Daily Bible Study for Tuesday September
20, 2016
By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N
Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying
God’s Word Around The Globe”
Chapter Reading
for Today: Please read in
your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered
paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate
translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful
for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their
wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version,
that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I
will keep it with the New King James Version.
One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my
own writing. I am adding red to the letters when
it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.
Bible
Gateway Verse of the Day
Joel 2:23
Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice
in the Lord your God; for He has given you the
former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you— The
former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
Psalm
100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
Song: God is Good By: Chicago Mass Choir
Psalm 60
From Death to Life
Israel was a nation that had
sinned. They had been “cast off” by the Lord because of their many sins. Now
David is crying out in prayer for the Lord to hear his plea for help. He knew
that the help of man would be useless. He knew that God would be the one to
give them the necessary courage to go out as a strong army against the enemy
and come out victorious. Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father:
Thank You for being our very
present help when trouble comes. Father, we know that we live in the new
dispensation, and as a result, we can rejoice that You have already dealt with
the enemy of our souls – satan, that old serpent. But we also know that even
though we have to take the authority over the devil in our lives, we still need
You to lead and guide us with Your wisdom through every situation we face.
Therein lies the victory. Cause Your children to receive what You have for each
one reading this study. Father, I ask You to bring them from the north, south,
east and west to hear Your message of love, hope, encouragement and
empowerment. Bring them from the valley of decision to the mountaintop of
victory in their lives. Father, I ask You to give me the anointing and the
wisdom to say what You want said. Give me the utterance to bring forth Your
message unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Father, use
this lesson to change our thinking and our lives ultimately for Your purposes
and plans. We are determined to be doers of Your word and not hearers only.
Thank You for always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we
obey it. Thank You for the answers to this prayer in advance in Jesus mighty,
wonderful and powerful name. Amen.
Here we see another cry for
help, deliverance, and salvation from trouble from God’s people. They knew that
the Lord had been angry with them for their many sins. In fact, the sin of
mankind caused the people to see and experience hard times and confusion. This
was never God’s will. He wanted to bless His people, but they were stubborn and
rebelled against Him. Because of this they suffered terribly. Can anyone relate
to this? I know I can. The people were not the only ones to suffer. Because of
the fall of man, the curse fell upon the ground as well. In this chapter we can
see the Psalmist telling us how even the earth was shaken and needed healing.
Did you know that along with mankind, the earth is dying too? When Adam and Eve
sinned, it brought down the curse on everything, people and planet alike.
God had set up a standard of living
for those who would reverence, honor and obey Him. Because He is truth, He set
up a standard of truth. In the chapter today, the people God had loved and
called to Himself are crying out to be delivered from their enemies. Once again
their backs were against the wall. From this Psalm we can see that they had
gone out to fight the enemy, but the Lord was not with them. They went into the
valley and there was nothing but death there. What once was a people was
nothing but a valley of dry, dead bones. Let’s look at this…
Ezekiel 37:1-14
37 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of
the Lord, and set me down in
the midst of the valley; and it was full
of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all
around, and behold, there were very
many in the open valley; and indeed they
were very dry. 3 And He said to me,
“Son of man, can these bones live?”
So I answered, “O Lord God,
You know.”
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones,
and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 Thus
says the Lord God to these
bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I
will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put
breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I
prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came
together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the
sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.
9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,
prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” 10 So
I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and
stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are
the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is
lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore
prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause
you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then
you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O
My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I
will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own
land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord,
have spoken it and
performed it,” says the Lord.’”
Ezekiel was taken in the
spirit to see what the Lord would do for His people. He would take Ezekiel to
the valley where all those “dead bones” were located. Those were the defeated people
of Israel. They were without life. This is a picture of the people of God. After
all the sin of God’s people, they couldn’t go out and face the enemy and get
victory because God had turned aside from them. They were on their own. This
set of scriptures shows us that they went out to the valley to fight and they
died in that place. They lost the battle, and they lost their lives. There was
nothing left but dead bodies everywhere.
