July 22nd One Year Bible Readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10 ~ Romans 7:14-8:8  ~ Psalm 18:1-15 ~ Proverbs 19:24-25
~ Listen to today's Scripture on DailyAudioBible.com (podcast) or OneYearAudioBible.org ~

Old Testament - Today in Second Chronicles we read about Solomon's dedication of the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem!  Below is "King Solomon praying before the Temple" by Neapolitan painter Giuseppe Bonito, c. 1750:

I meant to do this in yesterday's posting - show an exterior and interior image below of what's now often referred to as "Solomon's Temple." Even though it was clearly the Temple of the Lord, it's referred to as Solomon's Temple based on Solomon building it - and we'll read about some more Temple's later on in our readings in the One Year Bible this year, including Ezekiel's Temple, which is fascinating!  Anyhow, below are two images of Solomon's Temple, but let me also highly encourage you to take a few moments to check out all of the cool images of the interior and exterior of Solomon's Temple at this link.  (make sure you scroll down quite a bit on this link to see all the images)  I think this link will help you visualize the Temple much better!  Also, at the home page of that link above, you can read up on the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem today where Solomon's Temple was believed to have been located, along with the Second Temple.  And now where the Dome of the Rock mosque is located.  Very interesting stuff on that web page!  And tons of links.  Can't say I agree with it all...  but it's a website worth exploring.

New Testament - Romans chapter 7 today has some amazing teachings about struggling with sin.  I imagine that all of us at one point or another have concurred with Paul - and remember this is the apostle Paul writing this! - in verses 15 through 17: "I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things." These verses get at Original Sin in a big way.  We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Sin can live inside of us and make us do evil things that we hate doing.  What do you suppose - or Whom do you suppose - frees us from this bondage to sin?  Jesus.  Yes, Jesus frees us.  How?  He paid the penalty on the cross for our sins.  And he gives us the free gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit to free us from the bondage of sin.  Take a look at these verses again above from Paul.  Is sin living inside of you making you do things you hate?  Do you want to be free from this slavery to sin?  Will you pray to accept Jesus as your savior today and allow him to free you from you bondage to sin?  Please do.  It's the best decision you will ever make.  Please spend a few minutes prayerfully at this website - http://needhim.org/

Bible.org's fantastic commentary on today's readings in Romans titled "The War Within" is at this link.

Psalms - Psalm 18 is an amazing one!  We'll get this Psalm for the next 3 days of readings, which is great.  And then comes Psalm 19 which is off the charts awesome!   Verse 1 today is so beautiful: "I love you, LORD; you are my strength."  How often do you tell God that you love him?  One thing that one of my former pastors does when he prays publicly, which absolutely moves me, is that he closes out just about every prayer with "God we love you.  And we pray all of this in the name of your son Jesus."   The last line of course is the powerful line!  But, that second to last line... is just beautiful.  Just telling God that we love him.  I'm not sure I tell God that I love him often enough.  God may not "need" to hear it.  But I think that I need to say it more often.  I love you God!

Proverbs - I hope you don't relate too well to Proverbs 19 verse 24... but I'll confess that I have been able to relate to this in my past - "Some people are so lazy that they won't even lift a finger to feed themselves."  There were days in my past were I was literally this lazy.  What a sad state of affairs.  It's hard to say exactly why I was being so lazy - other than one clear reason:  I was not in a relationship with Jesus.  I was living for myself and myself only.  So I thought it was fine to sleep and watch TV 24 x 7.  What did it matter?  Well... it mattered a lot.  Being lazy like this is a scary place to be.  I think it allows the Enemy to move into our lives in big ways.  So - thankfully - as we know from our recent Romans readings, we can be free from our lazy ways! Being in relationship with Jesus has literally cured me of my laziness.  Don't get me wrong - I still chill out and rest on occasion - we really need to take a Sabbath day of rest once a week....  but let us not live our lives as couch potatoes!  Let us get in the game of Life!

