March 13

Numbers 19:1-20:29, Luke 1:1-25, Psalm 56:1-13, Proverbs 11:8 



Pray: Lord, Your word tells us in Psalms today that You have kept count of my sorrows and You put my tears in Your bottle. What a comfort that is Lord that You care about my grief. You take note of my troubles. Lord may we say along with David this day with all confidence that “You are for us!” Amen.

Read: In the Old Testament reading today we see a picture of Moses and Aaron in disobedience to the Lord. This disobedience brought about the consequence of not entering into the Promise Land. God specifically told Moses to speak to the rock and water would pour out of it. Moses instead struck the rock twice to make the water come forth for the people. This reminds us how important it is for us to listen carefully to the instruction of the Lord and not to turn from it or seek to modify His commands to our liking or desires.

Edify: What is so special about the beginning of Luke is the amazing historical evidence we see in Luke writing to a historical figure in Theophilus that can be proved to be a real person in the first century. Sometimes I get caught up in the stories of scripture and forget that they are real letters written to real people. This should greatly encourage us as we read today. We can be sure of the reality, infallibility and sufficiency of the scriptures.

Practice: Zechariah had some doubts about what the angel of the Lord told him concerning the birth of John the Baptist, and it cost him. For nine months Zechariah could not speak because he doubted that the Lord could do the impossible in him and his wife in their old age. Let’s practice trusting God at His word. Let’s believe that if He says it, He will do it! 

March 12

Numbers 16:41-18:32, Mark 16:1-20, Psalm 55:1-23, Proverbs 11:7



Pray: Father God: Your ways are not my ways and sometimes Your ways make no sense at all to me. Teach me Your ways. Grant me understanding. Let me make decisions based on Your WORD. I pray for wisdom that I might be a blessing to others and honor You.

Read: 14,700 people died in the plague that followed the earth opening up and swallowing Korah and 250 of Israel’s leaders. (Numbers 12:49) How we interpret events is important. There had been a contest. Would God accept Moses’ sacrifice or Korah’s? God accepted Moses’ sacrifice and Korah and the 250 leaders were swallowed up by the earth. But Israel muttered among themselves. They still had not learned that God declares what is right and what is wrong and who leads and who does not. But are we willing to let Him lead or do we constantly revert to leading ourselves?

Edify: It is not an enemy who taunts me—I could bear that. It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—I could have hidden from them. Instead it is you—my equal, my companion and close friend. What good fellowship we once enjoyed as we walked together to the house of God. (Psalm 55:12-14) Those closest to us hurt us most. And…we hurt those closest to us. Hurt is unavoidable. It is going to happen. But hurt can be overcome, if it is not avoided.

Practice: The scriptures tell us about hurt. The WORD admonishes us not to let the sun go down on our wrath. (Get right before you get in bed!) Leave your offering at the altar and be reconciled first before giving it. (Yes, forgiving is even more important than giving.) Get right with anyone you have hurt before you take communion lest any number of sicknesses befall you.

March 11

Numbers 15:17-16:40, Mark 15:1-47, Psalm 54:1-7, Proverbs 11:5-6



Pray: Father, help me to be quick to listen and slow to speak…even slower to anger. Remind me to offer praise before I venture out with correction. And help me to stop rebellion in its tracks by talking things over with You before getting on a soap box and shouting my dissatisfaction to others.

Read: We see a full blown rebellion against God and God’s man, Moses, starting in Numbers 11:16. Korah, a leader in Israel, conspired with two other leaders, Dathan and Abiram, to rebel. In a nutshell, they thought Moses was acting “too big for his britches”. 250 other leaders rebelled as well. They approached their leader, Moses, by saying, “We are as spiritual as you…and just who do you think you are anyway?" There are very few things as dangerous as ambition without humility. Korah wanted power. And he thought he would better handle power than Moses. The next day there was a contest.

