It’s a new season

Winning in life, love and family

I. Bring your “A” game with you everyday.

Proverbs 14:23, 31:27, Proverbs 6:6-11, 21:25, I Corinthians 9:6-14, II Thessalonians 3:10, Malachi 1:8-13

· “A” game is a reference to giving your very best.

· Success is found in an old fashioned “work ethic”.

· God places a high priority on our best effort.

· God requires our very best in our relationship with him.

· Are you giving your best to the important people in your life?

· Relationships require work and a commitment to succeed.

II. Keep your eye on the ball.

Titus 2:10-12, Philippians 4:4-7

· Maintain your focus on the everyday issues.

· Excellence and success are in the little details.

· Relationships need time and communication.

· Prayer is the key to power and success in every area of life.

· Sow in prayer and you will reap in power in every area of life.

III. Learn the keys to the game from a quality veteran.

Galatians 5:22

· Commit yourself to developing your life and gifts.

· Find a successful veteran (mentor) to model your life after.

· Recognize the importance of hanging out at the batting cage.

· Have a humble spirit and ask a lot of questions.

· Be a true seeker of God and his touch upon your life.

Today's Reading:
Matthew 24.32-51, Numbers 28-29
and Song of Songs 8.5-14

The Lesson of the Fig Tree
(Mark 13.28-31; Luke 21.29-33)

Matthew 24 ³²"Let the fig tree teach you a lesson. When its branches become green and tender and it starts putting out leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³In the same way, when you see all these things, you will know that the time is near, ready to begin. ³⁴Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died. ³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

No One Knows the Day and Hour
(Mark 13.32-37; Luke 17.26-30, 34-36)

³⁶"No one knows, however, when that day and hour will come--neither the angels in heaven nor the Son; the Father alone knows. ³⁷The coming of the Son of Man will be like what happened in the time of Noah. ³⁸In the days before the flood people ate and drank, men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat; ³⁹yet they did not realize what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes. ⁴⁰At that time two men will be working in a field: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind. ⁴¹Two women will be at a mill grinding meal: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind. ⁴²Watch out, then, because you do not know what day your Lord will come. ⁴³If the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, you can be sure that he would stay awake and not let the thief break into his house. ⁴⁴So then, you also must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Servant
(Luke 12.41-48)

⁴⁵"Who, then, is a faithful and wise servant? It is the one that his master has placed in charge of the other servants to give them their food at the proper time. ⁴⁶How happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home! ⁴⁷Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property. ⁴⁸But if he is a bad servant, he will tell himself that his master will not come back for a long time, ⁴⁹and he will begin to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰Then that servant's master will come back one day when the servant does not expect him and at a time he does not know. ⁵¹The master will cut him in pieces and make him share the fate of the hypocrites. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.

Today's Reading:
Matthew 23.1-12, Numbers 22.41-23.26
and
Song of Songs 3.6-5.1

I wonder if people realize where many of the common day phrases used come from. Have you ever heard "Practice what you preach"? We see that this saying comes from Matthew 23:3. There are many instances like this and the more you dive into the Word of God - the Sword of the Spirit - the Bible, the more you will realize how much God does have to say about this world and this life we are to live.

^{Numbers 23: 19}

God is not like people, who lie; He is not a human who changes his mind. Whatever he promises, he does; He speaks, and it is done.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and I thank You for the incredible love You have for Your children. I thank You that there is so much love in You that there is no darkness. I thank You that there is so much light in You that we can always see where to go while we stay close to You. I thank You for giving us Your Word to help us realize our potential and Your power and promises. Help us Lord, to step out in faith and reach for the ring, reach for the goal, reach for the prize, reach for the promise, trusting in You and looking forward without hesitation - no looking back, just moving forward trusting in You. Lord, let us remember our mistakes that we can avoid them in the future. Lord, let us also remember that when we ask for forgiveness, that You have immediately forgiven us and as such there is no condemnation for our past. Help us to remember, that when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that we became new creations, the new has come and the old has passed away. And we will praise You and worship You, honor You and glorify You, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and praise You for You are so awesome. Lord, Your Word is so true, although it never changes, it is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, You are able to speak to me through my reading of the Word of God, my Bible, the message I need to hear. Help me Lord to keep my eyes on the true goal. Help me in my home life, my work life, and my social life, to keep first things first. Help me Lord to let Your two greatest commandments guide how I speak (my words), how I work (my priorities), how I act (my behavior). I thank You that You and Your Spirit speak truth and life into my mind and heart. Help me to keep any messages stuck in my thoughts, but help them to be moved into my heart and for me to take action. I bless You and praise You and dedicate this day and all the meetings I have to You, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading:

Matthew 22.23-46, Numbers 22.1-40
and Song of Songs 2.8-3.5

Heavenly Father,

I thank You for this new day and for the incredible love and sacrifice you have suffered for me. I thank You Lord that You are my Victory, that in and through my relationship with Jesus Christ, I am a victor and a conqueror. Lord, there is nothing too big for You. Lord, there is nothing too hard for You. If You are on my side, who can be against me or as I have heard/read - "If God is for me, who can be against me." Lord, there are many challenges and struggles in this world, and You were clear in Your Word when You said - in this world you will have troubles. The good news and the message that I hold so tightly to is that by man it may be impossible, but to God nothing is impossible. Lord, today I thank You for the career discussion that I had. There were many words of encouragement and many words of direction spoken to and over me. I thank You for this time and I ask that You give me wisdom that will help me to make the most out of my time. I pray that You will help me to be more precise and succinct in my communication and planning. Lord, be glorified today in all I say and do and allow others to realize that they too can have a victory, they too can have the victory, through a living and loving and honoring relationship with Your Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Today's Reading:
Matthew 22.1-22, Numbers 21 and Song of Songs 1.1-2.7

The Fourfold Gospel

For many are called, but few chosen. Many guests are invited, but few are accepted; because some neglect and despise the invitation, and others cast dishonor upon the one who invites, by the self-willed and irreverent way in which they accept his invitation. In this parable the first parties invited represent the Jews; the city of murderers is Jerusalem; the persons called from the highways are the Gentiles; the entrance of the king is the coming of the Lord to final judgment; and the man without the wedding-garment is anyone who will be found in the church without a suitable character. The character of Christ is our wedding-garment, and all the regenerated must wear it (John 3:5 Ephesians 4:24; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 3:10; Revelation 19:8,9).

People's New Testament

"The many called" embrace all who hear the gospel; the whole Jewish nation, and the Gentiles of every land where the gospel is preached. The chosen are those who choose to accept.

Matthew Henry Concise Commentary

The provision made for perishing souls in the gospel, is represented by a royal feast made by a king, with eastern liberality, on the marriage of his son. Our merciful God has not only provided food, but a royal feast, for the perishing souls of his rebellious creatures. There is enough and to spare, of every thing that can add to our present comfort and everlasting happiness, in the salvation of his Son Jesus Christ. The guests first invited were the Jews. When the prophets of the Old Testament prevailed not, nor John the Baptist, nor Christ himself, who told them the kingdom of God was at hand, the apostles and ministers of the gospel were sent, after Christ's resurrection, to tell them it was come, and to persuade them to accept the offer. The reason why sinners come not to Christ and salvation by him, is, not because they cannot, but because they will not. Making light of Christ, and of the great salvation wrought out by him, is the damning sin of the world. They were careless. Multitudes perish for ever through mere carelessness, who show no direct aversion, but are careless as to their souls. Also the business and profit of worldly employments hinder many in closing with the Saviour. Both farmers and merchants must be diligent; but whatever we have of the world in our hands, our care must be to keep it out of our hearts, lest it come between us and Christ. The utter ruin coming upon the Jewish church and nation, is here represented. Persecution of Christ's faithful ministers fills up the measure of guilt of any people. The offer of Christ and salvation to the Gentiles was not expected; it was such a surprise as it would be to wayfaring men, to be invited to a royal wedding-feast. The design of the gospel is to gather souls to Christ; all the children of God scattered abroad, Joh 10:16; 11:52. The case of hypocrites is represented by the guest that had not on a wedding-garment. It concerns all to prepare for the scrutiny; and those, and those only, who put on the Lord Jesus, who have a Christian temper of mind, who live by faith in Christ, and to whom he is all in all, have the wedding-garment. The imputed righteousness of Christ, and the sanctification of the Spirit, are both alike necessary. No man has the wedding-garment by nature, or can form it for himself. The day is coming, when hypocrites will be called to account for all their presumptuous intruding into gospel ordinances, and usurpation of gospel privileges. Take him away. Those that walk unworthy of Christianity, forfeit all the happiness they presumptuously claimed. Our Saviour here passes out of the parable into that which it teaches. Hypocrites go by the light of the gospel itself down to utter darkness. Many are called to the wedding-feast, that is, to salvation, but few have the wedding-garment, the righteousness of Christ, the sanctification of the Spirit. Then let us examine ourselves whether we are in the faith, and seek to be approved by the King.

