Today's Reading: Galatians 3.21-4.20, Lamentations 1-2 and Psalm 145

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and time to focus on You and Your Word. I look to Your Word for wisdom. I look to Your Word for direction. I look to Your Word in preparation for a new day. Lord, Your Word is alive. Lord, Your Spirit is true. Help me Lord to be like a mirror and when people look at me they see You. Lord, help me be like the moon, I shine only because Your light shines on me. Lord, I pray that You will be glorified through all I say and do today and will give You all the praise and glory and honor and worship, in Jesus' name. Amen.

A Hymn of Praise

Psalm 145

I will proclaim your greatness, my God and king; I will thank you forever and ever.
²Every day I will thank you; I will praise you forever and ever.
³The LORD is great and is to be highly praised; his greatness is beyond understanding.
⁴What you have done will be praised from one generation to the next; they will proclaim your mighty acts.

⁵They will speak of your glory and majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds.
⁶People will speak of your mighty deeds, and I will proclaim your greatness.
⁷They will tell about all your goodness and sing about your kindness.
⁸The LORD is loving and merciful, slow to become angry and full of constant love.
⁹He is good to everyone and has compassion on all he made.

¹⁰All your creatures, LORD, will praise you, and all your people will give you thanks.
¹¹They will speak of the glory of your royal power and tell of your might,
¹²so that everyone will know your mighty deeds and the glorious majesty of your kingdom.
¹³Your rule is eternal, and you are king forever.

The LORD is faithful to his promises; he is merciful in all his acts.
¹⁴He helps those who are in trouble; he lifts those who have fallen.

²¹I will always praise the LORD; let all his creatures praise his holy name forever.

A Heavenly Strategic Planning Session
By Os Hillman
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And the Lord said, "Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?" One suggested this, and another that. - 1 Kings 22:20

There are few times we get a glimpse of what goes on in Heaven. Here is one instance when the angels were conferring with the Lord about the judgment of King Ahab for his sin and who was going to set up Ahab for this judgment.

If God wanted to use you to impact your world for Jesus Christ, what circumstances would have to be created in order for you to respond to His call? Would prospering you materially encourage you to this end? Would a major change in what you are presently doing be necessary? What would your response be should God and the angels conclude that the only way to move you into a position of fulfilling God's purposes was to remove some things that might be very dear to you? Would you agree with their plan if you knew this would be the only way you would achieve the purposes for which God made you? Hard questions, aren't they?

This is the very thing God does in many who have been called for a special mission. Moses had to be stripped of his royal position in the family of Egypt and sit in the desert for 40 years. The apostle Paul had to be knocked to the ground, blinded, and receive a personal visitation from Jesus. The 12 disciples had to leave their jobs for three years to follow Christ. Imagine what kind of disruption this had on their lives. There are many examples of God bringing major upheaval in the lives of those He called for His purposes. Why?

The reason is that we do not seek God with a whole heart in times of prosperity and comfort. Prosperity and comfort tend to breed complacency and satisfaction. It is rare to find the man or woman who seeks God with a whole heart who does so simply from a grateful heart. We often must have pain or crisis to motivate us. Eventually, that crisis bridges us to a new calling, and we embrace that calling if we are open to the Holy Spirit's work in us. We can actually thank God for the change that was required to get us to this place, but it is not without anguish of heart.

Would you be willing to sit in the strategic planning session for your life and agree with the plans God has for your life? Could you give God complete freedom to implement that plan, no matter the cost? Ask God to give you the grace and trust in His love for you to say "yes."

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Galatians 3.1-20, Jeremiah 51-52 and Psalm 144

Law or Faith

Galatians 3 You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross! ²Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it? ³How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power? ⁴Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something! ⁵Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?
⁶Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says, "He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." ⁷You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. ⁸The scripture predicted that God would put the Gentiles right with himself through faith. And so the scripture announced the Good News to Abraham: "Through you God will bless all people." ⁹Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.
¹⁰Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, "Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!" ¹¹Now, it is clear that no one is put right with God by means of the Law, because the scripture says, "Only the person who is put right with God through faith shall live." ¹²But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, as the scripture says, "Whoever does everything the Law requires will live."
¹³But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, "Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse." ¹⁴Christ did this in order that the blessing which God promised to Abraham might be given to the Gentiles by means of Christ Jesus, so that through faith we might receive the Spirit promised by God.

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵My friends, I am going to use an everyday example: when two people agree on a matter and sign an agreement, no one can break it or add anything to it. ¹⁶Now, God made his promises to Abraham and to his descendant. The scripture does not use the plural "descendants," meaning many people, but the singular "descendant," meaning one person only, namely, Christ. ¹⁷What I mean is that God made a covenant with Abraham and promised to keep it. The Law, which was given four hundred and thirty years later, cannot break that covenant and cancel God's promise. ¹⁸For if God's gift depends on the Law, then it no longer depends on his promise. However, it was because of his promise that God gave that gift to Abraham.
¹⁹What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between. ²⁰But a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one.

Further Judgment on Babylonia

Jeremiah 51 The LORD says, "I am bringing a destructive wind against Babylonia and its people. ²I will send foreigners to destroy Babylonia like a wind that blows straw away. When that day of destruction comes, they will attack from every side and leave the land bare. ³Don't give its soldiers time to shoot their arrows or to put on their armor. Do not spare the young men! Destroy the whole army! ⁴They will be wounded and die in the streets of their cities. ⁵I, the LORD God Almighty, have not abandoned Israel and Judah, even though they have sinned against me, the Holy One of Israel. ⁶Run away from Babylonia! Run for your lives! Do not be killed because of Babylonia's sin. I am now taking my revenge and punishing it as it deserves. ⁷Babylonia was like a gold cup in my hand, making the whole world drunk. The nations drank its wine and went out of their minds. ⁸Babylonia has suddenly fallen and is destroyed! Mourn over it! Get medicine for its wounds, and maybe it can be healed. ⁹Foreigners living there said, 'We tried to help Babylonia, but it was too late. Let's leave now and go back home. God has punished Babylonia with all his might and has destroyed it completely.'"
¹⁰The LORD says, "My people shout, 'The LORD has shown that we are in the right. Let's go and tell the people in Jerusalem what the LORD our God has done.'"
¹¹The LORD has stirred up the kings of Media, because he intends to destroy Babylonia. That is how he will take revenge for the destruction of his Temple.
The attacking officers command, "Sharpen your arrows! Get your shields ready! ¹²Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Place troops in ambush!"
The LORD has done what he said he would do to the people of Babylonia. ¹³That country has many rivers and rich treasures, but its time is up, and its thread of life is cut. ¹⁴The LORD Almighty has sworn by his own life that he will bring many men to attack Babylonia like a swarm of locusts, and they will shout with victory.

A Hymn of Praise to God

¹⁵The LORD made the earth by his power;
by his wisdom he created the world
and stretched out the heavens.
¹⁶At his command the waters above the sky roar;
he brings clouds from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning flash in the rain
and sends the wind from his storeroom.
¹⁷At the sight of this, people feel stupid and senseless;
those who make idols are disillusioned
because the gods they make are false and lifeless.
¹⁸They are worthless and should be despised;
they will be destroyed when the LORD comes to deal with them.
¹⁹The God of Jacob is not like them;
he is the one who made everything,
and he has chosen Israel to be his very own people.
The LORD Almighty is his name.

