One Year Bible - October 14, 2010

JEREMIAH 23:21 - 25:38                                                                                                      

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE UNDER JUDGMENT:  Accept God's hand of judgment as the very best hope for you. TWO BASKETS OF FIGS: One good, one rotten.  The good figs will go into slavery in Babylon.  Once they are cured of idolatry, they will come back to the Lord.  If you are not enslaved to Babylon, and stay in the land, you are a rotten fig - good for nothing, and destroyed.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS - SEVENTY YEARS: They had lived in the land 490 years, that would be 70 Sabbaths that they had failed to let the land lay dormant and rest.   So, now the land would get all 70 years at once, while they were in Babylon as slaves.

CLEANSING:  This takes place in ever-widening circles, beginning with Judah (25:29-32). When you see God judging little things in your life, be assured that everyone around you is going through the same thing! It will finally turn into a big storm encompassing all your life. It just builds and builds. But it begins in the House of the Lord (individually) (1 Pet 4:7).

RESPONSE:   They didn't have much to choose from: cleansing or certain death.  Either way would be difficult.  It appears that sinning doesn't have a very good payoff.  "The wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23).  And for sure, if you belong to God (are not a rotten fig), you WILL be cleansed and it will feel confining (slave-like).    All sin is deceptive.  We can't "handle" any of it.

Whenever I feel vengeful and want God to judge my "enemies", He always lets me know that judgment begins in "the House of the Lord" - and that's me.  I will be judged first - then my enemies.  That makes me soften my approach. Then I pray He will withhold judgment and bless them.  I want mercy for myself.

2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-17                                                                                               
PREPARING FOR BATTLE AGAINST THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS: How do we prepare ourselves against the powers of darkness? What is our best defense AND offense? Why do some people do better than others at not being IMPACTED by evil?   We must NEVER allow our circumstances to IMPACT us - to come inside, to do other than remain external.

(1.) 2Th 1: Persecution and tribulation are opportunities for God to be manifested and glorified in us.  "Patience and faith" are what it takes to go thru these things.  We don't escape, we can't go around, we can rebuke it away, or insulate ourselve from trouble.  Our "patience and faith" are expressed by instructing our hearts to "believe and trust God, that He is manificent and in charge, God is faithful and full or mercy, He will show us what He expects from us, etc." 

(2) 2Th 2:"Stand fast" (hold onto) for the Truth of the Gospel.  This means to take your stand for", "do not give way or compromise" the Truth.  The "Mystery of iniquity" is that we can be deceived and are our own worst enemy.   You see, unrighteousness always leads to self-deception.  And then we believe "the lie".  The original language suggests that this is speaking of a particular lie.  And that lie is that Life is man-centered.  When we get into that lifestyle, then we start assigning degrees to sin.  We think some sins aren't important - "no big deal".  We are deceived.  When we walk in any sin, we are walking in UN-truth, UN-reality.  When we cling to Truth, we won't be led away by selfishness and self-interest.

Who is "the son of perdition" ?  He sums up all the antichristian thought, reasonings, logic, feelings and opinions.  He believes things that are "contrary to sound doctrine" (1Ti 1:10).  He is also called "the man of sin". (2:3)  He manifests the real nature of sin to usurp God's throne and God's authority in our lives.  He is the "carnal mind".   (Rom 8:7) HOW DO WE KNOW?  Because the word "Temple" is the Greek: "naos" which refers to the Most Holy Place, the spiritual sanctuary - and after the Book of Acts, NEVER REFERS TO A PHYSICAL BUILDING.  It's root word, (naio) means "to dwell".  God's dwelling-place is the human heart.  The "son of perdition" mentioned in the Bible, Judas (John 17:12), is a metapho for how our hearts can betray Jesus because of willful ignorance or selfishness.  The "Retrainer" is the spirit of antichrist who suppresses the Truth.  When Truth is revealed to me, God swallows up the "restrainer" - my own carnal mind-set. 

RESPONSE:  In what way does holding to the Truth prepare me to confront the powers of darkness?  For one thing, Truth is the "belt" that all other weapons hang from (Eph 6:14).  Satan is the great deceiver and all sin leads to deception - it says that deceived people "perish".  "Holding to the Truth" means that we live what we say we believe.  Truth does not shift around - it is not relative - it is absolute.  Living that way gives us integrity and emotional stability.  We are less vulnerable to demonic attack.  Knowing the Truth keeps us from being deceived and hopefully, from deceiving ouselves.  A changed life is the best defense and offence against the devil!