Of the many that are called to the wedding feast, if you set aside all those as unchosen that make light of it, and avowedly prefer other things before it; if then you set aside all that make a profession of religion, but the temper of whose spirits and the tenour of whose conversation are a constant contradiction to it; if you set aside all the profane, and all the hypocritical, you will find that they are few, very few, that are chosen; many called to the wedding feast, but few chosen to the wedding garment, that is, to salvation, by sanctification of the Spirit. This is the strait gate, and narrow way, which few find.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and for the great opportunities You have allowed me to be a part of. Lord, I thank You for new relationships. I thank You for new knowledge. I thank You especially for my family and for Your love in and through them. I thank You for wisdom. I thank You for direction. I thank You for Your Word that is never changing, and always speaking. Help me Lord today to be obedient to Your Spirit. Lord, Help me to be attentive and not dismiss that still small voice, but to receive direction throughout my day and glorify and honor You in all I say and do. Help me also as we head into MYCD to get a clearer picture of where You want me to go and what You want me to step up to and in to this coming year. God, allow me to be responsive and not resistant to Your push, Your call, Your direction. Give me an ear to hear when I read Your Word and when I am in different situations at work. Help me Lord to break footholds the enemy has found. Help me to not give up and not give in, but to persevere. Help me to be an example and a leader for those around me who directs people to You. I thank You Lord and I love You and I will honor and worship You, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Reading:
Matthew 21.28-46, Numbers 19-20 and
Ecclesiastes 11.9-12.14

Today's Devotional:
Making Adjustments
..."Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." - John 21:6

Who rules your world?

- God or man?

What controls your actions?

- Doing what is right or fear?

What will you believe?

- Truth of God or relative truth?

Why are you afraid?

What is keeping you from letting go of the stuff that is holding you back?

Are you willing to step out and ask for help?

Will you tell people it is God who is your provider?

Will you tell people it is God who is your wisdom?

Will you tell people who ask you, "How do you do it?" that it is through God's power?

Advice to Young People

Ecclesiastes 11

 ⁹Young people, enjoy your youth. Be happy while you are still young. Do what you want to do, and follow your heart's desire. But remember that God is going to judge you for whatever you do.
¹⁰Don't let anything worry you or cause you pain. You aren't going to be young very long.

The Summing Up

Ecclesiastes 12

⁹But because the Philosopher was wise, he kept on teaching the people what he knew. He studied proverbs and honestly tested their truth. ¹⁰The Philosopher tried to find comforting words, but the words he wrote were honest. ¹¹The sayings of the wise are like the sharp sticks that shepherds use to guide sheep, and collected proverbs are as lasting as firmly driven nails. They have been given by God, the one Shepherd of us all.
¹²My child, there is something else to watch out for. There is no end to the writing of books, and too much study will wear you out.
¹³After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for. ¹⁴God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret.

The greatest surprise of life

I. The resurrection surprised everyone but God.

Matthew 28:1-8, John 20:1-10, Luke 9:21-22

• The women and the disciples were shocked with the empty tomb.
• Jesus knew his purpose in coming to Earth was to serve as our redeemer.
• Jesus had taught the disciples he would be crucified and then rise on the third day.

II. Without the resurrection there is no Christian faith.

I Corinthians 15:1-22

• The Apostle Paul records the witnesses of the resurrection.
• Paul declares without the resurrection our faith is dead.
• Paul teaches that we may all experience new life in Christ.

III. The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope today!

I Peter 1:3-5, II Corinthians 5:17

• We have been born again into a living hope.
• Whoever is in Christ Jesus is a new creation.
• What do you have in your life that needs to be resurrected?

Happy Easter

Today's Reading:
Matthew 20.17-34, Numbers 15-16
and Ecclesiastes 9.13-10.20

Jesus Speaks a Third Time about His Death
(Mark 10.32-34; Luke 18.31-34)

Matthew 20 ¹⁷As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and spoke to them privately, as they walked along. ¹⁸"Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death ¹⁹and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life."

He Is

by Aaron & Jeoffrey

In Genesis, He's the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He's our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice
In Joshua, He is salvation's choice
Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He's sovereign

Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song

In Proverbs, wisdom's cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream

He is, He is, HE IS!

In Isaiah, He's Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He's the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire

In Hosea, He is forever faithful
In Joel, He's the Spirits power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He's the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He's the great missionary

In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zechariah, our fountain

In Malachi, He is the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

He is, He is, HE IS!

In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, He is God, Man, Messiah
In the book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
In Romans, He's the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin

Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servants heart
In Colossians, He's the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon He's our mediator and our faithful Pastor

In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick.
In First and Second Peter, he is our Shepherd
In John and in Jude, He is the lover coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords

He is, He is, HE IS!

The prince of peace
The Son of man
The Lamb of God
The great I AM

He's the alpha and omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
and when time is no more
He is, HE IS!

Today's Reading:
Matthew 19.1-15, Numbers 9-10 and Ecclesiastes 7

Matthew 19:3-9

³Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him by asking, "Does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife for whatever reason he wishes?"
⁴Jesus answered, "Haven't you read the scripture that says that in the beginning the Creator made people male and female? ⁵And God said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.' ⁶So they are no longer two, but one. No human being must separate, then, what God has joined together."
⁷The Pharisees asked him, "Why, then, did Moses give the law for a man to hand his wife a divorce notice and send her away?"
⁸Jesus answered, "Moses gave you permission to divorce your wives because you are so hard to teach. But it was not like that at the time of creation. ⁹I tell you, then, that any man who divorces his wife for any cause other than her unfaithfulness, commits adultery if he marries some other woman."

Have you ever considered what the following text means? How should we be like children? Think about it...

Jesus Blesses Little Children
(Mark 10.13-16; Luke 18.15-17)

¹³Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and to pray for them, but the disciples scolded the people. ¹⁴Jesus said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
¹⁵He placed his hands on them and then went away.

Have you ever considered what the following text means?

• A good reputation is better than expensive perfume
• It is better to have wise people reprimand you than to have stupid people sing your praises.
• Patience is better than pride.
• Keep your temper under control; it is foolish to harbor a grudge.
• Wisdom keeps you safe--this is the advantage of knowledge.
• Wisdom does more for a person than ten rulers can do for a city.
• There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.
• ²⁹This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

Today's Reading:
Matthew 18.18-35, Numbers 7-8 and Ecclesiastes 6

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day. I thank You for the great family and friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and friends You have brought into my life. Lord, today my mind and my heart are drawn to Your Word that speaks about forgiveness. Your Word tells us that we are to continue to forgive (Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?" "No, not seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy times seven, ²³because the Kingdom of heaven is like this.) And tell of how if we ask for forgiveness from God and then don't give/offer forgiveness to others that we are like worthless servant who was forgiven by the king.

