Read John 1:43-51.

“Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (v. 49).

What is your highest priority – the thing that matters most to you? While worship is a little challenging to define, One might say who or what you worship answers that question.
My paternal grandparents were poor people. My last memory of them was visiting them in a tiny house in Portland, Oregon. A house sided with tar paper and very sparsely furnished. What stands out even more is that, at the death of my grandmother, her five daughters-in-law created great tension over who received the remaining items. There were only a few cooking utensils, like an electric skillet, coffee pot, dishes, and cooking pots. The controversy became so heated that some of the women didn’t speak to each other for an extended time.
These women’s homes were much better than my grandmother’s and were evidently better off than my grandparents. What generated the heat and conflict? It seems their hearts were set on the material world rather than the eternal.
What you will create conflict over is a testimony of what or whom you worship. (GCS)
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
--- Helen Howarth Lemmel

Is the Lord Jesus the God reigning in your life,
or does this world control you?

Read Mark 14:53-65.
“For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together” (v.56).

“It is a little three-cornered thing inside of me,” explained the Native American. “When I do wrong, it turns round and hurts me very much. But if I keep doing wrong, it will turn so much that the corners become worn off, and it does not hurt me anymore.” This description of a conscience might be amusing, but it is significant and precise. These false witnesses must have been driven by bribes or promised prestige. Every man has his price. You don’t have to buy an honest person: he costs you nothing!
The Gospels record that Jesus was examined in four trials before He was finally put to death. First before Annas, a former high priest, then this trial before high priests and religious leaders; next, He stood before Pilate (twice), and finally before Herod Antipas. Jesus had to endure a long night of false accusations and torture under brutal religious and political figures.
Overriding their conscience and listening to the noisy crowd, these evil leaders refused to recall the miracle accounts of the lame made to walk, the dumb given speech, and the dead risen again. Jesus went about doing good! If you went about doing good, that would be a convincing and gracious testimony of God’s grace. As clearly is shown in this account, even innocent Jesus was misunderstood and falsely accused of a crime to fit in with man’s plan for His death. We can fully trust and lean upon our Savior, who willingly stood trial for our sins! (Beverly Tatam)
There are days so dark that I seek in vain
For the face of my Friend divine;
But though darkness hide, He is there to guide
By the touch of His hand on mine.
--- Jessie Pounds

“Relying on God has to start all over every day
as if nothing has yet been done.” (C. S. Lewis)

Read John 12:31-41.

 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (v. 32).

Jupiter, the sky god of the Romans, was believed to have a chain of gold that he would at times be let down from heaven to draw the earth and all of its inhabitants to himself.  (Homer, Iliad viii, vs. 18-27). Jehangir, who ruled as emperor of the Mughal dynasty from 1605 to 1627, installed a “chain of justice” outside the Agra Fort. It was made of pure gold and was thirty yards long. One end was suspended from the royal bastion, and the other was fastened to the ground below. Sixty bells were attached to the chain. The emperor used this means as a link to the citizens. A person who had a grievance could pull on the chain, ring the bells, and gain a personal audience with the emperor. (Hist. of Hindostan, p. 96, Calcutta, 1788)

These illustrations are feeble comparisons to what our Lord offered when He gave His life on the cross. The King of Glory, hanging between heaven and earth as a substitutionary offering for our sins, made a redemptive provision for all who would surrender their heart and life to Him by faith in repentance. His gold chain of reconciliation has been extended to all who will grasp the offer of divine grace to become a child of God. (LGW)

 “Once my soul was astray from the heavenly way
I was wretched and blind as could be
But my Savior in love gave me peace from above.
When he reached down his hand for me.”

--- G. E. Wright

Read Luke 15:11-24.
“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” (v. 24).

As heartrending and scary as our experience was (see yesterday’s devotional), it doesn’t compare to the sadness and heartbreak caused by a son who wanders away from God and ruins his life through sinful actions and addictions. Many years ago, the devil deceived a young pastor who showed a lot of promise for ministry, and caused him to leave the pastorate and turn from his faith. His mother, heartbroken, prayed faithfully for him until she died. I know the son of a pastor who, turning away from a call that God had placed upon his heart, set his sights on the wealth of this world. Both of these can be restored!
Jim Cymbala, author of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, tells about his wayward daughter, Chrissy. She had been expelled from a Bible college, was concealing an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, had completely turned her back on her family, and they did not know where she was. All they and their church could do was pray. But God knew where Chrissy was and how to get her attention. Miraculously, she went home, prayed to victory, and was restored to her family. Today, she and her husband are pastoring a church in Chicago.
Like the prodigal’s father in today’s verse, the Cymbala family rejoiced that the lost one had come home. (SEH)
Let’s keep praying for the prodigals – God can restore them

Read Job 2:3-10.

A Tested Man
"So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord,
and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown" (v. 7).

Sometimes, life doesn’t seem fair! Job has lost his wealth and children, and now God has allowed Satan to attack Job physically. Let’s look closely and see what nuggets of wisdom we can find in this passage today.
God knows what is going on in Job’s life, yet He allows it: painful boils, coupled with the scorn and anger of his wife's rejection, leave Job struggling for relief. Some scholars suggest one of Job’s trials was that Job’s wife was spared. Instead of comforting and ministering to him through his trials, she chose to find fault and tell him to curse God and die. Look at Job’s response to her. Job understood God is sovereign. When his wife scorned him and challenged his belief in God, Job responded courteously, realizing she was also grieving. Job extended to her both compassion and truth. Job's response to affliction demonstrated his faith and spiritual integrity. (LeeAnn Davison)
In the midst of tribulation, stand by me;
in the midst of tribulation, stand by me.
When the hosts of hell assail, and my strength begins to fail,
thou who never lost a battle, stand by me. (stand by me)
--- Charles Albert Tindley

God often chooses to allow things we cannot understand for reasons of His own.

