Daily Devotional: BE!
Day 12: Be Gracious
A Little Introduction
I have lived many years as a Christian, and a believer in God Almighty, and Jesus Christ His Son, as my Savior.
Because I accepted that Jesus Christ came to this earth, was born of the Virgin Mary by His Holy Spirit, and that He was crucified, and died in my place so that I would not have to die for my own sin, I now live in Him, and He lives in me, as is true for all believers. God Himself lives in us as believers, and helps us with all things in life.
The Scriptures that are recorded in the Holy Bible over many millennia, by many authors, and in many Books, teach us about God, and about walking with God, and how to please Him, and how to walk with Him while we are here on the earth, so that we may at the end of our lives here join Him in heaven.
The Scriptures record the blessings and Spiritual gifts that come with the indwelling Holy Spirit’s help in our lives.
The Apostle Paul tells us about those in His Letters to the Romans and the Corinthians, in Italy and in Greece. [Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12] where Paul teaches us to present ourselves to God as a living and spiritual sacrifice — we submit our lives to Him. We do not die for Him, because He came to die for us. He gives us gifts, not the other way around. We give one another physical gifts to bless one another because we love one another.
This is the difference between worshipping something man-made, and loving God and loving our neighbors, as Jesus taught us to do.
These nations that Paul was sent to, to preach the Good News about the indwelling Kingdom of God — at that time — worshipped non-living, pagan gods made of stone and wood, gold and silver, and they bowed down to and sacrificed themselves, or food and drinks offerings, to these man-made idols.
When Paul came to cities who were steeped in these traditions, they began learning about The Eternal and Living God, and many people gave their lives to live for God instead of these man-made idols.
God is the One Who created them and wanted to bless them and be their Father, as it was in the beginning of their lives, when He sent them to their parents to be born, and to live on earth, and to get to know Him, as human beings, who would then be filled with His Holy Spirit when they accepted Him as their Father, and Jesus as their Savior.
God has not changed His ways or His manner. He is still the same gracious God, that He has always been. And He will always be Who He is for all eternity.
No human being can change God, or Who He is by rewriting history, or saying things about Him that are untrue.
He will always be a Loving Father to those who love Him, and an enemy to those who have knowingly, and willingly, chosen to hate Him.
So, because there are many non-English speaking countries in the world, and there are still many countries who have predominantly non-Christian beliefs, and who still worship man-made idols, I will explain in a little more detail today what it means to be gracious, because God is gracious.
Jesus said, Make disciples of all nations, and so I also will be sharing a little more Biblical history, in order to teach from Scripture, so that they may come to know the Almighty, Supreme and Sovereign God, the God above all gods, the King of all kings, and Lord of all lords, before Whom every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, according to the Scriptures, recorded in the Holy Bible.
May I remind you that there are whole civilizations and empires which no longer exist because they served pagan gods, and sacrificed their children, or their women, by burning them on an altar to these man-made gods.
Any man-made kingdom or empire, or government, that sacrifices it’s own people to please something carved or sculptured is destined to eventually dissolve, and no longer remain in power.
That is just a matter of logic, but also because any kingdom that continually shakes its fist at God, and continually comes against the people He loves will be dealt with by God Himself.
That is the sobering consequence of stubborn rebellion against the God Who created all things for their enjoyment, according to the Scriptures. So, it is a good idea to be on God’s side, and believe what He says about Himself, and about us.
As we will see, God is loving, and gracious, patient, and not willing that any should perish for lack of knowledge about Him.
So He sends people, who have come to know Him, to share the wonders they have discovered in their journey of getting to know Him. They can share their own experience of the miracles and supernatural interventions He grants the believers who trust in Him, because they have experienced His love in their lives.
No one can un-see or un-feel what God has done in their lives. That can never be taken away, because it is indelibly imprinted in their hearts, to be remembered for eternity. Not even death can separate us from the Love of God.
