Daily Bible Reading Podcast

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

325: Buckling the Belt Lesson 6: Know who you are.

Lesson 6

THEME: Buckle up the belt of truth by believing you are ACCEPTED, SECURE, AND SIGNIFICANT.

According to Dr. Neil T. Anderson, nearly all Christians struggle to overcome Satan’s lies in at least one of these three areas:

1) I’m not accepted. No one wants me. God certainly couldn’t want someone like me. Even though I confess sins, I never feel that I am fully forgiven.

2) I’m not secure. I am weak. The evil one is stronger than I am. I'm gonna fall into the trap of sin and never get out.

3) I’m not significant. I never live up to anyone’s expectations, even my own. I am worthless and stupid.

If you are a believer in Christ and believe in what God’s Word says, these are lies. I hope that the outcome of this lesson is that you know which of the three lies is the one you struggle with the most. Then, when you figure out which is your weakness, Anderson’s Freedom In Christ Ministries gives you verses you can memorize to combat the problem. https://www.ficm.org/about-us/who-i-am-in-christ/ Buckle the belt of truth in your area of weakness.

Of course, it seems obvious that the three areas I listed will likely be related to each person’s personal history. Some children are permanently scarred by parents who cannot be pleased, no matter how hard one tries. Parents, after all, come with hang-ups that they have inherited from their parents. Other children suffer long periods wondering if they will have a mother or father tomorrow. In my case, I think my weakness relates to not learning to read in my first three grades of school.

I think that harassing evil spirits possess keen observational powers by which they discover our weaknesses. I think they can tell when their whispered temptations work. So beware! Evil spirits often introduce thoughts into our minds which they pass off as our own thoughts. In other words, they don’t tell you, “You’re worthless.” Instead they pass off the suggestion as if it came from your own mind, by whispering, “I’m worthless.” If you experience insistent negative thoughts about yourself, I urge you to ask God to reveal the source of them.

In my introduction above, I have stated the three weaknesses negatively. When stated positively, as I will start to do now, these three inner-messages are the foundation of your spiritual identity. Let’s go through them one by one in the order given by Anderson.

=====Say to yourself: I am ACCEPTED by Christ=====

If you believe in Jesus and simply come to him, the Bible tells you, “You are accepted by him.”

John 1:12 is the first verse Anderson gives as an antidote to this problem:

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

For many verses given as antidotes to this problem, I find myself arguing if I can fulfill the conditions. The verse just quoted has easy conditions. Do I believe in Jesus? Yes. Have I asked Him to come into my life? Yes. I have accepted Him, and that means He accepts me! The verse says, “to all” who do those two things, “he gave the right …” So I’m not left out! He gives to all who believe and accept Him “the right to become children of God.” The next verse goes on to say that those same people become reborn.

I will depart from Anderson’s list to give some of my favorites:

Mat. 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

If you fit the description, notice the word ‘all’.

I find many such verses in John’s writings. In Rev. 21:6 Jesus—from his position sitting on the throne with God — says,

“To all who are thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.”

Then in chapter 22:17,

“The Spirit and the bride (that is the whole assembly of redeemed people) say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.”

Similarly, in John 7:38, Jesus promises,

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

For your convenience, in the episode notes, I list the verses that Anderson gives that help you to claim that YOU are ACCEPTED by God:

I am accepted…

John 1:12 I am God’s child.

John 15:15 As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1 I have been justified.

1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.

1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ’s body.

Ephesians 1:3-8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.

Colossians 1:13-14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.

Colossians 2:9-10 I am complete in Christ.

Hebrews 4:14-16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.

=====Say to yourself: I am SECURE=====

I love how Romans 8 gives us a wonderful logical progression to tell us that we are secure.

We are one with Christ, or as the NLT translates it, we belong to Christ.
This means no one can condemn us.
Those in that position will find the life-giving Spirit working in them.
Other than transforming our lives, the Spirit is a guarantee that we are God's sons. Again God's Word uses the word ‘all’:
Romans 8:14 NLT
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Even though, to be gender sensitive, some translations use ‘children’ here, I think it is good for women to also consider that they become— spiritually speaking— ‘sons’. (Men have a similar difficulty in accepting that they are part of the ‘bride of Christ’.) The precious thing here is that these verses say that we ALL are given the legal status of ‘sonship’, which according to Roman law, could not be changed. (Rom. 8:15)

Having this legal position of sonship means that no one and no spiritual power can separate us from the love of God and of Christ. Romans 8 is the most emphatic statement about our security that you will find in Scripture!

