Daily Dose of God’s Glorious Love

March 30, 2018 Good Friday “« To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. » My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying , “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”” (Psalm 22:1-8 NKJV)             Some have asked, “What is so good about Good Friday?” One of the amazing things about Christianity is at its core it sees the horrendous suffering of Jesus as redemptive.   And th

March 29, 2018 Maundy Thursday “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:1-6 NKJV)             Jesus never seems to respond in the way we expect in the many conversations with Him we see in the Bible.   Often Jesus answers a question with another question which at times seems frustrating to people.   After Nico

Mark 28, 2018 Wednesday “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. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11 NKJV)             In this passage and in John 17 we get a chance to see the heart of God.   These passages allow us to not only experience the heart of God but this revelation shows us God’s plan for humanity.             As you read this passage list th

Mark 27, 2018 Tuesday “After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.” And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? “For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. “For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. “She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. “Ass

March 26, 2018 Monday “The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!” Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.” His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.” (John 12:12-16 NKJV)             When a king or a president comes to a town there is usually a great amount of pomp and circumstance to honor if not the person than the position.   The leadership of the city will welcome their leader to their city and share a welcome and honor them.             When Jesus entered Jerusalem no leader came out

March 25, 2018 Sunday “Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it . “And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.” So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?” And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is H

March 24, 2018 Saturday ““Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —  “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NKJV)             What an amazing picture of God’s plan for a new covenant!   God explains the old covenant w

March 23, 2018 Friday “BETH. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You! Blessed are You, O LORD! Teach me Your statutes! With my lips I have declared All the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.” (Psalm 119:9-16 NKJV)             Psalm 119 is the longest of the Psalms and is represented by the Jewish alphabet for each section.   Here we see this section is for the letter Beth.   Psalm 119 is an exposition of the law and how we should live by it a life that honors God.             List the words the Psalmist uses for the law just in this small section of this Psalm and then write their definition.

March 22, 2018 Thursday “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” As He also says in another place : “You are a priest forever”; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”” (Hebrews 5:5-10 NKJV)             The world fights for position to be at the top of others.   This struggle leaves ruined lives and broken fellowship.   Often we bear many wounds from this struggle and some are weakened by fear.             Jesus came to us to heal the ills and sin that devastate humanity and all of cr

March 21, 2018 Wednesday “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” (Psalm 51:7-12 NKJV)             David’s prayer is so amazing and shows such a familiarity of God’s presence and working in his life.   It seems as though this is a constant process David goes through that is fully expressed in his sin with Bathsheba.               Nathan calls David on his sin in a way that causes David to seem the destructive nature of that sin.   Indeed this could be when God broke is bones.             Hyssop was used for medicinal as well as religious purposes.   It co

March 20, 2018 Tuesday “« To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. » Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight — That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” (Psalm 51:1-6 NKJV)             When I first became a Christian David amazed me and I struggled with him being “a man after God’s own heart” since David was responsible for so many terrible things.   How could he be “a man after God’s own heart”?

March 19, 2018 Monday ““Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying , “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” (John 12:27-33 NKJV)             I once read a book entitled “Pain, the Gift Nobody Wants”.   Suffering is a part of our everyday life and it is at the heart of the Good News.   By His suffering and death Jesus bore our sin and suffering and gave meaning to our suffering!             We ask God to

March 18, 2018 Sunday “Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” (John 12:20-26 NKJV)             Like most people the Jews had and us and them way of seeing the world.   You were either a Jew or you were a gentile.   A Greek was an even worse form of gentile since it was Greeks who h

March 17, 2018 Saturday “I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” (Jeremiah 29:14 NKJV)             Christians will sometimes talk about saving someone and can even think that it is our responsibility for people to be saved.   The burden of trying to do what is God’s job is too much for a person to bear.   If we are not careful the strain can dramatically affect our lives in every way.             “ I will be found by you, says the LORD” May seem to imply it is all on us to come to God.   There is a truth in this because God has already made the way for us through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus and so all that is left is for us to “find” God.             Notice that God has prepared the way for us to “find” Him and all the pla

March 16, 2018 Friday “Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent , and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he l

March 15, 2018 Thursday “Fools, because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing.” (Psalm 107:17-22 NKJV)             Does it make you uncomfortable that God uses the word fools to describe those who cut themselves off from God?   But what would you call a drowning person who casts off their lifejacket?             When all creation was literally drowning in sin and selfishness we cast off God’s hope for life!   Each choice and each day brought us closer to “ the gates of death.”