PSALM 84:1-12                                                                                                                     
LIVING BY THE LIFE OF GOD:  When God comes into our lives, He fills us with His "dunamis" - His inherent "life-force".  By faith, we live from His Presence in us. 
(1) There is inner beauty created by His Presence (see also Job 26:13).  He created a compelling hunger for more and more of Himself and gives us a joyful vitality.  "At Thine altars" we are content and find rest. 

(2) The secret of our strength and usefulness:  Our strength comes from being "in Him" - it is an impenetrable hardness that comes from our lives and His life being mingled.  Our tears of affliction and repentance become a well of supply in the hands of the Holy Spirit.  Moving AWAY from God, people grow weaker and weaker and die.  But we move TOWARD God, getting stronger and stronger - able to "man up" - be courageous and bold.  Our strength comes from being fully satisfied by the life of God in us.  As we learn to satisfy our thirst in Him, we become stronger and stronger, no matter what gets thrown at us!

(3) The secret of Life:  (9-12) God gives bountiful gifts of being our "shield", satisfying our hungry hearts, giving us "grace and glory", whatever "good thing" we need or want.  Life with God is incomparably better than anything else.  Life with God is inexhaustibly complete.  Life with God is empowering (blessed). 

PROVERBS 25:15                                                                                                             
Long patience and a soft voice will break through hardhearted people.  And being short on patience and too passionate escalates the situation.  That much I know. 

October 13, 2010

JEREMIAH 22:1 - 23:20                                                                                                       
WHAT HAS GONE WRONG: God has sent the prophet for a face-to-face with the king, to tell him all that has gone wrong in Judah.   Chap 22 - 47 spell it out.   (1)  (23:1-3) Rulers are supposed to work for God, not themselves!  Rulership is not so much about privilege as it is about responsibility.   They are shepherds, not landowners.  First they set the example of what is just and right, as God's agents.  Second they are not to oppress the vulnerable and the weak. (22:15-16)  Do you think you are a big shot because you live in a big house?  Look what happened to the last three kings who thought that (all dead or slaves).  (2) (23:9-10)  The prophets and preachers were leading the King (and everyone else) astray (v.15-18) and would be judged.   Trusted advisors were telling them what they wanted to hear.   They haven't sat and listened for the word of the Lord at all! (v.31-32)   And they are saying that "God told them" this wrong information, using God's authority. (v.21-22)  God did not send them.

WHAT ABOUT JESUS?  (22:30) ends the line of Solomon.  Mary, Jesus' mother, was descended from Nathan, a brother of Solomon, giving Jesus throne rights.   Jesus is the "Righteous Branch" raised up from David (Nathan's father).  He Himself "is our righteousness".  (23:5-6) God's remnant (the Church) will be re-gathered by King Jesus. Zionism without King Jesus is idolatry.  To reject this King is to reject all hope of righteousness before God.   Zionism without Jesus is self-justification and self-righteousness and is foul.  It is insubordination against God and His righteousness and rebellion against King Jesus.  Jeremiah's words do not fall to the ground: the King has come!  We abandon our self-justification and self-righteousness and cling to Him and are saved.

RESPONSE: When we were born again, and were seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus, (Eph 1:20; 2:6), that means we are now connected to eternity past and eternity future.  Jeremiah was told about us!  We are a fulfillment of prophesy.  The Scriptures are accurate and complete.  That gives me confidence.

2 THESSALONIANS 1:1-12                                                                                                 
PURPOSE: To prepare us for battle against the powers of darkness. The church in Thessalonica was still being persecuted and hindered by the Jews (Acts 17) and these young believers need courage. The purpose of this letter is not to satisfy our curiosity about an "any-minute rapture", but in fact is written to "comfort and establish" their hearts. (2:17)  If anything, this letter REFUTES an "any-minute rapture" as being man-centered and willfully ignorant (2:11; 3:10-11).

