Daily Bible Reading - Friday - April 30th

As we read in Judges 11 we see that Jephthah was Gilead’s son. His mother was probably not an Israelite. His parents were not married to each other, his mother was a prostitute. His family made him leave so he became the leader of a group of terrorists. (Terrorists are people that use cruel force. They use it to get political power.) He did do wrong things to some other people. However, more people did wrong things to him. Hebrews 11 has a list of people that had Faith. Jephthah is in that list. He does not seem to be a suitable person for such a list but he was on it. But he had faith when other people did wrong things to him.  The leaders of Gilead asked Jephthah to come so that he could help them.  I don’t think he believed what the said but he said that he would help them if they let him be their ruler. He said that the Lord would be the person *****ally freed them. God heard what he said and also saw what he did. This event was almost a ceremony to make him king, Jephthah was not sorry for them. He had a good reason to be very angry. God did not call him, nor did God give his Spirit to Jephthah at first. People appointed him because he was the answer to a practical problem. Perhaps he was already a local ruler.  As we read on we see that God’s Spirit finally came upon Jephthah and he got an army to follow him. He made a promise to God that If he was successful, he would make a sacrifice. He would give whatever came to meet him on his return. It was a very bad promise because It showed that there was something very wrong with his nation. Something was slowly destroying basic ideas of what was right and wrong. The Spirit of God helped him to free his people. However, he did not understand God’s plans. He did not trust God’s power. He wanted to please God by what he did but God did not want people to praise him in this way. Jephthah did not know that. Its like he wanted to trust God but didn’t, he wanted to please God but didn’t. He had what I call the want to’s.  I know a lot of us have been there and done that, I know I have, Praise God that He is able to bring us out of that mentality.

Today’s Reading

Judges 11:1-12:15
John 1:1-28
Psalm 101:1-8
Proverbs 14:13-14

Daily Devotional

John 12:24
"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"

We all face difficulties and challenges in life. But you have to remember, as a believer in Jesus, you have the life-giving seed of Almighty God on the inside of you. When you go through disappointments or tough times, you may feel like you’ve been buried. You may feel like you’re in a dark, lonely place. You may feel like it’s the end, but in reality, it’s only the beginning. The fact is, you haven’t been buried; you have been planted. That means you’re coming back. And not only are you coming back, but you’re coming back in increase, better and stronger than before.

In those tough times, you’ve got to draw the line in the sand. Make a declaration, “This difficulty is not going to bury me. This loss, this disappointment, this injustice is not going to cause me to give up on my dreams. I refuse to live in self-pity. I know I am a seed. That means I cannot be buried. I can only be planted. I may be down, but it’s only temporary. I know I’m not only coming back, I’m coming back even better than I was before!"

Today's thought: Thank You for filling me with Your life-giving seed. I choose today to focus on the potential for my future. I know that I will overcome every obstacle by Your power that is at work in me.