Verse of the Day - weekend 5/9

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 19 - 2 Kings 1. John 3:1-4:15

 

Good morning,

As we celebrate Mother's Day this weekend I thought that we'd go to Proverbs 31 where we read of the "P-31" wife.  The same qualities that make a virtuous wife make a capable, a blessed mother.

 

Prov 31:10-12A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.   (from THE MESSAGE)
or from the NKJV:

Prov 31:10 Who can find a virtuous wife?
For her worth is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her;
So he will have no lack of gain.   NKJV

When we think of "virtuous" we probably think of moral excellence, doing the right thing, and showing kindness among other things.  Reading the various definitions of "virtue" from the dictionary you also find "effective power" and "the ability to heal or strengthen".

 

I've been blessed by having a P-31 wife and growing up with a P-31 mom. 

 

Take some time to think of the times that your mom was there to heal and strengthen you and how your wife has been there to heal and strengthen your kids.  In what ways did they do so?  We can probably look back on healing hands that helped heal our cuts and bruises and soothing words to comfort and encourage us in times of discouragement or disappointment.

 

Take some time to thank them today and praise God for them.

 

Prov 31:31 -Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!   (from THE MESSAGE)

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV
Prov 31:10-20

 

Hymn to a Good Wife

 

A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
and brings back exotic surprises.
She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
diligent in homemaking.
She's quick to assist anyone in need,
reaches out to help the poor.
(from THE MESSAGE)

Verse of the Day 5/7

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 17-18, John 2

 

Good morning,

The New Testament reading (above) is now moving into the book of John.  I hope to spend several weeks going through some of the verses of this amazing book.

The book of John seems to have a limited vocabulary with several words  being repeated again and again; words such as look, see, witness, know, believe, have faith, world, glory, remain, and abide.  There are also many contrasting pairs of words; light and darkness, truth and falsehood, life and death, love and hate, and father and son.

 

Richard Burridge points out that "the sentences tend to be short, but they build on each other in steps and stairs and spirals, connecting and reconnecting."

My wife and I were visiting our daughters church in Illinois last weekend and the pastor referenced Psalm 86:10 in his sermon.  It seemed fitting for an introduction into the book of John.

 

Ps 86:10 For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.
You alone are God.

 

11 Teach me your ways, O Lord,
that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart,
so that I may honor you.  NLT

As we go through the book of John we'll see Jesus perform many miracles and wonderful deeds.  We'll see how he taught the disciples and others and still teaches us.  We will see what truth is and how our desire should be to live accordingly.  In this diverse culture may we maintain purity of heart that we may honor HIm.

 

Burridge writes, "this gospel was very familiar with the multi faith, multi cultural world of the eastern Mediterranean in the first century.  It was a real melting pot because of the Romans' deliberate policy of bringing all the countries and peoples together in one empire of peace and easy communications.  Probably nothing has been like it again until today's global village.  Just like today, lots of ideas and beliefs are circulating and being mixed together and their effect can be seen in the (this) gospel."

 

You can't help but notice today's "global village" as you watch the news and see what is going on all around us.  Join me in reading through John this month and see how the Lord walked through the global village then.  May it prepare us to walk and live in today's global village in a way that would honor Him.

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV
John 1:1-6

 

The Eternal Word
(Gen 1:1-2:3)

 

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.     NKJV

 

Verse of the Day 5/6

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 15-16, John 1

 

Good morning,

I read two different verses this morning that referred to a "contrite" heart and spirit.  The Hebrew word for contrite literally means to be crushed like mortar, to powder.  From Psalm 34 I read verse 18 from the NLT which captures the thought.  Ps 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

From Psalm 51 we read from the NKJV Ps 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart —  These, O God, You will not despise.

I know of several friends, co-workers and peoples names that have been passed on to me via prayer requests that are battling serious health conditions and the loss of loved ones.  These times can crush us emotionally.  It's times like these when we need the Lord the most.

 

Psalm 34:6-7 speaks of God "camping out" around those who fear, revere Him.

