Tag: Psalm 84

Such is the Spoken Word of God: God always Reigns! Plants Restores and Revives us, when life is falling apart. Amos 3:11-15

Amos 3:11-15 New International Version

11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“An enemy will overrun your land,
    pull down your strongholds
    and plunder your fortresses.”

12 This is what the Lord says:

“As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth
    only two leg bones or a piece of an ear,
so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued,
    with only the head of a bed
    and a piece of fabric[a] from a couch.[b]”

13 “Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.

14 “On the day I punish Israel for her sins,
    I will destroy the altars of Bethel;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
    and fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down the winter house
    along with the summer house;
the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed
    and the mansions will be demolished,”
declares the Lord.

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

To begin, let me ask you a couple of questions:

What comes to your mind when you think about God?

Is your understanding of Him rooted in Scripture, or is it shaped by your own experiences, desires, or even misconceptions you’ve picked up along the way?

The way we view God is no small matter.

A distorted picture of Him can lead us down paths of doubt, error, fear, and misunderstanding, depriving, robbing us of the peace and assurance that only from knowing Him as He truly is.

My heart’s desire is to redirect you away from these dangers and guide you into a clearer, more informed, more biblical, and more joyful view of our great God.

Some people imagine God as a distant creator—a kind of cosmic tyrannical administrator who set everything in motion but now stays out of the picture, except for the occasional “system maintenance.”

Perhaps others see Him as little more than a tired grouchy old too stern judge, watching for every mistake to punish us.

Or maybe, they think of Him as powerful but limited, either unable to intervene in the chaos of the world or restrained by human choices.

None of these depictions are the God of the Bible.

Instead, Scripture presents us with a God who is far greater, far more glorious, and far more trustworthy than anything or any character that we could invent on our own. A God who reigns supremely over all creation, infinite in His being, perfect in all of His attributes, and yet still merciful in all His dealings with us.

One of the most helpful summaries I’ve come across that beautifully captures the biblical teaching about who God is comes from the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith: https://www.the1689confession.com/

The Lord, our God, is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

This God, the God of the Bible, reigns over every part of corner of creation.

He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and fully in control.

And, when we know God as He truly is, that’s good news for us!

Because our hearts are filled with peace, our faith is strengthened, and we are freed from the anxieties, and the worries that come from false views of Him.

That’s why, as we begin this devotional—Let God Reign—we’ll take time to explore some of the attributes of God, starting today with His sovereignty.

In the devotions ahead, we’ll also consider His goodness, immutability, omnipotence, incarnation, and omniscience.

Of course, even an encyclopedias of sermons couldn’t exhaust the riches of who God is, but my prayer is that this series will deepen your love for Him, challenge any of your remaining unbelief, and increase your trust in the Lord. So let us just begin today by considering the absolute sovereignty of our great God.

It starts with the acknowledgment that:

1. God is Sovereign

Whether you and I want to admit it or not, this is reality: God is sovereign.

First, let us define our terms; what does it mean for God to be sovereign?

Here are a few definitions for us to reference:

Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms Sovereignty

The biblical concept of God’s kingly, supreme rule and legal authority over the entire universe.

Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics and Philosophy of Religion Sovereignty

The possession of ultimate authority and power.

Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition Sovereignty of God

God’s authority and power to accomplish his will as the supreme Ruler of all things.

From taking these definitions collectively, we find that sovereignty means God is the absolute King of the universe, with complete ownership, power, and all authority over all of creation- and He is able to accomplish all His holy will.

There is no one and nothing outside of His rule.

James 1:17 ESV

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Our families, our resources, our reputations, and even our ability to know and love Him are neither random nor earned; they are graciously and providentially given by your King.

Let’s consider God’s work in our lives:

His providence has woven together a beautiful tapestry for each of our lives –

Psalm 139:1-18 English Standard Version

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
    I awake, and I am still with you.

Consider what the vast tapestry of your life looks like for a moment –

It would begin with:

how He formed you in the womb,

where and when you were born,

what type of family you grew up in,

every single moment of happiness,

all the friendships you enjoy,

each of the jobs and responsibilities you have ever had,

the skills and talents you exercise,

seeing the love of your life for the first time,

getting married,

experiencing the joy of holding your child for the first time,

your daily bread,

your home, your daily protection, and even beyond all of those blessings: 

if you are a Christian He has even ordained how and when He adopted you,

He has ordained your ongoing sanctification, eventually He will providentially ordain for your journey to your heavenly home!

He has woven countless bright threads into your life’s tapestry.

Do we have such a good, wise, and loving Father who cares for our every need?

Can we praise God this whole day for just how good His providence is to us!?

Thank you, faithful God, for your ever present providential hand upon our lives!

In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Praying …

Psalm 84 The Message

84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
    I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
    where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
    O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
    our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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So, the believers pray for a Continued Bold Witness. Our Prayer for far more Boldness to Stand for Biblical Values. Acts 4:23-31

Acts 4:23-31 Lexham English Bible

The Believers Pray for Continued Bold Witness

23 And when they[a] were released, they went to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they[b] heard it, [c] they lifted their voices with one mind to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them, 25 the one who said by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant,

‘Why do the nations[d] rage,
    and the peoples conspire in vain?
26 The kings of the earth stood opposed,
    and the rulers assembled together at the same place,
against the Lord and against his Christ.’[e]

27 For in truth both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, 28 to do all that your hand and plan[f] had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, concern yourself with their threats and grant your slaves to speak your message with all boldness, 30 as you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when[g] they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak[h] the word[i] of God with boldness.

Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Danger and threats come against people in many different ways. It can be from other people threatening someone or it can be just natural disasters occurring.

When a person’s life, a person’s life of faith and service is being threatened, people run to others scared; and race into hiding out of fear (1 Kings 19:1-8.)

Having the boldness to face (fight or flight) the mounting gravity of the danger is something that many people do not have.

Fear of dying or going against something larger and stronger, and experienced, than them overcomes their ability to face it.

Luke records in Acts 4:23-31 that when the church was being threatened with persecution, the people prayed to God to address the threats being presented and to give His people more boldness to be able to continue to speak His Word.

With the many threats of the religious rulers lingering over them, Peter and John return to their church family and report what has just happened. And in response to these threats, the community of believers prays together to God.

I am always struck by what they did not pray.

They did not ask God to bring destruction on the religious leaders.

They did not ask God to take them out of their time of trouble.

Instead, they prayed that God would consider the threats against them and enable them to speak with much more boldness. That prayer was specifically answered as the Holy Spirit filled them and the place they were in was shaken.

How could the believers come to pray such a prayer?

The prayer itself gives us the insight that they looked not just to the moment but also surveyed the history of God’s people.

They knew the promises and prophecies of God.

They placed their current situation within the setting of Scripture.

For us, that would be like having the Bible’s teachings in mind as we sift through the daily news.

What’s more, at the beginning of their prayer, the believers put all of their troubles and threats in perspective under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty.

They knew that God was still in control.

What they prayed was they would be able to keep being inspired, empowered, witnesses to the Sovereign Lord, who was still at work in the world he so loved.

The world hates God and anyone who has anything to do with Him. As a result, the world will do what it can to persecute believers in any way possible.

They want to stop all believers from spreading the truth about Jesus.

Inside the church, many people are praying and seeking God for many things.

Most common things being sought for are healing and provision in different ways for self and others.

Some will also pray for God to remove those who are evil and persecuting believers.

While all these types of prayers are good, very seldom do believers pray for boldness in the face of evil.

God has a plan for every believer to be His witness to this fallen world. No one can come to the Lord if no one is willing to speak the truth with boldness.

During times of trouble and hardship, the first thing believers should seek is for God to give them boldness to be His witness.

As one testifies for God, He will be able to do mighty miracles and touch the hearts of the lost.

Trouble is guaranteed to come your way, sometimes as a threat, other times just as difficulties. Facing all of those troubles can be scary and intimidating.

In a world where truth is often vigorously challenged and compromise feels easier, standing for hardcore true and iron clad biblical values requires courage, clarity, and deep reliance on the Holy Spirit.

