needy) while they themselves prosper. These are they which prophesy falsely and rule by their own power. Yet the people love it. Maybe we still want a king like Israel of old.
31 In a long list of wicked things going on in Israel He mentions prophets who prophesy falsely, that is preachers who incorrectly handle the Word of God (through the intellect of men, preaching their own opinions and making the Word conform to them). And it mentions priests who rule by their own power. How we have struggled to do church by our own power. Most churches would never know if the Holy Spirit left them (or didn’t know when the Holy Spirit left them) because they’re able to do everything own their own power and are not at all depending on the Holy Ghost. And what’s even more sad is, like it says here in this verse, the “people love to have it so.” And the question we must ask ourselves to wake up out of this slumber is, “what will you do in the end?”
Jeremiah 6
8 “Be instructed” indicates they would not listen. I know well the frustration of trying to teach and correct (help) a student who refuses to be instructed. There comes a time when you eventually just decide to quit “throwing pearls before swine” or quit investing your life into someone who doesn’t want it. Similarly with God, He threatens them that if they continue in their stubbornness He will depart from them. The language is interesting, “lest My soul depart from you”, which almost seems worse – like His heart just gives up on them.
10 Continuing with the idea of students or kids that won’t listen, He goes on to explain that Israel’s ear is uncircumcised to the point that they can’t obey because they can’t even hear! Oh that we would circumcise our ears to hear the Word of the Lord!! I believe this describes so many of us, even ministers.
10 - Just like in Israel, before their judgment, the modern American church in large refuses to hear the Word of the Lord. I'm so thankful there are some rising up who are hearing, now if we will just obey what we hear! The rest of the church is like this scripture - "the word of the Lord is a reproach to them, they have no delight in it."
13 - When the Lord said DO NOT Covet, I think he must have mean more than just burning jealousy. I think the standard is simply be satisfied with what God blesses you with. If I can't minister or spend time with God because of my preoccupation with material gain, or striving to get what someone else has, then I'm coveting. Coveting may also have to do with wishing we had this or that ability, skill, or spiritual gift. Here coveting is one of the big reasons for God pouring out His judgment on his people.
14 - And we need to be careful to not comfort people with lies. Sometimes it seems like saying whatever will make them feel better is okay, but no so.
15 - Even though sin is sin, God seems to appreciate it when we at least admit our guilt and are ashamed of it, but when you get to the point where you can sin and not even blush or be ashamed, watch out. It's about time for God to take corrective action.
You could make a whole list of warning signs of God's judgment from this chapter and they would at least include: they don't hear God's voice, the word of God is a reproach to them, they're given to covetousness, they prophecy falsely things the people want to hear, no shame of their sin, refusal to walk in the godly ways of their forefathers, refusal to listen to the prophets warnings.
15-17 Listen to the stubbornness of Israel’s hearts. When your heart gets like this, you’re close to God taking action against your stubbornness. In vs. 15 they are not even ashamed at their sin, their “abomination”. In vs. 16 He invites them to stand in the right way that the righteous men of the path walked in and they refuse. By the way this one has a promise with it, “you will find rest for your souls”. Everyone who is weary of running from God and living the painful life of the world’s ways is invited to find rest for their souls by turning back onto God’s path. In vs. 17 the watchmen are warning and they are so hard hearted that they refuse to listen. If a child so stubbornly refuses to listen and obey he indeed deserves punishment. If your heart is so hardened and if you act so stubbornly in your sins, know that God is right and just to bring correction.
20 Oh and just like the American church largely meets these warning signs, they still do church, apparently Israel was still doing church even in their deteriorated state as God mentions their offerings, but tells us their offerings were not acceptable and meant nothing to Him. How many of our church services actually mean something to God?
Jeremiah 7
7:3 If he is talking about making them dwell in the Temple as it would seem from the context then this is a prophetic scripture about the way we live now, since Jesus, where the temple of God is our very own selves. So He fulfilled the scripture even beyond what He said in that He promised they would dwell in His presence, but not only that but His presence dwells in us!
8 - Be careful whose words you trust in. The words of the wrong man may lead you into judgment. Especially those who's words are soothing and tell it's ok, you're ok, we're all ok. Be more quick to trust the words of men who spur you on to higher heights and deeper depths in holiness.
7:23 He gave certain commandàpromise patterns to their forefathers about obedienceàblessing/relationship with God, but they didn’t listen or obey.
22-24 Any time we listen to our hearts (deceitful and wicked) instead of the voice of the Lord, we will always go backward and not forwards.
