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“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

Paul has written to Timothy encouraging him to understand the importance of keeping the teaching he has received from Paul about Jesus always in his mind. Paul has warned Timothy about what people are capable of based on what they have already seen people do. As the time draws closer to the return of Jesus, Paul believes that the manipulation from the enemy will become stronger.

The people who will be acting in ungodly ways, in the end times, will be the people who most of the members of society are modeling themselves after. They will be influential people who are able to sway others to think the way they are thinking. As this happens, those who are not strong in their faith may be easily convinced that the way they have been living, for Jesus, is not worth continuing or that it was wrong all along.

So Paul is encouraging Timothy to continue to live according to the scriptures, to adhere to them. Timothy’s life will be an example to others about how to live, he may have to talk with others about their behaviors, using scripture as the example, in a loving manner to guide them back onto the correct path. This was going to be a large task for Timothy to accomplish without his mentor Paul. Paul was approaching the end of his life and in this letter was explaining that he wanted Timothy to be as prepared to carry on as possible.

The scriptures are from God and are a manual for Timothy and for us on how to live. We, just like Timothy, can find teaching about how God wants us to behave, we can find conviction when we sin and then we can find the way to ask for forgiveness from God as we acknowledge and correct our behaviors.

Have you ever asked yourself how equipped you are to do God’s work? I find that when I ask that question of myself, I do not feel very equipped. The wonderful news is that I don’t have to rely only on myself in order to be equipped because God lives in me and as long as I am willing, He is able to work through me to do the work that needs done.

I pray that I am and you are always willing to follow the scriptures, to listen to sound teaching from the scriptures and continue to be willing to allow God to work through me and through you. There is a lot of recruitment of other believers that needs done and others will watch how we behave sometimes more than what we say. I encourage each of us to read scripture, study scripture and live according to the God-breathed scripture we have been given.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

In 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul is writing to Timothy about how people may act as time goes on. He wants Timothy to remember the teaching he has received from Paul about Jesus is from scripture. Scripture is from God. He told each person who wrote the different verses, chapters and books of the Bible, what to write.

He gave them the inspiration to write, the words to write, the ability to remember what happened at times in their lives so it could be recorded. As the disciples, prophets and followers of Jesus wrote what God instructed them to write, it became part of them. Writing was not a simple task in the first century and before. There was parchment paper that had to be acquired, a quill was used that had to be dipped back in a bottle of ink very often. There were no stacks of paper, pencils, pens or computers to make recording what happened easy.

We are not privileged to be living in a time when we are seeing events first hand that are then recorded and become part of scripture. However, the recording of the scriptures from Moses’s time up through Paul’s time preserves what God wants us to know. This allows us to utilize the scripture as a manual or a road map of how God wants us to live.

The only way that we are able to know what is in the Bible, all the wonderful information that is in the scriptures, is to read the Bible. Even though it was not an easy undertaking to write down all the events during that time in history, it is easy for us to read it. We have not only the physical copies of the Bible, but we have electronic verses, we have the Bible on our phones. There is no reason that we can give to say that we don’t have access to the Bible.

What does your routine of reading the Bible look like? Are you in God’s word daily, weekly or sporadically?

It is important to be grounding ourselves in God’s word since that is where the information is about how we are to live. The scriptures also contain information about God so we are able to learn more about Him. As we live life, we usually have an idea of where we would like to end up, how we want our lives to go. As a Christian that idea hopefully is wanting to live life according to God’s will. If you are not in God’s word, His road map for us, then it is difficult to know where you are going. It is difficult to know what God wants you to do or the path He wants you to take.

I encourage you to spend time in God’s word, He had it written just for you, for me and for all of His children so we could stay connected to Him and learn from Him.

“God is within her, she will not fall, God will help her at break of day.” Psalms 46:5 NIV

When you read this verse, what do you think that it is about? I used to think this was literally talking about a particular woman within a story or at least women in general. However, after doing some research, I was surprised to find out what this verse is actually referring to.

It is important that as we study the Bible, that we don’t take verses and stand them alone. Taking a verse and pulling it out as a stand alone verse to prove a point can be dangerous because the verses are in a passage for a reason, God had them placed in the order and grouping that they are in on purpose.

As we study God’s word, we will find verses that when read in the passage they are in have different meanings than if they were read as a single verse. We will also find verses that read exactly the same whether they are in a passage or by themselves. The challenge is remembering that we are not the ones who wrote the verses, we were not the ones inspired by God to place them in the order they are in and therefore we don’t know without having read the whole passage if this verse or that verse is meant to be looked at individually or not.

