Monday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7 -- June 23
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Meditation
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7, addressed problem issues again. The Old Testament lesson in Genesis dealt with the birth of Ishmael and Hagar’s fear of Sarah. She was the mother of a competitor to the heir of promise and she feared for her life and her son’s life. But the Lord didn’t forget her, even though she wasn’t the chosen wife and son. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and acknowledged that she hadn’t been treated well, but that a great nation would come from her son, too.
The angel assured her that her son would live long enough to have children, and his children would produce children and so on and so forth. It gave her confidence to return to Abraham’s house in order to give birth. God would care for her. She formed a new name for God—she prayed to the ‘God Who Sees Me and Cares for Me.’
We celebrate that same understanding of God—the ‘One Who Sees Us and Cares about Us.’
Today’s news was awesome for another woman, whose life was filled with fear and threats. Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman sentenced to death by hanging for not renouncing her Christian faith and adultery (her father was Muslim so by law, she was Muslim and her marriage to a Christian USA citizen was null and void, hence her adultery). She gave birth to her second child in prison. She was to be hung after the child turned two.
But today, the Sudanese government, under pressure from the world: Amnesty International; the US Secretary of State John Kerry; the Prime Minister of England, David Cameron, and others; declared through
“Abdullahi Alzareg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry, [who] said [the] Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and was committed to protecting the woman.” BBC World
We have been praying for her testimony to resonate through the world. Her courage in her faith expression was rewarded, just as Hagar’s faith was rewarded.
The New Testament lesson in Revelation also dealt with some harsh realities. The angel sent to watch over the burgeoning church at Ephesus praised the community for working so very hard and not accepting evil into the church—especially those, who spoke things that were false when they were compared with God’s Word. Then, the word…’but.’
But I have one problem with you. You have left your first love.
What did that mean? The members of the church got involved in doing the ‘work of God’ but they didn’t work out of love for God, they worked for their own reasons. Their sense of duty. Their self-aggrandizement. Their positions within the church. A plethora of reasons, but none of them about love. Love—the umbrella of all the law—that God said was the most important thing to do. Where was their love? Operating without love meant they were at risk of losing their ‘candlestick’ status. Without love, a Christian church is nothing.
The angel did end with a positive. The church at Ephesus hated the “deeds” of a group that subjugated believers, just as God hated their actions. Nicolaitaines, whose name mean subjugating people—some suggest they were known for putting down others that didn’t believe and act like they did. Those actions were abhorrent to God. Others suggest they follow false beliefs of Balaam and animal worship. Regardless of who they were, their actions displeased God greatly.
We know what pleased God. Love. Being loving. The angel spoke of the church losing their first love…like the love of falling in love—the refreshing being willing to do anything for the one you love the most. God was displeased that they had lost their love. The message to all was to follow God’s will by being loving.
God cared for Hagar and Ishmael, despite their raw deal. God loved them, too. God loved us all enough to send Jesus to die for us. That kind of love and sacrifice—One would expect others to respond in kind. The Ephesians lost their first love.
Our charge is to be like Christ and love one another.
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 12/Proper 7Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 86:11-17;Genesis 16:1-15;Revelation 2:1-7&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;NIV;GNT (multiple versions)
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7
Psalm 86:11-17
Genesis 16:1-15
Revelation 2:1-7
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 8:3-5 NIV
3When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
5You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. Human beings that you care for them?
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Revelation 2:1-7
King James Version (KJV)
2 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, we praise your name for the sacrifice on our behalf. We pray that we don’t lose our first love but demonstrate the love that pleases God. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Conclusion
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7 faced the harsh realities of the fears and threats for Hagar and Ishmael, but the angel promised that he would sustain them, and that Ishmael would become a great nation. This confidence soothed Hagar’s fears of being killed by Sarah.
The New Testament Revelation share another fear—the fear of losing one’s love—the first love of becoming a Christian, when they were grateful for everything and willing to do whatever God wanted. The Ephesians were working hard, but hard work without love is nothing. Churches that ‘appear’ to be doing a lot but don’t have love for people, fail to do what pleases God.
In Gordon MacDonald’s Ordering Your Private World, he said we are either ‘called’ or ‘driven’—the former came from God, the latter from our own desires. Being called meant God’s power coursed through the believer. Being driven would drive a program into the ground because it lacked the power of God as its source.
