Category: Revelation–BibleTrekToday
Believe! Confess! Be saved!
Scripture reading for June 6th: Proverbs 3-5, Romans 10
Romans 10:8-13 “But what does it say? “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is the Word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.”
Salvation is not mysterious. God does not try to hide His plan for saving the lost. He has made it very simple and universal for all people, all races, and ages. The Word of God is preached. This is the Good News of Jesus Christ, Son of God, come to earth to reveal the Father and the Way to His House and household. Jesus shed His blood on the cross becoming a substitute for sinners. He was buried and experienced death for all. He rose again on the third day, conquering death, hell and the grave, having the keys and leading the faithful out. It is so simple that we must become like a child and believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that “Jesus Christ is Lord” and we will be saved! All who call on the Name of Jesus Christ will be saved. There are no ‘maybe’ or ‘hope to’ people in these statements! Amen!
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the simplicity of salvation and for its universal application to all people of all nations and cultures. Thank You for sending a believer to share the Gospel with me. Send me to someone who needs to hear the Word and draw them to believe, confess, and be saved as I share the Word of Jesus Christ with them. Help me guard my heart each day and let Your Word flow out of me.
Proverbs 4:23-26 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.”
God over all–blessed forever!
Scripture reading for June 3rd: 1st Kings 4, Proverbs 1-2, Psalm 43, Romans 9
Romans 9:1-5 “I am speaking the truth in Christ–I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit–that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, Who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
Paul was a Jew and loved God and His people. He knew the Old Testament Scriptures and was taught in the law and worship and promises and then taught them to others. But Paul encountered Christ and now Christ had given Him a new and deeper understanding of God’s grace to the whole world. He now understood that the Jews were privileged people but they were blind to Jesus Christ as their Messiah. He was so full of anguish for his own brothers and sisters that if he could, he would be accursed so that they might be saved! Sounds like the heart of Jesus Christ Himself for His own people, Jew or Gentiles! May God be praised and blessed forever and ever! Amen!
Psalm 43:3-4 “Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.”
Prayer: Our Father, You have sent Your light and Truth in the person of Jesus Christ to both Jew and Gentile. Thank You for being my Exceeding Joy! I pray for the salvation of all peoples, especially the Jews who had the privileges of carrying the Seed of Christ, receiving Your laws and promises. May all peoples bless You forever and ever! Amen!
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Anticipation of the coming glory!
Scripture reading for June 2nd: 1st Kings 3, 2nd Chronicles 1, Psalm 42, Romans 8
Romans 8:18-23 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him Who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from the bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Paul further explained that through the Holy Spirit, we have adoption into God’s family in token form for now. We are infilled by the Holy Spirit, but live in our bodies of flesh that still suffer pain, loneliness and longing for fullness of God’s promised redemption. We are promised a glorious body, like Jesus’ glorified body when He comes again. In the mean time, creation is under the bondage of sin and decay as well as human beings, saved and unsaved. As believers we groan inwardly too, awaiting Jesus’ return and anticipating with eager longing our full redemption. This is like the bride waiting for the Bridegroom!
Romans 8:23-25 “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Prayer: Father God, as I get older, I understand the groaning inwardly of my spirit for the fullness of redemption when Christ returns. That is my hope, the “Blessed Hope” of the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ! Thank You for the Holy Spirit, my down-payment of that coming glory Who groans with me, comforts me, and encourages me to be patient and wait and work!
Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself interceded for us with groaning to deep for words. And He Who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Psalm 42:1-2 “As a deer pant for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirst for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
The war between the flesh and the Spirit!
Scripture reading for June 1st: 1st Kings 2, 1st Chronicles 29, Romans 7
Romans 7:15-20 “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. No if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, within my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells withing me.”
