Jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame.

Song of Solomon 8:6

Recommended Reading

1 Corinthians 13

It seems nothing could be crueler than the grave, but according to Song of Solomon there’s one thing as bad—jealousy. That’s what caused Lucifer to rebel against God. It’s what caused Cain to kill Abel, and Jacob’s sons to sell their brother Joseph into slavery. It’s why King Saul devoted his life to killing David. According to Mark 15:10, the Jewish leaders handed Jesus over to Pilate because of envy and jealousy.

That means it’s no small thing to feel pangs of jealousy toward another.

If someone receives a higher grade, makes a larger salary, wins a race, achieves a victory, or experiences more prosperity in some way, are you jealous? Yes, we’re all tempted to feel jealous, because the tree of envy grows from the soil of pride. But love is God’s supernatural attitude that allows us to rejoice in the success of others. The Bible says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy” (1 Corinthians 13:4).

If you feel jealous toward another, that’s natural. Ask God for His supernatural attitude of love. It can make all the difference.

The humble man feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before him.… He has received the spirit of Jesus, who pleased not Himself, and who sought not His own honor.

Andrew Murray

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Psalms 141 – 150

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26

Recommended Reading

Hebrews 11:32-40

In Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy wrote about George W. Norris of Nebraska, who began his career as a country teacher on the plains of Nebraska. He became a small-town lawyer, then a local prosecuting attorney and judge. In 1903, he entered the U.S. House of Representatives and was later elected to the Senate. Norris was a Republican who took up unpopular causes and fought uphill battles. Near the end of his career, Norris told a friend, “It happens very often that one tries to do something and fails. He feels discouraged, and yet he may discover years afterward that the very effort he made was the reason why somebody else took it up and succeeded. I really believe that whatever use I have been to progressive civilization has been accomplished in the things I failed to do rather than in the things I actually did do.”1

Avoid the temptation of judging others when they fail. God often uses our failures to train us for future opportunities.

Sometimes our failures even become stepping stones of success for others.

I would rather go down to my political grave with a clear conscience than ride in the chariot of victory.

Senator George W. Norris

1John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage (New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1956), 178.

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Psalms 134 – 140

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Luke 22:62

Recommended Reading

John 21:15-19

Thomas Edison failed nearly a thousand times to find the proper filament for the electric light bulb. But Scottish nature photographer Alan McFadyen would have been happy with such a short quest. He wanted to take the perfect picture of a kingfisher diving into the water in search of a fish—the bird perfectly vertical; the point of its beak touching the water; the bird mirrored exactly in the flat, glassy water’s surface. And he did it—after spending 4,200 hours and taking 720,000 digital images.

All those pictures weren’t failures, of course; but there was only one he counted as a success. That’s how failure works. Sometimes it’s complete, like when an electric light bulb doesn’t work. And sometimes it’s just not the very best. You know you can do better. However we define failure, it can be a stepping-stone to success if we will let it. Like Peter did. He once failed miserably in his loyalty to Christ, but had the wisdom to accept the second chance he was given. And we can do the same.

With failure, it is not a question of “if,” but of “when” and “how.” We must live prepared to fail—but also prepared to succeed as we grow in grace.

The perfect Christian is the one who, having a sense of his own failure, is minded to press toward the mark.

Ernest F. Kevan

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Psalms 120 – 133

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.

Proverbs 13:4

Recommended Reading

Colossians 3:18-25

Warwick Business School conducted a study about the effect of procrastination on grades. Most students (86 percent according to the Warwick study) wait until the last day to turn in assignments. But researchers at Warwick demonstrated that a student’s grades dropped for each hour spent in procrastination. Papers turned in during the last sixty seconds received, on average, a significantly lower grade.1

Who hasn’t put off assignments! But as we mature in life—and as we grow in Christ—we move from procrastination to productivity. Somehow, the Spirit within us fuels our energy, making us heed the counsel of Colossians 3:23: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”

Is there a project you’re putting off? A letter you should write? A task you should tackle? A decision you should make? Napoleon Hill once quipped, “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

Don’t allow procrastination to rob you of success. Be diligent, and God will grant you success.

The best possible way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your intelligence, all your enthusiasm, on doing today’s work superbly today.