Once there was a king who decided to check on his servants' accounts. ²⁴He had just begun to do so when one of them was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. ²⁵The servant did not have enough to pay his debt, so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife and his children and all that he had, in order to pay the debt. ²⁶The servant fell on his knees before the king. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay you everything!' ²⁷The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go.
²⁸"Then the man went out and met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and started choking him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he said. ²⁹His fellow servant fell down and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!' ³⁰But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until he should pay the debt. ³¹When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset and went to the king and told him everything. ³²So he called the servant in. 'You worthless slave!' he said. 'I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you asked me to. ³³You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you.' ³⁴The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount."
³⁵And Jesus concluded, "That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

We also see in Luke 17 that you say:

3 So watch what you do! "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in one day, and each time he comes to you saying, "I repent,' you must forgive him."

Lord, in Your Word when You teach us how to pray, You also call out in Matthew 6:12 - Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.

Help us Lord to see and realize what things we have held onto and what bitter roots we have allowed to grow and what footholds the enemy may have already started. Help us Lord to forgive each person who has hurt us and be able to receive the peace and joy that comes from You instead of allowing anger, frustration, and in some cases hate to control how we act and respond.

And Lord, we will give you the praise and the honor and the glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading:

Matthew 18.1-17, Numbers 5-6 and Ecclesiastes 5

---

Heavenly Father,
I thank You Lord for this new day and all the plans You have in it. Lord, I pray Your healing touch up my body and that of my family as some sickness is trying to knock us down. I pray in the name of Jesus that this sickness would flee and that my family would be healthy. Lord, as I look to today, I pray that You will give me the wisdom to be able to accomplish what You have for me. I pray that You will help me to be humble to those around me and that the humility in which I respond will direct people to wonder more about you. Lord, my trust and hope are in You. Lord, no matter the storm that I find myself in, I pray that You will help me to have the faith to step out and do the extra-ordinary and not be limited to average. God help me to keep my eyes on You and not to be distracted from keeping my eyes on You. I ask and pray all this in Jesus' name. Lord, I will praise You and worship You, honor You and glorify You, in Jesus' name .Amen.

Who Is the Greatest?
(Mark 9.33-37; Luke 9.46-48)

Matthew 18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, asking, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
²So Jesus called a child to come and stand in front of them, ³and said, "I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. ⁴The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child. ⁵And whoever welcomes in my name one such child as this, welcomes me.

Temptations to Sin
(Mark 9.42-48; Luke 17.1, 2)

⁶"If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the deep sea. ⁷How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen--but how terrible for the one who causes them!
⁸"If your hand or your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life without a hand or a foot than to keep both hands and both feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep
(Luke 15.3-7)

¹⁰"See that you don't despise any of these little ones. Their angels in heaven, I tell you, are always in the presence of my Father in heaven.
¹²"What do you think a man does who has one hundred sheep and one of them gets lost? He will leave the other ninety-nine grazing on the hillside and go and look for the lost sheep. ¹³When he finds it, I tell you, he feels far happier over this one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost. ¹⁴In just the same way your Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to be lost.

When Someone Sins

¹⁵"If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back. ¹⁶But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that 'every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses,' as the scripture says. ¹⁷And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector.

Unclean People

Numbers 5 The LORD said to Moses, ²"Command the people of Israel to expel from the camp everyone with a dreaded skin disease or a bodily discharge and everyone who is unclean by contact with a corpse. ³Send all these ritually unclean people out, so that they will not defile the camp, where I live among my people." ⁴The Israelites obeyed and expelled them all from the camp.

Repayment for Wrongs Done

⁵The LORD gave Moses ⁶the following instructions for the people of Israel. When any of you are unfaithful to the LORD and commit a wrong against someone, ⁷you must confess your sin and make full repayment, plus an additional 20 percent, to the person you have wronged. ⁸But if that person has died and has no near relative to whom payment can be made, it shall be given to the LORD for the priest. This payment is in addition to the ram used to perform the ritual of purification for the guilty person. ⁹Also every special contribution which the Israelites offer to the LORD belongs to the priest to whom they present it. ¹⁰Each priest shall keep the offerings presented to him.

Cases of Wives with Suspicious Husbands

¹¹The LORD commanded Moses ^12-14to give the Israelites the following instructions. It may happen that a man becomes suspicious that his wife is unfaithful to him and has defiled herself by having intercourse with another man. But the husband may not be certain, for his wife may have kept it secret--there was no witness, and she was not caught in the act. Or it may happen that a husband becomes suspicious of his wife, even though she has not been unfaithful. ¹⁵In either case the man shall take his wife to the priest. He shall also take the required offering of two pounds of barley flour, but he shall not pour any olive oil on it or put any incense on it, because it is an offering from a suspicious husband, made to bring the truth to light.
¹⁶The priest shall bring the woman forward and have her stand in front of the altar. ¹⁷He shall pour some holy water into a clay bowl and take some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tent of the LORD's presence and put it in the water to make it bitter. ¹⁸Then he shall loosen the woman's hair and put the offering of flour in her hands. In his hands the priest shall hold the bowl containing the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹Then the priest shall make the woman agree to this oath spoken by the priest: "If you have not committed adultery, you will not be harmed by the curse that this water brings. ²⁰But if you have committed adultery, ²¹may the LORD make your name a curse among your people. May he cause your genital organs to shrink and your stomach to swell up. ²²May this water enter your stomach and cause it to swell up and your genital organs to shrink."
The woman shall respond, "I agree; may the LORD do so."
²³Then the priest shall write this curse down and wash the writing off into the bowl of bitter water. ²⁴Before he makes the woman drink the water, which may then cause her bitter pain, ²⁵the priest shall take the offering of flour out of the woman's hands, hold it out in dedication to the LORD, and present it on the altar. ²⁶Then he shall take a handful of it as a token offering and burn it on the altar. Finally, he shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷If she has committed adultery, the water will cause bitter pain; her stomach will swell up and her genital organs will shrink. Her name will become a curse among her people. ²⁸But if she is innocent, she will not be harmed and will be able to bear children.
^29-30This is the law in cases where a man is jealous and becomes suspicious that his wife has committed adultery. The woman shall be made to stand in front of the altar, and the priest shall perform this ritual. ³¹The husband shall be free of guilt, but the woman, if guilty, must suffer the consequences.

Rules for Nazirites

Numbers 6 The LORD commanded Moses ²to give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Any of you, male or female, who make a special vow to become a nazirite and dedicate yourself to the LORD ³shall abstain from wine and beer. You shall not drink any kind of drink made from grapes or eat any grapes or raisins. ⁴As long as you are a nazirite, you shall not eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even the seeds or skins of grapes.
⁵As long as you are under the nazirite vow, you must not cut your hair or shave. You are bound by the vow for the full time that you are dedicated to the LORD, and you shall let your hair grow. ^6-7Your hair is the sign of your dedication to God, and so you must not defile yourself by going near a corpse, not even that of your father, mother, brother, or sister. ⁸As long as you are a nazirite, you are consecrated to the LORD.
⁹If your consecrated hair is defiled because you are right beside someone who suddenly dies, you must wait seven days and then shave your head; and so you become ritually clean. ¹⁰On the eighth day you shall bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the LORD's presence. ¹¹The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to perform the ritual of purification for you because of your contact with a corpse. On the same day you shall reconsecrate your hair ¹²and rededicate to the LORD your time as a nazirite. The previous period of time doesn't count, because your consecrated hair was defiled. As a repayment offering you shall bring a one-year-old lamb.
¹³When you complete your nazirite vow, you shall perform this ritual. You shall go to the entrance of the Tent ¹⁴and present to the LORD three animals without any defects: a one-year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, a one-year-old ewe lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a fellowship offering. ¹⁵You shall also offer a basket of bread made without yeast: thick loaves made of flour mixed with olive oil and thin cakes brushed with olive oil, and in addition the required offerings of grain and wine.
¹⁶The priest shall present all these to the LORD and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering. ¹⁷He shall sacrifice the ram to the LORD as a fellowship offering, and offer it with the basket of bread; he shall also present the offerings of grain and wine. ¹⁸At the entrance of the Tent you nazirites shall shave off your hair and put it on the fire on which the fellowship offering is being burned.
¹⁹Then, when the shoulder of the ram is boiled, the priest shall take it and put it, together with one thick loaf of bread and one thin cake from the basket, into the hands of the nazirite. ²⁰Next, the priest shall present them as a special gift to the LORD; they are a sacred offering for the priest, in addition to the breast and the leg of the ram which by law belong to the priest. After that, the nazirite may drink wine.
²¹These are the regulations for you nazirites; but if you promise an offering beyond what your vow requires you to give, you must fulfill exactly the promise you made.