7:24 In Jeremiah 17 is the awesome verse that informs us that our hearts are wicked and deceitful. It’s sad to know, but so helpful to be aware of how bad advice it is to tell someone to “follow their heart” or “just do what your heart says”. Here is what happens when you do that. The forefathers mentioned here followed their evil hearts and went backwards instead of forwards! And what they could have done to prevent this is in the first part of the verse – they could have inclined their ear to the voice of the Lord and followed His counsel.
7:25-27 God sent his prophets daily to them but they never listened but rather stiffened their necks against God. Sometimes God’s ministers have to accept the fact that those they have been laboring for have made their decision and will not come around. In that case they must realize their work was done for God and not for the people, and that the work was not wasted. God can say with all justice that He sent his prophets and did everything to warn them, but they chose their own punishment.
27 - You must never leave the post to which the Lord has assigned you. Even if the people you minister to are stiff-necked and have refused to listen, you must continue. It may be that you will serve as the means by which they will be justly judged (in that God can rightfully say he sent his prophet, but they did not listen) but you must man your post.
Jeremiah 9
23-24 - I must be very careful to not glory in my wisdom. I've prayed diligently for wisdom and God has been faithful to bestow a little of it to me. And wisdom is so tangible to me. Perhaps because before I had absolutely none and now this is such a difference, I can so tell this is something completely new. Since I'm so aware of its presence I make mention of it probably more than I should. It's as bad as a strong man boasting of his muscles or the rich man boasting of his money. If you boast in it, you've put your focus and probably your trust in it.
Jeremiah 10:11 - This one sentence is in the Chaldean tongue while the rest of the book is n Hebrew. It serves as a preparation as to how they should answer their pagan captors when they try to influence the Israelites toward worshipping wood and stone idols. And since the principles are forever we can learn something about how to answer our nonchristian friends who try to influence us toward sin and sinful ways. We shall answer them with the eternal picture in mind. What lasts and what doesn't. What's just for a season and what's for eternity.
14-15 Indeed how many things do we serve and invest into that are completely meaningless and temporary, while we fail to serve and invest in things that are eternal. It's not just an argument for nonchristians but also an everyday battle for the Christian.
16 Keep your eyes on this fact, that by investing yourself in what's eternal, though in the short term it may not be pleasant, your inheritance is the Maker Himself. That's a reward the world will never understand until they know Him.
21 Oh heck yeah! When our shepherds, our ministers, become dull-hearted and do not seek the Lord we will not grow. God help our ministers to stay focused, stay hungry, stay dependent on Him.
21 This has to be metaphoric for shepherds as in spiritual leaders. When spiritual leaders become dull-hearted and fail to seek the Lord we cannot expect to succeed or have flocks that prosper spiritually. Rather our flocks will be scattered and the people will suffer for our own lack of spiritual fervor.
23 Free will or predestination? Hard to balance and verses like this don't make it any easier. Apparently there is at least some degree to which God controls the affairs of men.
23 Man tries to do things his own way and find his own path, but we were not made to be able to do that. We were made to be a sheep following the Shepherd of our souls. He has the right way for us and it’s up to us to follow Him.
Jeremiah 11:14 - If we pray according to His will, He hears us. We have to be careful to know what His will is so our prayers aren't falling on deaf ears. It would seem right to pray for the restoration of Israel after God punished them, but it was no good. His will was decidedly against them, to punish them. No prayer would have been heard for them.
Jeremiah 12:1 Good to know people have asked these kind of questions from the very beginning, even back when God was doing crazy awesome stuff and his existence wasn't a question. It's ok to not understand all the reasons why.
12:2-3 He let them prosper so they would fall harder? Kinda like fattening up the very cow you intend to slaughter. She gets the most and best food for a while and it seems she's the favorite, but then the farmer slits her throat.
Jeremiah 13
1-9 Oh man, don't let God have to ruin your pride. What a horrible picture of God causing one to waste away in seclusive nothingness, meaningless. Stir up a holy fear of God and deal with your pride before it gets to that point....Actually, it kind of reminds me a little of the situation I've been in for the last 4 years. Not that it's anything like the punishment Israel had, but doing what I'm doing during the last 4 years really seems like a wasting away in meaninglessness to me. Perhaps this time is to ruin my pride before I'm allowed to go into ministry.
1-11 We were made fashioned to cling to God and in doing so we find we are profitable, in our calling. When we refuse to cling to Him we are profitable for nothing. Reminds me of Jesus’s words, “Without me you can do nothing”.