Dale Carnegie, in How To Stop Worrying and Start Living

1www.dailyhelmsman.com/news/procrastination-leads-to-lower-grades-study-says/article_08b13670-c9d0-11e5-bf9e-c3abd0e3312e.html.

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Psalms 107 – 111

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Then Jesus said to His disciples,“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Matthew 16:24

Recommended Reading

Matthew 16:24-28

One day General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, was introduced to Queen Victoria, who asked him why God had used him so greatly to help the poor and the suffering souls of England. “I guess the reason,” said Booth humbly, “is because God has all there is of me.”1

Jesus didn’t call us to follow Him when it’s convenient or to give Him 99 percent of our lives. Our time on earth is brief, and we’re here on assignment. There’s work to do, people to win, and a kingdom to advance. Our Lord warned against letting “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word,” rendering us unfruitful (Matthew 13:22). He wants one hundred percent of you.

Our effectiveness for Christ is hindered by unyielded priorities or unconfessed sin. Jesus wants all of us there is to have. He wants all the adoration of our hearts, all the zeal of our souls, and all the days of our lives. Don’t allow the “things” in your life to keep you from doing what Christ is calling you to do for Him.

If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.

Missionary C. T. Studd

1Quoted in Fred Barlow, Profiles in Evangelism (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord, 1976), 32.

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Psalms 104 – 106

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

And He said to them,“Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

Luke 24:38

Recommended Reading

Luke 24:36-49

As Christians, we’ve placed our faith in the Lord Jesus and believe what the Bible says about Him. We believe He died for our sins and rose on the third day. We believe He returned to heaven and is coming again. We believe those things because they are true. Our faith is rooted in clear thinking, and we know we can hold it with intellectual integrity.

Yet traces of doubt can still streak through our minds. That happened to the disciples in Luke 24. When Jesus appeared on Easter evening, they were terrified and thought He was a spirit. He allayed their fears with the reality of His presence, saying, “Why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet….” Only after He ate some broiled fish did their fears turn to faith.

If you suffer twinges of doubt, don’t panic. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Look at His wounds. Study His resurrection. Look at how He changes lives. And the same Savior who convinced the disciples will strengthen your faith.

The faith that the Bible requires is intelligent faith. It is neither blind nor irrational…. No one is asked to sacrifice his intellect when he puts his faith in the God of the Bible.

Don Stewart

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Psalms 89 – 94

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Ephesians 4:27

Recommended Reading

Luke 4:13

Boy Scouts, infantry soldiers, and wilderness explorers are required to have a working knowledge of topography. The key root in “topography” is the Greek word topos, or “place.” So topography is the science of place—as in the places laid out on a map. In the New Testament topos is translated “place,” “locale,” or “opportunity.” When it occurs in Ephesians 4:27, it means not to give the devil a place or opportunity. The New International Version translates that verse as “Do not give the devil a foothold.” That works—a “foothold” being a “place” where a climber can insert his foot when scaling a cliff. A foothold was needed by soldiers seeking to gain entrance to an enemy stronghold or fort.

So what gives the devil this place, opportunity, or foothold? Sinful anger, Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26. The longer anger remains in the human heart, the greater an opportunity, the more secure a foothold, it becomes. All the devil needs to get his foot in the door of the human heart is for us to nurture our hurt feelings, anger, or resentment.

Keep short accounts; fill in the footholds; erase the sinful places from the map of your heart. Give the devil no opportunity. If the emotion of anger appears, make sure it has a godly purpose.

Anger is just one letter short of danger.

Unknown

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Psalms 81 – 88

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

The doors of the school burst open on the last day of school and kids come pouring out, laughing with joy that school is out for three whole months. Freedom! Summer certainly represents a measure of freedom for everyone. Because school is out, families are free from car pools, homework, and other activities that regulate the September–May calendar.

Recommended Reading: Galatians 5:1

As glorious as the freedom of summer is, there is a greater freedom that lasts all year long and which is only found in the Son of God: the freedom from bondage to sin and the guilt of the law. Just as children are freed from the regulations and policies of school for three months, Christians are freed from the regulations of the law forever. But liberty is not license. Being free from the law doesn’t mean we are free to indulge our sinful nature. Rather, we are free—by the power of the indwelling Spirit—to please God because we want to, not because we have to. The Spirit writes God’s law on our heart, giving us a newfound freedom to please Him (Jeremiah 31:33).

