From: January 2, 2024
“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 3:6-7 ESV).
Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, was angry. He was furious that God had preferred his brother Abel’s offering over his own. As Cain sullenly stewed in his anger, God spoke to him, warning him of how unresolved anger was like something “crouching’ at his door, filling him with sinful desire. But Cain didn’t listen to God. His anger led to murder. In anger, Cain killed his own brother.
The apostle Paul probably had this story in mind when he warned the Ephesians, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph. 4:26-27).
If you go to bed mad, you leave the door open to the devil! Unresolved anger leaves you open to the devil’s devices and to your flesh’s desire to rule over you, so that a battle breaks out within you and threatens to overflow on to those around you!
The apostle James wrote about this. He said, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:1-2).
Uncontrolled and unresolved anger is a dangerous thing. It is harmful to you and everyone around you. Therefore, let us ask God for help, yielding our anger to Him, asking for His self-control. For as James has also said, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).
PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, do You see any anger in us this day? Show us its source. Help us to see the sin that crouches at our heart’s door. Fill us with Your forgiveness and help us to put away wrath and to seek reconciliation in all of our relationships. May we forgive as You have forgiven us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: January 2, 2023
“Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one” (Psalms 2:1-2 NLT).
The Spirit inspired David to write these verses describing the futility of the world’s kingdoms conspiring against the Lord and against His “anointed one” (מָשִׁיחַ, mashiyach), which is the Messiah, the Christ.
Centuries later, the Spirit inspired the early Christians to pray these same verses back to God after Peter and John had been jailed and warned by the Sanhedrin to stop teaching in the name of Jesus. In their prayer, they identified Pilate and Herod along with the Gentiles and Jewish leaders as conspiring against the Lord’s anointed one, Jesus, just as the Spirit had revealed to David (Acts 4:23-31). When they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they went out and preached the Word of God boldly.
I have found the book of Psalms to be a most powerful prayer book. Just as the first century Christians prayed the Word, so have believers throughout the ages been greatly edified by it. I have especially found it important to pray the psalms aloud. For when I do, I experience a double benefit. For the Word enters my eye gate as I read it and my ear gate as I pray it aloud. More than that, it focuses my soul on hearing from the Lord. For He often uses His written Word to answer me.
PRAYER: Lord, help us not only to read and hear Your Word, but also to pray it and preach it. And not just in dry understanding, but empowered by the Spirit, so that we and those around us are shaken by Your presence. And let us not be afraid when the world’s kings and nations conspire and prepare for battle, knowing that their plans are futile, but Yours are perfect and eternal. Now, send us out again with Your Word and Spirit, in the name of Your Anointed One, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
From: January 2, 2016
Even within the curse of sin, God gave a promise. Some have called Gen. 3:15 the “protoevangelium,” the “first good news,” because it speaks of an “offspring” of the woman that will “bruise” the head of the serpent. That this promised “offspring” or literally, “seed,” will come through the woman foreshadows the virgin birth of Christ, as women have no “seed.” That this one should be bruised of the serpent (or Satan), points to his suffering on the cross. But that the serpent’s head shall be bruised of him, points to his ultimate victory over evil through the resurrection. God removed humanity from the garden because of their sin, but He left them with a promise that one of their descendants would save them from their sin. In Christ, God has kept that promise.
From: January 2, 2015
Some have asked why are there four gospels? The answer is uncertain, but clearly, each gospel has a unique perspective and purpose. Matthew shows us Jesus the King, Mark describes Him as Servant, Luke sees the Man, and John leads us to worship Jesus as God. In our Matthew reading today there are many references to “fulfilled” prophecies. Matthew is the most concerned to point these out to us. He clearly wrote to a Jewish audience and wanted to give them confidence that Jesus was the true Messiah and the rightful born King in the line of David. The lineage Matthew records in chapter one is to establish legal right to the throne through His adoptive father, Joseph (Whereas, Luke records Mary’s lineage, establishing Jesus’ biological connection to the house of David). In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is presented as a child living in a house in Bethlehem to which Magi bring Him gifts fit for a king (While in Luke, He is a lowly infant born in a manger). In Matthew 2:15, he quotes from the prophet Hosea (Hos.11:1) explaining His connection to Egypt. In Matthew chapter two alone there are four Messianic prophecies mentioned to point out how Christ fulfilled them.
Why did Matthew write His gospel? I believe the Spirit inspired him to organize his gospel, so that we might see Jesus as the One who fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy to be recognized as the Christ, the Son of David, the Son God and the King of Kings.