Daily Bible Study for Monday October
31, 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 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.
Please note a change! Starting today, we will see
everything for our basic study from the King James Version. I may add other translations
as the Lord directs.
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
1 Peter 5:8-9
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom
resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are
accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
Psalm 89
Disobedience & Unwillingness Delays the
Promise
If there is anyone out there who can relate to this Psalm, it
is me for certain! The Psalmist starts off praising God for His faithfulness.
He is worthy of all our praise for who He is – amen! We see a lot of His
attributes in this chapter, don’t we? We see His faithfulness mentioned several
times, among many other things. Let’s keep this in mind as we read. Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father:
Thank You for Your faithfulness. Like the Psalmist wrote in
Your word, I will sing of Your faithfulness to all generations. Father, in Your
great mercy, You never withheld anything good from me, or any of Your children.
It has been my disobedience that has greatly hindered You from bringing to pass
the promises in my life that You so deeply desire to give me. Father, today I
ask for the anointing and utterance to speak Your word as I ought with
boldness, accuracy and clarity. May this message be exactly as You would have
it be designed to touch deeply in the spirit man of each and every one who will
read it. By this message, may our minds and all of our souls be renewed by
meditating on Your word and declaring Your promises to us out loud over our present
and our future. I ask that You continue to multiply Your word out from Fish N
Loaves Ministries across this globe so that those who call on Your holy name
will receive everything You want them to see personally in it. Thank You for
always being so faithful and watching over Your word to perform it when are
obedient to what You say. Willingness and obedience opens up Your ability to
bless Your children as we see throughout the scriptures. I ask You to change
our hearts from that of stone – rebellion, unwillingness and pride to that of
flesh, that is willing to do things Your way and receive the manifold blessings
that our obedience will surely bring. Lord, I ask this in faith and I believe I
receive my answer right now according to Your word and I thank You for it in
Jesus’ mighty and powerful name. Amen.
As I read this chapter today I went along seemingly fine, or
so I thought, until I got to verse 38. When I read from there through the end
of the chapter, the Lord had me get up and take a walk around the house. I
needed to hear from Him, as I always do. I was perplexed. It looked like a
promise had been made to God’s anointed, chosen servant David. All of that was
fine. The Psalm talks a lot about the many attributes of God. He is faithful, merciful,
strong, righteous, full of justice and truth. His judgments are always correct.
We also see that the whole earth belongs to the Lord who
created it. What is happening in the first many verses is that some ground work
is being laid by the Lord. He knew that His kids, like me, would be slow to
catch it. He had to let us know how firm a foundation that He is. He wanted to
remind us about the many things that make up our God, and the fact that the
very ground you and I are standing on belongs to Him!
The Lord can take down His enemies in one swing of His
justice for righteousness’ sake – and He is 100% righteous. He is strong. He is
much stronger than any mere human or any angel or devil in hell, including
satan. The people who really know the Lord, who really do trust in Him are a
blessed people to be certain. They receive His favor, His strength, and countless
other blessings too numerous to name. Again, these are things that had to be
said before we get to the point the Lord wants to make in this lesson today.
Knowing who God is and what He can do is very important. He is a defense to
those who really do trust in Him. Does that describe you my friend?
When we get to verse 19, a vision for the future pertaining
to David is revealed. God is showing us in advance of any of this taking place
what He plans to do with young David who was busy tending his father’s sheep (a
prophetic position in his natural family to describe what he would be doing in
his spiritual family). The Lord’s main message was to announce the coming of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. David had been handpicked by God to be the
one who would lead God’s people and from his seed, the Lord would eventually
bring forth His one and only Son, Jesus, to save His people from their sins –
rejoice!
As we read all the verses between 13-37, we see the entire
vision that was given. Verse 34 makes it clear that God will not break His covenant
agreement that he has made with David. The Lord never breaks a covenant. He is
a covenant keeping God. He always keeps His promises. He also reminds us that
He will not lie. Here’s a verse all of us must remember…
Hebrews 6:18
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
By the time we get to verse 34, we see something that is most
comforting to the Christian soul…
Psalm 89:34
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing
that is gone out of my lips.
This one verse alone should cause every child of God to
rejoice! Why? Because we know that since God cannot lie and He will not break a
covenant commitment, every word that He gives us will come to pass without
fail. Ok, so if that is true – and it certainly is, what happened when we
arrived at verse 38? Starting there and continuing on through the rest of the
chapter, it looks like the Lord did not keep His promise, doesn’t it? But that’s
not the case! These verses show God’s wrath – His anger.
They show the anointed
one getting devoured by his enemies. He has become a reproach to them. It
looked to David like the covenant the Lord had made with him was null and void.
