Author: Bill Hall

Matthew 25:45
   The right balance here is to do what we do for the sake of Christ. All that is done for others must be done for Him. Simply doing good works, or simply being ‘good’ people, is not enough. Jesus teaches us to do things for Him, and in doing that, we do for others. This is what these miss. They are judged not for failing to be ‘good’ as best as anyone can on their own. They are judged instead for the fact that that goodness, outside of Christ, is worthless. All glory belongs to Him. Thus, man is basically evil, not good, and He alone may change that.

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 25:1-27:22

Scripture Memory: James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, your amazing and boundless love is so wonderful to me! How could I ever thank You enough for Your precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Your great faithfulness and unfailing grace are what keeps me going from day to day. How can we ever praise You enough for Your Almighty power? Forever and loner we will lift Your name high, for You are worthy! In the name of the Logged Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for a man in a difficult situation. Pray for a man who needs assurance in his life. Pray for a young woman with health concerns.

Journal Entry #14318

Matthew 25:44
   You can see here the incredulity. The first group we see here judged may be characterized by humility, the second by pride. The first group does not feel worthy to be rewarded, whereas this second group will not fail to think themselves worthy of honor. They think all along that they have done what the Lord would have them to do. This shows us the sinister character of the antichrist. People will believe they are doing God a service, yet will be His enemies.

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 22:1-24:10

Scripture Memory: James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your blessings! May we never forget the importance of our service to You. When we fail to love You as we should, though you forgive us, it is a failure to show You that we care. With all that You love us, we should love You in return. Help us to know that You care and to see that You can enable us to care for others, and You. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for a couple of people who are sick. Pray for a man in the hospital.

Journal Entry #14317

I’m sick. I hope to resume posting in a day or two. Have a blessed day!

Matthew 25:43
   For many even now Christianity is seen as something that Jesus teaches us how to do. In other words, He is an example and teacher only. He shows us how to live right. Though all of this is true, it is only partly true. Jesus is the very person of salvation. Christianity is not simply following His pattern. It is knowing and serving Him personally. We are His servants, obeying His will. We cannot simply learn from him how to be good and then move on in our own strength. But, this is exactly the picture of Christianity that people have today. They attempt to separate the principles of Christ from the person of Christ. This one simply cannot do. When it is attempted, the true teaching of the Lord is lost in the process. All that is left is man’s imitation of Christ’s righteousness. This is why these people in this judgement will fail to minister to Christ. They will be doing ‘good’ in man’s eyes, but will fail to do the will of Christ.

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 10:1-13:27

Scripture Memory: James 4:9 “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may we never be found to simply imitate Christ. We must depend upon Him completely. He must be our Master. He must control every aspect of who we are. There must be a personal connection between us and Him. May we always lift His name high. Jesus is our Savior. He is the Lord of our lives. He is the Master of our future. He is our hope. He is our truth. We dare not try to define good, or perform it, without full reliance on Him. It is when we try to be good and right without the Holy Spirit that we get into trouble. We must live in the Spirit! We dare not try to be good in the flesh. Thank You for Your grace in our lives in that You make it possible for us to live right through Christ. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for a woman recovering from heart surgery. Pray for a man with financial woes.

Journal Entry #14316

Matthew 25:42
   Once again, though doing good works for others is very important, notice what Jesus is saying here. These people may have indeed fed the hungry. But, they did not feed the hungry that God would have them to feed. Just doing good deeds is not enough. We must do the will of the Lord.

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 7:1-9:26

Scripture Memory: James 4:9 “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for another day to serve You. You have been so merciful to give us Your truth. You are so powerful! Thank You for allowing us to be what we are by Your grace and love. You can never be praised enough! We will hold Your name high! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for a man in the hospital. Pray for a woman going to rehab.

Journal Entry #14315

Matthew 25:41
   This is one of the great wonders of the Word of God. The fires of hell are created by God. And for what purpose? To punish the devil and his hordes. Though God knows from the beginning what humans will end up there, he does not say it was prepared for them.

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 4:1-6:30

Scripture Memory: James 4:9 “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for today! Sunday is always a wonderful opportunity to sing Your praises. You alone are God, and we love You. Thank You for giving us Your love, otherwise we would never really know what love is all about. Thank You! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for the lost. Pray for a boy that is sick. Pray for a man who wants to get back in church.

Journal Entry #14314

Matthew 25:40
   As in other places, Jesus speaks of doing something for the least. By this, he emphasizes once again that there is no respect of persons with God. Everyone is important to Him. There is no person too insignificant to be noticed by Him. Because this is the practice of our Lord, Christians should always notice everyone. We should not allow any group to escape from our care because we fail to see their need.

