IDOK DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010

Praise Reports, Prayer Requests and Updates:

I saw something today reading the genealogy of JESUS as recorded in Matthew 1 that I do not recall noticing previously.  I’ll give you my conclusion and then how I arrived at it.  GOD IS NOT ASHAMED OF US.

If you use the link above or open your personal copy of the Bible and read Matthew 1: 1-16 you will find four women listed, only four grandmothers but all the grandfathers.

Tamar. Rahab. Ruth. Bathsheba.  And you say, so how does that indicate to you that ABBA is not ashamed of us?  Why include only four women?  Why not include all the women in the lineage of JESUS?   And if you are going to pick out just four why these four?  Why not  four impeccable women?  Because including these four, I think, will tell us something we need to know about our FATHER.    And certainly there’s more than I have seen today, but this is a start.

Tamar was widowed twice, with no sons by either husband; who by the way were brothers.  Her father-in-law told her to wait around for the younger brother and when he was old enough he would give him to her in marriage to raise up a son.   He didn’t.  And when he did not. Tamar found another way to get pregnant — she dressed up like a harlot and her father-in-law unknowingly paid her a visit and voila two sons were born.   You can read about it in Genesis 38. Now tell me would you be recording this for the world to read if that were YOUR Grandmother? GOD did.  He was not ashamed to list her by name in the human lineage of His Holy Son JESUS.

What about Rahab?  I love Rahab!  I am so looking forward to meeting her when I get to Heaven.   In fact I like her so much for years I have been thinking about a fiction book I’d like to write based upon her life as recorded in Scripture.   Okay. Focus here!   Before coming to know Yahweh, before becoming the wife of Salmon and before giving birth to Boaz, Rahab was a prostitute.  That’s what I said, a prostitute.  Again, would you be preserving for the world to read that YOUR Grandmother was a prostitute?   Check out Joshua 2 – 6 and see Rahab in action — as she converted to Jehovah and she and her family were saved when the City of Jericho fell to Joshua and the Israeli Choir.   Again, ABBA was not ashamed of Rahab!  He listed her by Name in the human lineage of HIS Son.

Now Ruth doesn’t have a seedy sexual past; she’s just not Jewish!  She’s a foreigner.  She’s an outsider and she was dirt poor!    She had nothing as to worldly goods.   Some probably said she was a ‘gold digger’ when she married Boaz.   Again, would you give her a prominent place in YOUR autobiography?   Check out the Book of Ruth.   I am so glad that DADDY GOD is  not ashamed of  poor destitute non-Hebrew Girls.  Aren’t you?  Aren’t you glad He not only includes ‘gold diggers’  in His Family, but puts them up for display and admiration as the Bride of HIS DEAR and ONLY SON?

And lastly, Bathsheba.  And you know what folks say about her.  She’s most often called an adulteress.  Again,  would you make public that SHE was YOUR Grandmother? Again, GOD did!  He was not ashamed to name Bathsheba. And whatever any one of us has done or shall do, OUR DADDY GOD is NOT ashamed of us.

Hebrews 11:16 (New American Standard Bible) ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

How good is that!?  You can read a portion of Bathsheba’s story at 2 Samuel 11.

To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.

This is what I see DADDY.  In You and to You I am beautiful and You are not ashamed of me!  Nor any of my sisters and brothers.  We are loved beyond words or descriptions or feelings!  Thank You for this.  I pray to remember it always and to live according to it for Your honor and glory, LORD JESUS.

Thank You for seeing the names and the faces and the hearts of each name we read.  Thank You for speaking to them, for attending and tending to them.   LaJuanna and Lynette are a couple days out of surgery now, I pray for a steady and clean recovery for both of them.  And Martha has a surgery still pending I think, tend to that for her too I pray.  And there are others on our minds and other needs.  Social gatherings coming up and new Bible Study teachers to take position in little more than a week, I pray we study to show ourselves approved and that You will anoint the speaking and the hearing of every class and every member.  I pray too for churches in conflict, that the conflicts will be repented of and You will be consulted and obeyed by everyone of them.  And I pray for our IDOK Troops, please keep them safe and protect them from all harm.  And certain young ones so loved just came to mind – school is out and the summer is on.  I pray for their safety, for peace and harmony to prevail, for holy fun for them and for their love and knowledge of You to increase this summer.   I pray for the teachers, that this summer they will experience rest and refreshment that only YOU can give them.  I pray they will apply themselves to sitting and resting at Your Feet, willing and ready to LEARN from YOU so they can teach and serve even better when school begins again.

And before putting this to waiting, I pray for Israel.  Please prosper them and protect them and bring them to the peace and security You desire for them.  Amen and amen in JESUS Name.