Couldn't resist this cute potato sack race image below... :)
These 2 are definitely not lazy couch potatoes!

 

Worship God: Based on that wonderful painting by Bonito at the top of this post of Solomon lifting his eyes to heaven, I think this video montage of Scripture and images set to Bebo Norman's song "I Will Lift my Eyes" is perfect.  So, lift your hands and worship God with me if you would!

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

Comments

[John]

Romans 7

If there is a choice, I would rather you read Bob Deffingbaugh's commentary on this section than anything I write. If you do not have much time - at least read the Conclusions. It is a powerful commentary.
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=2304

Paul has talked about Christians not going back to obey the Law - "shackles" to a saved soul. And that the Law is good, it is sin that is evil and our "flesh" that is weak.

Romans 7:14-25

Struggling With Sin (The War within a Saved Soul)

Boy, this chapter has been tough. It has been hard to focus, and did not want to write - because of this section.

Earlier Paul talked about Salvation, and how when saved we are no longer at war with God. But one war seems to have been exchanged for another. Now within the Christian is a war with sin.

The "I DO" Verses

So tough to read. I can understand each sentence individually, but when read in toto (vs. 14-20), I find it hard to maintain the thread of thought. (Plan on re-reading it each day for awhile, until it flows.) Paul (and we as Christians) want to do good, but keep(s) on sinning. Huh? I thought we had the "new man". What is Paul talking about?

Nestled in the middle of the paragraph, are the two truths that devastate me. I knew of one, then just realized the second tonight.

Vs. 18
"I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." NIV

1) There is no good in my old nature ("flesh").
2) There is no power in my new nature.

I knew the first, sin has a "base of operations" in my "flesh" (old nature), and it is working overtime. Satan would like nothing better than to discredit a Christian. He may have lost that soul, but by discrediting the Christian, he believes he can stop the geometric spread of Christianity. Sin is Satan's WMD.

The second reminded me of a question awhile back. We have the new nature - the "new mind", but why isn't Paul experiancing the "abundant blessings of the Holy Spirit? Why all this failure? At this point, it seems it is because of the "I"'s.

"..but I cannot carry it out"

I (you) cannot do it. The "new man" is like a bomb, it has to be "armed" before it can be utilized. The "believer" is not qualified to do this, it must be "armed" by another. We can sit there all day long atop an "inert bomb" and we will be trampled by sin. We are not only not qualified to "arm" it, we are not qualified to "utilize" the bomb. We must depend on another.

"Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (sin and the old nature).

["When Paul describes this body of death, some commentators see a reference to ancient kings who tormented their prisoners by shackling them to decomposing corpses. Paul longs to be cut free from the wretched body of death clinging to him." - David Guzik]

The answer: "Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

and on to the next chapter..... :)

[John]

Romans 8:1-8

The Power of the Holy Spirit

“‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

"God’s work is never accomplished by human effort but only by divine enablement. It has always been this way." - Bob Deffingbaugh
======================================================
One of the Great Truths
vs. 1a
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,.." NIV

"Since the Father does not condemn Jesus, neither can He condemn those are in Him. They are not condemned, they will not be condemned, and they cannot be condemned." - David Guzik

Jesus's death on the cross meant that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met "in us".

[Paul was very careful, not "by us" - as we can do nothing to become righteous on our own. But "in us" - requirements fulfilled through Christ.]

Through Jesus' ressurection we receive new life (new man) and the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Vs.8
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." NIV

"Paul gives an easy way for us to determine if we walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh - to simply see where our mind is set. The mind is the strategic battleground where the flesh and the Spirit fight." - David Guzik

The mind controlled by the Spirit is "life and peace". Sounds good! Much better than last chapter.

[R]

II Chronicles 6:12-8:10

32 "And when foreigners hear of you and your mighty miracles, and they come from distant lands to worship your great name and to pray toward this Temple, 33 then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. Then all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built bears your name.

