Read the Bible in a Year (26OCT19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, October 26’s Bible reading is Luke 6-7.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, October 27’s Bible reading is Luke 8-9. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

 

LUKE MOMENT – (26OCT19) “One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles” (Luke 6:12-13). Jesus oftentimes got away from the crowd and even His disciples to spend time alone with his Father. So, when He went up the mountainside to pray, He knew that prayer was necessary for Him to be strong in His earthly body to overcome the trials, temptations, and challenges that would come His way. Jesus even prayed about the decisions that He would have to make, so after having prayed to his Father, Jesus completed the task of choosing His disciples. Jesus had not come to the world to uplift Himself, but He came not only to save mankind from sin, but to set the example and show us the proper way to have a relationship with the Father. Jesus was all about relationships, and in having a relationship with his Father, He knew that communication through prayer was key and that we would need to model His example to defeat the enemy.

Sometimes we can make the mistake of communicating with God after we have made the wrong decision rather than going to Him before a decision. We may think that God is not concerned about our goings and comings because He has more important things to do. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. God is concerned about every aspect of our lives from the least to the greatest. Nothing that concerns us is insignificant to God. The Apostle Paul wrote: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people” (Ephesians 6:18). We are not limited with what we can pray for unless it goes against the nature of God. For example, one cannot pray to have another person’s spouse when God’s Word tells us not to covet and that adultery is a sin. Nevertheless, one can pray that God will send them their own spouse in accordance to His will for their lives. Communication with God is also a two-way street. We are to pray to Him and then listen for His response. The Bible says: “It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). Jesus trusted in his Father to hear and answer all of His requests in accordance to His will. In being followers of Christ, we are to do the same and trust that He will communicate with us as well in His still small voice. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (26OCT19) Do I really need to love on my enemies? Well, yes! Jesus said: “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you” (Luke 6:27-28). Jesus said that it was easy to love and do for those who respond and treat you with kindness, but great is the reward for those who can love the people who are the most difficult to love. It is not easy to love the ones who constantly spit in your face and do you wrong. Yet, if we look at what Jesus went through from His enemies, the things that we go through are mild in comparison. Oftentimes, the person who hates you is not doing so because of you, but it is the demonic entity that is residing within them, which causes them to be hateful, cruel, and unkind. The Bible says: “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). We must remember that our enemy is not that actual person that we see, so if we keep this in mind, we can learn to separate that person from their demonic manifestation. If we as Christians believe what the Bible says, we must apply all of it even when it comes to dealing with our enemies. Therefore, we must wear the whole armor of God for it is only through Him that we can love, pray, and defeat the ultimate enemy of our souls. Something to ponder….