Jeremiah 15:1 When God thinks of great intercessors He thinks of Moses and Samuel. It would be interesting to study their lives with the question in mind, "what made them such great intercessors?". Cross reference points to Ezekiel 14:14 where God point out three men He thinks of when He thinks of righteousness: Job, Daniel, and Noah. Again it'd be fun to see what they all had in common to earn them that incredible place in the heart and mind of God. I can think of one thing off the top of my head - humility. All of them thought not of self when they served God in the face of persecution and ridicule.
14:7-15:4 Jer prays for the people that God has decreed judgments on. God says don’t pray for them – I won’t relent. Even after the people start to cry out for mercy, His face is still set away from them and He says even if Moses (who once turned the wrath of God) and Samuel were here to intercede for them, He would still destroy. Moses had changed God’s mind in a similar situation, but it was dissimilar in that this time God will not be convinced. “My Spirit will not strive with man forever,” God said in another place. There comes a time when God just can’t let it go on any longer. He came to that point with this generation of Israelites. There will come that time again. It’s already decided.
*Based on chapter 18 it seems that God reaches this point only when the people have become so stiff necked that they will not repent when given the opportunity, even though judgments have been decreed against them (like Pharaoh). So with that in mind, it’s really just as much the people who have refused to relent as God.
Jeremiah 17:14 If the Lord heals you then you are truly healed. If he saves you, you are truly saved. And let there be no other praise in my life but Him - not myself, nor the people sitting around me in church. Just Him.
19-27 What great promises God gives if they observe the Sabbath. And likewise, what great threats if they don't. I can see how the Pharisees would get such a great legalism about the Sabbath. There has to be a balance between making it a legalism and making it so nonchalant as we do. What can I do to observe the Sabbath properly? One thing that comes to mind is not eating out after Sun morning church since that supports corporate America's disobedience to the Sabbath.
Jeremiah 18:7-8 When the Bible talks of God repenting, it certainly doesn't mean that he has changed His mind about decision that were made by the orchestrator of the universe. Rather, all God's threatening to Israel had a condition. If they would meet the conditions (if they would repent) then God would turn back from His the punishment He threatened.
9-10 And it works in reverse too. If he planned good to you and you turn into sin, then He will "repent" of the good He had for you too!
18 Jeremiah represents the true church, the only one left following God and actually hearing from Him. But the people say let's persecute Him because we have the law and the prophets and the priests. They trusted in their religious status and represent the false church. And so it always is that the false church persecutes the true church.
18:1-12 All of us have at some point been that vessel in the making that got marred on the Potter’s wheel. But when we get back on track and keep going He continues to fashion us into a vessel of honor. All hope is lost if we ever get so frustrated and give up like Israel and say, “That is hopeless! So we will walk in our own plans…” To give up on God is to give up on truth and life.
20:1-6 Don’t be like Pashhur who can’t take correction from the prophet, but rather backlashes on the prophet. Judgment is laid up for those who can’t receive correction.
20:7-18 Jer is lamenting his plight in ministry and throwing one of the best pity parties I’ve ever been to. He tried to stop prophesying but couldn’t hold the Word of God inside. He focuses for a bit on God’s faithfulness to him, but ends up back in some serious self-pity. Two things – 1. Can those I minister to relate to his feelings? 2. God didn’t explode on him in a fit of impatience. Rather, He seems to stand by and let him have his pity party.
23:1-4 God is making the shepherds of his people account for not doing their job, for not protecting and raising up the people. He promises that after all the correction of dispersion, He will raise up for the people shepherds who will feed them. God let us be a generation of shepherds who really feed Your people – spiritual meat!
23:7-8 For generations we have lived on the testimony of great men of God of the past who did mighty exploits and performed many miracles. Men like Finney, Wesley – the Generals of God’s armies of yesteryear. But like the Israelites there is coming a day when we will no longer have to look at what God did for our forefathers to realize He is alive and well, but we will look at what He did yesterday, in our living room – lame person He healed while we prayed for them, the eyes opened during worship, the dead girl He raised up last night as we danced around her grave at the cemetery. Those old stories of Wigglesworth hitting a guy in the stomach and his cancer being healed and all the rest will seem not so glamorous when it’s common place in our own lives.
23:9-15 After calling the pastors (shepherds) to account and judgment, He now turns to the false prophets. They also let Him and the people down and will be judged. We should remember how He holds his ministers in higher accountability before we presume to be one.
