Posts from December 2021

Philippians 3:12-16 (TPV)  I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fulness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose that Jesus Christ has called me to fulfill and wants me to discover.  I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however, I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.  I run straight for…

II Corinthians 5:17 (TPV) Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person.  All that is related to the old order has vanished.  Behold, everything is fresh and new.  I love the Passion Translation’s commentary on this verse:  “This would include our old identity, our life of sin, the power of Satan, the religious works of trying to please God, our old relationship with the world, and our old mind-sets.  We are not reformed or…

Luke 2:39-40 (NIV) When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.  And the child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him.  Finally it was time to settle down and enjoy being a family.  With dangers and transitions behind them for now, Mary and Joseph began a normal family life.  Jesus thrived in his parents’ …

Matthew 2:19-20 (NIV) After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said,  “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”  Once again, the angel of the Lord provided direction through a dream and sent Joseph and his family to Nazareth, a safer place where Herod Antipas reigned.  There they began the next…

Matthew 2:16 (NIV)  When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious… Can we even begin to comprehend the suffering imposed on the families in Bethlehem because of one man’s hysterical fears?  This was typical behavior for Herod, who had murdered even his own family members.  This spirit of murder lives on in the hearts of evil rulers around the world today.  God sees injustice and cares about broken lives.  He is the God of…

Matthew 2:8 (NIV)  (Herod) sent (the Magi) to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child.  As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”  King Herod had no intention of worshipping the Christ child.  He destroyed anyone who might interfere with his ambitions; he had murdered his wife, her mother, his oldest son, and two other sons!  No threat survived his murderous reign.  Though the Magi…

Luke 2:17 (NIV)  When they (the shepherds) had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about the child.  “I will seek to believe rather than to reason.  I will seek, rather than explain.  I will seek to give thanks, rather than to penetrate the doctrine.  Who can understand?  Here is the Ancient of Days becoming a babe in Bethlehem.  Here is He who thunders in the heavens, crying in the cradle.  Here is the One…

I Timothy 3:16 (NIV) Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.  This was Paul’s apologetic mandate.  No wonder he spent years in the Arabian Desert after seeing the resurrected Christ on the Damascus road!  His whole mindset needed realignment.  He studied the Old Testament scriptures to find Jesus…

Colossians 1:15, 19, 20b (NIV) The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to Himself all things…by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  Long before there ever was an Abraham, Jesus was present.  Long before there ever was a Bethlehem, Jesus was present.  Jesus’  life did not begin in Bethlehem.  There was never a time…

Isaiah 7:14  (NIV) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:  The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.  This is the Old Testament prophecy to which Matthew pointed.  He clearly says this child is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy—this is that.  Isn’t it wonderful to know that Immanuel means  “God with us”?  He came down to us because we had no possible way of going up to Him. …

Matthew 1:22 (NIV)  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet…  If we believe that God can create a man out of the dust of the earth, and if we believe that God can create a woman out of the side of a man, and if we believe that God can enable a man and woman who are past the age of childbearing to conceive and give birth to a healthy child, then why…

Matthew 1:23  (NIV)  The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”  The bible is a book filled with remarkable narratives.  A snake talks to a woman (Eve).  A man builds a boat and saves the animals of the world from a flood (Noah).  The New Testament begins with another remarkable story—the Christmas story.  A virgin conceives a child.  It would all seem quite impossible to…

Luke 1:56  Before going home, Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months.  This means that Mary was probably present when John the Baptist was born.  Those first three months of Mary’s pregnancy were critical to the health and development of the unborn Jesus in her womb.  And they were critical to Mary emotionally because Elizabeth provided her the kind of friendship and support that would believe her story about an angelic visitation.  Both women were pregnant with men of…

Luke 1:45 (TPT)  “Great favor is upon you, for you have believed every word spoken to you from the Lord.” As we track through our days, do we maintain a frequency in our souls that picks up on the divine whisper.  “Blessed are the ears that hear the divine whisper” (Thomas a Kempis).  God is speaking.  God is guiding.  The Holy Spirit is attempting to tutor us.  But when we feel anxious, a lack of compassion, impatient, or easily angered,…

