Daily Scripture Blog

Examine me, God, from head to foot,
order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
inside and out.

Psalm 26:2 (The Message)

Examine me, O LORD, and prove me;
Try my mind and my heart.

Psalm 26:2 (New King James Version)

Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me.
Test my motives and my heart.

Psalm 26:2 (New Living Translation)

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Ephesians 1:4 (New Living Translation)

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Ephesians 1:4 (New International Version)

Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.

Ephesians 1:4 (The Message)

Imagine that your heavenly Father has an apple orchard. He watches his apples grow, tenderly prunes the tree, and, at the perfect moment, he picks the fruit–ripe and ready to be enjoyed.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

—Philippians 2:5–7

Because Jesus was God, we might ask, did He have full knowledge of God as a little baby in the manger at Bethlehem? Or did this knowledge come to Him over a period of time? When Jesus was born, could He have turned to Mary and said, “I am God Almighty, the Messiah of Israel. I am God in human form. And by the way, Mary, the Earth is round. Some people are going to say that it is flat, but I am telling you it is round. I made it myself.”

Jesus didn’t do that. Instead, He squealed and giggled and made noises like any other baby. And He had a human mind. The Bible says of Jesus, “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40). When Jesus was 12 years old, Mary and Joseph found Him in the temple after the Feast of the Passover, “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions” (verse 46).

Then in Luke 2:52, we read that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” This would appear to be saying that Jesus went through a learning process like anyone else. Yet at the same time, He did not have the limitations that sin brings on one’s life.

Jesus walked the earth in a human body and died like a man, in the sense that His body ceased to function just like ours do when we die. And though He was God, He emptied himself of the privileges of deity and walked among us as a man.

by Pastor Greg Laurie

I’m not asking you to take them out of the world,
but to keep them safe from the evil one.

John 17:15 (New Living Translation)

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world
but that you protect them from the evil one.

John 17:15 (New International Version)

I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.

John 17:15 (The Message)

Jesus acknowledged it’s tough to stay pure in this world.
But he didn’t think it was impossible. He asked his Father
to guard us and purify us through truth.

“…There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest ….” (Hebrews 4:8b-11 NIV)

Most of us think of the Sabbath as a day of rest, originating from the day of rest God took after he created the universe, as recorded in Genesis. And that view is correct; that is the basis for us taking a Sabbath, a day of rest, within our own week.

Yet there is a larger sense of God’s Sabbath: an invitation to rest in God’s healing grace, trusting in his power and his purpose for your life. We rest in our Father’s arms, knowing he goes before and he goes behind, knowing that his plans for us are good and not evil (Jeremiah 29:11).

We enter this “let go and let God” rest through faith, where we cease to work and live independent of God (“… anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work …”). Instead, we’re to focus our efforts toward entering this Sabbath-trust in God, a restful certainty that God’s got a handle on it all, and that he’s got our best interests in mind.

If I recall correctly, Ian Thomas illustrates this point by telling the story of a man walking down a dusty rural road on a hot, humid day. The man is loaded down with a heavy backpack and carries a duffle bag in each hand. A pick-up truck comes along, and the driver offers the walking man a ride, telling him to hop in the back.

The driver heads down the road, but when he looks in the rear-view mirror he sees that his new passenger is standing in the bed of the truck – still holding both duffle bags, still wearing the over-packed backpack on his back.

The thing is: We stand in the truck of faith, still carrying our burdens, thinking they are independent of the ride we’re taking. Perhaps we think God can carry us, but not our burdens, that we have to keep bearing them ourselves.

What now?

· Rest in God – Rest in God’s power and grace, and work toward confidence (faith) that he is looking out for your best interests. “I believe; Lord, help my unbelief.”

· Rest requires dependence – If you’re working independently of God, then you’re not at rest in God. Possible signs that you’re working independently: worry, a need to control, a crammed-full schedule.

· Our Father’s heart encourages rest – Next time you feel overwhelmed by life, settle in a chair and “be still and know that he is God.” Give him your burdens – your backpack and your duffels.

· Faith leads to rest – Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28-29 NIV)

by Jon Walker