We know that sin always brings
defeat and death. When we sin, there is always death of some kind. First and foremost,
it brings death to our relationship with the Lord. It can also be the death of a relationship,
the loss of a job, and many other atrocities. Here the people knew they needed
help. Their struggles with the enemy were not over – nor would they ever be.
They knew they needed God. David certainly did.
As we have mentioned many
times in the Psalms, David knew where to turn in times of trouble. He went to
God in prayer and called on the only One who could help. He knew that the help
of man was of no use whatsoever. How many of us realize today that turning to
friends, coworkers or relatives for help in a spiritual battle is useless?
Godly counsel is recommended in the Bible, yet it should never be used to
replace going to the source of wisdom that lives inside of every believer –
Holy Spirit. The One who knows all things is living right inside of us when we
are born again believers in Jesus Christ. All we need to do is ask Him and He
will give us the wisdom we need for every situation we face.
It is hitting me hard right now – talk about
mercy! Here we see a people who have sinned terribly against the Lord God, and
then we see Him come along and say, “dry bones, live!” The bones were the whole
house of Israel. They would not be left in their own destruction. Our merciful
God and Father would come and breathe new life into them. He would raise them
up to be an exceedingly great army - not a wimpy bunch of losers, no! An
exceedingly great army! Hallelujah! This is mercy with a capital “M”!
When the Lord breathed new
life into those people, they stood right up on their feet. Glory to God! He was
going to open up their graves – the places where they laid dead, and bring them
to the promised land of Israel. His plan was to fill them with His Spirit and
they would know beyond any doubt whatsoever that the Lord God had done it for
them! Glory to His name forever! These people would know that it was not the
strength of a man who brought this about. Those bones were dead, dead, dead.
The situation looked beyond any hope.
This is where we can see the
Lord at work in the lives of His people even to this day and going all the way
till this world is over. God is still in the restoration business. He is still
bringing new life to that which is dead. He is still delivering His people from
their enemies. He is still saving people who are desperately lost and confused.
Though all of us have sinned and fallen short of His glory, God still fulfills His
promises. He made a covenant with Himself and He will never break His covenant.
Look at this…
Romans 9:1-13
9 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my
conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that
I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For
I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who
are Israelites, to whom pertain the
adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of
whom are the fathers
and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no
effect. For they are not
all Israel who are of
Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham;
but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 That
is, those who are the
children of the flesh, these are not
the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. 9 For
this is the word of
promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born,
nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it
was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As
it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
God had a plan since before
the world was created to save His people from their rebellious ways. He didn’t
want them to rebel, but knew they would – so He made a way where there would
seem to be no way. God is a covenant making and covenant keeping God. He is so
rich in mercy it actually makes one stand in complete awe. When we see the evil
that people do and then watch as the Lord reaches into these stony hearts and
turns them into hearts of flesh, well, it is nothing short of miraculous…
Ezekiel 36:26
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I
will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Normally when we see the word “flesh”
in the Bible it is talking about people living according to the lusts thereof.
But in this case, the Lord is saying He will take a hard heart and turn it into
a soft and pliable heart. I am a witness to this very fact! I can testify about
how He has changed my heart over the past 10 years to take out the hardness,
rebellion and pride. He has given me a soft heart for Him - His purposes, His
ways and His plans. How many of you can say the same thing? God is a good God!
If He weren’t, we wouldn’t be reading this Bible and seeing all the good things
He has done for a stubborn and rebellious people.
Most of us, as we have thought
about the people who have hurt us in the past, wanted them “done away with” in
one form or another. Oh, but not God. No, He is willing in His perfect love to
take what is dead and meaningless and breathe new life into it. He is willing
to fill us with His Spirit when the inside of our heart is dry and empty. In April
of 2004, I made a very serious and intentional effort to take my own life. I
had made such a mess of things that I could no longer bear to face anything or
anyone in this life. Only a miracle could stop the process. I was within
seconds of taking my last breath. To me, all hope was gone. I had even said a
prayer to the Lord and told Him I was coming to be with Him. Can you imagine what
He was thinking at that moment? He knows all things - the end from the
beginning. My suicide attempt was no surprise to Him.
