Friday, September 14, 2018

Daily Bible Reading - September 14, 2018

Today's Reading:

John 17

2 Chronicles 25

Psalm 82

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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading   

In Scripture, we are promised that "whatever we ask according to Yahweh's Will will be done."
1 John 5:14-15  "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His Will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."
 As I have shared with you in prior blogs, there are several keys to answered prayers. 

1) All sin must be confessed, as unforgiven sin inhibits prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14).

2) Our prayers need to be fervent in order to be effective (James 5:16).

3) We need to pray for God's Will to be done in a situation in order for that prayer to be done. 

Today, I will be focusing of the third key to answered prayer: praying according to God's Will. How can we discern the Will of God? Of course, we know something is God's Will by claiming His Promises in His Word. 

But of all the revelations of God's Will for us, one of the most clear, encouraging and beautiful revelations of it is found in John 17. This chapter contains Messiah's prayer for His people.  Everything in this prayer is God's Will for you and me. Knowing this makes this prayer all the most significant. Did you know that Yahshua prayed for you? He did! His prayer encompassed every person who would ever belong to Him (John 17:20)! 

Furthermore, we can rest assured, that if we are asking for something found in the Saviour's Prayer from John 17 - it is the Will of God to grant it! With that in mind, let's look at Christ's Prayer for you, found in John 17:9-26:
"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given Me; for they are Thine."
What this means: Yahshua included you in His prayer.

"And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I Am glorified in them."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will to be glorified in you. Knowing this, you can pray for Him to be glorified in and through you with the assurance that this is His Will.
"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine Own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that you be "kept", which involves protection and preservation. It is also God's Will that His people be in unity - one in our love for God and in our love for one another.
"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name: those that thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will you will be preserved from the devil (the son of perdition) and that you will not be among the lost.
"And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that you will be the fulfillment of His joy!
"I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I Am not of the world."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that you will not fit in here. He Wills for you to not be of this world (but a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven). It is His Will for you to have and understand His Word (remember to pray for this as you study the Bible). 
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
What this means: It is not Yahweh's Will to take you from the world (He doesn't keep us from the suffering, trials, or difficulties of life on this planet). But, it is His Will to keep the evil ways of the world from rubbing off on you!
"Sanctify them through Thy Truth: thy Word is Truth.
As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the Truth."

What this means: You can ask Yahweh to sanctify you in His Word. This is His Will. to be sanctifies is to be set apart for holy use. 

It is also His Will to give you a Calling - a means to serve Him. He is sending you into the world in some way, in His service. And it is His Will that you pray to find out what that is.

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word."
What this means: Yahshua included you in His prayer. 
"That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that you would be so closely joined with Him that you would be "one" with Him.
"And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One:
I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that the Body of Christ would one in love for God and for one another (not divided by judgment of one another or focused on differences - nor acting as one another's junior "holy spirits", forcibly trying to convict others of "truths" or "sins". Rather it is His Will that we would pray for and love one another.)
"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I Am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that we be where He is - spiritually now, and also physically in the future!
"O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that thou hast sent Me."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that you be among His Children - whom He "knows". Those who are lost will hear the dread words, "depart from Me... I never knew you."
"And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
What this means: It is Yahweh's Will that Christ be in you and His love be manifest in every aspect of your being. 

What a wonderful and blessed Prayer! Let's seek the blessings of it by joining our prayers with Christ's in seeking these things in confidence - for it is His Will to bestow them!

Daily Bible Reading - September 13, 2018

Today's Reading:

John 16:5-33

2 Chronicles 24

Psalm 81

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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading   

Psalm 81 is a Psalm specifically written for the Feast of Trumpets. Considering that this annual Sabbath was on September 11, and that we are now in the subsequent Days of Awe, it is a good time to comment on the significance of Psalm 81.

Let's start off with how you can be certain that Psalm 81 is about the Feast of Trumpets.
Psalm 81:3-4 "Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob."
To prove that Psalm 81 is about the Feast of Trumpets, we need to cross reference each of the high-lighted words or phrases in the above verses, as follows:

CLUES:
1) Psalm 81 is referring to a NEW MOON day.
2) Upon this NEW MOON day, we are to blow the trumpet.
3) This NEW MOON day is also a solemn FEAST DAY.
4) The command to keep this NEW MOON day is a STATUTE in the LAW of Yahweh (so it is found in the Torah). 
Using these clues, we can quickly identify the day being mentioned in Psalm 81, for there is only one New Moon day, which is a Feast, given in the Torah, upon which we are specifically instructed to blow trumpets: The Feast of Trumpets.
Leviticus 23:23-25 - "And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month (the first day of the month is translated from the Hebrew words for NEW MOON), shall ye have a Sabbath (annual Sabbath), a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh." 
Because Psalm 81 is a Feast of Trumpets chapter, we make a practice of reading it during our convocation on the Feast of Trumpets. But there is more...

Many believe that the annual Sabbaths (Feasts of Yahweh) are a "Jewish" thing and should not be kept by "Gentile" (non-Jewish) Christians. Yet Psalm 81 shows that Joseph certainly didn't believe the Feasts were just a "Jewish" thing... He not only kept the Feast of Trumpets himself, he went throughout the land of Egypt instructing the Egyptians to
keep it also!
Psalm 81:3-5  "Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This He ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt..."
Psalm 81 not only contains key concepts related to the significance of the Feast of Trumpets, it also gives simple proof that God wants everyone to keep His holy days. And what a blessing it is to do so!