Additionally, as believers in God, we all need to know, and be reminded of Who God is, from glory to glory, as it is written.
We need to know and be reminded of what He is like, so that we can grow in our faith in Him, and become more and more like Him each day.
Now, if you believe in a different god than my God, or that there is no God at all, that is your choice, however, let me invite you to see why it is more beneficial to you and your descendants to get to know and to love the Supreme God of all gods, Who has existed for all eternity past, is alive now, and will continue to live for all eternity into the future — for infinity — a timeless state of being that we will all, as believers, be living in with Him, and as non-believers, without Him, in hell, to be eventually utterly destroyed and not allowed to be part of what He is creating that is even better than the heavens and the earth we know now.
And I remind the powers that be, in the heavenly realms, who are without authority because Jesus Christ has already stripped you of your authority, that Jesus did not teach His disciples to steal, kill and destroy, as does the thief Satan, or to get rid of all those who don’t believe Him, as do the demons who follow Satan.
Jesus said to teach the nations what He taught us. And this is what I am also doing, with all respect and God-given authority.
There will come a time, at the consumption of all things, mentioned in the Book of Revelation, in chapter 20, that God Himself will get rid of all evil, and those who are righteous will live with Him for all eternity.
I think now is a good time to make the right choice. Choose the One Who decides whether you will be in the tortures of hell and in darkness, and agony, and away from all that is love, or living and ruling with Him for eternity, in heaven and on earth, and in the new heavens and the new earth, after He replaces the old ones, and enjoying life beyond your natural understanding, being with your loved ones, and being loved beyond what you could even fathom, by a loving, Holy and Righteous Father.
Wouldn’t you want to live with the Patriarchs mentioned in the Bible, with Adam and Eve, and all their descendants who also believed God, and loved Him?
Wouldn’t you want to live with Jesus, and all the Host of the Angelic Realm who love you, and to walk on streets of gold, and live in mansions of light, and live amongst things that cannot die or decay, and talk with your own ancestors and family, in person, who have gone on before you — who wouldn’t want that?
Wouldn’t you want God Himself to show you around the Universe He created for you to enjoy?
And perhaps this will also be a reminder for others who already love God, of things they already know, and have learned in their childhood, and that this is also refreshing for them, and will increase the joy of the Lord within them today.
So, now, what does it mean to be Gracious?
The Oxford Dictionary states that to be gracious means:
1: to be courteous, kind, and pleasant
2: (in Christian Belief) showing divine grace
Similar words are: merciful, forgiving, compassionate, kind, and lenient
The Thesaurus also adds: amicable, beneficent, benevolent, big-hearted, charitable, friendly, cordial, good natured, hospitable, obliging, kindhearted, humane, tender, well mannered, chivalrous, civil, and polite.
These are the attributes of God that God desires us to emulate. God said, “Let us make man in our image and our likeness.” [Genesis 1:26] God wants us to look like Him, and behave like Him. These are a product of the Holy Spirit living in a person.
When we live with the love of God in our lives, because of a close personal relationship with Him, we cannot help but display these attributes in our lives, because it is His Holy Spirit living in us helping us behave like Him.
When we do not know God, and we do not have a close personal relationship with Him, and we are overwhelmed by evil circumstances, and influences from evil spirits, sent by Satan, we can naturally display the opposite attributes which come from Satan and his demonic realm’s influence.
The Antonyms, the opposite attributes, of being gracious are: ungracious, uncordial, unpleasant, ill-natured, haughty, unfriendly, cold, cruel, unkind, discourteous, rude, impolite, gruff, sullen, surly, mean, inhospitable, demanding, uncharitable, and ungrateful.
These attributes don’t help anyone live a good life, not even a tyrant over an empire or a violent gang leader over a local neighborhood. No one under these conditions can live a happy, well-balanced life, much less the abundant life that Jesus Christ promises us when we walk with Him.