Read Ephesians 2:13-17.

“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances: for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (v. 15). 

Paul seems to be referencing the difference between Jews and Gentiles. They did not look kindly on each other. This animosity was graphically demonstrated in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Usually, what Samaritan would go out of his way to do anything for a Jew? Jesus came to abolish that kind of thinking.

Satan generated that way of viewing others. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, some Europeans viewed Jews with hatred. Men like Hitler and Stalin thought of annihilating the Jewish people. Today, in many parts of the world, Jesus's followers are hated, regardless of whether Jew or Gentile. Some are wrongfully treated, some are persecuted, and some give their lives just because they are followers of Jesus. Jesus taught us to love our fellow man.

When we experience the New Birth, we experience a newness never-before known. The old man is now a new man. Not only is there a change between Jew and Gentile, but skin color or nationality is no longer an issue. Gender is not an issue. Our generation's hatred becomes a love for lost souls when we exchange our old sin-cursed nature for the transforming Divine-Love-filled nature Jesus died to provide for all. (MAH)

Red and yellow, black and white:

All are precious in His sight.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit includes a baptism of Divine Love

Read Jeremiah 2:21-24.

"For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God" (v. 22).

A former Colgate Palmolive soap factory employee relates that although there are newer processes for making soap, the essentials are more or less the same as when made on the farm from soda ash and the lard rendered from a pig. The raw ingredients to make soap are oils – palm oil, coconut oil, or even fish oil; for bar soap, caustic soda or lye from soda ash; and for soft soap, caustic potassium from potash.
These ingredients are boiled in huge vats. After the vats are cooled, and the chemical reaction results are removed, it is necessary to clean the vats, which are heated by huge, coal-fired boilers. The soot must be cleaned from the horizontal six-foot-high pipes leading to the chimney stacks. The unfortunate part of this process is that even though you have a lot of soap available, you can not get clean. At the end of the two weeks, it takes to clean the pipes, the employees have to throw their clothes into the garbage. After many showers, they still don’t look clean. They bare stains that even soft soap won’t clean!
We face the same problem. We have many remedies for cleaning up our lives that have been fabricated by man. We have seminars, AA meetings, NA meetings, self-help books, support groups, and therapy sessions, but even though these methods may give temporary relief, none of them can remove the stain of sin. Only the atoning blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse the stain of sin from the heart and life of a repentant individual who believes in the Son of God for salvation. (Gayle Woods)
Only the atoning blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse the stain of sin.

Read Jeremiah 31:27-30.

“In those days, they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge” (v. 29-30).

“You can’t tell me she’s not your daughter! She looks JUST like you!” Upon seeing my mother and I in our favorite craft and home décor store, the stranger immediately pointed out our resemblance. We smiled and chuckled in agreement. We do look a lot alike. It is easy to see we are related.
As distinctive physical traits get passed down from generation to generation, so do habits, personalities, and character traits. In today’s reading, Jeremiah addresses a proverb of his day. He was trying to balance the concept of generational consequences, though. While our forefathers may have eaten the “sour grapes” of sin, and while we may suffer some of the fallout from their decisions, Jeremiah reminds us that every generation has a choice in this area. That is both good news and bad news. The good news? We can choose differently than our ancestors and take “sour grapes” off our menus. The bad news? If we decide to follow a pattern of family sin and continue eating those “sour grapes,” we should also expect our own punishment. There will be repercussions. Serious ones, in fact. If unforgiven, we can expect to “die for [our] own iniquity.”
Yes, our parents’ choices can and do affect us. But just as their sin cannot send us to hell, neither can their salvation get us into heaven. We are solely responsible for our own actions, responses, and relationship with God. Make good choices today! (SW)
There’s a sad day coming, a sad day coming;
There’s a sad day coming by and by,
When the sinner shall hear his doom:
“Depart, I know you not!”
Are you ready for that day to come?
--- Will L. Thompson

Read Psalm 107:33-43.

“He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly;
and suffereth not their cattle to decrease” (v. 38).

God never forsakes the righteous. They may appear to be neglected, abused, and mistreated, but God never allows more oppression than His people can handle with His help. When God’s people walk closely to Him, He may allow Satan to test them to prove their commitment to God.
Take Job, for example. He lost all his possessions, his political position, his children, his health, and finally, the support of his wife. Through all that, Job stayed true to God, and when his trial was over, God doubled his possessions and the size of his family. God stayed with Job while he was enduring his “friends” and misfortune and was right there when it was over. God is always right there by our side if we are serving Him. (Harold Carpenter)
“O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last and our eternal home.”
--– Isaac Watts

Never fear; God is here.

Read Psalm 124;1-5.

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, . . .” (v. 1)..

“If it hadn’t been for . . .” We hear that phrase, and our ears perk up. Will we hear something good or something bad? Did someone make a wrong decision that ruined another person’s day? Did someone arrive in the nick of time to stave off trouble?
David points out several bad things that would have happened in this psalm “if it had not been the LORD who was on our side.” If it had been someone else siding with them, wicked men would have swallowed up the children of Israel; waters would have overwhelmed them, and they would have been ensnared. But the Lord WAS with them!
How many times can we look back and say things like: If it had not been for the prayers of the church . . . . If it had not been for the timely sermon from our pastor . . . . If it had not been for my parents’ wise advice . . . . If it had not been for that doctor who “happened to be in the emergency room . . . .”
We do not believe in chance or luck or simple coincidence. We believe that God is on our side, and we know that we need His help each day. What might happen to us if He weren’t nearby? (Steven Hight))
Whether for physical or spiritual protection, God is near!