Tuesday, June 7th

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 139-141, John 17

The beginning of Psalm 139 reminds us of how intimately God knows us. He knows every thought, before we even think it. We can't hide anything from Him. And yet He loves us anyway! Amazing!

And then some of the most beautiful (and oft quoted!) verses...
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-16

Beautiful words that speak to the intimacy of God's creative powers when He lovingly creates His image bearers. And His works are wonderful!! YOU are that work. YOU are wonderful. The fact that God created YOU, and created YOU in His image is where your true self-worth and self-identity comes from.

You are loved. intimately. by the Creator of the universe.

We were created to have an intimate relationship with Him, to glorify Him and to find fulfillment in Him alone.
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. Colossians 1:16

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:36

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 143-145, John 18:1-18

Monday - June 6, Jody

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 109-110, Psalm 138, John 16

Happy Monday everyone!

Scripture:
Psalm 109:21
 ²¹ But you, Sovereign LORD,
   help me for your name’s sake;
   out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

Observation:
I love how this verse outlines the WHY of God helping us. It's not to make us happy. It's not to make us comfortable. It's for HIS names sake. It is simply out of the goodness of his love that he delivers us.

Application:
To me, this verse goes back to a common theme throughout the Word. Working our hearts and minds to believe and pray that God be glorified in our circumstances instead of ourselves. Easy to say, not so easy to follow through. It means looking beyond my difficulties of today, and seeking out how God might be glorified in my situation.

Prayer:
Father. Be glorified in my life. Work within me to recognize that you will work all things out to your glory in the end. Thank you for your goodness that delivers me into your will. Amen


Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 139-141, John 17

Sunday, June 5th

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 101, 103, 108; John 15

Psalm 103 is one of my favourites. The words just wash over you....
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love...
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;...
but from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children - with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. (v8, 11-13, 17-18)

Psalm 101 is full of hardhitting, toestepping truth about how to live a life of integrity.

I will set before my eyes no vile thing. v3

How often do we convince ourselves that what we watch on tv, or listen to on the radio, or read in books/magazines does not affect us. Yes, we (as adults, especially) have the ability to think critically and to be purposeful about recognizing the wrong that was portrayed as right. But we make a huge error in judgment when we think that the things we saturate our brains with do not affect our minds and our hearts.

Do we determine to set before our eyes no vile thing?

We are also to avoid evil associates, slander and pride and count on God's word to show us the standards by which we are to conduct our lives.

On our own strength? No, by the strength and grace of God alone.

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 109-110, 138, John 16

MacArthur has some amazing sermons on John 15 - in fact, he thinks it's possibly the single most important book in the Bible. Definitely have to carve out some time to look into those sermons. Start here.

Saturday, June 4th ~ PamJ

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 68, 72, 86; John 14.

These few Psalms remind me of the recent sermon at our church. The pastor spoke of the A.C.T.S. method of prayer.

A - Adoration
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplication

In Psalm 68 [and others of course] you can see how David adores God:  
⁴Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
    lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD;
   exult before him! 

¹⁹Blessed be the Lord,
   who daily bears us up;
   God is our salvation.

²⁶ "Bless God in the great congregation,
   the LORD, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!"

³⁵ Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
   the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!

David knows that God is powerful, he knows that God is worthy of praise, exalting, and that He is awesome.  He fully understands that God is the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer. David worships and loves Him with all his heart, soul and mind.

In Psalm 86, David prays again, seeking God's mercy, asking for strength and for a sign of God's favor, for comfort and help from his enemies.

The Bible Study Tools says of verse 17: "he [God] comforted him [David] by helping him against his enemies, and out of his troubles; and, by doing both, showed him a token for good, and filled his enemies with shame and confusion."

In John 14, we read about obedience.
¹⁵"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. [the Holy Spirit]

²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" ²³Jesus answered him,  "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me."

As any parent sets rule and boundaries for their children, it's intent and purpose is for the child's benefit and protection, not for making them miserable! Our hope is that the child will understand such rules as expressions of love and that obedience will be motivated more by the love, then by the fear of punishment or discipline. As with our obedience to Christ, it should be an expression of our trust in Him and that He cares for us and knows what is best and so we do our best to follow the commandments set before us...

Tomorrow's passages: Psalm 101, 103, 108; John 15

Friday, June 3 ~ tammi

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 61, 62, 65; John 13:21-38.

I love how these Psalms seem to work together again!  Psalm 61 starts out with David's plaintive, "Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer."  It would appear David wrote this one while on the run, either from Saul or Absalom, and he's wistfully praying for God's comfort and to feel like all is right in the world again.  But he ends like he does in so many of the Psalms, with a decisive statement of faith in God no matter the outcome.

