Monday, August 2, 2010

John 5 devotional

John 5: 45 – 47


"But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won't take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?"



Application: Whenever people feel mixed-up what do they do to gain comfort? What I have noticed is some people go shopping, and others eat. Many people put others down to make themselves feel better, and there are few who try to pick other up. There are a variety of things people do to make themselves feel better whenever times are rough. Well, the more important question is what do you do to get through tough times? Or, better yet what should you do? In biblical times the Jewish people would turn to God. They would do that through prayer and the reading of Scripture. However, even though they had the right idea, something tragic happened to their intimate relationship with God. It turned into a religion. Somehow this great Jewish nation who was called by God to keep His laws and commandments and have intimate knowledge of Him lost faith in His ability to perform what He had promised. How do we know that? Well, look at John 5. Jesus is in a heated discussion with the RELIGIOUS leaders of the day. What are they discussing? Is Jesus who He says he is? Isn’t that funny! The very God they have supposedly been in a relationship with for millenniums is standing right in front of them, and they do not even believe what He is saying! Now we can guess why they don’t believe what Jesus is saying, but we don’t have to because the Scriptures are clear. Jesus says, “If you won't take seriously what [Moses] wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?" Moses, whom Jesus is referring to, wrote the first 5 books of the Bible. And, do you know what Moses wrote about? He wrote about Jesus! In Deuteronomy 18: 18 God speak through Moses said, “I will raise up for them [the Jews] a Prophet [Jesus] like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in his mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.” Jesus reveals the reason with why the Jewish leaders would not accept Him as Christ. These leaders who knew the Old Testament frontwards and backwards lost faith in what they were reading; that led them to loose faith in God. Do you know what else is amazing? They keep on studying the Scriptures even though they did not believe what they were reading! Why did they keep studying the Scriptures even though they did not believe what they were saying? They were using the knowledge of the Scriptures to make themselves fell better about who they were! Sadly, because of wrong motivations they were doing it without growing in knowledge of the God of the Scriptures who could make them whole! Friend it is important to read the Bible, but it is even more important to believe what you read. Thus, having faith in the Scriptures is essential for having faith in the words of Christ, and trust in God. What do you believe?


Three action steps:


  1. Take the time to memorize this verse.

  2. Do you read your Bible?

  3. Do you believe what your read?

  4. Pray and ask God to help you hear Him speak to you through His word.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whew! I really like this one!

Shonta

Anonymous said...

I never really use to read the old testament. But, we need the whole Bible to be saved. Yah says if we love Him, we will keep His laws (Deu. 30:16-19). Yahoshua said He did not come to destroy the law but fulfill it (Matt. 5:17-19).

Because so many of us don't read for ourselves or have good teachers, a lot of people are going to be fooled in the last days (Matt. 24:3-14). The anti-messiah will go to Jerusalem and sit in the 3rd temple that they are going to build (calling himself The Most High or Yahoshua?)(2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). This is the sign that we are to flee east to the wilderness (some of us) to the mount sinai area, it is thought. Some righteous Israelites will be left behind to fight the dragon (satan). They will have to stand up for Yah through persecution (men and women). The dragon will be coming for the woman. Remember we are Yah's woman,wife (Israel)(Rev. 12:1-6,14-17). The male child that will rule the earth with a iron rod is Yahoshua Ha Mashiach.

Something I didn't know about because I didn't read and wasn't taught was that there are foods that we are not suppose to be eating (Lev.chapter 11). The foods I was eating were pork, crabs, lobster, catfish and shrimp. Even after learning I wasn't suppose to be eating these foods I could not understand why but I obeyed. Now I know that those animals I was eating are decomposers, they clean the earth. I think that's why Yah doesn't want us eating them (along with the other animals listed) because they are filthy. Pigs will eat anything including humans and rats. Crabs, lobsters and catfish will eat anything that hits the ocean floor including humans. Shrimp eat fecal matter including their own. (eewwwww, wince). There are some christians I know asking me if I'm muslim now. lol, so I know they are reading either.

Shonta