Last. Endure. Overcome.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013 Devotions: Ps 119:145-76; 128-30; Obad 15-21; 1 Pet 2:1-10; Mt 19:23-30 I cry to YHWH with my whole heart; please, God, answer me. Pardon and deliver me. Save me that I may observe Your testimonies. Hear me in Your compassion and tender mercy, Lord. Uproot my deep anger and frustration, good Lord; look on my affliction and deliver me, merciful God! The sum of Your word is truth; your ordinances endure forever. I remain awed by Your word. They who love Your law have great peace, and I greatly long for it! Hear and answer, I beg You; let me testify that You Are good and forgiving. Bring me home, I pray. Your word says I will be happy, and things will go well with me. Amen; let God's favor and peace rest upon me, Lord. Cut my bonds; hear my profound cry for help; forgive and heal me, Lord. I long for You as the watchmen long for the dawn. Redeem me from all my iniquities, great Father. The Lord's Day is near, and I reap what I have sown. Lord, root out the tares I have planted and make me fruitful. Let God's people expand our territory, I ask You, Lord. Peter advises: put away all malice and guile and insincerity and envy and slander. Crave God's kindness, and His pure Spirit. Come to Jesus, the Living Stone rejected by mortals, and let God fashion you into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus the Messiah. He is Chosen and precious; those who shun Him will be put to shame. He has become the chief Cornerstone, a stumbling block to God's enemies. I belong to a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people. My task and privilege is to declar the wonderful acts of Him Who called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light. I have received His mercy! Jesus and His disciples watched the sorrowful rich ruler depart from his conversation with Jesus, 'for he had great possessions.' Jesus told His followers, 'Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven—harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.' They were astonished and asked Him, 'Then who can be saved?' Jesus answered, 'With mortals, this is impossible; but with God, all things are possible.' Peter remarked, 'Look: we have left everything behind to follow You. What will come to us, then?' Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth: when the Son of man sits upon His glorious throne, you who followed me will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Everyone who has left behind houses or brothers or sisters, parents, spouses, children or lands, for My name's sake, will receive a hundredfold more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who now are first will be last then, and the last will be first.'