Just like the early church, we are called to speak His truth—not arrogantly, but boldly and graciously (2 Timothy 2:14-19, 2 Timothy 3:10-17, Hebrews 4:12).

This devotional offers a prayer for those who want to be faithful in word and witness—unafraid to represent Christ in their homes, communities, culture.

Lord God, Thank You for the truth of Your Word that never changes. In a time when biblical truth is often opposed or misunderstood, I ask for boldness to stand for biblical values with both conviction and compassion. Help me not to be silent when I should speak. Let my words reflect Your wisdom and my actions reflect Your grace. When fear rises, remind me that I am not alone—

Your Spirit empowers and goes before me. Teach me to speak the truth in love. To hold fast to righteousness without becoming self-righteous. To represent You well in how I live, love, and lead.

Let me be like those in Acts 4:29 who prayed for boldness—not comfort—when faced with resistance. May my life point others directly to Jesus and stand firm in the foundation of Scripture. In Your mighty name, Amen.

Seek God’s boldness to stand up to those troubles and speak His Word. Jesus has already overcome the world and you have His strength to do the same. You have something the world will never have, the promise of salvation and eternal life.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit …

Praying …

Psalm 84 Lexham English Bible

The Joy of Worshiping in the Temple
For the music director; on the Gittith.
Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.[a]

84 How lovely are your dwelling places,
O Yahweh of hosts!
2 My soul longs and even fails
for the courtyards of Yahweh.
My heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
near your altars, O Yahweh of hosts,
my king and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;[b]
they can ever praise you. Selah
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in you;
in their heart are the highways to Zion.
6 Passing through the Valley of Baca,[c]
they make it a spring.
The early rain covers it with blessings[d] as well.
7 They go from strength to strength,
until each appears before God in Zion.[e]
8 O Yahweh, God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look at our shield, O God,
and have regard for the face of your anointed one.
10 Because better is a day in your courtyards
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be at the threshold of the house[f] of my God
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 Because Yahweh God is a sun and a shield;
Yahweh gives grace and honor.
He does not withhold good from those who walk blamelessly.
12 O Yahweh of hosts,
blessed is the man who trusts you.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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I Am an Inviter; ‘The master told his servant, “Go out unto the roads and country lanes, compel them to enter inside, so that my house will be full.” Luke 14:16-24

Luke 14:16-24 New American Standard Bible

Parable of the Dinner

16 But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ 18 And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; [a]please consider me excused.’ 19 And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; [b]please consider me excused.’ 20  And another one said, ‘I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21 And the slave came  back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ 22 And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Receiving an invitation is usually seen as an honor, and most people welcome a gracious request to join in the celebration and meal In God’s kingdom, our main approach should be simply to invite people to “come and see” what God offers us in Christ—salvation and full life forever! This is often more effective than getting into a debate about a teaching or criticizing others for their beliefs.

Psalm 34:8-10 New American Standard Bible

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
9 Fear the Lord, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no lack of anything.
10 The young lions do without and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.

In Jesus’ parable of the great banquet, God the Father is portrayed as a generous host who wants to share of his limitless abundance and fullest joy with others.

The host prepares a feast, ensuring that everything is taken care of.

God undertakes everything needed for our salvation—even footing the bill by sacrificing his own Son for our sake.

And he opens the doors of his kingdom, extending his invitation to all.

Ultimately God wants his house filled with all whom he has invited.

And as followers of Jesus who have become God’s servants, we receive an expanded role.

We become inviters and bringers, actively seeking and urging others to join us.

This role has sometimes been described as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find food”—or, as in this parable, one invited guest informing another guest about the indescribable banquet hall brimming with our eternal blessings.

What does Luke chapter 14 verse 23 mean?

People who are outcast and Gentiles, even robbers waiting to waylay travelers, are welcome. Jesus compels them to come: He does not force them, but He does work hard to show them why it’s a good idea. Parables are meant to teach, apply a certain moral and ethical lesson—not to be taken with any wooden literalism.

What is the moral lesson of the parable of the Great Banquet?

Because those invited were too busy with things, they made their lame excuses and turned down the invitation from the master and missed the great feast!

In this parable the invitation to the banquet is Jesus’ invitation for us to accept His salvation. Accepting this invitation to salvation means that we ask Jesus to enter our hearts, forgive our sins and choose to do the things He wants us to do.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit,

Praying …

Psalm 84 New American Standard Bible

Longing for the Temple Worship.
For the music director; [a]on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

84 How lovely are Your dwelling places,
Lord of armies!
2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courtyards of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may put her young:
Your altars, Lord of armies,
My King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are ever praising You. Selah

5 Blessed is the person whose strength is in You,
In [b]whose heart are the roads to Zion!
6 Passing through the Valley of [c]Baca they make it a [d]spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength,
[e]Every one of them appears before God in Zion.

8 Lord God of armies, hear my prayer;
Listen, God of Jacob! Selah
9 See our shield, God,
And look at the face of Your anointed.
10 For a day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
Than live in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord gives grace and glory;
He withholds no good thing [f]from those who walk with integrity.
12 Lord of armies,
Blessed is the person who trusts in You!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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When We Do Withhold Nothing From God, What Does God Give Back To Us? Genesis 22:12-18

Psalm 84
GOD’S WORD Translation

84 Your dwelling place is lovely, O Lord of Armies!
2 My soul longs and yearns
for the Lord’s courtyards.
My whole body shouts for joy to the living God.
3 Even sparrows find a home,
and swallows find a nest for themselves.
There they hatch their young
near your altars, O Lord of Armies, my king and my God.
4 Blessed are those who live in your house.
They are always praising you. Selah

5 Blessed are those who find strength in you.
Their hearts are on the road ⌞that leads to you⌟.
6 As they pass through a valley where balsam trees grow,[a]
they make it a place of springs.
The early rains cover it with blessings.[b]
7 Their strength grows as they go along
until each one of them appears
in front of God in Zion.

8 O Lord God, commander of armies, hear my prayer.
Open your ears, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look at our shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your anointed one.
10 One day in your courtyards is better than a thousand ⌞anywhere else⌟.
I would rather stand in the entrance to my God’s house
than live inside wicked people’s homes.
11 The Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord grants favor and honor.
He does not hold back any blessing
from those who live innocently.

12 O Lord of Armies, blessed is the person who trusts you.

Genesis 22:12-18 GOD’S WORD Translation

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you did not refuse to give me your son, your only son.”

13 When Abraham looked around, he saw a ram behind him caught by its horns in a bush. So Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. It is still said today, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The Lord’s Seventh Promise to Abraham

15 Then the Messenger of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I am taking an oath on my own name, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not refused to give me your son, your only son, 17 I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies’ cities. 18 Through your descendant all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

God Sends an Obedient Abraham and Isaac Home

When I was reading and then re-reading these verses, I was thunder struck, not just by the promises of God’s blessings to Abraham here which only seem huge.

They’re abundant, and we’ve seen those in different places. 

Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, but here in Genesis 22, remember the story.

This is when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son.

The long promised miraculous son, Isaac, on the altar, and Abraham showed God that he was willing to humble himself out of reverence of his God to do it.

He calls his son Isaac to his side.

Obediently, Isaac goes to his fathers side.

Abraham tells his son they are going to build an altar and worship God.

He takes his son.

He gathers all of the wood.

Abraham, with Isaac, goes to where God is sending him

He builds his altar.

He lays his son on the altar and ties him down, he’s got his knife raised above him because this is what God has commanded him to do-no question or debate.

But, observing Abraham and his readiness to obey Him and stops the sacrifice, provides a ram to sacrifice, so Isaac is able to live. God shows that he provides.

Abraham returned home with his son after sacrificing the goat.

Abraham had been faithful and obedient, he was ready to sacrifice everything which was most precious to God for the blessings he, his family had received.

Following this act of faith, and obedience God had promised Abraham and his growing family that He would bless them and their coming generations more than the stars in the skies and grains of sands in the desert and on the seashore.

Abraham’s family was overjoyed.

Giving Our All in All We Illuminate God’s Blessings

But when I read these verses, Genesis 22:13–18, and God, through the angel of the Lord, says to Abraham,

“Because you’ve done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you. I’ll bless you all these ways because you have obeyed by voice.”

