Read it for yourself.

Proverbs 4: 18 says… the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.

Today, December 31- the last day of the year – is typically a day of reflection, a day of examination, a day of resolution. But actually, for the Christian, every day should be a day of resolution – a day to come before God resolved to stay on that path of the just. For many, resolution is a chore, but for the Christian it is a simple, stress-free choice to submit to the will of God, to the ways of God, and to the hand of God. To me, this starts with ‘hearing and doing’.

I have been ‘reading the Bible in a year’ for a number of years (I follow a plan on a Bible app on my cell phone.), and it has changed my life. Spending time each day with the Lord – not rushed, not preoccupied, but attentive to him and his word – keeps me soft, introspective, and focused. And then, as it says in James… I must be a doer of the word, and not a hearer only.

Hebrew 4:12 says… For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Do you want to dig deep and really find out what you are all about? Commit yourself to God’s word, and humbly seek what he is saying to you.

Tomorrow I start on my next round of ‘reading the Bible in a year’, and I can hardly wait! What hidden treasures will I find? What more will I find out about God and his heart – his desires, his ways, his love? Then, change comes naturally.

I hope you will consider daily committing yourself to God’s word. Whether it is on January 1, or on July 13 – it really doesn’t matter. Each day is a choice.

In Zechariah 7: 5,6 the Lord addresses the core of Christianity:

Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, ‘Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto me, even to me?

And when you did eat, and when you did drink, didn’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

It seems like most people, including Christians, go about their day (their life) from one thing to the next, fitting God in when convenient – when, actually, it’s by God’s loving kindnesses that he is willing to fit us into his life! After all, the Bible says for his pleasure we are and were created!

Think of the Lord’s Prayer, in Matthew 6:

Lord, Father, praise you. Have mercy on me. You are holy, righteous, and just. Forgive me Lord from all unrighteousness… that I may come into your presence – humble and bowed down before you. Lord, open my eyes, my ears, and my heart… that I may know you and walk in your ways. Lord, you are my life, my breath, my hope. I pray you draw me closer to you, and help me bring glory to you in all things. Amen

It is pretty amazing that God has adopted us into his family: Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…

… but so very important that we keep accurate perspective: Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…

2 Chronicles 29 records a wonderful move of God in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah. The chapter ends with:

And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people – that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

I love this verse!!

1. When God moves, everyone rejoices!
2. God does the work, and will make preparation!
3. God will move suddenly!

There is much the Lord wants to say to you regarding him moving suddenly in your life, but what I find most important in my life is that I remain prepared – humble, soft to his voice, diligently reading his word, prayerful. Jesus told his disciples a number of times to Watch. Let’s have our prayer to God be, “Lord, move suddenly… and help me be a part.”

Reading in Daniel 6 today, the words to a song came to mind.

The lions’ mouths. The Jericho shout.

There’s nothing too big. There’s nothing too hard.

Behold the salvation of the Lord.

Because, God changes things.

In John 14, 15, & 16, Jesus said…

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

When you pray and believe, nothing can stand in the way of God’s will being done. He can shut the mouths of lions, he can make walls of a city fall down, he can make the sun stand still in the sky, and he can move any mountain you may be facing out of your life. Nothing can stop God. He will change things… for you!

Ezekiel 20 offers insight into the state of the world today. Starting in verse 6, God is saying…

In the day I lifted up my hand unto them (the Old Testament church), to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: Then I said to them, ‘Cast away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God’. But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me…

Verse 13… But the house of Israel (the Old Testament church) rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments… then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them.

Verse 16… Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless my eye spared them from destroying them; neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

The Bible documents how God has been longsuffering with mankind from the very beginning – Adam & Eve, the tower of Babel, Noah and the flood; the list goes on and on.

1 Samuel 8 records Israel asking for a king to judge us like all the nations (do). Verse 7 records… And the LORD said unto Samuel, ‘Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say to you: for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.’

One can only imagine how many times God has seen mankind turn their back on him, his will, his desire, his plan – only to go a different way – and he has responded with, ‘Nevertheless, I will spare them.’

