THE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Grow in your relationship with God and study His Word
This verse emphasizes the importance of accurately studying and interpreting the Bible. It encourages believers to strive for God’s approval by being diligent in their study of His Word and correctly applying it to their lives.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
This verse emphasizes the importance of daily study and meditation on God’s Word. It promises prosperity and success to those who make studying the Bible a regular practice and who apply its teachings to their lives.
“8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Joshua 1:8 (KJV)
This verse highlights the transformative power of studying the Bible. It emphasizes that the Word of God is not just a book, but a living force that has the power to change individuals from the inside out.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
This verse highlights the centrality of Christ in the study of God’s Word. It emphasizes that the ultimate purpose of studying the Bible is to encounter and know Jesus, who is the Word made flesh.
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
John 5:39 (KJV)
This verse highlights the importance of being diligent and discerning in the study of God’s Word. It encourages believers to question and examine the teachings presented to them and to verify their accuracy through careful study of the Bible.
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Acts 17:11 (KJV)
Combatting False Teachings
Studying the Bible equips believers to identify and confront false teachings. In a world where misinformation and deception abound, understanding the Scriptures empowers believers to discern truth from error. By studying the Bible diligently, they are less likely to be swayed by false doctrines or misled by deceptive teachings.
1 John 4
How can you possibly know if what you hear on Sundays are true?
1 John 4:1-2 (KJV), “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.”
1 John 4:3b (KJV), “and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
Many of the newer churches today are based on ‘Those who don’t do church’ or, ‘We want everyone to feel wanted’. We are to be set apart.
1 John 4:4-6 (KJV), “4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”
No one has seen God
1 John 4:12 (KJV), “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
1 John 4:12 (NASB 1995), “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
Not by any visible presence, or immediate appearance to the eye, but by his Spirit
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon – Has seen; to see with the eyes.
We should have no fear of death or the day of judgement
1 John 4:17-19 (KJV), “17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us.”
Hebrews 13
We are to treat those we do not know, strangers, and those who may be incarcerated righteously
Hebrews 13:1-3 (KJV), “Let brotherly love continue. 2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
One of those that Abraham entertained was the Son of God; and, though we cannot suppose this will ever be our case, yet what we do to strangers, in obedience to Him, he will reward as done to himself.
Another emphasis on knowing God’s Word in-depth
Hebrews 13:7-9 (KJV), “7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. 8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. 9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.”
Jeremiah 17
Judah’s Sin and Punishment
God will protect those who faithfully teach God’s Word
Jeremiah 17:16 (KJV), “As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.”
Proverbs 15 Guidance for the tongue and faithfulness (read)
Ezekiel 16 God’s Love for Jerusalem
God’s baptism of Judah
Ezekiel 16:9 (KJV), “Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.”
Judah turned from sacrificing to God to sacrificing children to their idles
Ezekiel 16:20-21 (KJV), “20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, 21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?”
More Wicked than Samaria and Sodom
Ezekiel 16:46-47 (KJV), “46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.”
How much worse are we today?
Ezekiel 16:49-50 (KJV), “49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”
We are a perverse nation who are now identified as a ‘non-Christian nation‘
Ezekiel 16:52 (KJV), “Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.
”Ezekiel 16:59 (KJV), “For thus saith the Lord God; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.”
Grow in the Word of the Lord 