Genesis 22:18 says, and I just think in my own life, I want that to be said of me,

“I did not withhold anything from God, that I didn’t hold on to anything in my life, even my life itself, that my life and everything I have was before God as an offering to be used by him, for him, his purposes, his glory, however he wants.”

God gave me everything therefore I do not want to withhold anything from God.

I want to likewise encourage you the reader not to withhold anything from God.

The whole point here, in Genesis 22:15–18, is that God is faithful to provide for those who in faith are obedient to the utmost and in the utmost, trust in Him.

I just want to encourage you, as I have, to trust in him with everything we have.

Let’s obey his voice, surrender to His will, do whatever He tells us to do because our lives and everything we have come to treasure, even up to all which is most precious to us, ultimately came from His and ergo, belongs ultimately to Him.

The story of Abraham and Isaac teaches us to have maximum trust, faith in God.

As mentioned in the story, Isaac the son of Abraham was saved by God himself.

Another important lesson we can learn from the story is that oftentimes when we are faced with hardcore choices, adverse circumstances, we must try and believe in doing good as God will show kindness to those who believe in Him.

God was, is and forever shall be above our circumstances and in His time, He will prevail over them and He will let us know He was the One who prevailed.

When We Give Our ALL, What God Gives Back to Us

Genesis 22:15-18 The Message

15-18 The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear—God’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you! And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.”

In Obedience, when Abraham gave his son back to God, then God said that by His own oath, His very promise of fruitfulness would be immediately fulfilled.

The rivers of living waters would now begin to flow out from him to bless all the nations of the earth as God had promised.

It was when Isaac came back from the dead, so to speak, in resurrection power that God said, “Now the fruitfulness of your life will be maximized and manifest.”

Even God’s least and greatest gifts to us are of no value until we are willing, if necessary, to lose them so that God might reign without a rival in our hearts.

When we have to come to that place to which the Spirit of God wants to bring us, that perfect relationship with the Father when God means more to us than anything, and we are even willing to give up the very gift that God has given,

then in resurrection power that gift will be a blessing to everyone it touches.

We all have been given gifts from God.

Maybe God has given you a special gift, a specialized and a singularly unique talent, and you are asked to take a job where perhaps you can’t use that talent.

You wonder about it and perhaps rebel over it.

But please remember Abraham, and when summoned, give it back to God.

Face the possibility of not using that talent, and the God of resurrection will take that talent and return it to you and make it a blessing to many hearts.

Perhaps you have a loved one, and a situation arises in which you have to part from that one or break that relationship.

This is an enormous struggle, but Abraham’s faith and trust in God says that if God asks you to do it, surrender it and then there is blessing beyond if you obey.

Maybe you are living in a situation of retired comfort and happiness, but you are needed in another place not nearly as pleasant, nor desirable, and you say,

“Lord, why do I have to give up my home, my retirement and my relationships that I enjoy and go there?” 

Remember, however, if God calls us into His Work, His Labor, we must obey.

Beyond the apparent heartbreak and death lies resurrection.

In obedience to that Summons from God, In the resurrection of that experience, by God’s very own oath, God will give you back that gift and make it a blessing.

Is not this the record of every man and woman we read of in the Scriptures whose life has ever counted for God, who have been willing to give up the very areas they thought were God’s choice blessing for them when God called?

When Noah was called by God to build an Ark in the face of harshest criticisms.

When a young shepherd boy named David was called away from protecting his father’s flocks to protecting the integrity, reputation of Israel against Goliath.

David was also secretly anointed by Samuel to become Israel’s greatest King.

For such a time was Esther called to become Queen of a foreign nation that she might boldly step in, risk her life, so to save her people from total destruction.

Examine the summons of God’s prophets – Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Amos and the rest – called into a time of reluctant obedience unto God.

Study, and examine the summons of the first twelve Apostles by Jesus Himself.

In so doing, by their full throated obedience to God, God made them a blessing.

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

God’s summons on our lives can be in minor or major areas.

Requiring degrees and measures of personal sacrifice – up to our own lives.

This is the principle of walking the road to the Cross throughout all our lives.

We maximize our efforts, we willingly surrender our whole lives unto God, we willingly sacrifice those things which gives us maximum comforts, pleasure.

We surrender ourselves, we give to God our maximum “all in all” knowing that in the end, in God’s anointed and appointed end – there will be our resurrection.

That knowledge, faith and trust – this is what makes resurrection life possible.

When it looks as though we are throwing away every chance of blessing, God transforms in a moment the very exact thing we give up into the most richly rewarding and abundantly blessed, meaningful experience we have ever had.

I dare you to act upon this opportunity to discover what God has for you in the place and places which you previously deemed unreachable and unsearchable!

I don’t know what this sacrifice might mean for be for you, or your family, but I can say with a high degree of confidence, to know this is true, God has written your life’s account so we may know that this is His way in the affairs of people.

These Verses Lets Us Know that by God’s own Oath, God is Always With Us!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 The Message

23 1-3 God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.

4 Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.

5 You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.

6 Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life.

So God, I just want to most humbly pray this on behalf of others reading this.

God, we surrender our lives to you. God, everything belong to you. Everything we are, everything we have, God, we want to trust you with it all so we lay it before you as an offering, and we pray, use us, use all that we have to accomplish your purposes, and we trust that you will be faithful to provide all along the way. There’s no better place, no better hands, to put our lives in, our families in, our future in, our plans, our surest certainties, our wildest hopes, dreams, our rusting possessions in, than your hands.

ABBA, Father, God Almighty, You are so faithful, so good and so very gracious. You are working for our good. You’re working for your glory, and you will use everything we put in your hands towards that end, so God, we trust in you. We surrender to you. Please help all who are listening right now, not to hold on tightly to anything in our lives, to hold loosely to it, to place it before you that you might use it however you want, that you might use us, our whole lives, and everything we put in your hands for your purposes as we trust you as our provider. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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“God, How May I Know What Your Will For My Life Is?” John 7:16-19

1. Take my life, and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee.

2. Take my voice, and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
every power as thou shalt choose.

3. Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee.

John 7:16-19 The Message

16-19 Jesus said, “I didn’t make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me. Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it’s from God or whether I’m making it up. A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honor the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn’t tamper with reality. It was Moses, wasn’t it, who gave you God’s Law? But none of you are living it. So why are you trying to kill me?”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Is Jesus For Real?

Do you ever wonder if Jesus actually was what he claimed to be?

Do we have trouble at times struggling with understanding what he is saying in these tremendous passages, especially in the Gospel narrative of John?

Well, if that is the case, Jesus tells you what to do: Practice what he says.

Obey his words.

Repent of your sins.

Come to Him.

Cast yourself upon his mercy.

Believe in his forgiveness, and go out in obedience and treat people the way he says to.

Then we will know from an inside knowledge that no one can take away that what He says is true, because His authority, teaching, is in line with the reality we are seeing of God at work through us.

This is a sacred principle that runs all through our life: We all learn by doing.

A doctor may learn all that the medical books can teach them, but until they get their hands into their clinical specialty, area of expertise, surgery or dispenses medicines to people who are in critical need of their service, never really learns.

The same is true in any field: We all learn by Our Doing.

When we do what Jesus says, we practice obedience and discipline ourselves, we begin to understand with a deep conviction that He knows what life is all about.

This explains the phenomenon of certain people who become Christians—some of them early, some late in life—and who immediately practice what they have learned through study of God’s Word, and then grow with astonishing rapidity.

They subtly become “more” grown up, capable, well-adjusted whole persons, seemingly almost overnight, while others who sit under the teaching of the Scripture for years hardly seem ever to grow at all; they are still childlike in their behavior, emotionally upset, anxious, timid, stagnant and fear-ridden.

This is because they are not doing what they hear.

They are only maintaining themselves in a “milk and cookies” Christianity.

Those who put into practice the truth they hear begin to grow immediately.

Now, it is graduating into whole hearted “meat and potatoes” evangelism.

They have entered the place called the tried, true, “Will of God For Their Lives.”

Ways to Know God’s Will for Your Life

When I was a young (in the faith) Christian, I seemed to continually wrestle with knowing to know what God’s will was for my life.

