The Devotional – 1462 – The Books

The Devotional – 1462 – The Books

Proverbs 21:6 – Getting treasures by a lying tongue is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.

Comments and challenges

On Monday we looked at the books that are recorded and maintained by God Himself and one of the thoughts I had (like many of us) was. Why does God need to maintain records? Surely as He knows everything and that is everything from the very beginning as recorded in Isaiah 46: 8-10 – Remember this, and show yourselves men; recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, “My counsel shall stand”.

On Monday we looked at the church of Sardis; the dead church according to the Words of Jesus and yet He also said in this section (Revelation 31-6) that there were some whose clothing (flesh) was not defiled and that these people would be given the new clothing of His Righteousness; white garments. Also in the same paragraph He stated that He would not blot these folks out of the Book of Life and that He would confess their name before the Father and the angels.

The other side of this wonderful thought is another event in Revelation when the writer of Revelation sees the beast re-incarnation of the anti-christ whose power was given to him by Satan. John further says in verse 8 the following: And all who dwell on the earth will worship him (the anti-christ), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

From a human point of view it would seem to be a conflict with the two statements. C.I. Scofield does not identify the book as The Book of Life, but as “a book of life” belonging to the Lamb and F. C. Thompson (The Thompson Chain reference Bible) does not mention verse 8 of chapter 13 of Revelation at all in his list of verses referencing the Lamb’s Book of Life. So I might be willing to believe that the book referenced in Revelation 13:8 is the same book that John was told to eat in Revelation 10:8-11. The question remaining is: did John literally eat a small book, or did he digest the wisdom and knowledge of the book in order to fulfill Revelation 10:11?

More on Friday.

The Devotional – 1462 – The Book of Life

The Devotional – 1462 – The Book of Life

Proverbs 19:27 – Cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. (There is no “maybe” in this verse!)

Comments and challenges

While our soul is on earth it is vexed by having a double image (1) your soul is made in likeness of God, Genesis 1:26-28 and (2) after man sinned he was made in the likeness of Adam, Genesis 5:1-3. We can say from these passages that our soul is marred and is in grief on one hand and in selfishness on the other. Thus it is in grief to do good and likewise in fear to be selfish and do evil. This dual expression of the soul is evident from birth, any parent knows full well the reign of terror a new born babe can express when a feeding is missed, or the peaceful and sweet infant observed when all is well.

Yet in all of mankind’s woes Genesis 3:17-24, God has not abandoned him, God provided a way for man’s misbehavior to be settled; Genesis 3:15, 20 and John 3:16 provide the needed provision or way of reconciliation. If God had turned His back on humanity we would have no hope and no reason to be interested in the only true love and relationship with our Creator and thus our soul would just vanish and we would be nothing more than an animal.

I cannot imagine anyone alive wanting to be without his or her soul, it is a place where God consciousness is. The astronaut will tell you that there is room for him and God in space. The submariner will tell you that God is with him in the deepest part of the oceans and the miner will affirm that God is present while he digs deeper into the minerals of the earth. Yet this awareness of the presence of God for every human is still “temporal at best”. No matter where mankind goes, he must at some point in time… die! The soul at that time leaves it’s temporal abode and goes into an eternal place.

No longer is the temporal universe and earth a place for the soul since the body where the soul lived has died and returned to the earth. God provides two other places for the soul to spend eternity. One is a place that was originally designed by God for Satan and his demonic angels, but it is also large enough to contain the souls of men and women who maintained a selfish soul, those who worshipped good and evil, so first we will take a look at a place of evil.

Now I would suspect that all of this will not be covered in today’s devotional as I can see that there is a large amount of information that the LORD is directing me to in His Word. So I will begin to conclude for today, but please stay tuned. If you have a soul that is without the present knowledge of the existing love of God you should take the days ahead to stay with this. Did you know that you are already written in the Book of Life? DO NOT TOSS THIS ASIDE, take the time and read.

We will look at a few verses… Exodus 32:32-33 – “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin – but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” And the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Also see, Deuteronomy 29:20 and Psalm 69:26-28 a Psalm of David.

Of course we always save the best for the last and so does the LORD in His holy word. And before I share this verse I must say that there are more passages on the subject of the book of Life than I first thought and there are separate books written by God listing people of nations so there can be much confusion about the LAMB’s Book of Life, but I believe that this last reference clears the confusion. So STOP rejecting the love of God and turn to Him, you will be overjoyed if you do.

Revelation 3:4-5 – Jesus speaking to the church of Sardis says this: “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments (flesh); and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy”. “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Now in verse one of Revelation 3 Jesus calls the Sardis church dead, yet the names of the dead are still available in the Book of Life.

