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Exodus 20:5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Would you dare tell a policeman that you are innocent if they have just caught you read-handed breaking the law?
Sadly we live in a world where that sort of thing is encouraged by lawyers who work to get guilty people set free – sounds a bit like Jerusalem during Christ’s captivity!
God is a jealous God. He knows when we do wrong. He knows when we lie. He knows when we follow others instead of Him.
Don’t try and cover up things before God. He already knows the truth. Admit it to Him.
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Exodus 32:4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a moulded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
When you look back at this story, do you think how ridiculous it must have been to see it happen? We do believe some pretty stupid things in our lives until they are set right, so we should not think it that silly.
God knows us and knows how we will react to the world around us. He knows we like to see something physical so we can believe what we see.
That is why He sent Jesus to be with us. That is why He has done many miracles over many years. That is why we have a beautiful world around us.
To allow us to see God is real! Don’t make up your own stories…
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Luke 15:30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.
What would you do if someone you loved walked all over you and mistreated you? Would you walk all over them or even walk away from them?
There are times in our lives when we will be faced with strange actions and reactions from people just because of what is happening in their own lives…
We do not always see the big picture or understand why people do the things they do…
Love is about giving, not taking. Give and be patient.
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Deuteronomy 25:3 Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight.
When does punishment turn from being fit for the crime into something that makes others despise the one being punished?
So many people look down on others just because they have been punished for doing something wrong. That’s called judging people!
If someone learns from their punishment they are quite capable of fitting back into society, maybe even more so than others!
Don’t allow people’s pasts to taint your love toward them – Christ showed us all His open love!
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Luke 12:47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Jesus warns us about trying to pull the wool over His eyes in many places, and this is one of the places where punishment is described for those who do not follow!
If we call ourselves Christians or followers of Christ and do not do things according to God’s will, then we deserve to be beaten.
Can you imagine what the world would be like if there was such a harsh punishment dealt out for so many things in our lives?
I think many things would get sorted out a whole lot better!
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1 Timothy 1:13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Jesus did not go round trying to blame everyone for doing anything wrong; instead He tried to come and look for the lost people and make them whole again!
Trying to blame other people when we are to blame ourselves is not going to help anyone. It will stop us from living our lives fully with God.
We end up doing what we can in the time we are given; and that is what God requires us first of all.
Live a full life with Christ and not half a good life without Him!
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Hebrews 5:7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear
Have you noticed how Jesus acted towards God the Father? Have you stopped to think about the example He set down for us?
Jesus is the Son of God and yet He would still kneel before God and offer up cries and prayers. God does not need to know what was going on, but He needs to know we know our hearts.
When we cry to God it is us opening up our hearts to God. When we pray it is us making known our wants and needs.
When God answers we then get to see how much He cares because He answers our deepest needs openly.
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Psalm 31:22 For I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to You.
How many times have you said that God is not listening to your prayers? I know I have said it before and I will probably say it again.
When you get down and God does not answer your prayers immediately you begin to doubt again. That does not mean God is not listening… It just means you are doubting things again!
Take time out to stop and listen to God. Don’t rush forward and think He is not listening.
And if you think He is not listening, then lift up your complaint to God. Be real!
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Psalm 6:9 The Lord has heard my supplication; The Lord will receive my prayer.
No matter how tough things get, God is always going to hear your prayers; and that is a tough thing to understand when you feel like He is not listening!
No matter how hard you try to tell some people they will just not believe that God is listening!
Our prayers need to be genuine and from our hearts; but if we just focus on what we can get God to do for us we may find our prayers seem to go unanswered.
If we focus on God and the fact that He is just and holy, our prayers may well change…
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Isaiah 41:6 Everyone helped his neighbour, And said to his brother, “Be of good courage!”
When was the last time you saw a good football or rugby game where the whole team worked together and triumphed because of that?
When was the last time you saw a whole neighbourhood work together to bring joy to a few people?
Sadly our modern society does not lend itself toward working together because of so much focus on the self rather than the community.
