IF YOU CLICK THE LINK ABOVE IT WILL BRING YOU TO THE BIBLE IN A YEAR. FOLLOW WITH ME IN THE YEAR 2012. I WILL POST THE DAILY READING AND THEN I WILL ZOOM IN ON A PASSAGE THAT SPOKE TO ME. I WILL WRITE DOWN A PRAISE, PLAN AND PRAYER FOR MY LIFE ON THAT PASSAGE. WATCH GOD SPEAK TO YOU AS YOU READ THE LIVING, POWERFUL WORD AND BEGIN TO WRITE DOWN YOUR PRAISE, PLAN AND PRAYER!
GET A JOURNAL AND START TODAY!
5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
At this point in history, God decides it is time for judgment. Man has grown so hardened and sinful that there is nothing worth saving or admiring except Noah (by God's grace).
There is an important principle to be seen here:
God desires from us the obedience of faith. Such obedience is not based upon our understanding of why we are to act as God requires, but simply because it is God who requires it.
God desires from us the obedience of faith. Such obedience is not based upon our understanding of why we are to act as God requires, but simply because it is God who requires it.
The obedience of faith is based on our faith in God, not on our understanding of why God calls one thing good and another evil. Parents teach their children to obey on the same basis. You cannot explain to a young child why an electrical outlet is dangerous. You can only forbid them to touch it, because you said so, and because they trust your word.
We say we desire to obey God, but we want to understand why we should obey Him before we do. We want to understand why God has commanded some things and prohibited others. When we fail to understand the reason, as quickly and easily as Eve, we reject God’s commandment.
“The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them’” (Genesis 6:6-7 NASB).
Ponder these phrases carefully: “The Lord was sorry” and “He was grieved.”
God’s grief is a sign of his great love.
The Lord is no robot. He is not some unfeeling God in heaven who sets the world in motion and then watches in benign disinterest while men and women destroy themselves.
His heart breaks over the sin that covers the earth. He weeps over broken homes, broken promises, suffering children, and the wreckage of human sin that covers planet earth and turns it into a massive junkyard of pain, sadness, shame and guilt.
So now God decides to “uncreate” the earth.
Think of what this means. Whole cities destroyed. Homes washed away. Roads covered. Buildings inundated. Whole villages flooded. Men, women and children vanishing beneath the waves. The whole earth under the waters of judgment.
Nothing like it had happened before and nothing like it has happened since. It was a catastrophic judgment that enveloped the entire globe and washed away every vestige of human civilization.
BUT
Noah Found Grace
And only one man and his family are spared.
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” Genesis 6:8. The word translated “favor” actually means “grace.”
Noah found “grace” in the eyes of the Lord.
Let us learn two important truths from this verse:
First, grace is available in the darkest hours.
Even though the world was rushing headlong into judgment, Noah found grace. There is never a pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still. Do not say, “I am too bad a sinner to ever be saved.” You don’t know that. Don’t say, “God could never forgive me.” Yes, he can. And he will, if you will cry out to him.
And don’t say, “My husband is too far gone to ever be saved” or “I’m going to stop praying for that person because she is a hopeless case.” You don’t know that. While there is life, there is hope. Leave the final judgment in the hands of the Lord.
Keep praying. And if you do not know the Lord, seek him while he may be found. Turn to him. Come to him. Trust in him. This is the day of grace.
Though a thousand perish at your side, though your friends and family turn away, there is hope for you and plentiful grace if you will only come to Jesus.
Second, grace is the only means of escape.
Was Noah somehow “better” than his contemporaries?
No, he was a sinner just like them. But he found grace and was spared.
He turned to the Lord and was delivered. Hebrews 11:7 tells us that “by faith” Noah saved himself and his family. What Noah did, you can do.
By grace we can be delivered even in the darkest days and from the deepest pit of sin. I admit that grace is a hard concept for us to grasp. I define it as God doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. It is God coming to our rescue when we were trapped in sin.
This is my personal journal entry:
PRAISE: I am praising God for my personal relationship with Him, Just like Noah. When the world comes to an end will God KNOW you like He did Noah? God extends that same grace to you and that grace helps you CHANGE.
I challenge you to trust in Him in 2012. Another judgement awaits us in the future. Will you be saved from that judgement? Don't wait until its to LATE!
PLAN: I desire to be more obedient in my faith in certain area in 2012. I know God has plans for me and my rebellious attitude gets in the way of His plans.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank you for working your plan through the destructive flood. Even when things never make sense you are always working upstream for our lives. After the flood came Jesus our SAVING GRACE. Now we have hope with our unrighteous selves. Thanks for saving me and I pray to share your GRACE in 2012.
I encourage you friends to write down your plan, praise and prayer from either my personal verse from today's reading or your own verse.
Blessings in the New Year
