Daily Bible Study for Wednesday November
23, 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 trust 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! We will look at everything for our basic study from the King
James Version going forward. It is helpful to stay with one solid version as we
study so as not to cause confusion. I may add other translations for specific
scriptures 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
Psalm 100:4-5
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts
with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his
faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 106
Don’t Forget What God Has Done for You!
Oh my! After reading this chapter and considering what I did
yesterday, I am disgusted with the things of human flesh! The Lord has been so
loving, merciful and gracious to us. What do His people do in return? They turn
away from Him to worship things that are not God. Can we even try to imagine
how this breaks His heart? Perhaps the best way to relate is to put ourselves
in His shoes (as best we can) for a moment and think about it.
What would we
feel like if someone we loved so much trampled on us with such unfaithfulness?
Maybe you have already experienced this to a great degree in your life. If you
have, then you know how the Lord feels when He looks at the people He created
for His glory and to have a sweet relationship with them, only to see them turn
their backs on Him and run after sins if it were something more precious than
He! Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father:
We cannot thank You enough for Your mercies that are new
every morning! If it had not been for You Lord, we would certainly have
perished already! You have been so good to us. The list of blessings You have
showered Your people with is too numerous for the pages in this lesson! Father,
I ask You to give me the anointing and utterance to bring Your message in this
chapter to Your people with accuracy, clarity through Holy Spirit and with excellence.
Make this lesson reach out to the world at large unhindered and unchecked by
any outside force or my flesh. Wash our minds now Father with the water of Your
holy word. Forgive our sins and cleanse us Lord from all unrighteousness. Renew
a right spirit within us. Grant that Your servants would be healed of all desire
to give in to the flesh. Give us a heart that is soft and pliable toward You
and You alone. Help us to see where we have missed it and sinned against You.
Open our eyes to see what we couldn’t see before. Help us by the power of Your
Spirit to do You will and be doers of Your precious word - the lamp to our
feet. Thank You that You are always faithful and You always watch over Your
word to perform it in our lives as we place our trust in You and obey Your
word. Thank You in advance for Your forgiveness and for changing us more and
more so we can look more like Jesus every day of our lives here on the earth –
temporary as it is. We give You all the praise and glory and thanks in Jesus
mighty name. Amen.
Doesn’t it amaze us when we get up to start a new day and
look at a new chapter in God’s word how absolutely “spot on” relevant it can be
to exactly what we are going through at that precise moment? I have to admit
that this morning I was a bit slow to catch on to what the Lord was trying to
say to me. I opened my first Bible to Matthew 18:8-9…
Matthew 18:8-9
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee,
cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life
halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into
everlasting fire.
9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye,
rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
I really didn’t see anything jump out at me at that moment.
Since I had not read the Psalm for today as yet, I left it open and moved on.
Then I walked into the living room and opened up our beautiful Thomas Kincaid
family Bible, and it came to this…
Nahum 1:3
3 The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power,
and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in
the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
When I saw that I knew immediately that there was something I
had done that I needed to seek the Lord on. I inquired of the Lord and asked Him
to open my eyes to see what I needed to see. I said “If I have done anything wrong
or eaten anything I shouldn’t have, I ask You to show me. I will be quiet to
listen.” My answer did not come that very moment, but it wasn’t long before I began
to hear Him speak. I came into my office and I opened to this…
Zechariah 4:6-7 (Also see the ERV on this verse)
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This
is the word of the Lord unto
Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before
Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone
thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Then I began to see and hear with my heart what He was trying
to show me. Most people who read my Bible studies know that I had struggled
with food and sugar addiction in the past. This year the Lord helped me to not
only reach my goal, but to exceed it! Glory to His name forever! It was
something I never could have overcome without His power at work through His
Spirit in me.
Well, yesterday I ate some of my healthy quinoa cookies as is
the norm for my nut serving in the morning. But as the day went on, I ate more
of them, placing them in my food plan as a fat and a protein. I did not exceed
my calorie level for the day, but basically, I ate too many of the cookies in
my meal plan for the day. It was unbalanced. I had chosen the “easy way out”
for the day. The Lord showed me from the Matthew 18 verse noted above that if I
can’t control something, I need to get it out of my house. He is not asking
anyone to cut off an arm or a leg. Jesus was speaking figuratively. What He was
telling us is that if we have anything in our lives that will cause us to sin,
we need to get it out of our midst! It’s just that simple.