My mother would always say that you have to read at least the verse before and the verse after a particular verse to gain perspective. Individuals who go door to door and try to persuade people to think the way they think based on single verses are the people who taught her that. She would invite them in and talk with them about that single verse they were trying to persuade her meant one thing when she knew after having read the entire chapter that it meant something else.

This is a perfect example of how we can take a single verse and believe it to mean one thing when it actually means more than what we think. As I said, I thought this verse was about women or at least one particular woman, but it is not, it is about all believers. As I looked at other translations, which is one way to help understand scripture, I found in the New Living Translation that the verse goes like this. “God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.” Combining that translation and the reading of the entire psalm helped me to understand that this verse has a totally different meaning than what it sounds like when it is read individually.

This verse is not about women in general or a particular woman, it is about Jerusalem. This Psalm is believed to have been written by the Sons of Korah, who were a group of Levites musicians in the Old Testament.  The Psalm is written as a song that is to be sung by a group of women and it tells of how Jerusalem, while under attack, is able to trust in the Lord’s protection. They believe that because God resides with them, ‘within her – within the city walls’ – that they will be protected.

The idea of the break of day is that it is the darkest right before dawn and that is when the enemy usually attacks. The psalm is talking about how God will be there for them at that pivotal moment and will deliver them.

As believers, we can all take comfort in this entire psalm, comfort that when everything looks to be the darkest it can be, that God is right there with us. We can think of this verse and entire psalm not only when we are facing our enemy personally and spiritually but also when we are facing others publicly who are against God.

Take comfort that God lives inside you, will protect you and deliver you when it is the perfect time. I hope you have a peaceful day resting in that assurance.

“Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” Matthew 23:26 NIV

In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus is talking about listening to the pharisees and religious leaders of the day. We are to follow authority but we are not follow the example of hypocrisy. Throughout the chapter at different times, Jesus talks about listening to the people in authority and telling the crowd and His disciples to do what they are told to do but to be careful not to do what they see the people in authority doing. The pharisees and the religious leaders of the day were very good at telling the Jewish people what they had to do to fulfill the law both secularly and spiritually. However, the pharisees and religious leaders were not very good at following the law and fulfilling it themselves.

Throughout the 23rd chapter of Matthew, Jesus warns against hypocrisy and how that hypocrisy was going to affect not only the person being the hypocrite but those around them. People believe that when they say to do one thing to others and then do the opposite themselves, that it is ok. For example as a parent, the thinking is that “I told my children not to smoke, so they shouldn’t smoke. But I am the parent and I can do it if I choose to. Or I don’t want my children to do it, but I have been doing it for so long, I can’t stop.” is a perfectly acceptable way to show your children how to live. I believe we all can see the flaw in that thinking.

Hypocrisy can be done in public or secret. When the pharisees were telling the Jewish people to fulfill the law and then not fulfilling it themselves in such a way that everyone knew it, they were destroying their own creditability with the Jewish people. It is hard to follow someone who tells you to do one thing and then does the opposite themselves. Some of the religious leaders were making sure that in public everyone saw that they were in the synagogue and were giving their tithing regularly, but privately they were breaking other laws such as judging others and talking about others. When people practice hypocrisy in secret, they believe that they are getting away with it and that no one knows what they are doing. Again, when it is brought into the public that the leader was only following the law publicly, their credibility was destroyed.

Even if no other person knew what the pharisees and religious leaders were doing in private, Jesus knew. God knew. We are never able to do anything in true privacy because God always knows. You cannot change only on the outside, you have to change on the inside as well. Jesus, in the verse for today, is trying to get the pharisees and religious leaders to understand this idea by using household items, a cup and a dish. The Jewish people were very concerned with cleanliness and made sure that what they had was clean, not only their items but themselves as well. So they would have understood this analogy.

Jesus tells them that if you are only going to wash the outside of a cup and the side of a dish that shows then you truly have not cleaned the entire cup and dish. The inside of the cup and the underside of the dish are still dirty and cannot be used because they are not clean. He was explaining that it doesn’t matter if you are following the laws only in public because when you are in private if you are not following the laws, then you are sinning.

By making sure that you clean the inside of the dish and cup first, you are ensuring that it will be able to be used whereas the cup and dish that are only clean on the outside are not able to be used to eat and drink out of. When we only change our outward behaviors, we really are not changing anything. We are pretending to change and the ‘pretend change’ will not last. If we want to truly change our behavior, our belief or our way of thinking, we need to change on the inside – we need to change our heart.