Jesus Himself shows us the difference in John 10:10 where He says: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
And no matter what anyone tries to do to the Bible to change the words or their meanings, or the intent of God — God has not and will not change.
Hebrews 18:5 says:
5 “Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions and be satisfied with your present circumstances and with what you have; for He, God Himself, has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down or relax My hold on you! Assuredly not!”
And in Hebrews 13:8, God says:
“Jesus Christ the Messiah is always the same, yesterday, today, yes and forever to the ages.”
God does not change, and His word, and its meaning does not change. I am not talking about modern translations of the Bible that try to clarify words and enhance meanings to make them easier for us to understand in modern languages, from archaic ones.
I speak of changing the Bible to fit an ideology that is opposed to God, and doesn’t allow people to know God for themselves in all it’s truth, whether they are Mormon, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Catholics, or Protestants, or Buddhists, or Hindus, etc.
The Word of God cannot be broken, nor chained, because it is Spirit, and therefore Living and Eternal. It has been spoken by God, and it will be heard in the heart of every believer even if there were no Bibles left on the earth for them to read.
So it doesn’t matter if people change it to make it say something completely different than what God said — He will still love, support, take care of, forgive, save, protect, and defend those who love Him, and make them part of His Family Kingdom of God.
And He will remove all evil that has infiltrated His beautiful creation, wherever it is, land, sea or sky, and in fact all of the universe, when that time comes.
Now, A Little Biblical History
The family of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, God’s friend and Covenant Partner, came to Egypt because of a famine in the region in the year 1876 BC [B.C.E].
Jacob’s son Joseph was, at that time, the second in command in Egypt, under Pharaoh, and was in charge of distributing the food to everyone who needed it.
When Jacob’s sons came to Egypt to buy food, they saw their brother Joseph, now the Governor of Egypt, whom they had sold to a traveling merchant. That reunion was an epic one, and I invite you to read the account of the event as well. [Genesis 37, 39-49]
Jacob was 130 years old when he and his family came to live in the area of Goshen, in Egypt. Over the years, leaders changed, and after Joseph’s death, a new Pharaoh began to enslave the descendants of Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel.
They had been treated cruelly, by this ancient people group. Many of Jacob’s descendants had learned the ways of Egypt, and many began to serve other gods, besides the One God that Jacob and their other ancestors had worshipped.
For over 400 years, they were in very difficult circumstances, from which God Himself wanted to rescue them. During the time of an especially cruel Pharaoh, a decree went out to kill all the male children born, just like when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Virgin Mary, was born many centuries later.
One of the male children was spared, and was rescued from the Nile River, where his mother had placed him in a little boat — instead of throwing him in the River to die, as instructed by the Pharaoh.
The little baby was named Moses and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, who brought him up as if her own child, although his birth mother nursed him until he was weened.
God chose Moses, as an adult many years later, after he had left Egypt, to go back to the Pharaoh and ask that the people would be set free from slavery to go and worship God.
Well, if you have ever read the story of how God delivered the people from slavery, you will understand that it is a good idea never to get God angry because of stubborn disbelief!
The whole nation of Egypt suffered horrible plagues because of their stubbornness in refusing God. The plagues that came upon them were a reflection of the gods they served — God just gave them what they worshipped — and more of it. They worshipped insects and bugs, and frogs, and darkness, etc., and ultimately because they revered death, and had a culture of death and the after-life they were falsely promised by demon influences, they experienced the death of their firstborn, both human and animal.
My advice - don’t do that. Believe and obey God quickly! He is a loving Father, who will do everything necessary to make your life with Him a good one. He will protect you from evil things, and spare you the consequences of bad choices when you repent and change your life or behavior.
God rescued the entire nation of Israel out of bondage and slavery to bring them out into the land He had chosen for them.
He did so by parting the Red Sea, causing them to walk over on dry land. The armies of Pharaoh pursued them to kill them on the way, but God closed up the waters of the Red Sea behind the people of Israel, drowning the entire army who had pursued them.
