Jacob Changes name

Genesis 32:24 - 31

24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled
with the man.
26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob, " he answered.
28 Then the man said, "your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggle with God and with men and have overcome."
29 Jacob said, "please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip."

Further Reading
Jacob's departure from Laban continued - Genesis 31:33 - 55
Jacob's apprehension before his reunion with Esau - Genesis 32:1 - 23
Jacob wrestles with angel - Genesis 32:24 - 32
Jacob's name changed - Genesis 35:10
Jacob meets Esau - Genesis 33:1 - 16
Dinah's defilement - Genesis 34:1 - 12

For Thought
Have you ever stopped everything and said this one thing God - your name? What is your name?Ego?Fear?Resentment?Self - pity?
A new name doesn't come until we say the old one. In other words, confession is catharsis.

Contemplation
"...I will also write on him my new name." (Rev. 3:12). "...rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Lk. 10:20)

Esau's history

Genesis 28:6 - 9
6 Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him,
"Do not marry a Canannite woman, "
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.
8 Esau then realised how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac;
9 so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

Further Reading
Esau marries Mahalath - Genesis 28:6 - 9
Esau's marriages and descendants - Genesis 36:1 - 30, 1 Chronicles 1:35 - 42
Kings of Edom:Bela, first king - Genesis 36:31 - 33, 1 Chronicles 1:43 - 44
Other Kings - Genesis 36:34 - 39, 1 Chronicles 1:45 - 50
Chiefs of Edom - Genesis 36:40 - 43, 1 Chronicles 1:51 - 54
Jacob's departure from Laban - Genesis 31:17 -32

For Thought
God often accomplishes His purpose with us despite our waywardness and sturbonness. But how much grief we would spare ourselves if we would learn to wait on God, and follow His bidding to the letter.

Contemplation
"If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand."
(Psa. 37:23 - 24)

Jacob's history

Genesis 29:21 - 30
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.
23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her.
24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I?
Why have you decieved me?"
26 Laban replied, "it is not our custom herre to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.
27. Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for the another seven years of work."
28 And Jacob did so. He finished out the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife...
30 Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years/

Further Reading
Jacob sent to Laban's house - Genesis 28:1 - 5
Dream at Bethel - Genesis 28:10 - 22
Arrives in Haran - Genesis 29:1 - 14
Works seven years to get Rachel - Genesis 29:15 - 20
Marriage to Leah then to Rachel - Geneis 29:21 - 30
Twelve children born while working for Laban - Genesis 29:31 - 30, 24
Jacob's closing days with Laban - Genesis 30:25 - 43, 31:1 - 16

For Thought
Have you heard of the "Laban Principle"? It says that those who scheme to have thier own way as opposed to God's way, often
have a head-on collision with someone who is theier equal as a schemer.

Contemplation
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9)

The Death of Abraham

Genesis 25:21-26
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became
pregnant.

22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to enquire of the Lord
.
23 The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be
stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.

25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.

26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Easu's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.


Further Reading
Isaac marries Rebekah - Genesis 24:1 - 67, 25:20
Abraham's children by marriage to Keturah - Genesis 25:1 - 4, 1 Chronicles 1:32 - 33
Isaac heir of all things - Genesis 25:5 - 6
Death of Abraham - Genesis 25: 7 - 10
Death of Shem - Genesis 11:11
Isaack blessed - Genesis 26:11
Ishmael and his descendants - Genesis 25:12 - 18, 1 Chronicles 1:28 - 29
Birth of Esau and Jacob - Genesis 25:19, 21 - 26
Death of Eber - Genesis 11:17

For Thought
No matter how effecitve and important a man may be, his time and work on this earth are limited. How gratifying, therefor, to know that
though God buries His workman, He always carries on His work.