Everything that God had promised in the earlier passages looked as if they were
never coming to pass. It left him reeling in dismay and asking the Lord how
long He would be angry with His anointed one. How can this sudden turn of
events be? What really happened here? What is God trying to show us?
The answers to all these questions my friends lies in what I
am about to write as the Lord directs. I have a testimony about this, that is,
similar to the previous Psalm which detailed my despair during my crisis down
to the last word. What is happening in this chapter is what has been happening
in my life. As I got quiet to listen, the Lord showed me that this has happened
to me. Today I can give you all a testimony about this that will hopefully
cause each one of you to think, as it may (or may not) apply to you. I will be
the first to raise my hand and say that I have erred in so many ways. And my
sins of rebellion and pride have delayed God’s promises to me from coming to
pass. How so? Let me explain.
When I first came to Florida back in 2007, the Lord began to
reveal to me what His specific calling was for my life. Now that I was
determined to follow Jesus, the Lord ever so graciously began to give me a word
from the Bible. He spoke to me through dreams and He spoke to me through
people, like friends and even prophets. He made my calling very clear to me regarding
what He had planned for me to do in the kingdom since before the foundation of
the world. Here is the first verse that He kept showing me again and again…
Jeremiah 1:4-19
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I
knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and
I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a
child.
7 But the Lord said
unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send
thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee
to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put
forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy
mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations
and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to
throw down, to build, and to plant.
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
12 Then said the Lord unto me, thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform
it.
13 And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest
thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the
north.
14 Then the Lord said
unto me, out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of
the land.
15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the
kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord;
and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of
the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and
against all the cities of Judah.
16 And I will utter my judgments against them
touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense
unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and
speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I
confound thee before them.
18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a
defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land,
against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests
thereof, and against the people of the land.
19 And they shall fight against thee; but they
shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.
He also kept giving me this one repeatedly…
Jeremiah 26:1-6
26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord, saying,
2 Thus saith the Lord; Stand
in the court of the Lord's
house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in
the Lord's house, all the
words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:
3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man
from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto
them because of the evil of their doings.
4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk
in my law, which I have set before you,
5 To hearken to the words of my servants the
prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye
have not hearkened;
6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and
will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
And here is yet another verse that He has spoken to me
clearly…
Matthew 4:19
And he saith unto them, “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
And finally, here is the other one, (4
witnesses, one including Holy Spirit) and I opened to this one today in one of
my Bibles…
Luke 1:76-79
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the
prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to
prepare his ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his
people by the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the
dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
The
Lord has very clearly shown me that He has anointed me to be a prophet, an evangelist
(even within the church walls) and a teacher and preacher. Why am I sharing this
with all of you when I normally would not? Because the Lord wants my testimony
to help others. That is why I get the distinct pleasure of sharing with the
entire known world (who will listen) all the blunders I have made. He is using
me as an example. There are many, many people within the church who have not
been able to see their high calling come to pass, and I know the Lord is speaking
to us all because He loves us and wants us to get this.
Jeremiah
was a prophet, but his position was anything but glamorous! He worked hard and
sacrificed much in his life to fulfill the call that God had for him. He even
tried to give the Lord a reply similar to that of Moses saying he could not
speak. We can be sure by the scriptures that Jeremiah suffered greatly in his
service that the Lord asked of him to perform. But that’s the kind of suffering
that brings great rewards in the kingdom of heaven – and even some right here
on the earth!
Even
in the passage above, we can see the Lord indicating that He will perform His
word to Jeremiah. There was no turning away from the call of God on his life.
Just like today, our chapter is telling us that God was not about to break the
covenant with David that He had made in chapter 34. Here is what the Bible says
about the gifts and calling of God on our lives…
Romans
11:29
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
My dear brothers and sisters, whatever the Lord has for
ordained for you and me to do in the kingdom is the thing - the only thing He is going to call us to do. Like it or
not, He is not going to change His mind because we may not like it, or that it
is calling us to do something that reaches far beyond the borders of our
comfort zone. I have been learning this the hard way, I can assure you. Being
asked to do things that hurt the flesh are not an easy thing – but when God
calls us to it, He will equip us and help us to go through it. It wasn’t Moses’
power that got the Israelites across that Red Sea! It was God’s! But Moses had
to cooperate, didn’t he? It’s the same with us.
So what gives? Why haven’t all these things come to pass in
my life yet? Why does it seem to be taking so long? Has God failed me? Did He
break His promise to me or change His mind and choose someone else? The answer
is absolutely not. When I realized what He wanted me to do I became quite
excited at the onset. I did not have a clue what all this would involve. We always
start out clueless – that’s where faith comes in.
