January 19, 2023
Daily Reading – Genesis 38 – 39 / Matthew 12:38-50

GOD’S WORD:

GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

     We are constantly asked to do more and more. To put just one more little thing on our schedule. Do one more favor for a friend. It would seem like a blessing if someone would ask us to do just one thing less one time. Yet the testing of God is often just that. God may be asking you; will you NOT DO SOMETHING for me?

     At creation, God made a beautiful garden and placed man in it. He told them that they could have and do anything. There was just one thing He asked them NOT TO DO. Do not eat from just one tree. God’s test of their love for Him was, would they freely choose to obey His command. Everything on earth was theirs for the taking. Yet it was the one thing they were asked NOT TO DO that Satan used to tempt them.

     Joseph was placed in Potiphar’s house, and he entrusted everything he had to Joseph because he could see that God was blessing everything Joseph did. In Genesis 39:6 it says “…he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat…” It is a similar test for Joseph as in the Garden of Eden. However, Joseph passed the test. Joseph realized that if he were to take of what was not given him, in this case Potiphar’s wife, it was not only a sin against Potiphar, but even more so, it was a sin against God. It was not what he did that mattered any more than what he chose NOT TO DO. 

GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

    God has always wanted us to freely choose to love Him. His test of that love has always been the same. John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  

What might God be asking you NOT TO DO?

Living In His Word Ministries
       “Getting people into the Word of God…
                               … and the Word of God into people.”

January 17, 2023 
Daily Reading – Genesis 33 – 34 / Matthew 11:20-30

GOD’S WORD:

Genesis 33:11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

      In most eastern cultures at the time of the writing of Genesis 33, and in many ways even still today, gift giving, and acceptance held much symbolism. For a superior person or power to accept generous gifts, it symbolized friendship. When an enemy would accept such a gesture of kindness in a gift, it gave proof of reconciliation. It in no way was a sign of need for the items given on the part of the recipient. Jacob wanted Esau to receive his gifts as a sign of friendship and proof of reconciliation. Esau made it clear in verse 9 that he also had enough and did not have a need for such things. The symbolism of his acceptance spoke volumes. However, I believe we see more from this exchange than just customs of culture.

     Jacob’s time with God had changed him. The name Jacob means “supplanter,” someone who takes someone’s place, usually on purpose. Jacob lived up to his name. He had taken Esau’s birthright for a bowl of soup, and his blessing by trickery. However, Jacob has spent much time with God, and that had changed everything about him. God even changed his name from Jacob the “supplanter,” to Israel which means “Prince with God.” Time with God changed how he walked, where he was to live, and his attitude about taking and giving. He realized all he had belonged to God. He even said; “God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.”

GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

How has your time with God changed you?

Living In His Word Ministries
       “Getting people into the Word of God…
                               … and the Word of God into people.”

January 16, 2023
Daily Reading – Genesis 31 – 32 / Matthew 11:1-19

GOD’S WORD:

Genesis 32:25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

    Backup your computer. Save all your receipts. Keep a copy of your credit card information just in case you lose your cards. These are things we do to make sure that if something in life goes wrong, we can bring it back to where it was. To make it as if nothing had ever happened. However, there are some things in life that once changed, will never be the same.

    In Genesis 32, Jacob has a personal meeting with God. While it is true that Jacob has often wrestled his way through life, he had never had an encounter like this one. He wrestled at birth with Esau, grabbing his heel. He wrestled with Laban over the right to marry Rachel and over the flocks. But, in Genesis 32:25 he wrestles with God. God touches Jacob’s thigh and in verse 31 it says, “he halted upon his thigh.” Jacob never walked the same again. I am sure he never ever forgot God’s touch in his life. In fact, it was such a huge event that all his family, the children of Israel, changed their lifestyle because of it. Genesis 32:32 says, “Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.” 

     The truth is, when you meet with God, and He touches your life, you will never be the same either. Also, people around you will see it. 

GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

     When God touches a life, it changes you. Maybe you did not limp physically, but the touch of God does change you. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says we become a new creature and that all things become new.

When God touched you, how did that affect your walk in the world?

Living In His Word Ministries
       “Getting people into the Word of God…
                               … and the Word of God into people.”

Dr. Franklin J. Senters Th.D.
Founder and Executive Director
Hebrews 2:12