Endure in Faith

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Monday, February 8, 2010
Devotions: Ps 77, 80; Gen 25:19-34; Heb 13:1-16; Jn 8:12-20

Trouble drives me to God, but thinking about God eventually brings me comfort. I consider past times, and I realize that God will not abandon me. Lord, Your ways are holy; You work wonders for those You have redeemed. Nature bows to You, my God, and so I also fall facedown and worship You. Lead me and have Your way with me. Restore me, O God; let Your face shine that I may be saved. You made and chose a people for Yourself; You brought them out of slavery; You established them in the Holy Land. You preserved them despite their hard hearts. I will never turn from You, Lord; so restore us and save us!

Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. They tried to have children for nearly twenty years before Rebekah conceived twin boys. The two struggled with one another, even in their mother’s womb. God answered Rebekah’s questions thus: ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born from you, will be divided, one stronger than the other.’ The firstborn was born covered with red hair, so they called him Esau or Edom (‘Red’). His twin was born grasping his elder brother’s heel; he was named Jacob (‘Supplanter’). When they grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, an man of the field; Jacob was ‘a quiet man, dwelling in tents.’ Esau was Isaac’s favorite, but Rebekah loved Jacob more. Once, Esau came in from the fields famished, and found Jacob boiling pottage in the camp. Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me have some of that red stew, because I am starving!’ Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau tossed it aside: ‘I am about to die; what use is a birthright to me?’ So he swore to him and sold Jacob his birthright, and Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank and went his way, having despised his birthright.

Let brotherly love persist. Show hospitality to strangers—in that way, some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners; and have regard for those who are abused, since you also share frail human flesh. Let everyone honor marriage and shun adultery; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous. Stay free from the love of money; be content with what you have, because God has promised not to forsake you; your security is in Him, not in riches. Remember your leaders, who spoke God’s word to you; consider their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever. Don’t be misled by diverse, strange teachings; let your hearts be strengthened by grace, not by dietary fads, which bring their adherents no benefit. Christians have an altar from which those who trust in works and animal sacrifice have no right to partake. The bodies of the animals sacrificed by the Jewish high priest are burned outside the camp. Jesus also suffered outside the gate, in order to sanctify the people by His own blood. Therefore, let us go to Him outside the camp, and bear the abuse He bore. In this place and time, we have no lasting city, but we are seeking the eternal city to come. Through Jesus, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name. God is pleased with the sacrifices of good deeds and sharing what we have with others.

On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and proclaimed, ‘If anyone is thirst, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the scripture has said, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ He said this concerning the Holy Spirit, which Jesus’ followers were yet to receive; because Jesus was not yet glorified, the Spirit had not yet come. Hearing this, some said, “This is really the prophet of whom Moses wrote.’ Others questioned, ‘Is the Messiah to come from Galilee? Hasn’t the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from his village, Bethlehem?’ So the people divided over Jesus; some wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him. When the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees who had sent them, they were asked, ‘Why didn’t you bring him with you?’ The officers answered, ‘No one every spoke like this man!’ The Pharisees replied, ‘Are you deceived, too? Have any of the spiritual authorities or any Pharisees believed in him? The rabble know nothing of Torah, and they are cursed.’ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus in secret previously, and who was one of the religious authorities, spoke up: ‘Does our law judge a man without giving him a hearing and learning what he does?’ But his opponents replied, ‘Are you from Galilee, too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’