The passage above from the sixth chapter has caused my heart to grieve. How many believers, their lifestyle their comportment, their countenance have drawn men and women to Christ. Have people looked upon us, upon me and declared, “She has been with Jesus? We Christians are suppose to be the light of the earth. Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell in us in such a way that His Light, which is the only True Light, Jesus Christ, shine in us? Or have we shut down in such a way people think we are the tail light and not the head light?

Paul said, Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? (1Co 3:16 NET.)

If the Old Testament is Jesus Christ concealed and the New, Christ revealed, then our bodies, the temple God has chosen to dwell in, should reflect with honor, power, mercy, grace and love the Light of Christ.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. (Mat 5:13 NET.)

I have to question what is going on in my life right now. Am I under attack because I am presenting the Gospel in all its glory, or have I been “thrown out” and the persecution I think I am experiencing is just folks walking on me?

Romans 7:14-8:8

Paul speaks of the internal strife I experience daily, the desire to do good verses the desire of the flesh to do what feels good. When I have that struggle a lot of the time, it seems that I am a spectator of my own struggles for good and evil. I’m outside of myself watching the back and forth battle to decide who will have control over me. When this conflict happens as long as I try to “fight” in my own strength, I fail miserable. When I call out to God and tell Him how weak I am to stand and fight in my own strength, I am empowered by something outside of me, which is the Holy Sprit, to walk away in victory.

I’m jumping the gun somewhat but in this struggle over sin we should never give up because the Victory has already been won by Jesus on the Cross,

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
(Rom 8:31-37 KJV)

Thanks be to God and glory to His Name, I am, “more than a conqueror.” He has made me victorious.

Psalm 18:1-15

Two verses astonished me in David’s Psalm, verses two and three. I continually see within today’s reading the protection, the edifice the victory that is wrought in dwelling in God’s Temple, being His Temple (my body) and living in His Temple.

The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower. I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.
(Psa 18:2-3 AMP)

Thanks be to God who always causes me to triumph. (II Corinthians 2:14)

Proverbs 19:24-25

The first time I read the 24th verse I said to myself, “What does this mean.” Proverbs being proverbs I seem to “get it” after I have pondered over the passage for awhile and “awhile” can be several years.
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, and he will not even bring it back to his mouth!
(Pro 19:24 NET.)

Partial understanding of this came while I sat on a subway several years ago and watched a grown man stick his face into a food container and eat after having thrown on the floor of the car, the knife and fork, plastic though they were. While the sight froze me for a moment in disbelief, I heard in my spirit the words of Proverb 19:24. I didn’t immediately hear it and say, “Why that’s Proverbs 19:24,” but I knew that I was witnessing a partial, and I do mean partial, explanation and or understanding of what it means to be lazy and what it looks like.

[Vance]

This comment is in response to this question:

“ Will you pray to accept Jesus as your savior today and allow him to free you from you bondage to sin? ”

The part…”allow Him to free you from sin” is not a ONE-TIME event. We are certainly MADE FREE FROM SIN by what Jesus did on the Cross… yet, do we live in freedom from bondage of sin?

We have to ALWAYS CHOOSE to trust God.. not ourselves.

I know we have not come to Romans 8 yet – but I can’t wait !

Realize the provision of GLORY God / Jesus has placed within us! As I meditate on these verses to come in Romans 8, I think of what I read this morning in “Shemos – Jewish Torah name for Exodus” in reference to Exodus 16 where the glory of God appeared to Moses, Aaron, and the people. This is where Yahweh provided quail and manna for the people.

In “Shemos – Exodus”, this is how Exodus 16:9 reads in that translation:
“…the glory of HASHEM appeared in a cloud.”
HASHEM is the word the
Torah uses for “the God of
Mercy”—the quintessential
name for God.

The definition of glory in the cloud– in the “Shemos” is excellent:
“the dwelling place of the Presence”.

