Friday, March 31, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.
There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.
Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor-- it is the gift of God.
Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.
Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor-- it is the gift of God.
Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Putting on the New Self
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Our lives are not in our own hands but in His
I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.
( ...that people's lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.
...that a person's life is not his to control, nor does a person establish his way in life.)
Jeremiah 10:23 NLT NIV ISV
I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn't always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time. Eccs 9:11
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
In its elements and outward scenery nature is the same to all. Light and night, sun and stars, air and earth and landscapes, offer a common enclosure and background to our existence. But the various impulses and aptitudes for work with which we are born — which press from the very core of our being — diversify the world as widely as if we were distributed upon different globes. To one set of men it is a place to think and learn and grow wise in. Another finds the world a place to work in. Others find it a garden of beauty in which the stars are more valuable as blossoms of poetic light than for their astronomic truth, and the air richer for its hues than for its uses, and the mountains grander for their millinery of mist and shadow and their draperies of verdure and snow than for their service to the climates and housekeeping of nations. Still others see the world as a place to trade in and grow rich — a gorge between gold mountains, where they must quarry. Or it is a pleasure-ground for giddy or elegant enjoyment. It is plain, therefore, that our natural bent in the line of work does a great deal to impress a character upon the universe. Even when no moral quality is involved, we see how life gets coined at our mint, so that the world, God's world, somehow wears the stamp of the die cut into our heart. And temperament, natural temperament, has an effect on life that must be considered in this connection. If a man has a music-box in his heart, the pulse of the sun will seem to beat with it, and the trees to throb and bud with its melody. If his bosom is strung as an AEolian harp, nature will be full of weird and sad cadences. You know how experience, also, interprets the same principle, even in cases where moral considerations are not prominent. You know how a piece of good-fortune brightens the air, how prosperous hours make the globe buoyant, how some impending evil puts the edge of a spiritual eclipse upon the sun as solemnly as the shadow of the moon settles on its burning disc, how suddenly ill-fortune in business will seem to make the very springs of beauty bankrupt, how the sickness of a dear friend turns nature pallid, how the death of wife, husband, or child will convert all the trees to cypress, and set the music of nature in a minor key, as s dirge or requiem. All these facts, which belong rather to the margin of our subject, enforce the duty of "keeping the heart." For though aptitudes, temperaments, and moods have much to do with the tone and quality of our life, states have more. A dark moral state stretches a permanent veil of cloud over the heart, that thins and chills all the light, while a mood or a sorrow may sail only like the swift blackness of a shower through our air. And we can do a great deal to control the moral states of the heart; we are responsible for them. Moral evils, such as envy, avarice, selfishness, license, only vivify with various colouring the one fundamental evil, sin — distance from sympathy with God, alienation from the heavenly Father, indifference or disloyalty to His will and love. This is our central foe. This is what corrupts the issues of life. This is the serpent at the fountain. Back of all sins is sin. The one comprehensive purpose of life is to bring Infinite grace to bear on that, and drive it from the inmost artery of the soul. The first thing to do, in order that such life may issue from your heart, is to get your heart broken. Not because it is totally corrupt, but because it is not centrally dedicated — because God is not invited and admitted to the inner shrine, to rule thence with His wisdom and purity, so that you shall consciously live for Him. This world, with its hard conditions and mysteries, is built for an upper and nether millstone to grind pride out of human hearts, to crush their natural state, so that, in penitence and humility, God may come into the spirit, and the world seem remade because the soul is regenerate in consecration and the beginning of a filial life. You are to keep your heart with all diligence, by desiring and praying for this spirit of sympathy with God and allegiance to Him. And you are also to "keep" it by living in fellowship with great truths and sentiments. If you have had any seasons or season when you have seen the value and blessedness of a religious conception of the universe and of religious principle, honour that; honour your soul's own witness to sacred realities, by trying to keep in the society of those noble truths and ideas.
(T. Starr King.)
