The Jewish people say this phrase, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord,” whenever they are gathered together at a temple or synagogue. Jewish people and Christians do have much in common. Both are sons of Abraham, both are believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and both are chosen by God to be a special people.

Some Jewish people mistakenly believe that Christians believe in three Gods because we believe in the Trinity. The Shama, “The Lord our God is one Lord,” has been a stumbling block for years to the Jewish people, and it has prevented them from seeing the truth that Jesus truly is their Messiah.

If they understood the meaning of one in this passage, they would see that truly God is three in one. The word for one in Hebrew in this passage is echad, which means a cluster-like a cluster of grapes. The Trinity is not three Gods, but one God-God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

I recall a dream I had years ago when we were preparing to go to India on a missions journey. This dream caused me to think we should be going to Israel instead of India.

In the dream I was in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. At this time Jewish people build little booths outside their homes and eat their meals there as a family for seven days. I dreamed that I went from booth to booth explaining that the God that Christians serve is the same God they serve. The God that Christians serve is not three Gods. The Lord opened the eyes of their understanding, and they believed and accepted Jesus as their Messiah.

The major difference between Jewish people and Christians is that Christians know God as their heavenly Father, not just creator God. We came to this knowledge after we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. No man can know the Father unless the Son of God reveals this to them. We can pray for our Jewish brethren this way:

Father, draw these dear people to You by revealing Your Son to them. Pull the veil off their eyes and open the eyes of their understanding to see You as their heavenly Father. Let them receive Your Son Jesus so He can reveal You as their heavenly Father. Amen.

READ: Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25; Luke 7:11-35; Psalm 68:19-35; Proverbs 11:29-31

Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25 The Jewish people say this phrase, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord,” whenever they are gathered together at a temple or synagogue. Jewish people and Christians do have much in common. Both are sons of Abraham, both are believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and both are chosen by God to be a special people.

Some Jewish people mistakenly believe that Christians believe in three Gods because we believe in the Trinity. The Shama, “The Lord our God is one Lord,” has been a stumbling block for years to the Jewish people, and it has prevented them from seeing the truth that Jesus truly is their Messiah. If they understood the meaning of one in this passage, they would see that truly God is three in one. The word for one in Hebrew in this passage is echad, which means a cluster—like a cluster of grapes. The Trinity is not three Gods, but one God—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

I recall a dream I had years ago when we were preparing to go to India on a missions journey. This dream caused me to think we should be going to Israel instead of India. In the dream I was in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. At this time Jewish people build little booths outside their homes and eat their meals there as a family for seven days. I dreamed that I went from booth to booth explaining that the God that Christians serve is the same God they serve. The God that Christians serve is not three Gods. The Lord opened the eyes of their understanding, and they believed and accepted Jesus as their Messiah. The major difference between Jewish people and Christians is that Christians know God as their heavenly Father, not just creator God. We came to this knowledge after we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. No man can know the Father unless the Son of God reveals this to them. We can pray for our Jewish brethren this way:

Father, draw these dear people to You by revealing Your Son to them. Pull the veil off their eyes and open the eyes of their understanding to see You as their heavenly Father. Let them receive Your Son Jesus so He can reveal You as their heavenly Father. Amen.

READ: Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25; Luke 7:11-35; Psalm 68:19-35; Proverbs 11:29-31

Luke 6:39-7:10 So often I stand in judgment of others, and soon discover I am guilty of the very same things I see critically in others. You’ve heard the old expression, “When you point your finger at someone, four fingers are pointing back at you.” Isaiah 58 speaks of God’s chosen fast, and one of the things listed we need to fast from is the pointing of the finger. If our church could go on such a fast, we would have unity in the church.

Jesus tells us that we often see the mote (a tiny splinter) in the eye of others and neglect to see the beam that is in our own eye. It has been my experience that the things that really bug me in some people are the very things I am struggling to overcome in my own life. The moment I get irritated by another person, I quietly pray, “Lord, is this in me?” The answer always comes back, “Yes.” Then I have to pray, “Lord, forgive me for seeing this so quickly in another and refusing to see this in myself. I confess this as sin and ask You to cleanse me.” Now I am in a position to effectively pray for the person I criticized or the person who irritated me.

Most critical, judgmental people have a lot of insecurity. They are always pointing the finger to keep from examining their own lives for fear they will discover they too are not perfect. I have found that most critical, judgmental people are perfectionists. They are afraid of having their imperfections discovered, so they criticize all those they encounter in life.