The LORD's Hammer

²⁰The LORD says,
"Babylonia, you are my hammer, my weapon of war.
I used you to crush nations and kingdoms,
²¹ to shatter horses and riders,
to shatter chariots and their drivers,
²² to kill men and women,
to slay old and young,
to kill boys and girls,
²³ to slaughter shepherds and their flocks,
to slaughter farmers and their plow horses,
to crush rulers and high officials."

Babylonia's Punishment

²⁴The LORD says, "You will see me repay Babylonia and its people for all the evil they did to Jerusalem. ²⁵Babylonia, you are like a mountain that destroys the whole world, but I, the LORD, am your enemy. I will take hold of you, level you to the ground, and leave you in ashes. ²⁶None of the stones from your ruins will ever be used again for building. You will be like a desert forever. I, the LORD, have spoken.
²⁷"Give the signal to attack! Blow the trumpet so that the nations can hear! Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia! Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack. Appoint an officer to lead the attack. Bring up the horses like a swarm of locusts. ²⁸Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia. Send for the kings of Media, their leaders and officials, and the armies of all the countries they control. ²⁹The earth trembles and shakes because the LORD is carrying out his plan to make Babylonia a desert, where no one lives. ³⁰The Babylonian soldiers have stopped fighting and remain in their forts. They have lost their courage and have become helpless. The city gates are broken down, and the houses are on fire. ³¹Messenger after messenger runs to tell the king of Babylonia that his city has been broken into from every side. ³²The enemy have captured the river crossing and have set the fortresses on fire. The Babylonian soldiers have panicked. ³³Soon the enemy will cut them down and trample them like grain on a threshing place. I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, have spoken."
³⁴The king of Babylonia cut Jerusalem up
and ate it.
He emptied the city like a jar;
like a monster he swallowed it.
He took what he wanted
and threw the rest away.
³⁵Let the people of Zion say,
"May Babylonia be held responsible
for the violence done to us!"
Let the people of Jerusalem say,
"May Babylonia be held responsible
for what we have suffered!"

The LORD Will Help Israel

³⁶And so the LORD said to the people of Jerusalem, "I will take up your cause and will make your enemies pay for what they did to you. I will dry up the source of Babylonia's water and make its rivers go dry. ³⁷That country will become a pile of ruins where wild animals live. It will be a horrible sight; no one will live there, and all who see it will be terrified. ³⁸The Babylonians all roar like lions and growl like lion cubs. ³⁹Are they greedy? I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk and happy. They will go to sleep and never wake up. ⁴⁰I will take them to be slaughtered, like lambs, goats, and rams. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Babylon's Fate

⁴¹The LORD says about Babylon: "The city that the whole world praised has been captured! What a horrifying sight Babylon has become to the nations! ⁴²The sea has rolled over Babylon and covered it with roaring waves. ⁴³The towns have become a horrifying sight and are like a waterless desert, where no one lives or even travels. ⁴⁴I will punish Bel, the god of Babylonia, and make him give up his stolen goods; the nations will not worship him any more.
"Babylon's walls have fallen. ⁴⁵People of Israel, run away from there! Run for your life from my fierce anger. ⁴⁶Do not lose courage or be afraid because of the rumors you hear. Every year a different rumor spreads--rumors of violence in the land and of one king fighting another. ⁴⁷And so the time is coming when I will deal with Babylonia's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its people will be killed. ⁴⁸Everything on earth and in the sky will shout for joy when Babylonia falls to the people who come from the north to destroy it. ⁴⁹Babylonia caused the death of people all over the world, and now Babylonia will fall because it caused the death of so many Israelites. I, the LORD, have spoken."

God's Message to the Israelites in Babylonia

⁵⁰The LORD says to his people in Babylonia: "You have escaped death! Now go! Don't wait! Though you are far from home, think about me, your LORD, and remember Jerusalem. ⁵¹You say, 'We've been disgraced and made ashamed; we feel completely helpless because foreigners have taken over the holy places in the Temple.' ⁵²So then, I say that the time is coming when I will deal with Babylon's idols, and the wounded will groan throughout the country. ⁵³Even if Babylon could climb to the sky and build a strong fortress there, I would still send people to destroy it. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Further Destruction on Babylon

⁵⁴The LORD says,
"Listen to the sound of crying in Babylon,
of mourning for the destruction in the land.
⁵⁵I am destroying Babylon
and putting it to silence.
The armies rush in like roaring waves
and attack with noisy shouts.
⁵⁶They have come to destroy Babylon;
its soldiers are captured,
and their bows are broken.
I am a God who punishes evil,
and I will treat Babylon as it deserves.
⁵⁷I will make its rulers drunk--
men of wisdom, leaders, and soldiers.
They will go to sleep and never wake up.
I, the king, have spoken;
I am the LORD Almighty.
⁵⁸The walls of mighty Babylon will be thrown to the ground,
and its towering gates burned down.
The work of the nations is all for nothing;
their efforts go up in flames.
I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken."

Jeremiah's Message Is Sent to Babylonia

⁵⁹King Zedekiah's personal attendant was Seraiah, the son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. In the fourth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, Seraiah was going to Babylonia with him, and I gave him some instructions. ⁶⁰I wrote in a book an account of all the destruction that would come on Babylonia, as well as all these other things about Babylonia. ⁶¹I told Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, be sure to read aloud to the people everything that is written here. ⁶²Then pray, 'LORD, you have said that you would destroy this place, so that there would be no living creatures in it, neither people nor animals, and it would be like a desert forever.' ⁶³Seraiah, when you finish reading this book to the people, then tie it to a rock and throw it into the Euphrates River ⁶⁴and say, 'This is what will happen to Babylonia--it will sink and never rise again because of the destruction that the LORD is going to bring on it.'"
The words of Jeremiah end here.

The Fall of Jerusalem
(2 Kings 24.18--25.7)

Jeremiah 52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of the Jeremiah who lived in the city of Libnah. ²King Zedekiah sinned against the LORD, just as King Jehoiakim had done. ³The LORD became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.
Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, ⁴and so Nebuchadnezzar came with all his army and attacked Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. They set up camp outside the city, built siege walls around it, ⁵and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year. ⁶On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat, ⁷the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley. ⁸But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him. ⁹Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. ¹⁰At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed. ¹¹After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.

The Destruction of the Temple
(2 Kings 25.8-17)

¹²On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. ¹³He burned down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and his soldiers tore down the city walls. ¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. ¹⁶But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.
¹⁷The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the Temple service. ¹⁹They took away everything that was made of gold or silver: the small bowls, the pans used for carrying live coals, the bowls for holding the blood from the sacrifices, the ash containers, the lampstands, the bowls used for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out wine offerings. ²⁰The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple--the two columns, the carts, the large tank, and the twelve bulls that supported it--were too heavy to weigh. ^21-22The two columns were identical: each one was 27 feet high and 18 feet around. They were hollow, and the metal was 3 inches thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 7½ feet high, and all around it was a grillwork decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze. ²³On the grillwork of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and ninety-six of these were visible from the ground.

The People of Judah Are Taken to Babylonia
(2 Kings 25.18-21, 27-30)

²⁴In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important Temple officials. ²⁵From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, seven of the king's personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander's assistant, who was in charge of military records, and sixty other important men. ²⁶Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah ²⁷in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death.
So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile. ²⁸This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023; ²⁹in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem; ³⁰and in his twenty-third year, 745--taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.
³¹In the year that Evil-merodach became king of Babylonia, he showed kindness to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison. This happened on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as a prisoner. ³²Evilmerodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honor than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia. ³³So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life. ³⁴Each day for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.