Once again, in the episode notes I give the nine verses Anderson lists:

I am secure!
Romans 8:1-2 I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
Romans 8:31-39 I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Colossians 3:1-4 I am hidden with Christ in God.
Philippians 1:6 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven.
2 Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
1 John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.

=====Say to yourself: I am SIGNIFICANT=====

It is actually a short logical step from our believing that we are Accepted and Secure to believing that we are SIGNIFICANT in God’s eyes. For instance, if you are one with Christ, it is like you are part of his body. Let's say a little toe. Well just think: No one wants to lose a toe! Every little part of our body is significant to us, especially if it becomes hurt.

I suspect that Satan's lackies whisper to people that believing yourself to be significant to God is prideful. But it is not being prideful to tell the truth about yourself. Base your significance on the amazing things God's Word says about you, then your significance will not be prideful.

It can be helpful to notice the times when the Holy Spirit gives you a nudge.

Do you feel it natural to call God your Father (Abba) when you pray?— as Romans 8 talks about.
Have you ever felt the nudge to pray for someone?
Has a verse of Scripture ever sort of ‘jumped off the page’? Did that ever cause you to repent or take some action?
In a conversation, have you ever suddenly felt that you should say something to help someone.
Has anything ever happened to you that might be leading you to exercise a spiritual gift? (Gifts like teaching, counseling, encouraging, being generous, etc.)

These things can be reassuring, we must not totally rely on such experiences, to encourage us about our significance. Please also realize that having a packed schedule of all kinds of church volunteering will never bring a true assurance of your significance.

Consider these eye-opening verses assembled by Dr. Neil Anderson:

I am significant…
John 15:5 I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
John 15:16 I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 I am God’s temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:6 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10 I am God’s workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12 I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

This is the link to the display of “Who I am in Christ” at the Freedomn In Christ Ministries website:

https://www.ficm.org/about-us/who-i-am-in-christ/

So, the identity we possess in Christ means that we are ACCEPTED, SECURE, AND SIGNIFICANT. And I think it is revealing how this relates to our spiritual armor, as found in Ephesians 6. The seven items of our armor are seven facets of every believer's identity.

There is a PDF file attached to this episode that documents what the figures of speech mean for each item of our spiritual armor: Armor Handout: Understanding how to wear our spiritual armor

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yyi6NShxL3bmz_-SMMsomuBauK0Y754A/view?usp=drive_link

14a belt of truth — significant

14b breastplate of righteousness — accepted

15 shoes — accepted, secure, and significant

16 shield of faith — secure

17a helmet of salvation — accepted

17b sword of the spirit — secure

18 cell phone of prayer — accepted and significant

[Improved from lesson 4:]

How to pray to make sure you are wearing your spiritual armor:

Lord God, give me strength to stand firm. Help me to wear— and be aware— of all the spiritual armor You have given to me, so that I can stand against Satan and his forces:

Please remind me that I am already wearing the breastplate of righteousness, because Jesus died and was raised to life, and He has given me right standing in your sight.
Help me to keep on the boots of the Gospel of peace, not only being ready to share the good news about Christ, but also anchoring my life in the truth of the Gospel.
May I always wear the belt of truth, believing in everything you say about me in the Bible,
and therefore never letting go of my shield, which is fully believing that you will shield me when I experience Satan's temptations and be with me in all my trials.
May I always have the helmet of salvation, because I know You have saved me.
Help me to study the Word of God, so that it is a ready resource that the Holy Spirit will use (like a scalpel) to operate on me, as well as prompting me to lovingly share Your truth with others.
And help me to never forget that the Holy Spirit gives me an instant connection to You in prayer.

Check out this episode!