Psalm 62 seems to be the next step.  I gather whatever David is going through isn't over and he'd still like some answers, but he's content to believe in God's goodness, protection, and provision.  The physical restoration hasn't happened yet, but it seems like some spiritual restoration is in the works.  Whatever the case, David opens up this Psalm with quiet assurance that God alone is the fulfillment of all his needs and he looks forward to feeling God's touch in his life again.

And then it feels like Psalm 65 is the conclusion ~ David's celebration of praise for God's blessings in his life.  It seems all IS right in David's world again, as he talks not only about restoration spiritually, but it seems like even the physical world is joining in the song of praise!  You can hardly read this Psalm without imagining David standing on a hilltop, his arms outstretched, wind whipping his hair about his head, and just shouting for joy at the top of his lungs, exulting in the sights before him, the splendour of creation.  I love that image!

Skipping over to John, the tone changes pretty drastically!  Here we enter the Upper Room and recline with Jesus and His disciples as they observe the last Passover supper and the first communion.  (I find it interesting that John is the only one of the four Gospels that doesn't really mention the breaking of bread and sharing the cup in remembrance of Jesus, yet John records far more about what Jesus taught them there that night than any of the others.)  Jesus has just finished washing their feet and implying someone among them means Him harm, and He's troubled.  It almost seems like He was trying to decide whether to reveal Judas or not.  He's made the implication, then He's troubled in spirit, and then He comes out and says, "...one of you is going to betray me."

Here again, I had to smile a little at Peter.  For all his big talk just moments before when Jesus first tried to wash his feet, now he's not brave enough to come out and ask Jesus himself who the betrayer is, and so he whispers in John's ear and gets him to do it instead.  Maybe it was because he was afraid he might find out it would be him.

Somehow, I'm always a little surprised that Jesus actually reveals Judas as the betrayer.  I mean, we know it happened pretty obviously anyway, so was it necessary?  And really, knowing how Peter reacted to the guards in the garden just a little while later... don't you think he'd have been right ready to up and off Judas there on the spot, too?!

And then, if I'm right in my speculation about Peter's fear, they're realized when Jesus not only outs Judas as the traitor, but reveals Peter will indeed betray Him as well.  Physically, Judas' betrayal was more damaging, but emotionally and spiritually, I wonder if Peter's wasn't worse.  Maybe that's just my human mind trying to comprehend.  I think Peter knew that as a human, in the darkest corner of his heart, he wasn't much "better" than Judas.  And now everyone knows it.

Yet Peter's humility and heart for Christ is what makes all the difference between his and Judas' stories.  It's kind of what we've sometimes said about David, too ~ it's not that he didn't sin, but his heart for God, his humility in admitting his mistakes, and his desire to serve God despite his repeated failures made him the "man after God's own heart."  I think Peter was a man after God's own heart, too.  But like David, he needed the Refiner's fire.

Among all the negative stuff, we have Jesus giving us the NEW command: to love one another as He loves us.  He tells us this is the distinguishing mark of the believer.  I fear so many of us have lost sight of this and the purpose behind it.  Sure, we love our friends and the church people who don't annoy us, but what does that prove to the onlooking world?  Nothing.  They can do that, too.  The Church ~ The Body of Christ ~ is called to love each other despite differences, disagreements, and even wrong-doing.  THAT'S what stands out and sends a powerful message.

I think this brings us right back to last Friday's conclusion about all being one flock and all having the same Shepherd.  Is the outside world seeing us hung up on maintaining our differences or loving each other and working side-by-side despite them?









Tomorrow's passages: Psalm 68, 72, 86; John 14.

Sheesh, how does this always happen?? I start out thinking I have nothing to say and end up writing a terribly long-winded post!! Sorry!

Thursday, June 2 ~ Miriam

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 53, 55, 58; John 13:1-20.

It's amazing how often, when reading the Old Testament, I'm reminded of our society today.