( ...that people's lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.
...that a person's life is not his to control, nor does a person establish his way in life.)
Jeremiah 10:23 NLT NIV ISV
I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn't always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time. Eccs 9:11
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
In its elements and outward scenery nature is the same to all. Light and night, sun and stars, air and earth and landscapes, offer a common enclosure and background to our existence. But the various impulses and aptitudes for work with which we are born — which press from the very core of our being — diversify the world as widely as if we were distributed upon different globes. To one set of men it is a place to think and learn and grow wise in. Another finds the world a place to work in. Others find it a garden of beauty in which the stars are more valuable as blossoms of poetic light than for their astronomic truth, and the air richer for its hues than for its uses, and the mountains grander for their millinery of mist and shadow and their draperies of verdure and snow than for their service to the climates and housekeeping of nations. Still others see the world as a place to trade in and grow rich — a gorge between gold mountains, where they must quarry. Or it is a pleasure-ground for giddy or elegant enjoyment. It is plain, therefore, that our natural bent in the line of work does a great deal to impress a character upon the universe. Even when no moral quality is involved, we see how life gets coined at our mint, so that the world, God's world, somehow wears the stamp of the die cut into our heart. And temperament, natural temperament, has an effect on life that must be considered in this connection. If a man has a music-box in his heart, the pulse of the sun will seem to beat with it, and the trees to throb and bud with its melody. If his bosom is strung as an AEolian harp, nature will be full of weird and sad cadences. You know how experience, also, interprets the same principle, even in cases where moral considerations are not prominent. You know how a piece of good-fortune brightens the air, how prosperous hours make the globe buoyant, how some impending evil puts the edge of a spiritual eclipse upon the sun as solemnly as the shadow of the moon settles on its burning disc, how suddenly ill-fortune in business will seem to make the very springs of beauty bankrupt, how the sickness of a dear friend turns nature pallid, how the death of wife, husband, or child will convert all the trees to cypress, and set the music of nature in a minor key, as s dirge or requiem. All these facts, which belong rather to the margin of our subject, enforce the duty of "keeping the heart." For though aptitudes, temperaments, and moods have much to do with the tone and quality of our life, states have more. A dark moral state stretches a permanent veil of cloud over the heart, that thins and chills all the light, while a mood or a sorrow may sail only like the swift blackness of a shower through our air. And we can do a great deal to control the moral states of the heart; we are responsible for them. Moral evils, such as envy, avarice, selfishness, license, only vivify with various colouring the one fundamental evil, sin — distance from sympathy with God, alienation from the heavenly Father, indifference or disloyalty to His will and love. This is our central foe. This is what corrupts the issues of life. This is the serpent at the fountain. Back of all sins is sin. The one comprehensive purpose of life is to bring Infinite grace to bear on that, and drive it from the inmost artery of the soul. The first thing to do, in order that such life may issue from your heart, is to get your heart broken. Not because it is totally corrupt, but because it is not centrally dedicated — because God is not invited and admitted to the inner shrine, to rule thence with His wisdom and purity, so that you shall consciously live for Him. This world, with its hard conditions and mysteries, is built for an upper and nether millstone to grind pride out of human hearts, to crush their natural state, so that, in penitence and humility, God may come into the spirit, and the world seem remade because the soul is regenerate in consecration and the beginning of a filial life. You are to keep your heart with all diligence, by desiring and praying for this spirit of sympathy with God and allegiance to Him. And you are also to "keep" it by living in fellowship with great truths and sentiments. If you have had any seasons or season when you have seen the value and blessedness of a religious conception of the universe and of religious principle, honour that; honour your soul's own witness to sacred realities, by trying to keep in the society of those noble truths and ideas.
(T. Starr King.)