A King Thanks God for Victory

Psalm 144 Praise the LORD, my protector!
He trains me for battle
and prepares me for war.
²He is my protector and defender,
my shelter and savior,
in whom I trust for safety.
He subdues the nations under me.
³LORD, what are mortals, that you notice them;
mere mortals, that you pay attention to us?
⁴We are like a puff of wind;
our days are like a passing shadow.
⁵O LORD, tear the sky open and come down;
touch the mountains, and they will pour out smoke.
⁶Send flashes of lightning and scatter your enemies;
shoot your arrows and send them running.
⁷Reach down from above,
pull me out of the deep water, and rescue me;
save me from the power of foreigners,
⁸who never tell the truth
and lie even under oath.
⁹I will sing you a new song, O God;
I will play the harp and sing to you.
¹⁰You give victory to kings
and rescue your servant David.
¹¹Save me from my cruel enemies;
rescue me from the power of foreigners,
who never tell the truth
and lie even under oath.
¹²May our sons in their youth
be like plants that grow up strong.
May our daughters be like stately columns
which adorn the corners of a palace.
¹³May our barns be filled
with crops of every kind.
May the sheep in our fields
bear young by the tens of thousands.
¹⁴May our cattle reproduce plentifully
without miscarriage or loss.
May there be no cries of distress in our streets.
¹⁵Happy is the nation of whom this is true;
happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

Signs and Wonders Today
By Os Hillman
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The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. - Acts 15:12
"I was a pastor for 19 years before I went into business," said the man sitting across the table from me as we were sharing lunch together. What led him from being a pastor to a businessman was both a move of God and an attack from the enemy.
"I was a pastor of a particular denomination that did not embrace all of God's Word. It was a time in my life when I was experiencing many physical problems. I was on the verge of being admitted to the hospital. I had been seeking God about whether He was truly a God of healing and whether His Word was applicable in all areas of life as it was in the early Church. I was to go into the hospital the next day. That night I cried out to the Lord. I confronted God about His Word. I asked Him if He still did miracles today. Just then, I turned on my TV and saw an evangelist preaching. At that very moment, he stopped preaching, looked into the TV camera, and said these words: 'There is a man in the viewing audience who has been a pastor for many years and is struggling to know whether God heals today. His own denomination does not believe He does. [He even named his denomination.] God is healing you right now to demonstrate to you that His healing is for today, and you are to know that His Word is true for today just like it was for the early Church.' "
My friend was shocked. The TV evangelist could not have described him more accurately if he had been sitting in the same living room with him. God healed him that very night. He was not admitted to the hospital. He was forced to go before his church and witness to God's power in his life. He was soon fired as pastor of this church, and this is what led him into business.
So often when we experience God in greater and deeper ways, the persecution comes not from the world, but from those who are closest to us. The religious community persecuted Jesus. He was betrayed by one of His own disciples. However, we must realize this betrayal was necessary for God to accomplish His work through Jesus.
God will bring each of us to a crisis of faith to test what we really believe. For my friend, he had to experience God in a new way. Then he had to be tested in that belief to the point of losing his job.
Have you experienced God in all of your life? Are there areas in which you believe God does not operate today? Before you discount God, seek Him with a whole heart. You might be surprised at what you will find.

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Heavenly Father,
I thank You Lord for this new day and for all that You have done for me. Lord, I pray that You will help my children to sleep in so that I can have my morning time with You. Lord, I know there have been days when I don't get to start it with You due to life getting in the way. Lord, I try to find ways to ensure I get my time with You - devotions and reading Your Word, for You have used these times so many times in my life to speak life, to speak vision, to speak direction, to speak correction, and so much more. Lord, without You, I know I feel drained and different compared to days when I get to spend some focused time reading Your Word and focusing on You. Lord, help me to prioritize my days. Help me to make a way to have my start-up/power-up/energize time through Your Words of encouragement. Lord, I thank You today for this day fully dedicated to giving thanks to You. I will give You all the praise and all the glory and all the honor, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Devotional: Staying Connected

Today's Reading: Galatians 2, Jeremiah 49-50 and Psalm 143

Today's Reading: Galatians 1, Jeremiah 47-48 and Psalm 142

Freedom and Boundaries
By Os Hillman
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Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" - Genesis 3:1

God is big on giving man freedom and boundaries--freedom to manage what He has entrusted to us, boundaries to protect us from evil. The boundaries in the Garden of Eden were not set for the purpose of limiting Adam. Man got into trouble when he questioned those boundaries. God had provided everything he would need for life. He also entrusted man with responsibility to manage and work the Garden. God gave him freedom in that responsibility. God knows we were made to express ourselves creatively through our work.
Each of us must have freedom and boundaries in our work life. Whenever you are hired for a job, you must have the freedom to make certain decisions. You must have the authority to manage things within your area of expertise. You must also have limits within your area of responsibility. You need to know where those limits are and stay within them. Both freedom and boundaries are always under the umbrella of God's authority and our authorities at work.

Jesus understood these boundaries. When He was tempted for 40 days by the devil after being baptized, He was challenged by satan to go outside His freedom and boundaries. (See Matthew 4:1-11.) Satan said that He had the power to turn a stone into bread. Jesus was hungry and easily could have justified using His power to feed Himself. However, Jesus understood He could do nothing outside the boundaries of God's will for His life. It was God's will for Jesus to be tempted and to withstand the temptation. God was showing His Son that "man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4b).

You and I are tempted every day to go beyond our God-ordained boundaries. Whether it is solving financial problems that have arisen through debt, making wrong decisions due to pressure, or manipulating someone in order to achieve our ends, it all represents rebellion toward God.

Ask God to show you His freedom and boundaries for your life. These are meant to enhance your life, not hinder it.

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The Promise of the Lord's Coming

2 Peter 3 My dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written you. In both letters I have tried to arouse pure thoughts in your minds by reminding you of these things. ²I want you to remember the words that were spoken long ago by the holy prophets, and the command from the Lord and Savior which was given you by your apostles. ³First of all, you must understand that in the last days some people will appear whose lives are controlled by their own lusts. They will make fun of you ⁴and will ask, "He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!" ⁵They purposely ignore the fact that long ago God gave a command, and the heavens and earth were created. The earth was formed out of water and by water, ⁶and it was also by water, the water of the flood, that the old world was destroyed. ⁷But the heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by the same command of God, in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed.
⁸But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord's sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same. ⁹The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.
¹⁰But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish. ¹¹Since all these things will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and dedicated to God, ¹²as you wait for the Day of God and do your best to make it come soon--the Day when the heavens will burn up and be destroyed, and the heavenly bodies will be melted by the heat. ¹³But we wait for what God has promised: new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will be at home.
¹⁴And so, my friends, as you wait for that Day, do your best to be pure and faultless in God's sight and to be at peace with him. ¹⁵Look on our Lord's patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as our dear friend Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject. There are some difficult things in his letters which ignorant and unstable people explain falsely, as they do with other passages of the Scriptures. So they bring on their own destruction.
¹⁷But you, my friends, already know this. Be on your guard, then, so that you will not be led away by the errors of lawless people and fall from your safe position. ¹⁸But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.