So let us buck the trend by working as Christians ought to work – together and with Christ!
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Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.
Are you really willing to allow God to check you over and make sure you are following Him as you should be?
It can be a difficult step to take because most of us know we fall far short of the mark even though we call ourselves Christians.
But it is not all about proving that we are doing everything correctly because that would be more like us proving we don’t need Christ!
Allow God to guide you each day and correct your footsteps. Allow God to direct you and to protect you. He is your aide!
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Job 13:23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.
How many times do you get really down about the things you do wrong and the ways you hurt God?
We all have our moments remembering some of the things we do wrong and other times we want to be able to remember them more so we can bring them before God.
What God says is He will separate us from our sins altogether, putting them totally behind us and allowing us a clean slate.
We need to be able to remember just how much God does forgive us and to let our sins be covered by Christ.
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Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
Have you ever offered to help someone and then regretted it because they actually want you to do more than you thought?
When you offer to help someone it should be an open offer that you are willing to extend and not one bound by a rigid unloving contract.
Marrying someone with a contract sitting over you is not really marrying someone for love…
God would like us to love Him openly and be willing to extend our love. He will require more of us than we thought because He actually knows how much has to be done – unlike us!
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Jeremiah 17:10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
Even though we cannot see when we are going wrong until after it all collapses around our ankles, God sees everything all of the time!
When we do listen to God we will find out just how much He tests our resolve by searching our hearts and making sure we search our hearts.
He also searches our minds to make sure we think things through and don’t just act on impulse.
God then will reward us according to what we are doing. Just believing is enough to save us, but doing God’s will is what He would prefer us to do.
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Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Where does the worshipping of idols come from? Where does the pride come from? Where does greed stem from?
They all start in our hearts. They start out as a little sparkle or a tiny idea and grow into something that takes over our hearts before we know it!
We don’t often see the fault until after it has all gone wrong, until we have hurt others and ourselves.
If you need to trust anything then trust in the Word of God because it is a sure thing, unlike our hearts.
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Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The more we can get to grips with what God has inspired people to write, the more we get to grips with God’s will.
God chose the right people to write the scriptures. He did not choose the ultimate scholars because people like me would struggle to read the bible.
He did not choose philosophers who knew people intimately because that would worry people like me.
Instead He chose ordinary people to explain in ordinary ways His will and His ways as best they could.
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Song of Solomon 3:1 By night on my bed I sought the one I love; I sought him, but I did not find him.
Unless we meet with Christ we will constantly be seeking something in our lives and we may not even understand what we are looking for.
When you are away from the one you love you are constantly thinking of them and longing for the time when you can be together again.
That is the love we should display for our Lord and God. His love for us meant He did not leave us alone but rose from the dead and gave us direction and support.
Seek everything by seeking God just as He came looking for you in the beginning.
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John 20:16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).
Jesus came into this world to seek and save the lost. He did not come into the world to confuse us and to cause chaos.
And yet so many people try to tell stories that confuse and cause Chaos just so that they can feel better in themselves in some manner.
Mary needed to weep and mourn to get over the feelings and grief she was going through and Jesus knew that. He stopped and waited until the time was right.
Then without hesitation he stepped up to the mark and changed the world for Mary. He can do the same for you too if you are patient.
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John 17:9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
As a human man, Jesus lifted up His prayers to God just as we should. He did not pray for the world and all the sin of the world but for all of us who were destined for Heaven.
Jesus’ ministry was to seek and to save the lost but he also knew that the found needed caring for always.
Just because we are saved from our sin debt does not mean that we can be ignored by our God. He cares for us and wants to keep us safe from all things.
Let us lift each other up in prayer knowing what Christ has done for us many years ago.
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John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Jesus tried to tell the disciples what he could before giving His life up on the cross, but He could not give away everything otherwise they could have stopped this all!
Jesus made sure that His death was still going to happen and that He could be sacrificed for us. He knew the consequences but He knew the consequences if He failed…
Christ loves us so very much and we need to remember that. This day when we remember His death on the cross, remember what He was doing – and He knew what He was doing!