A circumcised heart

Saturday, January 29, 2011
Devotions: Ps 55, 138, 139:1-17; Isa 51:1-8; Gal 3:23-29; Mk 7:1-23

Lord, hear and answer my prayers. I am distracted by the enemy's racket, and they continually assault me and my family. My hands shake; my neck and back and eyes ache. Sometimes, I just want to hide. But You are my Shelter, Lord. Destroy their plans and silence their roaring. Protect me from false friends and hostile strangers. I call upon YHWH, and He will save me. I cast my burden on YHWH and He will sustain me; He never lets His righteous ones be case down. I will trust in You, my God! I thank God with my whole heart, for His steadfast love and faithfulness. Great is the glory of our Lord; He is high but regards the lowly. Though I walk amid troubles, God, You preserve my life and oppose my enemies. Let God fulfill His purpose for me; Lord, don't forsake the work of Your hands. You have searched me and know me; You know my every act, my every word, before I begin to express them. I cannot escape You Spirit, and find You wherever I turn. You made me, and You own me. I am content about that! How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast Your wisdom and knowledge! When I come to myself, there I am with the great I Am!

Let those seeking deliverance seek YHWH; look to the Rock from Whom you are hewn! Look to your spiritual father Abraham and Sarah who bore you. The Lord will comfort His people and make our wilderness like His Eden. Let all attend to our God. His salvation hastens toward us! Let all who long for righteousness cling to our God; let us not fear the reproach of mortals, for His deliverance is eternal and will will be saved forever!

Before faith came, we were confined under the law, restrained until faith should be revealed to us. The Law was our caretaker until the Messiah came; and when He arrived, we could be justified by faith. Now faith has come, and we are no longer under a caretaker; for in the Messiah Jesus, we are all sons and heirs of God through faith. As many as were baptized into Messiah have put on Messiah! There is now neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female. For we are all one in the Messiah Jesus. And if we are His, then we are truly Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Pharisees and scribes gathered to Jesus; and they observed that some of His disciples ate without ritually washing their hands. The Pharisees and all observant Jews do not eat nless they wash their hands, according to the traditions of their ancestors; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves ritually. And there are many other traditions which they observe—for example the ritual washing of cups and pots and bronze vessels. The Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus, 'Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?' And Jesus answered them: 'Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypcrites: "This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching doctrines of men as holy doctrines." You leave God's command aside and hold fast to human traditions.' He told them, 'You have wonderful ways of ignoring God and making excuse for your own traditions. For Moses sayd, "Honor your father and your mother" and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother shall surely be put to death." But you say, "If a man tells his father or mother, 'What you would have gained from me is Corban—devoted to God"--then you no longer permit him to do anything for his parents. This voids God's word through your tradition, which you perpetuate and propagate. You do lots of things like this.' And Jesus called the people to Himself and told the, 'Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person which can defile him by going inside. It is the things that come out of a person that defile him.' When Jesus had entered His dwelling, leaving the people outside, His disciples asked Jesus about the parable. And He said to them, 'So you also are without understanding? ; Don't you see: whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him: it enters his stomach, not his heart, and passes through.' In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. And He said, 'What comes out of a person is what defiles that person. From within, from one's heart, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, covetousness, wickedness, licentiousness, deceit, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these come from within, and each one defiles a person.'