Friday, January 19, 2024

019: Genesis 32-33; Job 19; Mark 12:1-27

GENESIS 32-33:
Yesterday we heard how Jacob and his big family got away from Laban and started the journey home. When Laban caught up with him, he and Jacob got into a quarrel and ended up making a covenant.

JOB 19:
In chapter 18, Bildad once again gave a speech about what happens to wicked people, and by implication, he said, “You're just getting what you deserve.” Job’s response in today’s chapter includes amazing revelations. Verses 23-27 can be compared with the second half of 1Corinthians 15.

MARK 12a:
In Mark 11, Jesus was welcomed in triumph in Jerusalem, he cursed a fig tree and taught about prayer, and cleansed the temple of merchant activity. Then he answered and confuted the chief priests who challenged his authority to “do these things,”— in particular, taking their businesses out of the temple.

NLT Translation notes:
Job 19:15 My servants and maids [even/0] consider me a stranger.
I am like a foreigner to them.
16 When I call my servant, he doesn’t [even/0] come;
I have to plead with him!
====
Mrk. 12:1 Then Jesus began teaching them with stories [like this one]: “A man planted a vineyard. …
13 Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of [king/0] Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.
16 When they handed [one/it] to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped [here//on it]?”
26b Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God [Abraham worships//of Abraham], the God [Isaac worships], and the God [Jacob worships].’
27 PET God spoke of our three forefathers as men who still live and worship Him. …
[In Lumina.Bible.org Constable quotes Lane:
“If the death of the patriarchs is the last word of their history, there has been a breach of the promises of God guaranteed by the [Abrahamic] covenant, and of which the formula ‘the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob’ is the symbol. It is in fidelity to his covenant that God will resurrect the dead.”
Using a present tense verb makes it obvious to the English-speaking listener that the three patriarchs are still living. However, the problem becomes that if the Hebrew had been that specific, everyone would have understood that the patriarchs were still living. So my fix here, I now admit, goes too far.]

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Check out this episode!

Saturday, December 30, 2023

000: 2024 DDeeper Trailer and How-to's

Hi there!

I’m so glad you have clicked to listen to this trailer to the Digging Deeper Daily Bible reading plan for 2024. If you want to read the Bible in a great reading plan that will hold your attention and enable you to stay with the program, you are in the right place.

My name is Phil Fields. I’m almost 74 years old and happily married to Gale. We have three children, and five grandkids. In 1983, when our kids were still small, our family went as Bible translators to Papua, Indonesia. We finished a New Testament translation for the Orya people in 2005. Since that time I have been leading an organization which is translating the Bible into the national language of Indonesia. We’re hoping that the entire Bible in the Plain Indonesian Translation will be finished at the end of 2025. Our sponsoring organization is Pioneer Bible Translators.

When I started the Daily Bible Reading Podcast in 2014 the audience I had in mind was my grandkids. I wanted to make a set of Bible recordings for them, to leave behind what I would tell each one of them if and when they fall into difficult times.

Here’s a list of what I will cover:

Remember this new Web address: DDeeper.today.
Please Sign up for email
Why it’s a good idea to use a good Bible reading plan.
Choose a Bible translation that makes sense for you for daily reading.
Different ways to follow the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan
Pointers about podcast listening
How to contact me.

Remember this new Web address: DDeeper.today. I realized recently how hard it is to find my websites when they are named DailyBibleReading.info. When I started podcasting in 2014, there were not many podcasts or blogs with that name. So I am hoping that the oddity of the new web address will help everyone looking for information on the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan and podcasts. The site is DDeeper.today with two D’s. I figure most other podcasters won’t misspell Deeper like I have. Even though it starts with two D’s, I’m pronouncing it like it started with just one.

Please Sign up for email: There are times when I want to announce a special episode or a new feature in the YV Bible app. And listeners often like to hear about our Bible translation ministry. That is why I suggest that you sign up for my email updates. You will join a special list that is only for 2024. You will receive no more than 5 emails. I won’t ask for donations or try to sell you something. Please sign up by going to DDeeper.today, click the How-to’s link, and choose the menu item entitled 2024 Email Sign-up.