As I listened to the Lord speak to my heart on the inside, He
showed me that it was out of balance. He reminded me that in order to be a doer
of the word of God, one must exercise self-control. That is a fruit of the Holy
Spirit and all Christians are called to have self-control. If they do not, then
they cannot say they are doers of the word of God. It would be a lie. I have a
very specific and well balanced food plan that I follow each day. It provides
just the right amount of food my body needs to operate at maximum capacity. We
eat very healthy at our house. I am getting ready to even quit using store
bought protein powder because it is a processed food.
If God didn’t make it in a plastic container and run it
through all kinds of processes, then we can believe it is not a good fuel to
put into our bodies, the temple of His Holy Spirit. He gave us plenty of good
whole food that He specifically designed for our bodies.
I am called to eat this way. Everyone is really, though few
adhere to it. What happened to me yesterday was a good example of what we
should not do – give in to our flesh. This is what the Psalm is all about
today. The people had turned away from God and given in to the lusts of their
flesh. It made God so angry that He was sorry He had ever created them. He was
ready to wipe out the whole bunch. Remember, God is holy – perfectly clean and
pure in every way. He cannot be around sin. A sinner in His presence would be
instantly consumed. He is a consuming fire.
The Lord told Moses He was going to destroy them for their
wickedness, but Moses interceded for the people, crying out to the Lord to have
mercy on them and spare them. This was a “type” of what Jesus would come to do
for all mankind one day. He would be our High Priest and Intercessor. He would
step into our place in the courtroom of heaven and offer His sinless blood to
cover all of our iniquities. And because God could only receive a pure sacrifice
such as only Jesus could offer, we have been spared from total destruction. We
earned ourselves a trip to hell forever and Jesus earned us a trip into the
presence of God forever - if we will accept this most precious and free gift.
The Lord had led them out of a terrible mess in Egypt. They
were being abused such as most of us cannot even begin to imagine. God heard
their cries and came to the rescue. The people saw Him do mighty signs and
wonders. They knew there was a God in heaven. They had seen enough to make
believers out of them all – for a time. Unfortunately, their believing didn’t
last long. They went right back to behaving wickedly.
How many of us realize
that just because we call on the Lord to be saved does not mean that we do not
have some serious garbage down in our souls that needs to be taken out? When
God delivered these people, they were praising Him wildly! Who wouldn’t after
seeing the Lord part that sea like it was just a whisper of His breath to hold
it back?
Even after seeing Him demonstrate His mighty power and His
great love and mercy toward them, they started complaining, trying His patience
and testing Him. They may have been saved from destruction, but their flesh
still did a lot of screaming. (sound familiar?) The very wickedness in a man’s
heart comes out, even after one has been born again through Christ Jesus. Why
is this so? Because our flesh does not get born again. It is our spirit man
that gets regenerated when we receive Jesus Christ as the Lord of our lives.
One look in the book of Romans and we can see how fierce the
battle between the newborn spirit man and the flesh can be. Maybe you can
relate well to what I did yesterday. Maybe you have seen God help you reach new
levels in your walk with Him and then ever so quickly you start to give in just
a little bit to your flesh. And that is just what the devil is hoping we will
do.
If we open the door to satan by disobeying God, we will get
attacked because God has to pass righteous judgment in each and every
situation. He cannot let one off the hook because “He loves them.” God is just
and fair in each and every situation and is no respecter of persons. If a
person sins, they must pay for it. That’s why we humans need Jesus so
desperately.
Today as I walked and listened to the Lord continue to speak
to my heart, He reminded me once again that we will always have the flesh to
contend with while we live on this earth until we take our last breath. We
might as well settle in and decide that we are going to do what the Bible says,
and…
Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Yes, we have to be ever watchful and continue to pray because
our reborn spirits are willing to do God’s will, but our flesh is weak. Here is
an encouraging verse I saw today…
Psalm 73:26
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and
my portion for ever.