If you are trying to grow in your relationship with Jesus and mature in your faith, are you changing what others see only or are you changing what God sees as well? We are all going to make mistakes, and sin. The difference between truly changing and doing it all for show is what we do once we have made the mistake or have sinned. Are we ignoring it, hoping it goes away or pretending like it didn’t happen or are we addressing it, trying to make amends and let God change us? That is the true determinizing factor in change, what are you doing about it once you have messed up?

I pray that each one of us is going to God and allowing Him to change us so that we are able to be more like Jesus each and every day. As you go through your day, I encourage you to think about how you are behaving both publicly and privately. Have a wonderful day.

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 NIV

In the third chapter of Daniel, The account moves from Daniel for a moment and focuses on his 3 friends, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego. Leading up to the verses for today, King Nebuchadnezzar had ordered that every person from every land would bow before a golden statue that he had his workers make when they heard music. The music was their signal that it was time to bow to the statue in obedience to the king. If anyone did not bow to the statue then the punishment would be death by being thrown into the fiery furnace that was used to melt metal and bake the bricks to build buildings.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had not bowed when the music was played and one of the other individuals had informed King Nebuchadnezzar that he had 3 people in his court that were not obeying his order. King Nebuchadnezzar has the 3 men brought to him and questions them. This is where they make a hard choice and glorify to God. The king gives them one more chance to bow to his statue and obey his order.

In the verses for today, we see their answer to King Nebuchadnezzar when he asks them one last time if they will bow to the statue. The reply that they are not defending themselves and that they are not bowing to any statue, that they only worship God. They knew this meant death by burning alive in a furnace that was extremely hot.

They placed their trust and very lives in the hands of God, they showed how much they trusted God and how much faith they had in God to deliver them. They even said that if God chose not to deliver them, then they still would not bow to the king’s statue. They made the hard choice to follow God when it wasn’t convenient for them, their lives were on the line.

They could have bowed to the statue and then given a number of excuses as to why they did and how it was ok for them to do that. They could have said that they were only doing it this once so the King would stop harassing them about it or they could have said that they did it but didn’t mean any part of it. The problem with that is that once they did it, they would not have been able to undo it. Once they bowed to the statue, they were in. It was going to become harder to not do it the next time and what was the next excuse that they would use?

If they had chosen to bow, they would have been discredited as followers of God, their God, the God who had been faithful to them, protected them and who they had followed for all of their lives. God would have known that they obeyed the king and showed others that they had no trust or faith in God. They were in a tough situation and then chose to do the right thing and the hard thing.

Have you ever made a hard choice like this? One where you were going to lose something or someone if you chose God instead of what the other person wanted you to do. What did you do? Did you choose the other person or did you choose God? I pray you chose God.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 NIV

Have you ever made a promise and then either chose not to keep it or were unable to keep it? I know I have, and unfortunately the person I promised probably remembers it more than I do. Whether I chose to not keep it or I was unable to keep it, the fact that I didn’t is one of the many things that makes me and you different from God.

God doesn’t choose to not follow through with a promise. God isn’t unable to keep a promise. When He promises something, He is faithful and follows through with what He promised. There are 2 types of promises that God has made with us, conditional and unconditional. Understanding which type of promise God has made to us helps us to realize why a promise may appear to have not been kept.

Conditional promises involve both parties having responsibilities. The first party has responsibilities to fulfill before the second party is able to fulfill their part of the promise. For example, from the life of a parent, it would look like this. A parent promises their child dessert after they have eaten their supper. The child needs to eat all of their supper before the parent will give them the dessert. In our spiritual life, it looks like this, God promises to answer prayers with either Yes, No or wait. However, this promise is conditional in that if we don’t pray and ask for anything of God then there is no prayer for God to answer. He won’t answer a prayer He has not received.

Unconditional promises involve both parties but only one of them has responsibilities in it. The responsibility is held by the party who made the promise. The party who bears the responsibility does not need the other party to do or say anything, their part in this type of promise is to simply accept that the promise is being kept. For example, God promised Noah that He would never again destroy everything on the earth with a flood. He has kept that promise to this day and I believe will continue to keep that promise. Our job as His children is to accept that He is keeping that promise.

God has promised us, His children, many things and some of those promises are solely His responsibility to keep, but some of them require us to do things. We need to make sure that we know which type of promise we are holding on to before we decide that we believe God isn’t keeping a promise. We may be surprised when we think about it that either God has not kept His part of the promise yet because we haven’t done our part yet or God has kept the promise and we don’t like the result.