I wanted more than anything to follow His plan.

Interestingly, now that I’m “older” (currently 62 years old), I still wrestle with knowing and doing God’s will in my life.

Over the years of “near continual discernment” I have come to learn that this is not just something that many young persons does early in life; it is that lifelong pursuit, through study, prayer, in order to stay in the exact center of His plan.

So, then, how can we authentically, faithfully know God’s plan for our lives?

Over the past twenty-some years that I have been in both lay and lay pastoral ministry, I have discovered several vital keys to genuinely knowing God’s will.

Here they are:

1. Walk with God.

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

For starters, if you are authentically interested in knowing God’s plan for your life, then you must genuinely learn to walk faithfully, faith-filled, with God.

You need to engage, work literally all of the soils of your life cultivate, develop and sow, plant the seeds of a harvest, then bear fruit – a relationship with Him.

Matthew 13:10-17 The Message

Why Tell Stories?

10 The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”

11-15 He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:

Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
    Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are stupid!
They stick their fingers in their ears
    so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
    so they won’t have to look,
    so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
    and let me heal them.

16-17 “But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.

Christianity is all about working the soils, relationship rather than just religion.

And so you must cultivate your relationship with God.

We must seek to know Him through our labor, not just seek to know about Him.

We will cultivate that relationship best by spending time in His Word, taking time for prayer, and taking every opportunity you can to be involved in church and fellowship gatherings small group Bible study and prayer, opportunities.

When we seek “work these soils” cultivate these disciplines in, within our life, God will begin the first steps, plant the first seeds, to revealing His plan to you.

2. Surrender your will to God’s.

Romans 12:1-2 The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Far too many times when we say we are seeking God’s will, what we are really wanting to say to God is this: “OK, God, here’s what I’m planning to do.” “Now I need you authentically, faithfully [automatically] to rubber stamp this, all right?”

I must break into your Theology to tell you that this is not really going to be an effective thought or planning, process in discovering and finding His true will.

Before God will begin to allow the seed to germinate, reveal His will to you, you must be committed, faithful, to doing whatever it is He desires for you to do.

God will likely be slow, not as we understand slow, but God understands slow, to show you His true plan if He knows you will likely not do that plan anyway.

Jesus was willing come to die for us, so shouldn’t we be willing to live for Him?

When we surrender to Him, that is when He really begins to direct our steps.

3. Obey what you already know to be God’s will.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 The Message

The Way He Wants You to Live

12-13 And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!

13-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.

16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Many people seem to want to know what God’s plan is for their lives, but they overlook the fact that 98% of His will is already delineated carefully through His Word – God is very authentic, clear about many, many aspects of His will.

Honor, respect those leaders and authority figures who work so hard for you, who have been given by God, the true responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your faith journey, in your wisdom and understanding and practice of obedience.

Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part to get along with others.

Warn the “freeloaders” to “get with the plan for the community” and start earning their keep, “get along with God’s plan for His Kingdom” and to laboring for God.

Gently encourage and inspire and empower the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet, showing them places where they may rest.

Be patient with each person, attentive to their individual needs.

Be careful that when we get on each others nerves, we do not snap at each other.

Look for the best in each other and always do your best to bring out their best.

Be Cheerful – no matter what!

Pray all of the time.

Thank God – no matter what happens!

If we do not practice His Presence, obey the things God has shown us clearly to be His will, why then would we think He would reveal any further information regarding His plan for our lives?

Practice Obedience and Practice His Wisdom are critically important first steps.

4. Seek godly input.

Proverbs 11:14 The Message

14 Without good direction, people lose their way;
    the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.

One key component to finding God’s will is to seek the input of godly advisors in your life.

If you don’t currently have 3-4 godly mentors, then I would highly recommend that you seek them out right away.

Think of it this way: you should understand that you are basically a composite of the five people you spend the most time with.

So, then, it is vital that you choose those five people well.

If you choose to surround yourself with godly advisors, they’ll be instrumental in helping you discern God’s plan for your life.

But if you surround yourself with people who are far from God, your hope of finding His best for your life will be greatly diminished.

The church is designed to help you greatly with this.

I would encourage you to be in church every single time the doors are opened.

The more you involve yourself with a community of believers, the greater your chances will be of finally finding authentic godly men and women who can help you discern God’s will.

5. Pay attention to how God has wired you.

1 Peter 4:7-11The Message

7-11 Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!

God has created you and me to fulfill a specific role in this world.

There is no one else who can achieve completely what God has purposely created us to do.

God has gifted every one of us to perform a special mission for which we alone were created.

How amazing is that?

Wow!

So, when you seek to discover God’s will for your life, pay attention to how He has gifted you.

His plan for you will always be directly related to the gifts that He has bestowed upon you.

The great news is that you will automatically be good at whatever it is that He has called you to do!

6. Listen to God’s spirit.

John 16:12-15The Message

12-15 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’

I experienced a major turning point in my own prayer life when I learned simply to shut up while I was praying.

That may sound odd to you, and it seemed odd to me at first.

You see, I used to do all the talking when I prayed to God.

But then, several years ago, I read Bill Hybel’s book, Too Busy Not to Pray.

That book completely changed the way I approached God through prayer.

Since reading that book, I have added a significant component to my prayer life: listening.

I take time to “very carefully” listen to what God might have to say to me.

Practically, the way I go about this is to bring a notepad with me when I sit down to pray.

Then I contemplate at the top of several thoughts things like the following:

  • “What is the next step in my career?”
  • “What is the next step in my ministry?”
  • “What is the next step for my family?”
  • “What is the next step for my marriage?”
  • “What is the next step in my education?”
  • “What is the next step in my finances?”

During my prayer time, I meditate on questions such as the above.

Often, God will start flooding my heart with ideas and information regarding one or more of those questions.

Sometimes, not all of the time I write as fast as I can as He speaks to my heart.

What a glorious experience to sense His Spirit on me, guiding my thoughts and words, guiding my personal studies of the bible, writing of these devotionals.

Through experiences like this, He has shown me many times with great clarity what His will is for my life.

I long for those experiences when He speaks to me like that.

Those times are truly, authentically, life changing.

7. Listen to your heart.

Psalm 37:3-6 The Message

3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed,
    settle down and stick to your last.
Keep company with God,
    get in on the best.

5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back;
    he’ll do whatever needs to be done:
He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day
    and stamp you with approval at high noon.

In addition to listening to the Spirit, I also recommend listening to your heart.

I love this passage, because it shows me that, when I am walking with the Lord, He will actually let me do many really cool things that I actually love to do!

When you are close to Him, He actually begins to shape your desires so that you desire the things that He has already called you to do.

So then, His plan actually becomes a super-exciting adventure.

I always have the most fun in life when I am doing God’s will.

And that is because He shapes and transforms every single one of my “wants” to always wanting to do all those things for which He has actually created me.

8. Take a look at your circumstances.

Acts 16:6-10 The Message

6-8 They went to Phrygia, and then on through the region of Galatia. Their plan was to turn west into Asia province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So they went to Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them go there either. Proceeding on through Mysia, they went down to the seaport Troas.

9-10 That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.

God often clearly demonstrates His desired plan for our lives by His lining up circumstances in obvious ways.

And He also shows us what His will is NOT for us to do in that same way.

It is not His will for you to take the job that is not offered to you.

If you are of short stature it is not likely that God has created you to play 60 plus minutes of professional American NFL football.

But then again, there is the opportunity to play sports like professional soccer and be successful at a host of other amateur, professional sports opportunities

Over the years, I’ve discovered God is pretty good at opening and closing doors.

He even did that for the Apostle Paul and his entourage in the Book of Acts. 

So, even Paul had to face closed doors in his ministry.

God often uses closed doors to show us clearly what He does NOT want us to do.

And He also uses open doors at times to show us what He DOES want us to do.

Of course, this does not mean that every single open door is definitely God’s plan, but it surely and certainly does help to give you some basic direction.

A Closing Thought:

Psalm 27:7-10 The Message

7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
    “Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
    my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
    Don’t hide from me now!

9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
    don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
    you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
    but God took me in.