The Priestly Blessing

²²The LORD commanded Moses ²³to tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:
²⁴May the LORD bless you and take care of you;
²⁵May the LORD be kind and gracious to you;
²⁶May the LORD look on you with favor and give you peace.
²⁷And the LORD said, "If they pronounce my name as a blessing upon the people of Israel, I will bless them."

Don't Make Rash Promises

Ecclesiastes 5 Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don't know right from wrong. ²Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to. ³The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish. ⁴So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do. ⁵Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it. ⁶Don't let your own words lead you into sin, so that you have to tell God's priest that you didn't mean it. Why make God angry with you? Why let him destroy what you have worked for? ⁷No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still stand in awe of God.

Life Is Useless

⁸Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by someone higher, and both are protected by still higher officials.
⁹Even a king depends on the harvest.
¹⁰If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless. ¹¹The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich. ¹²Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.
¹³Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it, ¹⁴and then lose it all in some bad deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children. ¹⁵We leave this world just as we entered it--with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us. ¹⁶It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get? ¹⁷We get to live our lives in darkness and grief, worried, angry, and sick.
¹⁸Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate. ¹⁹If God gives us wealth and property and lets us enjoy them, we should be grateful and enjoy what we have worked for. It is a gift from God. ²⁰Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

Today's Reading:

Matthew 17, Numbers 3-4 and Ecclesiastes 3.16-4.16

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Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and for the opportunities that will from it. I thank You for having sent Your Son Jesus to this world that we may be reconciled through His ultimate sacrifice. Lord, I thank You for having sent Your Holy Spirit, that gives us wisdom and power to accomplish all that You have for us. I thank You that through Your disciples, that we see that when the power of the Holy Spirit comes to us, things that may not have been clear become clear, that when we have questions, You provide answers, that when we need wisdom, You provide counsel. Lord, as we just passed Palm Sunday and as we head towards Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I pray that Your love and Your truth will become more real to those around me. I pray that Your wisdom and Your strength will draw others to You and grow Your church. Of all times of the year, may this time that remembers the ultimate sacrifice for me and for all the world when Jesus gave His life as the perfect sacrificial lamb to cleanse us from our sins and also conquered the grave to show us that His power goes beyond what some people consider available. Lord, Your Word also says that Great Miracles than these will we perform. Help me Lord, to step up and step out in faith and in obedience to accomplish all You have for me today. Lord, Help my brothers and sisters also so that people will see Your people and glorify our Father in Heaven. We thank You and honor You and glory You and praise You, in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Transfiguration
(Mark 9.2-13; Luke 9.28-36)

Matthew 17 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. ²As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white. ³Then the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. ⁴So Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "Lord, how good it is that we are here! If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
⁵While he was talking, a shining cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased--listen to him!"
⁶When the disciples heard the voice, they were so terrified that they threw themselves face downward on the ground. ⁷Jesus came to them and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid!" ⁸So they looked up and saw no one there but Jesus.
⁹As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Don't tell anyone about this vision you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from death."
¹⁰Then the disciples asked Jesus, "Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?"
¹¹"Elijah is indeed coming first," answered Jesus, "and he will get everything ready. ¹²But I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. In the same way they will also mistreat the Son of Man."
¹³Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

Jesus Heals a Boy with a Demon
(Mark 9.14-29; Luke 9.37-43a)

¹⁴When they returned to the crowd, a man came to Jesus, knelt before him, ¹⁵and said, "Sir, have mercy on my son! He is an epileptic and has such terrible attacks that he often falls in the fire or into water. ¹⁶I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
¹⁷Jesus answered, "How unbelieving and wrong you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy here to me!" ¹⁸Jesus gave a command to the demon, and it went out of the boy, and at that very moment he was healed.
¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked him, "Why couldn't we drive the demon out?"
²⁰"It was because you do not have enough faith," answered Jesus. "I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, 'Go from here to there!' and it will go. You could do anything!"

Jesus Speaks Again about His Death
(Mark 9.30-32; Luke 9.43b-45)

²²When the disciples all came together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be handed over to those ²³who will kill him; but three days later he will be raised to life."
The disciples became very sad.

Payment of the Temple Tax

²⁴When Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum, the collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked, "Does your teacher pay the Temple tax?"
²⁵"Of course," Peter answered.
When Peter went into the house, Jesus spoke up first, "Simon, what is your opinion? Who pays duties or taxes to the kings of this world? The citizens of the country or the foreigners?"
²⁶"The foreigners," answered Peter.
"Well, then," replied Jesus, "that means that the citizens don't have to pay. ²⁷But we don't want to offend these people. So go to the lake and drop in a line. Pull up the first fish you hook, and in its mouth you will find a coin worth enough for my Temple tax and yours. Take it and pay them our taxes."

Injustice in the World

Ecclesiastes 3¹⁶In addition, I have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and right ought to be. ¹⁷I told myself, "God is going to judge the righteous and the evil alike, because every thing, every action, will happen at its own set time." ¹⁸I decided that God is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals. ¹⁹After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either. ²⁰They are both going to the same place--the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it. ²¹How can anyone be sure that the human spirit goes upward while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground? ²²So I realized then that the best thing we can do is enjoy what we have worked for. There is nothing else we can do. There is no way for us to know what will happen after we die.
Ecclesiastes 4 Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side. ²I envy those who are dead and gone; they are better off than those who are still alive. ³But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this world.
⁴I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like chasing the wind. ⁵They say that we would be fools to fold our hands and let ourselves starve to death. ⁶Maybe so, but it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.
⁷I have noticed something else in life that is useless. ⁸Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too--and a miserable way to live.
⁹Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. ¹⁰If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him. ¹¹If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself ? ¹²Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break.
^13-14Someone may rise from poverty to become king of his country, or go from prison to the throne, but if in his old age he is too foolish to take advice, he is not as well off as a young man who is poor but intelligent. ¹⁵I thought about all the people who live in this world, and I realized that somewhere among them there is a young man who will take the king's place. ¹⁶There may be no limit to the number of people a king rules; when he is gone, no one will be grateful for what he has done. It is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day. I thank You Lord that You are in control and have power to change th heart of people. Lord, I lift up the people and the leaders of China today. I ask You Lord to put in them a new heart. I ask You Lord to give them the wisdom to realize that for the success that they have experienced to continue, they will need to open the door and make available religious freedoms. Lord, as the people wonder what is going to happen and as some people have already stepped back from participating in the Olympics because of human rights, I pray that You will speak to the leaders about opportunities that they may have to change the perception and reality they are facing. Lord, I pray for the leaders that they will look to the people who can help to make a difference. I pray that You Lord, will speak to their hearts and give them wisdom about what they can do in such a day and such a time as this. Lord, You are awesome. Lord, You are able to do exceedingly, abundantly, more than we can ask or imagine.

