Today’s Reading: Genesis 34-35
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Damascus Gate is the main entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located in the wall on the city's northwest side where the highway leads out to Nablus, and from there, in times past, to the capital of Syria, Damascus. As such, its modern English name is Damascus Gate.
GOOGLE MAPS – See where Reynold took the photo – Click HERE.
Key Verse: Genesis 35:1
Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
“Bethel,” “House of God,” “Dwell there,” is the best guarantee of living in the presence of God. Anna (Luke 2:36-38), an 84-year-old widow, “did not depart from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day” and was blessed with a revelation of who Jesus is when Jesus was just eight days old. It’s IMPORTANT to spend quality time in the House of God, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is” (Hebrews 10:25). It’s IMPORTANT, if at all possible, to get to Church this Sunday, and any other services the Church provides. Go “back to Bethel” again and again. “Bethel” is the place where, on most occasions, God reveals Himself to you. Like Jacob, “purify yourselves,” and “make an altar.” An altar is a place of consistently meeting with God. Your daily devotions, the family altar, the “House of God” will grant God the opportunity to speak to you, guiding the direction of your life.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord, like Jacob (Israel) reveal Yourself to me so that I may follow You into the land to which You have called me. By Your grace lead me by Your strong, protecting hand. I pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
Today and tomorrow, I want to share some examples of comments left by some of your fellow blog readers:
God’s voice speaks to the listening heart! God loves “MAN” and spending time with MAN! “Morning, afternoon, night!” Yes, you may call it a MANifestation! ~ Connie
David, my husband and I have to make a very important financial decision today. Praying about it and while reading your blog the first thing I look at “I am with you” “God listens.” What a mighty God we serve, cares for everything in our lives. Thank you again David, for the daily blog. ~ Thelma
I have always found it harder to lay down my strengths than my weaknesses. Somehow we have to find that balance of allowing God into our “best laid plans of mice and men.” ~ Yeurgen
Thanks to all of you who have responded from day to day with such thoughtful comments,
David
P.S. If you wish to post a comment on my blog, go to www.100words.ca and click on the “comments” bubble at the top. You can read the comments of others, and you can post your own thoughts.
Thank you Lord for giving us the determination and commitment to follow and complete this journey through the Bible. May we be receptive to Your Will in our lives and serve as You would have us do. His blessings and strength, to all!
Amen
Amen
Amen!
I know we’re not supposed to judge people but that was certainly barbaric behaviour on behalf of Jacob’s sons. Sort of speechless, again.
May God show more mercy to us than man does to man.
Breaking News: Netanyahu’s speech to Hamas
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu just made the following speech in front of the Knesset:
To Ismail Haniya, and the leaders and operatives of Hamas:
We, the people of Israel, owe you a huge debt of gratitude. You have succeeded where we have failed. Because never before, in the history of the modern State of Israel, has the Jewish people been so united, like one person with one heart. You stole three of our most precious children, and slaughtered them in cold blood. But before we could discover the horrible truth, we had 18 days of pain and anxiety while we searched for them, during which our nation united as never before, in prayer, in hopes, in mutual support.
And now, as you continue to launch deadly missiles indiscriminately, intended to maim and murder as many civilians as possible, while you take cowardly refuge behind your own civilians – you continue to inspire us to hold strongly onto our newly discovered unity. Whatever disputes we Jews may have with each other, we now know that we have one common goal: we will defeat you.
But we are offering you now one last chance. Within 24 hours, all rocket fire – and I mean all rocket fire – will cease. Completely. Forever.
I give you formal notice that our tanks are massed at the Gaza border, with artillery and air support at the ready. We have already dropped leaflets over the northern parts of the Gaza strip, warning civilians of our impending arrival, and that they should evacuate southward, forthwith. If you fail to meet our ultimatum, we are coming in, and, with God’s help, this time we will not leave. Every centimeter of land that we conquer will be annexed to Israel, so that there will never be another attack launched at our civilians from there.
