Includes...
Today is the first day of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a reminder that God is living within us. God is light and he wants to fill our bodies with light. A few weeks ago while doing science homework with my kids we were discussing producers and consumers.
Plants take in light from the sun and convert it into energy, which starts the whole food chain. We are supposed to be like trees planted by living water, that also convert God's light into energy. Everything starts from the light, and we have light within us. As we magnify the light more and more on the inside of us through sustaining praise and gratitude through the day we will experience God's light producing through us more and more.
What exactly does it produce? Everything you need... Energy, health, creative ideas, peace, joy, love, and whatever else you need. Everything is hidden in the light, but it must be converted to produce. Jesus said that if we have eyes to see, ears to he...
In Luke 11:33-36 and Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus said that we must be careful that the light within us is not darkness. He said when our eyes are healthy our whole body is healthy and full of light. How can the light within us be darkness? I think it's all about what we are magnifying and focusing on in our lives. All day long we are magnifying either light or darkness by what we think about, talk about, meditate on, imagine, etc.
To magnify the light is to praise and thank God for his greatness, his unfailing love, his faithfulness, and that nothing is impossible for him. Notice it is praise and thanksgiving that keeps us focused on the light. The alternative is we can focus on darkness by focusing on all the problems. It is complaining, gossiping, and venting that starts the whole process. Then as we think and talk about all that is wrong and all the problems they become magnified and darkness begins to grow within us.
Unfortunately, there is darkness, evil, and pro...
Giving and receiving is a big part of our walk of faith. It is more blessed to give than to receive but we must strengthen both sides of the equation and also become good receivers. In Luke 7:36-47 is a story that illustrates this well.
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people owed money to a...
For a couple of years now I have pondered why there is a 4 day gap between the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. The analogy God has given me is to think about is buying a house. Think of the Day of Atonement as the closing day when God purchased a new house to live in, which is us. Before closing can happen all of the accounting must be reconciled so that there is a clean slate. After closing, God has to move in, furnish, and decorate the house. These 4 days are a reminder that God has fully furnished us for every good work. He moved everything he has on the inside of us. After he has moved in he wants to have a 7 day party to celebrate the new house.
2 Timothy 3:17 says... So that the servant of God may be fully furnished for every good work and Proverbs 15:6 says the house of the righteous contains great treasure.
God has some good works for us to walk in and he has furnished or equipped us to walk in them. We don't have to rely on our own abi...
Monday evening starts the 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Think of Tabernacles like a fall harvest festival. The people were commanded to build small huts and dwell in them for the 7 days so they would never forget how God brought them through the wilderness to the promised land. God is now tabernacling with us. He has moved in. In the Old Testament when the temples were built they were not finished until God's glory filled the temple. His glory is his presence, power, and goodness. Because we have been cleansed and reconciled by Jesus God can live in and among us. In the Old Testament God couldn't get too close to the people, because his glory would kill them, but now because of Jesus he can live within us.
Over the next week take some time to get more aware of his presence with you, rejoice, and express gratitude that the creator of it all, can now tabernacle with us. The tradition in the Jewish culture is to eat stuffed foods during this week, which symbo...
Yesterday we took communion over being reconciled with God. The next step is partnering with God. Partnership is one of the most powerful table turners in life. In our finances, I think of partnership as the number one thing that can turn the tables. When we partner effectively we gain access into wisdom, knowledge, experience, resources, networks, and much more that we can't access on our own. And God is the most important one that any of us can partner with.
If you have never officially made God your partner in life, then today's communion is an opportunity to do so. To get into partnership with him is to partner around a common vision, to get into agreement with him, and to make decisions together. After making God your partner today, I would encourage you to record the date the partnership started so you can see how the tables turn.
I am praying for you.
Daniel
Today is the Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur. Today is like the close of the year or the major deadline on God's calendar. This day is a reminder for us that God has reconciled us to himself in Christ. To reconcile is to overcome distrust or hostility, to gain goodwill, harmony, or favor, to make agreeable, to resolve differences, and make one again. When you think of Atonement think of At - ONE - MENT.
In accounting to reconcile is to balance and remove any differences or errors found. Here are some scriptures to meditate on about being reconciled to God.
Romans 5:10-11...For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:10-11
Colossians 1:19-23...For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwel...
Tonight starts the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which was the official start of the Year of Jubilee. In the Old Testament, every 50th year was the Year of Jubilee, which meant slaves were set free, all debt was forgiven, and the people were restored to their land(the inheritance God had given them). It was a resetting of the economy in Israel and the official start of Jubilee was the Day of Atonement.
Leviticus 25 1-4, 8-10 says....
The LORD then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD ... You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of ye...
In 2 Samuel 7 God promises to make David's name great, give him rest from all his enemies, to establish his house, and that his house and kingdom would endure forever. Then is 2 Samuel 8:1 and 10:1 the phrase "In the course of time," is used to describe how things began to happen.
God gave David some amazing promises that came to pass in the course of time. Time is a course, it is full of twists, turns, obstacles, and most importantly change. Change is guaranteed in life and we can fight it or embrace it.
The Hebrew word that is used for "in the course of time," is Hayah which means... Came to pass, to be or become.
Hayah indicates something that is changing and dynamic. Time and change are a gift God has given us in this world, but why? I believe he gave us time and change because he doesn't want us to stay the way we are. We all have room to grow and expand to become more like him, which is why he gives us time and change so that in the course of time it com...
The other day I was watching the Virginia Tech football game and there was an interview where Tom Brady's head coach said he felt like one of the biggest reasons for all of Tom's Super Bowl victories is that he comes to practice every day like a little kid, excited to learn and get better.
This reminded me of how Jesus said kids hold the secrets and we must have childlike faith.
In Matthew 21:16 Jesus said... “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”
Jesus was quoting Psalms 8:2 which actually reads a little differently. Psalms 8:2 says... Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
Praising God like a little child perfects our praise and establishes a stronghold against our enemies. Being established means it is fixed, secure, and immovable. The Hebrew word for establish in this verse is often translated as...
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