Being called tapped into the Source of all Love. When we emulate the love of God, we succeed. When we don’t, we fail.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7, addressed problem issues again. The Old Testament lesson in Genesis dealt with the birth of Ishmael and Hagar’s fear of Sarah. She was the mother of a competitor to the heir of promise and she feared for her life and her son’s life. But the Lord didn’t forget her, even though she wasn’t the chosen wife and son. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and acknowledged that she hadn’t been treated well, but that a great nation would come from her son, too.
The angel assured her that her son would live long enough to have children, and his children would produce children and so on and so forth. It gave her confidence to return to Abraham’s house in order to give birth. God would care for her. She formed a new name for God—she prayed to the ‘God Who Sees Me and Cares for Me.’
We celebrate that same understanding of God—the ‘One Who Sees Us and Cares about Us.’
Today’s news was awesome for another woman, whose life was filled with fear and threats. Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman sentenced to death by hanging for not renouncing her Christian faith and adultery (her father was Muslim so by law, she was Muslim and her marriage to a Christian USA citizen was null and void, hence her adultery). She gave birth to her second child in prison. She was to be hung after the child turned two.
But today, the Sudanese government, under pressure from the world: Amnesty International; the US Secretary of State John Kerry; the Prime Minister of England, David Cameron, and others; declared through
“Abdullahi Alzareg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry, [who] said [the] Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and was committed to protecting the woman.” BBC World
We have been praying for her testimony to resonate through the world. Her courage in her faith expression was rewarded, just as Hagar’s faith was rewarded.
The New Testament lesson in Revelation also dealt with some harsh realities. The angel sent to watch over the burgeoning church at Ephesus praised the community for working so very hard and not accepting evil into the church—especially those, who spoke things that were false when they were compared with God’s Word. Then, the word…’but.’
But I have one problem with you. You have left your first love.
What did that mean? The members of the church got involved in doing the ‘work of God’ but they didn’t work out of love for God, they worked for their own reasons. Their sense of duty. Their self-aggrandizement. Their positions within the church. A plethora of reasons, but none of them about love. Love—the umbrella of all the law—that God said was the most important thing to do. Where was their love? Operating without love meant they were at risk of losing their ‘candlestick’ status. Without love, a Christian church is nothing.
The angel did end with a positive. The church at Ephesus hated the “deeds” of a group that subjugated believers, just as God hated their actions. Nicolaitaines, whose name mean subjugating people—some suggest they were known for putting down others that didn’t believe and act like they did. Those actions were abhorrent to God. Others suggest they follow false beliefs of Balaam and animal worship. Regardless of who they were, their actions displeased God greatly.
We know what pleased God. Love. Being loving. The angel spoke of the church losing their first love…like the love of falling in love—the refreshing being willing to do anything for the one you love the most. God was displeased that they had lost their love. The message to all was to follow God’s will by being loving.
God cared for Hagar and Ishmael, despite their raw deal. God loved them, too. God loved us all enough to send Jesus to die for us. That kind of love and sacrifice—One would expect others to respond in kind. The Ephesians lost their first love.
Our charge is to be like Christ and love one another.
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 12/Proper 7Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 86:11-17;Genesis 16:1-15;Revelation 2:1-7&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;NIV;GNT (multiple versions)
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7
Psalm 86:11-17
Genesis 16:1-15
Revelation 2:1-7
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 8:3-5 NIV
3When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
5You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. Human beings that you care for them?
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Revelation 2:1-7
King James Version (KJV)
2 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, we praise your name for the sacrifice on our behalf. We pray that we don’t lose our first love but demonstrate the love that pleases God. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Conclusion
Sunday, Ordinary 12/Proper 7 faced the harsh realities of the fears and threats for Hagar and Ishmael, but the angel promised that he would sustain them, and that Ishmael would become a great nation. This confidence soothed Hagar’s fears of being killed by Sarah.
The New Testament Revelation share another fear—the fear of losing one’s love—the first love of becoming a Christian, when they were grateful for everything and willing to do whatever God wanted. The Ephesians were working hard, but hard work without love is nothing. Churches that ‘appear’ to be doing a lot but don’t have love for people, fail to do what pleases God.
In Gordon MacDonald’s Ordering Your Private World, he said we are either ‘called’ or ‘driven’—the former came from God, the latter from our own desires. Being called meant God’s power coursed through the believer. Being driven would drive a program into the ground because it lacked the power of God as its source.
Being called tapped into the Source of all Love. When we emulate the love of God, we succeed. When we don’t, we fail.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
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