Would God accept Moses’ offering or Korah’s offering? We know the story. The ground opened up and swallowed Korah and his fellow 250 leaders. Moses, although not perfect, was God’s man. God puts spiritual authorities in our lives. Although not perfect, they are nonetheless sent to us from God. We need to know that. And we need to be very careful in how we respond to authority.

Edify: In Mark 15:21 a passerby named Simon was coming in from the countryside, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. Simon did not wake up early that morning and say to himself, “Today, I have a date with history.” The scripture declares that Simon was forced by soldiers to carry the cross. Why Simon? Why not someone else? Was Simon barrel chested and strong? We don’t know. All we know was that he was forced to carry the cross. This much I do know. Simon had a date with history. What he did that day would be talked about throughout the ages. We, too, have a place to be and things to do each day.

Practice: Start each day by simply saying, God, I want to be at the right place at the right time with the right people today. If there is a cross that I must bear…so be it. Help me to understand that You are at work. I'm not at this point in time by accident. Help me be Your vessel today.

March 10

Numbers 14:1-15:16, Mark 14:53-72, Psalm 53:1-6, Proverbs 11:4



Pray: Father, help me to understand that the size of my problem is not where I should focus. Help me to focus on the size of my God!

Read: The children of Israel had experienced the miracles of God in their deliverance from Egypt. Now they were faced with circumstances that challenged their belief system. Was Moses their true leader? Had God put them in this desolate wilderness? Were the obstacles that lay ahead too great? The children of Israel had started strong, but now they were collapsing as a people as they yielded themselves to doubt, murmuring, and rebellion.

Edify: Most of us remember very well coming to that point in our lives where sin had so enslaved us that we needed a deliverer. The same thing had happened to Israel. They had been enslaved in Egypt. God had raised up Moses to deliver His people. Likewise, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to deliver you and me.

The children of Israel started strong. They left Egypt with the wealth of Egypt. But shortly after they entered the wilderness their strong faith and willing obedience began to crumble. Many of us start strong in the faith but when life doesn’t go our way we find ourselves, like Israel, longing to go back to the way things once were. Many give into these longings and return to life as it was before.

The wilderness journey of Israel mirrors into our life journey. We have the opportunity to choose God’s way and God’s plan and act on both. Or, like Israel, we can walk in circles all our lives until our bones bleach in the wilderness. God has planned “the land” for us. But we have a choice. We can choose the wilderness and die walking in circles.

Practice: Practice praying what God says rather than what you might feel. Translate your prayers into actions based on what God has said rather than what you feel in any given moment. Know assuredly that there will be obstacles. Know that life won’t be a picnic. But also know that God will be right there with you.

March 9

Numbers 11:24-13:33, Mark 14:22-52, Psalm 52:1-9, Proverbs 11:1-3



Pray: Lord God, teach me, train me, direct me, and correct me. Help me to delight in what You say rather than to camp out around what the world about me is saying. Remind me that Your manna is the true bread from heaven and Your provision for me. Help me not to cry out after the meat of Egypt. Help me to understand that as good as the quails seemed to be… the result of Egyptian meat was a plague and much death.

Read: In Numbers 11:12 we read that Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses. They went on to say, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” Our leaders are not perfect men. They have faults and failings. And sometimes we fail to understand that God made them our leaders and as such we must honor them in spite of their shortcomings. God dealt severely with Aaron and Miriam by striking Miriam with leprosy. We need to be very careful how we speak about our leaders. God is well able to deal with those in authority. We are called to pray for and honor our leaders. When we do so the Lord will deal in a mighty way with those in authority.

Edify: Mark 14:38 finds Jesus saying to His disciples something very profound but often missed. “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Jesus had been alone with His heavenly Father just before His betrayal. He had asked His followers to watch and pray with Him. Rather than doing so they had fallen asleep. The possibility of overcoming temptation is real when coupled to PRAYER. Jesus did overcome temptation that night. His followers did not. PRAYER is a huge weapon. SLEEP is an enemy of prayer.