The next time you begin to ponder God’s plan for your life, I would encourage you to study and pray over the Word of God and mull over the above eight keys.

In fellowship with your brother and sisters in Christ, use these principles to help you to hone in on His plan.

And when you earnestly and fervently seek His will alone, you will 100% find it!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 84 The Message

84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
    I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
    where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
    O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
    our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Born of God: Our Believing, Receiving and Rejecting the Light. John 1:9-13

Not everyone rejected Jesus.

In fact, everyone who believed in him and accepted him was given an incredible gift: They were made children of God!

The same is still true for us who believe and accept Jesus.

This special gift is something that God alone can give.

It is also something about which both Jesus and our author John will have more to say.

Today, however, think about what it means to be God’s child!

Our Father paints the sunrise and displays his artistry again at sunset. He set the boundaries of the universe, which we cannot begin to see.

He is the greatest Father anyone could ever have, and he chose us to be his children!

Our adoption into the Father’s family is something God did for us to include us as his children.

We couldn’t make ourselves part of God’s family any more than children can accomplish their own birth or their adoption.

We are God’s children because of his love and grace and Jesus’ sacrifice.

In fact, Jesus came as the Father’s Word of grace and truth and life so we can be children of God, born from above!

John 1:9-13 The Message

9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

In the Beginning

In the prologue to his Gospel, John presents the Lord Jesus Christ as “the Light” that shines in darkness, it was John the Baptist who bore witness of His Light.

The Light of Christ is offered to everyone, yet not all wanted the Light of Christ to shine upon them, and they rejected Him.

Those who embraced Christ, those who believed Christ, were given the blessing of peace with God, and freedom from the bondage of sin, and eternity with the Father in heaven by the work of the Son (John 1:5-9, 14:6).

The inescapable truth is that this self same mindset is with us and among us even in in these last days before His promised return to make all things new.

Why do people choose, decide to not receive the offer of forgiveness and rest offered freely by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28-30; John 10:28-30)?

There are several reasons given in the Scripture, and none of them are valid excuses or explanations in terms of where we stand before our Sovereign LORD.

From the Beginning

Genesis 3:8-13 English Standard Version

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool [a] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”[b] 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

From the beginning, the world in general did not and still does not want to receive the Light, even though it is a free gift from God to HIs fallen creation (John 1:4, 9-10, 8:12, 12:46) Whom He made in His image (Genesis 1:26, John 1:3).

He came into HIs own land and among His chosen people Israel (Deuteronomy 7:6, 18:15-18; Jeremiah 2:7).

Both John, Luke and the Apostle Paul writes Jesus’ own family did not believe Him until after HIs resurrection (John 7:5; Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

John also lists other reasons why Jesus’ teachings and claims were rejected, and again, not one of them are the least bit excusable.

He tells us that there were some who deliberately loved darkness more than light, which is in line with what the Apostle Paul says about the condition of sinful humanity and their rejection of God’s glory, existence, and direction (John 3:19-20, 5:42-43; Romans 1:18-32, 3:10-18, 23).

Some were just plain fearful of what others would think of them, or what might happen to them, how they would be punished, how they would be disciplined, how their families would just flat reject them if they followed Jesus, preferring their approval over the welfare of their souls (Mark 8:38; John 7:13, 9:22, 12:42-43).

Some were badly taught by their teachers, or deliberately misinformed about the facts concerning Jesus, but there is no account of any of them taking the effort to check out the truth about Him, save for Nicodemus (John 3:1-21, 7:40-43).

Many of HIs disciples could not nor would not understand the depths of His teachings and simply quit following Him (John 6:6) instead of thinking about them and consciously expanding their knowledge of the deeper things of God.

In the context of our 21st century attitudes of Christ, things haven’t changed.

We want easy belief and shallow teaching that sooth our emotions and tickle our ears, preferring to remain deaf to His call to salvation (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

This goes hand-in-hand with another lame reason why people chose to reject Jesus, and that was they loved their traditions and history (John 9:13-16 Amp).

Controversy over the Man

13 Then they brought the man who was formerly blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was on a Sabbath day that Jesus made the mud and opened the man’s eyes. 15 So the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, “This Man [Jesus] is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner (a non-observant Jew) do such signs and miracles?” So there was a difference of opinion among them.

People, as a whole, will rush to flat out reject, flat out resist, do not like any kind of change, accept any truths, but their own alternative methods of doing things.

They have long been comfortable and complacent with things as they are and anyone who suggests any kind of change usually does not end very well for the people who dare to rock the boat or shake the system in order to make it better.

Jesus came along, vigorously casting out the money changers in the Temple, declaring the religious work and manner of the Pharisees and other officials was no better than rotting corpses in tombs and were hypocrites headed to hell (Matthew 21:12, Matthew 23:27, 33, John 2:14-16).

He cursed cities that saw His miracles, yet rejected Him (Matthew 11:21-23), chastised His apostles for their unbelief and dullness of mind (Mark 8:14-21), and sharply, publicly, rebuked officials who tried to discredit Him by asking about taxes to Caesar and the issue of the Resurrection (Luke 20:19-40).

People who tend to dwell on “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”, need to re-read the Gospels and see that He was not nice and sweet all the time, but laid it on the line in terms of waking up all people to the fact of accountability before God, the reality of sin its consequences, that He is the ONLY way, truth, life, to salvation (John 14:6).

What if “our God worshipping church” today was “our God worshipping church” in the 1st Century?

I would even dare to say that if the Rabbi Jesus showed up at the average house of worship today and did the exact things He did in the Gospels, the cry for His betrayal, his arrest, his death, would be as loud as those who lived in His day.

However, God’s plan for our salvation would remain God’s plan, and Jesus’ resurrection would still take place to the world’s regret and the devil’s fears.

What about those who receive the Light of Christ?

John tells us that by giving our lives over to Jesus, we have the authority to be called sons and daughters of God, heirs and joint heirs with Him, a wonderful manifestation of the love of Almighty God (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17; 1 John 3:1).

The privilege of being born of God is not by physical descent, or the work of our flesh, or virtue of power by our will, but is a spiritual rebirth made possible by the Sovereign, merciful, and benevolent act of the Spirit of God alone (John 1:13, 3:5; Titus 3:5).

We receive this free gift by repenting of our sins (Psalm 51:1-17) and asking the Lord Jesus to forgive us and save us (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-13), and that we each choose to come to God, give our lives fully over to Him as Lord and Savior.

We belong to Him from that time onward into eternity.

We are to serve Him by sharing what He has done for us with others (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 4:12, 19-20).

We are to reading and studying HIs Word to grow spiritually (John 17:17; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).

We are to find and support a body of like-minded believers who teach the Scriptures faithfully and who confess Christ as Lord (Hebrews 10:24-25).

We are to follow the Lord’s example by a public confession of faith in Christ and be baptized as a sign of obedience and affirmation to follow Him. (Acts 2:43-47)

Believing and Living as Children of God

John 1:12-13Amplified Bible

12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name— 13 who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].

John’s gospel tells us that to receive Jesus is to believe in his name.

To believe in Jesus’ name is to acknowledge that Jesus is the Word become flesh.

Others may pass him by, others will pass him by, think him a stranger, or, even worse, call him an impostor and blasphemer–but believers will see his glory.

Psalm 27:8 Amplified Bible

8 
When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”

The Psalmist David, recognized the need to seek after God’s face everyday in prayer and in the reading and the diligent personal study of The Word of God.

John wants us to look on the face of Jesus until the conviction becomes so rooted in our hearts that we are looking into the human face of the living God.

Perhaps for us, in this day, age, this face of God comes most into focus when we see it “eye to eye” (Luke 22:60-62), “face to face” wearing the crown of thorns.

It is said of God no one can behold his face and live. I always thought this meant no one can see his splendor and live. But perhaps, even far deeper, it meant that no one could look upon his true sorrow and live. Or perhaps his sorrow is his splendor.

Believing is more than seeing.

It also involves following and even carrying on a sort of love affair.

Believing is a verb, and in our Scripture reading it is followed by the preposition “in,” suggesting that it unites us to the one in whom we believe.

