Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalms 121-130 To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passages: From above, see Psalms 121, 123-125, 128-130 …
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Highlight Reference Verse: From above see Psalms 121: 1-2 … 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, … the Maker of heaven and earth.
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Highlight Reference Verse #2: From above see Psalms 130: 5 … I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
My Journal for Today: Today the Chronological Reading Plan takes its readers (and that’s me!) to a list of similar Psalms which were written by unknown authors in Israel. Possibly King Hezekiah could have been the author of several of them. But these songs of God’s people sing out their reliance on the Creator of all and the one and only God who saves.
My friends, this would be a good group of Psalms to read when and if one is down-hearted or needs assurance from whence our help comes. Don’t you agree that there are going to be events or circumstances where we cannot put our clinging trust in mankind or the institutions created by man?
Let’s face it, in today’s economy, do you put your faith/trust in our government … as vast and as powerful as it is? Do you trust our President or the Congress to bring us through these rough times? What about science? Do you trust the smartest scientists on earth to have the answers to physical challenges like cancer, or Alzheimer’s Disease, or AIDS? What about education; … do you think our educational systems are going to raise up saviors to deliver us from the world’s problems.
I think you get where I’m headed here. My friend and fellow reader into God’s word, I put my trust only in my God; and I look only to His word for my guidance. Meditate on the two highlight verses which I’ve copied for you above; and as you do, in paraphrasing these verses, I declare, “My help ONLY comes from the Lord;” and “I wait for the Lord, … and in His word I put my hope.”
TRUTH: … The world is falling apart; and these songs from God’s word today express the only place God’s people can look for help and that is from our God as He has written our course of life into His word. So, are you with me, … my dear one? Will you say, as do I, “My help comes only from my God!”
My Prayer for Today: Lord, You are the only One Your people can look to for help; so, we pray for that help in these times of trouble. … Amen
Showing posts with label wait on the LORD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wait on the LORD. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
January 22, 2012 … When Will We Learn God’s Patience
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Genesis, Chapters 30-31 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Genesis 30: 1-5: … [Horizontal Impatience Ignoring Vertical Guidance] … 1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” 2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.” 4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son.
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Genesis 30: 22-24: … [Waiting on God Pays Godly Dividends] … 22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”
My Journal for Today: Are we getting the message yet? For a number of these devotionals in Genesis dealing with the lives of the great Patriarchs of the faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we see a message weaving itself repeatedly through the lives and stories of these men, their wives, and their children. And if you’ve been reading along with me, what do you think that message is?
Yes, it reads through loud and clear, doesn’t it >>> WAIT ON GOD!!”
And I’m not going to go into great depth here in this journal entry by reviewing all that the story of Abraham and his family has taught us about this issue in these past readings this month in Genesis. But quickly, some of the prime lessons – at least for this humble seeker - are …
>>> First, we need to wait on God by seeking His will and then move by following it. … How often did we see Abraham’s family try to circumvent God’s promises and His will with their own planning, only to find their run-on-ahead schemes causing great problems into the future of the family and for mankind.
>>> Secondly, our horizontal planning can never be as good as God’s will and purpose for our lives. An old friend, who’s now with Jesus, used to tell me, “First obedience, then the blessing!” And that is so right on target. When we seek out God’s will, primarily from His word, even if we have to wait and wait, knowing that our heavenly Father always knows best, we’ll come out a winner for the wait.
>>> Thirdly, as Christians, it often boils down to how much we believe the truth of Romans 8: 28; and I hope that we all have memorized and internalized that one and are faithfully comforted and directed by its truth in our lives.
>>> And finally, we need always to remember, as New Covenant Christians, having so much more of an advantage over Abraham and his roller-coaster examples of faith and faithlessness, we have the record of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection; and we have, as committed members of His Church, i.e., the Bride of Christ, the sealing ministry of God’s Spirit, indwelling us to give us the grace of sanctification as well as the grace of salvation. In this, all we need to do is live as a disciple of Jesus, the Christ and our Messiah, Who told all of His disciples, … to deny ourselves and follow Him … to love others as we love the Lord, … and to go and make disciples, with the power of Christ always with us to carry out His commission.
So, I hope you join me … to follow Him … and to go as we’re called to, being patient to follow His way and to lead others to Him by living as we are directed by His truth from His word.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, may we wait by seeking, and then follow to go, leading others to You and Your way through Your word. Amen
Genesis 30: 1-5: … [Horizontal Impatience Ignoring Vertical Guidance] … 1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” 2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.” 4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son.
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Genesis 30: 22-24: … [Waiting on God Pays Godly Dividends] … 22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”
My Journal for Today: Are we getting the message yet? For a number of these devotionals in Genesis dealing with the lives of the great Patriarchs of the faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we see a message weaving itself repeatedly through the lives and stories of these men, their wives, and their children. And if you’ve been reading along with me, what do you think that message is?
Yes, it reads through loud and clear, doesn’t it >>> WAIT ON GOD!!”
And I’m not going to go into great depth here in this journal entry by reviewing all that the story of Abraham and his family has taught us about this issue in these past readings this month in Genesis. But quickly, some of the prime lessons – at least for this humble seeker - are …
>>> First, we need to wait on God by seeking His will and then move by following it. … How often did we see Abraham’s family try to circumvent God’s promises and His will with their own planning, only to find their run-on-ahead schemes causing great problems into the future of the family and for mankind.
>>> Secondly, our horizontal planning can never be as good as God’s will and purpose for our lives. An old friend, who’s now with Jesus, used to tell me, “First obedience, then the blessing!” And that is so right on target. When we seek out God’s will, primarily from His word, even if we have to wait and wait, knowing that our heavenly Father always knows best, we’ll come out a winner for the wait.