Why it’s a good idea to use a good Bible reading plan: If you start at the beginning of the Bible and attempt to read straight through, you will likely get bogged down somewhere in the Old Testament. The Bible is not organized like a novel. The Digging Deeper Daily reading plan will help you be successful. If you are looking for a reading plan that covers the whole Bible, I highly recommend you choose a reading plan that contains something from the New Testament every day.

For more information about the 3D reading plan, please click the How-To link at DDeeper.today and scroll down. I suggest that you view the short video on that page entitled How to Study the Bible.

READ in a real-book Bible: You’ll want to download the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan. The link for that is found right on the front of DDeeper.today. It is labeled Plan.PDF.

READ the 3D reading plan using Bible apps on your smartphone or tablet: Subscribe to the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan in the YouVersion Bible app. This app is available for Android and Apple devices.

LISTEN to the DDeeper.today podcasts. The podcasts have an introduction to each of the three daily readings. The introductions remind you of what you heard yesterday, and the podcast ends with a prayer that I normally don’t close with an Amen, hoping that you will continue to pray.

How about READing and LISTENing?! Open your podcast player and start the introduction to your next episode. While listening to my greeting, you’ll have time to open the YV app to your next day in the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan. You’ll get way more out of each day’s readings if you have time to do it this way, reading and listening.

When you sign up for a YV reading plan, you are given an option to do the plan privately or share it with your friends. If you share the plan with friends, at the end of each day’s readings, you will be given the opportunity to share something you gleaned from the readings. This is fabulous and a great way to connect with your friends through the Bible app. But since the Digging Deeper Daily plan is for the whole Bible in 365 days, I suggest you share with a select group of close friends, or maybe 1-2 other people, or just do the plan privately.

Choose a Bible translation that makes sense for you and for a year-long reading program. Many of you will be using a translation like the ESV for taking to church. My own church uses that translation. But it is not very well suited to a year-long reading program, especially if this is your first time reading the whole Bible. I strongly recommend the NLT or the GNT for following the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan. Please take my advice as a Bible translator: Using a translation like the NLT or GNT is even more important if you will be Listening to the Bible readings while doing something like driving to work. See more information about Bible translations under the READ heading in the How-To’s.

How to listen to podcasts: Please see the Listening How-To’s by clicking the How-To’s link at DDeeper.today. I recommend you use a podcast aggregator app that

makes it easy to see the episode notes,
that remembers your place and will automatically queue up your next episode,
and that lets you speed up my reading to 1.20% speed.

If you use smart speakers to play the DDeeper.today podcasts, please help me improve the instructions found in the How-To’s.

My favorite way for you to contact me is via the contact button at the top of all my websites. If you are using an Alexa device, I recommend controlling the playback with the Amazon Music app.

The three older domain names for my two Bible-reading websites will still take you to the same pages. The main old website is dailybiblereading.info.
Also: dailyNLTbiblereading.info
dailyGNTbiblereading.info

For any long-time listeners, I believe that the change of the name of the podcast to DDeeper Daily and the new domain name will not change the way your podcast player is interacting with the podcasts. If you find otherwise, please let me know.

When I chose the odd extension for the DDeeper site, not dot Com, or dot info, but ‘today’, I thought of two places where the word ‘today’ is highlighted in the New Testament. One is

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭6:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

[2] For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:6‭-‬7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

[6] So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. [7] So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”

That last quote is one you will need to read in context to really understand. My point in sharing those two verses is to encourage you. Each day that you read the Bible with the goal of reading all of it, the Holy Spirit will be helping you experience the amazing spiritual transformation that God wants for you. Find salvation, and enter the place of rest and safety God has for you.

Please Sign up for email by going to the How-to’s at DDeeper.today.

Check out this episode!

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

2024 DDeeper Trailer and How-to's

Hi there!

Here’s a list of what I will cover:

Remember this new Web address: DDeeper.today.
Please Sign up for email
Why it’s a good idea to use a good Bible reading plan.
Choose a Bible translation that makes sense for you for daily reading.
Why I started podcasting in 2014.
Different ways to follow the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan
Pointers about podcast listening
How to contact me.

