Live under God's authority and in holy love

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

Saturday, March 20, 2010
Devotions: Ps 33, 108; Exod 2:23-3:15; 1 Cor 13:1-13; Mk 9:14-29

Praising God befits the upright, so let’s praise Him with all our might, all our skill! He is true and faithful; God loves righteousness and justice. He created all that exists by His word. Let all nature, and every sentient being, fear and honor our God. Blessed is the nation whose God is YHWH, the people whom He has chosen. Victory is by God’s grace and power, not human ingenuity or weaponry. God watches over those who respect and honor Him, to deliver us from death; and so I wait upon the Lord: Father, let Your steadfast love rest on me as I trust in You. My heart is steadfast, Lord, and I will sing Your praise. Be exalted, great Lord, and let Your glory shine over all creation, that Your beloved may be delivered. With God I will act bravely and tread down my enemies.

As Moses settled in Midian, Egypt’s life went on, and eventually, the Pharaoh who had condemned Moses died. The people of Israel continued to groan in bondage and cried to God for help. Meanwhile, Moses was tending his father-in-laws flocks, and led them far into the outback, the west side of the wilderness near Mount Horeb. An angel of God appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush. It caught Moses’ attention; he looked, and noted that though afire, the bush was not being consumed, so he resolved to turn aside and take a closer look. God called Moses from the bush: “Moses! Moses!’ And Moses answered, ‘Here I am.’ The Lord’s messenger continued: ‘Stay back, and take off your shoes; this is holy ground.’ Moses complied, and the Lord continued: ‘I Am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses hid his face in fear before God. YHWH went on: ‘I have seen my people’s affliction in Egypt, and have heard their cries for mercy under their taskmasters. I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of Egypt to a good and broad land, flowing with milk and honey—the place now inhabited by the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Since I have heard their cries, I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring Israel’s descendants out of Egypt?’ God replied, ‘But I will be with You. This shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you will serve God upon this very mountain.’ Then Moses said, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them that the God of their fathers has sent me to them, they may ask me, “What is his name?” If so, what should I tell them?’

Paul expounded love to the Corinthians: ‘If I speak in tongues of men and angels, but have no love, I’m just a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If have prophetic powers and can understand all mysteries and knowledge, and have all faith, so as to move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and devote my own body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing! Love is patient and kind; love is neither jealous nor boastful. It is not irritable or resentful, does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in what is right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things! Love never ends. Prophecies and knowledge will pass away, for both are imperfect. When I was a child, I spoke, thought, and reasoned like a child. But when I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see as if in a mirror, dimly; but then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall understand fully, even as I am fully understood. So: faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.’

Coming down from the mountain of His transfiguration, Jesus and His three closest disciples were met by a crowd gathered around the remaining apostles, and scribes arguing with them. When the crowd saw Jesus, they thronged to Him, and He asked what they were discussing. A man answered, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to You; he has a dumb spirit, that dashes him to the ground; he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. Your disciples were not able to do anything.’ Jesus responded, ‘Faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I bear with you? Bring the boy to Me!’ When the spirit saw Jesus, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has he had this?’ ‘From childhood,’ was the reply. ‘It has often cast him into fire and water to destroy him; but if You can do anything, have pity on us, and help us!’ Jesus said, ‘”If You can.”? All things are possible to anyone who believes.’ The man cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ Jesus noticed the crowd running toward them, so He acted quickly, rebuking the unclean spirit, saying to it: ‘You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ The spirit cried out and convulsed the boy terribly, then came out, leaving the boy as still as a corpse. Most of the onlookers said, ‘The boy is dead.’ But Jesus took his hand and lifted the boy up, and he arose. Later, in the house, His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why couldn’t we cast it out?’ Jesus answered, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’ [Some old manuscripts have, ‘by prayer and fasting.’