Team Daily Bible Reading and Commentaries for November 2024
316Judith
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November 1, 2024
Bible Reading
Hebrews 13:1
Commentary Thoughts
A Christian Virtue
I am being very frank about this and I hope I am being helpful: Do not ever say you are not right with God because you like some people better than others!
I believe you can be right with God and still not like the way some people behave. It is easy to love those who are friendly; others rub us the wrong way or perhaps they cut us down.
The writer to the Hebrews has appealed to us as Christian believers to “let brotherly love continue”—in other words, “never stop loving one another in the Lord.”
Here is what I have found: It is possible to love people in the Lord even though you may not like their boorish or distasteful human traits. We still love them for Jesus’ sake!
Yes, I believe you can be right with God and still not like the way some people behave.
Our admonition is to love them in a larger and more comprehensive way because we are all one in Christ Jesus.
This kind of love is indeed a Christian virtue!
Prayer - "Father, help me to love people for Jesus’ sake even when they do or say things that annoy or hurt me".
Bible Reading
Hebrews 13:1
Commentary Thoughts
A Christian Virtue
I am being very frank about this and I hope I am being helpful: Do not ever say you are not right with God because you like some people better than others!
I believe you can be right with God and still not like the way some people behave. It is easy to love those who are friendly; others rub us the wrong way or perhaps they cut us down.
The writer to the Hebrews has appealed to us as Christian believers to “let brotherly love continue”—in other words, “never stop loving one another in the Lord.”
Here is what I have found: It is possible to love people in the Lord even though you may not like their boorish or distasteful human traits. We still love them for Jesus’ sake!
Yes, I believe you can be right with God and still not like the way some people behave.
Our admonition is to love them in a larger and more comprehensive way because we are all one in Christ Jesus.
This kind of love is indeed a Christian virtue!
Prayer - "Father, help me to love people for Jesus’ sake even when they do or say things that annoy or hurt me".
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November 2, 2024
Bible Reading
Philippians 3:13-14
Commentary Thoughts
"Toward the mark"
It is one of the devil’s oldest tricks to discourage Christian believers by causing them to look back at what they once were.
It is indeed the enemy of our souls who makes us forget that we are never at the end of God’s love.
No one will make progress with God until the eyes are lifted to the faithfulness of God and we stop looking at ourselves!
Our instructions in the New Testament all add up to the necessity of looking forward in faith—and not spending our time looking back or just looking within.
Brethren, our Lord is more than able to take care of our past. He pardons instantly and forgives completely, and his blood makes us worthy!
The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend. If the “root of the matter” is in you and you are born again, God is prepared to start with you where you are!
Prayer - "Thank You, Lord, that we can never reach the end of Your love for us. Your love, like all Your attributes, is never-ending".0 -
November 3, 2024
Bible Reading
Philippians 1:11
Commentary Thoughts
The Winsome Saints
Much of Christianity overlooks the fact that if we are led by the Spirit of God and if we show forth the love of God this world needs, we become the “winsome saints.”
The strange and wonderful thing about it is that truly win- some and loving saints do not even know about their attractiveness.
The great saints of the past did not know they were great saints. If someone had told them, they would not have believed it, but those around them knew that Jesus was living His life in them.
I think we join the winsome saints when God’s purposes in Christ become clear to us.
We join them when we begin to worship God because He is who He is! Brethren, God is not a charity case—He is not some frustrated foreman who cannot find enough help.
Let us remember that God has never actually needed any of us—not one! But we pretend that He does, and we make a big thing of it when someone agrees “to work for the Lord.”
God is trying to call us back to that for which He created us—to worship and to enjoy Him forever!
Prayer - "Thank You, Lord, for the faithful men and women who have gone before us. Thank You for the example of their lives that delighted in having close fellowship with You".0 -
November 4, 2024
Bible Reading
2 Timothy 3:5
Commentary Thoughts
Failure Of Religion
Millions of men and women refuse to face up to the fact that religion, in and of itself, is not enough for the sinner’s need.
It is amazing how many things religious people want to do to you.
They can start with infant baptism and end up with the last rites when you are 108 years old—and all of that time they will manipulate you, maul you and sweet massage your soul.
When it is all done, you are just what you were. You are just a decorated and massaged sinner—a sinner who did not eat meat, or on the other hand, a sinner who did eat fish!
When religion has done all it can, you are still a sinner who either went to church or did not go to church.
Religion can put us on the roll and educate us and train us and instruct us.
But after all that, there is still something within our beings that cries, “Eternity is in my heart and I have not found anything to satisfy it!”
Only our Lord Jesus Christ is enough to satisfy the eternal longing in our souls.