People can easily backslide because the flesh is a powerful
force. We have to do what Paul said and buffet it…
1 Corinthians 9:27
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any
means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
The people back then had provoked Moses so much that he sinned
and it cost him a trip to the Promised Land. Yes, even this faithful man of God
who was used mightily by the Lord to lead His people out of Egypt had messed
up, sinned with His mouth and lost the blessing that he had worked so hard for.
That group of people were to him like a dealing with a bunch of very spoiled
children in kindergarten. He lost control of his temper, and God had to judge
him according to what he had done.
When we read the third verse of this chapter, we see the key to
blessings…
Psalm 106:3
Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at
all times.
We need to keep God’s judgments and do the right thing at ALL
times. Some of the time won’t cut it. One may consider themselves a man or
woman of God, but they are not obeying what the Lord has told them to do, there
is a problem. It is time to HALT and seek the Lord and repent. The quicker the
better. It is not good to walk around with blood on our hands. If we miss it
and sin, we need to get right with the Lord right away. That’s how I felt when
I saw the Nahum verse this morning. I knew there was one of two verses in
chapter one that He was trying to show me today. I just had to find out which
one it was.
Usually, it was a reminder for me to fulfill my vows to the
Lord and eat what I said I would by following my food plan. On other occasions,
after He has straightened me out, He has shown me the latter part of verse 3
that tells us that the Lord has His way. If we are truly surrendering our lives
to the lordship of Jesus, then we will allow the Lord to have His way in our
lives. And when we deviate from that perfect will, He has a way to bring us
back onto the path. Look at this…
2 Peter 2:9
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of
judgment to be punished:
One look at the chapter and He reminded me that He has His
way. I was grateful for this. And then I walked into my office and opened to
the Zechariah verse and I knew He was telling me that He would help me get to
where I need to be and He will help me stay there. Another thing He reminded me
today is that while we will have many freedoms to do things as long as we stay
in His will, we have to be careful. The flesh and the devil will both scream as
loudly as ever to get their way with us. Our flesh is an even greater enemy
than the devil with his nasty temptations.
A strong prayer life and a deeply intimate relationship with
the Lord are the only way we are going to be able to stay in the blessings
arena and out of the enemy’s territory. Let’s look at Acts chapter 7. This is
where Stephen was recounting the stories of what had happened to the Israelites…
Acts 7 (The Entire Chapter)
7 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers,
hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in
Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans,
and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him
into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not
so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for
a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should
sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and
entreat them evil four hundred years.
7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage
will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in
this place.
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision:
and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat
Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph
into Egypt: but God was with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions,
and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he
made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of
Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in
Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to
his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to
him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and
our fathers,
16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in
the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the
father of Sychem.
17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh,
which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and
evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the
end they might not live.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding
fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter
took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 And when he was full forty years old, it came
into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended
him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25 For he supposed his brethren would have
understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood
not.
26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as
they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are
brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him
away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian
yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a
stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
30 And when forty years were expired, there
appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame
of fire in a bush.
31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and
as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and
durst not behold.
33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes
from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my
people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to
deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made
thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer
by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed
wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the
wilderness forty years.
37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children
of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
38 This is he, that was in the church in the
wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our
fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust
him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us:
for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what
is become of him.
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered
sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the
host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of
Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty
years in the wilderness?
43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and
the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will
carry you away beyond Babylon.
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the
wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it
according to the fashion that he had seen.
45 Which also our fathers that came after brought
in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before
the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find
a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built him an house.
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples
made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool:
what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers
persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the
Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53 Who have received the law by the disposition of
angels, and have not kept it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to
the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up
stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the
right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and
the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and
stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him:
and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was
Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and
saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud
voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep.
The Lord has reminded us many times in the Bible of how the
people kept going back to their old sinful ways. He reminded me that I do not
want to go back to Egypt – the land of bondage with the enemy. In the chapter today,
we can see how the Lord delivered those people over and over again, and they
kept going back to their old ways – can anyone relate here? God remembered His
promises to Abraham and so He turned away from His plan to destroy the people
for their many sins. Oh, He is so merciful.