[Here is a photo with a small article, from the Museum at the Vatican, of a sarcophagus with the scene of the Crossing of the Red Sea carved into the stone, probably from the time of the Emperor Theodosius (379-395 A.D.)]
While they travelled to the place He had chosen for them, God led the Children of Israel with a pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. He provided food from heaven, which they called Manna, and meat from birds, which God caused to fly in every day for people to gather and cook. He sustained them for 40 years in the desert, providing everything they needed.
So when we read in the New Testament how Jesus Christ fed over 5,000 men, besides women and children with five loaves of bread and two fish in one day — that was a simple thing for God to do, since He fed over 600,000 people and all their animals, which by the way Pharaoh wanted them to leave behind.
All the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle — 600,000 men along with their families and all their domesticated animals — God fed them for 40 years in the Sinai Desert. God Himself supplied their water from a rock, wherever they went with Him.
God is the same God today as then, and He can provide for you and your family and your animals, and anyone else you love and pray for in the same way — abundantly, and with more than enough to share.
The first time we see God Himself describe His Own Glory and Majesty, and what He is like, He calls Himself Gracious. We have learned a little bit more about what that means today, but let’s see what God means by gracious, and how He behaved when confronted with people who did not yet know Him or His goodness, who had become faithless, stubborn and unbelieving because of their circumstances.
Let’s look at Exodus 33 and 34, where Almighty God Himself comes down from heaven to meet with Moses, and to teach Moses how to help the people get to know Him.
As you will notice, God starts out speaking one way, and after Moses interceded for the people, God’s heart is once again softened toward them. This is the only time God changes His ways — from anger to mercy — and for this we are ever grateful, for all of us desire His mercy.
Exodus 33:1-2 [AMPC]
1 “The Lord said to Moses, Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought from the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your descendants I will give it.
2 I will send an Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite.
Note: At the time that Noah and his sons left the ark and began to disperse throughout the earth, each of the three sons and their families was given an allotted region to live in and take care of. Canaan was not satisfied with his inheritance, and he stole what had been given to Shem.
God made a Covenant with Abraham to return the land allocated to Shem and his descendants back to Shem’s descendants — of which Abraham was one of. God told Abraham to leave the land he was living in at the time, and go to the land that Canaan had stolen. God promised Abraham that He would make a great nation out of his descendants, even though at the time, he and his wife Sarah were childless.
Abraham believed God, and the rest, as they say, is the history of the People Groups of the Middle East, which have been fighting ever since to take the promise away again from the children of Jacob [Israel].
People have blamed it on Ishmael, Abraham’s other son, or on Esau, Jacob’s brother, but initially, the original theft of land inheritance was made by Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah.
And for centuries, yes, even millennia, people have needlessly perpetuated the hatred taught to them by there forefathers, for God and those to whom He promised the land — that what God promised Shem, and his descendants was to be taken away from the people to whom it was promised, like Canaan did.
But that won’t last forever, for it has already been spoken by God, and written and decreed that Israel is forever a nation before Him, and that He Himself will one day return to rule from Jerusalem and all nations will come and worship Him there. This is why Satan fights so hard to keep the children of Abraham fighting against one another, instead of being blessed collectively by God as He desired to start with.
This event, of the portioning out of the land inheritance by Noah, is recorded in the Midrash (in the Sefer HaYashar portion of it), which is an historical record which corroborates the Bible, and from which Joshua himself quotes when verifying that the sun stood still during a battle which they had no choice but to win.
Back to Exodus 33:3-23
3 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.
4 When the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned and no man put on his ornaments.
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, Say to the Israelites, You are a stiff-necked people! If I should come among you for one moment, I would consume and destroy you. Now therefore [penitently] leave off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.
6 And the Israelites left off all their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
7 Now Moses used to take [his own] tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting of God with His own people. And everyone who sought the Lord went out to that temporary tent of meeting which was outside the camp.