AN EARTH-BURNING, TIME-ENDING EVENT?  If you were to compare 2Thessalonians with Matthew 24, you would find many startling parallels.  In fact, some would say that 2 Thessalonians is a FULFILLMENT of Matthew 24.   2Thess 2:1 speaks of our "gathering together unto Him", as does Matt 24:31.   2Th 2:2 speaks of a premature appearance of Christ, as does Mat 24:23-27.   2Th 2:3 tells of "the" apostasy. Which one is that? The "falling away" of Matt 24:10-12.  And finally 2Th 2:3-4 speak of false prophets and signs like Mat 24:24-34.  If these refer to the same event (very likely), then Paul is speaking of the soon destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple - an event referred to as "the vengeance of our God" (Isa 61:2 et al).

WHAT DOES IT SAY TO US? Since such a cataclysmic event is not on the horizon, how does this letter prepare us to fight against the powers of darkness, as it was intended? Things are not much different now.  People hate us for no reason other than our beliefs in Jesus and the Bible.  I think it appeals to their pride, that if we are right, then they must be wrong!  After all the antichristian spirit is manifested in lawlessness.

(1.) God's righteousness and justice CANNOT co-exist with evil, and so when we are persecuted it is "evidence of the righteous judgment of God that we may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God."  (2Th 1:4-5) When Jesus is "manifest" (revealed) - when the Truth is known, our persecutors are punished "everlastingly", while our suffering is only temporary.

(2.) Jesus wants to be glorified "in His saints and admired in all them that believe". (2Th1:10-12)  Imagine that!   God wants to manifest Himself in us!  This is revealed here to be His call on us, His purpose and His power, and by our faith.

RESPONSE:   Many years ago when I worked at a Medical School, I put a note to myself on my computer that said, "Don't make Jesus look like a jerk!" Everyone knew I was a Christian and whatever I said and did, it was assumed that everyone at my church was like me! Or anyone who claimed to be a Christian was like that! I wanted to represent Jesus accurately, but I know now that I didn't do a very good job. At the time, I was a self-righteous prude who never smiled. I wasn't trying to be that way. It was just the only way I knew to be as a Christian! Now I know that I can live by His compassion, His kindness, His wisdom, His mercy, His patience.  My job isn't to try harder, it is to cling tighter to His Presence in me.  Our warfare against the powers of darkness is not an aggressive prayer issue as much as it is a character issue.  Are you like Jesus?  Does His love come through you?  Learning to live by the faith of God and by His energy IN us, is the smartest move we can make as a Christian. Trying to do it ourselves is just arrogant!  We are just not - that - good. Let Him be glorified IN YOU.  Don't cover Him up with your fleshly needs, your fleshly desires, your fleshly habits.  Living in God's Presence and by His Presence is not dependent at what we DON'T DO.  It is a new habit we build to REPLACE our old independent habits.  Always be talking to God. Always be rejoicing in Him for His goodness and greatness. Always be thankful in everything. Always bring everything to God.  When He becomes the center of your life (your life is oriented around God), then He will be glorified IN you, too!

PSALM 83:1-18                                                                                                                  
HATERS OF GOD: The antichristian world-spirit is proud and arrogant, crafty, aggressive, and doesn't want to be reminded that God is in control. But anyone who will not seek God and acknowledge His rulership will be overthrown and will perish - maybe not in this life, but for sure, throughout eternity.

PROVERBS 25:11-14                                                                                                        

WHAT WE SAY: The right word at the right time is like silver and gold. A "wise reprover" isn't trying to prove he's right and you're wrong - he's after true repentance.  He is gentle, compassionate, and his timing is impeccable.   A person who promises what he will give and what he will do, but actually does nothing because he doesn't have the skills or the money or the intensions, is like a cloud that promises rain, but is actually empty. I call him a liar.

RESPONSE: I have had times in my life where I actually READ Psalm 83 out loud to God! I inserted names in there - v.10 says they should become like "dung" - poop!  Let God terrorize them, burn them, persecute them and make them afraid and ashamed, and by all means "let them...perish".  God reminded me in my prayer time that the antichristian world-spirit is the "carnal mind" (the natural, fleshly mind) that "hates God" and "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Rom 8:7) That it influences the person who has formed "friendship with the world (that) is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God". (Jam 4:4-5)  When we get born again, Jesus comes with a sword (Mat 10:34) to persecute and drive out these evil tendencies in us.  So that we will know that Jehovah God is "the Most High over all the earth."  Yes, the flesh is dedicated to destruction.  It is called "dying to SELF". 

