For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
People often say that you do not have to believe in God to be moral. However, each person who does not believe in God defines “moral” for themselves. It is only when we listen to what God says is moral that we have a standard to measure ourselves against. Living to that standard brings joy.
If you fear God (and you should fear God, He is frightening) you will follow His ways. And if you follow God’s ways, you will find your life filled with joy. These are things which just naturally follow each other.
In many ways verse 8 contains one of the best ways to understand who Jesus, and God, is: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”(I prefer the NIV phrasing). I am going to break that down a bit.
- I am the Alpha and the Omega
- who is
- who was
- who is to come
- the Almighty
God (and Jesus) began everything that is and was here before there was anything else. He set in motion everything which has happened. Not only will He still be here when it comes to an end, it is God who will bring it to an end.
No matter when in history we live, or where in the universe we are, God is alive and present.
No matter what event we might look back upon, no matter what point in history we think about, God was there and it happened the way it did because that was what God chose to happen.
No matter what the future holds, God will be there. It will happen exactly according to God’s plan.
God has the power to make things come out exactly as He chooses and no one has the ability to change that in the least.
I always like reading the Book of Joel because unlike the other prophets his prophecy is inspired by a natural disaster, not an invading army.. It lends his words a different flavor. In the wake of disaster, Joel reminds us to repent and turn to God. Let us fast and pray, but don’t make a production out of it. We should do so out of a genuine desire to hear God’s will and change. If we come together as a people and choose to do as God desires, God will pour out His blessings upon us. If we come together in prayer and fasting, genuinely, God will fill us with His Spirit. But not just us, He will pour His Spirit upon those around us and He will cause them to pray and fast. Then He will pour out His Spirit upon those around them, until the whole earth is filled with His Spirit. All God wants is two or three of us to do His will. He will use those two or three to convey His Spirit to ever more people until the entire world is covered by His Spirit.