8 When Moses went out to the tent of meeting, all the people rose and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tent.
9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the Lord would talk with Moses.
10 And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the tent door, and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man at his tent door.
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned to the camp, but his minister Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the temporary prayer tent.
12 Moses said to the Lord, See, You say to me, Bring up this people, but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, I know you by name and you have also found favor in My sight.
13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You [progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly] and that I may find favor in Your sight. And Lord, do consider that this nation is Your people.
14 And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.
15 And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here!
16 For by what shall it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight? Is it not in Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth?
17 And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have asked, for you have found favor, loving-kindness, and mercy in My sight and I know you personally and by name.
18 And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory.
19 And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, The Lord, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.
20 But, He said, You can not see My face, for no man shall see Me and live.
21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place beside Me, and you shall stand upon the rock,
22 And while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
23 Then I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
The Glory of God, in person, is so powerful, that no human being in their human body, can withstand the power of the Presence of God in His fullness of strength. God Himself said we would die.
God enabled Moses to be with Him on Mount Sinai for a purpose, and therefore covered Him from the fullness of His Glory, as we will see in the next chapter.
God also granted Moses to stand with Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, to see His glory and talk with him about the coming Death, Burial and Resurrection Jesus would experience for all human beings.
Even with that covering, Moses’ face shone with the brightness of God, so that he had to wear a veil while his face shone.
This is no a reason for human beings to where a veil to cover their faces from one another. This was only for the purpose of shielding the children of Israel from the brightness that remained on Moses’ face for a while until the brightness dissipated.
Jesus taught us to let our inner light, coming from the indwelling Holy Spirit, shine through us, and to not cover it up and hide it from others — because it can’t be hidden. It is supposed to help everyone.
Later in the Book of Numbers, chapter 6, God teaches Moses to bless the nation of Israel with these words:
22 “And the Lord said to Moses,
23 “Say to Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His approving countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
27 And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
I wouldn’t go against that blessing, knowing what we know about God, when He gets jealous! We learned that in yesterday’s devotional, when God came to rescue King David, the King of Israel during his lifetime, and later came to rescue the Apostle Paul while he was in a hurricane, on his way to Rome to testify before the Caesar, during his lifetime.
We learn from Exodus 33 that God is very gracious. Even though He was frustrated with the stubbornness of the people, and didn’t even want to go with them personally any more because of their constant complaining about everything, He listened to Moses’ prayer on their behalf.
And His heart became even bigger toward them, and He remembered His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and decided to go with them personally, and send His angel before them to prepare the way and make it easier for them.
Let’s keep reading, in Exodus 34, where it is written:
1 “The Lord said to Moses, Cut two tables of stone like the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were on the first tables, which you broke.
Again we see the graciousness of God in dealing with what had happened previously. God Himself had written the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. While He was visiting with Moses, God saw what the people were doing in his absence.
When Moses came back down the mountain, he got angry with the people for disobeying God so flagrantly, and he dropped the Stone Tablets, which broke in pieces. God did not destroy Moses, or the Children of Israel on the spot. He gave them all a chance to choose whom they would follow — the people who had incited the bad behavior, or Moses, and Aaron who were following God. Those who chose poorly were removed by God. Those who were misled, and knew better, and repented and stood with God, lived and continued to walk with God.
Let’s continue. Exodus 34:2-7
2 “Be ready and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.
3 And no man shall come up with you, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let flocks or herds feed before that mountain.
4 So Moses cut two tables of stone like the first, and he rose up early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone.
5 And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth,
7 Keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.
Again I remind us — this is the glory of God, the attributes of His character, which He desires we become more and more like:
Merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth, forgiving of one another. He only remembers the sins of those who choose to continue in their evil ways for generations, but He forgets the sins completely, even for a thousand generations of those who love Him.
And God desires to cover the earth with the knowledge of His glory, as it says in the Book of Habakuk, chapter 2:14.