Over time, I started to wonder when the dreams I had experienced
and the words of God that I was certain of were going to come to pass. Even
while on my recent trip to Branson for a week-long church conference, the Lord
brought a pastor and his wife to meet us in the shoe department at Walmart! It
was an amazing divine appointment. All day the Lord had been directing our
steps. If I had not obeyed Him and made up my own mind about what I was going
to do that day, I would have missed it. Two minutes on either side of the meeting,
and the plan of God would have been foiled by my disobedience. This pastor
couple just so happened to be attending the same conference we were and knows
our pastors well, having studied under them years ago. Coincidence? Certainly
not! With God, there are no coincidences – none!
What happened during that brief encounter at Walmart was
profound to me! After we talked with this lovely couple for several minutes, we
gathered together to pray for each other. After he prayed for me and my husband’s
new ministry assignment, he heard a message in his heart coming from Holy Spirit
that he was supposed to reveal to me. The message was this: “Confirmation – you’re
getting there.” That was it. Friends, this really blessed and encouraged my
heart.
Later when I was alone with the Lord, He showed me that deep
down in my heart I have been feeling like these promises were not ever coming
to pass. On the surface, I would not have admitted that. I felt I was believing
God to bring it all to pass, but He knows the depths of our hearts. What He
revealed was a measure of discouragement deep down on the inside of me. I asked
Him to forgive me and we moved on. He is so gracious and full of
lovingkindness!
This relates very well to the sentiments of our chapter
today. Why the delay in God’s promise? Is God slow to keep His promises? Again,
certainly not! The real problem is that God is waiting on us friends – not the
other way around. It isn’t God who is the problem – it is us. When there is
something we are waiting on and it’s not happening yet, we need to be asking
God what we are doing to block it from coming. God is never, never, never the
problem. He is always, always, always the solution!
That said, what has been the cause of these not happening in
my life yet? Plain and simple, the truth is that it was my unwillingness and
disobedience. Before I go any further with my testimony here, let’s look at
what God’s word has to say about a person being willing and obedient…
Isaiah 1:18-20
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be
as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured
with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it.
What God says stands. We either play by His rules and get the
tremendous blessings that He has for us, or we refuse and rebel and get
devoured by our enemies, just like we see in today’s chapter. How did I resist
and rebel? One of the big ways, though there are others, was the addiction to
food. I was not obeying the Lord with my eating. This resulted in a lot of
enemy attacks and some losses. Look at what the word says about our ever-prowling
enemy…
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I
am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I kept going back and forth between
obedience with the food and then back to disobedience. I was walking in pride
and rebellion which is like the devil, even though I am a Holy Spirit filled,
born again child of God. How can this be? It is called living by the flesh, rather
than dominating our flesh with our spirit man that has been regenerated to want
to do the Lord’s will. It is always a choice. I had to learn to fight the enemy
in the supernatural realm with the word of God, but many times I failed to
fight properly. In essence I was “rolling over and paying spiritually dead” in
the presence of my enemies.
My disobedience and unwillingness to obey gave the
devil a wide-open door to attack. I would cry out to the Lord with that spirit
of infirmity that kept dogging me like the plaque for many long and painful
years, and finally the Lord took me to this verse after speaking it clearly to
my heart as I knelt beside my bed one day in total frustration and tears about
all the pain and suffering I was encountering…
Isaiah
30:15
For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest shall ye be
saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
If I would have gone back to the Lord and repented and then
placed my full trust in Him, I would have been saved from my enemies. But I was
not willing. I am not pleased to have to say this, but it is the plain truth. I
still wanted to eat my way on some things and this was disobedience. This, my
friends is what has slowed up my progress. Yes, there was a time of training
that I have needed to get through to be prepared for the high calling He has
for me. And in reality, we who are called to minister publicly are like any
other Christian – we are constantly in training with the Master. We always need
to stay close to Him to learn, receive, be fed and grow in our personal walk
with Him. If we don’t we will have nothing of any value to give to anyone else.
One time, I heard a brief word from the Lord through a pastor
and I knew it was being directed right at me. The pastor had said, “The reason
you have not seen many miracles is because of your disobedience.” A person
would think I would get it, but I still continued in my rebellion. And as much
time as I thought I was spending in the word of God, I still was not fighting
my battles properly. There is a right way and a wrong way to fight. Let’s take
a quick look…
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
I could do an entire study on fighting the enemy after what I
have recently learned. Everything has changed for me recently. I finally got it
through my “thick” head that I needed to find the scriptures that would help me
and say them out loud over my life, in faith, every single day. When I started
effectively working the word of God (see my daily addiction devotional) the
right way, I began to see victory such as I have never seen. Glory to God. When
I changed my focus from food to the Lord there was a major shift in my heart
because the Lord had sent forth His word to heal me. The bondage has been
broken – hallelujah!
