Genesis 23: Don't take advantage

Genesis 23:13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there."

To put this into perspective, Abraham's wife, Sarah, has just died. Abraham is looking for a place to bury her, and wants to buy some land off of a local guy, who offers it to him for free, then for a discount. Abe refuses, ultimately paying beyond the value.

Now I've heard a lot about how this was the norm, a bartering custom, but I still think it shouws Abraham's spirit of generosity, and a desire not to take advantage of people in a situation where he could have done.

Genesis 22: The longest 50 mile trip in the world

No actual scripture for today, just a general musing. Genesis 22 concerns Abraham's trip with Isaac, where he is responding to God's call to sacrifice his son. As we all know, God doesn't make himm go through with it, but what hit me today was that the journey to the place of sacrifice was 50 miles. Think of how long that would have taken (three days maybe?) and how Abraham would have been wrestling with the idea of killing his son for that whole time. Those of us who look for an immediate answer need to hold on and trust God that it WILL come in his timing. Like Abraham, trust God, and you won't be disappointed.

Genesis 21:

Genesis 21:17-18 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."

This made me think about how God is so good to jump in and resolve the consequences of our sin - he did not tell Abraham to have a child with Hagar, but he still came in and turned the situation around when Hagar and her son were near death. We are fallen people, and God's original plan for us may need revision as we sin, but he works with us even as sinners, forging new paths to our destiny.

Genesis 20

Genesis 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman".

What I like about this is the way Sarah and Abraham were protected from the potential consequences of their sin - Abimelech hadn't slept with Sarah, and God spoke to him to return her. Abraham's plan could have seen him never seeing his wife again, and another man sleeping with her, but again we see a God who is gracious and merciful, who intervenes to get things back on track. Again, we mustn't try and solve things in our own 'wisdom' or strength, but rather rely on God.

Genesis 19: Give and it will be given unto you

Gen 19 2-3: "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square". But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.

Here's yet another scripture about eh power of generosity. Abraham was insistent - he found a way to be generous: what a challenge!

Gen 19:16 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.

Here we see Lot unsure whether to act on the word of God, and God is so generous to him. He doesn't think 'fine, stuff you then', but his angels grab the hands of Lot and his family and lead them off to safety. This is a picture, to me, of God's great mercy. He WANTS to bless us and help us, so let's not fight against him.

Taking Back What Has Been Taken From You: Geoff Lee

Notes on last week's sermon from Church which was just awesome! Find the podcast at www.plymouthchristiancentre.org in the 'messages' section.

The sermon began in 2 Kings. The Arameans are attacking Israel, but God keeps telling Elisha what they are plannig to do, so the Israelites avoid the traps of the Arameans. The King of Aram sends soldiers to kill Elisha. Elisha's servant sees the soldiers surrounding Elisha and feels helpless, but Elisha sees the spiritual reality:

2 Kings 6:16-17 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Elisha saw the spiritual reality of the situation, and didn't focus on the physical.

In verse 24, the Arameans come back: And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

They besieged the area until there was a great famine, and food was selling at a ridiculous price.

In 2 Kings 7, Elisha points to tomorrow: 2 Kings 7:1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." In other words, everything will soon be fine and food will be cheap again!

Then some lepers went to the enemy camp to beg mercy, and found the enemy gone! God had scared them away. There's something here about being afraid of something that isn't even there is there not? BUT the lepers had to face their enemy (problem) before seeing there was nothing to fear: reminds me of 'resist the devil and he will flee from you'. They were trapped in 'false fear', and until they confronted it,they would never have escaped from it (I love that!)

Next, the lepers gorge themselves on the enemies' spoils, eating and taking gold etc and hiding it. They go back to the camp and tell them the enemy have disappeared, but the king won't believe it, thinking it's a trap, until eventually he believes it.

Psalm 23: He lays a table before us in the presence of our enemies

Even in the presence of our enemies, God will provide us with what we need.

Romans 8:28 If God is for us, who can be against us?

God is our father, he's on our side, he won't leave us, and he will provide for us. The situation is going to change, and you will go into the enemy's camp.

2 Kings 18/19 sees the Assyrians attacking Israel. The king of Assyria says 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The question to us today is 'on what are you basing your confidence?' The answer needs to be 'GOD!'

The king tries to bargain witht them, lie to them and threaten them. It's another difficult situation of being surrounded and besieged. The situation looks absolutely helpless.

Hezekiah receives a letter full of threats, then goes to God's temple and spreads it out before the Lord. He tells God the whole thing, and prays about it. He calls out for God's help, and God says 'I have heard your prayer...' and He saves them.