When we hold onto the promises God has made, it helps us to walk through life on this earth with faith. We are able to walk in faith even when our circumstances are not as we would like them to be. That does not mean that God is not fulfilling His promise, it simply means that we would like the promise to have been different.

We know that God is faithful, that He is going to keep His promises, He always does. Any promise between us and God that is not kept occurs when we don’t keep our promises to God.

Have you made God any promises lately?

Have you kept those promises or have you walked away from them? Remember, God doesn’t walk away from us or His promises.

“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:2 NIV

Have you ever sat back and thought about how wonderful God is? How about how wonderful His creation, all of the world is? I am amazed at how wonderful He is and that He is eternal. When I was younger both physically and spiritually, my mind struggled to understand that God has always been and will always be. There was never a time when God was not.

Over the years, as I have grown and began to accept that God is eternal, it has brought me a great deal of comfort. I came to realize that I could trust God to always be there which has propelled me forward in building my relationship with Him. I know that He is not going to just disappear one day.

God created everything that is in the world, all the trees, plants, animals, you and me. I am in awe of His magnificent greatness. To be able to plan out the vast number of different plants and animals and it one’s unique design. No two types animals are exactly alike, no two types of plants are exactly alike and no two humans are exactly alike. This all amazes me and I love that my God is everlasting, He has always been and will always be.

Thank You Lord for being eternal, for always being and never ending. As we walk with You, learn from You and love You, we can rest in the fact that You have always been here and You will continue to always be here. Thank You for creating the earth, the plants, animals and us. Thank You for loving us even after we have sinned against You. Please be with each one of us as we move through our day and do our best to honor and glorify You in all we think, say and do. In Jesus’s precious name. Amen

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11 NIV

This verse is not considered to be an additional Beatitude because it does not follow the pattern of a virtue and then a reward for having the virtue, as the other 8 do. It is considered to be an extension of the final Beatitude in verse 10. Either way, I feel that this verse needs to be paid attention to because this is still a blessing coming from Jesus. As Christians we have a choice everyday, actually moment to moment each day, about how we are going to live and what we are going to show others.

If we choose to live life in such a way that no one ever knows that we are Christians, then we are not living for Jesus. If we do not show the “Love of God” to others, we are not following the commandment of “Love one another” that Jesus gave His disciples. That commandment still applies today to each believer. It did not disappear when Jesus ascended into heaven.

When we live life showing others the “Love of God” and making the right and most of the time hard choice about behaviors, we are going to anger our enemy. The devil does not like it when we are committed to Jesus and live life trying to imitate Jesus. He will do his best to have people in our lives who will insult us, who will persecute us and who will say false things about us simply because we worship Jesus. This verse states that we are blessed with that happens.

It does not feel like a blessing when it is happening, but Jesus sees what each one of us is going through and He is there with us every step of the way. When the devil ups his game and tries new tactics such as placing people in our lives to insult us or falsely accuse us, we need to remember that he is doing this because we are a threat to him. If we didn’t pose any kind of threat to the devil, then he would not even bother with us.

Even though it is not considered an additional Beatitude and it doesn’t seem like a blessing when we are being insulted, having the character trait of courage to openly declare your allegiance to Jesus is how the world is to be. It is how God planned the world to be in the first place, glorifying and honoring God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

So, if you are being insulted, persecuted, or falsely accused, please turn to God in prayer and ask for His strength to get you through the situation you are in. He knows why it is happening and God is blessing you by making you stronger because you are walking or have walked through it relying on him.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10 NIV

Jesus ends the list of the “blessed” in what we call “The Beatitudes” with the persecuted. Being persecuted is defined as ‘facing hostility or being ill treated’ and may look differently for different people. When we think of persecution, our minds go to severe situations such as torture, imprisonment and even death. However, there are other forms of persecution that Christians have suffered over the years that are either not as well known or are not viewed as being as severe.

Some of those situations include being fired from a job because of your Christian beliefs, being insulted, being made fun of, having family exclude you from family gatherings. Christians who are willing to follow Jesus and live their lives in the manner that is asked of them will probably face judgment and even persecution at some point in their life.

A determining factor in the level of persecution depends on where you live. For example, in North Korea, India and Afghanistan, people are sentenced to death if it is determined that they are Christians. Thankfully in the United States of America, we are free to practice whatever religion we choose to practice and have safeguards against being discriminated and persecuted because of those practices. However, the safeguards do not stop individuals from making fun of Christians, insulting Christians or excluding Christians from their own friend circle or families.