It is through this union that we His Children are ushered into the family of God.

I pray that if we are seeking the Light of Truth and we have come across this devotion, I invite and implore us read and study and pray the Word of God, to repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life.

Consider please, quit stumbling around in the darkness and turn to Him today.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Psalm 84 The Message

84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
    I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
    where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
    O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
    our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Are We So Confident in God that We Will Sing the Goodness of God in An Exuberant Earth, in Our Lifetimes? Psalm 27:13-14

God is good all the time.

It’s easy to see God’s goodness when life is tastes like an Ice cold glass of lemonade on the hottest days of Summer.

When our hearts are happy our eyes are open to His glorious presence, His plan for our lives, and the beauty of His creation all around us.

But sometimes life is just so hard.

Life is just too bitter.

Life is just too disappointing.

Life seems to be so completely empty of anything which might be even loosely, so minimally defined, as being “good” and being “worthy.”

It’s in these times we must hold fast to this simple truth: “God is good” “God is GOOD all the time.”

But can we, will we, could we, should we, sing of it, actually “mean it?”

Psalm 27 The Message

27 Light, space, zest—
    that’s God!
So, with him on my side I’m fearless,
    afraid of no one and nothing.

2 When vandal hordes ride down
    ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
    fall flat on their faces.

3 When besieged,
    I’m calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
    I’m collected and cool.

4 I’m asking God for one thing,
    only one thing:
To live with him in his house
    my whole life long.
I’ll contemplate his beauty;
    I’ll study at his feet.

5 That’s the only quiet, secure place
    in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
    far from the buzz of traffic.

6 God holds me head and shoulders
    above all who try to pull me down.
I’m headed for his place to offer anthems
    that will raise the roof!
Already I’m singing God-songs;
    I’m making music to God.

7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
    “Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
    my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
    Don’t hide from me now!

9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
    don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
    you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
    but God took me in.

11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
    direct me along a well-lighted street;
    show my enemies whose side you’re on.
Don’t throw me to the dogs,
    those liars who are out to get me,
    filling the air with their threats.

13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
    in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
    Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
    Stay with God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Freedom and Confidence “In the Land of the Living”

Psalm 27:13-14Amplified Bible

13 
I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 
Wait for and confidently expect the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord.

In a culture, in any society that prizes self-confidence and on a positive self-image, we are most surely and certainly tempted to think, if not wholeheartedly believe, that any relationship we claim to have with God should make a priority of focusing exclusively on ourselves, our own needs, our sense of self-worth.

But now, please consider what happens when self-assured people pray to God.

People who believe their relationship with God, not God’s relationship based on them, is based in their own merit and interests, will find prayer an empty ritual.

They will almost certainly tend to see little need for prayer, take little time for actual prayer and they don’t and probably will not see the results “they” expect.

Prayers offered in our own strength rise no higher than the roof over our heads.

Fervent and sincere Prayers “offered up to God” in our own confidence of our being “blessed by the goodness of God” being answered by God in our own way will invariably be the source of the “bitterness of our own disappointments.”

the “bitterness of our disappointments” will become our “bitterness’s in our God.”

Bitterness in anything translates to the severe diminishment in our confidence in whatever or why ever or whoever it is we have become badly embittered by.

The Word of God for His Children reveals what happens to the embittered heart:

Genesis 27:33-34 Amplified Bible

33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and he said, “Then who was the one [who was just here] who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I blessed him. Yes, and he [in fact] shall be (shall remain) blessed.” 34 When Esau had heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and extremely bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

Our Bitterness in the Goodness of Man or Confidence in the Goodness of our God in the Land of the Living?

“I am 100% confident that all of mankind is inherently bad and bitter.”

What emotion(s) does that global statement stir up inside of your soul?

“I am 100% confident in saying that God is good, all the time, God is good.”

What emotion(s) does that statement of affirmation and faith stir up in you?

I know for some one statement stirs up much anger and resentment in all that is associated with all of the actions and activities of mankind upon this earth.

I know that for some the other phrase stirs up within them unspeakable joy, while others of us seem to be overly immune to any one emotion in our lives.

I believe the issue for many of us is that the repetition of phrase “God is good” is so frequently said, so frequently exhorted and so infrequently experienced.

For many of us we are just told that God is always good from a young age, but we are seldom given the chance to experience any negativity in that goodness.

Negativity is something God has always meant to be experienced by mankind.

Disappointment in mankind, disappointment in God were always meant by God to be experienced by mankind that the experiences of all our disappointments might be utilized by God, should be transformed by God into a stronger faith.

Job 1:20-21 Amplified Bible

20 Then Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head [in mourning for the children], and he fell to the ground and worshiped [God]. 21 He said,

“Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb,
And naked I will return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Bitterness is something we were always meant to experience and mature from.

Disappointment is something we were always meant by God to experience – not to be protected nor to be shielded from by the highest of parental castle walls.

Perhaps mankind is too embittered, too disappointed by the fact that it is 100% impossible for them to build and fortify their walls enough to prevent the bad, to prevent the bad and the ugly from being seen and then “max” experienced.

Ecclesiastes 3:11-15 Amplified Bible
God Set Eternity in the Heart of Man

11 He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot ever hope to find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good as long as they live; 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and see and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. 14 I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor can anything be taken from it, for God does it so that men will fear and worship Him [with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is God]. 15 That which is has already been, and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by [so that history repeats itself].

Everyone always want the better side of living life for the coming generations.

But this too is the worst expression of vanity mankind can have confidence in.

We all need the fullness of both in our and our children’s lives to know we will always need the fullness of something far greater than all our bitterness in life, that being the absolute fullness of Goodness which only comes from our God.

Goodness is something which was meant by God, always meant by God, to be, by measures and degrees experienced, then believed, not the other way around.

From Psalm 27 verse 13 David said that he had the highest confidence he would look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

He could in highest confidence say such a thing, possess such a high level of “blessed assurance in God” because he had also known the greatest bitterness.

In his great personal failures as a father – with his relationship with Absalom.

In his relationship with his wife and his adultery with Bathsheba, his personal relationship and deep personal confidence, friendship with Uriah the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittite whom David conspired to murder.

Ultimately confronted by Nathan with the indescribable scope of his failures, of his crimes against his family and friends, David recognized the greater and far more to be prioritized, valued, and be treasured, Goodness of God (Psalm 32)

From within his own greatest bitterness, his greatest disappointments, He had already seen God’s goodness in his life and believed that he would see it again.

READ, STUDY AND PRAY INTO THE DEPTHS OF DAVID’S HEART: PSALM 51

He also knew for a fact that ultimately he was missing the mark in life but God was always on target, always good, ergo, he sought to experience goodness.

It’s that same heart that the Sons of Korah had in the famous Psalm 84, singing, 

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God . . . For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:1-2,10).

It sounds like the worship of a good God, a goodness that is to be experienced.

Intersecting the Facts of Life with our Faith in God.

When was the last time you experienced the goodness of God? 

Psalm 33:5 says, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” 

God’s goodness is always here, and always just waiting to be experienced. 

James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” 

God is always good, every good and perfect gift you’ve received is from God!

He demonstrates his goodness to us in innumerable ways, all the time.

How is it then that we don’t recognize it?

How is it then we are always quicker to recognize bitterness, disappointment?

How is it that we can be surrounded by God’s goodness and not experience it?

God has repeatedly proven throughout Scripture that God works in our midst, continuously, perpetually, demonstrating His goodness, but we have to cast off our bitterness so as to take time to listen and respond to these demonstrations.

In Psalm 27 verse 4 God says to David, “Seek my face,” and David responds, “All the days of my life My heart (confidently) says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek.” 

When God says “seek” He uses a Hebrew word that is meant for more than one person.

God calls all of us, God’s Children, to “set bitterness aside” “confidently seek my face.” then in our natural response we are to say, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

Take time to consider the depths of your bitterness and disappointments.

Take time today to prayerfully respond to God’s invitation of His Goodness.

Seek to look upon his face and to experience his goodness.

He has laid a banquet table before us in the presence of our enemies named “bitterness and disappointment.”

