NT in 30 days: Day 2

I was able to complete Matthew tonight. Truly, what a blessing even to read Matthew in two brief sittings.

• Jesus was not afraid of the Sadducees or Pharisees. When questioned by them, He would respond but He would quite often insult them in His response (Matthew 21:31, Matthew 21:43-45, Matthew 22:29, etc.)
• Jesus continues to speak in parables and He attempts to prepare our hearts for God’s truth. He teaches in love but not in fear.
• As He prepared His disciples for the day He would leave, He continued to prophesy of His death and crucifixion.
• Matthew 16:24-28 is Scripture I should commit to memory. Jesus tells his disciples: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:24, 25) I do need to do more research on Matthew 16:28. This passage always challenges me.
• Matthew 19:26 is a great verse to remember: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
• Every time the Pharisees and Sadducees tested Jesus, He always amazed (or marveled) them with His response. They continued to try to catch Him but they were never able.
• Matthew 22:37-40 (The Great Commandment) is another great piece of Scripture to commit to memory.
• As Jesus prepares His disciples by explaining to them the end times, I am reminded of the fact that His return will come “like a thief in the night”. I need to be prepared every hour of every day as if it is the last.
• Reading over the events of the crucifixion make me want to weep.  The way that they treat Him and tortured Him.  Unfortunately, I am no better.  My actions and my words trample Jesus under foot just as painfully.  This is how I need to think of my sin instead of nonchalant.
• Matthew closes with one of the most memorable passages (The Great Commission): “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18b-20)

NT in 30 days: Day 1

My goal is to read the New Testament in 30 days or so… I am not “time boxing” myself because I don’t want to stop if I lose traction but I am setting goals for this effort.  I read/listened to Matthew 1-14 tonight.  As I skim back through what I read, I can easily highlight some key points:

• God works in amazing ways!  He sent His angels to guide and project Mary and Joseph.  Mary and Joseph’s obedience was inspiring — it gives great example to how we should respond to Him.
• Matthew wants to make sure that the reader  ties the events to the prophecy spoken in the OT (Matthew 2:15,  Matthew 2:17, 18, Matthew 3:3, Matthew 4:14-16, etc.)
• Early in Jesus’s ministry, He identified people who were laymen to do His will.  It reminds me of a sermon recently done at my church where pastor Bo reminded us that God equips those whom He calls.  He doesn’t call those who are already equipped.  Again, it was inspiring to take note on how quickly these men responded to Jesus by leaving what they were doing to follow him.
• The Sermon on the Mount has lots of great info… just some tidbits that stood out this time:
  • Starts by really helping us to remember that Jesus coming to earth wasn’t a new thing — it was a fulfillment of the Law and the things which the Prophets spoke of.
  • Matthew 7:1 is always a key verse to remember: “Judge not, that you be not judged.”
  • Matthew 7:21-23 is a great reminder that there are many who say that they know Him but He will tell them on the final day that He knew them not and they will be cast into the fire.
• Matthew moves from the Sermon on the Mount to many of Jesus’s miracles.
• Matthew 8:20 really stood out to me in this reading — “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
• In several situations, when Jesus performed miracles, the people of the region wanted Him to leave.  They didn’t see Him as the Christ, but thought of Him as a man of the devil.
• Matthew then tells us the story of Jesus calling His twelve apostles and sending them out to the lost sheep of Israel.
• The Pharisees were so threatened by Him that every time He performed miracles, they conspired more and more to kill Him.  Again, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
• I still struggle with the sin against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31, 32).  I need to do more meditation and research on this point.  I am not sure I can speak clearly about this point.
• Matthew 12:36, 37 is another key verse to commit to memory and meditate upon:  “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”  This is a major sin area in my life that I have to ask for God’s help in improving.
• Jesus spoke in parables to the people.  The disciples asked why and he answered them (Matthew 13:11-17).
• Jesus was committed to His ministry.  Quite often, He didn’t sleep.  When He tried to be alone, people would follow.  He continued to have compassion upon them and minister to them.

Psalm 94

The LORD disciplines those whom are in His family. He disciplines like a father to his son. God disciplines us because He loves us. His discipline is a blessing to us and teaches us, moreover reinforces with us, His law. He has done this since the beginning of time and He continues to do this today. He is the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

God will not forsake His people. He has made a covenant with them and He will honor that covenant. Our God keeps His promises. He does not say one thing and then do another (like man). He will not leave His chosen family — the believers and saved souls. God provides blessings for those whom He disciplines.