Today you might want to ask the Lord, “Is there a beam in my own eye I need to see and with Your help remove?”

Lord, forgive me for being judgmental and critical of others. I need to recognize my own faults and to see I am the one who needs to change. Help me to look at myself honestly first, and then I will be able to accept others just the way they are. Amen.

READ: Deuteronomy 4:1-49; Luke 6:39-7:10; Psalm 68:1-18; Proverbs 11:28

From the time my boys were very young I prayed they would all have the same excellent spirit that Daniel had. Daniel had favor with man, and he had much wisdom. He also lived to be an old man.

In Luke 2:36-52 we see Jesus as a young boy honoring both His heavenly Father and His earthly father. Even though He knew He had to be about His Father’s business, He was willing to subject Himself to Mary and Joseph and return with them to their home when they found Him in the temple.

Our pastor recently preached a good sermon about how Mary should have first looked in the temple for Jesus because it was considered the house of God. She knew Jesus was the Son of God. After looking for three days, Mary and Joseph finally found Jesus among the doctors in the temple. He was intently listening, but He also shared with them some of His thoughts. They were astonished at His wisdom. The Bible tells us that Jesus returned to Nazareth and increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man.

In this passage, we discover a wonderful prayer we can pray for our children. Combining verses 40 and 52, we can pray the following effective prayer for our children:

Father, in the name of Jesus we pray that our children will wax strong in the spirit and that they will be filled with wisdom. May Your grace be upon them always. May our children be subject to God and to us as parents, and may they increase not only in stature, but also in wisdom and favor with God and man. Amen.

READ: Numbers 26:1-51; Luke 2:36-52; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 11:15

Luke 6:12-38 Over the years I have experienced many prayer vigils. One particularly comes to mind. Our little neighborhood women’s prayer group decided to spend all night in prayer at my home. We tried to pray from 8 at night to 8 in the morning. We failed miserably. We kept falling asleep, and often we talked more than we prayed simply because we knew if we closed our eyes we would be off to sleep again. Jesus, however, did not have any problem spending a whole night in prayer. This scripture says Jesus continued all night in prayer.

Recently I heard someone say that they make appointments with God. They set aside a whole day to spend in prayer with Him, and if anyone calls them, they just say, “Today is my day apart with the Lord; I’ll call you back tomorrow.” I think I could do this. I am an early morning person, and I could pray for eight hours during the day. If I started at 6 a.m. and stayed in that special prayer place until 4 when I had to fix dinner, this would be eight hours.

God, however, is not interested in our keeping a timetable for prayer. He just wants us to pray without ceasing and to ever commune with Him. There are times, however, when we need to set aside special seasons of prayer. My husband, for example, went to Stone Mountain for the day and prayed all afternoon. It was during this time of prayer that he understood his call to be a Joseph in these end days. In fact, he heard with his spiritual ears God call him Joseph. His father’s middle name was Joseph. Joseph means “provider,” and all the Josephs in the Bible were providers. First there was Joseph who went into Egypt ahead of his brothers to prepare for a time of famine. Then Jesus’ earthly daddy or guardian was named Joseph. This Joseph provided a safe, loving environment for Jesus in His childhood. And then there was Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb for Jesus. Blessed insights like this come to us when we are willing to set time apart to be with the Lord.

It has been a long time since I took a day apart, and I am challenged this morning to make an appointment with God in the near future to just spend a day with Him. Maybe you are a night person, and you could spend a whole night in prayer. Whatever works for you. Just do it.

Father, forgive me for not making appointments with You. I make appointments with my husband all the time to have little getaways together. Help me to remember that You long for a little getaway with me. Show me the time that would be best for You and me. Thanks.

READ: Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29; Luke 6:12-38; Psalm 67:1-7; Proverbs 11:27

Psalm 66:1-20 Have you ever been through God’s divine meat grinder? Some people today do not believe that God tests us, but the Bible says clearly that we are tested by the Lord. The request by God for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was clearly a test from God. God, however, is not the tempter. James tells us that we are led astray by our own lusts and then tempted. He says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13).

