In the midst of a psalm praying forcefully against fierce enemies and those committed to do evil, this line and truth emerged:
“Yahweh, You are my God. You hear the sound of my pleading, my voice asking for Your grace, Your favor!” (Psalm 140:6)
I pray it, and I use it to meet with God once again.
I love this about praying God’s word and using the Psalms to pray. (more…)
It's a well-known psalm, but take a minute to drink in the truth about just how well, how intimately God knows you. 1) Yahweh, You have searched me and known.…
Today we cover a lot of ground. Put your walking shoes on, we are going to follow Jesus all over the hilly region of Galilee. There are only two cities here (Sepphoris near Nazareth and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee) and many small villages. Most of the people are farmers and fishermen living under Roman rule that is exercised through the Herodian family.
He went across all of Galilee teaching in the synagogues and preaching the good news of God’s kingdom and healing all the sickness and disease of the people. The report about what he was doing went beyond Galilee into all of Syria. People brought to him anybody who was ill with an ailment or problem, those suffering great pain, the demon-oppressed, epileptics and paralyzed, and he healed them all. Great crowds came to him from Galilee, from the “Ten Cities” across the lake, others from Jerusalem and Judea, and others from across the Jordan. (Matthew 4:23-25)
Jesus invited two sets of brothers, all fishermen, to come and journey with him. You are invited to continue the journey too.
Walking beside Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were throwing their nets into the lake, for their work was fishing. Jesus said to them, “Follow after me. I’ll make you a fisher of men.” Right away they left their nets and followed him.
A little ways further he saw another pair of brothers, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. They were sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their fishnets, and Jesus called them to follow. They immediately left behind the boat and their father and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-22)