READ in a real-book Bible: You’ll want to download the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan. The link for that is found right on the front of DDeeper.today. It is labeled Plan.PDF.

When I started the Daily Bible Reading Podcast in 2014 the audience I had in mind was my grandkids. I wanted to make a set of Bible recordings for them, to leave behind what I would tell each one of them if and when they fall into difficult times.

How to listen to podcasts: Please see the Listening How-To’s by clicking the How-To’s link at DDeeper.today. I recommend you use a podcast aggregator app that

makes it easy to see the episode notes,
that remembers your place and will automatically queue up your next episode,
and that lets you speed up my reading to 1.20% speed.

If you use smart speakers to play the DDeeper.today podcasts, please help me improve the instructions found in the How-To’s.

My favorite way for you to contact me is via the contact button at the top of all my websites.

When I chose the odd extension for the DDeeper site, not dot Com, or dot info, but ‘today’, I thought of two places where the word ‘today’ is highlighted in the New Testament. One is

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭6:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

[2] For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:6‭-‬7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Please Sign up for email by going to the How-to’s at DDeeper.today.

Check out this episode!

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

292: Reader Take Note: How to understand prophetic books

This seems to me to be a good time to talk with you about how to understand the prophetic books of the Bible. At day number 292 in our reading calendar, we are well into reading the Babylonian exile prophet Ezekiel, and our poetry readings to the end of the year will be from the prophet Isaiah, who lived 200 years before Ezekiel. Near the end of the year we’ll read the minor prophets in quick succession. All the books in the prophetic genre are hands-down the most difficult books to understand in the Bible. So I hope I can give basic pointers in this episode that will be helpful to you from now on to the end of the year.

I will start with quoting a paragraph from How to Read the Bible for all it’s worth (by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart) that gives one reason people have difficulty with the 16 prophetic books of the OT: We come to these books with false expectations. Speaking about the word ‘prophecy’ they state:

For most people this word means what appears as the first definition in most dictionaries: “foretelling or prediction of what is to come.” It often happens, therefore, that many Christians refer to the prophetic books only for predictions about the coming of Jesus and/or certain features of the new-covenant age—as though prediction of events far distant from their own day was the main concern of the prophets. In fact, using the prophets in this way is highly selective. Consider in this connection the following statistics: Less than 2 percent of Old Testament prophecy is messianic. Less than 5 percent specifically describes the new-covenant age [we are currently living in]. Less than 1 percent concerns events yet to come in our time. (p. 166)

The prophets did indeed announce the future. But it was usually the immediate future of Israel, Judah, and other nations surrounding them that they announced rather than our future.

Rather than thinking of prophets as prediction makers, Fee and Stuart give this very accurate job description of them:

The prophets were covenant enforcement mediators.

This definition explains a lot!

There were hundreds of prophets in the Old Testament, starting with Moses. Many were unnamed. Only 16 were selected to write books for us. Several named prophets wrote historical books that we wish we had. In all cases, the prophets were speaking to the people of their age. So understanding what was happening at the time of the writer is key to understanding the prophetic books. You won’t understand the historical setting without help. This is why I will make several book recommendations at the end of this episode.

I was in a village in Papua adjacent to the Orya area and where many Orya people come to shop for things they need. This was at the very beginning of the Covid Pandemic. I stayed overnight with a hospitable pastor there who said, “I’ve heard that this epidemic has something to do with bats. I found this verse. Is God saying this to us?

Isaiah 2:20 (NET) At that time men will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made for themselves to worship, into the caves where rodents and bats live,

I replied, “Probably that isn’t for us. We should first figure out what was happening in Isaiah’s time, and then see if that message is appropriate for our time also.” The pastor kind of rolled his eyes and held up the palms of his hands, as if to say, “How in the world can I do that?!”

I must admit, he would have few resources to call on to find answers. But you have many ways to gain the needed background information:

His translation doesn’t have good section headings. Yours probably does. Good section headings really help the reader, and the listeners. That’s why I read the section headings in prophetic books in my podcasts.
He wasn’t using a meaning-based translation for reading the prophets. I hope you will! The GNT and NLT convey the meaning as we would say it in normal modern language. Trying to force English to say things like the Hebrew does results in verses that leave the readers scratching their heads.
Use some of the extra resources I will recommend at the end to help you to understand the historical context. This will help the prophetic books to come alive for you.

