April 25

Judges 4:1-5:31, Luke 22:35-53, Psalm 94:1-23, Proverbs 14:3-4

Pray: Lord, I love the prayer of the Psalmist today “When I thought, my foot slips, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” Thank You Father that You watch our every step and You keep our feet on solid ground. Amen.

Read: In today’s Old Testament reading from Judges we see an interesting story of how the commander of the Canaanite army Sisera came to an unlikely death. He went into a tent owned by Jael the wife of Heber and while he was laying in the tent Jael took a tent peg and drove it into his head! Ouch! Deborah who was the prophetess and Judge over Israel at that time had heard from the Lord that Sisera would be delivered into the hands of the Israelites, they just didn’t know the way that it would happen. Often times we are asked to trust the Lord even if we don’t know the way the Lord will work on our behalf, no matter how strange it may be.

Edify: Even Jesus, when facing difficulty knelt down and prayed. He encouraged His disciples to pray that they not enter into temptation and then we read that He prayed with such intensity and agony that great drops of blood fell from Him as He sweat. Jesus modeled the passion and intensity in which we ought to pray to the Father. When we are facing trials that seem unbearable our only hope is to pray earnestly to a loving Father that hears our prayers!

Practice: Our practice should be to remember to go to the Father in prayer in every situation remembering that we are to pray with passion and intensity and not get caught up in the routine that we can sometimes turn our prayers into.

April 24

Judges 2:10-3:31, Luke 22:14-34, Psalm 92:1-93:5, Proverbs 14:1-2

Pray: Lord, as we read about the judges and how you raised up men and women in whom the Spirit of Lord was strong, we pray that we would not so quickly forget You and seek after false gods. The judges of Israel were an example of Your mercy and steadfast love despite the disobedience of the Israelites. I pray we seek You today for Your unfailing love and mercy towards us in Christ.

Read: In our New Testament reading we see the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the dispute that followed by the disciples. In a beautiful and yet common way, Jesus showed His disciples how He would suffer and die for their sins. He used simple bread and wine to point them to His body and blood that would forever be an atoning sacrifice. Yet, we see the disciples arguing over which of them would be considered greatest in His kingdom. Jesus reminds them that in His kingdom the greatest is the one who serves.

Edify: Psalm 92 reminds us that it is good to give thanks to God. It tells us that we should declare His steadfast love in the morning and His faithfulness by night. Many times in scripture it reminds us to rise early or to wake up giving praise to God. Then we are called to seek Him throughout our day and at last when we lay our heads down at night to sleep yet again praise God.

Practice: There is much in these verses to put into practice today. We see Jesus reminding His disciples that to be great we must serve and not seek titles and rank. In Psalms we are reminded to give thanks to God throughout our day and Judges reminds us not to forget the faithfulness of God towards His people.

April 23

Judges 1:1-2:9, Luke 21:29-22:13, Psalm 90:1-91:16, Proverbs 13:24-25

Pray: Lord, I want to love my children. Part of loving them is disciplining them. Help me to get over anger before I get into discipline. Help me to pray through before saying or doing something I regret. Help me to communicate to my children just how much I care!

Read: Proverbs 13:24 says those that spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them. Sometimes our children seem out of control. We must be extra careful though when disciplining them that we are not out of control.

Edify: There is a lot of debate in Christian circles about “spanking children” as a form of discipline. But regardless of how we discipline our children we know that if we love them we discipline them and if we hate them we don’t. But before disciplining our children we must deal with anger within ourselves. We must not discipline when we are angry! One more time…we must not discipline when we are angry! My dad used to say to me, “This hurts me more than it hurts you.” I didn’t believe him for even a minute until one time I saw tears rolling down his cheek as he disciplined me.

Practice: When a child acts up we react…sometimes badly and sometimes quickly. Find your easy chair and pray or hide yourself away in your bedroom and pray. Cool off before you speak to your child or discipline him. Be sure your heart is right. Be sure you are filled with compassion and concern and not filled with rage and anger.

 

April 22

Joshua 24:1-33, Luke 21:1-28, Psalm 89:38-52, Proverbs 13:20-23

Pray: Heavenly Father, may I so live before my children that they choose You. May they not choose my church or even my ways. But may they choose You. May they experience the living God and not just watch my faith.

Read: Have you ever made a commitment and failed to keep it? In Joshua 24 the children of Israel make a commitment to serve the Lord knowing full well that God would destroy them if they strayed from their promise. The people then destroyed their idols and turned their hearts toward God. As a reminder of the covenant between God and Israel, Joshua took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the terebinth tree next to the place of meeting. The people of Israel served the Lord throughout his lifetime and the lifetimes of the elders who outlived him---those who had PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED all that the Lord had done for Israel.