An Evening Prayer

Psalm 141

I call to you, LORD; help me now! Listen to me when I call to you.
²Receive my prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.
³LORD, place a guard at my mouth, a sentry at the door of my lips.
⁴Keep me from wanting to do wrong and from joining evil people in their wickedness. May I never take part in their feasts.
⁵Good people may punish me and rebuke me in kindness, but I will never accept honor from evil people, because I am always praying against their evil deeds.
⁶When their rulers are thrown down from rocky cliffs, the people will admit that my words were true.
⁷Like wood that is split and chopped into bits, so their bones are scattered at the edge of the grave.
⁸But I keep trusting in you, my Sovereign LORD. I seek your protection; don't let me die!
⁹Protect me from the traps they have set for me, from the snares of those evildoers.
¹⁰May the wicked fall into their own traps while I go by unharmed.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and the joy that You are able to bring into my life. I thank You that You are never far away and that when I call you hear me. Lord, I give up to You the areas of anger and frustration to You. In particular when I see drinking, gossip, and people who devalue my thoughts, words, or things. Lord, I give this up to you. Lord, I don't want the enemy to have a foothold that causes me to be a puppet and react in way to allow his will to take place. Help me Lord, to immediately realize what is taking place and to give it up to you. Lord, I have seen how You can completely remove the pain and issues of the past in order for my response to be new. I have seen how when I am dead to something, I have new life and new responses to things that used to have different responses. I lift up these areas to You today and ask that You take them from me. Heal my heart and my mind of these things and restore me to the new man You have created when I turned my life over to You. Help me to live out the new me today and thank You for Your Words of hope and encouragement, wisdom and direction, truth and discernment. I will give You all the praise and all the glory and all the honor, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Heavenly Father,
As we start this new week, I realize that there are false prophets and false teachers today and how it has impacted how we are viewed and how we react. Lord, I pray for Your people to rise up and grab onto who You are and what You have called each of us to do. Help us to be doers of the Word, not just hearers of the Word. Help us to resemble what Your Word says so that people don't see us as people with a do and don't list, but people who have principles and share them with others so that they know the why. Lord, I pray that the hearts and lives of many people will be changed because they will see the difference and want to share in it. The Lord Your kingdom will grow and that more people will be able to not only share the principles that You have given us but also the impact it has had in the world. We thank You and praise You and honor You and glorify You, in Jesus' name. Amen.

2 Peter 1, Jeremiah 41-42 and Psalm 139

⁵For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge; ⁶to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add endurance; to your endurance add godliness; ⁷to your godliness add Christian affection; and to your Christian affection add love. ⁸These are the qualities you need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But if you do not have them, you are so shortsighted that you cannot see and have forgotten that you have been purified from your past sins.

younger people must submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you must put on the apron of humility, to serve one another; for the scripture says, "God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble." ⁶Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time. ⁷Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you.
⁸Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ⁹Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that other believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings. ¹⁰But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to share his eternal glory in union with Christ, will himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation. ¹¹To him be the power forever! Amen.

Heavenly Father,

I thank You for this new day as You have provided me with another day to serve and worship You. Lord, Help me to bring praise and honor to You and Your name in all that I say and do. Lord, search my heart and my mind to see what I am holding onto and help me to give them all up to You. Lord, when I realize that I am not the owner, but just a steward of all that You have given me, I can freely receive and give to those around me without precondition or concern. Lord, I give You my home, my land, my livestock, my family, my friends, my talents, my skills, my finances, and all that I am. May You use them for Your glory I pray. Help me Lord to remember and to realize it isn't about me, but it is all about You. As I turn to Your Word and to my morning readings, I pray that You will reinforce in my heart Your Word and Your Truths so that I may walk in a spirit that is in alignment with You. And Lord, I will give You all the praise and all the glory and all the honor, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Do you realize how much God loves you?

How do you show others that you love them?

Ahab - love between people like husband and wife, parent and child, friends

Hesed - kindness - God's love toward people (grace, mercy) and people's grace and mercy towards each other

Agape - God's love for people and Christians have for people that is unlike any love the world has ever come up with. - a love with a desire to give rather than possess, its willful action rather than mere feeling, and it does not look for a reason to love in its object

Philia - warm friendship - loving when love is expected in return - not less noble than agape, but is based on interpersonal relationship

Today's Devotional: A Business Problem Leads to a Call

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul,
"Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys."
- 1 Samuel 9:3

Business Problem --> Divine Appointments --> Call

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 4, Jeremiah 37-38 and Psalm 137

Heavenly Father,

I thank You for this day and all that will come with this. Today is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, I thank You for making the time to have me take Cleansing Stream and learn so many spiritual truths including but not limited to the spiritual battle that is always taking place for the souls of everyone around us and that we know (including ourselves). Lord, through that experience I also learned the importance of alignment and how by being in proper alignment that we can be under the protection of the blood of Jesus from the fiery darts of the enemy who is trying to  deceive and destroy us. Lord, I remember the picture of how the husband was designed to be at the top, then the wife, then the children, and how if any of them were not in alignment with their roles and responsibilities, that they weren't under the covering and were open for attack. I also remember that the devil will try to go after the weakest in order to draw them away and out of alignment. Help us Lord to walk in alignment with Your Word and Your purpose in our lives and that You will receive all the praise and the honor and the glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 3, Jeremiah 35-36 and Psalm 136

Wives and Husbands

1 Peter 3 In the same way you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands, so that if any of them do not believe God's word, your conduct will win them over to believe. It will not be necessary for you to say a word, ²because they will see how pure and reverent your conduct is. ³You should not use outward aids to make yourselves beautiful, such as the way you fix your hair, or the jewelry you put on, or the dresses you wear. ⁴Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight. ⁵For the devout women of the past who placed their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful by submitting themselves to their husbands. ⁶Sarah was like that; she obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are now her daughters if you do good and are not afraid of anything.
⁷In the same way you husbands must live with your wives with the proper understanding that they are more delicate than you. Treat them with respect, because they also will receive, together with you, God's gift of life. Do this so that nothing will interfere with your prayers.

Suffering for Doing Right

⁸To conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; love one another, and be kind and humble with one another. ⁹Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you. ¹⁰As the scripture says,
"If you want to enjoy life
and wish to see good times,
you must keep from speaking evil
and stop telling lies.
¹¹You must turn away from evil and do good;
you must strive for peace with all your heart.
¹²For the Lord watches over the righteous
and listens to their prayers;
but he opposes those who do evil."
¹³Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, how happy you are! Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry. ¹⁵But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, ¹⁶but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God's will, than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually, ¹⁹and in his spiritual existence he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits. ²⁰These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat--eight in all--were saved by the water, ²¹which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone to heaven and is at the right side of God, ruling over all angels and heavenly authorities and powers.