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 1:1-3:25

Scripture Memory: James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your mercy and truth. Your grace and love gives us hope for each new day. Never can we say You have not given us hope for our lives. Through Christ, we may have all the hope we could ever need. Though we are weak, You give us strength. Though we are sometimes in pain, You comfort our souls. We will praise You forever, Almighty God. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for those who are not feeling well. Pray for many who have cancer.

Journal Entry #14313

Matthew 25:39
   Though we want to do good works, this idea of visiting those who are in prison might seem a bit confusing. In the case of those that are being judged here, those they will see in prison will have been put there by the antichrist and his minions. Visiting them will most certainly be a good work. How can we apply this to ourselves today, if at all? Well, though we should minister to those who are in prison because they are guilty, there is more to it than that. What this teaches us for our day is that we should visit those who are incarcerated simply for being Christians. When Christians are jailed simply for witnessing of Christ we should respond with strong support for these servants of God. This will serve as a testimony to the lost when they see that Christians band together.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 63:1-66:24

Scripture Memory: James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the great blessings of Your Word! It is so good to have absolute truth for our lives. May we continue together as Christians lifting the name of Christ by our words and actions. Thank You for Christ Father! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for a man with knee pain. Pray for a woman with blood clots.

Journal Entry #14312

Matthew 25:38
   Christians should always seek to do good to all people. However, it is important to point out that the Bible generally talks about doing good proactively. As in these verses, good deeds are not done in reaction to begging. Instead, these good works are done for those who are in need without them having to ask. This does not mean that we cannot give to those who ask for their needs to be met. But, it seems that proactive work is what the Lord has in mind. Thus, true Christian giving is more about preventing people from ever having to beg than it is about giving to those who do. Making real help available to those with legitimate needs is the heart of what it means to do good works as a Christian. We must not give to every beggar, regardless of whether their need is legitimate or not, only to make ourselves look good. Instead we are to make it possible for honest people to find real help that will make a difference in their lives.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 58:1-62:12

Scripture Memory: James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your unexpected blessings are so wonderful! Even though all of Your blessings are great, as Your creatures we especially like those little surprises that You give us. It doesn’t take much to make us happy. What is truly wonderful is knowing that You actually care about how we feel. When we are sad or in pain You know and You care and You see. When we are resting in Your joy, You are glad to see it. When we lean upon You, and find our strength in You, You know it and You approve. How can we ever thank You enough? In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for a woman who just had hip replacement surgery. Pray for a man who is recovering from a serious condition. Pray for a woman on life support.

Journal Entry #14311

Matthew 25:37
   I like to bring up tricky questions. They bring realism to our Bible study. Rather than running from thorny issues, it’s good to plow head-on into them. So, if the righteous are God’s people, why would they not already be aware of this passage of Scripture, and already understand and realize why the Lord would judge in this way? There are several good answers to this question. First, the availability of the Word of God will be much more limited during the Tribulation Period. Second, these persons who have come out of Great Tribulation as righteous ones will have had survival on their mind, not reward. Third, good Christian humility would keep these persons from assuming reward. We somehow have in our mind that we will stand before Christ one day and demand our rewards, or crowns, or whatever. That’s just not the biblical picture. Fourth, during the Great Tribulation people who actually do what’s right will be treated as a irreligious and heathen. In other words, during that time, those who do the right thing will find it quite difficult , whereas those who are wrong will feel very confident in their error. The difference between right and wrong will be even more obscured than it is today. The moral landscape will be quite horrible. Thus, it will be tricky to discern what is right as opposed to what is wrong. As a result, the reward of these dear people will come unexpectedly to them. Fifth, and finally, this is prophecy. Bible prophecy is true in a very real sense. It is so sure that it is just like reporting what has already happened. Thus, the fact that these words are recorded could never change what these people will say. It is no more or less likely to happen just that way regardless of how aware we may be of the prophecy. It’s not a prediction, it’s a record.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 52:1-57:21

Scripture Memory: James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessing of a warm heart! You do not expect us to live without Your joy, or love without Your strength. Even when we are faced with difficulties that try to steal our very life from us, You give us the blessings and encouragement we need to get through. You are truly our strength when we are weak, and all the blessing we need ever to seek. When we need purpose and meaning in this crazy life, we can look to You every single time. In a world of empty promises, it is great to know that we can turn to a sure thing. You are the sure foundation for all of our life. We will build upon Christ, and serve and love You all of our days. Obedient service to You is a sheer delight! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Requests: Pray for a man who wants to get back to church. Pray for a man with heart problems. Pray for a woman who is having difficulty getting around.

Journal Entry #14310