Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: God's Judgments 
Date: Sunday January 22, 2012
Today's Chapters: Exodus 21-23
Preview of Today's Message: God sets judgments upon His people, the laws He enforces are given to not only keep us moral, they are given to protect us from the dangers of the world. All Scripture quoted from the King James Version.

Hello My Friend,

Judgment is the act of determining, as in courts of law, what is conformable to law and justice, also, the decision, or sentence of the court, or of a judge; the mandate or sentence of God. A pardon may be pleaded in the case of judgment. The sentence given to all mankind by God is death and hell, the judge is Jesus Christ Himself, and we will all stand before Him. There is only one way to be pardoned of this judgment, Christ Himself. “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” -John 5:22-25.

While many of the laws God enforced upon the Jews are not enforced upon us today, they are good reminders of why He enforced them in the first place and of why we are to live a moral, uncorrupted life.“Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them...He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death...And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death...If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.” -Exodus 21:1,12,15,22-27. 

The law which authorized retaliation was a civil one. It was given to regulate the procedure of the public magistrate in determining the amount of compensation in every case of injury, but did not encourage private revenge. The later Jews, however, mistook it for a moral precept, and were corrected by Jesus on this matter. “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also...But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” -Matthew 5:38-40,44,45.

The people of God should ever be ready to show mildness and mercy, according to the spirit of these laws. We must answer to God, not only for what we do maliciously, but for what we do ignorantly also. God continues giving His judgments. “And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” -Exodus 22:16-24. 

Some of God's judgments should be common sense to man, but just like any law given it is enforced because someone did it first. God can see everything! He sees what we do, He even knows what we think. Nine times out of ten the things we think of become action regardless of whether those thoughts are good or bad. I woke up this morning from a dream (nothing immoral) wondering what God thought of that dream in my head and even asked forgiveness for thinking how the dream would end. Of course, we cannot control our dreams, but we can control our thoughts that lead to those dreams. I was thinking about the things that lead to that dream for a couple of days now, I do not want them to become actions, at least the corrupted things. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” -James 1:13-15. 

God does not enforce judgments upon us to keep us from enjoying life, He does it so we can enjoy life. All of the dumb decisions I made over the years that I suffered for are of my own doing and I deserved it. God promises to always be there for us, to love us through think and thin, whether we obey His judgments or not. However, imagine the blessings that God gives to us from living by those judgments all the time. God said, 

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” -Exodus 23:20-25. 

That angel is none other than Christ, he blesses us and takes away the sickness of our sins when we obey His voice. Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” -Matthew 10:28-34. Today, Christ lives in every believer in the form of the Holy Spirit and pardons all who accept Him. 

Today's Psalm: 105:7 - “He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth.”

Today's Proverb: 19:29 - “ Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.”

Today's Prayer: God, all the goals and strategies that I set for my life are the blessings of knowing that as I keep obeying Your judgments that I will eventually hear You say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant“. You have persevered me and endured the hardships for me. Others in this world may earn titles and win prizes for worthy earthly pursuits, but the greatest prize that I will ever obtain is my entrance into Your Kingdom where I will see you face to face. Amazingly, not because I earned it, but because I believe in and have accepted Your Son as my personal Savior. Only through Jesus am I pardoned of my death and hell sentence. Thank You Jesus! In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Enjoy the rest of your day/night. 
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: If You Love Me
Date: Saturday January 21, 2012
Today's Chapters: Exodus 17-20
Preview of Today's Message: While we are all sinners, we can live a pretty righteous life with God as long as we are willing to follow His commands. All Scripture quoted from the King James Version.

Hello My Friend,

I was out soul winning last night and the last person I visited sincerely wanted a life with God, he clearly did a lot of studying on the matter, the problem was, he looked to every religion and book he could find rather than the only Book that would show him how to do that. I did not debate him on his findings, even after he told me that Jesus and God's name were not correct in the Bible. I simply said after I handed him a Bible tract, you have done a lot of research and I hope you find the truth, which I just gave you, I hope to see you in heaven one day, God wants to see you in heaven, He knows who He is, He knows His name. He looked at me and nodded as if a light bulb just went off in his head. So many people want God in their lives and likewise He wants to be in their lives too, the key, “Follow My Commands”. 

“Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” -John 14:11-16.

There really is no better encouragement or motivation to follow God's commands than to see Him work. To see the impossible become possible, if you are saved, if you have received Christ as your Savior and kept Him in your life than you are proof that God can make the impossible possible. The life you live with Christ now did not happen over night it took some effort, it took some faith, it took some discipline. We cannot grow as a Christian, we cannot grow in our faith, and we cannot see the impossible become possible unless we follow God's commands. As the Israelite's continue their journey to the promised land God placed obstacles before them. Why? To get them to depend only upon Him to make the impossible possible. Time and time again they saw only the obstacle and not God, even though He was right there in front of them. Once again God placed an obstacle in front of them only to have the same response. 

“And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?” -Exodus 17:3-7. 

Massah means temptation, Meribah means strife, they began to question whether God was with them or not. This is called their “tempting God,” because of distrust in Him after they had received such proofs of His power and goodness. Every time we question God's ability or existence when facing difficulties we are tempting God. Now, we all have questions for God, but to tempt Him is another story, it is as if we are saying, unless you do this for me I am not going to believe in you anymore. The rock represents Christ, and their drinking of it is represented as their being made partakers of the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ. “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” -John 7:38.

Some time later, when Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, heard all that God was doing for Israel and that they were now free he met up with him. He was pleased to see all that God had done, but was a bit disturbed to see that Moses was taking on all the burdens of the people all by himself. “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.” -Exodus 18:13-18. 

Moses did what Jethro suggested, he taught and appointed people to take on most of the burdens of the people, except for the things that really needed his attention. We all need help from time to time, it is wise to teach others what we know, we are not invincible and we will not be around forever, so, it is important that we teach others so they can continue to do what we have worked so hard to accomplish. “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;” - II Timothy 2:24,25. 

We all need God's help, in everything that we do, God promises to always be there for us when we keep following His commands. “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel...And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.” -Exodus 19:5,6,9. 

God Himself spoke to the Israelite's from a mountain, “And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” -Exodus 20:1-6. 

I am not going to be the first to tell you that I understand all of the commands that God enforces, but I can tell you that whatever God wants to keep us from is for good reason and all He is really wants is for us to trust Him and have some morals about us so that we can be seen as His peculiar treasure. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” While our works certainly do not save us, Christ does and our keeping His commandments are simply our way to show Him that we truly love Him. Unless we study His Word and only His Word can we even know what those are. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” -2 Timothy 2:15. 

Today's Psalm: 119:10 - “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.”

Today's Proverb: 13:13 - “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”

Today's Prayer: God, Let Your commands be pressed upon my heart, Your love and blessings motivate and encourage me to obey You in all that I do. Lord, help me as I study Your Word from cover to cover, show me what Your will is for my life and give me Your power to fulfill that will and entrust You completely with my life, after all, You know what is best for me. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Enjoy the rest of your day/night. 
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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