December 1 :: Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3

2 Peter 3:17-18

"Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."

Now just how do you grow in grace? Share your thoughts...

November 30 :: Ezekiel 37-39; 2 Peter 2

{Ezekiel 37:1-14}

The Valley of Dry Bones

"The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

   

I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” enter you, and you will come to life.

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’” 

Not only does this passage refer to the literal resurrection of the whole of Israel - God's people - those who fall asleep in Him...but it also reminds me a lot of the way we spiritually feel completely stripped down to nothingness sometimes. Have you ever "hit the bottom" at any point in your life, where you really can't explain how you were able to survive except by the hand of God? I know I have been to a place spiritually where I would accurately be able to describe as bones in a desert, lifeless - and if there was to be any hope, it was going to have to come from the powerful hand of God. 

I love the way Ezekiel responded to God's question when God pretty much said, 'Is this creature beyond repair?' or 'Is death too much even for me to heal?' Ezekiel says in a way, 'You are God, only You really know.' Next time you believe something or someone is beyond repair, remember Ezekiel's response to God and then just watch God work! I dare you.

November 29 :: Ezekiel 35-36; 2 Peter 1

Grow

 

Ezekiel 36:25-27

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 

And because the Lord has done this for you...

 2 Peter 1:5-8

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective  and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

November 28 :: Ezekiel 33-34; 1 Peter 5

 

Hey you, believer...do you know there is someone, somewhere out there, who is going through what you are going through right now? You better believe it - it's quite encouraging really. So humble yourself and give yourself over to the Lord (!):

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings."

{1 Peter 5:6-9}

November 27 :: Ezekiel 30-32; 1 Peter 4

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

{1 Peter 4:8}

Have you suffered for the name of Christ? I am reading a book right now called "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. A great focus of it seems to be about suffering...and counting your trials, especially in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ on the cross...as good, because they draw you nearer to Him.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

{1 Peter 4:12-16}

November 26 :: Ezekiel 27-29; 1 Peter 3

A good friend from New Zealand sent me this scripture last year in December when we were talking about how much of a struggle it is for women to find their worth in the Lord and not in outward appearance. It is so amazing to think that God has rescued us even from the belief that we need to look good to the world, to look like everyone else...

1 Peter 3:4-6

Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

 

November 25 :: Ezekiel 24-26; 1 Peter 2

1 Peter 2:23-24 - The Message

"They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls."

November 24 :: Ezekiel 22-23; 1 Peter 1

November 23 :: Ezekiel 20-21; James 5

November 21 :: Ezekiel 16-17; James 3

"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."

{James 3:13-18}

November 22 :: Ezekiel 18-19; James 4

November 20 :: Ezekiel 14-15; James 2

November 19 :: Ezekiel 11-13; James 1

Ezekiel 11:19

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

 

November 17 :: Ezekiel 5-7; Hebrews 12

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.”  

{Hebrews 12:1-2}

November 18 :: Ezekiel 8-10; Hebrews 13

November 16 :: Ezekiel 3-4; Hebrews 11:20-40

November 15 :: Ezekiel 1-2; Hebrews 11:1-19

November 14 :: Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 10:19-39

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."  

{Hebrews 10:19-23}

November 13 :: Lamentations 1-2; Hebrews 10:1-18

November 12 :: Jeremiah 51-52; Hebrews 9

November 11 :: Jeremiah 50; Hebrews 8

"In those days, at that time,”
   declares the LORD,
“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
   will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.
They will ask the way to Zion
   and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and bind themselves to the LORD
   in an everlasting covenant
   that will not be forgotten."

- Jeremiah 50:4-5 

November 10 :: Jeremiah 48-49; Hebrews 7

Hebrews 7:18-22

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

   

“The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. 

November 9 :: Jeremiah 46-47; Hebrews 6

November 8 :: Jeremiah 43-45; Hebrews 5

The Word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah in the OT called out and warned against a lack of reverence and submission to God:

Jeremiah 44:9-10

Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your ancestors and by the kings and queens of Judah and the wickedness committed by you and your wives in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed my law and the decrees I set before you and your ancestors. 

 

The Word incarnate exemplifies perfectly what the Jews during the time of the Babylonian conquest, and throughout many ages, were unwilling to do by way of reverence for and submission to God.

Hebrews 5:7-10

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek (OT reference). 

 

November 7 :: Jeremiah 40-42; Hebrews 4

November 6 :: Jeremiah 37-39; Hebrews 3

As siege was laid out upon Jerusalem and the overtaking was almost complete, the prophet Jeremiah reached out to tell Ebed-Melek what the Lord had told him:

“Go and tell Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes. But I will rescue you on that day, declares the LORD; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear. I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the LORD.’” 

- Jeremiah 39:16-18

God says to you "I will save you." How do you respond?

November 5 :: Jeremiah 34-36; Hebrews 2

November 4 :: Jeremiah 32-33; Hebrews 1

November 3 :: Jeremiah 30-31; Philemon

Summary & Intention of the Book of Philemon

"Like Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, Philemon is one of the Prison Epistles, written during Paul's first confinement in Rome. Onesimus, one of the millions of slaves in the Roman Empire had stolen from his master, Philemon, and had run away. Eventually, he made his way to Rome, where he crossed the path of the apostle Paul, who led him to faith in Christ (v. 10). Now Onesimus was faced with doing His Christian duty toward his master by returning to him. Since death would normally have been his punishment, Paul wrote his wonderful letter of intercession on Onesimus' behalf. Philemon was not the only slave holder in the Colossian church (see Col. 4:1), so this letter gave guidelines for other Christian masters in their relationships to their slave-brothers. Paul did not deny the rights of Philemon over his slave, but he asked Philemon to relate the principle of Christian brotherhood to the situation with Onesimus (v. 16). At the same time, Paul offered to pay personally whatever Onesimus owed. This letter is not an attack against slavery as such, but a suggestion as to how Christian masters and slaves could live their faith within that evil system. It is possible that Philemon did free Onesimus and send him back to Paul (v. 14). It has also been suggested that Onesimus became a minister and later bishop of the church at Ephesus (Ignatius, To the Ephesians, 1). This is the most personal of all Paul's letters."

Information retrieved from Ryrie's Study Bible, published by Moody, pg 1939

November 2 :: Jeremiah 27-29; Titus 3

Jeremiah 29:11-14

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”