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

That night, God killed 185,000 Assyrians, saving an impossible and hopeless situation.

So what do we need to do when the enemy attacks or threatens us?:

1) Have faith that God will deliver us
2) Pray, spread it out before the Lord, confront the brutal facts

2 Cor 10: 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We can take captive every accusation that comes from satan.

Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Use it to defeat satan, quoting scriptures to deflect his attack and claim the truth of God.

We serve an awesome, mighty and powerful God who can deal with our situation, whatever it may be.

Satan comes to us and whispers lies and accusations to us, but we should take the sword of the spirit.

Phillipians 4: 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

We should say things like: I am fearfully and wonderfully made, God has a hope for me, he has written down all the good works he has planned for me, he has a future and a hope for me where goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, he is my shepherd....

We need to deflect the enemy's arrows and claim the truth from the Bible. "God has said..."

If the enemy has taken from you your joy and peace and confidence of God's supply and provision, the time has come to go into the enemy's camp and take back what he has taken from you.

Get up! Get moving!

Judges 6:11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?

If God is with us, why has this bad stuff happened? Gideon is angry with God. God said to Gideon 'go in the strength you have'. Take what you have, and God does the rest.

Gideon tries to do it in his own strength, so God whittles it down to a small number so he has to be reliant on God.

Some of us are like Gideon - we're cowering and we've given up territory, but it's time to rise mighty warrior. Go in our strength and God will go with us.

God wants us to know that HE is in control of our situation, not us!

Psalm 68: 1 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered
Romans 8:37 We are more than conquerers through Christ who loves us

We have to decide whether to listen to what God says or what the devil says. We need to take back what the devil has taken from us.

Romans 16:20 He will crush satan under your feet

What are you basing your confidence on? It's the Lord who gives the ability to make wealth, and who can make a way where there is no way. When you are surrounded, the word of the Lord will come. Spread it out before God and he will deliver you!

Stop lying down under the lies of satan, and stand your ground against the devil!

Genesis 18:

Had a full night's sleep last night, so getting up this morning was easy which was nice. A few interesting things from Gen 18.

Gen 18:3-5 He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant."

Here we see Abraham's generous spirit; not only is he generous when strangers come along, but he goes out of his way to be generous to others. He wants to bless them, and is a great example of how we should be with others. For me, I have lately been challenged about SEEKING opportunities to bless others - I will possibly drag my feet and almost begrudgingly bless someone if God makes it absolutely clear to me that he is calling me to, but wil I jump on any opportunity I can to be good to people like Abraham did here? The answer is I aspire to!

Gen 18:7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

The key word for me here is 'ran'. Abraham lived a life of excellence, and literally RAN to get the blessing to his guests quicker - what a great example of going the extra mile and living a life of excellence.


Gen 18:11-12 Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

Sarah literally laughed at God's promise, but he still granted it. His mercy caused him to overlook Sarah's doubt, which is a great example of how merciful God is.

Genesis 18:16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way

When his guests were leaving, Abe went with them. He pursued them, and quite literally went the extra mile. What we then learn is that God spoke to Abraham about the impeding doom coming to Sodom, and Abe pleaded for the people there. This would not have happened if he had not followed, so the message for me is to pursue God and follow him, going the extra mile in our pursuit of him. Don't settle for second best, lazy Christianity, but pursue with passion and energy and it will pay off.

Genesis 17: Just Do It!

Gen 17:15-16 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife...I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her"

What I love here is the way that God still came through on his earlier promise to Sarai, despite the fact that she had taken the matter into her hands by giving Hagar to Abe. God is gracious and forgiving, and gives Sarah another chance to receive her promise. We mustn't feel that we have walked out on God's promises when we sin, but repent and believe he will still do what he has said he will do.

Gen 17:20: 'And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will surely bless him"

God heard Abraham's prayer and answered it, building Ishmael (a child born outside of God's plan) into his plans. This reminds me of those wonderful words of Jesus "ask and it will be given to you". We need to ask God for what we want, as he is a loving father who WANTS to give us what we want! Don't judge your requests like Abe could have, thinking 'oh no, this is my lot, and it was my own fault for drifting from God's plan', just ask HIM!

Gen 17:23 'On that very day'

Why did God bless Abe so much? One possible answer is seen here: he didn't procrastinate, but got on and did what was asked of him by God. Do we put stuff off that we know is right? As Nike like to say: Just Do It.

God's get out of jail free card

Another Podcast for me this evening, taking notes as I go along. This one is entitled 'God's plan for your peace', and is a wonderful message from Pastor David Beresford.

God could have left man in his self inflicted darkness caused by our rebellion, but he sent Jesus.

Jesus reverses the curse that Adam brought upon the world.

Jesus is God's plan for your peace.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,:

God comes to free us from prison. Prison is the punishment of restriction.

THE PRISON OF GUILT:

Real guilt: everyone has it- we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is a cure for guilt which is repentance.
False guilt: can be caused by our upbringing, over-critical parents who made us feel awful or the accusations of satan who accuses us. We must resist false guilt. When we have come to the foot of the cross and confessed our sins, praise God: he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us.

THE PRISON OF FEAR
Fear that something bad will happen, fear of the future, fear of death, fear of divination - horoscopes etc. We must not fear. Jesus said "I will never leave you or forsake you".

THE PRISON OF HABITS:
anger, lust etc

PRISON OF DOUBT AND DESPAIR
We need to get hold of God's promises

THE ANSWER:
Jesus said "I have come to set the prisoners free"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jesus came to bring release to the oppressed.

Jesus came to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour: all debts were cancelled, all slaves were released!!


As I read this message, I am so aware of how imprisoned I am, and want to take hold of the freedom which Jesus died to give me :)

Genesis 16: The problem with being married

Genesis 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar, so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her'

Marriage can be the most intimate and close of relationships, but it must not take the place of God in our lives. Here we see Abram persuaded to drift off from God's promise of giving Sarai a baby. Now let's face it, he didn't take much persuading to go and bed another woman, so I'm not really blaming Sarai, but this verse does remind me how easy it is to lead eachother astray in a marriage. Likewise, it can seem almost impossible to be close to God at a time of falling out with our spouse. We need to put God first, and not let our husband or wife take their place - certainly an important message for me this one.


Genesis 16:4 When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abramm "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering".
In 16:4 we see that the plan backfires, which just shows how we must not try to rush God's plan or promise for us, but rely wholeheartedly on him and his timing. He who has begun a good work in you will surely bring it to pass AMEN?

20th March: Fear Not!

Although I did do my Bible study this morning, I thought I would use today's blog to take notes as I listen to a series from the Plymouth Christian Centre podcasts http://www.plymouthchristiancentre.org/messages.shtml on fear. Fear is something which has plagued me for as long as I can remember, so I am using this day off of work to spend some extra time seeking God on the subject.


2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and a sound mind


False
Expectations
Appearing
Real

Fearfulness can come in numerous ways:

1)Personality - some people are naturally timid and fearful
2)Induced by people - those around you rub off on you
3)Trauma- bad incidents which make us afraid
4)Satanic - satan is the author of fear

Wherever fear comes from it is not from God!


Types Of Fear Found in the Bible

Fear of death is a big fear in the Bible, which Jesus came to break.
Fear of exposure - being discovered
Fear of disease - anxiety about becoming ill
Fear of the night e.g. being burgled
Fear of being attacked
Fear of other people
Fear of failure

Fear is a tormentor. Perfect love casts out fear.

There was a lurking fear in the life of Job: "what I always feared has happened to me". Even in the good times, Job had a fear things would go wrong. God was with him and he was prosperous, BUT he still felt bad was on its way.

So what do we do when we have these fears that attack our soul and keep on reoccurring?

1) Remind yourself that God did not give you a spirit of fear
2) Face the fear - name what you are afraid of. Speak to the mountain and cast it into the sea.
3) Believe in the love of God for you; there is no fear in God's love. Fear has to do with torment and punishment, and God has not given us a spirit of fear.

KEY VERSES:

Psalm 139:16 All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.


If God has not given us a spirit of fear, then what HAS he given us? Power, love and a sound mind!

'Be anxious for nothing, but in everything... make your requests known to God'.

When we become Christians, the spirit of God comes into us a seed which needs to grow.

God has given us a spirit of power:

1)Power in the presence of God e.g. praying in tongues defeats evil
2)Power in believing prayer e.g. Elijah is described as being a man like you and I, but he prayed. There is power in persistent prayer - ask and it will be given to you, is actually from the Greek, the continuous 'keep asking'. Those who prayed for Peter prayed through the night and he was saved- persist in prayer.
3)Power in praise e.g. remember what God has done for us,answered our prayers and brought us through. Magnify the Lord.
4)The power of proclamation e.g.speak it out, claim the scripture, build yourself and others up.

God has given us a spirit of love:
1) To love God back
2) To love other Christians - don't major on minor differences, just love them!
3) To love our enemies - do good to those who hate us and pray for those who ill-treat us!

God has given us a spirit of a sound mind:
From the greek 'a safe mind, good judgement, disciplined thought patterns, including self control and self discipline'. What we think about is important.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, right, lovely, admirable, excellent and praise-worthy, think about such things!

Genesis 15: Do not be afraid, I am your shield...

15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,your very great reward.

Just to put the 'after this' in context, Abram had just rescued Lot and taken loads of treasure which the king offered him. Well, Abram refused, saying he wanted the glory to go to God alone, and the next thing we read is the above - an almighty promise. It was after Abram's integrity that God brought a blessing and a vision, proving that sowing good things means you will reap good things.

15: 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

This bit is about God promising Abe a baby, even though he and his wife were dead old! Abram didn't reason or think about the circumstances, he just (like Noah) believed!

His faith was credited to him as righteousness; I love this one. Even though the Lord himself spoke to Abram, he was still honoured for believing God. Do we always believe God? What does he promise us in the Bible, and do we believe it?

This makes me wonder why Abram found it so easy to trust God. Was it because of what he had been through up to this point? I mean, he was 75, and clearly his life experiences had made him the man he was. He'd left his country, people and family, and was totally reliant on God, who was blessing him mightily. This makes me think about how we need to remember that the good things we have come from God alone, and we mustn't get proud about them.

Finally, Abe had walked in generosity, been prepared for attack, and shown himself to be a man of integrity. This is a challenge to me to walk in God's ways, so that I will believe him and do whatever he wants me to do, just like good old Abram.

Genesis 13 & 14 - be prepared

Nothing from chapter 13, but 14 was insightful.

Genesis 14: 14 'When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit...'

What I love here is that Abram was prepared for an attack, and we too should prepare for the attacks of Satan. Rather than walking around with your head in the clouds, remember that the devil is out there on the prowl. Know your particular areas of sin where he is likely to attack, look at the day ahead and consider when those areas are likely to strike, and ask God for his help. As you approach those times, be on high alert, quoting scripture etc, and basically win the battle before it's begun. Expanded to every area of our lives, this is a life-changing principle I reckon.

Genesis 12: Build an altar

OK first off, if Neil or Sue are about to read this then STOP! The following is really the basis of what I am going to share at cell group next week, and I don't want to spoil it for you now! Anyone else: read on!

12:1 & 2 1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nationand I will bless you;I will make your name great,and you will be a blessing.

We can see here how Abram had to give up everything he had before the blessing came; like I previously examined with Noah, if we do our part then God will do his part. The notes in my Life Application Bible quite rightly say 'Don't let the comfort and security of your present position make you miss God's plan for you'.

12:7 So he built an altar there

This was really the big thing for me, and a true revelation. Again, from the notes, an altar is a reminder of God's goodness. When God is good to us we should build an altar so that in future hard times we can look back and remember the goodness of God, telling ourselves that if he got us through it in the past, he will surely do it again.

It is so easy to forget God's goodness, and be plagued by worries on issues he has previously come through on. This altar thing has made me think of actually creating or buying an object when God does something really big for me, and placing it around my house as a reminder. Not to be mistaken with an idol, I just think this very practical idea would be very helpful to someone like me who has been at battle with worry my whole life!


12:11-13 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

Abram saw the situation and used his own logic and reasoning to come up with a 'solution' to the men killing him and taking his wife - saying she was his sister. Of course, it all seemed to be going OK, but then it turned terribly wrong:

12:17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.

Here we see Abram's plan backfiring, and it just made me think how we must not reason - do what God says, not what YOU think! Us intellectual types can often figure out a 'fix' for everything, but that's not the point - God is the one we should rely on.

Genesis 9/10/11 - a 'terah'fying prospect

Nothing from chapters 9 and 10 today, so right into the 11th.

11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter in law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settle there.

We don't hear much about Terah in Church, but he was Abram's dad, who was leading the whole family on their way to Canaan but never made it. Terah never completed his journey, and that had a knock-on effect on Abram. Eventually Abram continued on his own, and I like the way that God's plan was not thwarted by Terah's decisions. God made the way for him. Ultimately, our journey of faith is about us and God, no-one else. We mustn't let what others did or didn't do to/for us affect our relationship with God.

Genesis 8: Ignore the dove!

Another early morning, and now this rising with the sun (or lack of it) is getting easy! A little tip I found for if my eyelids are closing and sending me back off to sleep: go and jump in the shower, then continue after!

Ok, here's one for Genesis 8:11-15

11When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.
He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.Then God said to Noah,“Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

OK, here's what I love about this: Noah did not leave the ark when the dove didn't return; he left it almost two months later, when God told him to. To me this is a massive revelation - even though the dove experiment made it look like the earth was safe again, God knew there were still lots of submerged bits, and Noah waited for God's OK at the end of the next month before leaving. What a great message about listening to God - even if everything 'looks' right, we still need to listen for God's OK (or lack of it).


8:21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though† every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

OK, bit of an odd one this, but it just makes me see clearly how we (I) cannot do this Christianity thing without God's help. Every inclination of my heart is evil, and it's only with God's daily help that I can make it through. Too often we get into works of the flesh, trying to do the right thing and failing, but we need to daily lean on God's strength and tell him 'I can't do this without you, so please help me!' That's something I'm learning more and more as I try and fail, try and fail, try and fail. In my own strength I am literally the chief of sinners (roll over Paul), but if I daily give myself to God, between the two of us we can make it: what a revelation!

Genesis 7: Do what you can do and leave the rest to God

OK, first off - I missed uploading yesterday's ponderings, but I still did the study in the morning. I was rushed for time, and figured it wouldn't exactly displease any followers to miss a day as I didn't have any. Then I log on this morning, and low and behold there is my first follower: thanks Jane! So now I will stick to it :)

My thoughts today actually include a verse from chapter 6 too, but it really only makes sense with Chapter 7 involved.

6:13-22 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.So make yourself an ark of cypress† wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.†Make a roof for it and finish† the ark to within 18 inches† of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
19You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
21You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

The main bit I am looking at here is the last bit, verse 22, where Noah did everything just as God commanded him.Noah then built the ark, and in verse 16 of chapter 7 we read:

7:16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.

What hit me today about this is the way Noah did not reason or doubt, or question God as to how his seemingly impossible task would come to fruition. He focused on what he was told to do at that moment, which was to build the ark, and God took care of the rest (the animals). As my favourite preacher, Joyce Meyer, is fond of saying, if we do what we CAN do, God will do what we CANNOT do. We need to focus on what IS under our control and leave the rest to God.

7:2 Take with you seven† of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,

What I love about this is the way that we, as readers of the Bible, have yet to be told about clean and unclean animals, but obviously Noah knew all about it. It just makes me think about how the Bible doesn't record absolutely everything about God, which is pretty amazing I think. Obviously Noah knew the details from somewhere (from God himself?) but we don't read about that.

Finally, something I thought today about the whole chapter - we can often see God's flooding the world as something that is brutal and vicious, yet it hit me today that it was HIS to do with how he pleased. For example, if we painted a painting and weren't happy with it, we could do what we liked with it - this is the same with God. We can get so hung up on our own supreme self worth, but at the end of the day he is the potter and we are the clay, and what he wants to do is up to Him!

Genesis 5 & 6: I'm no angel

Nothing from chapter 5, but a couple of fascinating points from chapter 6 today.

6:1/4 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose...The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

There is some debate over the Nephilim, but for me they are fallen angels (the word means fallen ones). Not really something I want to debate here the reason why they make sense as fallen angels, but email me if you're interested! In my view, this scripture says that fallen angels slept with women and their children were special (the word also has connotations of 'giant' which may suggest where those like Goliath came from). Anyway, cool mythology-like stuff aside, this scripture just highlights to me how big a deal sexual sin is. Even the angels, who lived with God in heaven, were not exempt from the temptation, which reminds me how it is a big issue for most guys. It also reminds me that to be victorious, we should rely solely on God and not on our own strength (or lack of it). I'm no angel, so if those guys fell, I need God's help for sure!

6: 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Does this mean God didn't kill the fish? Just an observation - would have been tough to drown them!

6:15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.

Definitely the coolest thing here. The ark was exactly six times longer than it was wide - the same ratio used by modern ship-builders. I just thought that was a really cool example of how something from the Bible, written so long ago is proof of God who knew long before humans did, the ideal proportions for a boat of that size. Here we are all these years later with the clever tests done with computers etc to work out pressure and force and size and stuff, but God knew that ages ago: love it!

Genesis 4: Cain you believe how gracious God is?

Just one for today:

Genesis 4: 13-16: 'Cain said to the Lord, "my punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the eath, and whoever finds me will kill me." But the Lord said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no-one who found him would kill him.'

