Today’s Reading: Isa 14:24–16:14, Luke 6:1–49, Job 4:12–21
Today’s Theme: God’s Decrees and Commands
Today’s theme looks at God’s decreed will and his commanded will. Each of these are quite different, the decreed will of God is that which absolutely will come to pass and no one can stop it. On the other hand, the commanded will of God are the things God desires but does not force, with this will our compliance is required.
Isaiah 14:24–16:14
The unstoppable God
For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? Isaiah 14:27 (ESV)
When God decides to do something no one can stop Him. God is unstoppable.
When God decrees something it cannot be undone, He is the King and when he makes an official decree it stands forever.
One of the things that God has decreed is His choice of you as one of His elect. He decreed it before the creation of the world, with this mind you can be encouraged to persevere.
Thank God for his unstoppable decrees over your life today. 1 Corinthians 2:6.
Luke 6:1–49
The call to ministry
And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Luke 6:13 (ESV)
Jesus spent all night praying and then chose twelve from His company of disciples to have a special ministry as Apostles.
These Apostles were unique in that they were the only ones to be closely discipled by Jesus as an incarnated man. They were commissioned to be witnesses and authors of the writings of the New Testament, no apostle today is an apostle like this as Jesus is not here physically and the Bible has already been written.
God’s call to the ministry is not a decree but a command that we need to respond to. Judas was chosen to be a minister but he turned his back on his office and was replaced.
If God has called you to ministry you need to choose to respond to the calling, do it and bring glory to God.
The manifesto of the kingdom
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Luke 6:20 (ESV)
The beatitudes contain a mixture of decree (statements of fact) and commands (things you need to chose to do).
As an exercise, see if you can read through them today and identity the commands. When you do, form a list and meditate on them asking God to help you obey the commands by His Holy Spirit.
For example this verse is a decree that the kingdom of God belongs to the poor where as verse 27 commands us to love our enemies.
Try to find time to hunt for these treasures today, happy hunting.
Job 4:12–21
Trust the word of God
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. Job 4:15 (ESV)
This was a demonic encounter, perhaps the scenario is that a lying spirit was sent out to Job’s friend to feed him false perspectives and information which he would in turn regurgitate to Job. This would cause Job more emotional and spiritual distress and of course disrupt Job’s purer view of God.
We must all recognise that if we have encounters like this they are mostly from demonic spirits that have an agenda to tell us lies. Note the fear Eliphaz said and then the lies and blatant ill content towards both God and man (made from the dust jibe).
Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014.
Additional resources
The Gospel Coalition on Luke 6