Tuesday, 29 October 2019
2 Peter 3:8-10
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved.”
God has not yet destroyed this world in judgment because he wants more people to have a chance to turn to him and be saved!
Two thousand years may seem like a long time to us, for God to bring his promised judgment. But thousands of years mean nothing to God, who exists outside of time. What means a lot to God are the souls of people.
God’s sense of justice is dragging us ever closer to the “day of the Lord”, when he makes all things right; but his measureless mercy is holding that day back for a little bit longer to give more people time to find his forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
God’s destruction will be awful, his judgment terrifying; so let’s join him in inviting people to find protection in Christ.
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Wednesday, 30 October 2019
2 Peter 3:11-13
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
We can hasten “the coming of the day of God!”
That day of reckoning is coming. God repeats that theme again and again in this chapter. There is no avoiding it. God is going to utterly destroy this world and carry out his judgment on people without Christ.
The reason that people who have entered into a living relationship with Christ will not be judged is that the judgment they deserve has already been carried out on the person of Jesus Christ, who suffered in our place.
God’s judgment is coming. The only reason God is holding it back is to give more people time to turn to him. So how can we hasten its coming? By leading more and more people into God’s forgiveness found in Jesus.
In light of the urgency of the situation, don’t you think the Lord would want you to up the level of your witness to those in your life without Christ? Ask him how you can start today.
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Thursday, 31 October 2019
2 Peter 3:14-15
“Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him.”
Since you know for sure that Jesus is returning, live in a way that will bring him great joy when he returns!
“Since you are waiting for these” — Peter expects that we keep Jesus’ return in our minds all the time that we are expecting it and anticipating it eagerly. What a difference that expectation would make in our daily lives.
If we truly believed that Jesus was returning soon, wouldn’t we be much more aware of the things in our lives that need to be cleaned out and thrown away? Wouldn’t we be much more careful to do those things that we knew he loved? Wouldn’t we spend more time with him and obey his leading in our lives?
Well, guess what? He IS returning at any time. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe before tomorrow. Maybe next month.
Make sure that when he arrives, your relationship with him is right and good, strong and responsive. “Be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
If he came right now, how would you feel? What do you need to get right with God about today?
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Friday, 1 November 2019
Revelation 22:12-13
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
God is the measure of all things!
Every person’s life will be measured against God. We like to think that we are the captains of our fates, that we decide the standards of morality for ourselves, and that our ultimate accountability is defined simply by whether or not we have been true to our own principles.
But there is a measure far greater and more absolute than ours in this universe. That measure belongs to the One who existed long before anything else, whose existence is based on nothing but himself. He is the one who defines right and wrong. In fact, we would not even have a sense of right and wrong if his image was not indelibly stamped upon us.
In Greek alphabet terms, there is One who is the Alpha and the Omega. You may be a brilliant (Phi Beta) Kappa, but it doesn’t matter one iota. All existence is defined and measured by him. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
That One is here with you right now as you are reading, and he will return to this world in power one day to judge all people.
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Saturday, 2 November 2019
Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
God answers prayer!
Yet somehow it seems that often our prayers are met with spiritual silence. When our prayers seem to make no difference, we wonder if God really hears us. But the overwhelming message of the Bible is that God answers prayer. Read the stories of the Bible and note how many of them involve prayer and God’s answers! God is encouraging you today to pray with the expectation that he is listening and will respond.
Or for some of us, maybe God’s message today is something that we don’t like to accept—that something might be wrong with our praying, rather than with God’s answering. Invite God to improve your prayer life this week as we focus on answered prayer.
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Sunday, 3 November 2019
Psalm 66:18-20
“If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!”
Your relationship with God must be right if you expect him to answer your prayers!
When you come into a living relationship with Jesus Christ, your guilt before God is taken away and you begin to relate to him as his child. You are secure in that relationship with him as his son or daughter. But as his child your daily fellowship with God is hindered when you disobey him or resist what he wants to do in your life.
When you become aware of a problem in your fellowship with God, when you know that you need to make things right in the relationship, don’t delay. Get the issues out in the open. Talk to God about those things and ask for his forgiveness and restoration of your fellowship with him. He still loves you as his dear child and wants you to be walking close to him.
When you make things right with you and God, then you will find that there is such a great confidence in your prayers and an openness in God’s response.