Love and worship God, and do His bidding

vMonday, April 7, 2014 Devotions: Ps 31, 35; Ex 4:10-31; 1 Cor 14:1-19; Mk 9:30-41 Lord, I take refuge in You; let me never be put to shame; be my Rock of refuge, a strong Fortress to protect me. Lead and guide me for Your name's sake; steer me away from nets hidden to snare me; into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me! I will rejoice because of Your steadfast love; You have placed me in a safe and open space. Be gracious, Lord, for I am in distress. I know that You Are my only refuge; shine on Your servant; hide me under Your wings. Let YHWH be blessed, for He has shown His love to me in a wondrous way. He preserves the faithful, and punishes the proud. Let all who trust in God be strong and courageous in heart, for He Is good! Let God take up my cause against my enemies; He will judge and banish them, and I will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in His deliverance. I will pray for my enemies, as He has directed, and trust in God for my own protection. Vindicate me, O God, according to Your righteousness; let those of good will rejoice, and let all the vicious and vindictive be put to shame by holy God Then I will testify of Your righteousness all the day long! Moses objected further as God was commissioning him to lead Israel out of Egypt: 'Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either until now or since You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and of tongue.' Then YHWH said to Moses, 'Who made human mouths? Who makes a man mute or deaf, sighted or blind? Is it not I, YHWH? No, therefore, go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you must say.' Moses still resisted: 'Oh, my Lord, I pray You, send some other person.' Then God's anger was kindled against Moses; He said, 'What about Aaron the Levite, your brother? I know that he can speak well; and behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in heart. You will speak with him and put into his mouth the words I give to you; I will be with you both and teach you what you shall do. He will speak for you to the people; and he will be a mouth for you, and you shall be as God to him Take in your hand this rod, with which you will do the signs I provide to validate your mission.' After this, Moses returned to his father-in-law Jethro, saying that he wanted to return to Egypt to see his family. And Jethro gave his blessing. God gave Moses his marching orders, and Moses set out with his wife and sons, and set out for Egypt, carrying the rod of God in his hand. On the way, God instructed Moses: 'See that you perform before Pharaoh all the miracles I have empowered you to do; but I will harden his heart, and he will not willingly let the people go. You say this to Pharaoh: “YHWH says this: 'Israel is my firstborn son, and I tell you, let My son go, that he may serve Me.'” If you refuse to let him go, behold: I will slay your first-born son.' Along their way, at a lodging place, YHWH met Moses and sought to kill him. Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' genitals with it, and God relented and spared Moses. Zipporah said, 'Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,' because of the circumcision. YHWH had directed Aaron into the wilderness to meet Moses. They came together at Horeb, and Aaron kissed his brother Moses. Moses told Aaron everything God had said, and showed him all the signs God had provided. Then, together, they gathered the elders of Israel, and Aaron spoke God's words and performed God's signs, and the people believed; and when they perceived that YHWH had visited them and seen their affliction, they bowed and worshiped Him. Paul followed his discourse on love with these words: Make love your objective, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. Consider: one who speaks in a tongue speaks to God, but men cannot understand the message—he is uttering mysteries in the Spirit and edifying himself alone. But one who prophesies edifies the church, encouraging, consoling and guiding the listeners. I want you all to have the gift of tongues, but even more that of prophecy: the one who prophesies is greater than the one speaking a tongue, unless someone interprets so that the church may be edified. Brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, you get no benefit unless I bring you some revelation, knowledge, prophecy or teaching. Even lifeless instruments provide nothing unless they are played so as to produce a distinct note; no one can respond to an unclear bugle—are we to charge, hold fast, or retreat? It's the same with you: if you make noises nobody can understand, no one can know what's being said—you're just stirring up the air. All the world's languages can convey meaning, but if the language is unknown to me, the speaker and I remain foreign to one another. Since you are eager for Spiritual manifestations, then, strive to excel in what edifies the church. If someone speaks in a tongue, let them pray for the power to interpret—otherwise, my mind remains unfruitful. How should I proceed? I will pray with my spirit and also with my mind; I will sing with my spirit and with my mind also. Otherwise, if one blesses in the spirit, no outsider could say 'Amen,' since he cannot understand what you have said. Your thanks may be fine, but the outsider is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you; but in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, so as to instruct others, than to utter ten thousand words in a tongue the listeners cannot fathom. Jesus and His disciples passed along through Galilee; He was teaching His disciples, and so tried to keep their whereabouts private. His message was, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; but after dying, three days later He will rise.' They didn't understand His message, and were afraid to ask for clarification. When they arrived at Capernaum and were in the house there, Jesus asked His followers what they had been discussing along the way; they were silent, because they had been arguing about which among them as the greatest. So Jesus sat down and called the twelve to Him, and said, 'If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.' He took a child and set the child in their midst, saying 'Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives Him Who sent Me.' John said to Jesus, 'Master, we saw a man casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Don't forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in My name will be able anytime soon to speak evil of Me. Whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth: whoever gives you a cup of cold water to drink because you bear the Messiah's name will be no means lose his reward.'