I was rather surprised when one of the elders in our church here in Arkansas complained bitterly about the major prophetic books. He said something like, “I’ve been working to penetrate Jeremiah the last couple of months. I hate reading these chapters that say, ‘Woe to you, king of somewhere…’ What am I supposed to find in these books?” I was shocked that an elder— who is an intelligent and well-educated professional— would speak so negatively about any part of God’s Word.

I was unprepared to answer him. Let me tell you what I wish I had said to him:

First, he was doing none of the three things I just mentioned. He was clearly not coming with the right expectations for what God has for us in the prophetic books.
“The prophets were covenant enforcement mediators.” (Fee and Stuart) This means that they often rebuke God’s people for breaking the covenant, or call Israel to come back to obeying the covenant. We can summarize the covenant as being embodied in the Ten Commandments. This is why the prophets continually come back to the same points: Don’t worship idols; don’t commit adultery; don’t lie, cheat, or steal, etc. Therefore, from now on in the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan, please be on the lookout for places where the different prophets say the same thing. After all, the ultimate Author is the same, as Peter says,

2 Peter 1:20-21 (NET) Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination,

for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Consider this oracle of woe to the king of Egypt from Ezekiel 32:1-2 (NLT):

On March 3, during the twelfth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, mourn for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and give him this message: “You think of yourself as a strong young lion among the nations, but you are really just a sea monster, heaving around in your own rivers, stirring up mud with your feet.

First, I think it highly unlikely that Ezekiel would be able to give Pharaoh this message! Ezekiel was a refugee living in Babylon. Rather, I think that the message is actually to encourage the exiles living with Ezekiel, and he may have sent this message to his people still living in Jerusalem. So this can be understood as the figure of speech called ‘apostrophe’, which is basically lambasting an enemy who is not in your audience to encourage your actual readers.

Second, be aware that the kings of Egypt, Tyre, or Babylon may actually symbolize Satan, who is the ruler behind the evil world system that opposes God.

My favorite places in prophecy are those times when God so wonderfully repeats promises to his people which we count as fulfilled in this age. An example will come soon in day 305, where Ezekiel says,

Ezekiel 36:25‭-‬28 GNT
I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.

Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

That is strikingly similar to the favorite verses found in Jeremiah 31 which are quoted in Hebrews 8, especially verse 10:

Hebrews 8:10 GNT
Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Again in Hebrews 10, some of that same Jeremiah 31 passage is referred to, and the writer goes on to explain:

Hebrews 10:21-22 (NET) since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Wait a minute. That’s what we just read in Ezekiel! This gives me goosebumps. These wonderful spiritual realities are true of us today, for all of us who are understanding our unity with Christ, our great high priest. We can appreciate how people in Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s day would have longed for the things that now have been given to us.

Beginning with the writings of the prophet Moses, God keeps repeating, “You will be my people, and I will be your God.” I just love it when so many correspondences line up. To me this proves that God has so wonderfully constructed his Word, and He will keep on fulfilling his plans and promises.

It’s worth it to read God’s prophets in order to more fully appreciate the treasures we have been given.

I am not able to include a discussion of Revelation in this discussion of prophecy. In the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan, we start that book on December 8. Revelation is in a different genre than most OT prophetic books, called the apocalyptic genre. Zechariah, and parts of Ezekiel and Daniel are early examples of apocalyptic writings. Such writings include symbolic numbers, surreal and highly symbolic visions, and cyclical organization. This is NOT what we expect: chronological organization. High examples of the apocalyptic genre are found in Jewish literature.

10. non-canonical (taken from D. S. Russell, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, pp. 37-38) (Taken from Utley http://www.freebiblecommentary.org/new_testament_studies/VOL12/VOL12_introduction.html

a. I Enoch, II Enoch (the Secrets of Enoch)
b. The Book of Jubilees
c. The Sibylline Oracles III, IV, V
d. The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
e. The Psalms of Solomon
f. The Assumption of Moses
g. The Martyrdom of Isaiah
h. The Apocalypse of Moses (Life of Adam and Eve)
i. The Apocalypse of Abraham
j. The Testament of Abraham
k. II Esdras (IV Esdras)
l. II & III Baruch

But the book of Revelation surpasses such books, because it truly is inspired.