 

Ps 34:6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.   NKJV

For today's verses we'll go to Psalm 51, read it first from The Message:

Ps 51:16-18  Going through the motions doesn't please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don't for a moment escape God's notice.

Then from the NKJV

Ps 51:16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart —
These, O God, You will not despise.   NKJV

In another devotional this morning I read the following quote from John Calvin which was from Psalm 51.

"It is the word of God alone which can first and effectually cheer the heart of any sinner. There is no true or solid peace to be enjoyed in the world except in the way of reposing upon the promises of God. Those who do not resort to them may succeed for a time in hushing or evading the terrors of conscience, but they must ever be strangers to true inward comfort.

And, granting that they may attain to the peace of insensibility, this is not a state which could satisfy any man who has seriously felt the fear of the Lord. The joy which he desires is that which flows from hearing the word of God, in which he promises to pardon our guilt, and readmit us into his favor. It is this alone which supports the believer amidst all the fears, dangers, and distresses of his earthly pilgrimage; for the joy of the Spirit is inseparable from faith."

If you are going through hard times right now and you feel "crushed".  May God's Word encourage and give you strength and hope.  If you know someone going through the valley, pray and reach out to them today.

Read the passage from Psalm 51 from The Message.  Isn't that what we need, fresh wind in our sails and a fresh start out of the chaos of our lives?

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV
Ps 51:7-18

 

Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,
scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don't look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don't throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I'll let loose with your praise.

 

Going through the motions doesn't please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don't for a moment escape God's notice.

(from THE MESSAGE)

Verse of the Day 5/5

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 13-14, Luke 24:36-53

 

Good morning,

For today's verse we'll go to Luke 24 where we find Luke's account of the resurrected Jesus walking with two of His followers along the road to Emmaus.

 

Henry Wansbrough writes, "The story is told with all Luke's feeling for character: first the disciples are walking along, morose and wrapped up in their own sorrows; then their disappointment explodes into sarcasm, which gradually gives way to warmth, in invitation for the stranger to remain with them, and finally hospitality and eucharistic participation as their confidence returns.  The delicacy of the stranger as he gradually draws them out, and the allusiveness of the gesture whose significance they realize in time only to find that he has left them.  Especially positive is the contrast between the sad and lonely walk at the start, and the joyful, thronging gathering at the end."

 

Luke 24:30  Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"   NKJV

Many of us have probably found ourselves at some point along the road with Jesus.  Sometimes wrapped up in our sorrows, sometimes even sarcastic about the journey and the course of things,.  But as we follow and participate with Him, in communion with Him, feeding on His Word, He gradually draws us into a closer relationship to Him, opening our eyes to Him, to see His glory.

 

In thinking these thoughts John Bunyan's classic "Pilgrim's Progress" comes to mind.

Take some time to reflect today on where you are on that journey.

I'll leave you with a few verses from Psalm 84 in The Message:

Ps 84:5-8

 

And how blessed all those in whom you live,
whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
at the last turn — Zion! God in full view!  

Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, open the eyes of our hearts.

 

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV
Luke 24:28-36

 

The Disciples' Eyes Opened

 

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying,"Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went in to stay with them.

 

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

 

32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

NKJV

Verse of the Day 5/4

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 11-12, Luke 24:13-35

 

Good morning,

I had a devotional planned for this morning, but changed gears once again because of something I read this morning.  Today's New Testament reading was about the road to Emmaus, we'll go there, Lord willing, tomorrow.

 

Yesterday, I was driving along some roads in the beautiful countryside of Kentucky and on through West Virginia, Virginia and back home to North Carolina.  Some of that area had received several inches of rain the night before and some of the creeks and rivers had overflowed into the fields.  The flood waters will recede but will leave their mark.

 

For today's verse we'll return to Ephesians 3 and a passage that I posted just a few days ago.  Reading them in the Amplified Bible brought to mind the thoughts of the impact of a flood.