>>> Thirdly, as Christians, it often boils down to how much we believe the truth of Romans 8: 28; and I hope that we all have memorized and internalized that one and are faithfully comforted and directed by its truth in our lives.
>>> And finally, we need always to remember, as New Covenant Christians, having so much more of an advantage over Abraham and his roller-coaster examples of faith and faithlessness, we have the record of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection; and we have, as committed members of His Church, i.e., the Bride of Christ, the sealing ministry of God’s Spirit, indwelling us to give us the grace of sanctification as well as the grace of salvation. In this, all we need to do is live as a disciple of Jesus, the Christ and our Messiah, Who told all of His disciples, … to deny ourselves and follow Him … to love others as we love the Lord, … and to go and make disciples, with the power of Christ always with us to carry out His commission.
So, I hope you join me … to follow Him … and to go as we’re called to, being patient to follow His way and to lead others to Him by living as we are directed by His truth from His word.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, may we wait by seeking, and then follow to go, leading others to You and Your way through Your word. Amen
Monday, April 26, 2010
2010 – April 26 – Getting a Perspective on Evil
Study from God’s Word… Psalms 1, 14, 15, 36, 37, and 39 … Passage for Reflection: Psalm 37: 1 – 2 … NIV Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
My Journal for Today: All the Psalms of David which I was led to read this day in my devotionals are songs expressing the theme of righteousness versus evil and all the feelings and ramifications dealt with by mankind in this ever present spiritual battle which works its way out in our lives. And I know that we’re all no different than King David expressed in his songs of lament and frustration where evil sometimes seems to prevail over righteousness; and the good seem to be the handmaidens of evildoers who perpetuate their wrongdoings, seemingly mocking God in their schemes and actions.
We’ve all been there, crying out, like David, “WHY, LORD!!!” Haven’t you felt, as have I, how long God could allow evildoers to perpetuate their ploys, which, at times, seem to be on the winning side? But in the midst of such injustice and when the scales seem to be weighted in favor of evil, long ago I learned to go back to some of these Psalms shared by Dr. Smith today, especially PSALM 37; and I learned to meditate on what I know – at least in my mind if not my heart – on the truth God expresses in His word. And today, I implore and exhort you to go back and read at least Psalm 37, meditating on the power of God’s truth in this matter. Let the power of God’s Spirit, through His written word, penned by David so many years ago, lift you today or whenever you feel oppressed by our spiritual enemies.
My friend, we have Jesus, Who is the fulfillment of everything God promised to David when the King of Israel was feeling and writing Psalm 37; and God strongly tells us that HE, not our evil enemies, will prevail and protect His children in the face of evildoers. Everyday in the news – and maybe in your life struggles – we see evil being perpetuated and sometimes it appears to be on the winning side. But then in Psalm 37 (from today’s verses) and verses 3-4 and 7, we read …
3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and He will give you the desires of your heart. ...
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Dear one, that is truth … GOD’S TRUTH!! The question now becomes, … do we believe, trust, and cling to this truth? Do we make choices based upon this truth? Do we let our faith in these truths guide our steps; and do we walk with our God in obedience; or do we fall prey to the evildoers who want us to worship Satan, the world, and to bring our flesh into their evil schemes?
I pray for us all today.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, my dear LORD, give this weakened soul, and all who might read this, Your strength to cover our weakness. Pour the empowerment of Your grace into us so as to overwhelm our enemies who seek to mock You. You are the LORD; … You are our victory! Amen
My Journal for Today: All the Psalms of David which I was led to read this day in my devotionals are songs expressing the theme of righteousness versus evil and all the feelings and ramifications dealt with by mankind in this ever present spiritual battle which works its way out in our lives. And I know that we’re all no different than King David expressed in his songs of lament and frustration where evil sometimes seems to prevail over righteousness; and the good seem to be the handmaidens of evildoers who perpetuate their wrongdoings, seemingly mocking God in their schemes and actions.
We’ve all been there, crying out, like David, “WHY, LORD!!!” Haven’t you felt, as have I, how long God could allow evildoers to perpetuate their ploys, which, at times, seem to be on the winning side? But in the midst of such injustice and when the scales seem to be weighted in favor of evil, long ago I learned to go back to some of these Psalms shared by Dr. Smith today, especially PSALM 37; and I learned to meditate on what I know – at least in my mind if not my heart – on the truth God expresses in His word. And today, I implore and exhort you to go back and read at least Psalm 37, meditating on the power of God’s truth in this matter. Let the power of God’s Spirit, through His written word, penned by David so many years ago, lift you today or whenever you feel oppressed by our spiritual enemies.
My friend, we have Jesus, Who is the fulfillment of everything God promised to David when the King of Israel was feeling and writing Psalm 37; and God strongly tells us that HE, not our evil enemies, will prevail and protect His children in the face of evildoers. Everyday in the news – and maybe in your life struggles – we see evil being perpetuated and sometimes it appears to be on the winning side. But then in Psalm 37 (from today’s verses) and verses 3-4 and 7, we read …
3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and He will give you the desires of your heart. ...
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Dear one, that is truth … GOD’S TRUTH!! The question now becomes, … do we believe, trust, and cling to this truth? Do we make choices based upon this truth? Do we let our faith in these truths guide our steps; and do we walk with our God in obedience; or do we fall prey to the evildoers who want us to worship Satan, the world, and to bring our flesh into their evil schemes?
I pray for us all today.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, my dear LORD, give this weakened soul, and all who might read this, Your strength to cover our weakness. Pour the empowerment of Your grace into us so as to overwhelm our enemies who seek to mock You. You are the LORD; … You are our victory! Amen
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