39: Jesus tells his hearers that they should not take personal revenge. A saint should not be a brawler. This does not mean that self-defense is a sin. Force is not to be used for personal affronts. Those who would deliver the type of blow Jesus here referred to were not trying to deliver bodily harm as much as shame and offense. This would be closely akin to not retaliating when someone spits in your face. They have no intention to kill you, or even maim you. They just want to rile you. Personal revenge for this is wrong.

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 36:1-37:40

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:5 “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that believed not.”

Daily Tidbit: I saw some penguins yesterday. I noticed that, when they cam out of the water, they would stand and hold their wings out for a while. The attendant told me that they were drying off that way. Fascinating!

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your wisdom and truth. It is good to have a foundation for our lives. You give us a starting point for our understanding of the world. You are so intelligent and skilled! Give us truth for our daily lives that will inspire us to live for Your purposes. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for a man looking for a new home. Pray for two families that just lost loved ones. Pray for a man dying of cancer.

Personal Journal Entry #12171

38: This concept of retribution did not come from the law of Moses directly. It had become popular in the Eastern countries. Jesus mentions it because it was common practice in his day. Throughout this passage, Jesus deals with the present interpretation of the law, and points out the right interpretation.

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 31:1-35:28

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:5 “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”

Daily Tidbit: The alligator snapping turtle is a wonderful example of Almighty God’s ingenuity in creation. This turtle hunts for its food by lying motionless in the water. It keeps its mouth, which is camouflaged, wide open. The end of its tongue is shaped like a worm. The turtle can wiggle this appendage. Thus, it literally ‘fishes’ for its food like a professional angler.

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, thank You for family and friends. Your blessings on us are too many to count. It is so good to know that You are always aware of where we all are, what we are doing, and if we need help. You immediately know if we are in trouble, or if we are crying out to You. It is so good to have an ear to talk to that can actually do something about the situation. I am glad that You take an interest in our lives. Thank You for Your blessed intervention and Providential care. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for four older couples that have health needs.

Personal Journal Entry #12170

37: This is Jesus conclusion on the matter of promises, or oaths. When you say something, mean what you say. This is, in essence, the same as saying that everything you say is a promise. In other words, Jesus is saying that our word should be worth something. We should have no need to make promises because people should know that we mean what we say.

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 25:1-30:12

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.“

Daily Tidbit: Lion behavior is actually quite different from what one would expect. The female lions (without the mane) do most of the hunting. Lions are inactive for a vast majority of the day. They only are active in short bursts of energy. Their hearts are fairly small in relation to the rest of their bodies. It is amazing how God Almighty has made these creatures. They are the top predators, and yet, the just sit around and do nothing most of the time.

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, You are a wonderful mystery. You have revealed to us what we need to know for life and godliness. But, Your motives are inscrutable to us. How You could love us as much as You do is a beautiful mystery to us. Thank You for being so mysteriously good and wonderful to us. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for the lost.

Personal Journal Entry #12169

36: It had become a custom to swear an oath by a person’s head. Jesus condemned this as well. He showed, by pointing out our lack of control over our hair’s color, that this is also the same as swearing by God’s name because God is ultimately in charge of your head.
In each of these instances, then, though the Jews sought to swear by something less than God in order to lessen their guilt, they failed completely.

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 19:1-24:10

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Daily Tidbit: In the Old Testament, only three men are referred to specifically as ‘the servant of the Lord’. These are Moses, Joshua, and David.

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, thank You for the leadership of others in our lives. You always seem to bring people into our lives to influence us for good. We know that You work out everything for good for those who love You, but we don’t always remember that. Thank You for working our lives out according to Your plan. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for a lady with a blood clot. Pray for a man having trouble with his heart. Pray for the family of a man who committed suicide. Pray for a young boy with terminal cancer.

Personal Journal Entry #12168

35: Swearing oaths by things that we think are somehow less important than God will not keep us from being guilty when we break our promise. It is far better to just do what we should, instead of making endless promises.

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 11:1-18:50

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Daily Tidbit: Lasciviousness means lewdness, wantonness, or an inclination to lust. Obviously, this should never be associated with the grace of God.

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your mercy and grace. Help us to truly understand the nature of Your grace and allow it to make our lives better. You are so gracious! In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for the family and friends of a man who just died suddenly.

Personal Journal Entry #12167

34: Jesus encourages genuineness. It is not necessary to go around promising to be holy all the time. The simple actions of our lives will speak for themselves. Heaven is in God’s control. There is no reason to swear by it if one is not going to simply obey the God of it.

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 5:1-10:18

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Daily Tidbit: Many new home computers today have one terabyte hard drives. The next big thing after the terabyte (one thousand gigabytes, or one million megabytes), will be the petabyte. A petabyte is one thousand terabytes, or one million gigabytes. It is estimated that our brain can hold around two-and-a-half petabytes worth of memories. See this encyclopedia article for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petabyte.

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, thank You for each day that You give to us. We so easily forget the little things that You do for us. Every day You supply little blessings out of Your great love for us. Thank You for loving us so much that You sent Jesus to die for us. His intercession for us even now is a constant blessing. We know that You have made the way clear to Yourself if we will just look for it. Thank You! In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for the spiritual condition of our nations leaders. Pray for the Middle East. Pray for missionaries all over the world.

