Focus on Jesus alone

Thursday and Friday, November 4 and 5

Devotions: Ps 69, 71, 73, 74; Sirach 44:1-15; 50:1, 11-24; Rev 16:12-17:18; Lk 13:10-30

Lord, save me. I'm aware that I'm in jeopardy, even if I'm not in a panic or depression right this minute. Our finances are sinking, and we have serious health issues. Still, I sense Your presence, and I believe that I am going to be fine, by Your grace. Don't let those who depend on me be put to shame on my account, Lord. My prayer is to You alone; at an acceptable time, answer me in the abundance of Your steadfast love, O God. Rescue me from the quicksand I'm standing on, I pray. Put my enemies to shame, and set me free to worship and serve You. You are my Refuge and Strength, YHWH. You have cared for me all my long life; there is none like You. Revive me again; increase my honor and comfort me with Your favor, Lord. I will praise you and speak of Your righteous help to all who will listen, for many need Your blessing. God is good to the upright and the pure in heart; yet, He is also kind and merciful to me, a recurrent sinner. I often envy the prosperous wicked; but when I think more soberly, I realize that I have the better portion. Lord, there is truly nothing I desire as much as I want and need You. God is the strength of my heart and my Portion forever. It is good to be near my God. I live in a troubled time, Lord, and there are scant signs of the holiness and goodness of God in our sin-full world. Keep Your covenant and preserve Your people, Lord God. Don't let us be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise Your name, YHWH.

Sirach praises famous ancestors, those whom God honored in times past—leaders, thinkers, artists and musicians, teachers, benefactors—men and women of stature and mercy whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten. Let their posterity continue for Your sake, Lord. Let them rest in peace, and let people of many generations benefit from their example; let the holy assembly declare their praise. One such was Simon Maccabeus, son of Onias; he was the high priest c. 219-190 BC. Simon rebuilt God's temple and fortfied it; he restored cisterns for the water supply of the temple and Jerusalem. He pondered how to save his city from ruin, and he shone in his own generation. He was a glory and graced the temple and the altar with his presence. What a glorious sight it was when Simon led the priests in worship and sacrifice. He was a pleasing fragrance before the Most High, the King of all.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the Euphrates, and its water dried up, so that the kings from the east could march on Jerusalem unimpeded. From the mouth of the dragon and of the beast and of the false prophet, John saw three foul froglike spirits emerge—demonic spirits, capable of mighty signs, which went abroad to the leaders of the whole world, assembling them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty, at the placed called Armageddon. The seventh and last angel poured his bowl into the air, and a loud voice from the heavenly temple spoke: 'It is done!' There was a great tumult: flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, and a stupendous earthquake that split Jerusalem into three parts. The cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon, to make her drain the cup of the fury of His wrath. Every island disappeared; no mountains remained standing; and hundred-pound hailstones fell, till mortals cursed God for the fearful plague of hail. One of the seven angles who poured out the bowls of plagues came ot John and told him, 'Come, and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot seated on many waters. The masters of the earth have committed fornication with her, and those on earth are intoxicated with the wine of this fornication.' He carred me in the Spirit into the wilderness, and there I saw a woman astride a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names; it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, bedecked with gold and jewels an dpearls; she held a cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication. On her forehead was written a name of mystery: Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earths abominations. John saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus. John marveled at all this, but the angel intepreted the vision to him: The beast was, and is not; it is to ascend from the abyss andd then will go to perdition. Mortals on earth whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to behold the beast, because it was, then was not, and then is to come. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and also seven kings—five have fallen, one is now, and one is yet to come; and when he comes, he must remain only a little while. The beast is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven and goes to perdition. The ten horns are ten kings who have not yet received royal power; but they will receive this power for one hour, along with the beast. They are of one mind, and turn their power and authority over to the beast. They will war on the Lamb, and He will conquer them, for He Is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful. The waters on which the harlot was seated are the peoples and multitudes and tongues and nations. The ten horns you saw, along with the beast, will hate the harlot. They will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by their agreement to give over their royal power to the beast until God's words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city which has dominion over the kings of the earth.'

Jesus was teaching on a Sabbath in one of the synagogues. Among those present was a woman who had been tormented eighteen years by a spirit of infirmity; she was bent over and could not straighten herhself. Jesus saw her and called her to Himself, saying 'Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.' He laid His hands on her and immediately she was made stright and praised God. But the synagogue ruler was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he addressed the congregation: 'There are six days on which to work; come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath day.' But the Lord answered him: 'You hypocrites! Does not each o fyou on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it away to water it? Ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?' His adversaries were put to shame and the people rejoiced at all the glorious things Jesus was doing. So He continued to teach: 'What is God's kingdom like; to what can we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed a man sowed in a garden. It grew and became a great shrub and the birds of the air nested in its branches. And it is like leaven that a woman mixed into three measures of flour, till all was leavened.' And He went His way, teaching through the villages and towns as He journeyed toward Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, 'Lord, are those to be saved few in number?' Jesus said, 'Strive to enter by the narrow door; many will seek to enter and will not be able. When the household has arisen and shut the door, you'll stand outside and knock, saying "Lord, open to us." But He will answer you, "I don't know where you come from.: Then you will begin to say, "We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!: But He will insist, "I tell you, I don't know where you come from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity." There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. Know this: some who are last will then be first, and some who are first will be last.'