Lord, I pray for safety and hope to arise in China. I pray that although the leadership is spending a lot of their money on their military strength, that You will help them to see where the road will go, if they don't change. Help them to see what staying the current course of not opening the door for true religious freedom will cause. Help them to see that by opening the door to religious freedom, will also open the door to show the world that they do care about human rights. Lord, we love You and praise You and I lift up this prayer to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Reading:

Matthew 16, Numbers 1-2 and Ecclesiastes 3.1-15

Matthew 16 Some Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus wanted to trap him, so they asked him to perform a miracle for them, to show that God approved of him. ²But Jesus answered, "When the sun is setting, you say, 'We are going to have fine weather, because the sky is red.' ³And early in the morning you say, 'It is going to rain, because the sky is red and dark.' You can predict the weather by looking at the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs concerning these times! ⁴How evil and godless are the people of this day! You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of Jonah."
So he left them and went away.

Have you ever noticed the similarity between Jonah and Jesus? We see in today's reading that Jesus tells the Pharisees and Sadducees that the only miracle they will get is the miracle of Johan. Let's consider what He was implying.

From Commentaries on http://crosswalk.com we read: As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. See Jonah 1:17. The great fish was probably not a whale, the Greek is "sea monster," but a white shark, which abounds abounds in the Mediterranean, and is said to swallow a horse whole. The miracle was the preservation of the life of Jonah during his living burial. This was a type of the burial and resurrection of Christ. So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights. Jesus says (Matt. 16:21) that he will "be raised again the third day." Hence, in Jewish usage the third day must mean the same as three days and three nights. It was and is customary with the Orientals to make any part of the day stand for the whole twenty-four hours. Compare Matt. 16:21, Mark 8:31, 2 Chron. 10:5 and 10:12, Esther 4:16, Gen. 7:4, 12, Exod. 24:18, 34:28. A traveler in the East writes: "At length the tenth morning arrived--the tenth morning because, though we performed nominally ten days quarantine, yet it was, really, only eight days. We landed at nine o'clock in the evening of the first day, and were liberated at six o'clock in the morning of the tenth day, but it was held to be ten days according to the custom of the East." Christ was buried Friday evening, lay in the grave Saturday, and rose Sunday, parts of three days, rose "on the third day," and was in the grave the space of time meant in eastern usage by three days and three nights. In the heart of the earth. In the sepulcher.

Peter's Declaration about Jesus
(Mark 8.27-30; Luke 9.18-21)

¹³Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
¹⁴"Some say John the Baptist," they answered. "Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet."
¹⁵"What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?"
¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
¹⁷"Good for you, Simon son of John!" answered Jesus. "For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven."
²⁰Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death
(Mark 8.31--9.1; Luke 9.22-27)

²¹From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, "I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life."
²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "God forbid it, Lord!" he said. "That must never happen to you!"
²³Jesus turned around and said to Peter, "Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don't come from God, but from human nature."
²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. ²⁵For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it. ²⁶Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life. ²⁷For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. ²⁸I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man come as King."

A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3 Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.
²He sets the time for birth and the time for death,
the time for planting and the time for pulling up,
³the time for killing and the time for healing,
the time for tearing down and the time for building.
⁴He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy,
the time for mourning and the time for dancing,
⁵the time for making love and the time for not making love,
the time for kissing and the time for not kissing.
⁶He sets the time for finding and the time for losing,
the time for saving and the time for throwing away,
⁷the time for tearing and the time for mending,
the time for silence and the time for talk.
⁸He sets the time for love and the time for hate,
the time for war and the time for peace.
⁹What do we gain from all our work? ¹⁰I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us. ¹¹He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does. ¹²So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive. ¹³All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.
¹⁴I know that everything God does will last forever. You can't add anything to it or take anything away from it. And one thing God does is to make us stand in awe of him. ¹⁵Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God makes the same thing happen again and again.

Today's Reading:

Matthew 15.1-20, Leviticus 24-25 and Ecclesiastes 1.1-11

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Heavenly Father,
I thank You for this new day and ask You for help in the area of guarding my mouth. Lord You are awesome and give much instruction. Lord, You provide correction for those You love. In today's reading, You speak right into my life and into my situation that I am facing and that I need Your help in controlling. Today's Word says: "Listen and understand! ¹¹It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean." Help me Lord to not get drawn into speaking words because of my flesh's desires. Help me Lord, to forgive and not allow a foothold to be provided for the devil to try and manipulate, distract, and teardown, all that You have done for me. Help me Lord, to think before I speak. Help me Lord, to listen not only to what is being said, but to what Your Spirit is telling me to do (be quiet, say this). Lord, Your Word also warns us:

• The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. - Ps 37:30 - Show Context
• I said, "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence." - Ps 39:1 - Show Context
• When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. - Pr 10:19 - Show Context
• The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. - Pr 10:20 - Show Context
• A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue. - Pr 11:12 - Show Context
• Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. - Pr 12:18 - Show Context
• The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. - Pr 15:4 - Show Context
• Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. - Pr 17:28 - Show Context
• He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. - Pr 21:23 - Show Context
• The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. - Pr 18:21 - Show Context

May my tongue be used to praise and exalt You my Lord. May my tongue be controlled so as to speak hope, life, and encouragement to those around me. May You give me words to speak to break the oppression of negativity. May You give me words to speak to break the oppression of pessimism. Help me Lord to not fall into the trap of agreeing and only making things worse. Forgive me Lord I pray. I turn my heart and my life to You and submit my day and my life into Your hands for I can't do this on my own and without You I don't want to go. Give me strength today. Give me wisdom today. Give me direction today. And help me to use my time that You will multiply for Your praise and glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Teaching of the Ancestors
(Mark 7.1-13)

Matthew 15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, ²"Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!"
³Jesus answered, "And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching? ⁴For God said, 'Respect your father and your mother,' and 'If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.' ⁵But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, 'This belongs to God,' ⁶they do not need to honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching. ⁷You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
⁸'These people, says God, honor me with their words,
but their heart is really far away from me.
⁹It is no use for them to worship me,
because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!'"

The Things That Make a Person Unclean
(Mark 7.14-23)

¹⁰Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand! ¹¹It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean."
¹²Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?"
¹³"Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up," answered Jesus. ¹⁴"Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch."
¹⁵Peter spoke up, "Explain this saying to us."
¹⁶Jesus said to them, "You are still no more intelligent than the others. ¹⁷Don't you understand? Anything that goes into your mouth goes into your stomach and then on out of your body. ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make you ritually unclean. ¹⁹For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others. ²⁰These are the things that make you unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should--this doesn't make you unclean."

Taking Care of the Lamps
(Exodus 27.20, 21)

Leviticus 24 The LORD told Moses ²to give the following orders to the people of Israel: Bring pure olive oil of the finest quality for the lamps in the Tent, so that a light might be kept burning regularly. ³Each evening Aaron shall light them and keep them burning until morning, there in the LORD's presence outside the curtain in front of the Covenant Box, which is in the Most Holy Place. This regulation is to be observed for all time to come. ⁴Aaron shall take care of the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold and must see that they burn regularly in the LORD's presence.

The Bread Offered to God

⁵Take twenty-four pounds of flour and bake twelve loaves of bread. ⁶Put the loaves in two rows, six in each row, on the table covered with pure gold, which is in the LORD's presence. ⁷Put some pure incense on each row, as a token food offering to the LORD to take the place of the bread. ⁸Every Sabbath, for all time to come, the bread must be placed in the presence of the LORD. This is Israel's duty forever. ⁹The bread belongs to Aaron and his descendants, and they shall eat it in a holy place, because this is a very holy part of the food offered to the LORD for the priests.

