Read it. Love it. Live it.

Hebrews 6 (New Living Translation)

¹ So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. ² You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

⁴ For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—⁶ and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

⁷ When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. ⁸ But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.

⁹ Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. ¹¹ Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. ¹² Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

God’s Promises Bring Hope

¹³ For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:

¹⁴ “I will certainly bless you,
and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”

¹⁵ Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

¹⁶ Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. ¹⁷ God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. ¹⁸ So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. ¹⁹ This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. ²⁰ Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

nakedidity

I left my phone at home this morning. Not on purpose, mind you. But now I feel naked, unprepared, and unwilling to face the day outside the walls of my office. I know that people might want to text me, call me, whatever, and I know that there's nothing I can do about it. I can't get those messages or respond to them. I'm cut off. I'm so bothered by it that my left eye is starting to twitch.

What if something horrible happens to one of my friends and they can't reach me, they can't ask me for help because stupid me left my phone plugged into my wall?
What if I need one of them and I can't call them because all of their numbers are in my phone?
What if everything that could possibly go wrong actually does go wrong and I'm helpless in it?
What if I overreact?

Why don't we feel this out of sorts when we miss our daily time with God? Why aren't we bothered to no end that we feel so disconnected from God when we don't pray? Why do we place our communications with people above our communications with God? Our communication with God, and keeping those lines open, is far more important than anything we could possibly say to people or what those people could say to us. We don't feel panicked when we miss our time talking to God... why is that? Why don't we realize how important God is to us? Why don't we overreact?

More by Matthew West

Who sings this to whom? God to us or us to God or both?

Take a look at the mountains
Stretching a mile high
Take a look at the ocean
Far as your eye can see
And think of Me

Take a look at the desert
Do you feel like a grain of sand?
I am with you wherever
Where you go is where I am

And I'm always thinking of you
Take a look around you
I'm spelling it out one by one

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

Just a face in the city
Just a tear on a crowded street
But you are one in a million
And you belong to Me

And I want you to know
That I'm not letting go
Even when you come undone

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more
I love you more

Shine for Me
Shine for Me
Shine on, shine on
Shine for Me

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

(Chorus)
Than the sun
and the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you, yesterday and today
Through the joy and the pain
I'll say it again and again
I love you more
I love you more

And I see you
And I made you
And I love you more than you can imagine
More than you can fathom
I love you more than the sun
And you shine for me

God woke me with a smile, what can be better than that?!

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

~ John 10:10, NLT

Psalm 63 (New International Version)

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

¹ O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

² I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.

³ Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.

⁴ I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

⁶ On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.

⁷ Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.

⁸ My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

⁹ They who seek my life will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.

¹⁰ They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.

¹¹ But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Some scripture for your beautiful Monday afternoon!

For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

~ Romans 2:13, NLT

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

~ John 3:17, NLT

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.

~ Isaiah 43:2, NLT

Get real

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:19-24 NIV).

Are we brave enough to be real and honest with God? We might as well be; He knows our hearts inside and out anyway. A. W. Tozer, in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, wrote:

How unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us; or enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us.

God knew the real me before I even knew myself. David wrote, "Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD" (Psalm 139:4 NIV). Knowing what He knew and knows, it is a wonder that He even gives me the time of day. And to think, He gives us the time of our lives!

Jeremiah was a mighty man of God who was not afraid to be real before His maker. He wrote, "I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of His wrath. He has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not in light. Surely against me He has turned His hand repeatedly all the day. He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. In dark places He has made me dwell, like those who have long been dead" (Lamentations 3:1-6 NASB).

Jeremiah was mad and he was mad at God. As far as he was concerned, God was the cause of all his problems. He felt trapped and afraid. He continues, "He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chains heavy. Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. He is to me like a bear lying in wait like a lion in secret places. He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate...So I say, 'My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord'" (vv.7-11, 18 NASB).

Jeremiah was in a bad situation...mostly because he had a wrong perception of God. God did not make him to walk in darkness, cause his flesh to waste away, or break his bones. God had not encompassed him with bitterness or hardship. But Jeremiah had allowed his perception to be skewed by his circumstances.

Even though what Jeremiah had to say was incorrect and certainly painted a bad picture of God, he was able to be real about what he was feeling. Jeremiah did not feel the need to put on a holy mask before an all-knowing God. And you know what? God didn't strike him dead for being real and saying what was on his heart.

Before we leave poor Jeremiah, let's notice what happens at the end of his lament. He begins to remember all the times that God had been faithful. "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's loving kindnesses are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I have hope in Him'" (vv. 21-22 NASB).

Jeremiah cleaned the clutter out of his emotional closet and rediscovered the treasures he had forgotten were there. His circumstances didn't change. God didn't change. But his attitude and perception of God changed and his emotions followed close behind.


