Tagged: memory verse

“Be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.” –Ezekiel 2:8 Picture a baby in a highchair. No matter what the parents do, the baby refuses to eat, shutting its mouth. That is the picture of many Christians today. We Christians are spiritually anorexic. We refuse to eat what God gives us because we are stuffed with the things the world has brainwashed us into eating (see Prv 13:19). The food of the “feel-good culture,” materialism and consumerism, is much more appetizing to us than God’s scroll with “lamentation and...

“Above the firmament over their heads something like a throne could be seen, looking like sapphire. Upon it was seated, up above, One Who had the appearance of a man.” –Ezekiel 1:26 Ezekiel saw in a vision a stupendous, moving, multi-colored, fiery, angelic chariot (see Ez 1:15ff). Above this was the firmament, and above the firmament was a throne on which sat God surrounded by a rainbow in glory (Ez 1:28). God is far beyond anything we can imagine (see Is 55:8-9). He is transcendent and awesome. Considering Who God is, we are shocked that God ever created us or...

“By faith Abraham, when put to the test…” —Hebrews 11:17 By preparing our hearts to serve God each day, we will not be caught off-guard when the time of testing comes (Lk 12:36-40). It will be second-nature, in fact, our new nature, to “seek to serve Him constantly” (Ps 105:4). Daily we ask for the grace to “serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps 100:2). Each day, give to God your life, will, health, desires, hopes, and dreams. Then, when the test comes, your daily practice has trained your nature to offer everything up to God. Our Master’s will is “known...

“He will repay each man according to his conduct.” —Matthew 16:27 The prophet Nahum foretold the downfall of Nineveh, “the bloody city,” the capital city of Assyria (Na 3:1). The nation of Assyria brutalized and destroyed many cities and nations for several centuries, including wiping out the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. As Nahum prophesied, Nineveh was defeated (Na 3:2ff). As Jesus prophesied, Nineveh was repaid by the Lord “according to [its] conduct” (Mt 16:27). Our conduct is extremely important for our eternal future. We are to conduct ourselves as “a member of God’s household” (1 Tm 3:15)....

“Jesus turned on Peter and said, ‘Get out of My sight, you satan! You are trying to make Me trip and fall. You are not judging by God’s standards but by man’s.’ ” —Matthew 16:23 By the grace of the heavenly Father, Simon Peter made a great act of faith by professing Jesus as the Messiah, “the Son of the living God!” (Mt 16:16) In a short time, however, by denying the cross and “not judging by God’s standards but by man’s” (Mt 16:23), Peter showed that he did not understand what he had professed. This shows the astounding proclivity...