An Example of Just and Fair Punishment

^10-11There was a man whose father was an Egyptian and whose mother was an Israelite named Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan. There in the camp this man quarreled with an Israelite. During the quarrel he cursed the LORD, so they took him to Moses, ¹²put him under guard, and waited for the LORD to tell them what to do with him.
¹³The LORD said to Moses, ¹⁴"Take that man out of the camp. Everyone who heard him curse shall put his hands on the man's head to testify that he is guilty, and then the whole community shall stone him to death. ¹⁵Then tell the people of Israel that anyone who curses God must suffer the consequences ¹⁶and be put to death. Any Israelite or any foreigner living in Israel who curses the LORD shall be stoned to death by the whole community.
¹⁷"Any who commit murder shall be put to death, ¹⁸and any who kill an animal belonging to someone else must replace it. The principle is a life for a life.
¹⁹"If any of you injure another person, whatever you have done shall be done to you. ²⁰If you break a bone, one of your bones shall be broken; if you put out an eye, one of your eyes shall be put out; if you knock out a tooth, one of your teeth shall be knocked out. Whatever injury you cause another person shall be done to you in return. ²¹Whoever kills an animal shall replace it, but whoever kills a human being shall be put to death. ²²This law applies to all of you, to Israelites and to foreigners living among you, because I am the LORD your God."
²³When Moses had said this to the people of Israel, they took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death. In this way the people of Israel did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

The Seventh Year
(Deuteronomy 15.1-11)

Leviticus 25 The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and commanded him ²to give the following regulations to the people of Israel. When you enter the land that the LORD is giving you, you shall honor the LORD by not cultivating the land every seventh year. ³You shall plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and gather your crops for six years. ⁴But the seventh year is to be a year of complete rest for the land, a year dedicated to the LORD. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards. ⁵Do not even harvest the grain that grows by itself without being planted, and do not gather the grapes from your unpruned vines; it is a year of complete rest for the land. ⁶Although the land has not been cultivated during that year, it will provide food for you, your slaves, your hired men, the foreigners living with you, ⁷your domestic animals, and the wild animals in your fields. Everything that it produces may be eaten.

The Year of Restoration

⁸Count seven times seven years, a total of forty-nine years. ⁹Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, send someone to blow a trumpet throughout the whole land. ¹⁰In this way you shall set the fiftieth year apart and proclaim freedom to all the inhabitants of the land. During this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to the original owner or the descendants, and any who have been sold as slaves shall return to their families. ¹¹You shall not plant your fields or harvest the grain that grows by itself or gather the grapes in your unpruned vineyards. ¹²The whole year shall be sacred for you; you shall eat only what the fields produce of themselves.
¹³In this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to its original owner. ¹⁴So when you sell land to an Israelite or buy land, do not deal unfairly. ¹⁵The price is to be set according to the number of years the land can produce crops before the next Year of Restoration. ¹⁶If there are many years, the price shall be higher, but if there are only a few years, the price shall be lower, because what is being sold is the number of crops the land can produce. ¹⁷Do not cheat an Israelite, but obey the LORD your God.

The Problem of the Seventh Year

¹⁸Obey all the LORD's laws and commands, so that you may live in safety in the land. ¹⁹The land will produce its crops, and you will have all you want to eat and will live in safety.
²⁰But someone may ask what there will be to eat during the seventh year, when no fields are planted and no crops gathered. ²¹The LORD will bless the land in the sixth year so that it will produce enough food for two years. ²²When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating what you harvested during the sixth year, and you will have enough to eat until the crops you plant that year are harvested.

Restoration of Property

²³Your land must not be sold on a permanent basis, because you do not own it; it belongs to God, and you are like foreigners who are allowed to make use of it.
²⁴When land is sold, the right of the original owner to buy it back must be recognized. ²⁵If any of you Israelites become poor and are forced to sell your land, your closest relative is to buy it back. ²⁶If you have no relative to buy it back, you may later become prosperous and have enough to buy it back yourself. ²⁷In that case you must pay to the one who bought it a sum that will make up for the years remaining until the next Year of Restoration, when you would in any event recover your land. ²⁸But if you do not have enough money to buy the land back, it remains under the control of the one who bought it until the next Year of Restoration. In that year it will be returned to its original owner.
²⁹If you sell a house in a walled city, you have the right to buy it back during the first full year from the date of sale. ³⁰But if you do not buy it back within the year, you lose the right of repurchase, and the house becomes the permanent property of the purchasers and their descendants; it will not be returned in the Year of Restoration. ³¹But houses in unwalled villages are to be treated like fields; the original owner has the right to buy them back, and they are to be returned in the Year of Restoration. ³²However, Levites have the right to buy back at any time their property in the cities assigned to them. ³³If a house in one of these cities is sold by a Levite and is not bought back, it must be returned in the Year of Restoration, because the houses which the Levites own in their cities are their permanent property among the people of Israel. ³⁴But the pasture land around the Levite cities shall never be sold; it is their property forever.

Loans to the Poor

³⁵If any Israelites living near you become poor and cannot support themselves, you must provide for them as you would for a hired worker, so that they can continue to live near you. ³⁶Do not charge Israelites any interest, but obey God and let them live near you. ³⁷Do not make them pay interest on the money you lend them, and do not make a profit on the food you sell them. ³⁸This is the command of the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt in order to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

Release of Slaves

³⁹If any Israelites living near you become so poor that they sell themselves to you as a slave, you shall not make them do the work of a slave. ⁴⁰They shall stay with you as hired workers and serve you until the next Year of Restoration. ⁴¹At that time they and their children shall leave you and return to their family and to the property of their ancestors. ⁴²The people of Israel are the LORD's slaves, and he brought them out of Egypt; they must not be sold into slavery. ⁴³Do not treat them harshly, but obey your God. ⁴⁴If you need slaves, you may buy them from the nations around you. ⁴⁵You may also buy the children of the foreigners who are living among you. Such children born in your land may become your property, ⁴⁶and you may leave them as an inheritance to your children, whom they must serve as long as they live. But you must not treat any Israelites harshly.
⁴⁷Suppose a foreigner living with you becomes rich, while some Israelites become poor and sell themselves as slaves to that foreigner or to a member of that foreigner's family. ⁴⁸After they are sold, they still have the right to be bought back. A brother ⁴⁹or an uncle or a cousin or another close relative may buy them back; or if they themselves earn enough, they may buy their own freedom. ⁵⁰They must consult the one who bought them, and they must count the years from the time they sold themselves until the next Year of Restoration and must set the price for their release on the basis of the wages paid hired workers. ^51-52They must refund a part of the purchase price according to the number of years left, ⁵³as if they had been hired on an annual basis. Their master must not treat them harshly. ⁵⁴If they are not set free in any of these ways, they and their children must be set free in the next Year of Restoration. ⁵⁵Israelites cannot be permanent slaves, because the people of Israel are the LORD's slaves. He brought them out of Egypt; he is the LORD their God.