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19
It is a good work to succour and help a good minister in trouble. The nature of true Christian sympathy, is not only to feel concern for our friends in their troubles, but to do what we can to help them. The apostle was often in bonds, imprisonments, and necessities; but in all, he learned to be content, to bring his mind to his condition, and make the best of it. Pride, unbelief, vain hankering after something we have not got, and fickle disrelish of present things, make men discontented even under favourable circumstances. Let us pray for patient submission and hope when we are abased; for humility and a heavenly mind when exalted. It is a special grace to have an equal temper of mind always. And in a low state not to lose our comfort in God, nor distrust his providence, nor take any wrong course for our own supply. In a prosperous condition not to be proud, or secure, or worldly. This is a harder lesson than the other; for the temptations of fulness and prosperity are more than those of affliction and want. The apostle had no design to urge them to give more, but to encourage such kindness as will meet a glorious reward hereafter. Through Christ we have grace to do what is good, and through him we must expect the reward; and as we have all things by him, let us do all things for him, and to his glory.
It is a good work to succour and help a good minister in trouble. The nature of true Christian sympathy, is not only to feel concern for our friends in their troubles, but to do what we can to help them. The apostle was often in bonds, imprisonments, and necessities; but in all, he learned to be content, to bring his mind to his condition, and make the best of it. Pride, unbelief, vain hankering after something we have not got, and fickle disrelish of present things, make men discontented even under favourable circumstances. Let us pray for patient submission and hope when we are abased; for humility and a heavenly mind when exalted. It is a special grace to have an equal temper of mind always. And in a low state not to lose our comfort in God, nor distrust his providence, nor take any wrong course for our own supply. In a prosperous condition not to be proud, or secure, or worldly. This is a harder lesson than the other; for the temptations of fulness and prosperity are more than those of affliction and want. The apostle had no design to urge them to give more, but to encourage such kindness as will meet a glorious reward hereafter. Through Christ we have grace to do what is good, and through him we must expect the reward; and as we have all things by him, let us do all things for him, and to his glory.
Rich in God and not in the things of this world
Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
Jer 9:23-24
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.
1 Cor 3:19
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.
1 Cor 3:19
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
Philippians 3:8,9
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:13-21
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:13-21
Psalm 49
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all who live in this world,
2both low and high,
rich and poor alike:
3My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
4I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:
5Why should I fear when evil days come,
when wicked deceivers surround me—
6those who trust in their wealth
and boast of their great riches?
7No one can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for them—
8the ransom for a life is costly,
no payment is ever enough—
9so that they should live on forever
and not see decay.
10For all can see that the wise die,
that the foolish and the senseless also perish,
leaving their wealth to others.
their dwellings for endless generations,
though they hadc named lands after themselves.
12People, despite their wealth, do not endure;
they are like the beasts that perish.
13This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
and of their followers, who approve their sayings.d
14They are like sheep and are destined to die;
death will be their shepherd
(but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).
Their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.
15But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;
he will surely take me to himself.
16Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
when the splendor of their houses increases;
17for they will take nothing with them when they die,
their splendor will not descend with them.
18Though while they live they count themselves blessed—
and people praise you when you prosper—
19they will join those who have gone before them,
who will never again see the light of life.
20People who have wealth but lack understanding
are like the beasts that perish.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Live wisely
So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:15-20
Matthew Henry Commentary
5:15-21 Another remedy against sin, is care, or caution, it being impossible else to maintain purity of heart and life. Time is a talent given us by God, and it is misspent and lost when not employed according to his design. If we have lost our time heretofore, we must double our diligence for the future. Of that time which thousands on a dying bed would gladly redeem at the price of the whole world, how little do men think, and to what trifles they daily sacrifice it! People are very apt to complain of bad times; it were well if that stirred them more to redeem time. Be not unwise. Ignorance of our duty, and neglect of our souls, show the greatest folly. Drunkenness is a sin that never goes alone, but carries men into other evils; it is a sin very provoking to God. The drunkard holds out to his family and to the world the sad spectacle of a sinner hardened beyond what is common, and hastening to perdition. When afflicted or weary, let us not seek to raise our spirits by strong drink, which is hateful and hurtful, and only ends in making sorrows more felt. But by fervent prayer let us seek to be filled with the Spirit, and to avoid whatever may grieve our gracious Comforter. All God's people have reason to sing for joy. Though we are not always singing, we should be always giving thanks; we should never want disposition for this duty, as we never want matter for it, through the whole course of our lives. Always, even in trials and afflictions, and for all things; being satisfied of their loving intent, and good tendency. God keeps believers from sinning against him, and engages them to submit one to another in all he has commanded, to promote his glory, and to fulfill their duties to each other.
