Cleave to God and Triumph

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might read 'Welcome,' the first post, dated November 12, 2008, in the archives.

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Devotions: Ps 20, 21, 110, 116, 117; Dan 3:19-30; 1 Jn 3:11-18; Lk 4:1-13

May YHWH answer us in the day of trouble! May He grant our heart’s desire and fulfill His plans for us. May we shout in victory in the name of our God. I know that the Lord will help His anointed ones; we boast in the name of YHWH our God! We exult in God’s strength and goodness. God exalts His people and casts down the wicked. God puts all creation under the authority of His Son, our Lord Jesus—our King, and eternal High Priest. God listens and answers; He is gracious and merciful, and He gives rest to my weary soul. I will call on His name and praise Him; YHWH I am Your servant, and You have set me free. Let all that has breath praise the Lord; His faithfulness endures forever.

When the three Israelites refused to worship the golden idol he had constructed, Nebuchadnezzar was furious, and had his soldier bind them and cast them into a superheated fu.ce. The fires killed the men who took Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the furnace. But the king was astonished—he could see the three walking freely in the flames, accompanied by a fourth figure, ‘like a son of the gods.’ So he called the Israelites forth, and they stepped out of the furnace before him. They were completely unharmed; there was not even the smell of fire or smoke on their persons or garments! And the king blessed the God of the Israelites ‘Who has sent His angel and delivered His servants; they trusted their God rather than the king’s decree; they gave themselves up to judgment. Behold the results! So I decree that anyone who speaks against their God shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid to ruin. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way!’ And the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

John the Elder wrote: ‘This is the message you have heard from the beginning: love one another. We must not be like Cain who killed his brother in resentment that God found Abel’s sacrifice acceptable and did not accept Cain’s. There is love among the Christians, but the world hates us; they abide in death and murder. Jesus laid down His life for us, and we should do the same for our brothers and sisters. Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.

Jesus was lead into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit; and for forty days and nights He was tempted by the devil. He had nothing, and by the end of the time, He was very hungry. Three times the devil specifically challenged Jesus, and three times, He responded with an appropriate scripture: He would not make stones into bread, for ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ He would not bow to Satan in exchange for world hegemony, for ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.’ And He refused to test God by throwing Himself from the peak of the temple, for ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ The devil desisted for the time being, and departed to await another opportunity.