April 2024

How Are You Using Your Time?
April 12, 2024

DAILY PROVERB:

Proverbs 9:6-9
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

        We have only a limited number of hours each day, just a few opportunities to make use of the minutes God has granted us. The Bible instructs us to be good stewards of all that God provides, which often relates to money but also encompasses our time and talents.

      Our verses today focus on being good stewards of our time. Rebuking a sinner for their sins before they are saved can be compared to banging your head against a brick wall. They are indifferent and not convicted of their sinfulness, resulting in no benefit for either party. First, they need salvation.

      Using your time to help someone who is open to learning is a better investment. A teachable spirit is a Christ-like spirit. When you rebuke a born-again Christian, it offers them an opportunity to introspect and evaluate their relationship with God. If the rebuke is valid, they can identify areas that need correction and grow stronger in their faith. If the rebuke is mistaken, they can engage in a loving discussion with you to clarify the situation. In either case, both parties grow stronger in their faith and improve their fellowship. This benefits everyone involved and ultimately glorifies God.

    Is it ever easy to point out perceived sin or shortcomings in a friend’s life? No, it is not. There is a slogan that says, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Similarly, Christian friends should not let their fellow Christians persist in harmful unrighteousness.

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

     In the New Testament, Jesus referred to it as “casting your pearls before swine.” This is not about withholding the gospel from anyone, as everyone should have the opportunity to hear it. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of using your time wisely. Not everyone is prepared to listen or receive the message at a given moment.

What would be the best use of your time today?

IF YOU ARE JOURNALING:

Ask yourself, what are MY THOUGHTS concerning this Passage, and todays Devotion?

Do I find within this reading a CHALLENGE for my life?

What are one or two things I WILL DO today or this week to accept that CHALLENGE?

  

GOD TALKING TO ME: APRIL 12, 2024

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH A DAILY PROVERBS
  2 Samuel 5-10
  Proverbs 9:6-9

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
  Judges 3-5
Luke 11:1-28

Who’s On The Invitations List?
April 11, 2024

DAILY PROVERB:

Proverbs 9:1-5
Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

    If you want to host a party, what’s the first thing you need to do? You probably need to estimate how many people will attend to ensure you have enough food and space for everyone. To do this, you create a guest list. Now, you have to decide whom to invite. Perhaps you’ll invite your closest friends and relatives, or maybe just some of your closest friends, as relatives can sometimes add an interesting dynamic to social gatherings.

    In any case, you try to estimate the number of attendees. How do you do that? Do you send an invitation to every living person in the world and prepare for them all to come? That’s probably not a practical idea for most events. However, in today’s text, that is precisely what Wisdom has done.

    Wisdom has dispatched her maidens to invite people from far and wide. Can’t you just picture them on a high perch, shouting, “Anyone who wishes to attend Wisdom’s banquet is welcome. This includes everyone, even the simple.” Today, we might use phrases like, “Even the homeless, poor, and those in pain. Even those who feel unworthy, sinful, and wicked. Those who believe they have no hope, you’re all invited to join.”

    Jesus has been calling people from all over the world to come to Him for a long time. Who might choose not to attend? Often, it’s those who feel too prideful and arrogant to be seen with the suffering of the world, and thus, they might decline. However, by missing out on God’s best because they think they are too good to associate with a lost and suffering world, they themselves become part of the lost and suffering world.

     

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

    Jesus is still calling, but who are these maidens? They would be all of us who know Jesus. Let’s shout it from the housetops. “Come and dine the Master calleth come and dine.”

Who might you invite to the feast God has prepared?

IF YOU ARE JOURNALING:

Ask yourself, what are MY THOUGHTS concerning this Passage, and todays Devotion?

Do I find within this reading a CHALLENGE for my life?

What are one or two things I WILL DO today or this week to accept that CHALLENGE?

  

GOD TALKING TO ME: APRIL 11, 2024

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH A DAILY PROVERBS
    2 Samuel 1-4
   Proverbs 9:1-5

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
    Judges 1-2
    Luke 10:25-42

It’s A Matter Of Life And Death
April 10, 2024

DAILY PROVERB:

Proverbs 8:32-36
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

        Everybody wants to be liked by someone. We all desire for people to view our actions and words favorably. Some individuals are willing to go to great lengths to gain the approval of others, even resorting to buying gifts or spending money. Others may attempt to force people to like them, perhaps by exploiting their positions of power. Some seek popularity among the masses, believing that if they are liked by the majority, everyone will follow suit.

      What’s truly unfortunate is that many spend years striving for human approval while investing little or no effort in winning God’s favor. While it’s true that God loves everyone as His creation, He does not necessarily approve of everything we do.

       The verses today convey that when we find true Godly wisdom, God looks favorably upon us. Why? Because through wisdom, we discover the genuine purpose of life and life itself. Finding wisdom means we recognize that God is the One we should listen to and learn from. We understand that if we yield our lives to Him, it doesn’t forfeit our existence but rather strengthens it.