Ephesians 5:15-20
Matthew Henry Commentary
5:15-21 Another remedy against sin, is care, or caution, it being impossible else to maintain purity of heart and life. Time is a talent given us by God, and it is misspent and lost when not employed according to his design. If we have lost our time heretofore, we must double our diligence for the future. Of that time which thousands on a dying bed would gladly redeem at the price of the whole world, how little do men think, and to what trifles they daily sacrifice it! People are very apt to complain of bad times; it were well if that stirred them more to redeem time. Be not unwise. Ignorance of our duty, and neglect of our souls, show the greatest folly. Drunkenness is a sin that never goes alone, but carries men into other evils; it is a sin very provoking to God. The drunkard holds out to his family and to the world the sad spectacle of a sinner hardened beyond what is common, and hastening to perdition. When afflicted or weary, let us not seek to raise our spirits by strong drink, which is hateful and hurtful, and only ends in making sorrows more felt. But by fervent prayer let us seek to be filled with the Spirit, and to avoid whatever may grieve our gracious Comforter. All God's people have reason to sing for joy. Though we are not always singing, we should be always giving thanks; we should never want disposition for this duty, as we never want matter for it, through the whole course of our lives. Always, even in trials and afflictions, and for all things; being satisfied of their loving intent, and good tendency. God keeps believers from sinning against him, and engages them to submit one to another in all he has commanded, to promote his glory, and to fulfill their duties to each other.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Thursday, March 16, 2017
A heart of Gratitude
Choose to give thanks for what you have than grumble over the what nots.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Do not complain about one another, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be judged. James 5:9
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Do not complain about one another, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be judged. James 5:9
Psalm 118
His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
118 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
13 I was pushed hard,[a] so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15 Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
16 the right hand of the Lord exalts,
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord has disciplined me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.[b]
23 This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord!
O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Guarding the heart (an everyday process)
Keeping the Heart
J. Vaughan, M.A.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
All wise people like to go deeply into a thing, to go to the root of it. What is your root? Where is it? Your "heart." A little boy had a very nice watch; but it would not go right. It had a very pretty case, and face; but it sometimes went too fast, and sometimes too slow. He asked his mother what he should do about it. She told him to take it to the watchmaker's. He did so; and he said, " Master John, it has its hands all right, but it will not go right. Therefore leave it with me, and come again in a few days, and I will tell you what is the matter with it." John went again to him in a few days, and the watchmaker said to him, "I opened your watch, and I found there was the right number of wheels, and pins, and screws; but I found a little part called 'the spring' which was wrong; and because the main-spring was wrong, it sometimes went too fast, and sometimes too slow." Now, I think, you are all like watches. Something within you goes tick, tick, and you have hands and inside works. But how do you go? Sometimes too fast, and sometimes too slow. Does not the tongue sometimes go too fast or too slow? Are not the feet sometimes too fast or too slow? Are not the hands sometimes going wrong? How is this? Let us examine — though I am not the watchmaker — God is the watchmaker: the main-spring is the heart. Everything in you depends upon your "heart." God always looks most at the "heart." What do you think God will look at in the day of judgment? Your "heart." That is what He will want to know about. Now as it is so important to "keep the heart" right, I want to try to help you to do so, by giving