Day 343 Joel 1:1-3:21; Revelation 1:1-20; Psalm 128:1-6; Proverbs 29:18 Acting On The Vision Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) “Where there is no vision the people perish…” There is so much power in having a vision for where you are going or what you are doing. For example, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has been driven…
Day 342 Hosea 10:1-14:9; Jude 1-25; Psalm 127:1-5; Proverbs 29:15-17 Standing for the Faith Throughout history there have been all kinds of false doctrines, alternative teachings, and strange forms of spiritualities that have led Christians astray. In the early Church, heresies came and went that forced the Church to define or sharpen what they believed….
Day 341 Hosea 6:1-9:17; 3 John 1-15; Psalm 126:1-6; Proverbs 29:12-14 The Wrath of God Satisfied Despite first glance at the text today, the major theme of Hosea is not that God would delight in harming His people but that He delights in the redemption of those who follow or who come back to Him…
Day 340 Hosea 4:1-5:15; 2 John 1-13; Psalm 125:1-5; Proverbs 27:18-20 Human Nature “There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land. Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hos. 4:1b-2). Hosea’s prophetic “indictment” against the Northern Kingdom of Israel was pronounced in the…
Day 339 Hosea 1:1-3:5; 1 John 5:1-21; Psalm 124:1-8; Proverbs 29:5-8 God Will Change Your Name The call of Hosea was to experience the broken heart of God personally. His call was to take a wife, Gomer, who would become unfaithful in marriage. And yet, Hosea was to remain bound to her in covenant faithfulness…
Day 338 Daniel 11:36-12:13; 1 John 4:1-21; Psalm 123:1-4; Proverbs 29:2-4 The Futility of Self-Importance It is likely that all of us have met, at one time or another, a person who tried to impress us, perhaps with pompous manner, or with fine clothing, or with vast wealth, or with esoteric knowledge, or with a…
Day 337 Daniel 11:2-35; 1 John 3:7-24; Psalm 122:1-9; Proverbs 29:1 A Joyful Approach “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Psalm 122 is a Song of Ascents where it refers to going up to the city of Jerusalem to pay honor and praise and…
Day 336 Daniel 9:1-11:1; 1 John 2:18-3:6; Psalm 121:1-8; Proverbs 28:27-28 Never Underestimate the Power of Prayer! We can learn much from the way that Daniel prayed and from the dramatic consequences. Daniel knows that exile in Babylon is nearing an end. Daniel prays fervently but does not rush to a request. First, he recounts…
Day 335 Daniel 8:1-27; 1 John 2:1-17; Psalm 120:1-7; Proverbs 28:25-26 The True Light Is Already Shining Advent begins. Christ’s coming means “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). Ministering from Babylon in the 6th century just at the rise of the Persian king Cyrus, Daniel receives…
Day 334 Daniel 7:1-28; 1 John 1:1-10; Psalm 119:153-176; Proverbs 28:23-24 Are You Without Sin? The reading in 1 John today states that if we say we have no sin, we are calling God a liar! Wow, I don’t want to even think I might do that—call God liar! But don’t I do that when…
Day 333 Daniel 6:1-28; 2 Peter 3:1-18; Psalm 119:129-152; Proverbs 28:21-22 Taking a Stand There are times in life where we have to make tough choices between faithfulness to God and faithfulness to other powers and authorities. The more corrupt the society and environment around us become, the greater the likelihood that we will face…
Day 332 Daniel 5:1-31; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Psalm 119:113-128; Proverbs 28:19-20 Book of Instructions As we approach Christmas, fathers everywhere are having nightmares over the traditional Christmas Eve’s “assembly of the toys.” I recall hours of cursing the instruction sheets on assembling doll houses, tricycles, and myriad other toys designed to frustrate fathers worldwide. The…
