Do whatever He tells you

New Guest: Like this one, most entries are devotional. Those related to Car Biz can be located by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first entry, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. I hope you'll record your responses as you read, since these entries serve best as the first remarks in a coversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Friday, April 30, 2010

Devotions: Ps 40, 51, 54; Exod 34:18-35; 1 Thess 3:1-13; Mt 5:27-37

God taught me to wait patiently for Him, and then He drew me up out of the bog and put me high and safe, singing a new song in His mouth and a song of praise to our God. Happy are all who make God their trust. Lord, I delight to do Your will; Your law is in my heart. I will share Your saving news with anyone who will listen. YHWH, pour out Your mercy on me, Your love and faithfulness. May all who seek You rejoice in finding You. Blot out my sins, and wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. I know my sins, Lord, and I know You want truth in the inward being. So purge me with hyssop; wash me in the holy blood of Jesus; fill me with the Holy Spirit; and heal my brokenness. Create a clean heart and upright spirit within me! I give myself to You, Lord, for You have delivered me from every form of trouble, and I look in triumph on all my enemies.

God directed Israel through Moses: Keep the feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days in the month of Abib, when you came out of Egypt . Recall that every firstborn is Mine; you may redeem firstborn donkeys with lambs—if not, break their necks. Redeem all your firstborn sons. None shall appear before Me empty! Work six days, but the seventh day is a holy Sabbath; rest on that day throughout the year. Observe also the feast of weeks and of ingathering. Your males shall appear before Me three times each year. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and I will protect your territory while the men are attending to Me. Offer me no leaven with the blood of My sacrifices; be sure you consume all the Passover feast—leave none till morning! Bring to My house the first fruits of your crops. And do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. God made sure that Moses wrote down all the terms of His covenant. While at this labor, Moses had neither food nor water for forty days! When Moses again descended Sinai, he didn’t know that the skin of his face was luminous; but Aaron and the elders saw that Moses’ face was shining, and they feared to come near him. But Moses called to them and they came to him and he talked to them; later, Moses passed along to all the people all that YHWH had spoken to him on Mount Sinai . When Moses completed his talk, he put a veil over his face. Thereafter, whenever Moses went before YHWH, he uncovered his face until he came out and told the people whatever God had commanded. The people saw that Moses face shone, and Moses would again veil his face until he went in again to speak with the Lord.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: When I could bear the separation and suspense no longer, I sent Timothy to you, so that no one would lose heart because of my hardships. I told you when I was with you these things would happen; so I sent Timothy in fear that the tempter might mislead you and our labor might be in vain. But now he has returned from you, with the good news about your faith and love; he says you always remember us kindly, and long to see us, as I long to see you. So I am comforted, dear friends, despite distress and affliction. I really live, as long as you stand fast in the Lord! I give thanks day and night to God for you, for all the joy I feel for your sake in God’s presence, and pray that I may see you face to face and supply whatever may still be lacking in your faith. Now: may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you; and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men, as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts without fault in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

Jesus taught: You have been commanded not to commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it away; it is better to lost one part of your body than for your whole being to be case into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. You have been taught that whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate. But I tell you, everyone who divorces a wife, except on grounds of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. You have been taught not to swear falsely, but to keep every oath you make to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all—not by heaven, God’s throne, or by earth, His footstool, or by Jerusalem , the great King’s city. Don’t swear by your own head—you cannot make one hair white or black. Just say simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Anything beyond that comes from the evil one.