ROMANS 8
1
THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.(A)
2
For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
3
For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [[a]the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [[b]subdued, overcame, [c]deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],(B)

==> Romans 8, Verse 2
The law of the Spirit of Life is the law of our new being – created by the Lord Himself through Jesus on the cross.

This makes me think of I John 3:9 (Amplified) which reads:

No one born (begotten) of God [deliberately, knowingly, and [h]habitually] practices sin, for God's nature abides in him

Yet, we have to CHOOSE to walk—to yield to—what God has placed within me. WOW!

==> Romans 8, Verse 3
God sent His own Son in the disguise of sinful man—yet as a TRUE MAN – who overcame
As the TRUEST MAN, Jesus was TRULY human. This means he also was dependent on the Father and the Spirit just as we are. AS SUCH,
He overcame the temptations which Adam and Eve failed when they were tempted by the devil. When they sinned and chose to yield to him, they gave their authority over earth to the evil one. Thus, the devil became “the god of this world.”

Jesus had to come as a man, and as a man He came to take back authority over earth—and give it back to redeemed men and women who trust in Jesus. Thus, we can live LIKE JESUS on this earth – and can obey the Lord to spread the Gospel over the earth. That is WHY we are here.

EPHESIANS 1 (Amplified)
22
And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church],(A)
23
Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].

==> Romans 8, Verse 3
Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] … [[b]subdued, overcame, [c]deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],(B)

So..
In our weakness, is His strength. Yet, we must CONTINUALLY choose Him. Jesus’ IRON PILLARED DETERMINATION to trust God and the Father’s power are demonstrated in His victory over the world, flesh, and devil.

And His IRON-PILLARED WILL AND DETERMINATION are inside of US… who trust in Jesus!

[Roslyn]

1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,[b] 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death...
... but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man[f] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace...

Indeed!!! Romans 8 is powerfully straigthforward! If we make God the only center of our lives, then we begin to see the dissipation of the duality or dichotomy in our lives... and we become one in Thee!

[Sue]

Romans Chapter 7 - Struggling with sin, Psalms :18 - telling God that you love him every day and Proverbs :19 v. 24 - Laziness.

This is so awesome that I found this because I am guilty as charged of all three and I want to correct this. I cannot believe this site, it is just like I am being spoken to directly by the Lord.

I am in sincere hopes of being able to keep a record here on line of what I learn every day from the Lord. I want my life back as his child.

[Susanne]

Sue, i second that!

Our God is an AWESOME GOD...
and i pray for us, that He keep His Hand
upon us: US CHRISTIANS
changing us from the INSIDE, not just for
"getting a ticket to Heaven", but so that
the Purpose He designed is fulfilled.
idk what it is, but i know i need
to seek & submit/obey, with His grace to
do so.

He is HOLY and i just don't understand
be ye holy... cuz i have no way to be,
but it must be by His Grace
and Mercy and Lovingkindness that He
will show me "line by line" the Way.
And the looking within myself (ughhh!)
seems to be what my Lord is working on.
Even tho the world about me, seeing what's
going on & sure i've chosen what's not for me-
but yet i cannot stand out & "preach", when
sin within me is no different than theirs.
We in the world categorize sin- but i believe w/
God- a unkind word from my mouth is the SAME
as all the other's sins i would point my finger at.
We're all in the same "boat".
May God have mercy on us.
And i thank You Lord, that you Love us to even
consider us who fall so far short of Your Holiness.

[Jenny]

Romans 7:14-25 is great! i'm sure we all experience this! But the fact we long to do the right thing is a good sign! Romans 8:1 is perhaps my favorite verse! not that its a leeway to do whatever we want, but shows the incredible grace and mercy! Amazing! NO condemnation for those sealed in Christ.vs. 6-7 are very heavy too! I love this book!

[Matt]

I thought everyone might enjoy visiting this website and getting a 3D view of Solomon's Temple.

[Matt]

Ooopps, sorry I forgot to post the link, here it is:

http://www3.telus.net/public/kstam/en/models/models.htm