23:16 One characteristic of the false prophet is he speaks a vision from his own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord. It’s popular among prophetic circles to clear our minds and let our imaginations take us to realms of visions and speak them as prophetic experiences. We have to be so careful that what we speak as prophetic are not just visions from our own hearts (or worse) – this practice is strongly condemned in verse 16.
23:21-22 If these false prophets who spoke peace and safety when God was speaking judgment and punishment were so abundant in the land and true prophets like Jer were so few then it behooves us to look at our land and wonder if we have 10 false prophets for every 1 true prophet. Where is the TRUE Word of the Lord? We must not be satisfied with our ear tickling preachers that tell us how to be rich and successful and feel good about ourselves. The Israelites were satisfied with that and they were judged harshly. We must be on a search for the TRUE Word of God like a man who will die without it.
23:25-28 If a prophet’s dreams and visions are not pointing and glorifying Jesus then the dreams are leading people away from Him and are not of God.
29:11-14 We use this verse so much to comfort ourselves about God’s good intentions toward us and promises of a bright future, but it’s not until just now that I realized the situation in which this comfort is given. It’s given in the midst of God’s harsh discipline and punishment for sin. Oh that we could remember God’s good intentions and promise of a hopeful future in the middle of discipline!
Jeremiah 31
31:3 He draws us with loving-kindness.
31:7-8 Here is a picture of worship with shouts and rejoicing mixed with intercession which moves the Lord to action (warfare). He commands this and then promises to answer the prayers.
31:15-17 Rachel’s voice was heard weeping bitterly for her children taken away, she refused to be comforted. God says they are coming back and she is being rewarded for her work. But what work? Her crying and weeping? Her refusing to be comforted? That’s all we’ve seen her do here so I don’t see anything else it could be talking about. Intercession will be rewarded. True intercession when you feel the burden of God’s heart toward the thing you’re praying about to the point that through tears and weeping you refuse to be comforted until He gives you that release. I would apply this scripture and these principles to praying for Abortion to end in America. (This is a little out of context of the actual situation where the kids were taken captive and God says they’ll be back, but then so was it out of context when the gospels applied it to Caesar killing all the Jewish babies).
31:18-20 This passage about Ephraim is like a teenager who has screwed up bad and is now coming back to God but bemoaning his mistakes and wasted years. God’s heart yearns for that young person and He will surely have mercy on him.
32:6-8 Did even a prophet like Jeremiah need confirmation some times to know for sure he was hearing from God? (vs 8c)
44 – This big chapter deals with the Israelites who feared an invasion and fled to Egypt thinking they would escape the wrath of God, but unfortunately they continued their evil practices of idolatry in Egypt so they jumped from the proverbial kettle into the frying pan. God hunted them down even in Egypt and held them to the same accountability for their sins as He did those in Israel and Judah.
44:16-18 This reminds me of some of the excuses a couple would-be spiritual sons who refused to bow to God have given me. How the man running from God will lie to himself and believe the lie while the truth is right in front of him. I have heard people say, “Every time I start to try to get right with God everything starts going wrong.” The truth is they don’t want to have to change. God starts to clean them up and they don’t like it – they lose their heathen girlfriend and so that’s a calamity to them, their parents give them a curfew or put stronger restrictions on them about who they can run around with and that’s a calamity to them, or maybe they end up at Teen Challenge and that seems like a calamity to them and so all these things that God is doing for their good they take as punishment and decide this God thing isn’t for them after all. Count the cost! How sad for these people here in Jeremiah who believed the word of the prophet for a season and stopped their idolatry and ran to Egypt to avoid the punishment on their nation but then continued idolatry in Egypt. They lied to themselves when the hard times hit and decided that being right with God was harder than living in rebellion. They reaped the rewards of rebellion in the end.
50:6-8 This description of the state of God’s people before judgment fell on them seems to be prophetically describing the state of the church today.
Then comes the command from God, “Move from the midst of Babylon, go out from the land of the Chaldeans; and be like the rams before the flocks.” It’s time for us to get out of our idolatry and get back to where we’re supposed to be. If we get right with God we can from being powerless to being the Ram and the world like the sheep. We can be the ones who influence the culture.
50:20 In the prophecy about the restoration of Israel he says their iniquity would be sought but not be found because He will pardon those whom He preserves. There’s only one way for iniquity to be completely wiped away and that’s through the blood of Jesus. Therefore I think this prophecy is for a future time when Israel is right with Jesus, their Messiah.
50:38 “For it is the land of carved images, and they are insane with their idols.” Sounds like America to me and even sounds somewhat like the church. But it seems most obvious to me that it is the American secular society that has gone insane, so depraved that we kill our young by the thousands per day and it’s legal and even encouraged. So insane that we order monuments taken out of our courts that have to do with not murdering, not stealing, not lying.