I am reaching new goals on a spiritual and physical level. Because
I am working harder on the right level spiritually to apply God’s word to my circumstances,
the Lord is stepping up my ability to minister to others. This lesson and the
addiction devotional are just the first step of some very big responsibilities
that the Lord wants to entrust to me and my husband. But He knows when we are
willing. Until we get there, the gateway to miracles will be blocked in our
lives. Whatever He says to you, do it – that’s the key to miracles.
How quickly will the enemy come in when we disobey the Lord?
Immediately! Just this morning I decided to change up the way we do our morning
schedule because I was hungry of all things. But that was not the plan or will
of the Lord. He has shown us how He wants us to conduct our morning – no deviations.
What happened as a result? The enemy through an “arrow” in my back. Suddenly I
felt a sharp pain in the middle of my back. I knew it was an attack because I
had disobeyed. Look again at what the Bible Gateway verse of the day just
happens to be today (Again, there’s no coincidences with God)…
1 Peter 5:8-9
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that
the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
Was the devil that has been assigned to me right there
watching? He sure was. And the minute I messed up, the attack came. It happened
that fast. If folks do not believe this stuff, they are kidding themselves. The
devil is real and there are four levels of demons out there. From the lowest
ones to the highest, we have many real enemies who are seeking to steal, kill
and destroy. Why do you think David mentions his “enemies” as so many throughout
the Psalms?
It is because there are so many devils at work out there just
waiting for every opportunity to dominate God’s children and destroy the good
plan the Lord has for each one. Sadly, when that happens, the Lord is the one
getting the blame. Those that are born again but not doing anything to grow in
their walk with the Lord will not encounter much in the way of heated spiritual
battles. But anyone who is pressing in to God on a deeper level is a great big “bull’s
eye” for the enemy. We are never to fear the enemy – never. But we need to be
aware of what is going on spiritually. We need to know who we are and the
authority we carry in Jesus Christ our lord! Amen!
My calling and anointing are for preaching the word of God.
In order to be able to do that, I first have to be faithful to Him. I cannot go
out and preach to you if I am not willing and obedient to the Lord myself. Otherwise
I would be a hypocrite – and I do not want that! To answer the questions that
this chapter surely brings to most of us, the reason David thought the Lord was
not fulfilling His promises is sin. Disobedience and unwillingness will tie the
Lord’s hands behind His back every time. It does not make Him at all happy. He
wants to bless us, He wants to give us an abundant life, just like Jesus said
in the latter part of John 10:10.
Jesus came to give us life; and life more abundantly. That’s
good news. A word from God always is, if we will listen. Here is what the Lord
showed me today which gave me great encouragement. And by the way, before I
show you that verse, how many realize that the Lord is never here to tear us down?
No! He is always wanting to build us up and encourage us. He wants to bring us
to higher ground so we can receive the blessings. He is not looking to see us
in heaven one day and have to tell us of all the blessings and rewards we
missed because of unwillingness and disobedience. He wants to look right into
our eyes and say this…
Matthew 25:21
His lord said unto him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the
joy of thy lord.”
Here is what the Lord showed me today that
really encouraged my heart…
Ezekiel
12:28
Therefore say unto them, thus saith the Lord God; there shall none of my words be prolonged any
more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.
Let’s
pray…
Heavenly Father:
I cannot than You enough for forgiving me for my
many sins through Your Son Jesus Christ. Lord, I am deeply grateful for all that
You have been showing me. I want to please You by walking into all that You
have for me. Help me to see anything in my heart that is wrong and needs to
come out. As You work these things out in me, I am purposing in my heart to do
what You say, go where You send me and live my life to be a blessing to many
because You have been my strength and protection. Bring glory to Yourself as I
place my full trust in You. I thank You in advance for the answers to this
prayer. I believe I receive them in Jesus’ name. Amen.
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
God has a perfectly planned calling
for each one of His children
Unwillingness and disobedience will
block the plan of God in our lives
If we repent and get things right
with the Lod, He will bring His word to pass in our lives – He is faithful
Questions:
What meant the most to you in this study?
In what ways can you relate to my testimony?
What has been God calling you to do for Him?
How have you responded to His call?
Who can you share this study with?
To be
willing and obedient is to receive manifold blessings from the Lord.
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
Psalm 89:15-18
15 Blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.
16 In
thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be
exalted.
17 For
thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be
exalted.
18 For
the Lord is our defence;
and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