Contemplation
"...Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!" (Jn. 8:58)

Incidents in Isaac's life

Genesis 26:6 - 10
6. So Isaac stayed in Gerrar.
7. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said "she is my sister, "because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife."He thought, "The men of this
place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful."
8.When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistine looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
9. Se Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "she is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?"
Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her."
10 Them Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would habe brought guilt upon us."

Further Reading
Sale of birthright - Genesis 25:27 - 34
Esau marries two Canaanite women - Genesis 26:34 - 35
Famine and covenant renewal - Genesis 26:1 - 5
Isaac lies about Rebekah - Genesis 26:6 - 10
Isaac's success at Gerar - Genesis 26:11 - 16
Isaac the well - digger - Genesis 26:17 - 22
Isaac makes alter at Beersheba - Genesis 26:23 - 25
Isaac's truce with Abimelech - Genesis 26:26 - 33
Jacob obtains Esau's blessing - Genesis 27:1 - 46

For Thought
When we lean upon our own reason rather than on God's clear commands, we run counter to the design of the universe.The theory that end
the end justifies the means may be part of man's order, but it is not part of the eternal scheme.

Contemplation
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
(Prov. 3:5 - 6)

Incidents in Abraham's life

Genesis 21:8 - 13
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But sarah saw that the son
whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son,
for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."

11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the
boy and your maidservent. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."

Further Reading
Lot's daughters five birth to sons - Genesis 19:30 - 38
Birth of Isaac - Genesis 21:1 - 7, 1 Chronicles 1:34
Conflict of Isaac and Ishmael - Genesis 21:8 - 13
Hagar and Ishmael cast out - Genesis 21:14 - 21
Death of Shelah - Genesis 11:15
Ishmael's Childrean - Genesis 25:12 - 16, 1 Chronicles 1:29 - 31
Abimelech's covenant with Abraham - Genesis 21:22 - 34
Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac - Genesis 22:1 - 19
Abraham learns of Nahor's family - Genesis 22:20 - 24
Death of Sarah - Genesis 23:1 - 20

For Thought
Faith never quibbles at God's demands, even though those demands sometimes go against reason. But what is faith? No greater definition of faith has ever
been given than that contained in the the simple acrostic:Forsaking All Trust Him.

Contemplation
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Heb. 11:1)

The Birth of a nation

Genesis 19:24 - 29
Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens.
Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in
the land.
26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah, towards all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Further Reading
The Lord appears to Abraham and Sarah is promised a son - Genesis 18:1 -10
Sarah's unbelief reproved - Genesis 18:11 - 15
God reveals to Abraham the impending destruction of Sodom - Genesis 18:16 - 22
Abraham's intercession for Sodom - Genesis 18:23 - 33
Angels warn Lot - Genesis 19:1 -22
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot's wife - Genesis 19:23 - 28
Abraham's prayer for Lot answered - Genesis 19:29
Abraham's later years: lies to Abimelech - Genesis 20:1 -18

For Thought
How do God's true servants react in times of emergency or great crisis? They react, as did Abraham, by turning to God in fervent, believing
prayer. Lifes' best outlook is a prayerful uplook!

Contemplation
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we
know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him."
(1 Jn. 5:14 - 15)

The Abrahamic covenant

Genesis 17:1 - 7

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty:walk before
me and be lameless.

I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."

Abram fell face down, and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations, I will make you very fruitful
; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.


Further Reading

Gen.14:1 - 4
Gen 14:5 - 13
Gen 14:14 -16
Gen 16: 1 - 14
Gen 11:13
Gen 17:1 - 8

For Thought
When God wants to turn a situation from despair to delight, all He has to do is breathe into it. The aspirate (the letter "h") is
inserted into Abram's and Sarais names, thus indicating that the breath of God was at work. He does the same with the word "impossible".
He breathes into it and it becomes "Him-possible".

Contemplation
"For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may recieve the promised eternal inheritance - now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first convenant."
(Heb. 9:15).