Zechariah
4:6 When the task God gives you seems too great, like Zerubbabel trying to rebuild the temple in the face of opposition, know it is not by might or power of human strength and determination but rather by the power of the Holy Spirit.
4:7 Speak to your mountain like the angel here speaks to the opposition and prophesy to it.
4:10 Know that when others see such a small beginning (like doing your first 40 day fast when you’re 30) that the eyes of the Lord are looking and saying, “Who has despised the day of small beginnings?” and rejoice to see the plumb line in your hand.
Mark 1:8 The baptism of the Holy Spirit is foretold here at the beginning and His presence is already made known in verse 10 when He descends on Jesus and His activity and work is already made known in verse 12 when He drives Jesus into the wilderness.
1:12 Interesting how it says the Spirit "drove" Jesus into the wilderness. I looked this original word up and it indicates forcefulness and pushing out into destiny. I wish the Holy Spirit would DRIVE me out into my next level sometimes. But then I may regret saying that...
1 Corinthians 2
1-3 Paul did not come as some great orator, well studied in the writings and doctrines of men, but he determined he would “know nothing” except Jesus and Him crucified while he was among the Corinthians. I believe this has more to do with his personal time which ended up being reflected in his public time. In his personal time with God and preparation for his sermons and ministry time, Paul was getting his revelation from the Spirit of Jesus alone, knowing Him only. Whether the weakness, fear, and trembling was a result of the times or an effect that caused him to spend that time, I don’t know. Either way weakness, fear and trembling causes us to run to God and likewise when we’ve had a real encounter with the raw power of God we often come out with weakness, fear (of God, not of man), and trembling (yet empowered). Oh that I would make this determination every day that I’m with my flock of teenagers who need not to know the wisdom of man but of God.
4-5 The results of such a decision to know Christ only are still not great speaking abilities but the authority with which Paul spoke and the miracles done at his hand were testimony of the realness of God and built his flock’s faith. “Persuasive words of human wisdom” can tickle the ear and maybe the heart, but only the Spirit can shake them to the core and impart faith that is only in the power of God (whereas faith in men can result from the other, it would feel like faith but in the end come up short; sometimes sitting under a great speaker makes you feel inspired and full of faith and makes you want to have him back thinking he did a great job and so he did – for a man – but test whether the inspiration and faith are coming from an appreciation for the man or of God).
6-7 Paul has determined to speak only what he hears. I’m sure he had plenty he coulid preach from that he had learned at the feet of men, after all he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. But Paul had determined to have an ear to hear and he will now speak not from his great learning but from his great hearing!
8-12 These mysteries are things that even the most learned among us cannot know without the Spirit. Only the Spirit knows the mysteries of God, the revelations God has stored us just for us, and so we can only get that kind of revelation from the Spirit alone.
13 Again he instructs us to only speak what we hear from God.
14-16 Be not discouraged if natural man cannot understand your revelation and even think them foolish. They do not have an ear to hear and have no judgment over your revelations. The one who is spiritual (who hears) judges all things, but there is no one on earth but the Holy Spirit who can judge the things you genuinely hear, for you heard it directly from the Holy Spirit and man cannot expect to be able to judge such things. Paul equates that to trying to instruct God. Because we have the mind of Christ (the Holy Spirit) if we have an ear to hear Him.
Hebrews 1
1-2 The contrast here is between the old testament way God spoke (through the prophets in various was an in fragments) and the way He speaks in the New Testament (a complete revelation through his Son who IS the WORD, the embodiment of the full revelation). The emphasis here is Jesus as a son, a position beyond just a prophet. God progressively revealed himself in various times throughout the old testament and in various ways. But none of the prophets got a complete picture. All the revelations did not add up to the fullness of God until God revealed himself through his Son. Where does that put us? Individually it seems that we also come with a partial revelation. Some like Damon Thompson have more revelation than others, but to my experience there is none who have a full revelation of God's word for today. But corporately, the whole body of Christ, still has the full WORD. We are prophets and we are sons. God spoke before through the prophets, then came the fuller revelation in the son who was the Word himself, and now through the Holy Spirit inside us we are his many sons.
This brings another interesting point of God always having to find something to speak to us THROUGH instead of directly - the prophets, His son in flesh, the Holy Spirit. I suppose if He were to speak directly it would disintegrate us or something. But there will come a day when there will have to be no middle person and we'll see Him face to face and hear His voice for ourselves.