The outcome however was a
total surprise to me! I was taken to the hospital on advanced life support and
laid in the critical care unit of the hospital on a ventilator for 18 hours
while in a coma. I knew of nothing that was going on around me. Just before I finished
taking the last few pills I looked in the bathroom mirror and thought, “This is
it. It is all over.” With tears streaming down my cheeks, I knew that where I
was headed would be better than trying to face all the dead things in my life. I
had fought many battles in my life and it was getting me nowhere good. I will
not equipped to handle things because I was not walking as closely with the
Lord as I should have been.
When I awoke from the coma, I
began to choke on the ventilator. I became angry that I was still on earth and
not in heaven. I asked the Lord, “Why am I still here. I have ruined
everything!” I didn’t understand. I knew I had taken enough of the medication
to kill me. After that I had a long and difficult road to walk. By the end of
2004 I decided to “get back to God.” My life was very dry and dead. My heart
was full of junk. I felt as if I were defeated. It took me almost 12 months of
seeking God before I finally came to the point where I knew I had sinned
against Him. Then, one night, after a church service I went home and fell to my
knees beside my bed. I cried out to Him, “Oh God, I’m a mess. Will You fix me?”
Little did I realize at that
moment how powerful that prayer was. I went to sleep that night and in the next
several days that followed, I began to notice that there was something
different about me. Now I was really eager to talk to others about Jesus. When
I sinned, I felt more convicted and terrible about it than I ever had in my
life. I had to make things right and quick! I started reading the Bible from
the very beginning. I had read through it before but it had never impacted me
like it did that time. It was as if it came alive in my heart and mind.
I began to feel more alive
than I ever had. There was a new sense of hope in my heart. I pressed in and
went to church. I started getting in on anything I could that would teach me
about the Lord. I sought after Him with a passion. Little did I know that He
had breathed His Holy Spirit into me and I was coming to life. There were things
starting to materialize in me, like the “sinews and flesh” that appeared on the
bones in the valley. I did a lot of crying. Much of it was out of my soul where
I had been so wounded and hurt in my life. And a lot came from seeing how much
I had sinned against the Lord and hurt other people. Aren’t we so grateful that
He doesn’t show us everything at once? We couldn’t handle it.
Coming back to life from that
hospital room in April of 2004 was like rising up out of a grave – just like
Ezekiel was used to show us. God had set up a standard for me to live as a
Christian, but when the furnace in my life got hot, I went the wrong way.
Instead of running to the Lord for help, like David did in our chapter today, I
ran to people, drugs, alcohol and food. And like David said, the help of man is
useless. In fact, for me, the devil had a wide open door to enter into my life
by way of other ungodly people. With that came stealing, killing and mass
destruction. I lost just about everything, except my life.
The Lord showed Himself strong
and mighty in my life. Since the day I surrendered my life to Him in October of
2005, I have seen Him perform literally countless miracles in my life. I am a
witness and I live to tell everyone I can about what God has done for me. I was
a simple minded girl from a broken home taken to a place where I would love the
Lord and desire to do His will and work. I know that He has filled my life with
good things…
Psalm 107:9
For He satisfies
the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
I can tell people about His
mercy because I have received so much of it from Him. I can tell about His
grace because my life is overflowing with it. As the years have passed since
that glorious day, I have truly been brought to life by a good and awesome God –
our Lord, the God of Israel! Praise His name forever. Maybe you are in a place
in your life where things are looking pretty dead. Maybe you have been hurt by
others and you feel abandoned. Perhaps you have sinned and feel so ashamed that
you think you can never face the Lord. Friends, I am here to tell you that no
matter what you may have done, no matter what has been done to you, God can
breathe new life into you and your situation. If you will turn to Him, He will reach
into your heart and breathe life where maybe there has never really been life
before.
