One Year Bible, January 6

GENESIS 13:5-15:21
There was strife between Abram and Lot.  Lot was a man of the flesh and he walked by sight, chosing what looked like the best land for himself.  His name means "secret" and is a Hebraism for "sorcery". 

After the separation from Lot, God had Abram look north, south, east and west and said He would give him all he could see.  And to walk through the land the length and the breadth.  I believe he saw what Moses saw from Mt Pisgah (De 3:27) and what the Apostle Paul saw in Ephesians 3:17-18, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;"  Because Jesus IS our inheritance.  We inherit Him and He inherits us.  And the length and breadth is His love.  The Kingdom of Heaven is where Jesus is.  But note:  "arise and walk".  "Arise and walk" - and it will be yours.  We can have as much of Jesus as we are willing to live and walk out.  We have as much of the Land/Kingdom as we walk out and experience by faith.

Chapter 14 shows Abram being tested again.  Four kings from east of the Euphrates in Mesopotamia formed a confederation and defeated the giants, and then came against Sodom and Gomorrah, where Lot had chosen to settle.  When the four-king confederation defeated the five kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and all his possessions were carried off as captives.  Abram immediately took 318 household servants and pursued 120 miles to get Lot back.  After the 120 mile march, he divided his servants into two groups and lay in ambush all night.  Then he attacked from two ends of the ravine at once and slaughtered them.

Now Abram's test begins:  How will Abram capitalize on his great victory?  If you have ever won a good victory, completed a task in obedience to God, you know how vulnerable you can become after something like that.  The temptation is to coast a little, to relax your guard, to feel the accomplishment just a little bit too long. 

Here was Abrahm's choice:  The King of Sodom and the King of Salem both went out to meet Abram:  The King of Sodom, who represents the devil and/or our flesh and the King and High Priest of Salem, named Melchizedek, who represents the priesthood of Jesus Christ according to Hebrews 7.  The king of Sodom offered Abraham all the recovered booty from the battle in exchange for the souls.  Abram told him, "I wouldn't take so much as a shoelace from you, lest you should say you made me rich."  Abram had already joined himself to the "possessor of heaven and earth."  He would have only what God gave him.  He refused to gain anything for his flesh from his spiritual victory.   

Chapter 15 shows God's response to that kind of abandonment and separation:  God declared Himself to be Abram's "shield and exceeding great reward."  But Abram wanted a son.  So God reaffirmed His promise and gave Abram revelation concerning it.  And here, for the first time in the Bible, the word "believed" is used.  It is the Hebrew word "amen".  It means to give oneself in total abandonment.  Nothing held back.  And God counted it to Abram as righteousness.  This is because to believe is to act. 

And God cut covenant with Abram.  Those bloody carcases represented Abram.  They were cut down the spine to break their power and strength.  Abram's strength had been broken before God, brokenness had come so he could live totally by the life of God in him.  In that revelation of the heart, it says "lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him."  For Jesus it was in Gethsemane.  Where was it for you? 

RESPONSE:  God, where do I begin?  I'll admit that sometimes my flesh is stronger than I thought.  I am grateful for the Holy Spirit's ministry to me to help me repent quickly and thoroughly.  I want to be Your Friend.  Do what You have to do.

MATTHEW 5:27-48
We can't be free through willpower.  We must rid ourselves of the wrong desires because under pressure, it all comes out.  My mother used to say, "What you are when you are offended, is what you are."  We don't just muzzle the flesh to keep from losing our temper, lusting, etc.  We must become the kind of person who does not do those things.  To begin with, remove yourself from intentional temptations.  Gnaw off your paw if it's in a trap!  As we get free from all our self-deceptions, we don't have to lie any more to cover up our perceived defects.  Deceptions are lies.  We must be a community of Truth and have a reputation for speaking the Truth.  The only reason we would sware an oath is because we have a reputation as a liar.  Where is our integrity? 

Not only can we not seek revenge, but God will sacrifice all our externals to deal with our hearts.  Vs 38 actually says, "Resist not evil."  The problem is not the injustice to us, the problem is our attitude and response.  Remember, the core value of the Kingdom of God is self-sacrifice.   That means I (1) Never defend myself.  (2) Never demand my own way.  (3) Never complain. 

Vs 48 says we are to be "perfect".  Vs 44-48 define what that means: manifest the love of God to everyone, embrace and draw in anyone, not picking and chosing who.  Manifest Jesus.  And He will allow you to be compelled to walk the extra mile, give away your shirt off your back, turn the other cheek, until you can love!  Self-sacrifice does not come naturally.

RESPONSE: 
Dare I skip this one?  I remember when I used to hate this passage.  I felt that I worked hard to get everything I had, therefore you should have to do the same.  Why should I give you something that I had worked so hard to get?  I was waiting for life to be FAIR.  Now, I choose to be happy.  I am grateful that God is "kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." (Luk 6:35)  That includes me.  He has won my heart. 

PSALM 6:1-10
This sounds like a prayer of someone who has been sick a long time, or persecuted a long time.  A cry for God to deliver me because He loves me. 
 
PROVERBS 1:29-33
"The fear of the Lord" is a CHOICE  it says here.  We must choose it.  Psalm 34:11 says it can be taught.  Since wisdom is the skill or ability to see all of life from God's point of view, it must all come from God, and therefore it belongs to those who choose to fear God.  This means we have a pretty accurate perception of who we are in relation to Who God is.  Psa 89:7 says God is to be "greatly feared in the assembly of the saints.  Yes, He loves us.  But He is also our Judge and the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. 

RESPONSE:  I don't want to take God for granted, or misrepresent Him by the way I live.  I teach my soul to fear the Lord.  Help me to understand and know the fear of the Lord.  He is Great and Mighty.  He is Holy.  He is Righteous and full of Truth.  Let the fear of God cause me to repent quickly, to hate evil, to prolong my life because of wise decisions.