One Year Bible - October 12, 2010

JEREMIAH 19:1 - 21:14                                                                                                        
HELL: Jeremiah was told to go back to the potter's house and purchase a pot, then take some elders and priests to the Valley of Hinnom (the OT type for HELL). God renamed Hinnom the "Valley of Slaughter" because He planned to kill them all right there, and leave their bodies to be eaten by predators (those that they didn't' kill and eat themselves!). Then, Jeremiah crashed the pot against the rocks and crushed it to powder. Judah was to be crushed and God would start over. Hell is coming, but we know the Potter will restore and rebuild.

WHEN I'M IN TROUBLE: Pashur, a priest and governor, beat Jeremiah and put him in stocks for foretelling Jerusalem's desolation.  When he was released, Jeremiah renamed him.  Pashur, whose name means "largeness on every side," was to become "terror on every side." He didn't know who he was messing with!

What was Jeremiah thinking while in stocks? (Jer 20:7-18) "I quit!"   He couldn't decide whether God took advantage of him and lied to him, he heard wrong, or this is all part of the burden of a prophet.    God said he would deliver me, and here I am in stocks!   Define "deliver":  It means to be kept IN time of trouble, not FROM trouble.   Now he's a laughingstock.  In chapter 15 God's words were "delicious" and now he wishes he had never heard God!   BUT...(20:9) There is an inner tension when we want to give up and quit. There is no person we can trust with a decision like this - not one! (20:11-12)  We must fight back.   We can be sure that the way we see things is not the way that it really is. Only God has the whole view, beginning and end.  When our minds go crazy on us, we have to rely on what God has already told us. V 13 says, "Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord!"  But, then we're back in the pit, wishing we'd never been born.  This is us,  being a spiritual schizophrenic.   But during the "dark night of the soul", God comes through.

GOD'S ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY:  Jehoiakim was executed by Babylon, then Jehoiachin reigned for 3 months.  He was taken captive to Babylon, and then his uncle Zedekioah (weak, wishy-washy) became Nebuchadnezzar's puppet king.  When Nebu laid siege against Jerusalem, Zedekiah sends word to the prophet to pray. (Jer 21:1-2)  "Maybe God will be His sweet, kind Self and let us go."  But God moves according to His own purposes. God actually orchestrated their defeat (21:3-10)!   As if that weren't enuf, God sent Jeremiah to do a face-to-face! (chap 22)  There follows a 25-chapter message from God as He tells them all that has gone wrong!

RESPONSE:  I've been there! I have wanted to quit things that I know God told me to do.  My excuse was that maybe God didn't really tell me to do it.  Maybe I just thought that God said it.  Things get so tough that I must be doing something that God didn't tell me to do.  It never occurs to me that maybe God is bringing me to the end of myself.  God's purpose and God's will  are where all His power is.   Cause-and-effect have nothing to do with anything. STICK TO MY CALLING.   Yes!   I have felt the inner tension when I am thinking of quitting.  The misery stops when I repent and go on.   Stick with my assignment and be happy.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:4-28                                                                                            
MORE - "LIVING TO PLEASE GOD" (practical holiness): (5:4-8) Don't grow lax or indifferent in your spiritual life. Here the word "sleep" describes carnal indifference to spiritual things.  If we let down our guard, we end up in darkness and chaos - which is Job's definition of "death" (Job 10:21-22). (Our definition of "death" is "alienation from God", therefore dark and chaotic.)  Our "default" is not always God - it is most often ourselves.   We must keep up an aggressive march forward toward God.  Spiritual "sobriety" is when we don't allow our minds to speculate. "What if...." "Well, I heard...." "I think..." "I feel...."  These are deadly and lead to destruction and "wrath".  (5:9-11) Our escape "from" circumstances is into Christ. Therefore, whether we live or die, we remain with Him.  Our circumstances can't rule us because we are beyond them.  Our future is secure. We can never be separated from God. (5:12-15)  Be patient in bearing the offences and injuries of others. Don't be easily riled up by someone else's behavior.  Give recognition and pay attention to those who are responsible for you (pastors, teachers, elders, parents, etc.).  Warn those who are disrespectful.  Comfort and encourage and support those who aren't doing very well in their Christian life, whether it is from being immature, or from being under attack.   Always look for ways to be good and kind to everyone. (5:16-18) God's will for us is that we be ALWAYS joyful, CONTINUALLY praying, and thankful in ALL circumstances.   This will keep us from our old habits of complaining, and being negative.   Sometimes we won't FEEL like it, but we do it anyway, and our feelings will catch up with us.   It's not "faking it"; it is practice.  Rejoicing, praying and giving thanks require us to focus on God and His goodness, greatness, and glory. This is how we enter the REST of faith, spoken of in Hebrews 3 and 4.  When everything around us is "going to pot", we don't have to lose our faith or our peace or our joy. Instead, we rejoice, we pray, and we give thanks.  If we focus on our circumstances, we become complainers and whiners. (5:19-28)  Cooperate with God in your sanctification:  Don't do things that "quench" - extinguish or smother - the Holy Spirit.  Such things as bitterness and unforgiveness, disobedience, unbelief - put Him in the position of being disregarded.  It is the Spirit of God Who is tasked with our transformation!  "Prophesying" here is referring to whoever is speaking by the Spirit of God TO YOU.  It may be the pastor in the pulpit, it could be a little child with a comment, a billboard, some show on TV - but it is a word given life by the Spirit because it pertains TO YOU.   Don't disregard it as unimportant or foolish.   And if something even looks bad, stay away from it! Bottom line: It is God Who is in charge of our transformation but we must cooperate with Him. 