He will raise you up to be a
part of His mighty and victorious army in these last days. And when He does,
you will know that it was God who did it. You will know that anyone who could
take you from your current state of desperation to a place of peace, joy and
purpose has to be mighty and powerful. That’s what and who God is - strong and
mighty. There is no army that can come against the Lord’s army when He is in
the battle. No fight will ever be won if God isn’t the One who is leading the warriors.
All of the battles I fought and lost because I tried to handle them on my own
were a waste of my time.
Today, I am here writing this
testimony to a lost and hurting world to let everyone know, who will listen,
that Jesus Christ is the Lord! Anyone who will call on Him will be saved…
Romans 10:9
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved.
Friends, that’s all it takes. When we come
to Jesus in the beginning, we are usually pretty messed up, in some way or
another. But once He gets access to our lives through the new birth, everything
begins to change. Does this mean we won’t have to fight any more battles? No.
We will always have battles to fight, mountains to move and “fig trees” to
curse while we are on the earth. There will be a devil to contend with until he
gets thrown into the pit for a thousand years. But God has given us the victory
over satan, sin, death and the grave through His Son Jesus Christ. Now we can
fight our battles and know that we can win. When we stand in faith on the word
of God, we will get the victory. God’s word works. When He tells us to do
something and we respond in faith to do it – power will be released and what He
asked us to do will be accomplished – hallelujah!
The last verse in our chapter today says…
“Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread
down our enemies.”
Like I have
mentioned before, it is important for believers today to realize that the Lord
has already done all He is going to do about the devil for now. He gave us the
authority to trample on him…
Luke 10:19
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall
by any means hurt you.
Jesus got the victory for us! Praise His
name forever! We can fight and win every time if we will put our faith to work
and use the word of God when we face the battles this life will surely bring. We
still need God’s help even though taking authority over the devil is our
responsibility. We still need His wisdom for each situation we face. He can
give us information that no one else knows. He can give us favor and grace to
make it through something that looks impossible. He can do things we never
could do – I have seen Him do amazing things time and time again in 11 short
years of walking more closely with Him! What a good and powerful God He is!
To God, we are His beloved. He wants to
deliver us from everything that has been used of the enemy to wreak havoc in
our lives. But we must be willing to submit to Him. We must invite Him into the
middle of everything in our lives. He can lead in a triumphal procession, like
a mighty army coming against all the forces of hell. We will have tests in this
life. And if we pass them through obedience, we will be promoted. That’s good
news friends. Everything about the Lord and His plans for us is good news. That
is why we need to study the Bible every day and spend time in His presence.
Where death has come and dried things up in
your life, the Lord Jesus can come and fill you with His love – His peace and
His joy. Then you will know that the Lord – only the Lord could do it. He can
make you sing a song of praise such as you never have before. He is waiting to
give the church new life. He wants those who are like the “dead” in the church
to rise up in these last days and become a mighty army. We can spend the rest
of our time on this planet in victory in every area of our lives. But we must
want to. That is the key that opens the door to victory in Jesus – praise His
name forever!
Questions:
What did you see in this chapter that stood out to you the
most?
Who do you call on when trouble comes?
What has seemed dead in your life lately? Will you take it to
the Lord in prayer?
Do you realize how much God loves you?
Did you know that He wants to help you to win every battle
you will ever face?
Who can you share this study with?
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
No person can help like God can
God can breathe new life into what
seems to be dead and hopeless
God loves His people more than most
know
Heavenly Father:
Thank You for raising me from the dead! I once was dry and
dead and unproductive. But thanks be to You Oh God that through our Lord Jesus
Christ I am alive again. Thank You for the prosperous life that You want to
give me when I place my trust in You. Show me what I need to see right now.
Give me eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to understand what Your Spirit is
saying to me. Thank You in advance for the answers I am looking for in Jesus
mighty name. Amen!
Do you
need God to raise you from the dead?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
Job 23:10
But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
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