Won't those who do evil ever learn? 
      They eat up my people as if they were eating bread. 
      They don't call out to God for help. 
Just look at them! They are filled with terror 
      even when there is nothing to be afraid of! (Psalm 53:4-5)


Lord, destroy the plans of sinners. Keep them from understanding one another.
      I see people destroying things and fighting in the city. Day and night they prowl around on top of its walls. 
      The city is full of crime and trouble.
Forces that destroy are at work inside it.
      Its streets are full of people who cheat others and take advantage of them.  (Psalm 55:9-11)


Are you rulers really fair when you speak?
      Do you judge people honestly?
No, in your hearts you plan to be unfair.
      With your hands you do terrible things on the earth.
Even from birth those who are evil go down the wrong path.
      From the day they are born they go the wrong way and speak lies.
Their words are like the poison of a snake.
      They are like the poison of a cobra that has covered up its ears. (Psalm 58:1-4)


Human nature - the same then as now - is what we all struggle with, individually, as families, as communities, and as a society.  There are, of course, contributing factors to all the choices people make, which include knowledge or ignorance, teaching of morals or a lack thereof, too much free time or too much work... the list goes on and on.  But it all starts with our human nature.  Just as our Christian walk, while it includes obeying God, serving Him and others, showing His love to those around us (that list goes on and on as well) all starts with belief.  When we believe in Jesus and what he did for us on the cross, when we accept that cleansing and forgiveness of our sins, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are given victory over our human nature, our sinful desires, and ultimately, death.  We don't win every battle.  We do not always triumph over temptation.  But we have the weapons with which to fight the enemy until ultimate victory is achieved.  We KNOW in the end that we will be victorious.  Isn't that amazing?

In our John passage today, we read about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.  In Menial Service, Bob Deffinbaugh has the following to say:

John wishes us to understand that Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at a time when others would not have been inclined to do so. Jesus was in complete control. Jesus was God’s CEO. When men find themselves in this position, they are tempted to behave very differently: “Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions exercise authority over them’” (Mark 10:42). In spite of who He was; in spite of the fact that all authority had been given to Him, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. In spite of the fact that He could have required men to minister to Him, catering to His every whim, Jesus humbled Himself by washing the feet of His disciples. This was truly an amazing thing! Jesus humbled Himself, knowing that He was soon going to be exalted higher than anyone in all of human history.

If John is emphasizing the fact that Jesus knew all these things, he is at the same time stressing the fact that Jesus washed the feet of His disciples as an expression of His great love for them: “He had loved his own who were in the world, and now he loved them to the very end” (John 13:1b).

The act of washing His disciples’ feet was our Lord’s way of showing them (and us) how much He loved them. Do you remember in chapter 11 when those standing around at the tomb of Lazarus saw Jesus weeping, they remarked, “Look how much he loved him!” (11:36b)? I think John is now saying to his readers, “Look how much He loved us!”

This story of the washing of the disciples’ feet is just like Jesus. It captures the “mind of Christ” in a very practical way. It is this spirit which prompted our Lord to perform the ultimate washing, the washing away of our sins through the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary. We, like the disciples, were dirty and defiled, and totally unworthy of His mercy and love. And yet He humbled Himself to cleanse us from sin by His humiliation and suffering on the cross. Have you accepted this washing for yourself personally, or have you, like Peter, sought to push Jesus aside? We must humble ourselves by acknowledging our sin and our need, and the necessity to be cleansed by Him who is without sin—Jesus Christ. May we accept His gracious offer of cleansing, and thus enter into the joy of intimate fellowship with Him.

One final thing I would like you to ponder as I conclude this message. It is a statement that is made necessary by the twisted culture in which we live: Love is not about sex as much as it is about dirty feet. May God give us the grace to wash feet this very day.

The entire sermon, or study, or whatever it is, is very good.  I recommend reading it if you have the time.

Happy Thursday!

Tomorrow's passage:  Psalm 61-62, 65; John 13:21-38.

Wednesday, June 1 - Kathryn

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 39-41, John 12:27-50

Good morning!  It's June 1st. My goodness, it's June.

My thoughts this morning are from our John passage.

⁸ Father, glorify your name!”  Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

 ³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.

How many times do we see the hand of God or hear the voice of God (either audibly or through a different 'voice') and deny it?  How many of these things are for my benefit and because I explain it away with science or by natural means, I miss the point?  Sometimes it's neat to hear how some of the miracles in the bible could have happened through science, but sometimes I believe we water down the word when we do that.  God didn't need help from nature to make His miracles happen.  He created nature and He can bypass the laws of His creation!  We do ourselves a disservice by trying to find a feasible explanation to the miracles in the bible and the miracles of today (there are plenty).  There are many reasons why God chooses to show Himself through His miracles.  One of which is His power.  If we find explanations for miracles then we have made our God no more powerful than ourselves.  We are human, we are frail.  We need Him to show us His power.  Through His miracles, then and now, we believe.  What would happen to our faith if we saw the hand of God and heard the voice of God in more situations?  Our faith would grow.  Our God is so much bigger than what we can imagine.  And we reduce Him when we use our knowledge to explain away His miracles.  So sad.