Prayer - "Lord, deepening my relationship with You is more important than my involvement in “religious traditions” that have nothing to do with my eternal destiny.
I Love You, Lord Jesus".0 -
November 5, 2025
Bible Reading
Philippians 4:8
Commentary Thoughts
Striving For Numbers
In Christian circles today, the church that can show an impressive quantitative growth is frankly envied and imitated by other ambitious churches.
Numbers, size and amounts seem to be very nearly all that matters—with a corresponding lack of emphasis on quality!
This is the age of the Laodiceans. The great goddess, Numbers, is worshiped with fervent devotion, and all things religious are brought before her for examination.
Her Old Testament is the financial report, and her New Testament is the membership roll.
To these she appeals as the test of spiritual growth and the proof of success or failure in most Christian endeavors.
A little acquaintance with the Bible should show this up for the heresy it is.
To judge anything spiritual by statistics is to judge by something other than scriptural judgment.
Yet this is being done every day by ministers, church boards and denominational leaders.
And hardly anyone seems to notice the deep and dangerous errors.
Prayer - “Lord, I pray this morning for the pastor and elders of my church, that their chief desire will be to invite the Holy Spirit of God into our church to do His refining work in the lives of our people.”0 -
November 6
Bible Reading
Psalm 23:1-3
Isaiah 53:6
Commentary Thoughts
The Shepherd provides for the needs of His sheep.
David could confidently affirm “I shall not want” because he understood that the care of the sheep was the responsibility of the shepherd.
Sheep, by their nature, are dangerously unaware of their needs and limitations. The shepherd must forcefully lead them to a place where food is abundant; he must compel them to “lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:1-3).
You can compare this scenario to a young child who insists that he or she has no need for a nap (with the well-worn phrase “I don’t want to!”), and yet the parent must force him or her to lie down, knowing the fits and meltdowns that await a tired, cranky child.
The voice of Jehovah Rohi, the Divine Shepherd, may not always lead us to where we want to go or think we should go, but we can be confident that He knows our needs better than we know them.
Perhaps, like sheep, our bleating protests and stubborn desire to turn aside to our “own way” (Isaiah 53:6) is simply a reflection of our sinful ignorance regarding the fact that the Shepherd knows the way to “green pastures” and “still waters”—pastures and waters He will use to “restore our soul” (Psalm 23:2-3).0 -
November 7
Bible Reading
Psalm 23:4-5
Deuteronomy 31:8
Commentary Thoughts
The Shepherd is present with His sheep and protects them from harm.
David knew that sheep were easily frightened. He also knew that predators would use this skittish nature to their benefit.
A panicked sheep that stumbles away from the protection of the flock becomes easy prey for a wolf or bear.
The protecting presence of the shepherd is the only hope for the sheep as the shepherd prods and guides them with his rod and staff to a place of shelter and safety.
David had learned that the Divine Shepherd is inseparable from His people, and he was confident that God would be with them even in “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4-5). He had experienced the truth of Moses’s counsel to Joshua that:
“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8).0 -
November 9, 2024
Bible Reading
Psalm 23:3-6
John 10:11
John 10: 27-28
Commentary Thoughts
The Shepherd guides His sheep on the paths that lead home.
Because the shepherd provides for the needs of his sheep and is present with them even in the face of danger, the sheep learn to obey the shepherd.
As they experience the goodness and lovingkindness (Psalm 23:6) of the shepherd, they learn that they can trust his voice as he summons them to follow.
Likewise, David knew that Jehovah Rohi, the Divine Shepherd, was both directing him “in paths of righteousness” (Psalm 23:3) and guiding him, ultimately, to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).
In the Gospel of John, Jesus identifies Himself as “the good shepherd” who “lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Jesus went on to note that “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).
What more could a sheep ask for than a shepherd who is willing to give his life for the protection of the sheep?
Have you learned to hear, trust and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd?
Like David, we can also come to know the provision, presence and guidance of the Lord as our Shepherd, and as we do, we will learn to call Him Jehovah Rohi.0 -
November 10, 2024
Bible Reading
2 Corinthians 2:14
Colossians 1:21
Commentary Thoughts
FROM ENEMY TO EXAMPLE
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." 2 Corinthians 2:14 KJV
We were once enemies of God, alienated from Him in our minds.
By the power of His Holy Spirit we have been transformed and He causes us to always triumph in Christ.
He parades us before the world, making Himself known through us when we obey Him. When we know we will be in the spotlight before the world in the flesh, we should be intentional to look and act our best, as His child.
Likewise, as believers, we walk courageously, knowing God has chosen us to be an example in the earth of the transforming power of Christ.