Paul was a strict Jewish Pharisee, living under God’s law. The law was spiritual and Paul was of the flesh before he encountered Jesus Christ. He struggled to understand his own actions for he desperately wanted to obey the law and please God, but found himself instead doing that which the law forbade. He is now a follower of Christ and understands this war. It is his old sin nature that was crucified with Christ that he now must count as dead to sin. He must now count himself alive to God in Christ through identification with Christ’s resurrection. The grace coming through Christ enabled Paul and us to overcome the passions of sinful flesh that once enslaved us. Thanks be to God He has delivered us!
Romans 7:24-25 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for delivering me from the war between the flesh and the Spirit by filling me with Your Holy Spirit and giving me grace through Jesus Christ my Lord. Through the Spirit I now have ability to live free from the sin nature and be alive to God forever more. I offer myself to be used to share this Good News with all who still battle their sin nature. There is victory through the Lord Jesus!
1st Chronicles 29:19 “Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep Your commandments, Your testimonies, and Your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”
Count yourself alive to God!
Scripture reading for May 31st: 1st Kings 1, 1st Chronicles 26-28, Romans 6
Romans 6:11-14 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.”
The Old Testament Law stirred up the passions of the flesh and man’s sin nature rebelled and disobeyed. Jesus Christ fully obeyed the Law and took the penalty of death on our behalf for our law-breaking. Now that we have trusted Christ and come under the new covenant of grace through His shed blood, we count ourselves alive to God and dead to sin and its passions. A dead person cannot be influenced to sin because their passions are also dead. Since we are dead to sin and now are alive eternally in Christ, we also must daily present our bodies to God for Him to use as instruments for righteousness. Sin no longer has dominion over us for we live by God’s grace daily in thanksgiving.
1st Kings 1:5 “Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the gift of grace and righteousness through Your Son, Jesus Christ. He took my sin and its penalty and I died with Him. I was buried with Him and rose again to the newness of life eternal as He rose from the dead. I present my body to God to be used for His glory and to share His grace to build each person who repents into a habitation of God through His Spirit.
1st Chronicles 28:9-10 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”
Cause for rejoicing!
Scripture reading for May 30th: 1st Chronicles 22-25, Psalm 78, Romans 5
Romans 5: 1-5 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produced endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Paul expounded on the results and effects of our justification by God through faith. There was much cause for believers to rejoice and be filled with joy. They now enjoyed peace with God in that God’s gift of righteousness now took the place of guilt and shame and fear of judgment. Instead of God’s wrath, we now have a hope of beholding the glory of God and eternally reflecting His glory. We can even rejoice in our sufferings which were promised by Jesus for all who believe. These sufferings produce endurance, the ability to wait on God’s help and plan. They also produce character–the image of Jesus in our lives as a result of purification from sins and living in hope of eternal life.
Psalm 78:5-7 “He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; . .”
Prayer: Father God, I rejoice in Your gift of righteousness and the hope of eternal life. Thank You for peace with God and rest from the striving to keep the law. Form Your character in me and give me endurance in suffering. Help me to declare this joy and peace through faith to my children, grandchildren and their children until You come again and inhabit Your royal throne here on earth and forever and ever!
2nd Samuel 22:9-10 “‘Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My Name. He shall be My son, and I will be his Father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.'”
Faith counted as righteousness!
Scripture reading for May 27th: 2nd Samuel 24, 1st Chronicles 21, Romans 4
Romans 4:1-5 “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him Who justified the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, . .””
Paul was explaining the amazing truth of justification by faith to Gentile believers as well as Jews. Here he showed how God used Abraham’s faith to call him ‘righteous’ before the law or circumcision was given. This man Abraham simply believed God’s promise that he would become the father of many nations, even when his wife Sarah had been barren for many years. Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90 and beyond the years of childbirth, but by faith they conceived and Sarah had a child as God had promised. This child and his offspring would become a nation, Israel, that would be marked by God’s presence in their midst. However, Abraham’s simple faith made him the ‘father’ of all from every nation who will believe and received the gift of righteousness! Amen!
