Daily Bible Reading - Friday - June 11th

Over the weekend Susan and I are going to Tulsa so if the post isn’t made on the weekend I’ll get caught up on Monday night.  Y’all have a really blessed weekend.

It was really interesting to read about the ceremony they did for bringing the Ark of the Covenant to its new place.  The Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred object in the temple.  It was so sacred that back in 2 Samuel 6 when Uzzah touched the Ark he died, that’s why when they brought the Ark into the new temple they carried it on long poles so as not to touch it.  It only contained the stones that had the Ten Commandments on them that the Lord gave Moses.  I also always wondered why there was always a cloud when God was present in a place like He came to the temple, there was a cloud of glory, it was so that no one could see the brightness of the Lord, they would be blinded.  If you remember when Moses was up on Mt. Sinai when the Lord gave him the Ten Commandments his face was a bright red and he had to cover it when he came off the Mountain so people wouldn’t see the brightness and be blinded.  Can you just imagine the brightness of the Lord when we go to heaven? It says in that day though we will be able to look upon His face, how glorious and wonderful will that be? It says heaven wont need a moon or the sun, the brightness of God will light it all up, wow!!

Reading the devotional was really encouraging today.  In the past I’ve always had trouble being totally obedient to what God wanted me to do.   I’m finding out that being obedient isn’t easy, its really hard at times but like the devotional says if we decide to be obedient even when it looks impossible God will bless us and do more for us then we could imagine.  It’s like being obedient to our parents when we were kids, we sometimes got rewarded more then we ever asked just for doing what our parents asked.  How much more important is it to obey our Heavenly Father, you’ll see the rewards will be even greater.

Today’s Reading

1 Kings 8:1-66
Acts 7:51-8:13
Psalm 129:1-8
Proverbs 17:1

Daily Devotional

Exodus 23:21
"Give heed to Him, listen to and obey His voice..."

Did you know that when God spoke to Noah about building the ark, it had never even rained before? Can you imagine that? Noah knew people were going to make fun of him or call him crazy. I’m sure he had every opportunity to talk himself out of it. He could have come up with plenty of excuses. But Noah didn’t do that. He recognized that God had asked him to do a difficult thing, and he chose obedience. Noah didn’t run from the challenge; he chose to believe God. Noah’s obedience is what opened the door for God to supernaturally empower him to fulfill his destiny. Now he is one of the great heroes of faith.

If you will decide to do the difficult things God is telling you to do—even when it looks impossible—if you’ll choose to be obedient, then God will do more than you could ask or think. He’ll take you places that you’ve never dreamed of. He’ll bring up out of you gifts and talents that you never even knew you had. He’ll empower you to fulfill your destiny, and who knows, you may become the next hero of faith.

A Prayer for today: Father in heaven, thank You for calling and equipping me. I choose to be obedient to Your Word and follow Your voice. I give You first place in every area of my life and trust that You are empowering me to do Your will. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.