you a little advice thereupon. " Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." One thing is to "keep" it as we "keep" a garden — neat. Now, then, if you would "keep" your garden, you must often look into it. And I will tell you what you will find there — every day there will grow lumps of weeds; however well you may have weeded it yesterday, you will find more weeds to-day. Pull them out! Then another thing — you must water it. This wants doing very often. Do you know what I mean? If not, look at the fourth of John, to what Jesus Christ said about water, and what it is. Bring the Holy Spirit into your heart. Pray that God will pour good thoughts — His grace — into your heart: that is water. If you want to "keep your heart," do not let there be any empty corners therein. God likes all boys and girls to be employed — sometimes at their lessons, sometimes at play; sometimes helping somebody, thinking, reading, or playing, to be always employed. I must tell you, if you do not always employ yourselves — if you are idle, and thinking about nothing, the devil is sure to come into your hearts. Another piece of advice I give you is this, be very particular whom you make your intimate friends. You must "keep your heart" from catching those evil desires that naughty boys and girls will suggest. One thing more. Have you not sometimes, when anybody has given you anything uncommonly valuable, taken it to your father, and said, " It is too precious for me to keep, I am afraid of losing it, do take care of it for me"? It is very wise for boys and girls to do this with their treasures. Oh, that you would do this with your heart! You cannot "keep" it yourself; therefore often take it to God: ask Him to keep your heart.
(J. Vaughan, M.A.)
The Issues of Life!
Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
The Lord has, “abundance of life” planned for you that will bless your socks off… (Did you know that? Do you believe it? It is absolutely true!) He wants you to experience… not just being
average, but He wants you to experience… His Best! Are you pursuing, not just what you can do to scrape by, but are you living in God’s very best for your life?
The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon; gives to us an eternal principle… perhaps THE eternal principle to follow in this day that we live, that will bring about God’s best for our lives!
Here it is… are you ready? I really want you to get this:
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” This powerful principle begins with an understanding of a key word here… the English word: heart. The Hebrew word that we translate into English as heart, literally means the following:
Feelings, will and Intellect! So, here is the Biblical instruction that will change your life:
“Keep… guard… watch over… protect… your feelings! Don’t let them get the best of you!” Yet, our culture… the worldly environment in which we live today… is now guided, directed,
and considers as truth, simply what their feelings say to them at any given moment! Living only by your feelings invites disaster! (Mother kills children in “Exorcism” article…) To receive God’s best for our lives, we must “keep guard” over our feelings, and make them
subjected to the Lordship of Jesus Christ! (Come on, say Amen… you know it’s true!)
Over the next weeks, we are going to consider our feelings, and how to understand them…
and how to submit them to the Lordship of Christ, as we receive God’s best for our lives found in serving Jesus!
Here we go, considering a feeling we all struggle with from time to time…
WORRY… anxiety over potential problems!
What did Jesus say about worry? Let’s read Matthew 6: 25- 34
2 Jesus said: “Do not set your thoughts on tomorrow…” Let’s break that down into an understanding we can deal with:
Does anybody here remember when television was basically three channels? I do! ABC, CBS, NBC, and that was it! Today there are…. Hundreds of channels! Maybe thousands of channels!
All of us as human beings have basically three channels we focus on… yesterday, today and tomorrow! Channels 1, 2 and 3!
Lots of people live on channel 1… Yesterday!(Chanel #1 Picture) Always talking about the past! Some continually beat themselves up about how they wish they could have done something
different in the past! But, the past is gone! No one can do anything about what has already transpired! Living in the past only brings about frustration and hopelessness because, no one can
change the past! It’s a dead end street that we waste lots of time, and energy on!
