A key to being Spiritually wise and Spiritually stable

<sup>Do you want to be spiritually wise and spiritually stable? The following passage from the book of Matthew shows us a couple of ways to achieve these good goals. Lets look at the passage first then we will talk about it. 

Matthew 7:24-27

24</sup> “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Although there are other things that help us to be wise and stable, in this devotion we will focus on just three. The first point is that our salvation must be founded on nothing other than the finished work of Jesus Christ. Points 2 and 3 go hand in hand. To be wise and stable we must both hear and act on God's words (verse 24). In this passage both persons heard God's words. But the second person heard but did not act on His words. So just listening alone did not make him wise and stable. In fact the one who heard but did not act was both foolish and unstable (verse 26). But when we choose to act on what we hear, we will grow more wise and more stable.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
Listen to the NASB® Audio Bible in a Year
This link can send today's Bible devotion to a friend fast and easy.

Speak the truth in love

Ephesians 4:15 tells us that truth must be spoken in love. When the truth is not spoken is love it can be the difference between spreading softened butter on bread or using butter right from the refrigerator. Cold butter tears the bread and does damage. Likewise applying truth in a cold manner does damage to people and it misrepresents God too.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
Listen to the NASB® Audio Bible in a Year
This link can send today's Bible devotion to a friend fast and easy.

Obedience is a choice - We must choose to obey God

Read Psalm 101 below and notice how many times the Psalmist used the words "I will" in this short passage. He made a conscious choice as to how he would live. We must have a balance between dependence on God's help and exercising our will and choosing to obey. Obedience is a choice. We must choose to obey.

Suggestion 1 - count how many times the Psalmist used the words "I will"  and give your answer in a comment.
Suggestion 2 - see if you can find other phrases / wordings that show the Psalmist making a choice. Share which ones you discovered.

Psalm 101
101 I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
2 I will give heed to the blameless way.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will know no evil.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.
6 My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.
7 He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.
8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
So as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)


Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
Listen to the NASB® Audio Bible in a Year
This link can send today's Bible devotion to a friend fast and easy.

Rebellion then trouble - Call for repentance with promised blessing

In the Book of Joel God's people had sinned. As a result of their sin they were experiencing trouble. One trouble from God's hand was various kinds of locust ravaging the land. They were also warned that a great and mighty people is coming and they should tremble. These things were happening due to their rebellion.

Then in Joel chapter 2  verses 12-17 God calls them to a  wholeheartedly repentance. To save space we'll just look at verses 12 and 13.

^12 12 12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “Return to Me with all your heart,
    And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
¹³ 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.”
    Now return to the Lord your God,
    For He is gracious and compassionate,
    Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
    And relenting of evil.

Then if the people repent and the spiritual leaders seek God then blessing can return.

Joel 2:25
25"Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.


In fact what I find amazing is God willingness to respond to repentance and make up for the bad years they experienced. And those bad years were from their own rebellion. They deserved God's disciplining hand for those years. But with repentance God was willing to make up to them those bad years they deserved. God is good.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
If you believe the commentary on these Bible verses are helpful then please direct your friends to this Bible devotional blog.God bless you
My humor blog

Psalm 34 - God's ability to help us in all problems

I have more than one devotion that I'd like to share from Psalm 34. This devotion concerns God's ability to help us in any and every circumstance. ( It is always good to read verses in context so please read the whole Psalm along with this devotion.)

When anyone accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour it does not guarantee that their life will be problem free. But the person that truly puts God first can be confident of one thing. That person will no longer have to go through their troubles alone. The God who created the universe will be with them to help them in all situations. And this word "All" is one word that we should pay attention to in this Psalm.

In addition to paying attention to the word "All" we also need to notice that problems in Psalm 34 are stated in the plural. It is not just one problem that is being referred to, but rather several problems. The following words are plural: fears, troubles, afflictions.

But God is able to help us in "All" of these problems.  In verse 4 how many fears did God deliver him from? He was delivered from all. In verse 6 how many of the poor mans troubles was he saved from? He was saved from all. In verse 17 the righteous were delivered from how many of their troubles? They were delivered from all. In verse 19 how many afflictions of the righteous did the Lord deliver them from? They were delivered from all. I hope this encourages someone who is having troubles today. God bless

Psalm 34

 4 I sought the LORD, and He answered me, 

And delivered me from all my fears. 

6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him

And saved him out of all his troubles.

17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears

And delivers them out of all their troubles

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But the LORD delivers him out of them all. 

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
Listen to the NASB® Audio Bible in a Year
This link can send today's Bible devotion to a friend fast and easy.

Are we doing our part?

A man prayed and asked God for help. The request was for a remote control for the television. A moment later there was a knock at the door. The neighbor had just bought a new remote and wanted to know if he wanted his old one. He took the remote, thanked the neighbor and went inside and thanked God. The man then asked God for one more favor, "Would you also be willing to push the buttons for me?" 

This story is silly, but when it comes to changing our sinful habits sometimes we ask God to do it all. We need to have a balanced approach. We need to ask God to help us change and then we also need to diligently resist sin.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
Listen to the NASB® Audio Bible in a Year
This link can send today's Bible devotion to a friend fast and easy.

Jesus, through whom grace and truth were realized, preached repentance

Matthew 4:17

17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
Listen to the NASB® Audio Bible in a Year
This link can send today's Bible devotion to a friend fast and easy.