Psalm 86:15 reads…

But thou, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

So why is the world in such a mess? Is anything that is happening in the world actually God’s design? Why did…?

2Peter 3: 9 says:

The Lord is longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Do you want to understand the world around you, and how you fit in? Dig into the Bible, pray for wisdom, pray for understanding. As you listen to preachers (and there are countless preachers!), make sure what they are saying lines-up with the Bible – and if it doesn’t look for another.

And always remember… God is faithful, God is true, and God is for you!

In the midst of speaking to ‘respect of persons’, James (chapter 2) challenges the reader when he asks, Are you not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

It is interesting to think of the progression in this text.

1. A person sees two individuals – a man attired in ‘goodly apparel’, and ‘a poor man’.
2. He mentally acknowledges the difference.
3. He judges (passes judgement on) an ‘evil thought’.
4. He chooses to say to the goodly appareled man, “Sit here in a good place”, and to the poor man, “Stand there, or sit here under my footstool.”

There is one Judge, and his Word must always take precedence over our thoughts.

In Job 11, Zophar says to Job:

But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you; And that he would shew you the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

What ?!?  Because of God’s mercy, none of us are getting what we deserve!

 Back to James, he completes the subject with…

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoices against judgment.

Let’s not be judges of evil thoughts. Instead, let’s be merciful… like our Father.

Has anyone ever asked you something like, “How could God let things like war, hatred, murder, fighting, disease, & suffering happen?”

Actually, that is the wrong question. The right question is… ‘Because of the way mankind has lived – in rebellion, disobedience, refusal, and defiance against God – why hasn’t God destroyed the world?’

The answer to the right question is found in Hosea 11:9…

I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man;…

The Bible says God is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance... and that his lovingkindnesses and compassions are new every morning.

God’s Word is so amazing. Dive in, and read it for yourself!

2Kings 18: 1-6 speaks of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

And he (Hezekiah) did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

Numbers 21 records the incident in which the LORD told Moses to…

‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.’ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Without question, the Lord used the brazen serpent to do a mighty work for the children of Israel. Unfortunately, as people typically do, the children of Israel turned the vessel the Lord used into an idol – exalting it above the Lord. Hezekiah had the insight to call it what it was… Nehushtan – just something made of copper.

What Nehushtans are in your life? Tough question, but important to explore. Things that begin right – even things of God – can easily, as in the case of the children of Israel, turn into idols.

Ps 86: 9-10…

All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou are God alone.

Luke 10: 38-42

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he (Jesus) entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered (distracted with care) about much serving, and came to him, and said, ‘Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.’ And Jesus answered and said unto her, ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Martha hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’

In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains that cares and riches and pleasures of life can choke the Word to the point it becomes unfruitful. It is easy to identify many of the cares Jesus was talking about, but in the case of Martha above, the seemingly good Christian virtue of ‘serving’ had grown to become a care – taking her away from the one thing needful … to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear his Word.

Jesus told the disciples to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. The same holds true today – on every front.

2 Kings 4 records a time when Elisha was sitting with ‘the sons of the prophets’, where his servant accidentally gathered wild gourds and added them shredded into a pot of pottage for them all to eat. Picking up at verse 40…

And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. 

We are exposed constantly to many ‘voices’, regarding an endless number of topics, coming from many sources – telecast & printed media, social media, churches, ministries, watercooler gossip, etc. Unfortunately, most, if not all of them, are wrong. And unfortunately, just like ‘the sons of the prophets’ exclaimed …there is death in the pot.

So how do we recognize the poison, and how do we prevail without harm? Just as Elisha did – cast meal into the pot!

The ‘meal’ is the truth found in the Bible – God’s Word. In John 8, Jesus said, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. He also said, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. 

Reading the Bible – a solid version and not someone else’s translation – is one of the most important things Christians can do… and then pray for wisdom and understanding. (James 1:5 says when we ask God for wisdom, he will give it to us!) Then when we hear the ‘voices’ that contain ‘death in the pot’, we can remember what the Bible says – what the truth is- and prevail without harm.

Please, commit yourself to reading your Bible more than ever.