Even so, we will continue to keep the door open to allow you to surrender gracefully. The moment you announce that you are laying down arms, we will halt our advance, and there we will draw our new borders. If you continue to attack our citizens, we will continue to roll southwards, driving you out of territory that you will never again contaminate with your evil presence.
It pains me deeply that your civilians will be made homeless. But we did not choose this war; you did. And if our choice is between allowing our citizens to be targeted mercilessly by your genocidal savagery, versus turning your civilians into refugees, I regret that we must choose the latter. If only you loved your people as much as you hate ours, this war would never have happened.
To the rest of the world: Israel has tired of your ceaseless chidings that we should “show restraint”. When you have your entire population under constant missile fire from an implacable enemy whose stated goal is to murder every man, woman and child in your land, then you may come and talk to us about “restraint”. Until then, we respectfully suggest that you keep your double standards to yourselves. This time, Hamas has gone too far, and we will do whatever we have to in order to protect our population.
Hamas, once again, I thank you for bringing our people together with such clarity of mind and unity of purpose. The people of Israel do not fear the long road ahead.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Thank you David for your emphasis on going to church, returning to ‘Bethel’ again & again! It seems that so many people these days are turned off of church & simply quit going. But we keep saying that there is a blessing in going to God’s house. There is teaching about Him, other people who believe what we believe & this provides strength as we are a family & the blessing of worshipping in peace before our God.
The UPDATE – Yesterday I asked for prayer for a young woman named Amy Wallace. Thank you everyone who prayed!!!!!!!!!!! God was with us, Jesus was glorified & the Holy Spirit lead the way! Before they arrived I received a call from a lady who we know from church & wanted to put up posters for our upcoming concert. I was able to tell this woman about Amy’s situation. To my shock & amazement she said, “Put me down for $5,000.00.” Thanking her I reiterated..a loan for $5K….”No, a gift,” she said. I couldn’t believe it. God was already going to show Amy how much He cared about her finances. Shortly after, Amy & Danial, her boyfriend, came over & stayed for 8 hours!!!!! Amy was overwhelmed, to say the least, at the gift that had just come in! All day she kept saying that she couldn’t even ‘wrap her head around it’. We listened intently to both their stories of life. Amy had been confirmed in the Anglican church but there was nothing there, no life, no reality so she gradually slipped away. We realised she had not been taught the Bible or been discipled in any way. Danial had been raised in the Church of God & attended many Pentecostal Youth Rallies but didn’t have the Biblical grounding to keep him in check & he wandered off to look into other religions. He went to Peru a few years ago for a month to search for spiritual meaning with a friend, which positively changed him. 7 weeks ago he underwent surgery to donate 20% of his liver to a little child that needed a transplant & he is recovering from complications to his arm where there is nerve damage.
As the day turned into night we served a meal of finger food & continued. We were able to share our testimonies of how we came to Jesus & many stories of how He had worked in our lives & even dreams & visions. As they intently listened leaning forward to hear every word, you could have heard a pin drop on the carpet : ) Danial then began to tell us of experiences he’d had with the work of the Holy Spirit in meetings…healings, speaking in tongues & the interpretations. As he spoke he lit up, had a wide smile & was so excited in telling us that we felt it sparked him deep inside & the Holy Spirit was at work. Amy was so moved she told us how she had been given dreams she knew were God-given from 2001 – 2012 where she had seen Jesus & God had directly spoken to her. The dreams were so frequent coming to her almost every month. Then she moved in with a boyfriend (long gone now) & the dreams stopped. She said she knew everything was about Jesus & that these dreams pointed her to Jesus over & over & over. When she shared this with her priest, the woman told her she was just ‘losing her faith’ – period. No other encouragement was given & she never went back. Both Amy & Danial felt comfortable sharing these things that they had only shared with one or two close family members before & some of the stories they hadn’t shared with each other.
