Today’s  Reading is from:

Job 28,29; Galatians 1,2

Scripture

   ⁶ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

¹⁰ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-10, New King James Version)

From the Matthew Henry Concise Commentary referencing Galatians Chapter 1:

St. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ; he was expressly appointed by him, consequently by God the Father, who is one with him in respect of his Divine nature, and who appointed Christ as Mediator. Grace, includes God’s good-will towards us, and his good work upon us; and peace, all that inward comfort, or outward prosperity, which is really needful for us.

They come from God the Father, as the Fountain, through Jesus Christ. But observe, first grace, and then peace; there can be no true peace without grace.

 Christ gave himself for our sins, to make atonement for us: this the justice of God required, and to this he freely submitted.

Here is to be observed the infinite greatness of the price bestowed, and then it will appear plainly, that the power of sin is so great, that it could by no means be put away except the Son of God be given for it.

He that considers these things well, understands that sin is a thing the most horrible that can be expressed; which ought to move us, and make us afraid indeed. Especially mark well the words, to for our sins. to

For here our weak nature starts back, and would first be made worthy by her own works. It would bring him that is whole, and not him that has need of a physician. Not only to redeem us from the wrath of God, and the curse of the law; but also to recover us from wicked practices and customs, to which we are naturally enslaved.

But it is in vain for those who are not delivered from this present evil world by the sanctification of the Spirit, to expect that they are freed from its condemnation by the blood of Jesus. (Ga 1:6-9)

 ¹ Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. ² And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. ³ Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. ⁴ And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), ⁵ to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

⁶ But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.

 ⁷ But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter ⁸ (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), ⁹ and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

¹⁰ They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. (Galatians 2:1-10, New King James Version)

 From the Matthew Henry Commentary referencing Chapter 2:

Observe the apostle’s faithfulness in giving a full account of the doctrine he had preached among the Gentiles, and was still resolved to preach, that of Christianity, free from all mixture of Judaism. This doctrine would be ungrateful to many, yet he was not afraid to own it.

His care was, lest the success of his past labours should be lessened, or his future usefulness be hindered.

While we simply depend upon God for success to our labours, we should use every proper caution to remove mistakes, and against opposers.

 There are things which may lawfully be complied with, yet, when they cannot be done without betraying the truth, they ought to be refused.

We must not give place to any conduct, whereby the truth of the gospel would be reflected upon.

 Though Paul conversed with the other apostles, yet he did not receive any addition to his knowledge, or authority, from them. Perceiving the grace given to him, they gave unto him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship,whereby they acknowledged that he was designed to the honour and office of an apostle as well as themselves.

 They agreed that these two should go to the heathen, while they continued to preach to the Jews; judging it agreeable to the mind of Christ, so to divide their work. Here we learn that the gospel is not ours, but God’s; and that men are but the keepers of it; for this we are to praise God.

 The apostle showed his charitable disposition, and how ready he was to own the Jewish converts as brethren, though many would scarcely allow the like favour to the converted Gentiles; but mere difference of opinion was no reason to him why he should not help them.

Herein is a pattern of Christian charity, which we should extend to all the disciples of Christ. (Ga 2:11-14)

Observation:

Yesterday for Word Filled Wednesday, I wrote about how we and our walk with God, is like a lighthouse for those who are lost, broken, or unsaved.

How often when we are out and about, we blog or we engage at work, that we keep His word to the forefront and not file it away in the “Only at church” file.

God’s word, is for everyday.

He is everyday, everywhere, never turns off.

We have opportunities each day to share God’s word, and sometimes, our actions and our words can serve as the medium to which we will, without knowing, bring someone either closer or farther from God.

It’s hard to argue, that we can’t do it, or that’s not fair, if then on Sunday,we go to church for worship and sing songs that it’s all about Him.

The truth is, having a relationship with our Father in Heaven, isn’t easy; If it was, ask oneself, would you still be a Christian or would you, as others may think as they look upon us, what is so different from Christianity?

During Easter, we had ask some people we knew, if they and their kids would like to come to church, hoping this is a way and an opportunity for the kids to understand about the Resurrection and for the people to see, hey, we’re overall regular people and not the sterotypical, what they see on t.v.

Their reply.

“No thanks,we think we’re good people and try to be and don’t need church”.

Most people have the idea that church is like therapy or “a place to just be a good person”.

It’s dangerous for us to assume that they know it’s more than that.

It’s lazy to assume that people understand what salvation is about and it’s not about “just being a good person (who can?)” or “about how many brownie points you get for packing cookies for the little old lady who lives down the street with the cats that you are allergic to”.

It’s like rowing by someone who is floundering in the water and not stopping, but assuming they can take care of themselves.

We wouldn’t like it if we were stuck on the side of the road “fill in the blank the car trouble” and watch as people drive by, not caring to stop and offer us assistance.

It’s more than saying, well than pick up the cell phone and call for a towing service or help or….

That’s great for us, but for some…there is no cell phone or someone they can call for help. It’s not about us; It’s about them. It’s about God.