And God is simply asking, inviting, us to come forward and dine with Him.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 27 The Message

27 Light, space, zest—
    that’s God!
So, with him on my side I’m fearless,
    afraid of no one and nothing.

2 When vandal hordes ride down
    ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
    fall flat on their faces.

3 When besieged,
    I’m calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
    I’m collected and cool.

4 I’m asking God for one thing,
    only one thing:
To live with him in his house
    my whole life long.
I’ll contemplate his beauty;
    I’ll study at his feet.

5 That’s the only quiet, secure place
    in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
    far from the buzz of traffic.

6 God holds me head and shoulders
    above all who try to pull me down.
I’m headed for his place to offer anthems
    that will raise the roof!
Already I’m singing God-songs;
    I’m making music to God.

7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
    “Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
    my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
    Don’t hide from me now!

9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
    don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
    you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
    but God took me in.

11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
    direct me along a well-lighted street;
    show my enemies whose side you’re on.
Don’t throw me to the dogs,
    those liars who are out to get me,
    filling the air with their threats.

13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
    in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
    Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
    Stay with God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Guided Prayer:

1. Take time to quiet yourself and receive God’s presence. Meditate on this verse:

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

2. Respond to his goodness by telling the Lord:

“My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Psalm 27:8

3. Make David’s prayer yours today:

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4

Take time to make that prayer your own throughout your day today.

Memorize it.

Write it on your heart so you can experience the goodness of God throughout your day.

It only takes a moment to receive his presence and have the joy and the perfect peace, the SHALOM, SHALOM, that can only be found in our Savior Christ Jesus.

What Can Make Us All Whole Again? Only The Purifying Life Blood of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:7

1 John 1:5-10 New International Version

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[a] sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 ESV

A believer in Jesus Christ must be humbled by the fact that the righteousness that he or she has received is because of the blood of Jesus at Calvary.

When Jesus was crucified he was bleeding from the cross for you and for everyone in the world.

Even as he was dead on the cross he continued to shed his blood.

But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (John 19:33-34, KJV)

This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. (1 John 5:6, KJV)

In the Old Testament times there was the first covenant in which the sins of the people of Israel had to be covered up by the shedding of the blood of an animal.

However, with the arrival of Jesus Christ came a new and better covenant in which he became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. 

Hebrews chapter 9 provides for us a comparison and contrast of “cleanliness.”

What Can Wash Away My Sins-Hebrews 9

Hebrews 9 New International Version

Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle

9 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

The Blood of Christ

11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,[a] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining[b] eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God!

15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

16 In the case of a will,[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

We have all seen the commercials on television or on the internet advertising all kinds of the best laundry soap for all the very worst kinds of stains imaginable.

We see the kids rolling around in all kinds of mud puddles, stomping mud pits, rubbing their muddy hands all over their clothes and parents looking stunned.

Their eyes and mouths are all wide open, and their facial expressions and their slouched and bewildered bodily postures say: “What detergent will clean that?”

Or to try and tone it down a bit, when kids play outside and get a bit sweaty, we will softly often say to them, “OK, jump in the shower and do a quick rinse-off.”

Other times, when they have played outside for hours and they need more than just a quick rinse—they need that deep-cleaning shower or a soak in the tub.

Then parents get on their hands and knees, with soap and start the scrubbing.

In some ways, the old Hebrew cove­nant laws of cleansing the body and the spirit and the soul after a time of uncleanness provided just a quick rinse.

It wasn’t any kind of deep-down cleaning – that would take too much time..

But then, the millions of people needed to be cleansed through and through.

But then, the millions of people needed to be cleansed once and for all time.

Today there are billons and we all need to be max cleansed from our lives of sin.

What the old laws could not ever hope to do, as there were simply not enough High Priests to do it, directly and decisively points us all today, to that only someone who could provide a “one and forever done” max full, deep cleaning.

That High Priest is Jesus Christ, whose coming, whose life, ministry, whose death and whose resurrection for our sake, provided purification once for all.

The Old Hebrew Testament law included ritualized ceremonial Temple practices of washing to be clean.

What soap was used in the Bible?

There are also Biblical accounts of the Israelites making soap gel from ash lye and vegetable oils showing the importance of personal hygiene was realized.

Moses gave the Israelites laws governing personal cleansing through the use of ‘borith’ – Hebrew for soap – shortly after their Exodus.

But the cleaning was never complete.

And God knew this and vigorously denounced it through Jeremiah;

Jeremiah 2:20-24 New International Version

20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke
    and tore off your bonds;
    you said, ‘I will not serve you!’
Indeed, on every high hill
    and under every spreading tree
    you lay down as a prostitute.
21 I had planted you like a choice vine
    of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
    into a corrupt, wild vine?
22 Although you wash yourself with soap
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;
    I have not run after the Baals’?
See how you behaved in the valley;
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running here and there,
24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
    sniffing the wind in her craving—
    in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
    at mating time they will find her.

The people continually turned away from God, worshipped Baal idols, turned their lives away from diligently obediently serving God to personal corruption.

People would get “dirty” again – their whole year of sins would need cleaning by the High Priests – and sin offerings would need to be repeated over again.

Year after Year after Year … ad infinitum

More and more material resources, “perfectly imperfect” animals sacrificed.

Hands and feet cleansed, whole Bodies cleansed …

But what of the sin stained soul?

What no man can physically wash or cleanse with any kind of bodily soap?

God knew this and vigorously condemned this disobedience – but did also point to a future time when one would come and be that perfect sacrifice for all sins;

Isaiah 53 New International Version

53 Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

then God made for us the definitive revelation of Isaiah 53,

John 3:16-17 Amplified Bible

16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

God sent His only begotten Son Jesus as the only perfect sacrifice for us, cleanse us thoroughly and providing such a deep-down cleaning we all receive new life.

As Hebrews 9:14 explains, the blood of Christ, shed for our sake, cleanses “our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

For all who confess with their whole heart, their maximum trust in Christ, we are washed in his blood, fully cleansed from our sin so that we may serve him!

1 John 1:5-10 Easy-to-Read Version

God Forgives Our Sins

5 We heard the true teaching from God. Now we tell it to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness. 6 So if we say that we share in life with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars, who don’t follow the truth. 7 We should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. 10  If we say that we have not sinned, we are saying that God is a liar and that we don’t accept his true teaching.

From mankind’s fall in the Garden of Eden, Sin is 100%, an undeniable reality.

Its effects can be seen every day in our lives, in our families, and in society.

Sin is the transgression of God’s law and the lack of conformity to that law.

We sin against God in our words, thoughts, and actions—and even by not doing the good we should do.

We sin because we are sinners.

We were conceived and born in sin, and we live in sin.

We cannot cleanse ourselves.

Sin has affected every possible aspect of our reason, our emotion, and our will.

All areas of our lives have been stained and tainted by sin.

No religious ritual can cleanse us from sin.

Sin separates us from God, setting a impenetrable barrier that we cannot cross.

Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, has done for us what we ourselves cannot do.

By his death we have life, and by his life blood we have cleansing from all sin.

No sin we commit is too great for him to cover, or so bad God cannot forgive it.

In Jesus Christ, our Savior, we have redemption—abundant, full, and free!

Praise God from whom all blessings of abundant life flow!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 84 The Message

84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
    I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
    where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
    O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
    our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty, holy is your name. Sin does not dwell with you. Thank you for sending your Son, for the full and free forgiveness that Jesus’ blood has purchased for your Children, allowing them to be close to you. In the Savior’s name.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Happy, Blessed, Highly Favored are those whose Strength is in the Lord: The Secret of Usefulness. Psalm 84

At the end of the celebration of Passover, in Jewish homes scattered throughout the world, the parting toast is, ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’

The sentiment echoes a common consciousness, a deep restlessness if you will, which is forever drawing God’s people back from “the near uselessness of their place of exile” towards “the usefulness of their roots in the land of their forefathers.“

The Psalmist was one of those who had been familiar with the days of worship in the tabernacle in the holy land.

Immediately prior to the building of the Temple by Solomon, the tabernacle had been situated in the City of David, just below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

It has been suggested that Psalm 84 was written by King David when he left Jerusalem during the rebellion led by his son Absalom.

