The Everyday Prayer

RE Verse reading–Genesis 2:4-17 (day one)

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”–v 116-17.

The Lord only gave them one rule.  One!  They were 99% free and 100% blessed.  Who wouldn’t GLADLY corporate with such a generous arrangement?

With the rule came a warning.  Clear.  Immediate consequence for disobedience.  But they didn’t believe Him.  They weren’t warned away by His words.

I have made the same mistake.  Seen it made by others.  “It will never happen to me” or “just this once.”

“The wages of sin is death” warns a Holy God from Heaven.  When we sin something dies.  We die.  Opportunities.  Fellowship with Him.  Serious consequences.

The universe comes with rules.  Things required.  Things forbidden.  The great human mistake is to not hear or believe that the rules come from God.

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day seven)

“Let the waters TEEM with living creatures”–1:20, “BE FRUITFUL and INCREASE in number and FILL the waters in the seas”–1:22.

The Creation story has an exuberance, an enthusiasm that is often lacking in modern life.  We are jaded and weary.  God isn’t!  His instruction and expectation for His new creatures was for them to increase and multiply and fill the planet with life!  He commands the same path of progress (in  even stronger terms) to newly created men in 1:28.

I hear the same exuberance in our Lord as He instructs the disciples after the Resurrection.  “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”–Matthew 28:19.

It is still God’s will to FILL this earth with New Creation life!  He doesn’t “do” empty.  He commands us to be fruitful!

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day five)

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. Maybe a helpful question to keep asking when we read through Genesis is, “What was God teaching the Israelites when He inspired Moses to write this book of the Bible?” In the beginning of chapter two, God presents a beautiful picture of life in Him. Scripture tells us that God rested. It’s a picture of complete satisfaction, fulfillment, and contentment. It’s a picture of the destiny of those by faith, love and trust Him. God rests after completing His work of creation. It’s also a picture of the heart that turns, trusts, and follows Jesus. Jesus taught this truth in Matthew 11. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Does your soul find daily rest in the Savior? Does your soul yearn for eternal rest in God?

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day four)

So much of Genesis paints a picture, sets a pattern, or establishes a template for the way God works in history.  In verses 14-18, God does that with light.  He created lights in the expanse and for signs and seasons, and for days and years…He created lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.  In each case, Genesis 1 says, “to govern the day” or to “govern the night”, or “to separate the darkness”.  The light always governed the dark…never the other way around.  All through scripture, light governs over darkness…light overcomes darkness.  One of the names for Jesus is ‘the light of the world’.

When a life of darkness…that has been overcome by evil…is confronted by the truth of Jesus, the light of the world, evil is overcome.  Lives are changed by the light.  When the church becomes the light of Christ in the world, darkness is overcome.  The problem is not with the world that becomes more evil, the problem is with the light of the church that does not confront the darkness.  Is your light shining?

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day three)  

“Let [the lights] serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.”  The universe is not merely a structure made of well-ordered subatomic particles and energy.  There is more to it that the fact that it exists.  Moses teaches us that the question “What is it for? (or, more precisely, “Who is it for”) is a perfectly appropriate one.  Some might answer that question by saying, “It is for God.”  It seems that even God would say that is an incomplete answer—that it is for man as well.  Those “sacred times, and days and years” are markers for us, helping us to know God and to know one another, to grow, and to love.  It takes time to be a human.  God built time into this universe for that very purpose.

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day two)  

God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 1:16-18

This was Moses’ retelling of the creation event. Read now, God’s words to Job regarding the formation of the world:                                                                                                         “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
“On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:4-7

God’s direct words for Job notwithstanding, we catch a glimpse of God in his studio as he made the world. He made the stars to sing and the angels shout for joy. Quite a picture, isn’t it. Is that you? Do you put your playlist on as you work to help you focus or to give yourself a boost? You are definitely in good company. So much of what we do each day is creative or re-creative. We are making decisions, designing, implementing. God’s choice for music as an accompaniment to industry is not only enjoyable, it is productive. Go ahead, turn the volume up…and don’t forget to sing along!

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:14-25; 2:1-3 (day one)  

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”–1:28.

On its face, this command refers to reproduction.  Babies.  Families.  Through them, the human race was to GROW in size and strength and command of the planet God gave us.

Years ago, when I first came to FBCSA, I prayed for God to FILL the sanctuary–with His Spirit and with His people.  My sense, then and now, is that empty things don’t bring Him glory the way FILLLED things do.

We hear the same heart in the New Testament’s command for us to “be FILLED with the Spirit”.  Jesus said,  “I have come that they might have life and have it in ABUNDANCE”

God does not think in small or partial terms.  His character (and our assignment) is to FILL and BE FILLED.

“May the God of hope FILL you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.”–Romans 15:13.

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:1-13 (day seven)

Would you like to know God?  Serve others?  Experience peace?  Take one step today toward the Lord!  Just one step.  Tomorrow take another.  Don’t worry, you can do this! Just start and keep going.

The Creator built this wisdom into the universe.  Achievement is always a gradual, patient process.  He used the same plan.  Day one.  Then day two. Then day three.

“Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily” said the wise Son.

“Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.  He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what He deems best–lovingly, it’s part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and rest.”–Caroline Sandell–Berg.

What will you do today that will set your life in a new direction?