Jeremiah and the Rechabites

Jeremiah 35 When Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, ²"Go to the members of the Rechabite clan and talk to them. Then bring them into one of the rooms in the Temple and offer them some wine." ³So I took the entire Rechabite clan--Jaazaniah (the son of another Jeremiah, who was Habazziniah's son) and all his brothers and sons-- ⁴and brought them to the Temple. I took them into the room of the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah. This room was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, an important official in the Temple, and near the rooms of the other officials. ⁵Then I placed cups and bowls full of wine before the Rechabites, and I said to them, "Have some wine."
⁶But they answered, "We do not drink wine. Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab told us that neither we nor our descendants were ever to drink any wine. ⁷He also told us not to build houses or farm the land and not to plant vineyards or buy them. He commanded us always to live in tents, so that we might remain in this land where we live like strangers. ⁸We have obeyed all the instructions that Jonadab gave us. We ourselves never drink wine, and neither do our wives, our sons, or our daughters. ^9-10We do not build houses for homes--we live in tents--and we own no vineyards, fields, or grain. We have fully obeyed everything that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹But when King Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, we decided to come to Jerusalem to get away from the Babylonian and Syrian armies. That is why we are living in Jerusalem."
^12-13Then the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, told me to go and say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, "I, the LORD, ask you why you refuse to listen to me and to obey my instructions. ¹⁴Jonadab's descendants have obeyed his command not to drink wine, and to this very day none of them drink any. But I have kept on speaking to you, and you have not obeyed me. ¹⁵I have continued to send you all my servants the prophets, and they have told you to give up your evil ways and to do what is right. They warned you not to worship and serve other gods, so that you could go on living in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. But you would not listen to me or pay any attention to me. ¹⁶Jonadab's descendants have obeyed the command that their ancestor gave them, but you people have not obeyed me. ¹⁷So now, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will bring on you people of Judah and of Jerusalem all the destruction that I promised. I will do this because you would not listen when I spoke to you, and you would not answer when I called you."
¹⁸Then I told the Rechabite clan that the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, "You have obeyed the command that your ancestor Jonadab gave you; you have followed all his instructions, and you have done everything he commanded you. ¹⁹So I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, promise that Jonadab son of Rechab will always have a male descendant to serve me."

Baruch Reads the Scroll in the Temple

Jeremiah 36 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, ²"Get a scroll and write on it everything that I have told you about Israel and Judah and all the nations. Write everything that I have told you from the time I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, up to the present. ³Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the destruction that I intend to bring on them, they will turn from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins."
⁴So I called Baruch son of Neriah and dictated to him everything that the LORD had said to me. And Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. ⁵Then I gave Baruch the following instructions: "I am no longer allowed to go into the Temple. ⁶But I want you to go there the next time the people are fasting. You are to read the scroll aloud, so that they will hear everything that the LORD has said to me and that I have dictated to you. Do this where everyone can hear you, including the people of Judah who have come in from their towns. ⁷Perhaps they will pray to the LORD and turn from their evil ways, because the LORD has threatened this people with his terrible anger and fury." ⁸So Baruch read the LORD's words in the Temple exactly as I had told him to do.
⁹In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the people fasted to gain the LORD's favor. The fast was kept by all who lived in Jerusalem and by all who came there from the towns of Judah. ¹⁰Then, while all the people were listening, Baruch read from the scroll everything that I had said. He did this in the Temple, from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the court secretary. His room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate of the Temple.

The Scroll Is Read to the Officials

¹¹Micaiah, the son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll what the LORD had said. ¹²Then he went to the royal palace, to the room of the court secretary, where all the officials were in session. Elishama, the court secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were there. ¹³Micaiah told them everything that he had heard Baruch read to the people. ¹⁴Then the officials sent Jehudi (the son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah, and great-grandson of Cushi) to tell Baruch to bring the scroll that he had read to the people. Baruch brought them the scroll. ¹⁵"Sit down," they said, "and read the scroll to us." So Baruch did. ¹⁶After he had read it, they turned to one another in alarm and said to Baruch, "We must report this to the king." ¹⁷Then they asked him, "Tell us, now, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?"
¹⁸Baruch answered, "Jeremiah dictated every word of it to me, and I wrote it down in ink on this scroll."
¹⁹Then they told him, "You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are."

The King Burns the Scroll

²⁰The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the court secretary, and went to the king's court, where they reported everything to the king. ²¹Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took it from the room of Elishama and read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him. ²²It was winter and the king was sitting in his winter palace in front of the fire. ²³As soon as Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king cut them off with a small knife and threw them into the fire. He kept doing this until the entire scroll was burned up. ²⁴But neither the king nor any of his officials who heard all this was afraid or showed any sign of sorrow. ²⁵Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he paid no attention to them. ²⁶Then he ordered Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my secretary Baruch. But the LORD had hidden us.

Jeremiah Writes Another Scroll

²⁷After King Jehoiakim had burned the scroll that I had dictated to Baruch, the LORD told me ²⁸to take another scroll and write on it everything that had been on the first one. ²⁹The LORD told me to say to the king, "You have burned the scroll, and you have asked Jeremiah why he wrote that the king of Babylonia would come and destroy this land and kill its people and its animals. ³⁰So now, I, the LORD, say to you, King Jehoiakim, that no descendant of yours will ever rule over David's kingdom. Your corpse will be thrown out where it will be exposed to the sun during the day and to the frost at night. ³¹I will punish you, your descendants, and your officials because of the sins all of you commit. Neither you nor the people of Jerusalem and of Judah have paid any attention to my warnings, and so I will bring on all of you the disaster that I have threatened."
³²Then I took another scroll and gave it to my secretary Baruch, and he wrote down everything that I dictated. He wrote everything that had been on the first scroll and similar messages that I dictated to him.

A Hymn of Thanksgiving

Psalm 136 Give thanks to the LORD, because he is good;
his love is eternal.
²Give thanks to the greatest of all gods;
his love is eternal.
³Give thanks to the mightiest of all lords;
his love is eternal.
⁴He alone performs great miracles;
his love is eternal.
⁵By his wisdom he made the heavens;
his love is eternal;
⁶he built the earth on the deep waters;
his love is eternal.
⁷He made the sun and the moon;
his love is eternal;
⁸the sun to rule over the day;
his love is eternal;
⁹the moon and the stars to rule over the night;
his love is eternal.
¹⁰He killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians;
his love is eternal.
¹¹He led the people of Israel out of Egypt;
his love is eternal;
¹²with his strong hand, his powerful arm;
his love is eternal.
¹³He divided the Red Sea;
his love is eternal;
¹⁴he led his people through it;
his love is eternal;
¹⁵but he drowned the king of Egypt and his army;
his love is eternal.
¹⁶He led his people through the desert;
his love is eternal.
¹⁷He killed powerful kings;
his love is eternal;
¹⁸he killed famous kings;
his love is eternal;
¹⁹Sihon, king of the Amorites;
his love is eternal;
²⁰and Og, king of Bashan;
his love is eternal.
²¹He gave their lands to his people;
his love is eternal;
²²he gave them to Israel, his servant;
his love is eternal.
²³He did not forget us when we were defeated;
his love is eternal;
²⁴he freed us from our enemies;
his love is eternal.
²⁵He gives food to every living creature;
his love is eternal.
²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven;
his love is eternal.

Starting Over
By Os Hillman
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The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. - James 1:9

Do you find yourself in humble circumstances? If so, James tells us that we are to take pride in this "high" position. These two things would seem to be an oxymoron. Most of us would not consider humble circumstances a high position. Successful business tells us that being on top means being wealthy, attaining favor and status, or having power to influence. However, Jesus influenced not from power, but from weakness.

J.C. Penney is a name synonymous with department store. He first launched his chain of "The Golden Rule" stores in 1907. In 1910 his first wife died. Three years later, he incorporated as the J.C. Penney company. In 1923 his second wife died giving birth to his son. In 1929 the stock market crashed and he lost $40 million.

By 1932, he had to sell out to satisfy...creditors. This left [Penney] virtually broke. ...Crushed in spirit from his loss and his health suddenly failing, Penney wound up in a Battle Creek, Michigan sanitarium. One morning he heard the distant singing of employees who gathered to start the day with God: Be not dismayed, whate'er betide, God will take care of you.... Penney followed the music to its source and slipped into a back row. He left a short time later a changed man, his health and spirit renewed, and ready to start the long climb back at age fifty-six.