Enjoy the freedom of the summer! Even more, enjoy the freedom granted by the Son of God by which you are “free indeed.”

The Christian is not free to please himself but to please God.

John Blanchard

Read-Thru-the-Bible: Psalms 73 – 80

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.

Job 5:2 (NIV)

Recommended Reading

2 Timothy 2:22-26

The word resentment comes from the Latin term sentire, which means “to feel.” When you put the “re-” in front of it, it means “to feel again.” When someone offends us, we feel anger or shame. As we recall the event, we keep dredging up those emotions, and they harden into resentment. Sometimes the memories get stuck in our heads and we replay them over and over. When this happens, it destroys love, tears down marriages, ruins friendships, and devastates our internal peace of mind.

If that’s happening to you, study how Paul advised Timothy to handle his conflicts with false teachers: “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” (2 Timothy 2:23-24, NIV).

We can’t avoid feelings of anger when we’re offended or hurt, and it takes time to process difficult emotions. But don’t replay the offense over and over in your mind. Give the hurt to the Lord, learn to release the bitterness, and uproot resentment before it uproots you.

Resentment makes us permanently angry; it carves deep lines on our faces. It adds a heaviness to our very steps. This is no way to live.

David Jeremiah

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Psalms 69 – 72

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.

Ephesians 4:26

Recommended Reading

Psalm 4:4

We read that Jesus Christ was without sin (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15). But we also read where He, on occasion, seemed pretty angry. For instance, He cleared the merchants and money-changers out of the temple with a whip, turning over their tables and spoiling their goods (John 2:12-16). He also sorely rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, calling them lots of derogatory names (Matthew 23). And isn’t anger sin? Apparently not always, since Jesus got angry but didn’t sin in the process.

There are two things to remember about biblical anger. First, its design. Jesus’ anger was righteous indignation at how God was being dishonored by the Pharisees and how the temple was being used. Anger at unrighteousness and injustice is not sinful. Second, the duration of anger. Anger is an emotion that leads to action. But when anger is nurtured into bitterness and resentment, it becomes self-serving and sinful. That is why Paul used the psalmist’s words to remind the Ephesians not to take their anger to bed.

If you are feeling angry, examine the design of your anger and keep its duration short. Otherwise, anger can become a foothold for the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27).

To be angry against sin is a high and holy thing.

Charles H. Spurgeon

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Psalms 56 – 61

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Recommended Reading

James 1:13-15

If you do an Internet search for the phrase, “I couldn’t see any way out” in the current news media, you will find a myriad of stories. It’s amazing how many “hopeless” situations people find themselves in. Unfortunately, that pessimistic view is sometimes used as an excuse for yielding to temptation: “I couldn’t see any way out.”

Viewing temptation that way ignores two things. First, with God nothing is impossible (Luke 18:27). Second, when it comes to temptation, God promises to provide a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). That puts the proverbial ball in our court; it is our task to look for the way of escape when faced with a temptation that seems too difficult to deny. When Paul wrote about “the way of escape,” he applied it to sins like idolatry, sexual immorality, secular involvements, grumbling, and testing God (1 Corinthians 10:6-10). So we know “the way” applies to our temptations as well.

When you are tempted to sin, look for the way of escape. Finding it is not usually the problem; taking it is.

He who avoids the temptation avoids the sin.

Unknown

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Psalms 50 – 55

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15

Recommended Reading

Matthew 4:1-11

Sometimes a plaintiff will file a lawsuit against another party for alleged harm. A judge may then examine the claim and “throw out” the suit on its merits: “No law was broken or crime committed.” The defendant may have thought about doing something wrong; but if he didn’t follow through and break the law, he is not guilty.

In a parallel spiritual way, temptation is not the same as sin. Sin is sin; being tempted to sin is not. Nothing illustrates this truth more clearly than the fact that Jesus Christ was “tempted as we are, yet [He was] without sin.” In His humanity, Jesus was tempted the way all humans are but never yielded to those temptations. Resisting temptation was painful for Him (Hebrews 2:18), but through it He learned obedience (Hebrews 5:8). Satan will attempt to convince us to act on temptations and make us feel guilty for being tempted (Matthew 4:1-11). But being tempted is not the same as sinning.

