Practical godliness

Thursday, September 26 Devotions: Ps 83 85, 86; 2 Ki 9:1-16; 1 Cor 6:12-20; Mt 6:1-18 Asaph wrote: YHWH, don't be silent! Your enemies are conspiring against You and Your people. The Ishmaelites, Edomites, Moabites and Hagrites, those of Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, those of Philistia and Tyre, and the empire of Assyria: all the children of Lot are turning against You and Your kingdom. Destroy them and their plots, Lord! Blo them away; put them to shame forever. Let them know that You alone, YHWH Sabaoth, are Most High over all the earth. Korah's sons wrote: Lord, You have favored Your land; You have sustained the people of Jacob and forgiven their sins. Restore us again, great Lord. Put away Your indignation toward us; don't be angry with us forever, I beg You. Show us Your steadfast love and grant us Your salvation. Let me hear what God has to say; speak peace to Your people. Show Your salvation to Your people who fear You alone, so that glory may abide in our land. Let steadfasst love and faithfulness, righteousness and peace, come together. Let Your people respond in faithfulness to Your righteousness, Lord Give what is good and let our land yield its increase. God's righteousness will go before Your people, as you open the path for our footsteps. And David wrote: Let God incline and answer, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, great Lord; save Your servant who trusts in You. You are my God by Your grace, YHWH. Gladden my soul, which I lift up to You. You are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love toward all who call upon You, as I do now. There is none like You, O Lord. You Are great; You do mighty deeds. YHWH, teach me Your ways that I may walk in Your truth and love; unit my heart to fear You. Let me wholeheartedly give thanks to You, YHWH my God, and I will glorify Your name forever. Take pity on me, and destroy our common enemies. Show me a sign of Your favor, that all who hate me may see and be put to shame because You, Lord, have helped and comforted me. Elisha sent one of the lesser prophets; he told him: take this flask of oil to Ramoth-Gilead. There, find and anoint Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, grandson of Nimshi. Say this to him: 'Thus says YHWH: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then, get out of there as fast as you can. The young man did as Elisha had directed. He added: 'You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all My servants they have slaughtered. The whole line of Ahab will perish, like those of Jeroboam and Baasha. Dogs will devour Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and she will go unburied.' Then the prophet fled. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: It's said that all things are lawful for Christ's followers; but not all things are helpful, and I will not become enslaved to any other than Christ alone. All food is acceptable, but food and stomachs will be brought to an end by the Lord. Our bodies are meant to serve the Lord, and they are not imperishable. God raised our Lord Jesus, and He will raise us also. So let's not misuse the members of Christ's body and join them to a prostitute—we unite with whatever and whomever we enter in intercourse. Those who unite with the Lord become one in Spirit with Him! Shun immorality; the immoral one sins against his own body. Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Whom you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price! So glorify God in your body. Jesus preached: Don't practice piety in front of others—that earns no reward from your heavenly Father. Give alms in secret; don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your Father Who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, likewise, shun the vain habits of the hypocrites who go on in the synagogue or street corners, to be seen and admired by mortals. That human attention is their only reward. Instead, go into your chamber, shut the door, and commune in secret with your Father; He Who sees in secret will reward you. Just say: 'Our Father in heaven, let Your name be hallowed. May Your kingdom come and Your will be done, on earth just as in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, and we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' If you forgive mortals their offenses against you, your heavenly Father also will forgive your sins against Him. If you don't forgive those who offend you, He will not forgive you. And when you fast, keep your appearance as normal; don't look dismal, like the hypocrites, who want sympathy and admiration from other people—consequently, that is their only reward. Instead, let your fasting be known to God alone, and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you.