Devotion
A brother scorned
David Jacobs
I have an older brother and a younger sister and we always got along well. My parents made sure that we were healthily competitive but above all, supportive of each other. I have leaned on my brother and sister at different times for support, and they have never spurned me of been unwilling to aid me. Luckily for us, our parents shared their love equally, and we never thought that one of us was the favorite of either our mother or father, so jealousy was not a part of our household growing up.
The same cannot be said of the family of Isaac and Rebekah. Their sons, Esau and Jacob, are twins but seem to be near opposites of one another: Esau is a cunning and skilled hunter, a big, strong, hairy, and profane man. Jacob on the other hand is a sensitive, passive, obedient, devout, and loyal man, more accustomed to farming than with hunting. Isaac preferred the manly qualities of Esau while his wife, Rebekah, preferred the caring nature of Jacob. Not having his father's blessing and birthright became an obsession for Jacob, making Esau swear his birthright to him when he was hungry after returning home one day, and in these verses, tricking his blind father into giving Jacob, posing as Esau, his blessing.
Jacob goes to great lengths in order to secure a more stable future for himself, scorning his brother in the process. Esau, realizing that he has sworn his birthright to Jacob and that his father has mistakenly believed that Jacob was Esau and given him his blessing, has lost all hope. Similar to how Jacob was obsessed with gaining the birthright and blessing, Esau becomes obsessed with losing it, pledging that he will one day kill his brother. These verses make me so sad, because I consider my own family. Siblings should be able to rely on each other, not plot to dupe and murder one another! Think about your own family and siblings: have you been on their side or on your own? In some cases it can be a matter of life and death.
Prayer
Reach out to a sibling or friend and tell them that you will be there for them if they need. These words are usually assumed but rarely said, and verbalizing them can make a big difference in mending wounded relationships.
Morning Prayer
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Inspiration
To reject the truths taught in God's Word, spoken by his prophets and apostles and by Jesus Christ his Son, is a grave offense. In the days when Hebrews was written, there were still true prophets in the Church, speaking from God. Today, we have his written Word as our "prophet. " If a preacher preaches truly according to the Book, we are in a grave sin if we reject it.
Prayer
Help me, O Lord, to discern when your Word is being taught correctly and when it is not. Teach me to embrace your truths and love them. Help me to walk in them and meditate on them. Let me not sin in rejecting the plain teachings of the Bible. Amen.
Night Prayer
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Inspiration
Sin rules our lives until we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. When we invite Him into our lives, our old sinful heart dies, and God creates within us a new one, where sin no longer rules our life; God does! Our thoughts and actions begin to change because we no longer desire a sinful lifestyle. We joyfully devote our lives to serving Him and inviting others to understand His promise of salvation.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we are sinners born again and recreated to live according to Your will. We are grateful for Your love and the peace we experience by abolishing our old sinful self. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Devotion
Satan Has Been Defeated
Frances Taylor
Salvation and power have come with Christ and Satan has been defeated. Sin and death have been conquered by the actions of one man, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, both human and divine who came into the world to bring the Good News of salvation by living, dying and rising for us. As Christians we claim to believe this but our actions sometimes deny it. Unfortunately, people seem to resurrect Satan all the time. We allow him to lead us away from God, forgetting the way to the Father that is love, and giving in to Satan's path of hatred, anger, pride, lust, chaos and destruction.
Satan, of course, doesn't present these as bad things, he makes them seem attractive. He presents sin as goods to be desired, as things to make us happy or give us pleasure. It can be hard to stay on the path that leads to God when the world seems to be crowding us and pushing us off of it. How easy it is to forget the sacrifice that bought our freedom! Which of us ...