Tag: John 3:16
Day 2–Our Lord God Responds First!
Scripture for January 2nd: Genesis 1-3
Genesis 3:9 “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:21 “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”
As we begin our year’s devotions, we start out with basic truths of Scripture. My aim is to keep these daily readings as simple as possible, yet to let God’s Word bring hope and inspiration to those sent to help hurting people. God our Father is full of compassion and is loving towards all mankind.
In Genesis 1 through 3 we have the record of creation and man’s fall into sin. God created the world and everything in it. The last act of creation was man made in His image and likeness. Adam and Eve were given rulership and care of creation as their assignment. This was to be under God’s authority and direction. They were warned not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or they would die. They walked and talked with God the Father regularly in His garden before temptation and disobedience.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s simple command, eating of the forbidden tree, and instantly felt guilt and shame, hiding from God and making coverings of fig leaves. God responded first–coming to the Garden and calling out, “Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) God loved Adam and Eve, but sin had caused separation and would bring death. God acted to intervene by seeking Adam’s confession and then Eve’s. Instead, they blamed others and God. He then killed an innocent animal and clothed them with the bloody skins. He sent them out of the garden under the curse they had brought upon their own lives through disobeying.
But God did not leave Adam and Eve and their children without a remedy. His response was a plan to show His love and mercy through sending His own Son as the second Adam, only without sin. He demonstrated that love by His Son laying down His life blood on behalf of sinners. The greatest love, God’s Son given, made available the greatest deliverance from death to eternal life by greatest number of people who would simply believe on Jesus Christ. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for responding to my great need of deliverance from sin and death. I respond to Your great Love by believing Your Word and receiving Your Son. Teach me to respond to Jesus each day in humble obedience. Amen.
God is good and loves eternally!
Scripture reading for April 22: 2nd Chronicles 1-5
Two great truths about God are voiced in this simple song that was sung when the priests and Solomon moved the Ark of the Covenant into the completed temple of the Lord. These truths are so simple and obvious that one would think everyone should know them and had experienced them. But Satan is a liar, always questioning God’s goodness and His enduring love!
God is good! God is good in all His ways and character. His goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives. (Psalm 23:6) He is good in His creation through which He has provided for all creatures food and drink to sustain them. Everything we eat ultimately comes from His hands. He is good to both the evil and the good. He shows mercy by his goodness in sending rain and bringing forth crops and food for all, no matter how they might treat Him! God is good in His character as well. He is pure and holy and righteous in every way. (Revelation 15:3-4) His perfection and holiness causes the hosts of heaven to adore Him, crying: “Holy, Holy, Holy!” ( Revelation 4:8) Ultimately all nations will come and worship Him for His goodness, justice and truth!
The second truth declared by those who moved the Ark into the Temple was that God’s love endures forever. God is love. (1st John 4:16) His nature is good because He is love that is eternal. God is from everlasting to everlasting! (Psalm 90:2) He pours out His love on those He has made in His image and likeness! “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) is one of the most quoted verses of the Bible. God’s love moved Him to send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to seek out lost men and save them. (Luke 19:10) His love heals the sick, cleanses the defiled, and restores broken lives to trophies of love!
Today, try singing this simple song as you go through your day. Look for all the ways that God is good to you and thank Him as you are reminded of His goodness! Tell Him that you love Him today and appreciate his eternal love! As you do, remember that you now bear His presence and glory as a living stone in his temple! You join Solomon and the hosts of heaven as they worship eternally!
Jesus and the Father are working!
Scripture reading for October 28th: John 5
Key Scriptures: John 5:17-21 “But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.””
Jesus had been doing miracles on the Sabbath and the religious leaders were beside themselves. They were persecuting Jesus because of this and then Jesus added another reason for them to plot His death. He stated plainly that God was “His Father” and that both of them were working in the miracles of healing that were being done. In fact, Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. In fact, Jesus announced, that greater works would be coming. The Father would raise the dead and give them life and the Son would do likewise giving those who believe His Words, eternal life. These statements caused the Jews to judge Jesus as a blasphemer as well as a Sabbath-breaker and worthy of death under the Old Testament law. Jesus said that He would not accuse them, but they would be judged by Moses–the Word that revealed Jesus as Messiah.
John 5:45-46 “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Faith confession and prayer: Father God, thank You for working on my behalf and sending Your Son to work the greatest miracle–salvation for mankind! I believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and trust Him for full salvation and eternal life. Open doors of witness today to share this good news with those who have not heard that Your work may be completed.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Thankful for God’s Provision!
Scripture reading for January 6th: Genesis 19-22
Growing in Thanksgiving: Genesis 22:1-3, 14 “Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” “. . .”So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
God asked Abraham to do a difficult thing: sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. Abraham obeyed and at the last second, God provided a ram in place of Isaac. “Jehovah Jireh” was the name Abraham gave the place on the mountain where “God provided” the ram!
Thanksgiving: God provided His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, as the substitute for our sins. He was offered on a cross of wood he carried in the same location as Abraham’s son! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)