An Indonesian Bible reader asked me about Revelation 6:5-6:

Revelation 6:5-6 (NET) Then when the Lamb opened the third seal I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” So I looked, and here came a black horse! The one who rode it had a balance scale in his hand.
Then I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat will cost a day’s pay and three quarts of barley will cost a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

He asked something like, “Has this horse and rider appeared yet, and what effect has it had on our economy?”

No book of the Bible has spawned more wrong interpretations than Revelation. Don’t try to look for highly specific interpretations like my Indonesian friend. Try to understand the major symbolic elements. The two main points of the book are very easy to grasp:

In the end, in spite of how things will appear in the world, Jesus will triumph.
Your perseverance in suffering and persecution will be rewarded.

So I hope one major take-away point from what I have shared is That I urge you to supplement your Bible reading of all the prophetic books of the Bible with other books. Here are a few recommendations.

Recommended resources:

How to Read the Bible for all it’s worth, Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart

How to Read the Bible Book by Book, Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart

What the Bible is All About, Dr. Henrietta C. Mears (Get the revised NIV edition.)

Free Bible Commentary, Dr. Bob Utley

http://www.freebiblecommentary.org/special_topics/old_testament_prophecy.html

Any study Bible will have helpful notes about how the prophetic writers fit into Israel’s history.

Check out this episode!

Thursday, September 14, 2023

258: Buckling the Belt of Truth Lesson 5: Don't look back

THEME: Buckle up the belt of truth by FOCUSING YOUR GAZE ON CHRIST.

OK, in my last episode I told you about my nightmare. There was a visitor on my porch that night. That visitor was a picture of the demon who had gained a foothold in my life. He had been tempting me for years and knew just how to do it. He got on the exercise bicycle on my front porch— which, as I told you, did not exist— rather it was a symbol. I believe that the Lord helped me figure out the meaning of that symbol.

The night-time visitor got on the bike and kind of lazily gave a few turns of the wheel. But he was watching me. This time the wheel didn’t do the trick. Normally if he said the tempting two words and generated that flickering light by turning the wheel, I would go back into my past to re-live one of several temptations. Now I will say the awful truth: His temptation was sexual fantasy. If I went with him on the journey into my past, I would fantasize about taking advantage of situations where in the past I had wisely avoided completely falling into sin. I would, in other words, take advantage of the situation and plunge into sin. Oddly, I never seemed to fantasize about all the times when I had actually acted sinfully with some woman, but rather it was all the times where I had actually escaped from a very sinful situation. Normally, if I would let the demon take me back into the past, he would pedal the bike longer and harder.

But this time when I didn’t go with him, he got off the bike and came up to the window. He shone his flashlight in. That’s when, with great effort, I was able to force my body to move, grabbing my pillow and covering up my face. The demon was shining his light in to look for some other weakness where he could find an additional foothold.

I was not safe. He would succeed. The strategy of Satan was all too clear. The constant lure of sexual fantasy would slowly weaken me. Then Satan would arrange a perfect opportunity for me to fall into sin. He would provide the perfect time to live out my fantasy. Then the world would hear of another missionary who committed a shameful moral failure. He would make certain that my fall didn’t go unnoticed. For one thing, I knew that I myself would not have the heart to conceal such a sin forever. I would confess the devastating truth to my wife, my family, plus our mission’s leadership, and we would leave the mission field in disgrace.

I could see a pattern: Satan had already tried that trick on me. But I escaped. Those experiences joined older ones for me to fantasize about. But one day the temptation of a perfect opportunity would be too great to escape. I was not getting wiser and stronger, but weaker.

To go back to the last lesson, when I was with Jim, rebuking and forbidding that demon’s influence on me, I called that tempter, “Demon of sexual fantasy.” I verbally forbid the demon to bother me. This included naming the women, one-by-one, who had become the objects of my lust. I broke any bond or hook that Satan had in me based on my experience with them.