Practice: Peter knew he was about to be tested. Yet he failed to prepare for the temptation that was just ahead. Peter went to sleep. Peter did not pray. Meanwhile, Jesus was not sleeping and Jesus was praying. Temptation rarely sneaks up on us. More often than not we see temptation coming. But choosing to do something about it…well, it is on us. Do we pray before we choose to watch a certain tv show? Do we pray before we decide what to order off the menu? Do we pray before putting ourselves in a one-on-one situation with the opposite sex? Watch and pray. It makes all the difference!

March 8

Numbers 10:1-11:23, Mark 14:1-21, Psalm 51:1-19, Proverbs 10:31-32



Pray: Lord, life is a journey. And my prayer is not that You would make my journey easy. Rather Lord, I pray that my journey would honor Your name. Help me not to complain when things don’t go my way. Help me to be thankful deep within and by faith to voice my thankfulness even when I feel anything but thankful.

Read: In Numbers 10 and 11 we read how Israel began its journey across the wilderness. All began well, there was the clear sound of trumpets to tell Israel what to do. And there was order. When it was time to march there was order in the marching. So many things start well. But somewhere into our journey what we think should happen and what is really happening seems very far apart. Discouragement sets in. There is great temptation to complain to your leaders and for your leaders to complain to God. God intervened for Israel. They got the meat they wanted. They got so much meat that they grew sick of it. Remember, getting what we want may not be the best thing for us. Ask God to give you what you need and not what you want.

Edify: Jesus shares with His followers in Mark 14:7, “You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me.” A woman had come to Jesus and poured out expensive perfume over His head. She was obeying a prompting in her spirit. Those about her felt she was wasteful and that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But Jesus knew that something far more important than feeding the poor was going on. And Jesus said that this deed would always be remembered throughout history. Sometimes acts of faith and obedience to a prompting from the Holy Spirit just don’t make sense. But never lose sight of the bigger picture. Jesus was telling His followers not to miss the eternal realm while living in the natural realm.

Practice: The Holy Spirit is sometimes called “the hound of heaven.” He will prod you repeatedly sometimes to do something that just seems to make no sense. We shouldn’t be foolish and chase the wind just because a crazy thought pops into our minds and needs to be taken captive. At the same time though, should we have a recurrent thought or prompting we shouldn’t summarily dismiss it. Take that prompting to the throne of grace. Examine it in the light of God’s word. And seek God for confirmation.

March 7

Numbers 8:1-9-23, Mark 13:14-37, Psalm 50:1-23, Proverbs 10:29-30



Pray: Father, forgive me for the many times I have tried to get You to go where I wanted You to go. Remind me that I’m to follow You, not the other way around. The children of Israel could watch the cloud of Your presence and know when to stay still or when to follow after. I have Your WORD and I have Your Holy Spirit living within me. Help me to focus and get to really know both. Then, when You move, I will move as well.

Read: Numbers 9:21 tells us concerning Israel , “So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses. The children of Israel saw that the place of God’s presence was overshadowed by a cloud by day and by fire at night. There was no doubt about where God was. And when the cloud or fire moved…the children of Israel moved. Oh, that following God were so easy today! Today, we have far more than commandments written on stone. We have 66 books written by men of God full of the Holy Spirit. And we have the Spirit of God indwelling us. But we must focus on both in order to follow. We must get to know God’s Word like Israel knew Moses’ words. And we must get to know the cloud by day and the fire by night which is the Holy Spirit in us.

Edify: Mark 13:35 tells us that we must keep watch for we don’t know when the master of the household will return—in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak. Don’t let Him find you sleeping when He arrives without warning. I say to you what I say to everyone: watch for Him! My golden retriever, Scooter, lives a dog’s life. He is one happy dog. But the focus of his day is his human mommy and daddy---us. His eyes and ears are always towards us. Who is the focus of your day? Are you always waiting and watching for the promptings of the Holy Spirit?

Practice: Start everyday by putting God first. Don’t leave your home until you have looked for Him. Just utter a simple prayer, “God I’m here and I want to watch for You and follow You today.” Quiet yourself. Wait. He knows you are looking and He rewards those who seek His face.