Latest Thoughts of the Day

Jude 14

12/12/2025

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See. tje Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones..."

Jude is writing to warn about ungodly teachers who rise up within the church to lead the godly astray, affirming unflinchingly that they will be judged at the coming of the Lord with an irresistible force. He assures us that this in no new idea by quoting Enoch, the seventh from Adam. We do not have the actual book that Enoch wrote, though there have been writings produced that claim to be genuine. Jude gives us the quote remembered more as a proverb than as a part of an authentic existing work. It is part of his argument displaying the character of those who rise up in opposition to God. Lord, help us see beyond smooth words to the essence of rebellion, holding fast to Jesus.

3 John13

12/11/2025

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink.

One positive response to this verse is thankfulness for the Apostle Paul’s imprisonment. He was forced to write. The much that he had to say had to be written down and was able to be preserved and copied for the next 2000 years. John’s words of encouragement and instruction were surely a great blessing to those he was able to visit, but those that we have from him for our edification were those he did manage to get down on paper. We certainly identify with John’s preference for the spoken word, but we are deeply thankful for the necessity that put many of his thoughts on paper. Lord, help us to speak in a way that helps your people, but help us use any means to point to Jesus.

2 John 7

12/11/2025

Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

People who get the message wrong with regard to Jesus fit into the category of deceiver and antichrist. There are many ways to be wrong concerning Him, and this is the red flag that always alerts us to damnable heresy. Some errors will not land you in Hell. Errors with regard to Jesus will. Help us, Lord, to take everything the Bible says about Jesus into serious consideration when we think about Him, and guide us by Your Holy Spirit, that we get it right. But especially give us grace not to lean on our own understanding. Our safety for all eternity cannot rest upon our intellectual prowess. The certainty of our safety rests in You Yourself, Lord Jesus.

I John 3:27

12/10/2025

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you.

False teachers like to present themselves as necessary. “God has given me something that you cannot get on your own!” The teacher’s personal profit will need for people to feel this way but it is not the way God works. Teachers that God raises up help us get more quickly what we could have gotten on our own from the Bible. The only truth they have to impart is that which God has given to us all. Very often the insights we get from a good preacher are things we feel we ought to have known just from our study of the Bible. There simply aren’t any essential people. Thank You, Lord, for the all-sufficiency of all of Scripture. Help us remember our Teacher is Jesus.

2 Peter 3:5

12/9/2025

But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and with water.

As the unbeliever constructs his world and life view he forgets the place of water in God’s plan. The most important thing that he forgets because he wants to forget is the judgment God brought upon the earth by means of water. The wickedness of man had reached its peak, and God sent a dreadful flood to wipe mankind off the earth, sparing only Noah and his family. These men want to think that the natural cycle is constant and eternal because they do not want to think that God will judge. What they deliberately forget is still true, and they will answer most dreadfully for their sins, apart from the mercy that God freely offers in the person of His Son, Jesus.

1 Peter 4:5

12/8/2025

But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Peter us speaking of our losing friends because of the Gospel. Paul has reminded us that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit, that the carnal mind is enmity to God, that apart from His grace no one will respond with love to Jesus. But it is encouraging to be reminded that those very friends must themselves deal with God. They must give an account to their judge. That Judge had mercy upon me, and I can be bold to pray for those who reject me because of Him. I was blind, but now I see. Thank You, Lord, for including me among Your own. Gather those who reject me because of my commitment to serve You. Shine into their hearts the glory of Jesus.

James 4:9

12/7/2025

Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

People by nature laugh and party and joke in order to keep from thinking about the danger of their condition, the emptiness of their thoughts and the stupidity of their merriment. James is telling them to wake up. Take seriously your offense toward God, realize that His wrath is genuine, be depressed for a moment in order to be real. Humble is what you ought to be, considering your actual situation. Coimmon sense and your own conscience can tell you that. Repent and turn to the One who reaches out to you in mercy. Humble yourself, and He will lift you up. Lord, may Your Holy Spirit move our hearts as we listen to the words of Your apostle! Thank You for this realistic challenge, and for the wonderful promise it conveys, Lord Jesus.

Hebrews 7:7

12/6/2025

And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.

Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek is mysterious to us , but it seems to have been very clear to the people involved. The rightness of giving a tithe of the booty to this personage and the value of the blessing this priest conveyed is clear to the participants, and becomes axiomatic to us. The one who blesses is in a higher position, spiritually, than the one who is blessed. We take that position with regard to one another when we bless one another in Jesus’s Name. We stand between Jesus and them as an intercessor and we long to be a mediator of His blessing upon the one to whom we speak. We step into God’s presence on their behalf and entreat that He send forth His blessing. As a priest, we pray for the blessing of Jesus.

Philemon 12

12/5/2025

I am sending him--who is my very heart--back to you

Philemon’s runaway slave had come to Christ under Paul and had become very useful as a helper in Paul’s ministry. But the social and legal obligation the slave now faced had to be set right, and it proved a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the effect that the Gospel has upon those who believe. The social order that promotes slavery should be challenged. The personal cost of following Christ could be demonstrated from several angles. Philemon’s dilemma could find parallels in many rich men in his day and continue in influence for centuries to come. God made Paul see the importance and gave him wisdom to approach a touchy subject carefully. We learn from him and from Philemon and from Onesimus as well, all of them with a sincere desire to please and glorify their Lord Jesus.