Friday, January 13th
(see www.moravian.org/daily_texts/ for more info on Daily Texts I will be using each day)
Readings for Today:
• Psalm 9
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm9&version=NIV
• Genesis 14,15
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis14&version=NIV
• Matthew 5:43-6:4
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew5&version=NIV
Thoughts for the Day:
Psalm9:11
Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
13 LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation.
After Abram honors God by giving King Melchizedek (a priest/king like Jesus was!) a tenth of all of the spoils of war, the King tries to give Abram some of it back but Abram denies it. Abram says that he has made an oath to God, and besides he didn’t anyone to say an earthly king had made him rich. He wanted to proclaim that is was only through God’s provision and blessing that he had become rich.
Shortly after this, the LORD appears to Abram in a vision and reminds him that the LORD is His great reward. Abram questions the LORD since he still has no child, but the LORD tells him to look up at the sky and count the stars a sign of his future offspring. Abram believes the LORD and it is credited to Him as Righteousness. Notice our righteousness can only come from trusting or believing in God’s promises. Paul will pick up on this in Romans.
Abram is still wondering how this is going to happen, so God makes another Covenant with Abram. Abram hears the words he longs to hear, “Bring me a heifer”. Meaning God’s promise would be sealed in a covenant in which Abram offers his prime, mature (3 years old) heifers, goats and rams and this would be Abram’s word becoming flesh. As you will see at the end of the chapter, the LORD confirms the Covenant by passing through the sacrificed animals through the corrider of blood in the smoking firepot and blazing torch, thus confirming the Covenant. Now Abram and the LORD are one forever!
The LORD’s Covenant With Abram
Genesis 15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Jesus continues to teach his disciples and the crowds what it looks like to be an ambassador of the kingdom. Importantly when they do good things it is not to receive attention from others. But yet he urges them to do their good deeds in secret so that only their Heavenly Father will see what they are doing. This will help them from being prideful and be a reminder that they are not doing these things to be noticed by man but by the LORD!
Giving to the Needy
Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Are you able to trust in God’s promises like Abram? As we do God will call us to respond by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, by the way we live and give. As we live a life in Covenant with God, our good deeds flow out of our identity of being sons and daughter of the King. He has given us all that is His, and now we can give back not to earn our identity but because of who we are in Him.
Prayer for the Day: Our Creator, how amazing it is that you have embedded in our hearts the
same power you used in creation! You make us children of light. Come near us this day as we ponder the face of Christ. Amen.
Readings for Today:
• Psalm 9
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm9&version=NIV
• Genesis 14,15
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis14&version=NIV
• Matthew 5:43-6:4
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew5&version=NIV
Thoughts for the Day:
Psalm9:11
Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
13 LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation.
After Abram honors God by giving King Melchizedek (a priest/king like Jesus was!) a tenth of all of the spoils of war, the King tries to give Abram some of it back but Abram denies it. Abram says that he has made an oath to God, and besides he didn’t anyone to say an earthly king had made him rich. He wanted to proclaim that is was only through God’s provision and blessing that he had become rich.
Shortly after this, the LORD appears to Abram in a vision and reminds him that the LORD is His great reward. Abram questions the LORD since he still has no child, but the LORD tells him to look up at the sky and count the stars a sign of his future offspring. Abram believes the LORD and it is credited to Him as Righteousness. Notice our righteousness can only come from trusting or believing in God’s promises. Paul will pick up on this in Romans.
Abram is still wondering how this is going to happen, so God makes another Covenant with Abram. Abram hears the words he longs to hear, “Bring me a heifer”. Meaning God’s promise would be sealed in a covenant in which Abram offers his prime, mature (3 years old) heifers, goats and rams and this would be Abram’s word becoming flesh. As you will see at the end of the chapter, the LORD confirms the Covenant by passing through the sacrificed animals through the corrider of blood in the smoking firepot and blazing torch, thus confirming the Covenant. Now Abram and the LORD are one forever!
The LORD’s Covenant With Abram
Genesis 15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Jesus continues to teach his disciples and the crowds what it looks like to be an ambassador of the kingdom. Importantly when they do good things it is not to receive attention from others. But yet he urges them to do their good deeds in secret so that only their Heavenly Father will see what they are doing. This will help them from being prideful and be a reminder that they are not doing these things to be noticed by man but by the LORD!
Giving to the Needy
Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Are you able to trust in God’s promises like Abram? As we do God will call us to respond by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, by the way we live and give. As we live a life in Covenant with God, our good deeds flow out of our identity of being sons and daughter of the King. He has given us all that is His, and now we can give back not to earn our identity but because of who we are in Him.
Prayer for the Day: Our Creator, how amazing it is that you have embedded in our hearts the
same power you used in creation! You make us children of light. Come near us this day as we ponder the face of Christ. Amen.
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