At the risk of sounding really dumb, I admit that it took me way too long before it dawned on me that my worst sinful desires have to do with revisiting my past. There must be people who are more tempted by imagining sins in the future, but not me. It just so happened that when God showed me the backward-looking nature of my problem, my translation team was working with me to translate Philippians and we were in the 3rd chapter. Philippians 3:13b-14 GW says, “I don’t look back, I lengthen my stride and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize…” Other translations are just as helpful— such as NLT: “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”

Before the realization above dawned on me, if I managed to realize that I was entering into sinful territories of my mind, I would despair, “How can I stop thinking about these things?!” Each time I told myself to stop thinking of some past event, the stronger the desire would be to follow those thoughts again. And it was at night when I was the weakest and couldn’t resist. But now I am no longer powerless. I have found the way to banish those evil thoughts! The answer is in the verses just quoted. It is to ask the question, “What are the most beautiful things I might be able to do to please the Lord in the near future?” I find that if I consciously direct my mind to the future where— praise the Lord— I have goals and aspirations I am enthusiastic about, then those tempting thoughts vanish. And not surprisingly, it helps even more if I pray, “Lord, help me to forget that terrible and worthless memory and lean forward and gaze at what is ahead.”

Some of my listeners will probably be thinking, “Well Phil should have realized he could just think of something else.” There’s more to it than that. As long as there was that demon tempter maintaining his stronghold over me, just trying to turn my thoughts to something else never worked. When I was finally free from him, suddenly things that other Christians recommended worked for me too.

Philippians 3:10-14 NLT 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Philippians 3:12‭-‬14 GW It’s not that I’ve already reached the goal or have already completed the course. But I run to win that which Jesus Christ has already won for me. Brothers and sisters, I can’t consider myself a winner yet. This is what I do: I don’t look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12‭-‬14 NLT I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

It is not just the future we are to gaze at! Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to “fix our eyes” on Jesus. While in that passage, in addition to gazing at Jesus, it is no small encouragement to realize that we have an awesome crowd of witnesses cheering us on and waiting for us at the finish line. If we focus on that, we are using the same strategy for victory that Jesus used when He was suffering on earth.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.[a] Because of the joy[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

We’re not just vaguely looking in Jesus’ direction. In our passages in 2 Corinthians we are encouraged to gaze right into his face. This is beyond my ability to imagine! But we are helped in this life-transforming vision by the Buckling Belt Lesson 2 (being resurrected and seated now with Christ in heaven) and Lesson 3 (being aided by the Holy Spirit).

My favorite thought in this is: This is what I do: I don’t look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal.

A few years ago when a board member was helping me with organizational planning, because he is so talented in helping people plan, I asked him to help me with my personal planning. I thought, “I only have a few years left in my life, and I want to end well.” We went through a process where I figured out three things:

What I wanted to achieve
Activities that I thought would bring about the achievements
Why I wanted to do those things

He told me that the #3 Why list (which expresses my motivation) would be the engine that would keep me going.

The reason I mention this is that it seems to me that it will help you to overcome Satan's temptations if you have goals and motivations that you are excited about. For Harry Potter fans, this is your Patronas charm to expel your Dementor. It makes sense to me to take the time to thoroughly understand and powerfully express your core motivations.

I have heard many people complain that they cannot get rid of certain evil thoughts. I have just given you the answer and will say it one more time: “This is what I do: I don’t look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.”

If turning your thoughts to the things you know Jesus wants you to meditate and the goals you want to achieve doesn’t work, then please go back and check out Lesson 4 of the Buckling the Belt series.

Pray like this: Lord help me to lengthen my stride and strain forward— forgetting what lies behind. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on the glorious face of Jesus.

PHP.3.10-14

1CO.9.24-27

MAT.14.28-31

HEB.12.1-2

2CO.3.18
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

2CO.4.6
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

2CO.4.18
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Check out this episode!

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

242: JoySightings 11: The man from Jonesville; Lying Offshore

This is a bonus episode republished from my JoySightings.info podcast.

Check out this episode!