Notice also that it was God who took the initiative to speak to us and reveal Himself. He found us, we didn't find Him. Love demanded He reveal His love for us.
1-4 What an overwhelming statement of Christology, explaining who Jesus is:
1:4 Why would it say Jesus "became" superior to the angels? I should think that from verses 2-3 it's clear He's always been higher than the angels. The reason is Jesus voluntarily laid aside His divinity and became one of us. This was no temporary arrangement and He could decide to undo what He'd done later. It's like when Superman gave up his powers to be human - there was no going back, he'd better be sure this is what he wanted. When Jesus died He had no power of His own to rise again. Fortunately for us all the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit did raise Him up and at that time made Him exalted above the angels and gave Him a name above all names. This is my opinion, but I think Jesus is in a different form or existence today than He was before He laid aside His divinity. I think before He was in the same form as God, but now He's still "human" if you will, with a physical body and everything. Only now He's been glorified and His body is transformed like ours will be at the rapture.
1:9 If Jesus is anointed more than anyone with the "oil of gladness" then He must have a most happy and amusing side to His character. Why do we nearly always paint Him as such a sad and depression fellow?
14 - God's angels are "sent forth to minister for" us. What help we have on earth and in the heavens. Any child of God doing the work of God should have no worries about his life. He has the person of the Holy Spirit leading, guiding, correcting, teaching, comforting, communing and all the other things He does. The Christian also has the angels on his side, sent by God himself to minister on our behalf. And of course we have Jesus in heaven as our advocate with the Father, hearing our prayers and interceding for us. Who is there against me!
2 Corinthians 4
1-2 As a minister I must refuse to use shameful ways of deceitfulness, refuse to distort the Word, trying to impress people. I don't have to deceive others into believing I am worth listening to. I am released from the need to impress others!
12 Death is working in me but life is working on my students. As I die to myself more and more, I become more effective in ministry and able to impart His life to them.
2 Corinthians 12
6 The thick sarcasm in this section makes it hard to know how serious he is being in this verse but assuming this is a true statement, it’s interesting to note how that even Paul admitted that he wanted to boast, he wanted to let his spiritual children know some of the spiritual experiences he had had. But he understood that it is wrong and that the image he’d like people to have of him is better than what they would actually see with their eyes and make him fall short of their expectations.
7 So much about Paul’s thorn in the flesh is spelled out here that I’ve never noticed before. First, it was a demon. The word translated “messenger” is usually translated “angel”. An angel from satan is a demon. However, this demon being sent to Paul was used and approved by God. God used this demon to keep Paul from being too highly exalted. I’m not sure if this demon kept him from being exalted in his own eyes or the eyes of the ones he writes to or maybe both. Either way, what put him at high risk of being too highly exalted was the abundance of revelations from God. I pray for revelations a lot but be careful about how my self-perception changes and how others’ perception of me changes as I develop an ear to hear.
10 We all wonder what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was. Well here is a list. Besides being a demon, here is a list of all the ways the demon manifested itself, the hardships it caused him: infirmities (meaning weaknesses of the flesh - not necessarily disease), reproaches, needs (does this agree with scripture that Paul could suffer lack?), persecutions, and distresses. How many of these have I experienced?
12 Are signs, wonders, and mighty deeds the signs of an apostle?
Hebrews 2
1-2 Every word God speaks to us must be given earnest heed. The dispensations before ours didn't have such a great revelation. We have two sources of revelation they didn't have: 1. the gospel of Jesus Christ and the New Testament and 2. special revelation being more abundant by our special relationship with the Holy Spirit in us. Both of these sources of revelation are a blessing but also a reason for us to be accountable as we will be judged by what we do with these. As popular it is for us to talk about our latest revelation, we should do so with fear and trembling, realizing that as we admit we have heard from God, we are obligated to do something about it and act on that word. If we don't, the scripture says we will drift away.
2:2 Notice that "every transgression and disobedience received a just reward". So there it is more clearly that every word from God that isn't obeyed will bring punishment upon you.
2:3 Notice it says if we "neglect" our salvation, not "reject" it. Obviously those who flat out reject the salvation He gives will not escape hell but what about this neglecting? Does this not indicate we already have it and have just stopped caring for it, much in the way that a pet that you own dies if you long enough neglect it?
2:4 If back then they needed God to confirm their witness with signs and wonders, various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, then how do we think we're going to fulfill our mission to witness for Christ without such things? Notice the signs were "various" or diversified. Never focus too much on any one gift or miracle. Also, the signs and wonders were "according to His own will". It's still His decision to give the gifts and who to give them to.
