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Today’s reading:  1 Kings 1, 1 Chronicles 26-28, Romans 6

Sanctify:  (v) to set apart as or declare holy; consecrate (Dictionary.com).

Romans 6-8 is all about sanctification, or how God changes our life as we mature in our faith.  Chapter 6, our text for today, focuses on how we as followers of Jesus Christ are free from the slavery of sin.  Wonder what that looks and feels like?  Honestly, it is a little hard for me to wrap my head around.  I still live in this sinful world and, despite my desire to avoid it, I still sin pretty often.  Romans chapter 6, however, is a great reminder of the specific things God has done for me.  I am a child of God, yes I am.

• He has given me new life.

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:3-4).

• He has given me a new nature.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness (Romans 11-13).

• He has given me freedom.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:22-23).

Free at last
He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes He died for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God
Yes I am

(Hillsong Worship, 2018)

Today’s Reading: 1 Chronicles 25-28, Psalm 78, Romans 5

Hope, defined by Oxford’s dictionary, is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, a feeling of trust.”

Romans 5:3 says “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.”

Hope is a powerful four-letter word.  Hope provides us the anticipation of something positive. Hope gives us the strength to carry on expecting our situation will get better.  Hope gives us the drive and wherewithal to “stay the course” when impossible situations occur. Hope is easier to maintain when you feel loved, supported, and know there is a purpose for you, your life, and your strife.

Fear, defined by Oxford’s dictionary, is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.”

Fear is a powerful four-letter word. Fear can cause impatience.  Fear can drive people to make irrational decisions.  Fear can create ideas, questions, or concerns about things that may not occur.  Fear can paralyze and prevent action by anticipating what might occur.

When we turn on the news each day, there are so many reasons to be afraid and full of fear.  The pandemic, the Russians and the war in Ukraine, the Republicans, the Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, China, inflation, automated intelligence (AI), hurricanes, global warming, and the list goes on.

As Christians, we expect tribulations.  As we read scripture and study God’s Word, we have a foundation to know that life on earth is going to be difficult.  We make our decisions regarding gender, sexuality, morality, and the like based on the Gospel.  Fear should not drive us to sadness or worry. God’s got this.

Romans 5:5 says, “Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Hope should exalt us to live with resolve and confidence that our God is at work.  Hope sees us through the “chaos” of a sinful world, woke culture, and the ideology that we are a bad person for our beliefs.

May God give us peace, understanding, and hope.  My favorite Bible verses are Philippians 4:6-7 which says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Today’s reading;  2 Samuel 21-23, Psalm 18, Romans 3

I spent last week in Miami at a Commercial Negotiations training course.  The session was 40 hours of material over 3.5 days.  It was intense, and I was exhausted by the time I got home midday Friday.  Application of the key principles, however, will be game changing for my organization.  Without revealing any of my new found strategies, a couple important concepts I learned were:

• Right and wrong – there is not absolute right or wrong in a negotiation, only what is appropriate for the set of facts presented in particular circumstance.
• Power – who holds the power in a negotiation is dictated by time and circumstance, not who has the most money.
• Approach/Tactics – the best approach/tactics for the situation are determined by the longevity of the relationship, dependency of the parties, trust between the parties, and complexity of the deal.  If you use a relational approach in tactical negotiation, you will be exploited.  On the other hand, if you treat a highly dependent/mutual problem solving negotiation as tactical, you are likely to hurt the relationship.

Coming out of that intensive training, I naturally tuned in to Paul’s approach as I studied our text for today in Romans 3.  Paul had been a Pharisee (religious leader).  After his conversion to Christianity, he had been commissioned by God to take the gospel message to the Gentiles.  In addition to his missionary journeys to Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, Cyprus , Judea and Syria, he authored at least 14 of the 27 books in the New Testament.  We know from reading the New Testament that he was very articulate and extremely influential.  But I can’t tell if he was a good negotiator or not, because in our relationship with God…

• • There is absolute truth; right and wrong are clearly defined by God.
  • God holds all the power.
  • The best approach/tactics to use in dealing with others are the same in every situation.  They are what the Bible calls the fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Fortunately our salvation does not depend on our ability to develop or execute the right strategy.  There is no need for us to negotiate with God.  He understands us and, in spite of our wrongdoings, sent Jesus to pay the price for our sin.  Our part is choosing to place our faith in him.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith (Romans 3:23-25a).

