Monday Morning Scripture – 2 Timothy 4

“Preach The Word“

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of YHWH and of Yeshua, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:

2 preach the word [as an official messenger]; be ready when the time is right and even when it is not [keep your sense of urgency, whether the opportunity seems favorable or unfavorable, whether convenient or inconvenient, whether welcome or unwelcome]; correct [those who err in doctrine or behavior], warn [those who sin], exhort and encourage [those who are growing toward spiritual maturity], with inexhaustible patience and [faithful] teaching.

3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with YHWH’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold,

4 and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].

5 But as for you, be clear-headed in every situation [stay calm and cool and steady], endure every hardship [without flinching], do the work of an evangelist, fulfill [the duties of] your ministry.

6 For I am already being [a]poured out as a drink offering, and the time of [b]my departure [from this world] is at hand and I will soon go free.

7 I have fought the good and worthy and noble fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith [firmly guarding the gospel against error].

8 In the future there is reserved for me the [victor’s] crown of righteousness [for being right with YHWH and doing right], which YHWH, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that [great] day—and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and longed for and welcomed His appearing.

Personal Concerns

9 Make every effort to come to me soon;

10 for Demas, having loved [the pleasures of] this present [c]world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very helpful to me for the ministry.

12 But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

13 When you come bring the coat that I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.

14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; [but that is no concern of mine, for] YHWH will repay him according to his actions.

15 Be on guard against him yourself, because he vigorously opposed our message.

16 At my first trial no one supported me [as an advocate] or stood with me, but they all deserted me. May it not be counted against them [by God].

17 But YHWH stood by me and strengthened and empowered me, so that through me the [gospel] message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear it; and I was rescued from the [d]mouth of the lion. 

18 YHWH will rescue me from every evil assault, and He will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

19 Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, and to the household of Onesiphorus. 

20 Erastus stayed on at Corinth, but I left Trophimus sick at Miletus. 

21 Try your best to come [to me] before winter. Eubulus wishes to be remembered to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the [e]brothers and sisters.

22 YHWH be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

2 Timothy 4:1-22 (AMP)
Footnotes
[a] 2 Timothy 4:6 The drink offering (wine) was required as part of the sacrificial system of the old covenant.
[b] 2 Timothy 4:6 This is Paul’s last inspired letter and was written toward the end of his second Roman imprisonment. During his first imprisonment he was under house arrest, but this time (about five years later) it is believed that he was held in chains in the Tullianum, the lower chamber of the Mamertine dungeon. The Roman historian, Sallust, described the Tullianum as a horrible dungeon “…repulsive and terrible.” It was originally excavated as a cistern for a natural spring. It would have been cold, damp, and incredibly filthy. Both lower and upper chambers served as places of torture and as holding places for those awaiting execution. Paul would have known that there was no hope of release and that his execution was imminent. Nero ruled Rome during both imprisonments.
[c] 2 Timothy 4:10 Or age.
[d] 2 Timothy 4:17 Figurative language—probably a reference to the favorable outcome of his first trial (v 16).
[e] 2 Timothy 4:21 Lit brethren.

Monday Morning Scripture – 1 Timothy 4

Apostasy

1 But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, 

2 [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning],

3 who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from [certain kinds of] foods which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and have [a clear] knowledge of the truth.

4 For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 

5 for it is sanctified [set apart, dedicated to God] by means of the word of God and prayer.

A Good Minister’s Discipline

6 If you point out these instructions to the [a]brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished [through study] on the words of the faith and of the good [Christian] doctrine which you have closely followed.

7 But have nothing to do with irreverent folklore and silly myths. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness [keeping yourself spiritually fit].

8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness (spiritual training) is of value in everything and in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.

9 This is a faithful and trustworthy saying worthy of full acceptance and approval.

10 It is for this that we labor and strive [often called to account], because we have fixed our [confident] hope on the living God, who is the [b]Savior of all people, especially of those who believe [in Him, recognize Him as the Son of God, and accept Him as Savior and Lord].

11 Keep commanding and teaching these things.

12 Let no one look down on [you because of] your youth, but be an example and set a pattern for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in [moral] purity.

13 Until I come, devote yourself to public reading [of Scripture], to preaching and to teaching [the sound doctrine of God’s word]. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, [that special endowment] which was intentionally bestowed on you [by the Holy Spirit] through prophetic utterance when the [c]elders laid their hands on you [at your ordination].

15 Practice and work hard on these things; be absorbed in them [completely occupied in your ministry], so that your progress will be evident to all.

16 Pay close attention to yourself [concentrate on your personal development] and to your teaching; persevere in these things [hold to them], for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

2 Timothy 4:1-16
Footnotes
[a] 1 Timothy 4:6 Lit brethren.
[b] 1 Timothy 4:10 God is the Savior of all mankind in the sense that Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient for the entire world (1 John 2:2); however, personal faith is essential for salvation.
[c] 1 Timothy 4:14 Or presbytery.

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Bold As A Lion

If You Desert YHWH’s Law

The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one’s after them; honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions.

Proverbs 28:1 (MSG)

When faced with things of the world, it is easy to become overwhelmed and shrink back from the challenges. The prayer we often say is, “Give me confidence, give me boldness so that I can stand against the enemy.” But that displays a lack of knowledge of who we are in Christ, and we see ourselves as little and inconsequential. We must be confident in the Lord!