RESPONSE:   I am always reminded of a Pastor who told this story: It is the middle of the night. The phone rings and it is a prostitute who got your name out of a phone book. She is going to commit suicide and wants you to come right away and help talk her out of it. What do you do? His answer?  "Take your wife and go." "Abstain from the appearance of evil."

I was prophesied to by a billboard once. My husband and I were travelling by car to the Gulf Coast for a vacation. As we got further south, away from the Omaha, NE weather, we started discussing what it would be like to live down there. We both wanted to live near the beach, no more snow, no more winter coats and boots.  So, we stopped at a coastal town and got job applications.  As we continued toward our motel, we saw a billboard. Well, I should say this first: the week before we left for vacation, I was whining to God about having to live in Nebraska and He told me that I was a Christian, I am free to live WHEREVER I WANT!  Oh wow!  BUT....if I insist on doing what I want and it is outside God's will, God will allow it, but send "leanness of soul" with it.

Ps 106:14-15, (in referring to their desire for quail) "But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul."

The billboard was outside a restaurant and it said: "Quail! All you can eat!" Would you call that a "word from the Lord"? We did!


PSALM 82:1-8                                                                                                                  
God is the Supreme Judge, so our appeal is always to Him first. But it is the duty of those in authority on earth to protect the weak from the strong. So what is wrong with the world? "They know nothing, they understand nothing, they walk in darkness."  They walk in darkness because they have destroyed their own conscience. And so they don't administer justice and the world is unstable. These rulers will fall like everyone before them.

PROVERBS 25:7b-10                                                                                                 
Don't be hasty about bringing action in court, without trying to settle it face-to-face first. Do not, in trying to bolster your argument, disclose anything that should be held in secret (that someone else told you). Two really good reasons for caution: (1) You could be wrong and you will be embarrassed. (2) When people find out, your reputation will be ruined, maybe for life.

RESPONSE:  There is nothing worse than trying to talk to someone who is SURE they are right about something, and they aren't and can't be persuaded because their mind is darkened. I think that state is reached by the progression of "know nothing, understand nothing," and then the darkness. But how does a person become so stupid?   Because they are governed by self-interest. They don't want to know about injustice, and so they can't possibly understand their responsibility. They aren't interested in the poor or the disenfranchised because it won't add to their own importance, and so they can't possibly think they have a part in making things right.

Yesterday I was at Wal-Mart (again.  It's the only big store in my little town.) While I stood in line, a grubby-looking, middle-aged man, who needed a shave, a haircut, and a bath, waited right behind me.  First I tried to ignore him, turning my back on him, looking like I was real busy.  I didn't want anyone to think I would associate with someone who looked and smelled like that! But he was someone God steered to my lane, someone who probably always got ignored.  With my biggest smile ever, and not wanting to sound condescending when I spoke, I made a funny remark about our groceries. Of course, he jumped right on it, and laughed and talked and talked and talked! I had a hard time getting away! I know what it is to feel invisible.  I have committed to myself to NEVER make ANYONE feel insignificant, stupid or dirty.  Justice - it's a beautiful thing.