Romans 4:16-17 “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring–not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”–in the presence of the God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for giving all who believe in You and Your Son, Jesus Christ, the gift of Your righteousness and the forgiveness of our sins, guilt and shame. I am humbled and grateful to be filled with Your Presence. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and power to declare this “good news” to all people, nations, tribes and tongues that all might enjoy grace and eternal life in Your presence.
2nd Samuel 22:24-25 “But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.”
Justified by Faith in Jesus Christ!
Scripture reading for May 26th: 2nd Samuel 21-23, Psalm 18, Romans 3
Romans 3:21-26 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Paul taught the Romans about justification through faith. God can declare us righteous because of the death, burial and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. All who believe on Jesus have received mercy through His shed blood. We receive justification–God declaring us righteous in His sight through the gift of His grace by our faith. Because of God’s divine forbearance through Christ, He has blotted out our sins and remembers them no more. Now by Jesus Christ we can say with King David, “By Him I can run through a troop, by Him, I can leap over a wall!” God’s Word is indeed true! Christ is our shield of refuge and worthy of all praise in that He has saved us from all our enemies and accusers!
Psalm 18:29-30 “For by You I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God–His way is perfect; the Word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for covering over and removing our sins by the blood of Your Son. Thank You for justifying me and all who call upon You through faith in Jesus Christ. I proclaim Your praise and call upon You to pour out Your grace on the lost as Your Gospel is preached and people are set free from their enemies!
2nd Samuel 22:2-3 “He said, “The Lord is my rock and my deliverer, my God my Rock, in Whom I take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold and my Refuge, my Savior; You save me from violence. I call upon the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.””
God is impartial!
Scripture reading for May 25th: 2nd Samuel 18-20, Psalm 34, Romans 2
Romans 2:6-11 “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.“
Paul explained to the Roman believers that faith must have accompanying works. Those who were patiently doing good works and serving God through their relationship with Jesus Christ would receive eternal life. Those that lived for themselves and lived in rebellion to God’s truth would receive only wrath and the fury of God’s anger at the judgment. The psalmist stated that God sees the righteous and listens for their cries but stands against those who are evil to eliminate them from the earth! God is impartial! But it is not God’s will that any should be cut off or perish. King David’s cry over Absalom, his rebellious son, shares the heart of God in that he would rather have died instead of the son.
Psalm 34: 15-16 “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.”
Prayer: Father God, I am thankful that Your eyes are upon the righteous and Your ears listen for our cry! I am thankful that You would rather show mercy and sent Your Son to take the place of rebellious sinners like me. Lord give me Your heart and help me to live reflecting Your impartiality and grace through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2nd Samuel 18:33 “And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
Declared the Son of God in Power!
Scripture reading for May 24th: 2nd Samuel 15-17, Psalm 3, 63, Romans 1
Romans 1:1-6 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, Who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of Holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through Whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His Name among all nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
As Paul set about to write this letter to Roman believers, He declared Jesus Christ as the prophesied Son of God, descended from David through his flesh, but declared to be God’s Son by His resurrection from the dead. The power of God raised Him up through the Spirit of Holiness–God’s Holy Spirit. Resurrection life had entered Jesus’ body and brought resurrection after three days and three nights in the grave. This same Jesus had met Paul on the Damascus road and called Paul to believe and appointed him an apostle to share the Gospel with all nations. God had done it all and was now calling all men to salvation and holiness through the powerful Holy Spirit.
Psalm 3:8 “Salvation belongs to the Lord, Your blessing be on Your people!”
Psalm 63:2-3 “So I have looked upon You in the Sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You.”
Prayer: Father, Thank You for the amazing salvation brought to us by Jesus Christ, Your Son! Your power displayed in raising Jesus from the dead humbles me and makes me thankful and willing to follow You all the days of my life and for eternity. Use me to declare Your Son to all nations and call all to salvation in the power and anointing of Your Holy Spirit. Where You are my King, there will Your servant be!
2nd Samuel 15:21 “But Ittai answered the king (David), “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.”