God calls Abram [Abraham

Genesis 12:4 - 5
So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy - five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of can an, and they arrived there.
Further Reading
Death of Torah - Gen. 11:32
Lies about wife -Gen.11 - 20
Abram leaves Egypt Wealthy - Gen. 13:1 - 2

For thought
The life of faith though intriguing and exciting, is never without its periods of testing. Are you in such a period at this moment? Then take heart - God tests in order to entrust.

Elihu’s perspective

Job 36: 22 – 31
22 “God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed his ways for him, or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
24 Remember to extol his work, which men have praised in song.
25 All mankind has seen it; men gaze on it from afar.
26 How great is God – beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.
27 He draws up the drops of water, which distil as rain to the streams;
28 the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind.
29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion?
30 See how he scatters his lightning about him, bathing the depths of the sea.
31 This is the way he governs the nations…”

Further Reading
Job declares his uprightness, integrity and mercy – Job 31:1 – 23
Job not guilty of covetousness, idolatry or hypocrisy – Job 31:24 – 40
Elihu is displeased at the dispute – Job 32: 1 – 5
He reproves Job and his friends – Job 32:6 – 14
He speaks without partiality – Job 32:15 – 22
Elihu offers to reason with Job and entreats his attention – Job 33:1 – 33
Elihu accuses Job of charging God with injustice and reproves him – Job 34: 1 – 37
Elihu speaks of man’s conduct and reproves Job’s impatience – Job 35:1 – 16
Elihu desires Job’s attention and counsels him – Job 36: 1 – 33


For Thought
The best time to learn the art of navigation is not when you are in a storm, but prior to it. How would you cope with a Job-sized problem? Have you a strategy for dealing with issues before they arise? If not perhaps now is the time to start working on it.

Contemplation
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.: (Matt. 5:11)

Job defends himself

Job 28:20 -  23
20 “Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air.
22 Destruction and Death say, ‘Only a rumour of it has reached our ears.’
23 God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells…”

Further Reading
Wickedness often unpunihshed – Job 24:1 – 12
The Wicked shun the light – Job 24: 13 – 17
Judgments for the wicked – Job 24:18 – 25
Bildad shows that man cannot be justified before God – Job 25: 1 – 6
Job reproves Bildad – Job 26:1 -4
Job acknowledges the power of God – Job 26:5 – 14
Job protests his sincerity – Job 27:1 – 6
The hypocrite is without hope – Job 27:7 – 10
The miserable end of the wicked – Job 27:11 – 23
Concerning worldly wealth – Job 28:1 – 11
Wisdom is of inestimable value – Job 28: 12 – 19

For Thought
Why do bad things happen to good people? If you have often pondered that problem you are not alone. There is only one answer: God allows bad things to happen to His people only if He sees a way of turning the bad into a greater good.

Contemplation
“… And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).

Job Stands Accused

Job 22: 21 – 22
21 “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.

Further Reading
Job complains of unkind treatment – Job 19: 1 -7
God was the author of his afflictions – Job 19:8 – 22
Job’s belief in the resurrection – Job 19: 23 – 29
Zophar speaks of the short – lived joy of the wicked – Job 20: 1 – 9
The ruin and the portion of the wicked – Job 20: 10  - 29
Job entreats attention – Job 21: 1 – 6
The prosperity of the wicked – Job 21: 7 – 16
The dealings of God’s providence – Job 21: 17 – 26
The judgment of the wicked – Job 21: 17 – 34
Eliphaz shows that man’s goodness does not profit God – Job 22: 1 – 4

For Thought
Life makes sense only when we learn to see it from God’s point of view. This is what turned the tide for Job, and this is what will turn the tide for you. Is life unfair to you? Then lock at it from God’s perspective. Now what do you see?

Contemplation
“…keeping a clear consceience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Pet. 3:16)

The Story of Job (Continues)

Job 17: 1- 6
1 “My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If a man denounces his friends for reward, the eyes of his children will fail.
6 ”God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.”