By 1951 there was a J.C. Penney store in every state, and for the first time sales surpassed $1 billion a year. [John Woodbridge, ed., More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 340-343.]

The success of J.C. Penney can be traced to God's mercy in his life to bring him out of his humble circumstance. Do you find yourself in a humble circumstance? God is the only one who can help you see your humble circumstance from His viewpoint--a high position. It is a high position because of what God is going to teach you in this place. He does not intend you to stay there; it is merely a stopping place to learn some important things you would not learn otherwise. Press into God and trust Him for the outcome to your circumstances.

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 1 Peter 2

⁹But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light. ¹⁰At one time you were not God's people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.

¹¹I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul. ¹²Your conduct among the heathen should be so good that when they accuse you of being evildoers, they will have to recognize your good deeds and so praise God on the Day of his coming.

¹³For the sake of the Lord submit yourselves to every human authority: to the Emperor, who is the supreme authority, ¹⁴and to the governors, who have been appointed by him to punish the evildoers and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵For God wants you to silence the ignorant talk of foolish people by the good things you do. ¹⁶Live as free people; do not, however, use your freedom to cover up any evil, but live as God's slaves. ¹⁷Respect everyone, love other believers, honor God, and respect the Emperor.

¹⁸You servants must submit yourselves to your masters and show them complete respect, not only to those who are kind and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. ¹⁹God will bless you for this, if you endure the pain of undeserved suffering because you are conscious of his will. ²⁰For what credit is there if you endure the beatings you deserve for having done wrong? But if you endure suffering even when you have done right, God will bless you for it. ²¹It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps. ²²He committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. ²³When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge. ²⁴Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed. ²⁵You were like sheep that had lost their way, but now you have been brought back to follow the Shepherd and Keeper of your souls.

Another Promise of Hope

Jeremiah 33

While I was still in prison in the courtyard, the LORD's message came to me again. ²The LORD, who made the earth, who formed it and set it in place, spoke to me. He whose name is the LORD said, ³"Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you wonderful and marvelous things that you know nothing about. ⁴I, the LORD, the God of Israel, say that the houses of Jerusalem and the royal palace of Judah will be torn down as a result of the siege and the attack. ⁵Some will fight against the Babylonians, who will fill the houses with the corpses of those whom I am going to strike down in my anger and fury. I have turned away from this city because of the evil things that its people have done. ⁶But I will heal this city and its people and restore them to health. I will show them abundant peace and security. ⁷I will make Judah and Israel prosperous, and I will rebuild them as they were before. ⁸I will purify them from the sins that they have committed against me, and I will forgive their sins and their rebellion. ⁹Jerusalem will be a source of joy, honor, and pride to me; and every nation in the world will fear and tremble when they hear about the good things that I do for the people of Jerusalem and about the prosperity that I bring to the city."

¹⁰The LORD said, "People are saying that this place is like a desert, that it has no people or animals living in it. And they are right; the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are empty; no people or animals live there. But in these places you will hear again ¹¹the shouts of gladness and joy and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. You will hear people sing as they bring thank offerings to my Temple; they will say,
'Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,
because he is good
and his love is eternal.'
I will make this land as prosperous as it was before. I, the LORD, have spoken."

¹²The LORD Almighty said, "In this land that is like a desert and where no people or animals live, there will once again be pastures where shepherds can take their sheep. ¹³In the towns in the hill country, in the foothills, and in southern Judah, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, shepherds will once again count their sheep. I, the LORD, have spoken."

¹⁴The LORD said, "The time is coming when I will fulfill the promise that I made to the people of Israel and Judah. ¹⁵At that time I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will do what is right and just throughout the land. ¹⁶The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety. The city will be called 'The LORD Our Salvation.' ¹⁷I, the LORD, promise that there will always be a descendant of David to be king of Israel ¹⁸and that there will always be priests from the tribe of Levi to serve me and to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices."

¹⁹The LORD said to me, ²⁰"I have made a covenant with the day and with the night, so that they always come at their proper times; and that covenant can never be broken. ²¹In the same way I have made a covenant with my servant David that he would always have a descendant to be king, and I have made a covenant with the priests from the tribe of Levi that they would always serve me; and those covenants can never be broken. ²²I will increase the number of descendants of my servant David and the number of priests from the tribe of Levi, so that it will be as impossible to count them as it is to count the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore."

²³The LORD said to me, ²⁴"Have you noticed how people are saying that I have rejected Israel and Judah, the two families that I chose? And so they look with contempt on my people and no longer consider them a nation. ²⁵But I, the LORD, have a covenant with day and night, and I have made the laws that control earth and sky. ²⁶And just as surely as I have done this, so I will maintain my covenant with Jacob's descendants and with my servant David. I will choose one of David's descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will be merciful to my people and make them prosperous again."

---

Psalm 135

Praise the LORD! Praise his name, you servants of the LORD,
²who stand in the LORD's house, in the Temple of our God.
³Praise the LORD, because he is good; sing praises to his name, because he is kind.
⁴He chose Jacob for himself, the people of Israel for his own.
⁵I know that our LORD is great, greater than all the gods.
⁶He does whatever he wishes in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in the depths below.
⁷He brings storm clouds from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning for the storms, and he brings out the wind from his storeroom.
⁸In Egypt he killed all the first-born of people and animals alike.
⁹There he performed miracles and wonders to punish the king and all his officials.
¹⁰He destroyed many nations and killed powerful kings:
¹¹Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, and all the kings in Canaan.
¹²He gave their lands to his people; he gave them to Israel.
¹³LORD, you will always be proclaimed as God; all generations will remember you.
¹⁴The LORD will defend his people; he will take pity on his servants.
¹⁵The gods of the nations are made of silver and gold; they are formed by human hands.
¹⁶They have mouths, but cannot speak, and eyes, but cannot see.
¹⁷They have ears, but cannot hear; they are not even able to breathe.
¹⁸May all who made them and who trust in them become like the idols they have made!
¹⁹Praise the LORD, people of Israel; praise him, you priests of God!
²⁰Praise the LORD, you Levites; praise him, all you that worship him!
²¹Praise the LORD in Zion, in Jerusalem, his home. Praise the LORD!

Today's Reading:1 Peter 2, Jeremiah 33-34 and Psalm 135

Today's Devotional: Are You a Romans 8:14 Christian?

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. - Romans 8:13-14

Are You a Romans 8:14 Christian?

Os Hillman

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. - Romans 8:13-14

Joshua and Caleb are described in Scripture as men who had a different spirit. They were two of the 12 spies sent into the Promised Land to determine if it could be taken, as God had promised it to them. The other ten gave a bad report that instilled fear in the people, which ultimately caused a rebellion. This resulted in an entire generation dying in the desert. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who were led by the Spirit of God, versus the spirit of fear. They were the only ones to enter the Promised Land from their generation.

Are you a person led by the Spirit? The verse above tells us that those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. "But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it" (Num. 14:24). Caleb was a Romans 8:14 man! The Spirit led him. He was not led by fear.

Many of us have failed to enter into our own Promised Land because we have failed to be led by the Spirit rather than by fear. Fear prevents us from entering into what God has promised for each of us. God has reserved an inheritance for us that is exceedingly good. God described the Promised Land as a land of milk and honey. Our own Promised Land is the same. But you must be led by the Spirit to enter in. You cannot be led by fear, reason and analysis, or even skill. The Spirit must lead you.