 

 

Today’s Reading : 2 Samuel 13-14; Acts 28 

Throughout our lives, we go through cycles. Sometimes we find ourselves doing routines with ourselves or our friends at the same cadence.  It sometimes can become predictable. One of the  cycles that I find myself in is the “day off cycle”.  Since working in pharmacy, I’ve always had one particular day off during the week.  This day has been on Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday, and Monday. Each of these days was set aside, so that I could have a specific day off during the week to accommodate me working on the weekends. Now as this day comes up, it’s a day of reflection, refreshment, restoration. Many times in our life the cycle helps us to get a sense of routine or safety. Sometimes cycles happen for us that are good. Sometimes cycles can be placed upon us from generational things that we have to overcome. In today’s reading, we can see that David is going through several cycles that affect his entire life. 

David’s life had many cycles. To fully understand today’s passage you have to review some of the previous chapters. In the previous chapters, it is where David takes Bathsheba for his wife and kills her husband. This continued a cycle of killing and fleeing that David had for most of his life as we saw with King Saul and with his son Absalom. 

In the cycles, David shows us a wrestling between his human nature and the spirit of God. In the cycles we could see how we will fall, but if we have the Spirit of God with us, then we could be renewed. Even when we are renewed, sometimes we have to undergo the pain of our actions.  One of the most inspiring, yet hard realizations is when David’s first born child of Sheba passes away.

2 Samuel 12: 19-22

19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

In this passage, we can see an example of how to be like David, in the respect of how to give God everything that we have. In the midst of our sorrows, God is working in us. In the midst of grief, God is working with us. And despite all of the circumstances that may transpire against us, we have to understand that God will provide peace and comfort to us in our darkest times.

Sometimes we go through cycles for our benefit, or for the benefit of others. No matter what our cycles that we are going through we must continue to ask God for his guidance to show us how his glory will be revealed. Some of our cycles will be happy. Some of our cycles will be sad. But in all of our cycles, we understand that God is with us.

Be blessed.

2 Samuel 7-8, 1 Chronicles 17, Psalm 132, Acts 25

Have you ever been wrongly accussed?  I remember when when I worked at a summer camp during college, another counselor and I were accused of something we did not do. We were not treated fairly and I still can feel the emotions of not being heard and believed. Eventually, our boss admitted that he was wrong, but my human tendency is still to hold a grudge against him for treating me so unfairly. During this time I was so caught up in being right, I constantly  tried to prove myself. I had no confidence that at some point the truth would come out and I would vindicated.

As I read through Acts 25, I was amazed and convicted of how Paul remained faithful and confident in his faith. Even after being held in prison for two years without being brought to trial.

Finally, Paul was brought before Festus and says this…

“If I have broken the law and done something for which I deserve the death penalty, I do not ask to escape it. But if there is no truth in the charges they bring against me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to the Emperor.”
Acts 25:11

From these words we can see that Paul was willing to be held accountable for his actions and was completely confident that the Lord would be his defender. This is a lesson and deep reminder for us. We can have this same confidence as Paul.

Paul had complete confidence that the Lord would deliver him. He did not try and manipulate the situation and was 100% confident that God would be his defender. This is such reminder for us today.

We are to live with the same boldness and confidence that Paul lived with. How do we live our lives knowing that God is faithful to deliver us from every situation? This confidence comes only from walking intimately with Jesus every single day. Through spending time talking to Him, listening to Him, reading His Word, and spending time with other believers.

May we continue to read these accounts in the Bible and let them build our confidence that God is who He says He is and He will Do what He says He will do.