Deliverance
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Covering Up
Proverbs 28:12-13 In recent years we have seen in our own country what happens when we try to cover up our sins. There was Watergate, and then the unfaithfulness of a president. There is a verse in the Bible that says that everything done in darkness will be brought to light.
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Live!!!
Ezekiel 14:12-16:42 This passage in Ezekiel speaks of Israel and how God had mercy on Israel and gave Israel life. Ezekiel speaks of Israel's birth and how no man had pity upon her. Israel was like a newborn cast into an open field with no one even nearby to cut her umbilical cord. Then Ezekiel shares how God has pity on her: "And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'" (Ezek. 16:6)
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Hearts Made of Stone
Ezekiel 10:1-11:25 There was a song in the late fifties called "Hearts Made of Stone." I'm sure the writer of this song had no idea he was quoting Scripture. The promise to Israel in Ezekiel 11:19 is, "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh."
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Tempted in All Points
Hebrews 4:1-16 This passage in Hebrews speaks of Jesus as our High Priest who was tempted in all points even as we are tempted. He, however, never sinned. Jesus called himself the Son of man often because He was flesh, blood and bone just as we are. God tented Himself in flesh so He could experience all we experience except sin. As a man, Jesus was subject to temptation just as we all are. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. One thing we often forget is that God sometimes allows the devil to tempt us. God gave permission to the devil to tempt Job. God, however, is not the tempter, as James clearly teaches: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed" (James 1:13-14).
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What Is a Perfect Heart?
Psalm 101:1-8 David speaks of walking within his house with a perfect heart. This has been a prayer of mine daily: "Lord, help me to walk in my house with a perfect heart." When I pray this prayer, I am also making a covenant with God:
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What Is the Origin of Fear?
2 Timothy 1:1-18 Today's New Testament reading is one of my favorite scriptures. I have memorized 2 Timothy 1:7, and I use it often against the enemy as an effective sword of the spirit to wound him when he tries to wound me through fear. Listen to this wonderful scripture: "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
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Whom Do You Rebuke?
1 Timothy 5:1-25 Later in 2 Timothy Paul writes Timothy and tells him to rebuke those who oppose themselves by going their own willful way even after they have walked for a season with Christ Jesus. We are to rebuke those who will not endure sound doctrine, but who instead walk after their own lusts. In today's reading we see a clear warning to Timothy about not rebuking certain people. Paul says, "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren" (v. 1, KJV).
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Will My Loved Ones Be Saved?
1 Timothy 2:1-15 All of us have people who are near and dear to us who are not saved. You may even have immediate family members who still have not received God's great gift of salvation.
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The Repentance
1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:3 A new series of books has just been produced that speaks of the last days. The series is called Left Behind. These fiction novels, which are based on Scripture, speak of the day of "the Rapture,"a day many believe the saints of the Lord will meet Jesus in the air. That day is described in detail in this series. Trains, planes and cars will crash suddenly, and those left behind will not know that something supernatural has happened. Some members of families will be taken in the Rapture, and others will be left behind.
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Dressing Ourselves
Colossians 3:1-17 Not a day goes by that we don't have to dress ourselves. I love to have what I call "robe days." These are days when I go nowhere and just stay in my nightgown all day. Even on those days, however, I have to put a robe on just in case someone comes to the door. Often I find myself thinking ahead about what I am going to wear the next day. Jesus, however, tells us not to think ahead about what we will wear or even what we will eat. Granted, we do need to make some preparations ahead of time, but we should never be absorbed with thoughts of what we will wear or eat. It is interesting that when I get together with other ladies we often are talking about clothes and sharing recipes. I believe our times together would better be used if we talked about the Lord together. After all, without Him we would have neither clothes nor food. When we are absorbed with what we wear and eat, we are declaring we do not trust God to provide these things.
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The Great Mystery
Colossians 1:21-2:7 For so long in my own life I did not understand the mystery Paul speaks of in his letter to the Colossians. I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior at nine years of age, and from nine to twenty-six years of age I struggled to walk in the ways of the Lord. I would do well for a season, and then I would find myself drifting. Finally the day came when I was twenty-six and that mystery began to be unveiled to me.
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Restoration of the Rejected
Isaiah 54:1-57:14 A rejected person is always vulnerable to the enemy's weapons. This passage in Isaiah lists the ten weapons the enemy tries to use against rejected people.
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The Power of Confession
Psalm 51:1-19 David was called a man after God's own heart. Yet, he was also a man who committed adultery. He was a man after God's own heart because he realized he sinned against God and confessed his sin before God and repented of it. God heard David's cry, and when the life of David was mentioned in Chronicles, his sin of adultery was not mentioned. God not only forgives, but He also forgets. He not only blots out our transgressions, but He also cleanses us. John writes about God's complete act of forgiveness in 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
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The Great Exchange
2 Corinthians 5:12-21 My middle son, Ron, was in Bogota, Colombia on a mission journey. He went with a team into a drug dealing area called the Cartuge. His team visited a drug rehabilitation center there where criminals were learning about Jesus and being born again. When Ron entered the center he felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to offer to wash the feet of these men. Many of them did not know the story of Jesus' washing the feet of His disciples, so Ron read it to them. After the reading of the Scripture, the foot washing began.
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Let Everything Be Done With Love
1 Corinthians 16:1-24 Paul exhorts in his letter to the Corinthians that everything we do be done in love. What a great idea! Actually this is not an idea at all. It is a commandment. Jesus summed up the whole law in two commandments—love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. If love were our motivation in everything we did, our lives would be blessed.
