Devotions

“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire – where ‘THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.'”

Mark 9:47-48

Do we deal with the sin in our lives or do we ignore it? The world says: do what makes you happy, if it feels good how can it be wrong or my body my life! What does God say?

“Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.”

Deuteronomy 8:6

Jesus says!

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

John 14:15

The LORD isn’t mean or a spoiler of fun, He is the creator of the universe and He knows what is good for us! What we get to do is walk in His ways not in the worldly ways!

“Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.”

Isaiah 12:2

Realize, everything we need is in the LORD! He gave us His commands on how to walk, His strength to do them and His grace to get us through! The world has nothing, but heart ache for us! The LORD has nothing but joy, so have a blessed day walking in His ways!

“And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

Mark 9:35

In other words, don’t think so highly of yourself: My problems are bigger or my situation is more important. When we sit back and take a look at the situations of those around us, our situations don’t seem so bad!

“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for LOVE WILL COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS.”

1 Peter 4:8 and Proverbs 10:12

Jesus also said:

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

John 15:12

The idea of loving and serving others is a theme found throughout scripture!

“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Leviticus 19:18

Today, let us not look at ourselves or try to be first, but instead let us serve and love those who are around us!

May you have a blessed and joyful day serving and loving others!

Shabbat Shalom!

“Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Mark 9:23

One of the biggest things we lack is believing! We can look around us and think everybody around us has it all worked out! The perfect jobs, the perfect lives and the perfect families, but for us nothing! Jesus says believe!

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Hebrews 11:6

We really need to be seeking the LORD, putting our hope and trust in Him!

“So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Romans 10:17

Here in this section of scripture Jesus is healing many people and this father brings his son who has an unclean spirit to Him! He sees others being healed made perfect, believes what he is seeing, but doesn’t believe it can happen for him! Then no sooner than it happens the father cries out!

“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, LORD, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:24

What happened? The father stopped looking at all the so called perfect people and just looked at the perfect Savior Jesus! The same goes for us, stop looking at all the so called perfect things around us and start looking at Jesus! How? By turning off all the fake things and get into His perfect word, that talks about our perfect Savior and His perfect love for us!

Have a blessed day looking and listening to the LORD!

“Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah – because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.”

Mark 9:5-6

Do we do the same thing? We see and do something great for the LORD, an amazing event happens, we don’t know what to door say, so we decide to build something! Notice the LORD didn’t say it wasn’t good to be there, He just said listen to Jesus!

“Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways.”

Psalm 128:1

Often times we don’t have to do or act, we just need to listen and wait!

“Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!”

Psalm 27:14

Today, before you act out, speak out or make a comment, wait! Call upon the LORD and wait for Him to answer! Have a blessed day listening for the LORD!

“He also made the lamp stand of pure gold; of hammered work he made the lamp stand. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and its flowers were of the same piece.”

Exodus 37:17

Often times we can read through these chapters without even thinking about the work that was put into building the temple. Also, we can overlook the symbolisms that reflect our LORD and Savior

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Philippians 2:12

A better word here would be “cultivate your salvation” like a gardener trimming and weeding. Clipping the dead things and pulling the weeds that choke out your walk with the LORD! In other words it takes work to be a believer!

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

2 Timothy 2:15

And symbolically, seven being the the number of completion and in Jesus we are complete! Six days we should work and on the seventh we get to spend the day with the LORD. If you get nothing else out of this realize walking with the LORD takes some effort and everywhere we look in His word, we can see the LORD! Have a blessed day digging into His word!