Commit yourself to being a Romans 8:14 man or woman. Then you will enter into the land God has promised for you.

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Read Caption on 1st photo then look at second photo

Look at the picture above and you can see where this guy broke through the guardrail, right side where the people are standing on the road (pointing). The pick-up was traveling from right to left when it crashed through the guardrail.  It flipped end-over-end, across the culvert outlet, and landed right side up on the left side of the culvert, facing the opposite direction from which he was traveling.

Now look at the 2nd picture below...
 

If this guy didn't believe in God before, do you suppose he believes now?

Warning to the Rich

James 5 And now, you rich people, listen to me! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you! ²Your riches have rotted away, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. ³Your gold and silver are covered with rust, and this rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these last days. ⁴You have not paid any wages to those who work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather in your crops have reached the ears of God, the Lord Almighty. ⁵Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned and murdered innocent people, and they do not resist you.

Patience and Prayer

⁷Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near.
⁹Do not complain against one another, my friends, so that God will not judge you. The Judge is near, ready to appear. ¹⁰My friends, remember the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Take them as examples of patient endurance under suffering. ¹¹We call them happy because they endured. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know how the Lord provided for him in the end. For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion.
¹²Above all, my friends, do not use an oath when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Say only "Yes" when you mean yes, and "No" when you mean no, and then you will not come under God's judgment.
¹³Are any among you in trouble? They should pray. Are any among you happy? They should sing praises. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵This prayer made in faith will heal the sick; the Lord will restore them to health, and the sins they have committed will be forgiven. ¹⁶So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect. ¹⁷Elijah was the same kind of person as we are. He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸Once again he prayed, and the sky poured out its rain and the earth produced its crops.
¹⁹My friends, if any of you wander away from the truth and another one brings you back again, ²⁰remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner's soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day, for I know that You still have more for me. I thank You for granting me time with my family and neighbors and I ask that You bless such time and allow us to walk away focused and trusting in You. Lord, for You know the beginning from the end and You know what is taking place behind closed doors as nothing is hidden from You. You know our hearts and our actions, You know our trials and temptations, You give us hope and peace, You give us options to follow after You or to follow after the ways of this world. Lord, I pray that I will be HOT today. Lord, You warn Your church not to be lukewarm, but that You would prefer they be hot or cold. I choose hot, on the trail after You, hot after Your desires, hot in choosing what You desire and want for me. God, I don't fully know what will be coming my way this week, but I pray that I will follow after You and bring praise and honor and worship and glory to You and Your name, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

Product Testing

Os Hillman

His master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" - Matthew 25:21
Testing allows one to discover how well a product is made when placed under extreme stress. Increasing the pulling pressure between two objects reveals the amount of tension that can be withstood in a chain link. Eventually, the "choking" point occurs. In sports, we ascertain the "choking" point for athletes by putting them into a pressure situation. At what point will the athlete lose concentration and collapse under the pressure? It is under these stressful times that we discover how well we have been trained to withstand the pressure and make right decisions regardless of outside influences.
In my younger days I played sports. I came to observe that we fail under pressure usually because we reach a point where our ability to focus on execution yields to concern about outcome. This worry about outcome forces us to lose our concentration. The fear of failure begins to rule our emotions and actions, which ultimately results in our failure. What we fear has come upon us. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In life, we see giving in to pressure in the form of compulsive behavior, withdrawal, anger, abuse, moral failure, and dishonesty, to name just a few manifestations.
Jesus never yielded to pressure. He never made decisions based on outcome. He always made the right decision. He always performed the same no matter what the circumstance. He lived a life based on absolutes, not circumstances. He never gave in to "situational ethics."
As God entrusts us with more and more responsibility, He brings more and more pressures into our lives to "test the product," to make sure that He can give even more responsibility to us. This process helps us see where we are in our maturity and determines our level of future responsibility.
Are you a product that can withstand the product test? Will you perform as the Maker designed no matter what outside pressures come? Know that you cannot perform well unless you are continually in relationship with and obedient to the one who made you. Trust the product developer today. He has made you to perform well under pressure.

The LORD's Promises to His People

Jeremiah 30 The LORD, the God of Israel, ²said to me, "Write down in a book everything that I have told you, ³because the time is coming when I will restore my people, Israel and Judah. I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it again. I, the LORD, have spoken."
⁴The LORD says to the people of Israel and Judah,
⁵"I heard a cry of terror,
a cry of fear and not of peace.
⁶Now stop and think!
Can a man give birth to a child?
Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach
like a woman in labor?
Why is everyone so pale?
⁷A terrible day is coming;
no other day can compare with it--
a time of distress for my people,
but they will survive."
⁸The LORD Almighty says, "When that day comes, I will break the yoke that is around their neck and remove their chains, and they will no longer be the slaves of foreigners. ⁹Instead, they will serve me, the LORD their God, and a descendant of David, whom I will enthrone as king.
¹⁰"My people, do not be afraid;
people of Israel, do not be terrified.
I will rescue you from that faraway land,
from the land where you are prisoners.
You will come back home and live in peace;
you will be secure, and no one will make you afraid.
¹¹I will come to you and save you.
I will destroy all the nations
where I have scattered you,
but I will not destroy you.
I will not let you go unpunished;
but when I punish you, I will be fair.
I, the LORD, have spoken."
¹²The LORD says to his people,
"Your wounds are incurable,
your injuries cannot be healed.
¹³There is no one to take care of you,
no remedy for your sores,
no hope of healing for you.
¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you;
they no longer care about you.
I have attacked you like an enemy;
your punishment has been harsh
because your sins are many
and your wickedness is great.
¹⁵Complain no more about your injuries;
there is no cure for you.
I punished you like this
because your sins are many
and your wickedness is great.
¹⁶But now, all who devour you will be devoured,
and all your enemies will be taken away as prisoners.
All who oppress you will be oppressed,
and all who plunder you will be plundered.
¹⁷I will make you well again;
I will heal your wounds,
though your enemies say,
'Zion is an outcast;
no one cares about her.'
I, the LORD, have spoken."
¹⁸The LORD says,
"I will restore my people to their land
and have mercy on every family;
Jerusalem will be rebuilt,
and its palace restored.
¹⁹The people who live there will sing praise;
they will shout for joy.
By my blessing they will increase in numbers;
my blessing will bring them honor.
²⁰I will restore the nation's ancient power
and establish it firmly again;
I will punish all who oppress them.
^21-22Their ruler will come from their own nation,
their prince from their own people.
He will approach me when I invite him,
for who would dare come uninvited?
They will be my people,
and I will be their God.
I, the LORD, have spoken."
^23-24The LORD's anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked. It will not end until he has done all that he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly.

In Praise of Living in Peace

Psalm 133 How wonderful it is, how pleasant,
for God's people to live together in harmony!
²It is like the precious anointing oil
running down from Aaron's head and beard,
down to the collar of his robes.
³It is like the dew on Mount Hermon,
falling on the hills of Zion.
That is where the LORD has promised his blessing--
life that never ends.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and for the Word of God that was preached this weekend. I thank You for the personal touch of getting to read Your Word and hear Your heart spoken right to me daily. Lord, forgive me I pray for not acting out and working with a humble heart. Lord, forgive me for allowing my desires to cloud my thinking and causing quarrels and fights rather than focusing outward bring peace and unity. Lord, as I start this new week, I pray for Your Spirit to guide my every step and to keep me from making the same mistakes but instead humbling myself and keeping my focus on You, that what I say and what I do will be a reflection of who you are and what You desire in my life and the life of all those around me. May I see peace and encouragement flowing through me. May I find refuge in You and courage through You. Lord, I thank You for allowing me to be in relationship with You. I thank You Lord, for never leaving me and never forsaking me. I thank You Lord for having come into my life and the lives of those I love to transform each of us into the men and women of God, You so desire in us. Lord, I will praise, worship, and honor You in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading:James 4, Jeremiah 27-28 and Psalm 132

Do you know how to get the devil to leave you alone and run away?