"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight..." Colossians 1:21-22 KJV
QUESTION: Can you identify three areas of your life which reflect your transformation in Christ?0 -
November 11
Bible Reading
2 Corinthians 2
Philippians 4:18
Commentary Thoughts
FROM SELFISHNESS TO A SWEET SMELLING SAVOR
"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?" 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 KJV
When the Bible speaks of a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God, it is referring to the aroma of sacrifice. We have been transformed by the Spirit of Christ from the sin and selfish nature of our past.
Our lives of sacrifice are a sweet aroma that rises up to God. It is a sweet smell to those who are saved, and hopefully attracts some unbelievers into His kingdom. To those who reject God, the fragrance of our lives is the smell of death.
But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Philippians 4:18 KJV
QUESTION: Are you living a life which is a sweet fragrance to God, attracting others to Him as well?0 -
November 12, 2024
Bible Reading
2 Corinthians 2:17
Romans 1
2 Timothy 2:15
Commentary Thoughts
FROM RECKLESS TO RESPONSIBLE
"This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on? No—but at least we don’t take God’s Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ’s presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can." 2 Corinthians 2:17 MSG
We have been transformed by the power of Christ. We are no longer living the reckless and undisciplined life of our past. Now we have a great responsibility to share our faith. We are to be careful stewards of the Word, not adulterating or compromising it, but always remembering our God is a witness of all we say and do.
"I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also." Romans 1:14-15 KJV
QUESTION: Have you incorporated study of God's Word into your life, to be approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, but rightly dividing the Word of truth?0 -
November 12, 2024
Bible Reading
2 Corinthians 2:17
Romans 1
2 Timothy 2:15
Commentary Thoughts
FROM RECKLESS TO RESPONSIBLE
"This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on? No—but at least we don’t take God’s Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ’s presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can." 2 Corinthians 2:17 MSG
We have been transformed by the power of Christ. We are no longer living the reckless and undisciplined life of our past. Now we have a great responsibility to share our faith. We are to be careful stewards of the Word, not adulterating or compromising it, but always remembering our God is a witness of all we say and do.
"I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also." Romans 1:14-15 KJV
QUESTION: Have you incorporated study of God's Word into your life, to be approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, but rightly dividing the Word of truth?0 -
November 14
Bible Reading
Romans 8:6
Psalm 91:1
Colossians 3:5
Commentary Thoughts
God’s Peace
A PLACE OF TRANQUILITY
Life is a mad rush. We crave tranquility and serenity on life’s journey. Take the initiative for quieter meals around the table, routines before bedtime and heartfelt conversations in the car.
Sometimes we take a moment to be still, but during this time there is so much that needs to happen that we end up going to bed with more “noise” than tranquility.
During the time we take to just be still before the Lord, we mostly experience peace that cannot be described in words.0 -
November 15
Bible Reading
John 14:27
Romans 15:33
James 3:18
Commentary Thoughts
PEACE IN THE MIDST OF CONFLICT
Are you seeking the kind of peace that is more than a feeling and not dependent on good circumstances?
This peace is called Jesus – the Prince of Peace.
He doesn’t give you peace, and He wants to be your peace.
Peace grows from your relationship with Him.
So you don’t only seek after it, but you also want to be a peacemaker.
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God during conflict.
It is not to give up biblical principles, but to live them. Peace be with you!0 -
November 16
Bible Reading
Proverbs 16:32
2 Peter 3:9
Romans 5:3-4
Commentary Thoughts
THE ART OF PEACEFUL LIVING
We live in a hectic world where everything should have happened yesterday already. There is not even time to be patient.
One of the best definitions of patience is to calmly carry on with life, with the knowledge that God is in control.
Patience is to love under pressure.
Maybe you can practice your patience this week by driving in the slow lane and showing love for your family during your busiest hour.0 -
November 17
Bible Reading
Psalms 119:50
2Corinthians 1:3-4
Isaiah 66:13
Commentary Thoughts: Theme in All these Readings have been God’s Peace
Today: FINDING COMFORT
Have you encountered the dark side of life: the doctor’s examination results, the call from the hospital and a police officer ringing your doorbell?
Do you know the place where comfort is found in someone rather than something?
Comfort lies deeper than wiping away tears and handing out tissues.
True comfort gives light to your darkness.
Find comfort in God’s presence.0 -
November 19, 2024
Bible Reading
Psalm 31:3
2 Thessalonians 3:3
Proverbs 29:25
Commentary Thoughts
HIDING FROM DANGER
What are the dangers that frighten you physically (sickness, distress, violence) or mentally (temptation, discouragement, depression)?
The same way a father carries his daughter, God will carry you through every danger.
He will hide you under the soft feathers of His wings.
He will give light within your darkness.
He will protect you from danger.
He never sleeps nor slumbers.
He will be a safe hiding place in your darkest night.0