Psalm 91

God is my refuge, my fortress and my rock. He will deliver me (v3), He will cover me (v4) and I will not fear (v5). He does this because of His deep love for me. I don’t deserve this. I have done nothing in my life that would warrant God being my protect and yet He does so willingly. What does that tell me about my God? He loves me even though I have done nothing to deserve it. Certainly, I can relate that to my wife and my kids. It doesn’t matter what they do, what they say, or how they act — I will always love them. Pride gets in the way with man and that is when the actions of our loved ones start to affect our relationship. Unless we have a deep rooted belief that God will leave us because we have done something wrong, we are lying to ourselves. We are made in the image (characteristics) of God. He forgives us time and time again no matter what we do or say (save perhaps sinning against the Spirit). Yet, we consistently find it difficult to forgive. We find it easier (and more comfortable) to find ways out of a situation instead of forgiving and returning to that person. To take an extreme example, if one of my kid’s murdered someone, would I forgive them and still love them? Absolutely. Would I be terribly saddened by the loss and the sin? Of course! I know this is an extreme example but it is relevant to how God forgives us. I don’t think many would argue that if a person was on death row but truly repented of their sins and asked Christ into their heart, God would forgive them and accept them into His family. Why should it be different for us? Are we more advanced, more knowledgeable, more just than He? Of course not! We must listen to our Father and be obedient to Him more than anything else. That means that we follow His example of forgiving, His example of providing though not worthy. I am not worthy of my wife but God has a different plan in place. I am blessed just to have her in my life.

Verses 11 through 13 are incredibly interesting to ponder…

For He will command His angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

God loves me so much that He has put me a step above the angels. He has them working to protect me. He will work on their hands to protect me and provide for me. That is an extremely humbling thought. Angels are the heavenly hosts and yet they working for the Lord to provide for me. God is so gracious and forgiving. He does all of this even though I sin against Him countless times every single day. I am amazed by His grace and His love. I have so much to learn and so much growing to do in order to truly serve the Lord with all of my heart, with all of your mind and with all of my soul.

The end of this Psalm is the part that really peaks my interest, however… “Because He holds fast to me in love…”

1. He will deliver me.
2. He will protect me.
3. He will answer me when I call.
4. He will be with me.
5. He will rescue me.
6. He will honor me.
7. He will satisfy me.
8. He will show me His salvation.

Thank you, Father God, for doing all of this for me when I have done nothing to deserve you. Thank you for your great love and compassion. I pray that I can live my life every single day in a way that is closer and closer to the way You call me to live. I pray that the light I can shine into people’s lives would be Your light instead of a worldly light. I thank you, Father, for Your great Word that motivates and inspires me beyond my imagination. You are amazing! Thank you, Father.

Psalm 84

The immediate thing that stands out is LORD of Hosts. What is interesting is that just tonight my mother-in-law was praying about this name of the LORD — Jehovah Sabaoth. I could spend the entire time meditating on this name of God but I am choosing to continue meditating on the Psalm itself.

“My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD…” This is a very powerful image. As I think about what it means to long for something so bad that it would almost drive me to faint. Love is a lot like that. We long so much to be with someone — sometimes so much that it almost hurts! To long for the LORD can be so overwhelming that it will cause someone to faint. Do I desire God that much? Does my life show that or is it the exact opposite? If God is my greatest desire, just to be in His courts would be supremely better than anything else. As the Scripture says at the end of this Psalm: “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” A single day versus a thousand days. One day versus 3 years. I would rather spend one day with God than three years in the most beautiful place on the entire earth. That really makes me think about my desires.

What does it mean for my heart and flesh to sing for joy? We all know what it means for our flesh to crave something. We know what it means when our flesh sings for joy — as from an intimate moment with a loved one. I think of how it feels when you first kiss the person that you love for your entire life — your heart simply sings a song of joy. David is saying that he feels this way all of the time for God. His heart and his flesh are singing to God. Of course, it isn’t just any god — it is the living God. Our God is, was and always will be. David knew that. He lived his life in a way that demonstrated that. Again, do I live my life in a way that shows that my greatest desire is God?