Genesis 44:25 (KJV) A “Little” Food

Genesis 44:25 (KJV)
And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.

The term, little, has to be relative. Each brother carried sacks of food back with them and I think we can assume each brother had more than one animal carrying sacks. It would be impractical to endeavor upon such a journey unless a substantial amount of food could be obtained. There were seventy mouths to feed back home and they wouldn’t have wanted to make this journey very often. 

On the other hand, it could not have been a lot of food. They could have only carried so much and, with so many mouths to feed, it must surely have been a sparse meal they all received. 

So much trouble for just a little food. 

• How necessary that little bit is
• What lengths a man will go to get it

May we ever learn to place this much value in the things of the spirit-things of eternal worth. 

Job 23:12
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Genesis 44:25 (KJV) A “Little” Food

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Genesis 41:4 (KJV) Save Up the Positive

Genesis 41:4 (KJV)
And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

I am willing to accept that my thoughts on this passage today are not the primary lesson. Some might even think it is no lesson at all, but it occurred to me that the stronger, fatter, healthier was no match for the leaner, sicker. This was born out both in the cattle and in the ears of corn.

Health does not promise success in earthly competition. On the contrary, that which is of poorest health has the greatest motivation to succeed. Those people, who are ill-favored and sickly, tend to use every means to gain what they need. They will lie, cheat, steal, use every unethical and wrong tool at their disposal so that they succeed. 

The well-trained fighter might get clobbered on the street because the guy on the street has no rules to restrict him. He’ll do anything to win. So too, the one who is ill-favored and sickly will do anything to gain what they need. What have they to lose? They have no moral code to prevent them. 

Negative people often overshadow positive, helpful people because the negative ones have no boundaries by which they live. Complainers don’t mind being louder than the encouragers. Angry people behave unrulily. Civil people do not. Consequently, it is very likely that the sickly, weak, negative, ill-favored will devour and destroy whatever good the well-favored accomplish. 

Unless this principle is recognized and provisions are made to prevent it. 

Joseph didn’t lie or cheat during the years of plenty. He only saved up some of it for the years of trouble. If we will but “save up” the positive, the kind, the good. If we will encourage the encouragers, recognize the kind, lift up the good-hearted. If we will do these things, we can build a store of good that sustains is through the storms of negativity. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Genesis 41:4 (KJV) Save Up the Positive

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Genesis 39:1 (KJV) Bought and Sold

Genesis 39:1 (KJV)
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.

The Ishmeelites bought Joseph for profit and I suspect they earned a profit when they sold him. 

• There was guilt in possessing another
• There was burden in possessing another
• There was constant conviction in possessing another

So often we think we want something[1] only to discover when we have it, it is too much for us. 

• The payments on a car
• The upkeep of a house
• The commitments of an expensive hobby toy

How often do we come into the possession of a thing only to long for someone to take it off our hands?

It’s best to be content and faithful with what God provides. 

---

[1]Forgive me the comparison of a man with an inanimate possession. There is so much more here than that. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Genesis 39:1 (KJV) Bought and Sold

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

1 Corinthians 13:8 (KJV) Charity Never Fails

1 Corinthians 13:8 (KJV)
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

The word translated charity is a unique one that, I am told, was coined especially to speak of the love a Christian has for his church. This charity never fails.

• It never ceases 
• It never disappears
• It’s never useless and unprofitable

There are so many things a man can pour his life into. Too many of them are of no use, little use or no lasting use. 

No Christian will ever go wrong pouring his life into loving his church. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

1 Corinthians 13:8 (KJV) Charity Never Fails

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Genesis 35:29 (KJV) No Conflict in Israel

Genesis 35:29 (KJV)
And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

The differences between Jacob and Esau were huge. 

• It caused what amounted to a twenty-year severance between them. 
• It left Jacob away for his mother’s burial. 
• It set in motion the events resulting in Jacob’s children by four women. 

And yet they reconciled so successfully that, when their herds grew large, it was Esau who stepped out of the Promised Land, effectively acknowledging that God had given it to the children of Jacob – the Jews. 

• Abraham had no conflict with the people there before him. 
• Isaac had little conflict
• Esau acknowledged it belonged to Jacob

The people of Jacob have proven that they would have little conflict with the others who live there even today, if only they would accept that God put them there and live peaceably beside them. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Genesis 35:29 (KJV) No Conflict in Israel

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

1 Corinthians 11:3 (KJV) Keep the Ordinances

1 Corinthians 11:3 (KJV)
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

There must be a connection between: 

• The subject of authority that covers verses 3-16, 
• The subject of following the spiritual teacher as he follows the Lord and 
• The subject of the ordinances.

Paul urged that they would follow him, but only so far as he followed the Lord. Paul also assured them that he had given them the Lord’s Supper as it was delivered to him by the Lord. The passage on the subject of authority establishes then the ground for obedience to the Lord’s Supper. We keep it as it was given to us and in so doing we are submitting to the Lord.

The end of the chapter gives a stern warning about judgment, chastening and condemnation. The issue is not so much that there is a mystical feature attached to the ordinances, but that improper observance of the ordinance indicates irreverence and disobedience to the Lord. It is this disobedience that is judged and condemned.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

1 Corinthians 11:3 (KJV) Keep the Ordinances

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Genesis 33:4 (KJV) Face The Music

Genesis 33:4 (KJV)
And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

It had been twenty years since the brothers had seen one another. They were never particularly close, and when Jacob left, it was for fear Esau would kill him. His mother sent him away saying that, in a few days,[1]when Esau was no longer angry, she would send for him. As far as we know that word never came. 

Now all these years later, Jacob knew he had to make reconciliation. He had to face the music with his brother or be forever out of God’s will. After a strained treaty was made with Laban, Jacob turned toward the Promised Land and wrestled with the angel of the Lord for blessings at home. He returned cautiously only to find that Esau was not angry at all. I believe his anger turned to conviction and probably repentance very shortly after Jacob left. 

Genesis 28:8
And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 

The lesson, it seems to me, is that the sooner we face the music, the sooner we can be where God always wanted us. We only postpone the blessings of God when we postpone making things right. 

---

[1]Genesis 27:44 (KJV)
And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away;

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Genesis 33:4 (KJV) Face The Music

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJV) Winning Mastery

1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJV)
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

Not every man strives for mastery. 

Many if not most people are content to live in mediocrity,

• Watching the masters, 
• Depending upon the masters and 
• Living in subordination to the masters. 

Some, maybe most, are jealous of the masters and would like to be more than they are. 
They either do not know how or else they lack the discipline to do the things necessary to be among the masters. 

This is the cause of much of the complaints of those who call certain pastors who preach standards and separation legalism. 
To be sure there is such a thing as legalism. There are those who impose standards upon others as requirements of salvation or church membership, etc. 

I would suggest, however, that there are fewer of that sort than we suppose. Most pastors accused of legalism are simply urging their congregations to mastery. Salvation is a gift of God given without condition. But Christlikeness is the putting away of the flesh and the putting on of Christ. 

Thus, mastery of Christlikeness requires temperance: 

• Discipline, 
• Standards and
• Separation. 

The godly pastor assumes his flock wishes to be masters of Christlikeness. The one in conflict with him does not understand the necessity of temperance in all things.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJV) Winning Mastery

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.