This scripture hit home as well:

⁴² Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

Where do we stand?  I know I love the praise of men and I do seek it.  How different would my life look if I sought the praise of God instead?  What were these leaders missing out on then and after their deaths just because they wanted the praise of mortal men?  Are they regretting it now?  Ouch.  This passage bites.  How much of our church experiences are false just because we want to be in the 'in' crowd at church?  We are called to be set apart, sanctified and holy.  We are different.  Do we look it?  Do we act it?  Do we believe it?  Ouch ouch ouch.

Father God, please forgive us where we have let You down.  Forgive us for our false fronts we put on just so we can be accepted by other people.  Oh God help us to seek Your praise, Your acceptance.  Thank You Father God for Your word, Your truth.  We love You Lord.  Amen.




Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 53, Psalm 55, Psalm 58, John 13:1-20

Tuesday, May 31st

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 36-38, John 12:1-26

The first four verses of Psalm 36 talk about the sinfulness of the wicked. I found v2 especially telling...
In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

Eventually, our own sinfulness completely blinds us to our own sinfulness.

But then we see this huge contrast. David jumps from commenting on the utter depravity of man to worshiping our amazing, incomparable God.

Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

I love those verses. The first several especially, are very well known, but all of it is just beautiful poetic words that we know don't even do justice to God's love, faithfulness, righteousness and justice. It's unfathomable!

Notice the last line - "in your light we see light". To me, this speaks once again of the need to bring everything to the Light. When we don't do that, our sinfulness begins to cloud our judgement and turns us into the depraved sinners from the beginning of the Psalm.

And I wonder if that was the difference between Martha/Mary and Judas. In his sermon, The Climax of Love and Hate, John MacArthur says...

we see the softening of the hearts of those who love them and the hardening of the hearts of those who hate Him until they have reached the extremities and we come to the climax of love and the climax of hate in this chapter.

Here in this little incident in Bethany in the first eleven verses we see it. We see love like we haven't seen before. We see love that is extravagant. We see love that is unbounded. We see love that knows no limits. We see love that's totally self-sacrificing. And at the same time that we see that, we see the hatred of those who were His enemies and it reaches its depths. It penetrates even the inner circle of the Twelve and one of His own spews out venom on Christ. So here in response to the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, love blooms and venom of hate brews its poison and the contrast is just as wide as two individuals...Mary, on the one hand, and Judas on the other hand. And that's a mystery. How you can take two people who lived with the same Christ, walk the same steps, heard the same message, experienced His same love and all of His miracles and out of that same experience have a Judas and a Mary is mystery. (emphasis mine)

Now admittedly, I didn't have time to finish reading the entire sermon, so maybe MacArthur has a better take on how this happened, but I wonder if it wasn't what we read about in Psalm 36 and the need to bring everything into the light in order to keep sin from taking that blinding hold on our lives. Sin is not something to flirt with. It's something to run from! Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife. James said to flee from the devil. They knew how dangerous sin is. How tempting and yet soul sucking the darkness can be.

Run away from the darkness.

But more than that - focus on the Light!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 39-41, John 12:27-50

Monday, May 30 - Jody

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is: Psalm 31, Psalm 35, John 11:30-57

Happy Monday Everyone!

I'm going to focus on Psalm 35 today. Starting with Psalm 35:1-16, David talks about his enemies pursuing him. He talks about friends who repay his friendship with malicious slander and talks about an overall diffucult time. He feels as though his prayers are returned unanswered and begins to plead "O Lord, how long will you look on?"

 ¹⁷ How long, Lord, will you look on?
   Rescue me from their ravages,
   my precious life from these lions.

What catches my eye - and my spirit - is that he does not plead WHY do you look on, He does not question whether or not God will rescue Him, he just asks HOW LONG, in full faith that God WILL save him.

The next thing that spoke to me with this passage was verse 18:

¹⁸ I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
   among the throngs I will praise you.

Can you believe it?! Afer everything David is going through and pleads with God for in verses 1-17, he GIVES THANKS. How amazing is that? Through his hard times, his pleading with God, his betrayal of friends, in the middle of all of this he stops to give thanks to God.  There is a lesson to be learned here. How do we take the focus off of self in the midst of trials? How do we hold fast to the trust that God WILL rescue us from our struggles? We find the answer at the end of Psalm 35:28.

"My tongue will speak of your righteousness
and of your praises all day long."