Temptation is the devil’s business, and make no mistake, he is an expert at his job. Testing, however, is God’s business, and sometimes God will allow Satan to tempt us simply because God wants us to learn to overcome temptation. If God never allowed Satan to tempt us, we would never grow in the skills of spiritual warfare. It is important to recognize that God has Satan on a leash. If we are walking faithfully with the Lord and our hearts are continually turned toward Him with the desire to keep walking in His ways, we can rest assured that whatever comes our way in the form of temptation or trial is ultimately going to work for our good. We also have to recognize that a lot of the troubles we get into and sins we commit are simply because we give into our fleshly lusts. We definitely cannot blame God for those times we have made stupid mistakes, been hasty in our decisions or willfully chosen the world’s way instead of God’s way. We learn in Job that Satan had to ask permission from God to tempt Job because Job was a righteous man.

Psalm 66:1-20 tells us clearly that God does allow affliction sometimes in our lives. We have only to look at the story of Israel to discover this truth. God is purifying us and forming His character in our lives, and to have this happen, we all will go through some type of fiery trial. God the Father allowed Jesus to be tempted forty days and forty nights, so we would be presumptuous to believe that we will never be tempted. The good news is that God will not put us in His divine meat grinder unless He knows we will come out as steak. God’s meat grinder is designed to mold us into something better than what went into the grinder. David says in this psalm, “For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined” (v. 10).

The truth is, God will not give us more than we can bear, and with every temptation He will give us a way of escape. That way of escape is Jesus. Does this mean that the moment we call upon Jesus, He will instantly deliver us when we are going through severe trials and testings? God will allow us to remain in His divine meat grinder just long enough to make us come out like steak. The next time you experience trials, don’t ask, “Why, Lord?” Instead, ask, “What, Lord? What do You want to develop in me through this trial?” Remember, tribulation works patience in our lives, and there truly is no other way for this fruit to be developed in us.

READ: Numbers 36:1-Deuteronomy 1:46; Luke 5:29-6:11; Psalm 66:1-20; Proverbs 11:24-26

Psalm 65:1-13 It was a cold wintry day, and someone was knocking violently at my door. I looked through the peephole to discover two frightened young ladies who seemed desperate. Then I heard dogs barking in the background. I opened the door, and they said, “Please let us in!! Some dogs are chasing us!!” They were going door to door selling magazines, and some neighborhood dogs were following them. I let them in quickly, and they ended up staying with me for two hours. They were so relieved to find a refuge in my home. After some conversation and some hot tea, one of the ladies asked, “Don’t you get lonely in this big house?” My husband was at work, and my children were at school. I answered, “No, I never get lonely because the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are always with me, and we have a tea party every day.” Suddenly one of the ladies said with urgency in her voice, “We’ve got to go now.” I guess they thought I was crazy, but at least my statement finally made them leave.

This incident reminds me of the times I have chosen to enter God’s presence, His dwelling place, just to find refuge and comfort because I am desperate. So often I neglect my quiet times in the morning when things are going well in my life, but I would not dream of missing time with the Lord when I am going through hard times.

This psalm speaks of the blessing that awaits those who approach God. “Blessed is the man You choose and cause to approach unto You, that he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, of Your holy temple” (v. 4).

Note it was God who chose and caused the man in this psalm to approach Him. This offers hope for me in the discipline of a daily quiet time. Sometimes I just don’t feel I have the time to spend alone with the Lord, and frankly sometimes I just don’t want to take the time. When those times come in my life now, I can pray this prayer:

Lord, cause me to approach Your throne. Don’t let anything stop me from entering into Your presence. Give me the excitement and expectancy I need to draw me faithfully into Your presence. Amen.

READ: Numbers 33:40-35:34; Luke 5:12-28; Psalm 65:1-13; Proverbs 11:23

Proverbs 11:22 Today’s proverb is one of my favorites. Whenever I meet a woman who lacks discretion, immediately I have this mental picture of a pig with a beautiful gold-jeweled ring in her snout. Sometimes I have to battle this image in my mind, because it does cause me to be closed to anything this woman might have to say.

What is discretion? Webster’s defines discretion as “the power to discern and judge, the freedom to make decisions and choices, being careful about what one does and says, prudence.” I have mentioned before how wisdom, prudence and discretion are usually linked together. They are like God-assigned bodyguards who keep us out of trouble.

Over the years I have met a few women who lack discretion. If you are reading this and think you might be one of these women in my life, don’t worry. The fact that you are reading this devotional means that you do have some discretion. When I meet a woman or a man who lacks discretion, I know exactly how to pray for them. I pray they will grow in the wisdom that comes from above. James 3:17 says, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

A person who operates in the wisdom that comes from above will be a discreet person who knows when to speak and when not to speak. To put it bluntly, a discreet person knows when to keep his mouth shut.

