Submit to God's order in His service!

Monday, February 25, 2013


Devotions: Ps 56, 57, 64, 65; Gen 41:46-57; 1 Cor 4:8-21; Mk 3:7-19a

Lord, I need Your succor, because mortals are working me over; I'm oppressed by adversaries all day long; they love to walk all over me. But I will trust in God, Whose word I praise. No worries! My mortal enemies waste their time and energy plotting against me. But God keeps my tears in a bottle; He watches every aspect of my life. I fear no man, and I will walk before God in the light of life. I shelter in Your shadow, Lord; fulfill all Your purposes for me. You steady my heart and focus my mind; I sing in my spirit; be exalted, my God; let Your glory shine over all the earth. Preserve me against my enemies; they aim their arrows at me—may God shoot them down instead! Let the righteous rejoice in our God. Strengthen me to overcome my besetting sins, Master of the universe! All nature celebrates, singing praises to our Maker and Master.

When he began to serve Pharaoh, Joseph was thirty years old. For seven years, he managed and stored the abundant crops Pharaoh's dreams had foretold. During those years of plenty, Joseph fathered two sons with Asenath, his wife, daughter of the priest of On, Potiphera. They were named Manasseh and Ephraim—for God had helped Joseph forget the hardships he had encountered and made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. When the seven years of famine began, there was bread only in Egypt; all the mideast suffered profound dryness. The people cried out to Pharaoh, and the king referred them to Joseph. Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; and all the known earth began to come to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, for famine afflicted them all.

Paul sought to influence the Corinthians: You have received everything you have from God; there is no reason to boast. You are like kings; I wish you were truly reigning, so we might reign with you. God has made spectacle of us apostles, putting us at the back of the line, like condemned prisoners before the world, angels and mortals. For Christ's sake, we are fools, though you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, we are dishonored. To this hour, we hunger and thirst, ill-clad, buffeted, homeless. We work hard with our own hands; when reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we reconcile; we're like trash, the offscouring of all things. I write this to admonish you like beloved children, not to shame you. You have many guides in the Christian life, but not many fathers; I became your spiritual father in the Messiah Jesus by sharing the gospel with you. So, then, imitate me. For that purpose, I have sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach them in every church, everywhere. Some there grow arrogant, as though I were not coming to you; but I will come soon, if the Lord wills; and concerning these arrogant people, I will find out their power, not just their words. The Kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in real power. So how do you want it? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Jesus led His disciples to the seashore, and a great multitude form the Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea and the TransJordan, and from Tyre and Sidon also flocked to Him. Jesus had His disciples prepare a boat, so he could stand offshore if the crowds crushed in too aggressively. Jesus had healed many of diseases and unclean spirits, so the ill and oppressed pressed forward to touch Him. Whenever unclean spirits saw Jesus, they threw the mortal down before Him crying, 'You Are the Son of God!' And Jesus strictly ordered them not to make Him known. Next, Jesus went up on a mountainside; He called to Himself those He had chosen as apostles: Simon (whom Jesus named Peter), the brothers James and John, sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus called Boanerges [Sons of Thunder], Peter's brother Andrew, Philip Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus.