May 13 (Wednesday) -- Streams of Living Water

Only heroes can eat the honey: 1 Samuel 14:1-52

From believers flow streams of living water: John 7:31-53

Help me, O Lord my God: Psalm 109:1-31

The lips of the wise spread knowledge: Proverbs 15:5-7

Drink from Jesus to help quench the thirst of others. Jesus said in verses 37-38, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”. In the next verse John told us that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit.

Who of us is satisfied with the status quo of going through the motions on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, & Wednesday evening? I hope the answer is that not many of us are satisfied.

We need a thirst for real life. Jesus is the One who can quench that thirst. Jesus didn’t say that if you believe in Him you’ll become an expert in religious dogma. Jesus was surrounded by people like that. Instead Jesus said that if you believe in Him streams of living water (the Holy Spirit) will flow from you.

If we’re not into leading others to Jesus then we probably need to drink more from Him.

May 12 (Tuesday) -- God's Timing

Don’t offer the burnt offering: 1 Samuel 12:1-13:23

His time had not yet come: John 7:1-30

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations: Psalm 108:1-13

A deceitful tongue crushes the spirit: Proverbs 15:4

In today’s reading from 1st Samuel and today’s reading from John we see the contrast of how both Saul & Jesus respected God’s timing. In 1st Samuel 13:6-14 we read about Saul being in a desperate situation & becoming impatient waiting for Samuel (who as a prophet, represented God). Thus Saul sinned by offering a burnt offering to the Lord, something only the priests were allowed to do.

Yet, in John 7, verses: 6, 8, & 30 we read all about God’s timing for Jesus to be known as the Messiah. Jesus stated in verses 6 & 8 that He wasn’t about to put Himself on stage because His time (as God the Father appointed it) had not yet come.

We all need to have the gumption to serve God’s kingdom to our best. Yet, we can’t let our zeal to serve God cause us to sin by doing things out of line when the timing seems right to us. God’s word & the Holy Spirit always tell us the truth. Even when the timing seems to be a now or never kind of situation, if choosing now requires God’s rules to be broken….choose later.

May 11 (Monday) -- Eat the flesh of Christ

You are now king – by the way, the Ammonites are attacking us: 1 Samuel 10:1-11:15

Eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ: John 6:43-71

His love endures forever: Psalm 107:1-43

The tongue of the wise commends knowledge: Proverbs 15:1-3


When you first read today’s passage from John, Jesus’ words sound gruesome. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood” from verses 54 & 56 sound like they were part of a heavy metal song. Wait…now that I think about it, those are words in a heavy metal song -- Bloodgood’s Eat the Flesh :)


Jesus was saying that we can depend on Him for real living just like the Jews in Moses’ day depended on manna from God. Those of you who’ve been reading through the Bible with us remember that God fed the Jews manna from heaven to sustain them while they wandered in the desert. God sent us Jesus to sustain us. We have to absorb Him into our lives and our way of thinking to be sustained by God.

May 11, 2009 (Sunday)

May 10

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1 Samuel 8:1-9:27

John 6:22-42

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 14:34-35

After the story of Jesus walking on the water, as well as the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, this story is now a depiction of how Jesus is the one behind these stories that is the true substance and importance.  In the first story we read of how many people were searching for Jesus. Then in the following story, we are reminded of the multiplying of the bread in the previous story and are shown that the point of all this is that Jesus himself is the one who sustains us. He is more important than bread is for the physical body. Jesus does not say that it is unimportant to care for the needs of the body, he is simply saying that this type of need is only temporary, but our need for eternal life in Christ will never fade. This is another example of two themes of John, "I Am" statements and "eternal life". These two phrases show up again and again. The point being, Jesus is the great "I am" revealed on Sinai, he is truly God. Secondly, he came to bring eternal life to his people. And concerning this he says something very encouraging. No one who comes to him for this life will be turned away. NO ONE. Never allow anyone to dictate who is able to come before the throne of God. He will accept all who call upon his name. 

May 10, 2009 (Saturday)

May 9

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1 Samuel 5:1-7:17

John 6:1-21

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 14:32-33

In today's passage we have the famous story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. There are several things to note about this story. (1) The disciples, like us oftentimes, doubted the power and ability of Jesus to do great things. It's not always easy to trust God when there is great need in front of us, I know that I seldom do. But always remember this story when you wonder if God can make something out of a difficult situation. It's not that he always will make everything easy for us, but this story shows that he's always in control. (2) Jesus is both powerful and compassionate. This is a story that shows that Jesus doesn't use his miraculous powers merely to show off, but to help people who are in need. We serve a God who does care about every detail of our life. The hairs on our head are numbered by our heavenly Father. We have to understand that even when things are tough, even when it's impossible to think that God is there, he is always close to us in our need. 

If you were in any doubt about this, by the way, the next thing he does is walk on water.

May 8, 2009 (Friday)

May 8

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1 Samuel 2:22-4:22

John 5:24-47

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 14:30-31

Today's story in the very interesting book of Samuel tells of the famous story of the calling of Samuel.  Samuel heard a voice calling three times and each time thought it was his elder Eli, yet Eli finally realized that it was God calling to him, Samuel responded in faith and readiness. Now i'd venture to say not that many of us have heard the voice of God calling audibly to us (though, i'm not saying it couldn't happen!) , yet this story still has significance. It not only is a great testimony to God's faithfulness in calling out men and women of faith at the right time in his redemptive history.  It is also a reminder for us. Even though we may not hear God's audible voice in this life, we do have his communication to us. Al talked about this the other week. We have the Bible, if you have read it (just click on one of those links above) this week you have heard God speaking. So let us respond in faith to his call we have in the Bible, to tell others about him, to give him our worship, our prayers, our devotion to proclaiming and spreading the kingdom of God! 

In John we read something similar, Jesus tells about how we can hear God's voice in this way and respond. He says, 'the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live'. God's word is powerful and it has the power to raise us from the dead, both literally and spiritually. Then Jesus ties it all together.  He says that those who don't read the scriptures and then regard Christ as the Messiah, the chosen one of Israel, these are blind and rebellious to what that word says. The Bible is about Jesus. 

May 7 (Thursday) -- It's a Good Day to Be Healed

Adopted by a temple: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21

Pick up your mat without checking the calendar: John 5:1-23

For He remembered His promise: Psalm 105:37-45

A patient man has great understanding: Proverbs 14:28-29


My oh my! The Pharisees were looking too hard to find something wrong with Jesus and His followers. Can you imagine being unable to walk, all of a sudden being healed, then someone else sees you & all they can think to say is that you’re carrying your mat on the wrong day?

It’s funny how mankind tries to complicate someone else’s relationship with Jesus. I hope no one can later say of me that I made it difficult for someone else to see Jesus.