Further Reading
Job reproves his friends – Job 13:1 – 12
He professes his confidence in God and entreats to know his sins – Job 13:13 – 28
Job speaks of man’s life and death – Job 14: 1 – 15
By sin man is subject to corruption  - Job 14: 16 – 22
Eliphaz reproves Job – Job 15: 1 – 16
The  unease of wicked men – Job 15: 17  36
Job reproves his friends – Job 16: 1-5
He represents his case as deplorable and maintains his innocence – Job 16: 6 – 22
Job appeals to God – Job 17: 1 – 9
His hope is in death – Job 17: 10 – 16

For Thought
Many in today’s Church follow the pattern of Jobs counselors – giving advice before making sure they understand the problem. Never try to win a person to your point of view until you are sure you understand theirs.

Contemplation
“A man finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word!” (Prov. 15: 23)

Job’s Friends

Job 7:1 – 3
1” Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man?
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages,
3 so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.”

Job’s troubles – Job 7:1 – 6
Job expostulates with God and begs release – Job 7: 7 – 21
Bildad reproves Job – Job 8: 1 -7
Hypocrites will be destroyed – Job 8: 8 – 19
Bildad applies God’s just dealing to Job – Job 8: 20 – 22
Job acknowledges God’s justice – Job 9: 1 – 13
He is not able to contend with God – Job 9: 14 – 21
Job complains of troubles and hardships – Job 9:22 – 35 & 10:1 – 7
Job pleads with God as his Maker – Job 10: 8 – 13
He complains of God’s severity – Job 10: 14 – 22
Zophar reproves Job – Job 11: 1 – 6
God’s perfections and almighty power – Job 11: 7 – 12
Zophar assures Job of blessings if he repents – Job 11: 13 – 20
Job reproves often prosper – Job 12: 6 – 11
Job recognizes the wisdom and power of God – Job 12: 12 – 25

For Thought
It is not sinful or “unspiritual” to acknowledge one’s confusion in the prescence of sickness, distress or suffering. Emotions that are not faced cause trouble. You don’t have to agree with them, but you do have to face them in God’s strength.

Contemplation
“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Job's Afflictions

Job 5:8 – 15

8 “But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him,
9. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted
10. He bestows rain on the earth; he sends water upon the countryside.
11. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12. He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
13. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
14. Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.
15. He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful…”

Further Reading

Job’s afflictionEarly history of Job
Job 1:1—5
Satan discusses Job’s character
Job 1:6 – 12
God gives him permission to test Job
Job 1: 13 – 2 : 10
Job complains to his three friends
Job 2:11 – 13, 3:1 – 26
Eliphaz reproves Job
Job 4: 1 – 11
The vision of Eliphaz
Job 4:12 -21
The sin of sinners is their ruin
Job 5:1-7
God to be regarded with affection
Job 5:8 – 16
The happy result of God’s correction
Job 5:17 – 27
Job justifies his complaints
Job 6: 1 – 7
He wishes for death
Job 6: 8 – 13
Job reproves his friends
Job 6: 14 – 30

For Thought
Sometimes the greatest thing you can do for a person who is going through a difficult trial is to sit down with them , saying nothing, but show by your actions that you really care. This is usually far better than a round of speeches.

Contemplation
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you: and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God…” (Isa. 43: 2 – 3)

From the Flood to the Patriarchs

Genesis 11: 1 – 9
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech…
3. They said each other, “come, let’s make bricks, and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and bitumen for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and tower that the men were building.
6 The Lord said, “if as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 so the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Further Reading:
Noah’s descendants – Genesis 9:18 – 19, 10: 1 – 32, 1 Chronicles 1:5 – 27
Noah’s vineyard and drunkenness – Genesis 9:20 – 21
Curse of Ham – Genesis 9:22 – 27
Death of Noah – Genesis 9:28 – 29
The Tower of Babel – Genesis 11: 1 – 9
Shem to Abram – Genesis 11: 10 – 26
Abram’s family – Genesis 11: 27 – 30

For Thought
Some regard the genealogies here as dull and uninteresting, but it is a lesson in how God pays attention to details. He is concerned not only about the general features of your life, but every detail of it. Remember that the next time you feel God does not care.