2:5-9 It seems he is saying here that all created things are supposed to be in subjection to us, but in a moment of honest, he admits that that's just now how it really is. Then he points to Jesus as the answer. In the garden God gave Adam (mankind) dominion over everything, but since he (mankind) forfeited that, we now look to our redemption in Jesus as the new start in living the lives we were meant to live, including a life of dominion.
Hebrews 3
1 Jesus is our Apostle and High Priest. And apostle represents God to the people. The High Priest represents the people to God. Jesus fulfills both!
3:7-8 Any time the Holy Spirit speaks we're faced with the choices of listening or hardening our heart. Israel chose to harden their heart and as a result a desert experience that should have only lasted weeks ended up lasting 40 years.
3:16-18 Three stages to sin: 1. provoke (vs 16) means "to provoke, exasperate, to rouse to indignation. 2. Sin (vs 17) means "to miss the mark, to err, to be mistaken, to do or go wrong, to wonder from the right path, to violate God's law". 3. disobedience (vs 18) means "not to allow one's self to be persuaded, to refuse or withhold belief, to refuse belief or obedience." If sin has its final goal we will become obstinately disobedient where we've hardened our heart and refuse to be persuaded. How I've seen this played out in the lives of my spiritual sons.
3:19 The root cause to it all is unbelief.
4:1 Obviously there was a very serious possibility of these Christians falling short of qualifying to enter into His rest. The possibility for backsliding was as real then as it is now.
4:1 It's interesting that the safeguard against apostasy is fear. He says "let us fear" lest any of you come short. Fear of God is the answer for a lot of things so it's very tragic we have so gotten away from it. Indeed how can those who don't even believe in apostasy (that you can fall away) fear God?! It's also interesting that he's fearing for others as well as himself. I could rephrase it, "let me fear, lest any of my students fall short". In other words, let me stay on my knees and as a shepherd over them never let my guard down.
4:2 Those that did not get to enter into His rest because of a lack of faith and obedience were in that condition because the word spoken to them did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith when they heard it. We see different reactions all the time to the same sermon. Some get convicted or highly encouraged and respond well. Others sit there seemingly untouched, as if they totally didn't get the revelation. The problem often with this group is they just didn't believe the message. We had a sermon on healing at youth group and those who believed were asked to come and pray for one of our girls with a back problem. Our students responded with excited and anxious faith because of the message they had just received. But there were a few who still sat by the walls with blank stares on their faces and it was obvious they did not receive the message with faith. And this word says it "did not profit them".
4:2 The same gospel was preached to the same people and still some did not profit. Even Jesus had people in his crowds that did not profit from His messages. Obviously we should not be discouraged when everyone present is not fired up by our sermons. Often that's what we want and look for, but it's actually a somewhat unrealistic expectation, even when you mix it with faith because faith will never override the free will of man.
4:12-13 We so often use this scripture to describe the Word of God as our advocate in spiritual warfare and in witnessing. However the context all make clear that this passage is mainly referring to the nature of the Word of God to pierce us and divide us and judge our thoughts and intents of our hearts. We must make sure to apply this to ourselves first, before getting excited about using it toward others. As W.H. Griffith Thomas says in his commentary on Hebrews, "It is significant that with all that is heard today about Biblical Criticism, the passage suggests the Word of God as the "critic", of our lives, and it is more than probable that if we allowed the Bible to "criticize" us more, we should "criticiz" it a great deal less.
5:7 A few points from this verse: 1)Jesus prayed like we pray on Sunday mornings in intercession - LOUD and EMOTIONAL. 2)Jesus feared God - in the good reverent awe sort of way like we all should. Some translations interpret this for us as "reverent submission", "piety", "godly fear", and "reverent awe". These are all parts of the idea of "the fear of the Lord". 3)God heard Jesus' prayers not because he was loud and emotional but because of "His godly fear". Intercession can be window shatteringly loud and never be heard by God if we don't have godly fear to go with it. Yes, we're to come boldly to His throne, but when we do we'd better not forget who it is we're dealing with.
5:8 Notice that Jesus learned obedience by suffering. 1)Yes, Jesus had to learn obedience. If the temptation to sin was real then he had to decide whether or not he was going to obey God...He didn't come to earth and take on flesh to maintain some sort of Godlike immunity to disobedience; He learned it through suffering. 2.) Suffering teaches us obedience!