I believe that the idea of being persecuted because of your righteous actions is listed here because you can avoid being persecuted all together. You can choose to not let others know that you are a Christians, you can choose to not do what is right. When you are committed to Jesus, just as Jesus is committed to you, remember He died on the cross for you, then you choose to show others your belief in Him.

For a large group of people, making that choice to show their love of Jesus results in them losing family relationships, connections with friends and even their freedom to be in certain places such as particular restaurants. When we choose to let everyone know that we are a child of God, and risk losing something to make our love for Jesus well known, we are blessed.

It is interesting to me that the first beatitude and the last beatitude have the same reward of “the kingdom of heaven”. Jesus started the list with the action that had to do with our inward acknowledgement of dependence on God and He ends the list with the action of our outward acknowledgment of choosing to follow God even when it costs us by the world’s standard. We can’t enter or have the reward of heaven if we are not willing to believe that we need Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. We should rightfully not be allowed to enter or have the reward of heaven if we do not choose to stand for Jesus when it will cost us. Afterall, Jesus stood for us and lost His life to show everyone that He loves us and wants us in heaven with Him.

Are you proud to be a child of God? I am and I even had that very statement – “Child of God” tattooed on my arm because I am proud that God is willing to have me in His family. Whether or not you have been persecuted because of your belief in Christ or your actions as a Christian, other Christians have been and please pray with me for their deliverance.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9 NIV

How is a peacemaker different from a peacekeeper? These are two terms that are mistakenly interchanged a lot. There is a difference and the difference is in how the person goes about obtaining peace.

Peace keeping occurs as a result of fear. For example, imagine a person who has a short fuse and becomes upset very easily if they are challenged in anyway about any of their beliefs. If this person, another person and a peacekeeper are having a conversation, the first thing a peacekeeper will do is try to not have the conversation become about anything that they believe will upset the person with the short fuse, especially if they are not in agreement with that person.

If a topic does arise that is possibly upsetting to that person, the peacekeeper will try to change the subject or even pretend to agree with the person with the short fuse so they do not become upset. This is done out of fear about how the person will act once they become upset. What this does is create an environment where the person who has the short fuse is able to say what they want, act the way they want and over time have a relationship where no one questions them. This is not the way in which God planned for us to live. God gave us a spirit of courage and not of fear and when we rely on Him we can do amazing things.

Peace making occurs as a result of courage given to us by God. A peacemaker keeps in mind the spirit of courage that God has given each believer when they are facing this situation. If a peacemaker instead of a peacekeeper was present in this conversation, the peacemaker is going to behave differently. They are not going to try and keep everyone happy. They will not seek out an argument but they will not avoid it either. Instead they are going to try and help both parties understand that each of them is able to hold their own opinions and still be in a relationship that does not need to become volatile.

Peacemaking, not peacekeeping is important in God’s kingdom. Peace is spoken about throughout the Bible. The ultimate peace that we can strive for is peace with God and Jesus became the peacemaker that was able to achieve that so that we can have peace with God. When Jesus died on the cross, He created peace, breaking the barrier that was present between us and God by paying the final price of sin for us.

The second half of the verse says that those who are peacemakers are called the children of God. Another time when we are referred to as children of God is when we become saved. Both of these times are in reference to the privileges those who are adopted into a family obtain. The same privileges as children born into the family. The adopted child is viewed the same as the biological child and therefore is called a child of the parents in that family. As children of God through salvation, we can then be seen as having a resemblance to Jesus, the ultimate peacemaker, when we imitate Him by carrying peace in us and promoting peace outwardly wherever we go. God is the God of peace, and we should imitate Him in all areas of our lives.

How do we become peacemakers and not peacekeepers. Peacemakers have some important characteristics that we can strive to develop. Peacemakers are people who are at peace with themselves, they are listeners who respond, instead of react, to others. They are interested in other people, focusing on the group as a whole instead of just themselves. As peacemakers who are also believers, we have the extra added benefit of having the Holy Spirit inside us to help us with the courage that is sometimes needed in dealing with the possibility of conflict that can arise when you are a peacemaker.

So, which do you want to be? A peacekeeper who reacts out of fear of others and wants to simply keep peace for a little period of time or a peacemaker who acts out of courage to promote and develop peace that can last for a long time. I encourage you to pray about it and ask God for direction on how you are to proceed.