But Lots more people live on channel 3… tomorrow!(Chanel #3 Picture) Always worrying about the future! Trying to control what they cannot control! Let me be as honest as I can about
the 3 things people most worry about: Health… family… finances! We must come to grips with a few facts: -I cannot control the future of what will happen to my health! Let’s be real, I cannot control everything about my health, and neither can you! I might wind up with disease… I might wind up in a care facility… I might wind up with dentures! It is not within my ability to control exactly what happens with my health…
-I cannot control my family’s future! I cannot control my adult children! Or my Grandchildren! They will have to make their own choices! I do not know exactly what the future will hold for them! They may make some bad choices! I cannot control my financial future! The economy might crash… my stocks might become
worth much less tomorrow than they are today… I might fall prey to identity theft! However… though I cannot control the future…(Here’s where what Jesus said kicks in…)
I can control what I choose to do… today(Chanel #2 Picture)
-Concerning my health…I can choose to exercise, today! I can choose to eat right! (Cut out the
Ding-Dongs and doughnuts!) I can choose today to lose weight! These things affect the future!
3 -Concerning my family’s future… I can choose to love them today! I can display righteousness before them, today! I can fill them with God’s Word and principles! I can teach them to put the
Lord first and make right choices, today and it will positively affect the future!
-Concerning my finances… I can honor God, and sow good seed financially, today! I can
choose to tithe and be a giver today! I can choose to be generous, a cheerful giver today! I WILL then reap what I have sown and affect the future!
To avoid being overcome with worry, I must choose to focus most of my time, effort & energy, living today… on channel 2! (Chanel #2 Picture) Are you living today, or obsessed with
tomorrow? If you choose to live on channel 3, and worry about the future, it keeps us from doing what we CAN do, today to improve the future!
Worry is Concern over what we cannot control about tomorrow!
NEWS FLASH! You can control what you choose to do… today! Stay on channel 2!
Are you fixated on channel 3? STOP! Guard your feelings! Choose to do what you can do…
today!
Is worry a problem? Come today and ask Jesus to set your focus on what you can do…today,
and trust Him for tomorrow!
Guard your feelings!
What it is to Guard the Heart
It is really very clear what it means to "keep your heart," but the admonition does deserve some unpacking. What does it require of us?
The first thing that strikes you about the command is its negative slant. It implies some kind of evil, some kind of adversary, some kind of opposition. Clearly, it demands that we protect our hearts against things such as sensualism, covetousness, materialism, greed, pride, bitterness, anxiety, rebellion, defiance, self pity. All these are obvious. But surely there is more. Does it not also demand that we be careful not to allow our hearts to be drawn away from the Lord by "harmless" distractions? Our love for leisure, things, toys, recreations, hobbies -- so many things -- can cause us to "leave our first love" (Rev. 2:4). The wise man's point is that we must give our energies and attention to making sure these things do not so occupy our minds or captivate our desires and ambitions that we forget the higher priority of loving and serving God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. A Christian man is not like other men. He has higher thoughts, higher desires, higher priorities, higher goals and ambitions. And while the world offers many harmless and enjoyable things, we must recognize that they are all dangerous. They may lead us to forget Him. The apostle John's command, "My little children, depart from idols" (1 Jn. 5:21), assumes this exactly. "An evil heart of unbelief" may quickly arise in a heart that is "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:12-13).
What this means, in plain words, is that we must watch very carefully over those things that would influence our minds. It is easy to allow the world to desensitize us in regards to sinful things. And a deceiving heart (Jeremiah 17:9) will take advantage of any situation to exploit it for sinful pleasures. We must watch against all this, and give ourselves to constant alertness against anything that would draw us away.
But there is a positive side to this also. How better to protect our hearts from evil than by being careful to bring it under the influence of "wisdom"? Protecting our minds is not merely a negative activity, it is a positive one. We must "program" our minds by the Word of God. Let it "dwell in our hearts richly" (Col. 3:16). We must "think on these things" that are "true, noble, just, pure, lovely" (Phil. 4:8). That is to say, we must bring our minds under the influence of what God has said. This is the constant exhortations the Scriptures make to us. And it promises that as we do we will be successful.
But more specifically than that, we must "set our affections on things above" (Col. 3:1), on Christ Himself. As He is the highest object of our affections and ambitions, our heart is "kept" stronger than ever.
