Thoughts From the Bible

Matthew 5: 8- “Blessed are the pure in hear t , for they shall see God.”   Matthew Henry stated in his commentary of this verse, “True Christianity lies in the heart, int he purity of heart; the washing of that from wickedness.” Am I pure of heart? The quick answer is “no” but as I think about this short verse, it strikes me as being an ongoing goal I need to be pursuing. I can see this need to be pure of heart part of the process of sanctification toward the heart of God. We are so human at times, and we let portions of sin into our hearts.  We then need to continue to work to remove those portions of sin by concentrating on the Holy Spirit and God’s principles. W e must continue to look to God for our continued sanctification. We should want God to dominate our hearts so our hearts can be as pure as we can make them. That is what I think Jesus is telling us.  In working to keep our spirits pure, we will enjoy the spirit of God in our lives and the comfort that com...

Matthew 4: 23- 25- ‘And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So, His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.’ Jesus has made Himself known to the people at this point and He did this in a way that showed all that only the Messiah could do the things He was doing.  As a people we are all so i ntrigued by great works of people.  What we need to focus on is what is listed first in the passage.   Jesus was teaching and proclaiming the gospel of God to everyone. We need to watch ourselves and listen more to what the Holy Spirit may be saying through the Bible and Jes...

Read Matthew 4: 1- 4- We have heard preached and taught how Jesus was tempted greatly by Satan before Jesus’ ministry began. Jesus was preparing Himself to begin His ministry by fasting and prayer.  Satan knew who he was confronting wh en he told Jesus to turn the stones into bread.  I think this may have been a desperate attempt by Satan to find a weakness in Jesus when Jesus was at His physical weakest. We need to learn how to stay strong in the face of the temptation s Satan brings against us and Jesus tells us how to do this.  In verse four Jesus says this , ‘ But He answered, “it is written , “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”’   This is a big reason why we as Christians must continue to read and study the Bible but more than just that, we need to meditate on what we read.  We need to give time to thinking about what we read and how we can apply the principles to our lives.  Yes, it takes time ...

Read Matthew 2: 19- 23- Joseph was acquainted with fear.  I know there are those who preach we as Christians should not have a spirit of fear and that Satan is the author of fear.  I am certainly not going to debate that idea, but I read in this passage Joseph was afraid to return to Egypt. In verses 22 and 23 we read, “ But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a c ity called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.” Joseph was leading quite a life. First, he wanted to marry a woman who told him she was pregnant but had never had sex with a man. Then an angel appeared to Joseph telling him Mary was tell ing him the truth, and he would be the father of the Messiah. There was the dream telling Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because of Herod...

Matthew 2: 13- 15- I have had many dreams.  There are those who will tell you we dream every night we sleep; we just may not remember the dreams.  I have never had a dream that caused me to change the direction of my life. In this passage, we have Joseph at a very young age recognizing a dream being from God and he took direction action because the dream. ‘Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise take the child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy Him.” And he rose and took the child and His mother by night and departed to Egypt and rem ained there until t he death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son.” How sensitive are we to the Holy Spirit? Are we listening to hear the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit may be working to get our attention through all the no...

Read Matthew 2: 7- 12 - The dichotomy in this short passage is i nteresting.  Verses 10 through 12 say this, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and wor shiped Him. The, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.” T he joy of seeing Jesus was great for the wise men.  They offered great gifts but rejoiced in seeing Jesus.  This is a good picture for us to etch in ou r minds, the joy we should feel in knowing Jesus. The next thought is no different from our world today.  The wise men knew Herod did not have good intentions toward Jesus and left the country without Herod knowing because they kn ew Jesus was very special . We have events and things that happen in our lives that cause us distress and cause ...

Read Matthew 2: 1- 6- Many of us know the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus, very well. One of the interesting things, is how a person can read the Bible and find something in a passage that may have been read many times before but jumps off the pages as something new.   We know the wise men followed the star that was evident when Jesus was born.  We knew Herod was troubled by all of this.  It was a threat to his position.  In verses 1-3 we read this, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethleh em of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His start when it rose and have come to worship Him.’ W hen Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” We know the shepherds in the field saw the angels proclaiming Jesus’ birth. We know about the wise men following a new star.  We kne w Herod was concerned.  Did we fully realize al...

Read Matthew 1: 18- 25- There are so many times when I read a story in the Bible, and I wonder how I would have responded if I were in those situations.  This passage is one of those stories.  Something totally unimaginable has happened to the woman I am supposed to marry.  This wi ll cause her to be considered a very sinful person when in reality, just the opposite is true, but people will not know that. Would I have still married Mary if I were Joseph?   In verses 23 through 25 we read, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which means God with us.  When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, he took his wife but knew her no t until she had given birth to a son.  And he called His name Jesus.” I know it helps a lot when an angel shows up and tells you what is going on.  I want to think I would have responded like Joseph and began to prepare myself to be the hu...

Read Matthew 1: 1-17- The Book of Matthew starts with the genealogy of Jesus Christ .  Why does Matthew bother with this? Jesus’ genealogy shows a symmetry of time and gives us a way to how God ordained His genealogy . Verse 17 says, “So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.” What does your genealogy look like? Is it important to you? You might easily say your genealogy is not important to your relationship with Jesus Christ.  I would not argue with that but the question I have today is what my genealogy will look like going forward.  Will my family now and in the future be able to look back and see my name and then think I was a person who loved God? I would hope so.  I woul d hope people in the future would be able to look back and know I represented someone who loved God .

Read Revelation 22:14- 21 - Jesus tells us He is coming back to earth.  He has given John the vision of the spiritual future of the world and how it will be lived.  Some of what is written is so grand, I contend we cannot fully fathom the reality of it all.   Then this is written in verses 18 and 19, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described int his book.” People have a lot to say these days, me included.  One thing we must all guard against is adding anything to what God has given us.  Whether the message in Revelation or any other book of the Bible, we need to hold to what we are given and see how that message impacts us.  We cannot start making wild assumptions about different parts of the ...

Read Revelation 22: 8- 13 - In this passage John was admonished to not bow down and worship the angel sent to speak to him. I do not necessary fault John for bowing down. He is seeing a heavenly creature created by God and the message being sent was a holy message.  But John’s behavior is a lesson for us to stay focused on God.  Regardless of the gran deur before us, we are shown here to stay focused on God.   We then here this from God, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last, the beginning and the en d.” God reminds us He has total control over how this world responds and He will provide for us regardless of what is swirling arou nd us.    

Read Revelation 22: 6- 7- God has put promises all through the Bible.  God placed those promises in the Bible to show His continuing love for us, but He also put those promises into place to show us what we can expect of God.  These short two verses give us another promise. In verses 6 and 7 , ‘And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and t rue. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show His servants what must soon take place.” “And behold, I am coming soon.  Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” ’ First, Jesus will be returning soon.  We have the responsibility to not only be ready but be looking forward to His return.  Secondly, God has promise d us we will be blessed if we believe the words of the book of Revelation. God has promised to bless our lives.  God continues to find ways to enrich our lives, we need to believe and live our His principles.