Life Is Useless

Ecclesiastes 1 These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.
²It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless. ³You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it? ⁴Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same. ⁵The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again. ⁶The wind blows south, the wind blows north--round and round and back again. ⁷Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again. ⁸Everything leads to weariness--a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough. ⁹What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world. ¹⁰"Look," they say, "here is something new!" But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born. ¹¹No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

Today's Reading:
Matthew 14.22-36, Leviticus 22-23 and Proverbs 31

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Heavenly Father,
Thank You for this new day and for this time to come and focus on You and Your Word. Lord, the devil wants to rob, steal, and destroy. He wants to deceive and lie to us in order to keep us from accomplishing the great things You have in store for our lives. Help us today to have the faith and the courage of Peter to get out of the boat. Lord, people may look at the story and talk about how he lost focus and started to sink, but the reality is that he had the faith to walk out of the boat and actually got to walk on water with Jesus. Help us Lord to not be complacent, but to step out in order to make a difference in this world. Lord, I also pray that You will help us to focus on You. I know that when I focus on You that whatever I am working on or whatever I am going through never seems as bad or as frightening. Help us Lord to keep our eyes on the true reason and the true prize. And Lord, we will give You all the praise and all the glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jesus Walks on the Water
(Mark 6.45-52; John 6.15-21)

Matthew 14²²Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people away. ²³After sending the people away, he went up a hill by himself to pray. When evening came, Jesus was there alone; ²⁴and by this time the boat was far out in the lake, tossed about by the waves, because the wind was blowing against it.
²⁵Between three and six o'clock in the morning Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. ²⁶When they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. "It's a ghost!" they said, and screamed with fear.
²⁷Jesus spoke to them at once. "Courage!" he said. "It is I. Don't be afraid!"
²⁸Then Peter spoke up. "Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you."
²⁹"Come!" answered Jesus. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he was afraid and started to sink down in the water. "Save me, Lord!" he cried.
³¹At once Jesus reached out and grabbed hold of him and said, "What little faith you have! Why did you doubt?"
³²They both got into the boat, and the wind died down. ³³Then the disciples in the boat worshiped Jesus. "Truly you are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret
(Mark 6.53-56)

³⁴They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, ³⁵where the people recognized Jesus. So they sent for the sick people in all the surrounding country and brought them to Jesus. ³⁶They begged him to let the sick at least touch the edge of his cloak; and all who touched it were made well.

The Holiness of the Offerings

Leviticus 22 The LORD commanded Moses ²to tell Aaron and his sons, "You must not bring disgrace on my holy name, so treat with respect the sacred offerings that the people of Israel dedicate to me. I am the LORD. ³If any of your descendants, while he is ritually unclean, comes near the sacred offerings which the people of Israel have dedicated to me, he can never again serve at the altar. This applies for all time to come. I am the LORD.
⁴"None of the descendants of Aaron who has a dreaded skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the sacred offerings until he is ritually clean. Any priest is unclean if he touches anything which is unclean through contact with a corpse or if he has an emission of semen ⁵or if he has touched an unclean animal or person. ⁶Any priest who becomes unclean remains unclean until evening, and even then he may not eat any of the sacred offerings until he has taken a bath. ⁷After the sun sets he is clean, and then he may eat the sacred offerings, which are his food. ⁸He shall not eat the meat of any animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild animals; it will make him unclean. I am the LORD.
⁹"All priests shall observe the regulations that I have given. Otherwise, they will become guilty and die, because they have disobeyed the sacred regulations. I am the LORD and I make them holy.
¹⁰"Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of the sacred offerings; no one else may eat them--not even someone staying with a priest or hired by him. ¹¹But a priest's slaves, bought with his own money or born in his home, may eat the food the priest receives. ¹²A priest's daughter who marries someone who is not a priest may not eat any of the sacred offerings. ¹³But a widowed or divorced daughter who has no children and who has returned to live in her father's house as a dependent may eat the food her father receives as a priest. Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of it.
¹⁴"If any people who are not members of a priestly family eat any of the sacred offerings without intending to, they must repay the priest its full value plus an additional 20 percent. ¹⁵The priests shall not profane the sacred offerings ¹⁶by letting any unauthorized people eat them; this would bring guilt and punishment on such people. I am the LORD and I make the offerings holy."
¹⁷The LORD commanded Moses ¹⁸to give Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel the following regulations. When any Israelite or any foreigner living in Israel presents a burnt offering, whether as fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering, the animal must not have any defects. ¹⁹To be accepted, it must be a male without any defects. ²⁰If you offer any animal that has any defects, the LORD will not accept it. ²¹When anyone presents a fellowship offering to the LORD, whether as fulfillment of a vow or as a freewill offering, the animal must be without any defects if it is to be accepted. ²²Do not offer to the LORD any animal that is blind or crippled or mutilated, or that has a running sore or a skin eruption or scabs. Do not offer any such animals on the altar as a food offering. ²³As a freewill offering you may offer an animal that is stunted or not perfectly formed, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow. ²⁴Do not offer to the LORD any animal whose testicles have been crushed, cut, bruised, or torn off. This is not permitted in your land.
²⁵Do not offer as a food offering any animal obtained from a foreigner. Such animals are considered defective and are not acceptable.
^26-27When a calf or a lamb or a kid is born, it must not be taken from its mother for seven days, but after that it is acceptable as a food offering. ²⁸Do not sacrifice a cow and its calf or a sheep and its lamb or a goat and its kid on the same day. ²⁹When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, follow the rules so that you will be accepted; ³⁰eat it the same day and leave none of it until the next morning.
³¹The LORD said, "Obey my commands; I am the LORD. ³²Do not bring disgrace on my holy name; all the people of Israel must acknowledge me to be holy. I am the LORD and I make you holy; ³³and I brought you out of Egypt to become your God. I am the LORD."

The Religious Festivals

Leviticus 23 The LORD gave Moses ²the following regulations for the religious festivals, when the people of Israel are to gather for worship. ³You have six days in which to do your work, but remember that the seventh day, the Sabbath, is a day of rest. On that day do not work, but gather for worship. The Sabbath belongs to the LORD, no matter where you live. ⁴Proclaim the following festivals at the appointed times.

Passover and Unleavened Bread
(Numbers 28.16-25)

⁵The Passover, celebrated to honor the LORD, begins at sunset on the fourteenth day of the first month. ⁶On the fifteenth day the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins, and for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast. ⁷On the first of these days you shall gather for worship and do none of your daily work. ⁸Offer your food offerings to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day you shall again gather for worship, but you shall do none of your daily work.
^9-10When you come into the land that the LORD is giving you and you harvest your grain, take the first sheaf to the priest. ¹¹He shall present it as a special offering to the LORD, so that you may be accepted. The priest shall present it the day after the Sabbath. ¹²On the day you present the offering of grain, also sacrifice as a burnt offering a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects. ¹³With it you shall present four pounds of flour mixed with olive oil as a food offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the LORD. You shall also present with it an offering of one quart of wine. ¹⁴Do not eat any of the new grain, whether raw, roasted, or baked into bread, until you have brought this offering to God. This regulation is to be observed by all your descendants for all time to come.

The Harvest Festival
(Numbers 28.26-31)

¹⁵Count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath on which you bring your sheaf of grain to present to the LORD. ¹⁶On the fiftieth day, the day after the seventh Sabbath, present to the LORD another new offering of grain. ¹⁷Each family is to bring two loaves of bread and present them to the LORD as a special gift. Each loaf shall be made of four pounds of flour baked with yeast and shall be presented to the LORD as an offering of the first grain to be harvested. ¹⁸And with the bread the community is to present seven one-year-old lambs, one bull, and two rams, none of which may have any defects. They shall be offered as a burnt offering to the LORD, along with a grain offering and a wine offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the LORD. ¹⁹Also offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. ²⁰The priest shall present the bread with the two lambs as a special gift to the LORD for the priests. These offerings are holy. ²¹On that day do none of your daily work, but gather for worship. Your descendants are to observe this regulation for all time to come, no matter where they live.
²²When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left; leave them for poor people and foreigners. The LORD is your God.

The New Year Festival
(Numbers 29.1-6)

^23-24On the first day of the seventh month observe a special day of rest, and come together for worship when the trumpets sound. ²⁵Present a food offering to the LORD and do none of your daily work.

The Day of Atonement
(Numbers 29.7-11)

^26-27The tenth day of the seventh month is the day when the annual ritual is to be performed to take away the sins of the people. On that day do not eat anything at all; come together for worship, and present a food offering to the LORD. ²⁸Do no work on that day, because it is the day for performing the ritual to take away sin. ²⁹Any who eat anything on that day will no longer be considered God's people. ³⁰And if any do any work on that day, the LORD himself will put them to death. ³¹This regulation applies to all your descendants, no matter where they live. ³²From sunset on the ninth day of the month to sunset on the tenth observe this day as a special day of rest, during which nothing may be eaten.

