From: December 6, 2024
“A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” (Proverbs 29:11 ESV).
Have you heard someone make excuses about the way they lose their temper? They blame it on a family trait or a situation, but they don’t own the problem.
In the book of Proverbs, the words wisdom and foolishness are considered nearly synonymous with righteousness and sin. In this verse, fools (sinners) express uncontrolled anger, while the wise (righteous) keep theirs under control.
Is anger sin? No. It is an emotional response to a felt offense. Even God gets angry. Yet, His anger is always under His complete control, whereas, our anger usually is not.
Don’t let your anger be an excuse for sin. Believers can put their anger under the Spirit’s control, practicing self-control, which is the fruit of those filled with the Spirit.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we yield ourselves afresh to the Spirit of Christ this day. Help us to bear the fruit of self-control as we abide in Christ and He in us. In His name we pray, amen.
From: December 6, 2023
“Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever” (Psalm 125:2 NLT).
Psalm 125 is one of the 15 “psalms of ascent,” written to prepare the hearts of worshipers as they climbed up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Entourages of pilgrims like the one that traveled from Nazareth with young, 12-year-old Jesus, would have sung these songs as they came to celebrate Passover.
In this verse, the psalmist revealed his intimate knowledge of Jerusalem, although built on the hills of Zion, Moriah, Bezethah, and Acra, it was surrounded by hills at even higher elevations, such as Mt. Olivet to its East. This gave visiting pilgrims who arrived from the East an excellent view of the Temple Mount, which sat on hills surrounded by valleys and then higher mountains surrounding them. No wonder Jesus loved praying on the Mount of Olives. It gave Him a wonderful view of Jerusalem.
The psalmist compared the mountains that surrounded Jerusalem to the way the Lord surrounds His people. One can almost see him sitting on the Mount of Olives writing this psalm. Indeed, wasn’t it the Spirit of God that inspired him? And wasn’t it Immanuel, the Lord Jesus, who loved sitting in the same spot when He came?
Have you considered how the Lord is with you, surrounding you, today?
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You that You are not only Creator and King, but also our ever present Help, our Immanuel. Thank you for Jesus and for Your Holy Spirit. Anoint us afresh today with Your manifest presence and power that we might serve You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: December 6, 2022
THE REAL CHRISTMAS DOCTRINE
When Christianity was barely 50 years old, already false doctrines were being taught concerning Jesus. One of those false doctrines was that Jesus didn’t have a “real body,” but only a spiritual one. They denied the true doctrine that Jesus, the Son of God, had come in the flesh.
The apostle John called one who taught such a false doctrine “a deceiver and an antichrist.” It seems he was standing against an early deception called gnosticism, which believed that the flesh was evil and that only the spiritual was good. This belief therefore concluded that Christ could not have literally come in the flesh. This conclusion denied the incarnation. It denied the name given to Jesus at His birth, which was “Immanuel,” God with us. John guarded his eyewitness testimony that Jesus is God in the flesh. This was why he was so specific in his first letter to say he had seen, examined and touched Jesus (1 John 1:1). He was affirming the doctrine that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
The incarnation is not only the central theme of Christmas, it is the true doctrine concerning Christ. Jesus is God in the flesh. He really came. He really died for our sins. He really rose from the dead and ascended to the Father. Jesus came in a real body and He is really coming again.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we love to consider the mystery of the incarnation. That You would send Your only begotten Son to us in the flesh is a wonderful reality that amazes us. We are so thankful. Fill us afresh with Your joy today and strengthen us to declare the real Christmas doctrine this season. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: December 6, 2016
God gave the prophet Hosea a word of accusation and warning for the priests of Israel. He accused them of failing to fulfill their calling to know, believe and teach God’s Word. This failure affected the people, who were being “destroyed for lack of knowledge,” and the next generation of children who no longer knew God, nor His Word. Today, we are the “priests” (1 Peter 2:9). And we are responsible to know, believe and preach God’s Word. Where the people in our world are being destroyed and the children are being forgotten, isn’t it because we have yet to give them the knowledge of God?
From: December 6, 2015
When Christianity was barely 50 years old, already false doctrines were being taught concerning Jesus. The apostle John calls one who would give a different confession concerning Christ as “a deceiver and an antichrist.” It seems he was standing against an early deception called gnosticism, which believed that the flesh was evil and that only the spiritual was good. This belief therefore concluded that Christ could not have literally been in the flesh. This conclusion denied the incarnation. It denied the name given to Jesus at His birth, which was “Immanuel,” God with us. John guarded his eyewitness testimony that Jesus is God in the flesh. This was why he was so specific in his first letter to say he had seen, examined and touched Jesus (1 John 1:1). He was affirming the doctrine that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The incarnation is not only the central theme of Christmas, it is the true doctrine concerning Christ. Jesus is God in the flesh. He really came. He really died for our sins. He really rose from the dead and ascended to the Father. This is his-story.
From: December 6, 2014
Have you heard someone make excuses about the way they lose their temper? They blame it on a family trait or a situation, but they don’t own the problem. In the book of Proverbs, the words wisdom and foolishness are considered nearly synonymous with righteousness and sin. In this verse, fools (sinners) express uncontrolled anger, while the wise (righteous) keep theirs under control. Is anger sin? No. It is an emotional response to a felt offense. Even God gets angry. Yet, His anger is always under His complete control, whereas, our anger usually is not. Don’t let your anger be an excuse for sin. Believers can put their anger under the Spirit’s control, practicing self-control, which is the fruit of those filled with the Spirit.