04/28 Psalm 81:11-12
“But no, my people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want me around. 12 So I let them follow their blind and stubborn way, living according to their own desires.
CULTURE
We are called to change culture-that is live under the leadership and direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we live on our own culture will change us. The ways of the world will begin to have wisdom. The things of this world will get their clutches deeply in us. We won’t turn the other cheek. We won’t pray for our enemies. We will not lay down our life for our neighbor. We will want what we want when we want it. Sodom will have a complete hold upon us even as we decry in our soul the culture we live in we will live in it and be indistinguishable from the world. Listen to the Lord and obey Him or you will be on the wrong track.
Author - Clay Corvin
04/29 Psalm 81:13-14
But oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! 14 How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
GIANTS
Do the giants in the land overshadow your life? Stop where you are and listen to the Lord. Do what He says and He will defeat the giants in your life. Everything will change. No longer at the mercy of the world you will have peace and joy. Your life will be hidden in Christ with God.
04/27 Psalm 81:10
For it was I, the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
FOCUS
Focus on Jesus. Life is complex and we don’t know what will happen next but Jesus knows everything about us. He will lead guide and direct us but to follow Him we have to focus on Him. Jesus is Lord.
04/26 Psalm 81:8-9
“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen! 9 You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god.
FOREIGN
No foreign god. Watch your thoughts and activities because we create false gods easily. What do you spend your money on? What controls your time? If there is anything other than Jesus you must carefully evaluate what you are doing and where you heart is for HIS command is no foreign god.
04/25 Psalm 81:1
For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument. Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Israel. 2 Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp. 3 Sound the trumpet for a sacred feast when the moon is new, when the moon is full. 4 For this is required by the laws of Israel; it is a law of the God of Jacob. 5 He made it a decree for Israel when he attacked Egypt to set us free. I heard an unknown voice that said, 6 “Now I will relieve your shoulder of its burden; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks. 7 You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud. I tested your faith at Meribah, when you complained that there was no water.
PRAISE
Praise the Lord saints for He is worthy of all of our praise. Jesus fixes everything in our life, praise the Lord. Jesus heals our problems, carries our burdens and sets us free, praise the Lord. In all you do learn the joy of praising the Lord for He is worthy of all of our praise.
04/24 Mark 2:23-28
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of wheat. 24 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “They shouldn’t be doing that! It’s against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.” 25 But Jesus replied, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? 26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest), ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone, and then gave some to his companions. That was breaking the law, too.” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath. 28 And I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath!”
LORD
Jesus is Lord of all. That includes creation, everything and us. Jesus wants to include us in what He is doing in this world and He will if we will let Him. The Lord is at work right now seeking and saving the lost. People are important to the Lord.
04/23 Mark 2:21-22
And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the new patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine needs new wineskins.”
CHANGE
We don’t change a little or in steps. Jesus changes us completely giving us a new heart and new life. In Jesus we are new creatures. Now as we go about our daily life we are alive in Christ and capable of doing the next right thing. We have to discipline ourselves under the mighty hand of God to enact this change in our heart and mind effectively in our hands, feet and mouth. Change is us.
04/22 Mark 2:18-20
John’s disciples and the Pharisees sometimes fasted. One day some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” 19 Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while they are with the groom. 20 But someday he will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
STRUGGLE
We will struggle with our daily Christian walk until we settle the trust factor in our heart. Do I really believe that Jesus has saved me? Do I really realize that I am a child of the King and that HE is in control of all the universes of existence? When I believe then I will be able to walk. Jesus is Lord.
04/21 Mark 2:16-17
But when some of the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with people like that, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum ?” 17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.”
PEOPLE
Jesus loves people. He died for people. Anytime we set our agenda against people we are attacking the Lord. Jesus loves you and expects us to love one another.
04/20 Mark 2:15
That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.)
RESPONSE
Levi’s response indicates the depth of change that Jesus had enabled in his life. Levi followed Jesus. Jesus saved Levi and gave him a job to do. Levi accepted the call and immediately began serving his new KING. Jesus is Lord.