The Festival of Shelters
(Numbers 29.12-40)

^33-34The Festival of Shelters begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and continues for seven days. ³⁵On the first of these days come together for worship and do none of your daily work. ³⁶Each day for seven days you shall present a food offering. On the eighth day come together again for worship and present a food offering. It is a day for worship, and you shall do no work.
( ³⁷ These are the religious festivals on which you honor the LORD by gathering together for worship and presenting food offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and wine offerings, as required day by day. ³⁸These festivals are in addition to the regular Sabbaths, and these offerings are in addition to your regular gifts, your offerings as fulfillment of vows, and your freewill offerings that you give to the LORD.)
³⁹When you have harvested your fields, celebrate this festival for seven days, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The first day shall be a special day of rest. ⁴⁰On that day take some of the best fruit from your trees, take palm branches and limbs from leafy trees, and begin a religious festival to honor the LORD your God. ⁴¹Celebrate it for seven days. This regulation is to be kept by your descendants for all time to come. ⁴²All the people of Israel shall live in shelters for seven days, ⁴³so that your descendants may know that the LORD made the people of Israel live in simple shelters when he led them out of Egypt. He is the LORD your God.
⁴⁴So in this way Moses gave the people of Israel the regulations for observing the religious festivals to honor the LORD.

Advice to a King

Proverbs 31 These are the solemn words which King Lemuel's mother said to him:
²"You are my own dear son, the answer to my prayers. What shall I tell you? ³Don't spend all your energy on sex and all your money on women; they have destroyed kings. ⁴Listen, Lemuel. Kings should not drink wine or have a craving for alcohol. ⁵When they drink, they forget the laws and ignore the rights of people in need. ⁶Alcohol is for people who are dying, for those who are in misery. ⁷Let them drink and forget their poverty and unhappiness.
⁸"Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless. ⁹Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and needy."

The Capable Wife

¹⁰How hard it is to find a capable wife! She is worth far more than jewels!
¹¹Her husband puts his confidence in her, and he will never be poor.
¹²As long as she lives, she does him good and never harm.
¹³She keeps herself busy making wool and linen cloth.
¹⁴She brings home food from out-of-the-way places, as merchant ships do.
¹⁵She gets up before daylight to prepare food for her family and to tell her servant women what to do.
¹⁶She looks at land and buys it, and with money she has earned she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷She is a hard worker, strong and industrious.
¹⁸She knows the value of everything she makes, and works late into the night.
¹⁹She spins her own thread and weaves her own cloth.
²⁰She is generous to the poor and needy.
²¹She doesn't worry when it snows, because her family has warm clothing.
²²She makes bedspreads and wears clothes of fine purple linen.
²³Her husband is well known, one of the leading citizens.
²⁴She makes clothes and belts, and sells them to merchants.
²⁵She is strong and respected and not afraid of the future.
²⁶She speaks with a gentle wisdom.
²⁷She is always busy and looks after her family's needs.
²⁸Her children show their appreciation, and her husband praises her.
²⁹He says, "Many women are good wives, but you are the best of them all."
³⁰Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the LORD should be praised.
³¹Give her credit for all she does. She deserves the respect of everyone.

The Words of Agur

Proverbs 30 These are the solemn words of Agur son of Jakeh:
"God is not with me, God is not with me,
and I am helpless.
²I am more like an animal than a human being;
I do not have the sense we humans should have.
³I have never learned any wisdom,
and I know nothing at all about God.
⁴Have any ever mastered heavenly knowledge?
Have any ever caught the wind in their hands?
Or wrapped up water in a piece of cloth?
Or fixed the boundaries of the earth?
Who are they, if you know? Who are their children?
⁵"God keeps every promise he makes. He is like a shield for all who seek his protection. ⁶If you claim that he said something that he never said, he will reprimand you and show that you are a liar."

More Proverbs

⁷I ask you, God, to let me have two things before I die: ⁸keep me from lying, and let me be neither rich nor poor. So give me only as much food as I need. ⁹If I have more, I might say that I do not need you. But if I am poor, I might steal and bring disgrace on my God.
¹⁰Never criticize servants to their master. You will be cursed and suffer for it.
¹¹There are people who curse their fathers and do not show their appreciation for their mothers.
¹²There are people who think they are pure when they are as filthy as they can be.
¹³There are people who think they are so good--oh, how good they think they are!
¹⁴There are people who take cruel advantage of the poor and needy; that is the way they make their living.
¹⁵A leech has two daughters, and both are named "Give me!"
There are four things that are never satisfied:
¹⁶the world of the dead,
a woman without children,
dry ground that needs rain,
and a fire burning out of control.
¹⁷If you make fun of your father or despise your mother in her old age, you ought to be eaten by vultures or have your eyes picked out by wild ravens.
¹⁸There are four things that are too mysterious for me to understand:
¹⁹an eagle flying in the sky,
a snake moving on a rock,
a ship finding its way over the sea,
and a man and a woman falling in love.
²⁰This is how an unfaithful wife acts: she commits adultery, takes a bath, and says, "But I haven't done anything wrong!"
²¹There are four things that the earth itself cannot tolerate:
²²a slave who becomes a king,
a fool who has all he wants to eat,
²³a hateful woman who gets married,
and a servant woman who takes the place of her mistress.
²⁴There are four animals in the world that are small, but very, very clever:
²⁵Ants: they are weak, but they store up their food in the summer.
²⁶Rock badgers: they are not strong either, but they make their homes among the rocks.
²⁷Locusts: they have no king, but they move in formation.
²⁸Lizards: you can hold one in your hand, but you can find them in palaces.
²⁹There are four things that are impressive to watch as they walk:
³⁰lions, strongest of all animals and afraid of none;
³¹goats, strutting roosters,
and kings in front of their people.
³²If you have been foolish enough to be arrogant and plan evil, stop and think! ³³If you churn milk, you get butter. If you hit someone's nose, it bleeds. If you stir up anger, you get into trouble.

Today's Reading:
Matthew 14.1-21, Leviticus 20-21 and Proverbs 30

There are many examples in the Bible of where men of God are able to through the power of God to take or tell someone to take the little they have and make it multiply for the glory of God's kingdom.

Consider Elijah who spoke hope to a widow who was ready to prepare her last meal for her and her son and as she put it and then die, when Elijah spoke to her that if she would make him some bread first that she wouldn't run out of oil or flour as long as the drought was still in the land. - 1 King 17

Consider Elisha who spoke to a widow about how to borrow as many containers as she could from her neighbors and then to close the door behind her and start to pour from that little bit jar of oil she had and it was given to her according to her faith since when she got to the last jug, the oil ran out. - 2 King 4

Consider Jesus feeding the 5000 men (there were women and children too, but we don't have that number which would at least double if not possibly quadruple the number of people that were fed) with just 2 fish and 5 loves of bread. - Matthew 14

So don't feel down and out. Don't feel hopeless. There is an answer, and His name is Jesus. Through a relationship with Jesus, we can find true hope, we can find true peace through the good and the hard times because we know that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Do you need prayer? Can I pray for you?  Either post a comment or send me a message so that I can pray with you.

God Bless you, in Jesus' name. Amen.

As with many things people say today, it's origins are the Bible. It is actually of my reading today.

Matthew 14 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus. ²"He is really John the Baptist, who has come back to life," he told his officials. "That is why he has this power to perform miracles."
³For Herod had earlier ordered John's arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. ⁴For some time John the Baptist had told Herod, "It isn't right for you to be married to Herodias!" ⁵Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.
⁶On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of the whole group. Herod was so pleased ⁷that he promised her, "I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!"
⁸At her mother's suggestion she asked him, "Give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!"
⁹The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted. ¹⁰So he had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹The head was brought in on a plate and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ¹²John's disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

So when you think of some saying that is common, consider where it comes from and what it's original meaning might have been.