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January 7 - January 13, 2020
each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” (Hebrews 13:1-2).
be confident that nothing is too difficult for the Lord.
The One who did wondrous things for Abraham and Sarah is the One who loves you as His own child.
remain sensitive to the Lord.
be passionate in prayer.
I do not have, because I do not ask.
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3, NASB).
What would you do if your child asked for something that would cause him or her harm? Love for your child would demand that you deny his or her request. Sadly, you and I put these kinds of requests to God regularly.
At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!” When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful. GENESIS 19:15-16
How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is
God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him! . . . Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God! 1 KINGS 18:21-24
“the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!” (1 Kings 18:38).
“I cried out
to him for help, praising him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer” (Psalm 66:17-19).
Lord, in the midst of this journey from earth to heaven, teach us to honor the privilege of prayer with great respect. May we examine our motives and commit to keeping them pure. Help us to acknowledge selfishness when it occurs, and give us the courage to repent of that sin. Then, through Your Holy Spirit, align our will to reflect
Your good and perfect ways. Give us patience to wait on Your timing and grant us the grace to accept Your response of no. Lord, I praise You and thank You for the many yes responses we receive. Because we deserve nothing, we accept these gifts with gratitude. I pray that each yes will become our opportunity to publicly acknowledge Your power and mercy. With confident trust, I ask this on behalf of all who read these pages. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, amen.
Be very careful to love the LORD your God. But if you turn away from him and cling to the customs of the survivors of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry with them, then know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive them out of your land. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap to you, a whip for your backs and thorny brambles in your eyes, and you will vanish from this good land the LORD your God has given you.
JOSHUA 23:11-13
The book of Proverbs warns, “A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers” (20:19). It also says, “Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul” (22:24-25).
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? 2 CORINTHIANS 6:14-16
Lot was sitting at the city gate. This minor detail revealed that he was no ordinary resident; he had become an active participant in the politics and commerce of Sodom.
In providing hospitality, the host accepts responsibility for the safety of his guests.
With supernatural power, they “blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside” (Genesis 19:11).
“Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the LORD,
and he has sent us to destroy it.” GENESIS 19:12-13
The Lord spared the man for the sake of his uncle.
You can make a major difference in your part of the world by determining and then holding a set of convictions derived from God’s Word.
Convictions must be affirmed
and modeled in the home, or they will be compromised on the street.
Convictions must mean everything to us personally, or they’ll mean nothing when we’re under pressure.
dread preaching, teaching, or writing on certain sections in the Scriptures. Genesis 19 is one of them. It deals with sin so unspeakable
and a sea that to this day cannot sustain life.
The wrath of God’s justice is too unsettling to think about. Yet the New Testament warnings send a chill up my spine. The time when God will give the ultimate, “No more” can come in an instant. His Son will appear in the clouds and bring this age of grace to a fearsome and immediate conclusion. For that matter, any one of us could die tonight and stand before Him to give account for our lives.
“Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26).
The world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Yes, it will be “business as usual” right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you
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but nothing will ever be built where Sodom and Gomorrah once stood.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. PROVERBS 3:5-8
The reason we still have breath in our lungs is because of the mercy of a gracious God.
we do not deserve mercy and we’re slow to respond when God sends messengers to lead us out of danger.
If you’re compromising, if you’re focusing only on the love of God while ignoring His justice, if you’re lingering after He has urged you to get away from those contaminating influences, you’re in grave danger.
Remember Lot’s wife . . . and don’t look back.
“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. . . . Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners” (Romans 5:12, 19).
“Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction” (Romans 15:4, ESV).
and choosing to live in a cave rather than seeking refuge and help from Abraham.
Children who are exposed to immorality repeatedly over long periods of time begin to lose their sensitivity. They become emotionally hardened and spiritually detached.
“Beware the undertow.”
Recognize that no one is immune to the dangers.
the church cannot resurrect what the home puts to death.
Modern man has become a spectator of world events, observing on his television screen without becoming involved. He watches the ominous events of our times pass before his eyes, while he sips his beer in a comfortable chair. He does not seem to realize what is happening to him. He does not understand that his world is on fire and that he is about to be burned with it.[41]