Contemplation
“…and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” (Matt. 1:16)

The Story of the Flood

Genesis 7:1 –9
1 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation..
2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,
3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female , to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.
4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,
9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.

Further Reading:
Corrupt civilization – Genesis 6:1-7, 11 – 12
Instructions for building the ark – Genesis 6:8, 13 – 21
Birth of Noah’s sons – Genesis 5:32, 6:9 – 10, 1 Chronicles 1:4
Death of Lamech – Genesis 5: 30 - 31
Death of Methuselah – Genesis 5:26 -27
Entering the ark – Genesis 6:22, 7: 1 – 9
The Flood: rain falls – Genesis 7:10 – 24
The Flood: rain stops – Genesis 8:1 – 19
God’s rainbow covenant – Genesis 8:20 -22, 9:1-17

Thought for Today
God took Noah into the Flood – and He also brought him out of it. Similarly, He has not brought you to this point in your life to abandon you. Whatever the problems you face at this moment – God will bring you through

Contemplation
“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matt. 24: 38 – 39)

Prayer
O Lord my God, help me to clearly hear your voice when you speak to me, and to listen to you every day of my life. Help me to make right decisions always, through Jesus Christ I’ve prayed. Amen.

The Fall & the beginning of civilization

The temptation and fall
Genesis 3:1-7

God’s judgment and curse
Genesis 3:8-19

Expulsion from Eden
Genesis 4:1-15

Seth and his descendants
1Chronicles 1:1, Genesis 4:25 – 26, 5:3, 4:26, 5:6 & 9, 1 Chronicles 1:2, Genesis 5:12,15 & 18

Cain and his descendants
Genesis 4:16 – 24

Adam’s descendants continued
1 Chronicles 1:3, Genesis 5:21 -26, 5:4-5, 5:22-24, 5:7-8, 5:28 -29, 5:10 – 11, 5:13 -14, 5:16 – 17, 5:19-20

Genesis 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
(2) The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, (3) but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
(4) "You will not surely die, “ the serpent said to the woman. 5”For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
(6) WheThe Fall & the beginning of civilizationn the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and ate it.(7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Thought for the Day:
Satan has a well worked-out strategy with which he tempts humanity. He appeals (1) to the lust of the , flesh, (2) to the lust of the eyes and (3) to the pride of  life. Are you able to discern this strategy at work in your life? And are you overcoming it?

CONTEMPLATION
“For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.” (1 Cor. 15:21)

The Beginning of Creation

Bible Verses:
The Pre – existent Christ
John 1:1-2

The creation declaration
Psalm 90:2

The origin of creation
Genesis 1:1

Satan cast out of Heaven
Isaiah 45:18

The Six Days of Creation
1st and 2nd Days
Genesis 1:2b-8

3rd Day
Genesis 2:5-6, 1:9-13

4th, 5th & 6th Days
Genesis 1:14-26, 2:7

Creation of Man in detail
Genesis 5:1, 1:27

Creation of the Woman
Genesis 2:18 – 25

Names given
Genesis 5:2, 3:20

Man’s dominion over creation
Genesis 1:28 – 30

Creation completed
Genesis 1:31,2:1 & John 1:3

Seventh day established
Genesis  2:2 – 3, Exodus 20:11

The Garden of Eden
Genesis 2:8 – 17

Genesis 1:27 - 28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in  number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”


For Thought
If, as the Scripture teaches, man is the only being in creation who bears the “image” of God, then ask yourself today: How much of God’s image is reflected in me?

Contemplation
“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:16 -17)