The Scriptures Are Written and Established In the Heavens - Read Them Daily, Read Them Often - Live By Them Daily

Today's Focus Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit up into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. After a fast of forty days and nights He was very hungry.

“If you really are the Son of God,” said the tempter, coming to Him, “tell these stones to turn into loaves.”

Jesus answered, “The scripture says ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’.”

Then the devil took Him to the holy city, and set Him on the highest ledge of the Temple. “If you really are the Son of God,” he said, “Throw yourself down. For the scripture says—‘He shall give His angels charge concerning you,’ and ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone’.”

“Yes,” retorted Jesus, “and the scripture also says ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’.”

Once again the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and from there showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their magnificence. “Everything there I will give you,” he said to Him, “if you will fall down and worship me.”

“Away with you, Satan!” replied Jesus, “the scripture says, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve’.”

Then the devil let him alone, and the angels came to him and took care of him.

LAGNIAPPE:

·         The Word breaks the “Spirit of Entitlement.”

1.     Law – Instructional teaching, how to live

2.     Word – Revelation of God’s will

3.     Ordinances – judgments – legal pronouncements, the way God runs His universe, rules of divine administration, the way He expects us to yield to that

4.     Commandments – faithful, religious principles, how to live in a religious community with each other, in a community of faith, how to worship, to worship

5.     Precepts – teach moral obligations before God, to care for the poor, social justice, protect the rights of others, how to live morally in an immoral universe

6.     Testimonies – ways in which He reveals Himself, by keeping His testimonies; self revelations, we invest ourselves in seeking Him, we come to know who God is by His testimonies,

7.     Statutes – limitations, walls of orders, civil and religious, these set limitations upon our lives to keep us from getting out of bounds, the walls of the canyon inside which we live

8.     Judgments – see Ordinances

Summary - Way – Thy Way of His word, commandments, etc.  The way of God, the scriptural way to live for God, the bible, the way God teaches us how to live, to think, and how to lead.  Thy Way is living the Bible Way.

Take Confidence and Be Strong - The Way of His Word - A Reminder That Our Confidence Comes From God and Through His Word - Revealed In Us - Written Upon Our Hearts

Today's Focus Scriptures: - From the Facebook Page of "Three Rusty Nails Church" a short devotional

Joel 3:10: Let the weak say, “I am strong.”

There are moments in our walk with God that we do feel weak; we feel inadequate. But here, God is calling us to speak his word over our lives; as the Bible says Jude 1:20 “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Also the Bible says in Hosea 14:2 ”Take my words with you.” Let the seed of God’s word grow within you. The Bible says in Acts 19:20 ”So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” Let the word of God grow inside of you; water it every day in prayer. Spend time with God with his word. Let the word of God become in you an overcoming force. Let it prevail and win over everything.

Be Confident of Who You Are!!!


Joel 3:10
Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”

Jude 1:20
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Hosea 14:2
Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips.

Acts 19:20
So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

LANGIAPPE:

Psalm 119:9-16

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
10 With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
11 Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O Lord;
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have told of
All the ordinances of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts
And regard Your ways.
16 I shall delight in Your statutes;
I shall not forget Your word.

2 Timothy 1:13-14
So keep my words in your mind as the pattern of sound teaching, given to you in the faith and love of Jesus Christ. Take the greatest care of the good things which were entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

Patiently Enduring, Persevering, Obeying, Keeping God's Word; These Will Keep Us In the Testing Hour Soon To Come

Today's Focus Scripture: Revelation 3:8-13

Revelation 3:8-13
8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 
9 Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 
10 Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 
11 I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 
12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’


(J.B. Phillips Version)
8-13 I know what you have done. See, I have given you a door flung wide open, which no man can close! For you have some little power and have been faithful to my message and have not denied my name. See how I deal with those of Satan’s synagogue, who claim to be Jews, yet are no Jews but liars! Watch how I make them come and bow down before your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Because you have obeyed my call to patient endurance I will keep you safe from the hour of trial which is to come upon the whole world, to test all who live upon the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have—let no one deprive you of your crown. As for the victorious, I will make him a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of Heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my own new name. Let the listener hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.

We Take Refuge In You O God, In Your Presence Is Fullness of Joy.

Today's Focus Scripture: Psalm 16:1-11 (The entire Psalm)

Psalm 16:1-11

1 Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.

2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

I have no good besides You.”

3 As for the saints who are in the earth,

They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.

4 The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;

I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,

Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You support my lot.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

7 I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;

Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

8 I have set the Lord continually before me;

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will dwell securely.

10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

11 You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

God Is Able To Keep You From Stumbling, And To Make You Stand In the Presence Of His Glory Blameless With Great Joy

Today's Focus Scripture: Jude

Jude
1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.
6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.”
19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Amen.

Save Us In Your Lovingkindness O Lord, Hide Us In the Secret Place of Your Presence

Today's Focus Scripture: Psalm 31:13-24

Psalm 31:13-24

13 For I have heard the slander of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they took counsel together against me,
They schemed to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.
16 Make Your face to shine upon Your servant;
Save me in Your lovingkindness.
17 Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I call upon You;
Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
Which speak arrogantly against the righteous
With pride and contempt.
19 How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of men!
20 You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.
22 As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried to You.
23 O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful
And fully recompenses the proud doer.
24 Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the Lord.

God's Law Requires, Demands Justice Be Served and Jesus Died To Fulfill That Requirement, What the Law Demanded. Now We Have This Hope, That Justice Will Not Seek Us Out, Salvation Because of Christ.

Today's Focus Scripture: Micah 7:1-9

Micah 7:1-9

1 Woe is me! For I am
Like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.
There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,
Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.
2 The godly person has perished from the land,
And there is no upright person among men.
All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;
Each of them hunts the other with a net.
3 Concerning evil, both hands do it well.
The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe,
And a great man speaks the desire of his soul;
So they weave it together.
4 The best of them is like a briar,
The most upright like a thorn hedge.
The day when you post your watchmen,
Your punishment will come.
Then their confusion will occur.
5 Do not trust in a neighbor;
Do not have confidence in a friend.
From her who lies in your bosom
Guard your lips.
6 For son treats father contemptuously,
Daughter rises up against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
God Is the Source of Salvation and Light
7 But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
8 Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.
He will bring me out to the light,
And I will see His righteousness.

QUOTES:
Dr. Richard Hanner - "The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed."

Pastor Eric Hulet - "Life affords us constant opportunities to see both the best and worst in humanity, and privileges us to see that without the grace of God we would be the worst."