⁷So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you. ⁸Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites! ⁹Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom! ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Today's Devotional: The Ultimate Franchise

And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business? - Luke 2:49 KJV

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Your Word that has the power of life. Your Words are for life and bring light into this world. Lord, Your Words encourage, build up, and correct us so that strongholds and footholds can torn down so that we can find and have life to the full. Lord, I thank You that You have provided encouragement through the gifts and talents You provide for Your people. I thank You for good movies like 'Facing the Giants' and 'Fireproof' as well as 'A night with the Queen' and other movies from Your Word. I pray Lord, that more movies and as such people who can act, direct, produce and fund movies will realize the power and potential of such types of movies and then provide more opportunities for people. Let Your Word become a focus in this world. Let people come to the reality of who You are and how life changing a relationship with You can be in all of our lives. Help me to receive and use the Word of God that I hear today so that I am not just a hearer of the Word, but a doer of the Word.  And Lord, I will give You the praise and the glory and the honor in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Devotional from Today God Is First: Real Customer Service
While they were going out a man, who was demon-possessed and could not talk, was brought to Jesus. - Matthew 9:32

James 2 My friends, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance. ²Suppose a rich man wearing a gold ring and fine clothes comes to your meeting, and a poor man in ragged clothes also comes. ³If you show more respect to the well-dressed man and say to him, "Have this best seat here," but say to the poor man, "Stand over there, or sit here on the floor by my feet," ⁴then you are guilty of creating distinctions among yourselves and of making judgments based on evil motives.
⁵Listen, my dear friends! God chose the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. ⁶But you dishonor the poor! Who are the ones who oppress you and drag you before the judges? The rich! ⁷They are the ones who speak evil of that good name which has been given to you.
⁸You will be doing the right thing if you obey the law of the Kingdom, which is found in the scripture, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." ⁹But if you treat people according to their outward appearance, you are guilty of sin, and the Law condemns you as a lawbreaker. ¹⁰Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all. ¹¹For the same one who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Even if you do not commit adultery, you have become a lawbreaker if you commit murder. ¹²Speak and act as people who will be judged by the law that sets us free. ¹³For God will not show mercy when he judges the person who has not been merciful; but mercy triumphs over judgment.

Today's Reading:  James 2, Jeremiah 23-24 and Psalm 130

Today's Devotional: Sold Out But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. - Philippians 3:7

Sold Out Os Hillman But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. - Philippians 3:7 George Mueller was a man known for building orphanages by faith in the mid-1800s. He raised literally millions of dollars for his orphanages, yet died with little in his own bank account. When asked about his conversion experience he commented, “I was converted in November of 1825, but I only came into the full surrender of the heart four years later, in July 1829. The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was gone, and the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God. I ask affectionately, my beloved brethren, have you fully surrendered the heart to God, or is there this thing or that thing with which you have taken up irrespective of God? I read a little of the scriptures before, but preferred other books; but since that time the revelation He has made of Himself has become unspeakably blessed to me, and I can say from my heart, God is an infinitely lovely Being. Oh, be not satisfied until in your own inmost soul you can say, God is an infinitely lovely Being!” [Basil Miller, Man of Faith and Miracles (Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bethany House Publishers, n.d.)] Many will never get to the place where George Mueller was in his spiritual life, because we are unwilling to release control of these areas of which he speaks. If we do release control, it usually is due to a process that God brings us through. Paul got knocked to the ground and was spoken to personally before he was willing to listen and follow completely. Peter had to live with Jesus three years and he still denied Him. It was only later, after he denied Jesus and realized how weak he was in his own faith, that he became fully committed to the Savior. What will it take for you to fully surrender? You will know that you have given full surrender when power, money, and position no longer have meaning in your life. Paul said he came to a place where his life was the life of Christ only. It is a sacrificial life, but it is also a life of freedom, purpose, and meaning. Let God take full control and see His life lived fully through you.

Heavenly Father,

I thank You for this new day and for this time to be and focus on You. Help me throughout this day to keep my eyes on You and to keep in conversation with You throughout the day. Lord, when I meet with people, help me to hear what they are saying from the inside. Help me Lord, for when I was younger, I can remember becoming angry at people for being prejudice. Help me Lord, to look at people through your eyes. Lord, help me I pray be the man of God You have called me to be. Grant me the wisdom to do things in alignment with Your Word and to not be pursuing after worldly things. Lord, help me to do things out of honor to You and not out of love for something else. God, You have put children on my heart and I pray that You will help me to put my focus on helping them instead of on worldly pleasures for myself. I thank You for Your Word and for my devotional time. I pray Lord, that You will help me to find time during every day to stop and focus on You, to bring You praise and honor and glory, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Faith and Actions

¹⁴My friends, what good is it for one of you to say that you have faith if your actions do not prove it? Can that faith save you? ¹⁵Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don't have enough to eat. ¹⁶What good is there in your saying to them, "God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!"--if you don't give them the necessities of life? ¹⁷So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.
¹⁸But someone will say, "One person has faith, another has actions." My answer is, "Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions." ¹⁹Do you believe that there is only one God? Good! The demons also believe--and tremble with fear. ²⁰You fool! Do you want to be shown that faith without actions is useless? ²¹How was our ancestor Abraham put right with God? It was through his actions, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. ²²Can't you see? His faith and his actions worked together; his faith was made perfect through his actions. ²³And the scripture came true that said, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." And so Abraham was called God's friend. ²⁴You see, then, that it is by our actions that we are put right with God, and not by our faith alone.
²⁵It was the same with the prostitute Rahab. She was put right with God through her actions, by welcoming the Israelite spies and helping them to escape by a different road.
²⁶So then, as the body without the spirit is dead, also faith without actions is dead.

Faith and Wisdom

James 1²My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, ³for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. ⁴Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. ⁶But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt at all. Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is driven and blown about by the wind. ^7-8If you are like that, unable to make up your mind and undecided in all you do, you must not think that you will receive anything from the Lord.

Testing and Tempting

¹²Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³If we are tempted by such trials, we must not say, "This temptation comes from God." For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But we are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires. ¹⁵Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
¹⁶Do not be deceived, my dear friends! ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change or cause darkness by turning. ¹⁸By his own will he brought us into being through the word of truth, so that we should have first place among all his creatures.

Hearing and Doing

¹⁹Remember this, my dear friends! Everyone must be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to become angry. ²⁰Human anger does not achieve God's righteous purpose. ²¹So get rid of every filthy habit and all wicked conduct. Submit to God and accept the word that he plants in your hearts, which is able to save you.
²²Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice. ²³If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. ²⁴They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like. ²⁵But if you look closely into the perfect law that sets people free, and keep on paying attention to it and do not simply listen and then forget it, but put it into practice--you will be blessed by God in what you do.
²⁶Do any of you think you are religious? If you do not control your tongue, your religion is worthless and you deceive yourself. ²⁷What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.