A couple of weeks back, in my workplace Christian Union meeting, another Christian was talking to me about how loving and gracious God is when non-Christian friend in the room cockily replied "except in the first half of the Bible". I knew where he was coming from: when I was young in my own faith I felt there was very little to learn from reading the Old Testament, which showed a lot of anger, wrath, pestilence and death, but now I know just how wrong I was. Here, in these verses, we see yet another example of how God is gracious and giving; even in our own sin, still God provides, and in his punishment he still gave Cain what he needed. Just like the skins he made for Adam and Eve, God has mercy and stays with us - works for our good, no matter what we have done! What a gracious God!

Genesis 2 & 3

Nothing hit me about Genesis 2, so I moved right onto the next chapter; I think I will do that if nothing comes from the day's reading, as the purpose of this whole thing is to be fed every day, and there's no stopping til it happens! Genesis 3 proved to be much more fruitful (if you'll pardon the pun!)

GENESIS 3:1 [the serpent] said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'you must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

This is the first example of Satan testing people on what God or His word says, and I think it highlights how important it is to know the word of God. Obviously the devil is twisting God's words - he didn't say Eve couldn't eat any of the fruit, just one type. We need to know the truth of God's word (i.e. the details of the Bible) so that we can stand on it and make the right choices. When a situation comes along we need to be able to refer to the Bible to come to a decision.

Also, Satan made Eve forget all that God had given her and instead focus on the one thing she wasn't allowed. We can also get into trouble when we dwell on the few things we don't have,rather than the numerous things God HAS given us.

3:6 'When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it'.

This is a great bit from the notes in my Life Application Bible on this verse:'The battle is often lost at the first look! Are you struggling with temptation because you have not learned that looking is the first step towards sin? You would win over temptation more often if you followed Paul's advice to run from those things that produce evil thoughts'.

3:21 'The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them'

Such a powerful image this; God provided the way out and met Adam and Eve's needs despite their sin- he didn't write them off for their sin. He punished them, but also provided a new route for them, which to me makes me very happy: God won't let us be ruined by sin, but will always have a plan for our lives no matter what we do. For example, if I lost my job tomorrow through my own mistakes, God would still have something for me- it wouldn't all be over. This helps me to see that we shouldn't get our security from job, money, position etc, but instead the one who gives it.

Until next time...

March 9th 2010: Genesis 1

Up at 6.15am, a whole hour earlier than usual, and ready to go!

I have to admit I was a bit dubious about just what I would 'get' from the first chapter of the Bible. It has to be one of the most well known parts of the good book, referenced time and time again both in and out of Church, and a childhood of colourful Sunday-school lessons had left me a tad numb about it. However, I wasn't about to ignore it, so I dove in: I'm glad I did!

Here's what meant something to me:

GEN 1:5 'God called the light "day", and the darkness he called "night".

This is such a simple verse, and yet something really hit me today when I read this; God made the world for us. It's just a practical thing, but we've already read in verse two that God was hovering over the waters in the 'dark'. It hit me this morning, as I sat in my own early winter morning darkness, that God didn't need the light, we did. He made the light for us, as indeed he made the whole world for us. WE need light in order to see, move around, and enjoy the world.

What hit me next was the simple but often overlooked fact that the whole world was made for US to enjoy, and that was pretty profound to me.

GEN 1:20 'And God said, "let the water teem with living creatures".

This verse reminds me that God is an extravagant God - he didn't just make a few fish, he made the water 'teem' (abound, swarm, be prolific) with creatures. In our finite view of God we can often minimise what he wants to do for us, but God is a God of extravagance - the God of more than enough.

There are currently something like 230,00o species of marine creature that have gone through the process of being classified as unique creatures by scientists. This means that God was not lying when he said 'teem', and to me it paints a picture of a God who is extravagant and generous, giving, creative and abundant: very cool!

Gen 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Similar to my comment on verse 5, this verse speaks again to the way God made the world FOR us. The Earth and everything God put in it is for us, and if we allow ourselves we can see God through it. This particularly made me think of the urban nature of my life at the moment - I walk from a street of terraced houses, along a main road, into my work building. I stay there all day, then reverse the trip and almost always stay at home all evening. It made me think about how we limit ourselves if we don't experience God through nature, and made me resolve to do this more. In John Ortberg's book 'God is Closer than you Think', he writes about relationship pathways - ways we commune with God, and one of those I resonate with is the nature pathway. I won't go into his book here, but it just made me realise that the world, and nature is ours to enjoy and to see God through.

Quite a lot today - obviously God blessing me for the start I've made :)