The answer? Speak of God's righteousness, sing His praises - ALL DAY LONG. Not just when the world spins the way we think it should, not just when life is good and easy, and not just when we feel like it - but ALL DAY LONG!!! No matter the situation of our lives, there is always reason and opportunity to speak of God's righteousness, sing his praises and give thanks.


Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 36-38, John 12:1-26

Sunday, May 29th

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Psalm 27-29, John 11:1-29

I was planning to write on the Psalms today, and I will still touch on them a bit, but I started reading a sermon by John MacArthur on our John passage and I got all excited about that!

But anyway, psalms first.

Psalm 27 starts off "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?"
The way to overcome our fear is to focus on God. He is our light, our salvation, our stronghold - our everything. It seems simplistic - but it is revealed as truth all around the world as believers face persecution and even death without fear and without renouncing their faith in God. But if we do not take care to cultivate a rock solid relationship with God, we may find it more difficult to put our complete trust and faith in Him when that moment arises.

Psalm 29 is such a majestic description of God's power as displayed in creation.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. (v5)
My Life Application bible says that the cedars of Lebanon were giant trees that could grow to 120' tall and 30' wide - that's a big tree!! And God can break those trees simply with His voice. That kind of power is simply mind-boggling! And the coolest thing is, the power that God has revealed to us in nature, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead - it is available to us!!

So, on to the John passage which is the beginning of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. As I read it I was reminded of a book I reviewed recently called Lazarus Awakening, but then I kind of tuned out a bit because, after all, it's so familiar and I just read a whole book about it so what more could I learn right? Wrong!

When I went looking for a sermon by John MacArthur on this passage, the title Sickness for the Glory of God completely jumped out at me. This has been the only way that we've gotten through our nephew Baret's long battle with illness, especially when he was literally on the verge of death - believing that God is powerful, God is in control, that God is good, that God is love and that ultimately this situation, no matter the outcome, would bring glory to God.

MacArthur mentions three ways the Lazarus miracle gave glory to God...

Number one, it brings glory to God because it points to the deity of Christ. Only God can give life. Jesus had been claiming to be God and now He gives life. And that vindicates His deity....This miracle gives glory to God because it vindicates all the claims of Jesus Christ to be deity, He is not a man, He is not like God, He is not a little sub‑god, He is God of very Gods....

secondly, it confirmed the faith of the disciples. A little while later we'll see how Jesus said I'm glad Lazarus died. You say, "Well, that's kind of a heartless comment." No, because He knew that in the resurrection of Lazarus, the disciples' faith would just take a giant leap forward cause they would see the expression of His power and their faith would be strengthened. So, it brings glory to God because of the strengthening of the disciples' faith.

Third reason it brings glory to God was because it led directly to the cross. You say, "Well, how could the cross bring glory to God?" Listen, the cross was the greatest glorifying event in the life of Christ. Over in chapter 12 verse 23, Jesus said, "The hour is come that the Son of Man should be ... what? ... glorified." Listen, when they put Him on a cross, the world thought that was the end and that was the glorification of Jesus Christ bearing the sins of the world. (emphasis mine)

Isn't that amazing? I believe God was given glory for these same reasons in Baret's sickness and miraculous healing.

It absolutely pointed to the deity and power of God. The doctors had given up hope. There was no medical treatment options left, there was no medical reason to expect anything but death. But they didn't leave room for God.

We knew God could heal Baret. We did not know if He would. And that was such a hard line to walk - how to you merge practicality and medical certainty with hope and faith when you don't know what the outcome will be? That is so hard to walk out in real life. We knew that the outcome would be the one that would bring the most glory to God, but we didn't know which outcome would do that.

Baret and updates about Baret and Deena/Chris' words of faith have been plastered all over Facebook for two months now, being read by believers and non-believers alike. Deena and Chris' updates always reflected the belief that God was all-powerful, that God created Baret's brain and that God was fully capable of healing Baret if He chose to do so. But they also claimed over and over that God would do what was best - whether that meant healing him in this life or the next. And that God would give them the grace to make it through. What testimony! What faith! Truly the reason for Baret's sickness was for the glory of God.

And MacArthur's second point rings true in this situation as well. Baret's sickness and his ultimate healing (though still in the process of fully being realized!) has absolutely strengthened the faith of believers, likely all over the world. It has increased our faith, increased our testimony and increased our witness.

The third point is maybe a stretch, because Baret did not die. But he came as close to it as you possible can - his body had already started shutting down. But God reversed the dying process and began to restore life to Baret's body and brain. Which again, points to God's power and control over life and death, which points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Sickness for the glory of God!

Tomorrow's passage: Psalm 31, Psalm 35, John 11:30-57