Edify: The key thought here is EXPERIENCE. Our children can watch us. They can be challenged by us. But they must experience the living God themselves. The second and third generations that followed Joshua’s death began to drift. The God of Israel became a historical figure to them and not the living God. This happens today as well. My children must experience God for themselves. I need to be careful to point that out to them as they grow.

Practice: Share your faith with your children and then ask them what they believe and why. Be sure in your conversations to inquire about their faith journey. Sometimes you will not like their answers. Searching for God can test both parents and children. Hold them up in prayer. Pray that your God will become their God by experience.

April 21

Joshua 22:21-23:16, Luke 20:27-4, Psalm 89:14-37, Proverbs 13:17-19

Pray: God, sometimes I want to be honored. Sometimes I want to be recognized. All too often I think I’m a big deal. I want to win. I want to be first. Lord, help me to understand that in being least and last I can tap into your grace and really find myself complete and satisfied. Exalting myself is not the way to happiness. Exalting You while serving others is the way to fullness of joy.

Read: In Luke chapter 20 Jesus turned to the disciples and said, “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet, they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this they will be severely punished!”

Edify: Being religious is very different from being spiritual. Everything about the religious leaders of Jesus’ day shouted “Look at me, am I not something to behold?” Whereas Jesus was meek and lowly of heart. Jesus washed His disciples' feet….not the other way around. Religious people step up and love to be recognized. Spiritual people step down and choose to serve. Surround yourself with those who wash feet. And be absolutely sure that you are washing feet.

Practice: Step down. Choose to be least. Choose to be last. Choose to serve. Take the worst seat. Don’t tell people your title. Choose to operate from a meek and quiet spirit.

April 20

Joshua 21:1-22:20, Luke 20:1-26, Psalm 89:1-13, Proverbs 13:15-16

Pray: Lord, help me to be as wise as a serpent but as harmless as a dove. Some of the people I talk to today will genuinely want to know Jesus. Others will be looking to take advantage of me and twist what I share. Help me to speak the very wisdom of God. May my words come from Your throne. May I be a vessel meant for Your use.

Read: In Luke 20:23, Jesus sees through the trickery of the religious leaders who wanted Him arrested and killed. Rather than answering their questions He posed questions to them. The WORD declares we are not to cast our pearls before swine. Rather, we are to discern the hearts of those we speak with. Sometimes the best answer to a question is a question. We have heard that expression, “Give him enough rope and he’ll hang himself.” The scriptures declare we are to be quick to hear but slow to speak. Discern before telling and sharing everything you know.

Edify: Listening is much harder than talking. There is just something in us that wants to blurt out all that we know. Rather than become a babbling brook when someone asks a question just smile and say, “Why do you ask?” We discover more about someone listening to them than when we speak to them. Resist the temptation to tell people just how much you know. Rather, be quiet.

Practice: Practice discerning where someone is in their journey. To do so you must become a good listener. It also helps to be a good observer. People want to reveal themselves to you. Just be sure you give them that chance. See how little you can say while discovering someone’s life story.

April 19

Joshua 19:1-20:9, Luke 19:28-48, Psalm 88:1-18, Proverbs 13:12-14

Pray: Father, help me to examine why I do what I do in light of Your WORD. Help me to be sensitive to the times I’m living in and to correctly discern the hearts of men.

Read: Luke 19 starting with verse 38 declares: “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" This is the story of what we call Palm Sunday where the people of Israel were calling Jesus their king. One week later these same crowds would be crying out, “Crucify Him!” How does one go from being called “the King” to being called a “traitor” in just one week? In this passage Jesus didn’t speak of His kingship. Nor did He speak of His impending crucifixion. Jesus spoke about the destruction that would come upon Jerusalem and the crushing death toll of men, women, and children that would soon follow. Jesus went on to say, “You don’t understand the way of peace and now it is too late.”

Edify: What or who is the way of peace? Israel had repeatedly rejected Jesus while He walked the earth. Only a select few had said yes. What Israel had chosen instead of Jesus was religious law, custom, and tradition. It is not going to church that saves us. It is the God of the church who saves us! It is not where we go but who we know. Jesus is the King of Peace. Law, custom, and traditions lead only to war. We need to let the peace that passes understanding rule our hearts rather than the ups (Palm Sunday) and downs (Good Friday) of life.

Practice: Are there some laws, traditions, or customs that are getting in the way of you following peace? Have you really thought through Christmas? Have you considered Easter? What should a church service look like?