March 24
Be Still.
“… be still and know that I am God;
PSALM 46:10
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
March 25
Sons of Light
JOHN 12:36
“The While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.”
Touch the Sword to Read the book of JOHN chapter 12!
March 26
Paul’s Words to Timothy
“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”2TIMOTHY 2:24-26
Touch the Sword below to Read SECOND TIMOTHY
March 27
Light Shines in Darkness
JOHN 1:1-5
“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Seek Light.
March 28
Love Each Other
Love Each Other.
He said,
“You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you so that you may GO and bear Fruit …”
“I no longer call you servants,
because a servant does not know his master’s business. …”“Instead, I have called you friends,
for everything that I learned from my Father,
I have made known to you.
You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you
so that you might go and bear fruit—
fruit that will last—
and so that whatever you ask
in my name the Father
will give you.
This is my command:
Love each other.”JOHN 15: 15-16
When Jesus said,
“… go and bear fruit—
fruit that will last, …”
TRANSLATION:
Travel and share the Word of God!
GO means to Travel.
BEAR means to Share.
FRUIT means the Word of God.
The Word of God IS Forever!
When Jesus said,
“…fruit that will last…”
He was referring to His disciples sharing the Gospel with their grandchildren and generations beyond!
“…fruit that will last…” represents continuing to teach the Word of Godthroughout the world, for generations to come!
Why did Jesus “choose” His Disciples?
When Jesus said,
“…You did not choose me,
but I chose you
and appointed you…”
He was talking to men who had been studying under Him.
(They were not your ordinary town-folk!)
They spent their days studying the Old Testament (ancient texts,) in three or four different languages; and they meditated (prayed) for hours a day, whilst most people could not even read one word (in any language,) and did not pray at all!
Jesus IS a “Fisher of Men,”. …
“The Good Shepherd.”
When Jesus said,
“I no longer call you servants,
because
a servant
does not know
his master’s business. …”
…
The 12 Disciples of Jesus were living-out their lives like everyone else, however,…. They chose to act in the Christian way. (We’ll talk about Judas some other day!)
Jesus was sent to fish-out these men of grace from the herd of the world and to Shepardthem, so that they could teach others and generations to come!
Disciples teach the world that there is no “Hidden Truth,” … no, “Secret Knowledge”. Jesus teaches that everybody is allowed to know the truth!
Jesus says, “Instead, I have called you friends,
for everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you. …”
Jesus is instructing us to teach our Brothers what our fathers have taught us, what our forefathers have taught us, … to pass-on knowledge to future generations. …
–Pass The Torch!–
…
“I no longer call you servants, …” shows that Jesus treated his students as equals. That IS the
Message of Jesus:
Treat your fellow-man as an equal. Never see yourself as better or more important than anybody else,…. Love each other!
Paul wrote in Romans:
“…Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, …”ROMANS 12:3
Today’s Daily Verse reminds us to treat everybody, your employees, the homeless man on the street, the angry cashier at the gas station, the “Brother of lower Degree,”… treat them all as your friends! Do not feel as though they are of lesser value or that they are your enemy!
“I no longer call you servants,” … We are all servants of God! The server at your local restaurant is not serving you,…
You are serving God by treating her with kindness, compassion and patience!
-FAITH – HOPE – LOVE-
In today’s Daily Verse, Jesus was specifically speaking privately to his inner-circle- men who were being assaulted, spit-on at the markets, stoned, …. They were persecuted!
My Brothers,
When you are frustrated with an unruly employee, remember Jesus’s command:
“Love each other.”
Recall the First Commandment,
Do It, Now!
You are a servant of God!
Through Jesus Christ, as our mediator, we may carry-out the will of God by sharing Faith, Hope, and Love with all!
In the meantime,
–Love Each Other.
Above all, Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.
-…. or:
Riders Up! for Tomorrow’s Daily Verse
March 29
Trials and Temptations
A Daily Bible Study of THE BOOK OF JAMES
JAMES 1:2-8
Trials and Temptations
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
–Go You.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Listening and Doing
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Favoritism Forbidden
2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[b] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”[c] also said, “You shall not murder.”[d] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[e]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[f] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Taming the Tongue
3 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Two Kinds of Wisdom
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Submit Yourselves to God
4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people,[g] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us[h]? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”[i]
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[j] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
March 30
Lift Up Your Heart!
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
LAMENTATIONS 3:40-41
Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens.”
Read the book of LAMENTATIONS, chapter three:
LAMENATIONS
Chapter III
“1 I am the man that hath seen [a]affliction in the rod of his indignation.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not to light.
3 Surely he is turned against me: he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he caused to wax old, and he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath [b]built against me, and compassed me with gall and labor.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead forever.
7 He hath hedged about me, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chains heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my [c]prayer.
9 He hath [d]stopped up my ways with hewn stone, and turned away my paths.
10 [e]He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath stopped my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and made me a mark for the arrow.
13 He caused [f]the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness, and made me drunken with [g]wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with stones, and hath covered me with ashes.
17 Thus my soul was far off from peace: I forgot prosperity,
18 And I said, My strength and my [h]hope is perished from the Lord,
19 Remembering mine affliction, and my mourning, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them in remembrance, and is humbled [i]in me.
21 I consider this in mine heart: therefore have I hope.
22 It is the Lord’s [j]mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are renewed [k]every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my [l]portion, saith my soul: therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that trust in him, and to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good both to trust, and to wait for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his [m]youth.
28 He sitteth alone, [n]and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his [o]mouth in the dust, if there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproaches.
31 For the Lord will not forsake forever.
32 But though he send affliction, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not [p]punish [q]willingly, nor afflict the children of men,
34 In stamping under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 In overthrowing the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 In subverting a man in his cause: the Lord [r]seeth it not.
37 Who is he then that saith, and it cometh to pass, and the Lord [s]commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not [t]evil and good?
39 Wherefore then is the living [u]man sorrowful? man suffereth for his sin.
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up [v]our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have sinned, and have rebelled, therefore thou hast not spared.
43 Thou hast covered us with wrath, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, and not spared.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that ourprayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.
47 Fear, and a snare is come upon us with desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye casteth out rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye droppeth without stay, and ceaseth not,
50 Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye [w]breaketh mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have shut up my life[x]in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head, then thought I, I am destroyed.
55 I called upon thy Name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: stop not thine ear from my sigh, and from my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidest, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast maintained the cause of my [y]soul, and hast redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong, judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, and all their devises against me:
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me.
62 The lips also of those that rose against me, and their whispering against me continually.
63 Behold, their sitting down, and their rising up, how I am their song.
64 Give them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them [z]sorrow of heart eventhy curse to them.
66 Persecute with wrath and destroy them from under the heaven, O Lord.”
March 31
Long Road Ahead
“Not that I have already obtained this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
PHILIPPIANS 3:12