14 “But the time is coming when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Let’s continue with Exodus 34: 8-11
8 “And Moses made haste to bow his head toward the earth and worshiped.
9 And he said, If now I have found favor and loving-kindness in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray You, go in the midst of us, although it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.
10 And the Lord said, Behold, I lay down afresh the terms of the mutual agreement between Israel and Me, a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels (wonders, miracles) such as have not been wrought or created in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord; for it is a terrible thing [fearful and full of awe] that I will do with you.
11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, Canaanite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite.”
[NOTE: These were the descendants of Ham, son of Noah, who had stolen the inheritance promised to Shem and his descendants. These people had not only stolen the land, but had rejected God entirely, and had begin to worship idols, man-made gods, which represented the evil spirits that ruled in those regions.]
Exodus 34:12-17
12 “Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant or mutual agreement with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in the midst of you.
13 But you shall destroy their altars, dash in pieces their pillars (obelisks, images), and cut down their Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah];
14 For you shall worship no other god; for the Lord, Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous (impassioned) God,
15 Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they play the harlot after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one invites you, you eat of his food sacrificed to idols,
16 And you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods and make your sons play the harlot after their gods.
17 You shall make for yourselves no molten gods.”
God was very serious about the consequences of serving the devil and his demons, by worshiping man-made idols.
This was never God’s intention for human beings. The devil only comes to steal, kill and destroy every good thing God has done for humanity and indeed all of His creation. God comes to bring us life, abundantly and eternally. There is the difference in a nutshell.
Throughout the history of the Ancient Nation of Israel, God commanded that the man-made gods were to be destroyed, not the people.
The people were to be taught about the One True God, and given a choice. Those who chose the man-made gods suffered the natural consequences of their choices, and the people who chose God Almighty, were blessed and spared from the kinds of hardship that comes with serving Satan.
The righteous were not always spared from trouble. Many died because of their faith in God, at the hands of people influenced by Satan, who hated the righteous.
But these are in heaven with God now, enjoying eternity with Him, and those who killed them are not, unless they repented and had a change of heart before they died.
God is gracious, kind, and patient with us. He helps us become who He has destined us, and purposed to be — part of His Family Kingdom of God. He teaches us through His Eternal Words that encourage and help us grow up in Him, and in His way of doing things, that bring good outcomes for all people.
This Kingdom lives inside the believer, where it can never be defeated by thieves, and destroyers. It cannot be taken away, because the believer is firmly grasped in the Hand of God, according to Jesus’ Own words,
John 10:27-30
27 “The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages. [To all eternity they shall never by any means be destroyed.] And no one is able to snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all else; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are One.”
All the futile efforts of past and even present generations, who have tried to remove God, and His Kingdom, will continue to be futile in effort, because God’s Kingdom is not a physical place or thing on earth — it is a way of life. Jesus Himself taught that the Kingdom is not a place one can go and see, for it is within us, and it will eventually penetrate everything on earth, unhindered and undeterred by the devil and his demonic realm.
For it is written in Scripture that Christ is all, and in all. There is no class system, no distinction between ethnic groups, nationalities, economic status, or culture any longer — we are all one Body of Believers in Christ, equally loved, and treated with great honor by a loving God and Father of us all.
Colossians 3:11
“In this new creation all distinctions vanish. There is no room for and there can be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, nor difference between nations whether alien, barbarians or Scythians [who are the most savage of all], nor slave or free man; but Christ is all and in all [everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person].
When Scripture refers in the Bible to Greek and Jew, it refers to the Jewish people whom God had chosen, and set apart to Himself as His Own people in Ancient times, as different from the “Gentiles” or all the other nations. It is not specific just to the people of Israel and Greece.
When the Scriptures speak of circumcised or uncircumcised, they refer to the Covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants after him, that they were to be circumcised in their flesh physically, to set them apart, as an outward expression of their faith in God, as different from the other nations.