So hang on to these thoughts as we carry this over until Wednesday.

The Devotional – 1461 – More on The Fear of the LORD!

The Devotional – 1461 – The Fear of the LORD!

Proverbs 16:17 – The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul. Proverbs 16:32 – He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Comments and challenges

Proverbs, if you are honest with your soul is sometimes hard to digest; is it not? Verses in Proverbs are said by many to be words that train us in the skill of living. Now the question, if you have one and if not I have another for you since I have already asked one is this. Is your skill in living based on the world in front of you, or is it founded by faith in the ONE above you?

Believe it or not in that if your way of life is that of the world, the Holy Scriptures tells the story that you do not want to hear. The way of the world is evil and the outcome of evil is total ruin. Many who read these devotionals have lives that are founded by faith in God and truly as they will attest, there is no greater joy on this earth then to KNOW that this faith will one day deliver them from ruin. What is biblical ruin? Being DEAD to God is biblical ruin.

Notice: Ephesians 2:1-10 – And YOU who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course (highway) of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come – He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

For by grace you have been saved (through faith), and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

For you and I who believe that salvation is by grace, we understand that Solomon under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit communicates the same message nearly 1000 years before the apostle Paul. Solomon diction or choice of words may differ, but the message is the same; notice!

The preparations (plans) of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits. Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established (and) A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD direct his steps – Proverbs 16:1-3 and 9.

In these passages for me I see that God has provided a PERFECT plan for mankind and it is HIS gift of grace for you and me to accept or reject. If you accept the gift it is not of anything you have done, but it is all of God who has directed our steps of faith and on the highway of stewardship commit (roll) our works on or to the LORD who will continue to direct and establish our thoughts.

The Devotional – 1460 – The Fear of the LORD!

The Devotional – 1460 – The Fear of the LORD!

Proverbs 14:26-27 – In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence and His children will have a place of refuge. The Fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to avoid the snares of death.

Comments and challenges

If you do not like heights then the fear of climbing can be something hard to overcome. Earlier in life as a deck hand on surface ships I had less fear of going up and down a mast that supported the large radars of those days. As the years wore on I enjoyed going over the side of the ship to preserve and paint the hull. Then for nearly fifteen years while serving on submarines there were the ladders instead of the stairway.

Fear however is not about me; everyone has a breaking point when fear approaches. It may not be height, but all of us share in the fear of something. I used height because over time I have watched this fear develop in me. For you of course, if you care to look will see this development too, maybe not of height, but of bugs, odd looking people or some other matter that causes you to want to turn and run.

We have been looking at the Fear of the LORD for a while now and it may be good once again to seek additional biblical investigation. This is one thing about the study of the Holy Bible, Truth is so rewarding, (progressive and profitable) that we could never exhaust or reach the peak of the Wisdom of God. Two verses come to mind here; Deuteronomy 29:29 and 1 Corinthians 1:25. So right from the start it should be no wonder to us that the Fear we are to have in God should never be that of panic.

The Living Word of God does not teach us how to be afraid of God, but it does teach us how to know and love God; but not on our terms (human effort) but on His terms (Spiritually). Remember too that human effort is temporary while Spiritual integrity is eternal. A good definition of what I am seeking to say was written out for us by the apostle John who in AD 90 and who no doubt was ninety years of age says this about fear.

1 John 4:17-19 – Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

Now this may be hard to understand, but these few verses give us a “right perspective” of the Fear of the LORD. The storms of life are many, should I take the time to look, no I will not; the key of this small portion of words from 1 John is in the last sentence. “We love Him because He first loved us”. Now take the moment and think, did you love your husband or wife right from the beginning, or did that love develop out of fear and in time.

God’s love is different, He loved you before you knew Him personally, and it may be that fearing God was a large part of being separated from Him for many years. God’s love means that He is relaxed about YOU, while you are not relaxed about HIM. This verse should help; Romans 5:8 explains that God took the first step in proving His love to us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Our LORD is our confidence, or we can say; Our LORD is our Fear.

Do you not see that we live in a very dangerous environment, why just one element of the world is enough to destroy every living member of the earth? Water, fire, wind, atmosphere and this does not include the real enemy. SIN! So in one sense, we are born to love “death” or “sin” both words mean the same, and before knowing God, we fear Him who lives forever. Yet and because God’s mercy is renewed every morning we are not consumed or condemned to death, but for as many who believe, to these He gives the right to become the children of God. John 1:11-13.

The turning point of being afraid of God (a wrong sense of fear) comes when our soul focuses on the truth that causes our mind to express from our lips, these wonderful words. “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. And say, “save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the unbelieving, to give thanks to Your holy Name, to triumph in Your praise.” 1 Chronicles 16:34-35.