Let's Pray
Dear LORD, sometimes I whine and complain and blame You for all sorts of trouble in my life. The truth is, I live in a fallen world where bad things happen and I make poor decisions. Help me to remember that Your ways are always loving and always kind. Help me to recall Your great deeds in my life! Thank you that Your mercies are new every morning! Great is Your faithfulness!

In Jesus' Name,
Amen


Now It's Your Turn
Have you been complaining to God about your circumstances lately?

Have you been blaming God for the difficult circumstances and forgetting to praise Him for the blessings?

Stop right now and offer up a pray of praise to God for all the wonderful deeds He has performed in your life. The gift of eternal life would be a great place to start.

Joseph and Paul.... praying for others.... a big smile!

Of all the men in the Bible, of all the examples I would want to follow besides Jesus, Joseph and Paul are the top two for me.

I think what I like most about these men was their ability to allow God to shine through their own imperfections. Their lives certainly weren't perfect though: both men made mistakes in their lives, both were a little cocky during their younger years, both spend time in prison, both had unique talents that they used for God. Yes, they were clearly anointed men, Joseph interpreting dreams and Paul preaching the Word with such passion and insight. But they had other talents as well.

Joseph was extremely organized and an amazing administrator, he had to be. It's not easy running a country on the verge of famine, but he did it. God used Joseph's divine talent of dream interpretation to put him in a position to use the earthly talents that God had been cultivating in Joseph his whole life through working for Potiphar, and holding a position in the jail, even through working with his father and brothers. Joseph was cultivated from a very early age to understand the importance and the many nuances of the role of administrator.

Paul was just plain brilliant. The pure knowledge that man held in his head amazes me! He knew the law like the back of his hand, he knew traditions, expectations, rules, and regulations. And he knew God. And he knew which one was most important. When Paul became a Christian, he went and spent time with the disciples because he knew that he needed to relearn things. He understood himself and God enough to know how to position himself to best learn what he needed to know. Both of these men used their God-given abilities, both natural and supernatural, to honor, obey, and glorify God. While I'm on Paul, I read Eph 1 this morning and learned how to pray for my friends and loved ones! Check it out!

How to pray for your friends and loved ones according to Paul (Eph. 1):

1. Do not stop giving God thanks for them and their faith and love for God and for others.

2. Continually pray for them; for God to give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they can know Him better.

3. Pray that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (1:18).

4. Pray these things also for yourself.

Sola Scriptura

Matthew 6:19-34 (New Living Translation)

¹⁹ “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

²² “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. ²³ But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

²⁸ “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Sola scriptura

Lamentations 3:19-33 (New International Version)

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

²⁰ I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

²¹ Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

²⁴ I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.

²⁹ Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.

³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

³¹ For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.

³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.

³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.

Daily Verses: Psalm 56; 57:7-10; 59:16-17

Psalm 56 (New Living Translation)

 ¹ O God, have mercy on me,
      for people are hounding me.
      My foes attack me all day long.
 ² I am constantly hounded by those who slander me,
      and many are boldly attacking me.
 ³ But when I am afraid,
      I will put my trust in you.
 ⁴ I praise God for what he has promised.
      I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
      What can mere mortals do to me?

 ⁵ They are always twisting what I say;
      they spend their days plotting to harm me.
 ⁶ They come together to spy on me—
      watching my every step, eager to kill me.
 ⁷ Don’t let them get away with their wickedness;
      in your anger, O God, bring them down.

 ⁸ You keep track of all my sorrows.
      You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
      You have recorded each one in your book.

 ⁹ My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help.
      This I know: God is on my side!
 ¹⁰ I praise God for what he has promised;
      Yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.
 ¹¹ I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
      What can mere mortals do to me?

 ¹² I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,
      and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
 ¹³ For you have rescued me from death;
      you have kept my feet from slipping.
   So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
      in your life-giving light.

Psalm 57:7-10 (New Living Translation)

 ⁷ My heart is confident in you, O God;
      my heart is confident.
      No wonder I can sing your praises!
 ⁸ Wake up, my heart!
      Wake up, O lyre and harp!
      I will wake the dawn with my song.
 ⁹ I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
      I will sing your praises among the nations.
 ¹⁰ For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
      Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Psalm 59:16-17 (New Living Translation)

 ¹⁶ But as for me, I will sing about your power.
      Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.
   For you have been my refuge,
      a place of safety when I am in distress.
 ¹⁷ O my Strength, to you I sing praises,
      for you, O God, are my refuge,
      the God who shows me unfailing love.

Claim God's love and power for yourself every morning! It's not selfish, it's self-preservation. It's love, and love wins every time!!