Day: September 7, 2016

Daily Reading: 9-8-16

1 Timothy 1:1-11 The Message (MSG)

The Good News of the Gospel is that we can know and enjoy the love of God when our hearts are open to making Jesus the Lord.  God desires for us to open our lives up to His rule.  As you will read in our passage today, the law was given to bring revelation to to God’s family, so they would know when their lives were off track; when they had wandered off to live according to their own desires and inclinations.  The law was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  Now, when Jesus comes to live in our hearts, we are conformed to God by love and grace.  The Spirit helps us turn from sin in order to keep our hearts pure before God.  We are free, but not to live any way we want to live.  We are to live freely under the authority of God’s Word.

Read more

Daily Reading: 9-7-16

Luke 18:18-30 Living Bible (TLB)

Sometimes Christ’s Word can make us feel very uncomfortable.  Jesus can ask for us to follow him by surrendering something that makes us feel secure or to which we base our identity.  What makes you feel secure or important?  What is it that makes you feel like you stand out from the crowd?  Chances are the thing that makes you feel the most important has the greatest chance of robbing you of receiving something even better.  God is Good and He desires to bring forth supernatural promises, but sometimes we have to let go of what is presently in our hands.

In today’s reading, Jesus encounters a man who gains his worth and value out of his money and possessions. These things give the man a sense of authority and power in his community.  Jesus asks the rich man to give it all away to the poor and follow him.  The lesson for this man will be to find his security and identity in Christ; not his money or his possessions.  God wants to take care of him.  Great blessings await the rich man and Jesus reminds him of that truth.  But, the request is just too much to ask and the man walks away humanly rich but spiritually robbed.  If we are going to follow Christ into Kingdom living, we must focus on what we have to gain; rather, than focus on what God has asked us to surrender.

Read more