      On the contrary, rejecting God and His wisdom is a path to death. It’s not just physical death but spiritual death as well. It’s a life plagued by doubts and fears, controlled by others’ opinions, and lived solely for worldly pursuits. Looking back on such a life, one may realize it wasn’t much of a life at all.

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

     In Matt. 16:26 it says, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” What indeed. There’s no profit in death.

How might you go about gaining from God’s Wisdom today?

IF YOU ARE JOURNALING:

Ask yourself, what are MY THOUGHTS concerning this Passage, and todays Devotion?

Do I find within this reading a CHALLENGE for my life?

What are one or two things I WILL DO today or this week to accept that CHALLENGE?

  

GOD TALKING TO ME: APRIL 10, 2024

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH A DAILY PROVERBS
    1 Samuel 26-31
   Proverbs 8:32-36

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
   Joshua 23-24
   Luke 10:1-24

Which Came First, The Chicken, Or The Egg?
April 9, 2024

DAILY PROVERB:

Proverbs 8:29-31
When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

 

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

        Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This is an age-old debate for people who do not take the Bible literally. The answer is simple. God created animals, not embryos. Therefore, the chicken was created, and she delivered the egg

 

      Now let’s ask this question. One of our verses today says that God and wisdom were brought up together. Just like old friends or neighbors. So, which do you believe was around first, wisdom to guide God, or God to guide wisdom?

 

      If God were first with no wisdom, He would not have known to create wisdom. If there was no wisdom, how could even God know to make everything which ever was? Wisdom had to be around to help in the process of thinking up all the stuff God designed, which we take for granted. However, if God were not there, what need would there ever be for wisdom?

 

      OK, so it’s another trick question, like the chicken and egg question. The answer is God has always been. He had no beginning for anything to be before Him. So therefore, if wisdom and God were brought up together, this would mean wisdom always was and was always with God. God, therefore, has always had all wisdom.

 

    If this is true, and it is, why would anyone try to outsmart God? Why do people want to make another way of salvation, aside from what God, with all wisdom, has already laid out? Now, those are questions without any really good answers!

 

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

     We need to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not lean on our own understanding, recognizing that even the little bit of wisdom we possess also comes from God!

 

Have you ever considered how much love
God must have for you and I,
that with all of His wisdom
He still chose to save us from our sin?

 

IF YOU ARE JOURNALING:

Ask yourself, what are MY THOUGHTS concerning this Passage, and todays Devotion?

 

Do I find within this reading a CHALLENGE for my life?

 

What are one or two things I WILL DO today or this week to accept that CHALLENGE?

 

  

GOD TALKING TO ME: APRIL 9, 2024

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH A DAILY PROVERBS
   1 Samuel 22-25
   Proverbs 8:29-31

 

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
   Joshua 21-22
   Luke 9:28-62

 

What’s Up With All The Laws?
April 8, 2024

DAILY PROVERB:

Proverbs 8:26-28
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:

 

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

        Have you ever stopped to wonder what might happen if God tossed out the laws? What if God decided one day, “Let’s toss out a law and see what happens?”

 

      Let’s start with the law of gravity. Now, that sounds sort of like fun – to be floating around from place to place. We see the astronauts do it on TV, and that kind of looks like fun. However, we forget too soon what astronauts do is within a controlled area. What would happen if God did away with the law of gravity completely? One thing would be that the pull of the different amounts of gravitation from the other planets would vanish, and by the way, it would destroy our solar system.

 

      Floating around seems like fun until you remember there would be nothing to stop you from floating right off into space. Who knows where you’d end up, or how fast you would go? Gravity helps control speed also. If there were no gravity… WHOOSH… Off you go at speeds your body could not handle.

 

      Eliminating just one law changes everything. There are also laws of physics and laws of molecular structure. Without them, medicine would not be effective. There are also the laws of nature that God put in place. What would it be like if you planted a tulip bulb, and when it blossomed, you had poison ivy? How about if your dog got pregnant, and delivered a litter of rattlesnakes in your home?

 

    The Bible says God set a compass upon the earth, established the clouds, and set all things in order. They are a controlling set of laws by which even those who hate God and despise His name still benefit from and are blessed by Him.

 

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

     The next time you come to a stop sign, STOP, and then take a moment to thank God for His wisdom and His love in providing all the laws He made to bless and protect your life.

 

Which of God’s laws are you most thankful for today?
Will you stop to tell Him so?

 

IF YOU ARE JOURNALING:

Ask yourself, what are MY THOUGHTS concerning this Passage, and todays Devotion?

 

Do I find within this reading a CHALLENGE for my life?

 

What are one or two things I WILL DO today or this week to accept that CHALLENGE?

 

  

GOD TALKING TO ME: APRIL 8, 2024

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH A DAILY PROVERBS
   1 Samuel 18 – 1 Samuel 21
   Proverbs 8:26 – 28

 

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
  Joshua 18-20
  Luke 9:1-27