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TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED

“And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. ” (Luke 4:21 NKJV).   Jesus had just been in the wilderness for forty days of fasting.   It was the Spirit of God that led Him there.   At the end of His fast Satan tried to divert the Lord from the purpose that He had been sent to earth to fulfill.   Of course, Satan failed in his attempts, and Jesus returned out of the wilderness "in the power of the Spirit" and entered into Galilee.   At that time Galilee was one of three provinces in Palestine - Judea and Samaria were the other two.   It was referred to as "Galilee of the Gentiles" because of the large percentage of Gentiles that inhabited the area.   To say that the "purer" Israelites of Judea looked down their noses at the Galileans, and felt superior to them, would be an understatement.   When Philip first told Nathaniel about Jesus, Nathaniel’s comment was, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazaret...
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TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS

"Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom." (Psalm 51:5).   God desires that we be honest with Him.  He is interested in both what we do, and why we do it.  Our actions may seem good on the surface, but the Lord searches out our innermost intentions.  He examines our motives to see if our works are wrought in Him, or are "self" propelled.  In another Psalm, David says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23, 24).  David realized that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; therefore we need the Lord's help in discerning what makes us tick.   In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul explains that if he were to possess the faith to move mountains, or give all that he had to the poor, or even give himself up as a martyr to the Lord, yet, if he di...
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THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS

"Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned . " (Isaiah 40:2).    2 Chronicles, chapters 17-20, tells the story of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who lived during the 10th century B.C.  Jehoshaphat was a good king.  Scripture tells us, "his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord." (2 Chronicles 17:6).    He was not a perfect man, however.  He made the mistake of allying himself with Ahab, king of Israel, against the Syrians.  This displeased the Lord because Ahab was a very wicked man who had led Israel away from worshipping God and taught them to worship Baal instead.  It is said of Ahab, "Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." (1 Kings 16:33).   After the battle with the Syrians in which Ahab was mortally wounded and Jehoshaphat escaped with his life only because of God's divine inte...
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