David belonged seated on the Throne of Israel. That is where God placed him. This is [place where King David was the most useful to God and His Kingdom.

But David’s fatherly judgement became severely impaired. Absalom took great advantage of that and by force of Arms, compelled David to leave his throne.

A King not seated on his throne – in “exile,” in “hiding’ was of no use to God.

David could not wield his Kingly power – becoming essentially useless to his people, to his nation and too his God – there needed to be a significant change.

The progression:

Useful to Self – Useless to God – then in Christ, 100% usefulness to God.

Psalm 84Complete Jewish Bible

84 (0) For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of the sons of Korach:

2 (1) How deeply loved are your dwelling-places,
Adonai-Tzva’ot!
3 (2) My soul yearns, yes, faints with longing
for the courtyards of Adonai;
my heart and body cry for joy
to the living God.

4 (3) As the sparrow finds herself a home
and the swallow her nest, where she lays her young,
[so my resting-place is] by your altars,
Adonai-Tzva’ot, my king and my God.

5 (4) How happy are those who live in your house;
they never cease to praise you! (Selah)
6 (5) How happy the man whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

7 (6) Passing through the [dry] Baka Valley,
they make it a place of springs,
and the early rain clothes it with blessings.
8 (7) They go from strength to strength
and appear before God in Tziyon.

9 (8) Adonai, God of armies, hear my prayer;
listen, God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
10 (9) God, see our shield [the king];
look at the face of your anointed.
11 (10) Better a day in your courtyards
than a thousand [days elsewhere].
Better just standing at the door of my God’s house
than living in the tents of the wicked.

12 (11) For Adonai, God, is a sun and a shield;
Adonai bestows favor and honor;
he will not withhold anything good
from those whose lives are pure.

13 (12) Adonai-Tzva’ot,
how happy is anyone who trusts in you!

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

“How lovely is your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts,” he intoned (Psalm 84:1).

Not that God dwells in tents or buildings or any other human habitations: but nevertheless, our soul is only ever satisfied (as Augustine of Hippo is often quoted as saying) when it finds its rest in the LORD (Psalm 84:2).

In fact, our ultimate rest is only found in Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled!) among us (John 1:14).

The Psalmist compares his soul to the sparrow, and to the swallow, little birds that are forever flitting around seeking a home (Psalm 84:3).

Not that either of these could ever safely nest on the altar of sacrifice (!) – but his soul has found its rest in the altars (plural) of the LORD of hosts.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22), and his rest and ours is found first in the altar of burnt offering, where the sacrifice is presented (representing to us the Cross of Calvary) and next in the altar of incense, where the risen Lord Jesus lifts our prayers, mingled with His, up to the LORD.

The Psalmist calls the LORD of hosts, “my King and my God” (Psalm 84:3).

The Christian faith is deeply personal, a relationship rather than a religion.

Blessed are those who abide in Christ, and He in them (John 15:4; John 15:7):

THEY “shall ever be praising Him” (Psalm 84:4), and THEY ‘shall have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming’ (1 John 2:28). “Selah.”

Think on this.

Pray over and upon this,

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways” (Psalm 84:5).

So reads the Hebrew, without adding any extra words into the translation.

The word for “ways” here speaks of a prepared way, as for when a ruling monarch is approaching on their royal tour (cf. Isaiah 40:3-4; Matthew 3:1-3).

So, ponder these questions for just a few moments, what kind of person is able to genuinely say, ‘my strength is in the LORD’ (cf. Psalm 84:5) or ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ (Philippians 4:13)?

It is a person whose heart has been prepared by the Holy Spirit, that they may ‘repent’ (meaning ‘change their mind about God’)!

The light of God has shined into their hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6), and they are made new people in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Not only are we made new people, but now we are enabled to “walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11) upon the path of righteousness.

We have a new purpose, a new direction, a new usefulness in our lives. ‘This is the way, walk ye in it,’ says the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 30:21).

When we are walking in God’s way, it is the LORD who leads us (Genesis 24:27).

When we face trials in “the valley of tears” (Psalm 84:6), we can each be 100% assured that the LORD knows our way, and will not only bring us through, but will bring us out better (Psalm 23:4; Job 23:10).

In all these things we are made ‘more than conquerors through Him that loved us’ (Romans 8:37-39).

The pilgrimage of this life may well be for us a vale of tears, but nevertheless we go on from our strength to His strength, our uselessness to His usefulness and will at last appear before God (Psalm 84:7; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:18).

‘In this world you shall have tribulation,’ said Jesus, ‘but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).

In our sin, we are essentially useless to God.

Lives lived in a “never-ending” state of being called: complete uselessness

The promise of Hope: “But be of Good Cheer; I have overcome the World”

Translation: Jesus overcame our sin and has made us 100% useful to God!

God lives – We live and our sin dies – crucified with Christ! (Galatians 2:20)

In our sin we were Useful only to ourselves, Useless to God

By profession of faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 10:9-13) – Usefulness to God.

Here the secret of usefulness is set forth by God before us in Psalm 84:5-6 CJB

5 (4) How happy are those who live in your house;
they never cease to praise you! (Selah)
6 (5) How happy the man whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

Many of us have either been “useful” or “useless” Christians for a long time.

When you get in difficulties or troubles or pressures, where is your strength?

Have you found that your strength is not within yourself but in God alone, that He is the ONLY One who genuinely makes a difference?

One Saturday night I came home after a rather long day away from my church responsibilities, and I was very tired and looking forward to some useful rest.

My wife told me some of the things that had been happening, some of the pressures that had come that day from the church and from the family.

They were the kind of things I would normally want to lay before the Lord and pray about.

Except, on this particular Saturday, I didn’t feel like praying. I was tired, and I only wanted to go straight to bed. I just thought to myself, What’s the use of praying now, anyway? I’m so tired that my prayers wouldn’t have any power.

Then it struck me: What a thing to say! What difference does it make how I feel?

My reliance isn’t upon my prayers but upon God’s power.

It always bothers me to hear Christians talk about the power of prayer. 

There isn’t any power in our prayer or our praying.

There is only power in the God who answers prayer.

I was swiftly rebuked in my own spirit by the remembrance that it makes no difference how tired or exhausted I happen to be.

So, consequently in that exact moment I prayed–very briefly, because the power of prayer doesn’t lie in the length of it, either.

Charles Spurgeon used to speak of those who had the idea that the power of the ministry lay in the lungs of the preacher.

But it doesn’t lie there, either.

Power lies in the power of God who is behind prayer. 

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you.” meaning our strength is in God alone and not ourselves as we look at ourselves looking back at us in a mirror.

Some time ago I was trying to sell my car.

Intending to put an ad in the paper, I read through several car ads to learn how to phrase it.

I noticed a phrase that appeared again and again throughout the ads.

It said, “Power all around.” 

At first, I didn’t know what it meant. Then I realized it meant power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission, power windows, power doors, power seats, power mirrors and, in the case of a convertible, a power top.

Literally Power all around!

All this power is designed to take the terrible strain out of driving so that all you need to do is sit there and push a few little buttons and things will happen.

What a tremendous description of the “useful” Christian life!

Power all around!

The Power of God!

The Power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ raising us unto Eternal Life!

The Power of the Holy Spirit – Pentecost!

Not one ounce of any of Father, Son and Holy Spirit power is ever useless!

We just have to a useful way to plug our “useless” selves into it and stay there!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God of power and might—we give thanks for a song in our hearts.
Our souls long for You;
Our heart and our flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Happy are those who
live in your house, ever singing your praise.

Hear our prayer; give ear, O God!

Behold our shield, O God of our Salvation;
Guide us in times of trouble, through night of sorrow,
and days when deceit lives in our heart more than love,
and hate for the stranger, more than love.
Speak gently to your anointed ones, that we may hear.

Hear our prayer; give ear, O God!

Help us see the stranger, who comes because Your song
is in his heart and on her tongue, ringing through—
help us to hear, to see, to embrace You—
in him, in her, in you, even, in me—
with outstretched arms and mighty hands.

Hear our prayer; give ear, O God!

God of my Strength—we give thanks for a song in our hearts!  Amen.

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