Deliverance
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The Blessings of the Righteous
Psalm 37:12-28 We have talked a lot about the blessings that come to those who have been made righteous through Jesus Christ and who abide daily in Him and His Word. I did a study once on the multitude of blessings that actually overtake those who fear the Lord and who walk uprightly with Him. Of course, the blessings to the righteous do not guarantee they will not experience troubles. In fact, the Word of God says we will be persecuted for righteousness' sake, and yet even with this will come a blessing. The Word also says many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord Himself delivers them out of them all. We have to remember that the end of every trial in a righteous person's life will develop something better in our lives than before. Our readings for the rest of this month in Job certainly prove this to be true.
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Judging the Sin
1 Corinthians 5:1-13 Yesterday we talked about judging nothing before the time. However, we see in this passage that Paul definitely makes a judgment. Remember we said we could judge people's actions, but we do not have the ability to judge their motivations. Only God knows the hearts of men. The judgment Paul makes in this passage is against the sin of fornication. This is the only sin that is a sin against one's own body. Listen to what Paul says about this. "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: yet not altogether the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (vv. 9-13, KJV).
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A Blameless Life
1 Corinthians 1:1-17 Is it possible to live a blameless life? As I meditated on our New Testament reading today, the verse that gave me great hope was, "Who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 8).
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The Only Thing We Need to Owe
Romans 13:1-14 Each day our national debt and the debts of many citizens are rising. The convenience of the credit card is sending many to a debtor's prison. I heard recently that the average credit card debt for the American household is $20,000. Can you imagine the interest that will accumulate if this debt is not paid off in a year's time? It is a terrible thing to be in bondage to financial debt. We all need to follow Paul's admonition in this passage "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law" (v. 8).
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Jesus on the Cross
Psalm 22:1-18 The psalms David wrote were directed by the Holy Spirit, who knows the future. David was inspired by the Holy Spirit in this psalm to prophetically write about Jesus' death and His mission on earth. We know that as Jesus was dying on the cross, He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" Jesus was quoting from this psalm. David writes in this psalm about the piercing of His hands and feet. We know this did not happen to David, but it did happen to Jesus Christ. David in the spirit saw the scene of the cross, and he recorded what he saw and heard.
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How Will They Hear?
Romans 10:13-11:12 Paul continues his discussion about what it takes to be saved. He says, "For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13). Then Paul shares how it will be impossible for people to call upon the name of the Lord if they have never heard the gospel. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!" (vv. 14-15).
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A Good Conscience
Acts 24:1-27 God created man to be directed by the Spirit. When He breathed into Adam, he became a living soul. The image of God was indelibly imprinted in Adam's being. The breath of God was the very Spirit of God infusing into the flesh body of Adam. That spirit sometimes is referred to as the core of our being. The soul part of man is his mind, will and emotions.
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Not Counting Our Life Dear
Acts 20:1-38 Fear is one of the greatest enemies of every Christian. Satan seeks to paralyze us with fear. Fear is Satan's anesthesia that causes us to be frozen on his operating table where he can perform wicked surgery on our souls. One of the secrets of the early church's success in the spread of the gospel is that those early believers loved not their lives to the death. When we read Revelation 12:11, we often skip over the last part. This verse reads, "And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."
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Are You Confused?
Acts 19:13-14 God is not the author of confusion. Satan is. We learn this in this chapter in Acts. Wherever idols are worshiped or participation in the occult is present, there is confusion because the author of confusion is on the scene.
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Hold Your Peace
Proverbs 17:27-28 This proverb basically says, "If you have any sense at all, keep your mouth shut." Solomon puts it more eloquently when he writes, "He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace: when he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive."
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Prejudice
Acts 10:1-23 We sat in the amphitheater under a cloudless sky. We were seated in an amphitheater built by Herod in Caesarea centuries ago. My husband read the account from Acts 10 to the people on our tour of Israel. As he read this story, I realized the great victory Peter had over prejudice in his life. We all need such a victory.
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How to Let My Light Shine
Psalm 119:96-112 What a privilege to be the container of God's glory. However, for His glory to shine out of our lives, we have to fulfill two conditions—to hear and heed God's word. In Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, David declares what the Word of God means to Him. He says, "You word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (v. 105).
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Do You Believe in Hell?
Luke 16:19-17:10 I had a frightening dream one night, and it changed my life. In the dream I saw masses of blindfolded people walking off a cliff into a fiery ravine. Then I saw Jesus standing close by. I cried out, "Jesus, stop them, stop them!! They are perishing." Then I heard Jesus say, "I cannot stop them. I am in My resurrected form in heaven, but you as the church are My body on earth. On earth My spirit indwells you and desires to use the vessel of your body to do My will. You are My hands, eyes, mouth and feet on earth, and for the Holy Spirit to do His work, you must submit your body to be used by Him. Unless you use your own voice to warn these people, they will all perish."
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Forgive Us Our Sins
We need to tell Muslims: "We confess that [we] have sinned against you."
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Pray for Freedom
Democracy is an obstacle to Islam. It will never bring cooperation from Muslim radicals.