Be discerning. Avoid sin by turning from temptation. And resist the efforts of Satan to have you judged guilty when you’ve done nothing.

You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building a nest in your hair.

Various Sources

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Psalms 43 – 49

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

Matthew 17:5

In this year of presidential politics, besides the candidates’ voices, there are the voices of their supporters and detractors. And that’s just the political slice of life! There are just as many voices speaking in other areas: religion, health, finances, self-improvement, marriage and family, and more. How does one cut through the stream of voices?

Recommended Reading: Matthew 3:16-17

The Christian should begin by listening to one voice above all others: the voice of Jesus Christ. God the Father said as much when Jesus was transfigured into His glorious appearance in the presence of three of His disciples: “This is My beloved Son . . . . Hear Him!” Jesus affirmed the priority of His voice when He called Himself the Good Shepherd: “And the sheep follow [the shepherd], for they know his voice” (John 10:4). Knowing Christ’s voice comes from time spent listening through Bible study and prayer.

As you follow the Son this summer, don’t neglect daily times of meditating on His voice as found in God’s Word. Let His voice take priority over all others.

The Bible speaks to you in the very tones of God’s voice.

Charles H. Spurgeon

Read-Thru-the-Bible: Psalms 34 – 42

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Psalm 51:12

Recommended Reading

Psalm 51

Joy is one of the greatest gifts accompanying our salvation. Professor Lewis Smedes wrote, “You and I were created for joy, and if we miss it, we miss the reason for our existence! Moreover, the reason Jesus Christ lived and died on earth was to restore to us the joy we have lost…. His Spirit comes to us with the power to believe that joy is our birthright because the Lord has made this day for us.”1

The Bible calls it “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8, KJV).

When we allow disobedience to fester in our lives, it depresses our joy. When David sinned against God, he spent a year without joy before confessing his failure and asking for a restoration of joy.

Don’t wait as long as David. The joy of our salvation is too precious to allow sin to rob it away. Confess your wrongdoing; turn from it now with God’s help. He will restore your joy and uphold you with His generous Spirit.

You can be joyful again today!

Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.

Kay Warren

1Kay Warren, Choose Joy (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2012).

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Psalms 28 – 33

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

Recommended Reading

Isaiah 1:18-20

There are two ways of covering sin. The first is by our own effort, which, in our society, is called a cover-up. Every political junkie knows that politicians get into more trouble covering up their crimes than by committing them to begin with, and the same is true for us. If you have a secret habit, a guilty conscience, or a moral failure, Proverbs 28:13 is a warning. Do not try to cover it up or explain it away.

There’s another way of covering our sin, and that’s by confessing it. Psalm 32 says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Isaiah said, “The iniquity of Jacob will be covered. For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 27:9; 61:10).

Hidden sin yields the crop of guilt, but confession brings release and peace. Is there something in your life that needs to be covered? Don’t try to hide it. Confess it, and let the blood of Jesus Christ cover your guilt with its crimson flow.

Jesus’ blood covers all of your sins—past, present, and future…. He wants you to tell Him straightforwardly what you’ve done so that you can experience the power of His forgiveness.

Charles Stanley

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Psalms 22 – 27

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Matthew 6:27

Recommended Reading

Philippians 4:6-7

Sometimes Bible translators can’t agree on the meaning of a text. For instance, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus advises against worry. It’s the practical reason He gave that translators can’t agree on. He either said that worrying won’t add to your height (NKJV, The Message) or won’t add to your lifespan (NIV, NASB). Fortunately, both translations mean the exact same thing: Worry changes nothing and accomplishes nothing. You can’t grow taller or live longer by worrying.

Actually, worrying does accomplish something in a Christian’s life: Worry calls into question the sincerity of one’s profession of faith. Worry is not only ineffective, it seem irreligious. It gives the appearance that the “worrier” is indifferent to the role of a sovereign God. If we profess our faith in a loving God who cares for our life, and then worry about how life might turn out, what does that say? That’s why Jesus said, instead of worrying, to focus on God and His kingdom. When we focus on what we know about God, what we don’t know about the future pales in significance.

Are you worried about anything today? If so, put your faith in the One who cares for all His creation—including you.

Worry and worship are mutually exclusive.

John Blanchard

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Psalms 9 – 17

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/