We will continue to offer the invitation to the people, because part of defending the Gospel is actually living it in all areas of our lives; Our Father in Heaven, understands that we’re not perfect, but it’s also no excuse to use the excuse to not fully live His world.

Application:

Galatians and even Job is a reminder of how we should carry ourselves in our walk and in our interaction with the people around us.

This means watching our words, in all ways.

We may feel we can hide from God, but the reality is there is nothing that we can hide from Him and He is aware of not only what we are doing, but the intentions in our heart.

“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15)

I like how it was summed up from a post that is called “God Knows the Heart“,

This happened after King Saul had rebelled against God, and God rejected him as king.

The Lord sent Samuel, the prophet, off to Jesse’s place to anoint the new king whom God had chosen from Jesse’s sons. So Jesse got all his boys together, but one, and had them line up before Samuel.

When Eliab stood before him, Samuel thought to himself, “Hey, this is a fine, young handsome man. Surely this is the NEXT king!!”

But God said, “NO!!!”

However, it ended up, that the youngest, David, was the one God had chosen. He was not in the line-up, but was out with the sheep. So after God had rejected all the other boys, they went and fetched David. Then God affirmed that he was the ONE, so Samuel anointed him, “and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” (v.13)

So we have to remember that things are not always as they seem. The understanding, even of the godly, is limited. But God sees through all that, and looks straight at the heart.

As I read today’s passage, what I took away from it, is what and how are we really worshipping our Father in Heaven?

Are we pulling Him down to our level so we can feel okay with the choices we make and rationalize it with “God will understand”.

Does He truly understand if we make choices, write or speak words that are contrary to Him, or make life choices that are based not on what we know He wants, but based on what the world and what we are concern other people wants?

Where is our Father in our life priorities?

Do we put our iphones, our internet, our friends, our time, our interests before Him saying they are more important and we’ll “get to Him” later, treating Him like something we confine to a planner, versus of acknowledging before all things, He does come first and He is the source of all things, not the things we hold in our hands.

Man may have created the things we cherish, or wear the the latest fashion, but it was based first on our Father, who gave us the ability to think and create those things.

If we give thanks to Him for our food, shouldn’t we remember,that without Him, not even this earth would be in existance.

Worship Him.

Not idols that will rust away and turn to dust or a world that belongs not to us, but to Him.

What turn out to be a summer sabbatical turn out to be longer, and I do thank our Father in Heaven for the writer’s block that I am working through. It’s a welcome bump in the road for me, because it helped me not lose focus on what is important, which is Him.

He isn’t found on the internet.

He isn’t just found at church.

He is found, by the mere fact, He is there, for you, me, for all of us, and calling to us to have a closer relationship with Him.

I figure it would be daunting to read the bible each day; I tried and fail so many times, but it took committing myself to reading the bible each day for church and beyond the month of October, to realize this, why I fail ,because I took it as a personal priority.

I failed, because I tried to read the bible as a badge as a ,”Look at me, look what I can or am doing”.

When I took “me” out of the question and put Him in there, it’s actually been easier and I find myself not only more committed but more involved and growing in ways that I didn’t realize I could before.

Reading His word, became an act of service and worship to Him and Him only. I wanted to get to know Him better, I wanted to grow in His light and I wanted to be a better vessal for Him to work in and through.

So long as we stand by and do nothing and say nothing, no one is going to know His word. If we don’t make the effort to get to know Him and His word, how are we to share it and if we don’t share it, how can we serve as “lighthouses” to bring those who are lost, broken, or fallen to safe harbor if we, ourselves, don’t even know how to read the map ourselves.

Pick up your bible today, dust it off and get into His word.

It’s easy.

Just read John, Book 1, 2 and 3; Then get out of the kiddie pool and plunge into the waters to learn how to really swim; You don’t learn how to swim, if you keep a life ring around you and stay in the shallow end that goes up to your knees.

Prayer:

Lord, thank You for being the Life Guard of our lives and our Instructor teaching us how to swim and be your “Life Guards on Duty” to help those who are floundering in a confuse and broken world.

Lord, I pray and hope You keep challenging me and others to live a life of intention and not just be satisfy with staying in the shallow ends, with a life vest on while others are out there in the rest of the pool, swimming.

 Lord, give us strength and discretion and realize that while others may choose to lounge, to fully enjoy the waters ourselves, and get wet and make splashes to get others to come into Your word.

Being a Christian is about experiencing a life of faith, not staying safe on the lounge chair. I pray and hope we kick off our shoes and say, “I’m diving in” and dive into Your word and be Your vessels of faith.

People are going to disagree, but You, You are what we worry about, not those who seek to yell and kick to avoid getting wet.

In the end, it’s about throwing out those lifelines, and keeping the light on the lighthouses, for there are ships out in sea, seeking safe harbor to come to.

In Your Name I pray, Amen.

If you use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading. Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

I also have a November bookmark with this month’s readings, that you are more than welcome to download and print for your own use, to keep up with the daily readings.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

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