Our gracious Father reminds you today: within you is a lion waiting to be released to confront your enemies. I have placed that within you, and you access it by faith in your position in the heavenlies. Now is the time to release the roar of the lion within you and see the enemy flee. For if you are in me, you are in the Lion of Judah.

Activation: Respond to that stirring in your heart right now and take a big deep breath and let out a lion’s roar. And there it is. Let that roar be part of who you are and grow in confidence knowing who you are in Christ.

But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.

1 Timothy 4:17 (NIV)

#lionbites

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – God of the Impossible

I am El Shaddai – God Almighty – unlimited in power. Just look at the works of My hands. I created the heavens and the earth, performed unrivalled miracles, beat undefeatable armies, and conquered sin and death. Who can boast achieving even a fraction of these works? No one for there is no other like Me!


I am the same yesterday, today and forever. I want to demonstrate this almighty power for you and through you today. But, it will take relinquishing all the limitations you’ve placed upon Me. Are you ready to pray bold prayers that take you from surviving to thriving? Are you ready to be used as a conduit of My logic-defying power for others? With your yes, I can do exceedingly and abundantly more!

Surrender your limiting mindsets.


Ask Me to move in the bleakest of situations, in the deepest desires of your heart, and everything in between. Ask according to My will, with confidence, boldness and faith. Then watch Me surpass even your highest expectations! For I am the God of the impossible. When you see what I can do for you, then you will know what I can do through you.


Each time I move, testify of My almighty power so the world will know I am the one and only El Shaddai!

Activation: Ask yourself if there are any areas of your life you have placed limits on God – health, family, work, ministry, finances, etc. Repent and shift your mindset to the truth that you serve an all-powerful God. Ask boldly for YHWH to work miracles in those areas, and then believe He will do it according to His will. Ask also that He use you as a conduit of His power for others. Praise Him each time He moves, testifying of His goodness, love and power!

“I am YHWH, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?

Jeremiah 32:27 (NIV)

Concluding Affirmations

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching YHWH: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

15 And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.

1 John 5:13-15 (NIV)

#lionbites

Friday Morning Scripture – 1 John 5:13- 21

This Is Written That You May Know

13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God [which represents all that Yeshua HaMaschiach is and does], so that you will know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that you [already] have eternal life.

14 This is the [remarkable degree of] confidence which we [as believers are entitled to] have before Him: that [c]if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us.

15 And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him.

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he will pray and ask [on the believer’s behalf] and God will for him give life to those whose sin is not leading to death. There is a sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for this [kind of sin].

17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death [one can repent of it and be forgiven].

18 We know [with confidence] that anyone born of God does not habitually sin; but He (Yeshua) who was born of God [carefully] keeps and protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

19 We know [for a fact] that we are of YHWH, and the whole world [around us] lies in the power of the evil one [opposing YHWH and His precepts].

20 And we [have seen and] know [by personal experience] that the Son of God has [actually] come [to this world], and has given us understanding and insight so that we may [progressively and personally] know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Yeshua HaMaschiach. This is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children (believers, dear ones), guard yourselves from idols—[false teachings, moral compromises, and anything that would take God’s place in your heart].

1 John 5:13-21 (AMP)

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Radical Preparation

My Bride, I am preparing you for what is ahead. I am bringing you through a period of radical preparation, stripping everything back to its core. Picture in your mind, a wall, fresh and ready to be decorated.

This is the time when I will pull things back, leaving nothing uncovered.

It isn’t a time for easy measures or covering up what is already there. Like layers of old wallpaper being revealed, I am pulling back the old layers that are lingering under the surface.

It’s time to be radical, letting go of past notions and understandings.

I am in full work mode as I prepare my bride.

Will you partner with Me in this process? Like a child working alongside their Father, I want to see you take part in this process. I want you to work with Me in peeling back the layers. Are you prepared for radical preparation?

Activation: Talk to the Holy Spirit about how you can partner with Him in this process of radical transformation. What are you to be involved in? Is there anywhere you are being called to step aside so you can be fully prepared?

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5 (NIV)

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Esther 4:14 (NIV)

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 3:10 (NIV)

#lionbites

Thursday Morning Scripture – Esther 4

Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate,because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it.

3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate.

7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.

8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.

10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai,

11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai,

13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.

14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:

16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

Esther 4:1-17 (NIV)

Thursday Morning Scripture – John 15

The Vine and the Branches

1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener.

2 He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

4 Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.

6 If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

7 If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love.

10 If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love.

11 I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

14 You are My friends if you do what I command.

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you.

16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you.

17 This is My command: Love each other.

The World Hates the Disciples

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.

19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also.

21 They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the one who sent Me.

22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23 Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.

24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both Me and my Father.

25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’[c]

The Work of the Holy Spirit

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me.

27 And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning.

John 15:1-27 (NIV)

Thursday Morning Scripture – Matthew 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

3 This is He who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for Yeshua,
make straight paths for Him.’”[a]

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.

6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire.

12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Yeshua

13 Then Yeshua came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

14 But John tried to deter Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Yeshua replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Yeshua was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of YHWH descending like a dove and alighting on Him.

17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:1-17 (NIV)
Footnotes
[a] Matthew 3:3 Isaiah 40:3
[b] Matthew 3:11 Or in
[c] Matthew 3:11 Or in