Evening, June 12
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Bible League: Living His Word
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

One of the fundamental teachings and assumptions of the Bible is that people may enter into the presence of the Lord. Although we can no longer enter the gates and courts of the temple in Jerusalem, it is still possible to come before the Lord. Just as we can relate to the natural world below us, and the human world around us, we can relate to the Lord God above us.

Our verse for today follows the biblical pattern with its assumption that people may enter the Lord's presence. What the verse adds to this, however, is one particular way that we may come before Him. We may enter into His presence with thanksgiving and praise. Consider the implications of this teaching. Whoever and whatever the Lord may be, He is of such value and importance that it is socially appropriate to enter His presence with thanksgiving and praise.

We don't enter into the presence of mere mortals with thanksgiving and praise. Even kings and queens do not merit such attention. In the rare instances where leaders have demanded such attention they have been regarded by historians, correctly, as megalomaniacs. In God's case, on the contrary, it makes sense. Indeed, if it is not taught as a strict and universal requirement in the Bible, it is at the very least regarded as being highly appropriate. From the biblical point of view, God is worthy of such treatment.

There are many reasons why the Lord God is worthy, but our verse for today singles out three of them. He is a good, loving, and faithful God. After all, think of what God could be if He wanted. He could use His sovereign power to be evil, hateful, and unfaithful, like the gods of the Greek pantheon were often portrayed to be. God, however, is not like that. And because He is not like that, it is socially appropriate on our part to give Him His due.

Christians often come before the Lord taking His goodness, love, and faithfulness for granted. Maybe today would be a good day to change that; maybe today would be a good day to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Ezra 1, 2


Ezra 1 -- Cyrus Returns the Exiles, Restores the Vessels of the Temple

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Ezra 2 -- Listing of the Exiles Who Returned

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
John 19:23-42


John 19 -- The Crown of Thorns; Jesus' Crucifixion and Burial

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
“The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
Insight
The four types of soil represent different responses to God's message. People respond differently because they are in different states of readiness. Some are hardened, others are shallow, others are contaminated by distracting worries, and some are receptive.
Challenge
How has God's Word taken root in your life? What kind of soil are you?
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
2 Timothy 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling.

The apostle uses the perfect tense and says, "Who hath saved us." Believers in Christ Jesus are saved. They are not looked upon as persons who are in a hopeful state, and may ultimately be saved, but they are already saved. Salvation is not a blessing to be enjoyed upon the dying bed, and to be sung of in a future state above, but a matter to be obtained, received, promised, and enjoyed now. The Christian is perfectly saved in God's purpose; God has ordained him unto salvation, and that purpose is complete. He is saved also as to the price which has been paid for him: "It is finished" was the cry of the Saviour ere he died. The believer is also perfectly saved in his covenant head, for as he fell in Adam, so he lives in Christ. This complete salvation is accompanied by a holy calling. Those whom the Saviour saved upon the cross are in due time effectually called by the power of God the Holy Spirit unto holiness: they leave their sins; they endeavour to be like Christ; they choose holiness, not out of any compulsion, but from the stress of a new nature, which leads them to rejoice in holiness just as naturally as aforetime they delighted in sin. God neither chose them nor called them because they were holy, but he called them that they might be holy, and holiness is the beauty produced by his workmanship in them. The excellencies which we see in a believer are as much the work of God as the atonement itself. Thus is brought out very sweetly the fulness of the grace of God. Salvation must be of grace, because the Lord is the author of it: and what motive but grace could move him to save the guilty? Salvation must be of grace, because the Lord works in such a manner that our righteousness is forever excluded. Such is the believer's privilege--a present salvation; such is the evidence that he is called to it--a holy life.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
1 Peter 2:24  and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Ephesians 4:22-24  that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, • and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, • and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Colossians 3:3  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Romans 6:4,6,7,11-13  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. • knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; • for he who has died is freed from sin. • Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. • Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, • and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Morning June 12
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