No matter the ethnicity, or culture, civilized or uncivilized, in slavey or freeborn, the new believer has equal standing with other fellow believers in Christ, to be part of His Family, and enjoy all the rights of sonship, as sons and daughters of the Eternal Living God, and all the benefits and blessings that come with that privilege.
Once you have had a personal and tangible encounter with God Almighty, there is no going back to man-made, molten or carved images, that cannot in any way satisfy the actual needs of human beings.
Once you have felt the love of God Almighty, there is no kneeling before a piece of silver or gold, and offering it dinner, and asking it to love you and care for you, and provide you with food.
Once you have felt and seen and known the difference, you can’t go back to looking for love in all the places it cannot be found.
Once you have heard the voice of God, there is no going back to people who have no wisdom.
And once you have seen the Glory of God, and His face has made your own face shine, you will never again polish another man-made god to make it shiny.
And so I leave you with this blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 today, pronounced by God Himself over those who love and believe in Him.
24 “The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).”
And I admonish you to live out these attributes of God as well, so that others may be at peace around you. There is nothing like a child seeing a loving parent smile at them with approval when they try to do something for the first time.
Be merciful, and kind, and loving to your children, or other loved ones around you. If we can do that — how much more loving and kind and merciful God is, because He is perfect at it. He cannot fail. He does not cause us to be anxious, and fearful —and we do not do so to our children either. Bring peace and tranquillity to your sphere of influence whenever possible, for this is part of the glory of God.
I pray for the peace of God to fill your heart today, and the protection of God to surround you with His Angelic Armies, so that if you live in a house, or a country, that does not worship Him, your life will be safe in Christ always — whether here on earth or in heaven, which will be your home because you are a believer and are His Child.
In all you think, say and do, be gracious like He is, and He will honor you with favor and grant you inner peace.
And when God rescues, and delivers you from any difficult circumstances, and changes your circumstances from difficult to being so throughly blessed there is no room to contain it, others will see that you have a loving Father, and they also will want to know Him, and give Him glory along with you.
And even if they don’t want God, they cannot say to God that they did not know, when they stand before Him at the end of their life, because they chose, and there isn’t anything else you can do beyond giving them the chance to choose correctly.
So, be Gracious. Be respectful and kind to those who do not believe the same as you do — whether it is in a religious sense or about differing human opinions.
Be gracious to employers who are hard to please, and to those who are easy to please.
Be gracious to community, or church leaders who are good and to those who are not.
You do not know that your example of graciousness can be the seed that God plants in their heart that will change their lives for the better.
Being gracious will help you bear up against any persecution that may come as a result of your choice to follow the God above all gods. Jesus said that we are blessed by God Himself whenever we are persecuted for our faith in Him.
In His very first sermon, Jesus Christ declared, as does a King, the blessings to be given to those who would believe what He said.
He did not come to do away with the things His Father does, or teaches, but to fulfill them, and to teach us how to live in His Father’s Kingdom, so that we can teach others and be a blessing to them just as He is.
One of the Disciples of Jesus wrote about what he saw Jesus do, and what he heard Him say. You can read his own personal encounter with Jesus Christ in his book, which is named after him.
Matthew 5:1-17
1 “Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.
2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3 Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!
4 Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!
5 Blessed (happy, blithesome {that is, someone with a cheerful disposition}, joyous, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!
6 Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be completely satisfied!
7 Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—[with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!
8 Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous—possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!
9 Blessed (enjoying enviable happiness, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they shall be called the sons of God!
10 Blessed and happy and enviably fortunate and spiritually prosperous (in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!
11 Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account.
12 Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.
17 Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them.”
Be gracious, no matter the outward conditions, or circumstances, no matter your state of well-being, or ill-health, your emotional well-being, or from a troubled heart — be gracious. Control the natural inclination to react out of feelings, and decide to respond out of the Love of God which you have today encountered here.