The other day I was so excited about going to an event where I would meet some new Christians. I always love fellowshiping with Christians because the subject we always share in common is the Lord and what He is doing in our lives. As I entered the home, several groups were already gathered while we enjoyed refreshments. As I floated from group to group, I was so disappointed. One group was discussing a recent murder in Atlanta. Another group was discussing an interview with a sports figure on TV that was less than edifying. Everything being discussed was what these ladies had seen on TV the night before. I thought to myself, Garbage in, garbage out. We speak what we have filled our minds with, and so often it is just garbage.

To grow in discretion, we must submit ourselves daily to a fresh washing of the Word of God. The world around us is so cluttered with garbage and filth that if we do not do this, our minds will never be renewed and the thoughts we think and the things we say and do will lack discretion.

Lord, help me to fill my mind with Your Word and to develop discretion.

READ: Numbers 32:1-33:39; Luke 4:33-5:11; Psalm 64:1-10; Proverbs 11:22

Luke 4:1-32 So many in this day are seeking the anointing, but few realize that we already have the anointing. We have the same anointing for ministry that Jesus had. Isaiah lists seven aspects of this anointing of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:1-2:

• The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding

• The Spirit of Counsel and Might

• The Spirit of Knowledge and the Fear of the Lord

• The Spirit of the Lord

In this passage in Luke Jesus tells how the Spirit of the Lord anointed Him for ministry. He then lists six things this anointing will enable Him to do:

1. Preach the gospel to the poor
2. Heal the brokenhearted
3. Preach deliverance to the captives
4. Recovering of the sight to the blind
5. Set at liberty those who are bruised
6. Preach the acceptable year of the Lord

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is what enabled Jesus to fulfill these six ministries. The Spirit of Counsel and Might enabled Jesus to heal the souls of the people. He was able to counsel those who were brokenhearted, and He also set at liberty all that were bruised in their souls. The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding enabled Him to preach the gospel to the poor in spirit who needed wisdom and understanding, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord and Knowledge enabled Him to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

We have this same anointing. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you today. To whom will you minister today?

Lord, forgive me for seeking an anointing that I already have. Because Jesus lives in me, I have the same anointing He experienced when He was on earth. Why do I hesitate to move out in this anointing to minister to others? Help me to get rid of all of my fear and self-awareness and allow the Holy Spirit to minister through me today. Amen.

READ: Numbers 30:1-31:54; Luke 4:1-32; Psalm 63:1-11; Proverbs 11:20-21

One morning I was waking from a night’s sleep, and I heard the name “Jochebed” in my spirit. I knew it was the Lord calling me Jochebed. I got up and looked up the name in the Strong’s Concordance and found that Jochebed was the mother of two sons and a daughter.

Both of her sons were priests. She was the mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. The name Jochebed in Hebrew means “the Lord glorified.”

For over a year I pondered about why God would call me Jochebed. One night coming home from church I was listening to Chuck Swindoll on my car radio as he shared the Hebrew meaning for priests. He said that the word priests in Hebrew means “bridge builder.” When my boys were very young I asked the Lord to show me their call in life. He was faithful to do this and spoke to me the following:

• Your oldest son, Russ, will be a bridge between races.

• Your middle son, Ron, will be a bridge between nations.

• Your youngest son, Ray, will be a bridge between families. He is a peacemaker.

This prophetic word has been fulfilled in all three of my son’s lives. Russ has had many opportunities to bridge the races, and Ron and his wife and two children left for China in 2001 to teach English as a second language to Chinese college students. Ray and his wife, Teri, are reaching out to Jewish people in Budapest, Hungary. Through their witness to the Jewish people, they are joining the two families of God—Jew and Gentile—together as one.

The Lord called me Jochebed because I too am a mother of priests—bridge builders in the kingdom of God. If you have children or grandchildren, why don’t you spend some time seeking the Lord about their call in life? I know God will be faithful to reveal this to you.

Lord, Your Word tells me that there are works You have prepared for me to do even before I was born. The same is true of my children and grandchildren. I desire to know what these works are so that my whole family can walk in every work You have prepared. Show me clearly the call You have on each of my loved ones. Thank You.

READ: Numbers 26:52-28:14; Luke 3:1-22; Psalm 61:1-8; Proverbs 11:16-17

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