Personal Journal Entry #12166

33: Many things have been done throughout history by those wanting to appear to make a promise, and yet not be bound by it. Though crossing one’s fingers might be seen as childish, such childish means have often been used to avoid the guilt associated with a broken promise.
As a result of this phenomenon, the Jews of Jesus’ day had taken to swearing oaths by things, instead of by God. In this way, they sought to allow themselves room to break their oaths without being too terribly bad. Thus, for one to take an oath by the name of the Lord was serious business.

Daily Bible Reading Job 41:1-Psalm 4:8

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Daily Tidbit: Those who attend collage at a private non-profit institution generally take less time to earn a degree that those who go to a public institution. Those who attend a private for profit institution take almost twice as long to earn a degree as either one. What does that tell us?

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, thank You for being our strength when we are so weak. Thank you for not looking at our pitiful condition and leaving us to fall apart. Thank You for caring enough to pick us up and help us to higher ground. Thank You for Christ in our heart and life. Thank You for the strength we can enjoy in him. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for two ladies with unspoken requests. Pray for the family of a man who just died unexpectedly. Pray for a lady recovering from surgery. Pray for a man with cancer.

Personal Journal Entry #12165

32: Jesus held up a very high standard for marriage. Specifically, he speaks of divorce from the man’s perspective, since they were the ones abusing this law so much. Jesus knew that divorced women of that day would likely have to remarry to support themselves. Marrying a divorced woman would make a person an adulterer. Jesus mentions the exception of fornication. This seems to be something different from adultery alone, otherwise the same word would have been used. Various suggestions have been offered for the exact meaning of this concept. At the very least however, it would require that something be proven about the unfaithful spouse. For example, nowadays, just as in Jesus’ time, persons can divorce their partner for no real good reason. If, however, it was required that the unfaithfulness of a spouse be proven in a court of law, divorce would not run about so rampantly as it does today. Of course, adultery is not illegal in our day. So, that is likely why this kind of law has fallen away.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 38:1-40:24

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Daily Tidbit: Should we spend more of our prayers praising God Almighty, or asking him for stuff?

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, I love You. I really want to do Your will in my life. I know Your way is perfect, and Your plans are the best. Help me to submit to You in all areas. You alone can organize our lives as they need to be. You alone know the end from the beginning. You are the Source of Wisdom for all mankind. You alone can understand all of the problems and needs that we have. You are the Solution, You are the Savior. You can change our lives into something good for Your glory. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for church services all over the world this morning.

Personal Journal Entry #12164

31: In practice, the law concerning divorce had come to favor the man very much. A Jewish man, though expected to have a legitimate reason, could divorce his wife at his discretion. He was the judge in matters of impropriety on her part, and she could not divorce him. Thus, as one can imagine, divorce did happen on occasion in Jesus day.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 35:1-37:24

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Daily Tidbit: When divorce laws were first put together in America, no-fault divorce was not an option. It did not begin until the late sixties. Before this, persons seeking a divorce had to actually prove that their partner was at fault for the marriage being on the rocks. Now, they can divorce for no good reason at all. The only benefit of the law is that marital abuse cases decreased. However, this positive could have been produced by other means. The introduction of the no-fault divorce laws has led to the breakdown of marriage in America.

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your love and faithfulness. Thank You for Your mercy and grace. If it were not for Your goodness, we would all be condemned. We are all at fault, and have fallen far short of Your standard of goodness. You expect people to be much nicer to each other than we are. Thank You for not seeking to divorce Your creation. You could certainly do so if You wished and be justified. But, Your goodness is too great to allow it. You are the best example of true love that a couple can look to in marriage. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for our nation. Pray for those involved in false religions to see the light of the Truth.

Personal Journal Entry #12163

30: Some may be repulsed by the intensity of Christ’s illustrations. Another example of this was the time that Jesus spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. These illustrations will lead to the offence of those who are listening out of false motives. One who truly wants to learn the Truth will understand that they are illustrations of spiritual truths.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 32:1-34:37

Daily Memory Verse: Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Daily Tidbit: Mark chapter nine verses forty-three through forty-eight is a parallel with Matthew chapter five verses twenty-nine and thirty. In Mark, Jesus seems to say that people will ‘enter into life’ with missing limbs. In other words, if one died missing a part, they would be resurrected missing that part. This may have been a widely held belief at the time. Jesus seems to support such a notion. We know that Jesus’ body bore the marks of his crucifixion after his resurrection. So, there could be some truth to the idea. However, it must be said that some saints will undergo extreme dismemberment (such as those mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11). These could not be expected to ‘enter life’ in pieces! Thus, it is best to leave this concept as a possibility that we obviously do not have enough information about tho make a final judgment. It is one of the many things we will find out when we get to heaven.

Praise Journal: Heavenly Father, you are truly worthy of all praise! If I will but look to You, I can see a reason for living every day to its fullest. Your Son gives me the hope to keep going on for You. You inspire a sense of my own worthlessness, and yet, I feel so much better about myself when I am worshiping You. Recognizing Your greatness, and seeking to know You well, are such satisfying pursuits! Lord God Almighty, make me understand Your wonders, that I may live to sing of them. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Prayer Journal Highlights: Pray for a man who has been under the weather. Pray for a husband and wife who are travelling this week. Pray for a family that just lost a baby. Pray for a lady with muscle issues.

Personal Journal Entry #12162