5:9 Notice Jesus is the "author of eternal salvation of all WHO OBEY HIM". Belief is not enough. Belief must be active. The demons believe and tremble, but CHRISTIANS believe and obey. So we do find the phrase "eternal salvation" in the Bible but it's linked with obedience, not saying a prayer one time and then living however you want to.
6:1-2 Repentance from dead works, faith toward God, baptisms (water baptism, spirit baptism, fire baptism), laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgments. How important doctrines like these are! And yet the writer calls can't wait to go on to deeper things. In fact he calls them the "elementary principles".
9:1-5 Theologians have several theories as to why Hebrews describes the altar of incense in the O.T. tabernacle as being in the Holiest of Holies when the O.T. is very clear it was in the Holy Place. I have my own opinion, possibly revelation, that even though the writer was recounting history, the present reality is that Jesus had ripped the veil and the people are allowed into the Holy of Holies. The incense always represents the prayer of the saints. Before it had to sit in the Holy Place and let the smoke kinda build up until it started to float over into the Holy of Holies. But now, the people can go right into God's face to offer up their prayers. Yes, Paul was recounting history, but Christ changes history! Everyone knew the incense was in the Holy Place, perhaps this was a clever tactic to make a point to his audience.
9:8 Interesting that it says the Holy Spirit was the one making an object lesson of the Old Testament Tabernacle. So He apparently was an active part of setting up the symbolism in the Old Testament.
9:6-12 Paradox: God calls us near to Him and yet we can't get near Him. (Jesus was the answer to this paradox)
9:14 Interesting that the Holy Spirit empowered or led Christ through the whole crucifixion experience, and helped Him stay spotless so he qualified as the ultimate sacrifice.
10:22 Where they used to be scared of going into God’s presence now they are to “fully trust” him.
22 Instead of sprinkled with the blood of animals they’ve been sprinkled with Christ’s blood and are clean (not just atoned (covered) but cleaned).
22 Washed with water probably is baptism.
10:22-25 Faith(vs22), Hope(vs23) and Love(vs24-25). Because of faith we get to come right into God’s presence, starting with coming to Him at salvation through faith and continuing by a lifelong of coming to Him through faith. Hope has to do with the future promise…probably the return of Christ(vs25b). We are to hold tightly to that hope and keep it close to our hearts. Love in that we actively think of ways that we can encourage and love other believers.
Vs. 22 Action: Draw near
How: Faith in His blood
Vs. 23 Action: Hold fast
How: Hope through His promise
Vs. 24 Action: Consider
each other
How: Love
Hebrews 10:35 Obedience first and then the promise is received.
38 We must not draw back or we are not pleasing to Him. It sucks when people tell you you’re lying. Don’t draw back in disbelief. When you do you’re basically calling Him a liar. (Joel 3:10)
11:1-20 This whole faith chapter talks about a lot of heroes of faith. But I don't think there is a one of them who isn't also known for some big screw up. Thank God He is more impressed with a life of faith than occasional failures!
12:26-29 God has promised a great shaking of not only the earth but also the heavens (demonic strongholds and such). Everything that can be shaken will be and only what cannot be shaken will remain so that we receive a Kingdom which is unshakable. Cross reference this to Haggai 2:4-9. God originally promised here there there would come a shaking of heaven and earth. He'll shake the nations and they come to Him. This is when God gets His name "Desire of the Nations". He also promised to "fill this temple with glory". Later He says "the glory of this later temple shall be greater than the former". What is this later temple if not the church, the true bride, that which survived the shaking.
12:28-29 The only way to acceptably serve God is with reverence and godly fear. The reason we fear Him is because He is a consuming fire.
13:3 "Remember those in prison" refers not just to our current day prison ministry but in the historical context refers to Christians who are being persecuted for their faith. We should remember the Christians being persecuted "as if chained with them" since we are one body.
13:7 Those who rule over you refer to spiritual leaders. In this verse it's referring to former leaders, probably some who had died or been executed (vs 17 refers to current spiritual leaders). Remember the example they left for you and follow their example of faith.
13:8 Because even though they may be gone and new leadership has come onto the scene, Jesus, our head, is the same always - past present, and future - and new leadership doesn't mean we can change everything. We still have one head and we do what HE says do.
How nice to know that Jesus is the same! Right now especially when I have spiritual sons who were once on fire now cold as ice, who once loved me and now want nothing to do with me. I'm so glad that I have at least One whom I know I can give my heart to and be secure in that.
1 John
5:14-15 Confidence in Him. You’re not a thermometer that rises and falls with the circumstances. You are more like the thermostat that regulates the circumstances when you have faith. “We know we have…”