Luke 1:37 (TPT)  Not one promise from God is empty of power, for nothing is impossible with God.  Every promise of God is like a seed filled with potential.  When God’s Word finds proper soil within your believing heart, and when we prioritize what He says and do what He says, then we automatically grow into our divine destiny.  Each one of us has a seed of destiny within us—a God-call, spiritual gifts as well as natural talents and abilities…

Luke 1:35 (KJV)  The angel answered (Mary), “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most High will overshadow you…”  This overshadowing is the same  “hovering”  that we read about in the Creation narrative when the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.  Have you experienced a sense of God’s hovering Presence over your life?  Are you aware when He is near?  Are you sensitive to His leadership in your day-to-day, faith-meets-the-reality-of-my-life experience? …”in the shadow…

Luke 1:30 (TPT)  But the angel reassured (Mary), saying, “Do not yield to your fear…”  Fear can be a destiny derailer.  So many of the biblical narratives describe the experiences of ordinary people as they chose courage over fear (see Joshua 1).  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear (I John 4:18).  When we know we’re loved, fear melts.  The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is…

Luke 1:28  (TPT)   Gabriel appeared to (Mary) and said, “Grace to you, young woman, for the Lord is with you and so you are anointed with great favor.”  My grandchildren know they have my favor—it shines through everything I do from greeting them with hugs and personal statements of affirmation when they come through my door, to making space in my busy life for those sacred moments when they ask questions about God.  When you know you are favored,…

Joshua 11:1-5 (focus verse 6 – NIV)   The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel…”  The enormous northern coalition was equipped with war chariots  “the tanks of the biblical world.”*  God encouraged Joshua.  Have you lived through battles in life that felt overwhelming and impossible?  There are spiritual enemies that assault us; but God gives us the victory, not in a moment,…

Joshua 10:1-15 (focus verse 15)    There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man.  Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!  What a story!  What miracles of nature as God intervened and fought for Israel (vs. 42)!  If we did not believe in a resurrected Christ, we might not be able to believe in these remarkable miracles.  But we serve a God with whom  “all things are possible”…

Joshua 9:1-27 (focus verse 14 – NIV)   So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord (NLT).  The men of Israel looked them over and accepted the evidence.  But they didn’t ask God about it (The Message).  The Gibeonites deceived Joshua to procure safety and prevent the extermination of their people.  “Gibeon was the major city of the Hivites, a minority people in Canaan.  The other Canaanites united to resist Israel (vs. 1-2) but the…

Joshua 8:34-35 (NIV)   Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law.  There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.  We must “incorporate regular Scripture reading as a part of personal and corporate worship” * Growing in godliness “through…

Joshua 7:7-13 (focus verse 10 – NIV)   The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?”  Joshua pleaded with God.  But  “prayer is no substitute for the removal of sin (II Chronicles 27:6).  It is the removal of sin that makes possible divine aid and intervention (8:1-29). ** Do you want to grow powerful in spirit?  “Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God” (II Chronicles 27:6).  We will…

Joshua 7:1-26 (focus verse 13b – NLT)    “…Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord.  You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things.”   Achan’s disobedience to Joshua’s warning (6:18) caused Israel’s defeat.  Achan sinned in that: 1) He took something that God had called  “cursed,” 2) He disobeyed in that the silver and gold was to be consecrated to God, and 3) Achan lied and hid the things he took as…

Joshua 6:22-25 (focus verse 25 – NIV)  But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.  Rahab came into the lineage of Jesus through her faith in the God of the Israelites (see James 2:25; Hebrews 11:31; Matthew 1).  She married Salmon and they were the parents of Boaz (who married Ruth).  Boaz and…

Joshua 6:18 (The Message)  “As for you, watch yourselves in the city under holy curse.  Be careful that you don’t covet anything in it and take something that’s cursed, endangering the camp of Israel with the curse and making trouble for everyone.”  Joshua issued a strict order that the people were NOT allowed to take the spoils of fallen Jericho.  How does that apply to us today?  “Do not covet the world’s goods.  Understand that things we strive to get…

Joshua 6:21 (NIV)  They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.  How can the slaughter of this magnitude be reconciled with the justice of God?  “Sin had become so ingrained in the nation that God had no alternative but to rid the country of sin by exterminating the entire population.”**  God had told Abraham that He would judge the Amorites when their…