Those guys would get in such deep trouble because of their
sins, and then they would start crying to God for relief. Again, can you
relate? I have done this more times than I can count. I am not pleased to have
to say that, but it is true. Every time I have given in to my flesh rather than
the will of God, I fell prey to the devil’s schemes and it was terribly
painful. But God was only doing what He had to because He is a righteous and
just Judge.
Romans 2:12
For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law:
and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
The Lord even gave the people favor in the sight of the
enemies. How is that for grace? They sin, and their punishment is to be in the
enemy camp. Then they get treated harshly by the enemy – no surprise, but they
cry out to God – suddenly remembering how good He is and how powerful He really
is. And here comes our amazing and loving heavenly Father. He grants them favor
in the sight of the enemy. Only God can do this. Did the people deserve that
favor in any way? Absolutely not. But God gave it. Why? Because He really loved
them – just like He loves us today.
In the end of the chapter, the people turned back to God and
asked Him yet again to have mercy on them so they could give Him thanks. It is
kind of like a young child. When they get spanked, they straighten up and
behave right – for a while. Then, little by little, they start to slip back
into their old ways. Soon, they are in for a spanking again. They do not like
the punishment, but they don’t consider that before they commit their crimes
because at that moment the only thing they are thinking about is what their
flesh is telling them to do.
But we are not little children. Or, at least we should not
be. If one is brand new in the faith, they are a child and will need a lot of
hand holding while they are growing up in Christ and learning to walk on their
own. But over time, they are expected to become mature and independent, able to
seek the Lord all on their own; in the same way we expect babies to grow up in
the natural realm. There comes a time when the training pants come off and a
person has to put on the big boy and big girl pants. There comes a time when
every born-again Christian has to learn to pray for themselves and not always
look for someone else to pray for them.
There comes a time when we should leave behind the elementary
teachings in the Bible and start to be able to teach others how to live godly
lives. And all the while, we have to do what Paul said and keep our flesh under
lest when we preach to others we ourselves become disqualified. We cannot be an
example to others if we are sinning. We cannot give away what we do not have.
We must first put the oxygen mask on ourselves and learn to breath in the
fragrance of Christ deeply – on our own. Then and only then can we reach over
and put one on another.
It’s like seeing a little baby who just learned to
walk. We are thrilled to see them pull themselves back up after they fall down
and skin their knee – even if there were some tears. The same applies to us in
our walk with our God. He understands what we do not know. When He sees us fall
and then grab on to His hand again to
pull ourselves back up and get back in the race, He is pleased. He desires that
we be teachable, flexible and available. After that He will be the One to
cleanse our hearts from the desires to constantly cave in to the desires of the
flesh.
He wants to be able to trust us with big responsibilities,
but we have to show ourselves faithful with the little ones. He wants our lives
to impact others on the earth in these “end times” of the last days. God is a
giver and He wants us to be givers. Let’s try to remember this Thanksgiving Day
and every day and night how much the Lord has done for us. He has been so
merciful and kind to us when we did not deserve it. Why not show God our
gratitude by just doing what He asks us to do? Look at what His word reminds us…
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome.
Give thanks and praise to God! He is worthy! Hallelujah!
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
God’s mercies are new every morning
The key to blessings is obedience
If we sin, we need to repent and
quickly return to the Lord
Questions:
What could you relate to the most in this study?
What new revelation did Holy Spirit show you as you read?
How will this change what you do going forward?
Who can you share this study with?
Do you
remember all the great things God has done for you?
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father:
Thank You for all the wonderful things that You
have done for me. Lord, I know I did not deserve all the goodness You showered on
me, but I am so grateful for it. Father, I ask You to help me see anything
where I have missed Your perfect will. Show me what I need to do to get things
right between us. Help me remember every day how good You are to me. Thank You
for Jesus so I can spend my eternity praising You and giving You all the glory
for how awesome You are! In Jesus name. Amen.
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
Deuteronomy 16:12
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt:
and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
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