NOW – So now we continue to pray. They want to get together again soon which we will do. Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers & support!!! I can’t tell you how absolutely wonderful it is to be a part of the family of our great God where we can share, pray, support & give of the time, knowledge, discernment & so many other things that God has gifted each one with. The Triune God is at work!! Praise be to Him!! I’ll keep you posted with any updates.
Thank you David for this place to learn & grow! Blessings to you & all the fellow blog readers!
Thanks for the update Michele. “Our triune God is at work”! Indeed!!!
Praise God Michele, He is working in the hearts of Amy and Daniel. May God bless you with wisdom to share with this couple and praying they will accept the sacrifice of The Cross of Jesus.
Hello, I was wondering if my fellow bloggers would pray with me. Recently, I have had a number of posts on my facebook from Atheistic friends and family. This breaks my heart as most of them are quite young and I feel are “buying in” to Atheism to be “cool” (outdated word, I’m sure), I need your prayers in order to find a way to respond to them in a loving manner that helps them to THINK about what they are really saying and believing. thank you!
I would be happy to commit to pray for you Sherry. Will pray that God will give you His wisdom to respond in cyber space. It took a leap of faith for me to start being vulnerable but Facebook is a place to shine the light of Christ no matter who is reading. It really is a battle ground out there. Armour up! – Ephesians 6
You are in my prayers sister!!!
Thank you Michele!
Such a dark world some if our young people are facing, but Our Lord has overcome the world and will give you the words and wisdom to share as we pray with you Sherry.
Thank you Catherine!
Thank you David. Your prayer was especially meaningful to me today. Thanks also to my blogging friends.
I have a quiet time with our Lord and Saviour every morning before I set off for work, but my favorite place to commune with God is when I climb a nearby mountain usually several times each year in late summer. I leave early enough most times to be the first on the mountain… Just me and my maker… God willing, the first time that will happen this year is this coming Friday.
Have a blessed day my blogger friends…
Blessings on your time with your Saviour this Friday David. What a precious way to spend time with Him.
Great to hear you are taking on a mountain climb Friday. Enjoy what must be an amazing panorama and all the wonderful nature that surrounds you! Safe journey!
David thank you so much for your 100 Words. I am blessed daily and listen to the spoken version. As I listen I imagine Jesus speaking the words as He truly is the Word of God. I also give honour and praise for your healing miracle that you can be with us here longer. Blessings to you and Norma Jean for all you have given to the church and the world.
I just love this blog. It has so much passion, compassion and love for the Father,son and holy spirit!
great web site! Highly recommend for anyone going through a life struggle. Blessings! Xoxo
Father God
I pray for Sherry that you will give her your words to speak to the Atheistic friends
,and their families on face book as well that God will give you wisdom
In Jesus Name
Amen
Thank you Lianne!
Dear Rev. David M.
For three days in a row now starting from Sunday at church the subject of dwelling in God was examined , then it came up again as I was recuperating from two days of ailment , yesterday and now today through our daily blog i finally get the profound impact that dwelling in God as on each of us if we just let Him be first 24 hours a day.
So Heavenly Father I thank you for making it clear to us not to be caught up in the busyness and confusion of this world but to stay focused on Your precious Word in the name of the One Who never turned away from us and left us the greatest Gift of all THE HOLY SPIRIT., OUR SAVIOUR, OUR KING, JESUS. AMEN.
PS…Dear sister Michele Collins what a fantastic god we serve . Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus . Keeping you in prayer as you minister.
Dear sister Sherry you are not alone like you I am also facing the sad reality of most of my family still in darkness
But I am not concerned for I know that the prayer of a mother is never left unanswered. So yes my dear stand strong, hold on to Jesus He will do what needs to be done ,all for His Glory ,
Amen, Amen.
Have a blessed day everyone, keeping Israel in prayer.
xoxoxo Carole
Thank you Carole, your writing was a blessing -‘ the One who never turned away from us’ – brings tears to my eyes. Thank you! Also for your prayer support xox
Thank you Carole!
We don’t have a suitable local church so are we missing out? Won’t God reveal himself regardless?