July 2024

Just Who Is In Control?
July 2, 2024

DAILY PROVERB:

Proverbs 16:8-11
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment. A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work.

 

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

    There have long been several views regarding the extent of control that God exercises in the individual life of man. Some believe that man has complete free will, and God has little or no control over one’s life. Others hold the belief that man has no control over his life at all, with the belief that God foreordained in time past whether a person would go to heaven or hell. Then there are the rest of us who believe that the truth lies somewhere between both of those understandings.

 

    Believing the Bible must never contradict itself; we must also look at verse nine in this chapter to help reconcile the question at hand. It says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” Man clearly has within himself the ability to make decisions for life. To choose good or evil. If this were not so, we would have no need for the sharing of the gospel at all. Man would simply just do what God designed for him to do.

 

    However, to claim that God does not influence the lives of humans is equally absurd. If we surrender our lives and our ways to the Lord, He will guide us in ways that align with His will and ultimately benefit us. Nevertheless, God, who comprehends the beginning and the end, also foresees the consequences when sinful individuals reject Him. Being God, He can even use those consequences to fulfill the outcomes He has revealed in the pages of His Word.

 

    It has never been, and is not now, God’s desire for anyone to perish and go to hell. However, He has chosen to allow individuals to make that choice. To do otherwise would deprive humans of the capacity to love Him voluntarily. Without free will, we would be mere automatons. God desires for us to genuinely desire to love and obey Him, just as it was in Eden with Adam and Eve, and that fundamental aspect has not changed.

 

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

    Give control of your day to God and observe what He will do with it and with you. How do you surrender your day to God? You do it moment by moment. The first moment begins right now!

So ask yourself, Just Who Is In Control?

 

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: July 2, 2024

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH A DAILY PROVERBS
  Psalms 78 – Psalms 84
  Proverbs 16:8 – 11

 

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
  2 Chron. 24-27
  Acts 8

Tossing Out Passages
July 1, 2024

DAILY PROVERB:

Proverbs 16:5-7
Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

    It appears that in today’s world, many people are opposed to the work of God’s followers. Popularity seems to dictate the current order. It’s not a matter of what is right or wrong; rather, it’s about fulfilling human desires. The democracy of humanity governs today’s moral standards. When a significant number of people assert something to be right with enough volume and persistence, it can lead others to believe it must be true.

    For instance, some Christians today find themselves perplexed by the assertion that homosexuality is an innate lifestyle. Prolonged debates, opposing voices, and well-funded claims have obscured the scriptural truth. Despite God’s consistent declaration throughout the Bible that this way of life is sinful, the belief that it is not has led to the need for legal measures and countless hours and resources spent in courtrooms to protect children in schools from homosexuality. Why? Because society has started to accept the falsehood propagated by humans.

    If this lifestyle is innate from birth, and God is the Creator of all, then He has supposedly created individuals to engage in actions He explicitly condemns. Yet, the Bible also states that He loves all people. There is an inherent contradiction here. The problem lies in humanity’s inclination to disregard parts of the truth. While God hates sin but loves humanity, the Bible is clear that this sinfulness cannot be attributed to God. People have united to promote this sinful lifestyle. God does not hate individuals; He hates sin, all sin.

    This example is just one illustration of how people, in churches, homes, and businesses around the world, select which truths from Scripture to follow while discarding the rest. The Bible warns that those who do so “shall not be unpunished.” Or should we also dismiss that part of the Bible from consideration?

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

    We must once again realize that the entire Word of God is true, and not just the parts that fit our current life. Our goal should be to mold our life after the Bible and not to mold the Bible to fit our life.

Are there any parts of God’s Word
that we may have tossed aside?

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: July 1, 2024

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH A DAILY PROVERBS
  Psalms 71 – Psalms 77
  Proverbs 16:5 – 7

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
  2 Chron. 21-23
  Acts 7:30-60