Catching Up

Oh boy have I fallen behind in some of the reading... especially the Old Testament.  But I am catching up today and it really was pretty cool to read several chapters of Exodus all together.  I read all the way from when the Lord tells Moses to go back to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of captivity, through most of the plagues sent because of Pharaoh's hard heart, to the instructions for the Passover.  The plagues that happened really were terrible.  I can't imagine being just an average Egyptian who had no clue why all these crazy things were happening: frogs, flies, boils, darkness, etc.  There must have been no doubt in the minds of those who heard Moses speak, though, that his God was the only true God.

Matthew 19:13-20:28
Jesus tells a young man that to truly become His follower he must sell everything and give to the poor because "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven."  19:24  This is a bit of a scary thought in our society.  We all have in abundance.  We may not see ourselves as "rich," but we have more than most.  Then Jesus tells about laborers who worked all day, and some who worked only in the last hour but all got paid the same amount.  He used this story to illustrate "the last will be first, and the first last."  20:16  I must confess the connection between the story and the lesson are not perfectly clear for me.

Psalm 24, 25:1-15
"Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory!" 24:10

"Make known to me your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long."  25:4-5
"All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep to his covenant and his testimonies."  25:10

Proverbs 6:1-11
This portion of the Scriptures has the title "Practical Warnings."  Not only are they practical, they are convicting.  First he says if your words have gotten you in trouble to not sleep until you have fixed it.  Then he talks about being a sluggard:
"A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man." verse 11

Pray:
United Arab Emirates
I had to look up what emirate means.  It is the area that an emir rules.  So then I had to look up emir.  This is a person who is a ruler in an Islamic country.  One definition even said a descendent of Mohammed.  This country went from a poor economy to a "playground of the ultra-rich."  As you can imagine, there are all sorts of issues that arise from that.  There is religious freedom, but many don't know about Christ.  There are many expatriates in the country who could potentially be shared with.

United Kingdom
The UK has a strong Christian history but is becoming more and more diversified in its faith.  There are minority groups that get more and more attention from the media and government and Christianity is increasingly frowned upon in the public realm.  Pray for confidence in the gospel and boldness and passion to share it.