Author: David Short

1 Maccabees 3:59-60

For it is better for us to die in war than to look upon the evils the Gentiles would bring to us and the sanctuary. But as God’s will is in heaven, so He will do.

Personal Challenge

It is so easy for us to forget that when we chose to follow Christ we also chose to submit to His will and to strive to align our will with his. The world is always tugging at us to leave His will behind and to embrace the ways of the world. One way to be constantly reminded of the rewards of submitting to God’s will is to be reading about the saints that have gone before us. Many paid the ultimate price of submitting to God’s will with martyrdom. They trusted God to the very end and saw His ultimate grace and love in their challenges. Glory be to God!

Luke 11:9-10

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Personal Challenge

All too often, this passage gets misinterpreted and our Lord is characterized as some great vending machine of posterity. These words, ask, seek, and knock, in the original Greek are actually “keep asking”, “keep seeking”, and “keep knocking”. The context also is that we are praying for those things that are good in the eyes of God and in not so much so in the eyes of man. If we are walking in the steps of Christ, being like Him, then we will not be praying, for things that the world sees as good. When we ask, seek, and knock with his mindset…He delivers. Glory be to God!

1 Maccabees 3:18-19

Then Judas said, “It is easy to hem in many at the hands of a few, and it makes no difference before heaven to save with many or with few. For victory in battle does not come from the size of the army, but from the might of heaven.”

Encouraging Words

The Maccabees are another series of Apocryphal books that most Western Christians have never had the opportunity to read. Even so, there are many great nuggets of wisdom in these books. Judas Maccabeus had just taken over the leadership of the Maccabeans from his deceased father. Coming out of a victory over a much larger and better equipped army, he makes this claim that the victory belongs to God and not to men. This is a recurring theme in the Old Testament that we can all embrace even today. God is our victor in all the struggles and battles that we face day in and day out. We must always give Him the credit for the successes in our lives. Glory be to God!

Luke 10:41-42

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Encouraging Words

We have here Jesus complimenting Mary for choosing the good part of the event and rebuking Martha for not. So what is this good part that Mary chose? Jesus had just come into the home of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. As always, He sat down and started teaching those present. Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and feast on His words. Martha, however, remained busy doing the work of preparing the house for the quests. Oh, how often we get so wrapped up in the busyness of “doing” God’s work that we neglect the time of sitting at His feet soaking Him in. Even in our prayer life, we can be so busy talking at God that we miss the opportunity to experience Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 Maccabees 2:50-51

Therefore, children, be zealous for the law, and offer your lives for the covenant of our fathers; and remember the deeds our fathers did in their generations, and receive great honor and an everlasting name.

Personal Challenge

As Mattathias was reaching the end of his days and on his deathbed, he offered these words up to his children. We no longer have the law as they did in the days before Christ because He fulfilled the law. We do, however, have Christ and all His teachings. We should live our lives zealous for Him, for His teachings, for His body that He created, His Church. We must be careful to not be zealous for how we want His Church to be. We must be willing to offer our lives for the Church that He has built over the last 2,000 years and for those who have gone before us giving their lives for Him. It is their deeds that have kept the church going and growing. This also means giving respect to our elders that are still alive in our body and learn from them. We do all this to glorify our God.

Luke 10:19-20

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

Personal Challenge

God works in the lives of those who submit to Him and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. As He does this, we should never get wrapped up in rejoicing about how He has used us for His work, but rejoice in the truth that we are His adopted children and that our names are written in His book of life. Our rejoicing is to always be in Him. Glory be to God!

Esther 4:13-16

And Mordecai said to Hathach, “Go and say to Esther, ‘Do not say to yourself that you alone will be saved in the kingdom apart from all the other Jews. For if you choose not to heed this request at this time, help and deliverance for the Jews will arise elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. Besides, who knows whether it is for this occasion you reign as queen?’ ” Then Esther dispatched the one who came to her to Mordecai, saying, “Go and assemble together the Jews in Susa. Fast for me; do not eat or drink for three full days and three full nights. I and my maids will also fast. Then I will go to the king, contrary to the law, even if I am to perish.”

Personal Challenge

This story about Esther is such an important one for all of us who proclaim to be followers of Christ to be aware of. In a nutshell, Haman, a person high up in the court of King Artexerxes, had just convinced the king to make a decree to kill all of the Jews in his kingdom. Haman hated the Jews, especially Mordecai, who also had a presence in the king’s court. What Haman did not know was that Queen Esther was not only a Jew, but Mordecai’s niece. Now come to this passage and we see Mordecai asking Esther to go to the king on behalf of the Jews. There is one “small” problem. Anyone that sought the presence of the king without him first asking for it, was subject to being put to death. This was a heavy penalty. The power of this passage is both Mordecai and Esther recognizing that God always orchestrates things so that His will is accomplished, but He never forces anyone to do what He wants. We must always look for God’s work in our lives and wonder if we are in our current situation so that He can use us and always be ready to answer “Yes!” when He calls. Glory be to God.

Luke 10:9

And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.

Personal Challenge

When Jesus sent the 70 out to proclaim that the kingdom of God had arrived, He gave them the power to also heal the sick as He had done. As we continue to read the accounts of the early church we continue to see accounts of His disciples healing the sick. Why do we not see this more today? Is it possibly that we have become deadened to what God can do in and through us by the modern thought that we are all immersed in? We have come to a place where we do not, or cannot, believe in miracles and therefore we cannot be used by God to do his acts of mercy? This is truly something to ponder and seek ways to shift our thinking, and therefore, our belief, to what God is capable of doing through those who truly believe and embrace that His kingdom has come. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Judith 9:11

For Your might is not in numbers, nor Your power in men who are strong, but You are the God of the lowly; You are the helper of the oppressed, the defender of the weak, the protector of those who are forsaken, the savior of those without hope.

Encouraging Words

As we end up the special verses in Judith we come to this proclamation from her about how God works in our lives. He does not work in the lives of the proud but in the lives of the lowly, those who are humble before him and their fellow mankind. By being humbler we can easily proclaim everything that we accomplish in our lives is because of Him and not us. Judith and her handmaiden had just returned from the camp of Holofernes. They had walked into the camp, head up high ,and persuaded the great and ruthless commander of the Assyrian army, the conquerors of the known world at the time to take them in. Judith, being humble before our God, was able to deceive Holofernes to the point where she could behead him and send the troops in disarray back home. God does many magnificent things when we humble ourselves before Him. Glory be to God!

Luke 10:2

Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Personal Challenge

For over 2000 years we have been in the midst of the great harvest. This is the harvest of souls for our living and loving God. We should never cease praying for both the workers of the harvest and the fruit that is being harvested. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Love, have mercy!