Ephesians 3:18-19 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];

¹⁹[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!  - Amplified Bible

 

The words the struck me this morning in reading these verses were that we are to become "a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself". 

 

We can be flooded by sin or we can be filled with the Spirit, God Himself.  If any of you have ever had your house flood, especially with dirty water, you realize how it permeates ever nook and corner that it reaches. Nothing is left untouched.  This is a picture of what sin can do.

 

Flooding in the farm field can bring needed nutrients and help the fields to produce better crops.  Being flooded, filled with the Holy Spirit will produce the good soil in our hearts and lives that will help to produce fruit for the kingdom.  Nothing is left untouched.  In a positive way, this is how Christ is to be in our lives.  Every area, every aspect should or will eventually be impacted.

 

As you read through His Word, take some time, let it dwell, let it flood and permeate your mind, may it nourish and strengthen  you as you go along the road.

 

    ¹⁶May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

 

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

Ephesians 3:14-19 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁴For this reason [seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ], I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

    ¹⁵For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named [that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name].

    ¹⁶May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

    ¹⁷May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

    ¹⁸That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];

    ¹⁹[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

Verse of the Day 5/3

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 9-10, Luke 24:1-13

 

Good morning,

Over the weekend many areas of the country faced thunderstorms.  I'm sure that you have felt the sense of "foreboding", the impending storm, as the skies darkened and you could almost feel the electricity in the air.

This weekend's reading was in Luke 23 where we'll go for today's verse where we feel this tension.  It's another one of those scenes like Jesus calming the sea, or God parting the Red Sea before Moses that you can picture in your mind with Technicolor and Dolby Sound.

Luke 23:44-45 (NIV)  ⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 

The people who were present at the crucifixion and all over Jerusalem must have felt this, perhaps in a way that no one has before or since that event.  But at that moment everything changed, the tension was broken, the barrier between God and man was removed, the curtain that divided was torn from top to bottom.

We test fabrics in our lab at our plant.  Among other things, we test for tensile and tear strength.  When tearing the fabric, the yarns and fibers burst.  I can almost the sound and see the fibers bursting.  A curtain is normally static, stationary, not under tension bit free hanging.

 

But there was tension between God and man and as we read in Hebrews, through Jesus death, the curtain of separation has been torn, giving us access to the Father through Jesus Christ who intervenes for us.

 

Read the passage from Hebrews 10, what does it mean to you today that the curtain has been torn?

 ¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

Blessings,
Mike

mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Luke 23:44-49 (New International Version)

Jesus' Death

 ⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

 ⁴⁷The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." ⁴⁸When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. ⁴⁹But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things

Verse of the Day 5/1

Through the Bible - 1 Kings 4-8, Luke 23:26-56
 

Good morning,

I woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine and the fresh smell of spring after thunderstorms last night.  It looks like it will be a glorious day.

Today's "Of First Importance"  quote for the day was as follows:

"The great hope for Christians, the thing for which we long and to which we look for strength and encouragement, is the day when our King will part the skies and return to establish his glorious kingdom, finally and forever. That glorious moment is when everything in this world will be set right, when justice will finally be done, evil overthrown forever, and righteousness established once and for all."  - Greg Gilbert

For today's verse we'll go to Titus 2 to a passage which refers to His glorious appearing and also tells us how we should live in anticipation of that event.

Titus 2:11-13 (Amplified Bible)¹¹For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward (appeared) for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. 

  ¹²It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness (irreligion) and worldly (passionate) desires, to live discreet (temperate, self-controlled), upright, devout (spiritually whole) lives in this present world,

¹³Awaiting and looking for the [fulfillment, the realization of our] blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

The verses and the quote reminded me of the hymn "One Day".  Read the words, sing them in your heart or out loud in preparation for worship this weekend and for the coming glorious day.

 

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men; my Example is He!

And living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified, freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day!

Blessings,
Mike

mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Trained by Saving Grace

   
^{Titus 2:11-15}  For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
¹⁵ Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.  NKJV