Application
So, what have you done this week to protect your heart? I'm sure you may well have done much to exercise and protect your body. But what about your heart? What are the things you have allowed to influence your mind?
Proper heart protection does not just happen. We must "exercise ourselves rather unto godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7), and determine that by the means of grace God has given us -- the Word of God, prayer, meditation on the things of Christ, Christian fellowship, by these things -- we will keep our hearts only for Him.
http://www.preceptaustin.org/proverbs_423_commentary
J. Vaughan, M.A.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
All wise people like to go deeply into a thing, to go to the root of it. What is your root? Where is it? Your "heart." A little boy had a very nice watch; but it would not go right. It had a very pretty case, and face; but it sometimes went too fast, and sometimes too slow. He asked his mother what he should do about it. She told him to take it to the watchmaker's. He did so; and he said, " Master John, it has its hands all right, but it will not go right. Therefore leave it with me, and come again in a few days, and I will tell you what is the matter with it." John went again to him in a few days, and the watchmaker said to him, "I opened your watch, and I found there was the right number of wheels, and pins, and screws; but I found a little part called 'the spring' which was wrong; and because the main-spring was wrong, it sometimes went too fast, and sometimes too slow." Now, I think, you are all like watches. Something within you goes tick, tick, and you have hands and inside works. But how do you go? Sometimes too fast, and sometimes too slow. Does not the tongue sometimes go too fast or too slow? Are not the feet sometimes too fast or too slow? Are not the hands sometimes going wrong? How is this? Let us examine — though I am not the watchmaker — God is the watchmaker: the main-spring is the heart. Everything in you depends upon your "heart." God always looks most at the "heart." What do you think God will look at in the day of judgment? Your "heart." That is what He will want to know about. Now as it is so important to "keep the heart" right, I want to try to help you to do so, by giving you a little advice thereupon. " Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." One thing is to "keep" it as we "keep" a garden — neat. Now, then, if you would "keep" your garden, you must often look into it. And I will tell you what you will find there — every day there will grow lumps of weeds; however well you may have weeded it yesterday, you will find more weeds to-day. Pull them out! Then another thing — you must water it. This wants doing very often. Do you know what I mean? If not, look at the fourth of John, to what Jesus Christ said about water, and what it is. Bring the Holy Spirit into your heart. Pray that God will pour good thoughts — His grace — into your heart: that is water. If you want to "keep your heart," do not let there be any empty corners therein. God likes all boys and girls to be employed — sometimes at their lessons, sometimes at play; sometimes helping somebody, thinking, reading, or playing, to be always employed. I must tell you, if you do not always employ yourselves — if you are idle, and thinking about nothing, the devil is sure to come into your hearts. Another piece of advice I give you is this, be very particular whom you make your intimate friends. You must "keep your heart" from catching those evil desires that naughty boys and girls will suggest. One thing more. Have you not sometimes, when anybody has given you anything uncommonly valuable, taken it to your father, and said, " It is too precious for me to keep, I am afraid of losing it, do take care of it for me"? It is very wise for boys and girls to do this with their treasures. Oh, that you would do this with your heart! You cannot "keep" it yourself; therefore often take it to God: ask Him to keep your heart.
(J. Vaughan, M.A.)
The Issues of Life!
Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
The Lord has, “abundance of life” planned for you that will bless your socks off… (Did you know that? Do you believe it? It is absolutely true!) He wants you to experience… not just being
average, but He wants you to experience… His Best! Are you pursuing, not just what you can do to scrape by, but are you living in God’s very best for your life?
The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon; gives to us an eternal principle… perhaps THE eternal principle to follow in this day that we live, that will bring about God’s best for our lives!
Here it is… are you ready? I really want you to get this:
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” This powerful principle begins with an understanding of a key word here… the English word: heart. The Hebrew word that we translate into English as heart, literally means the following:
Feelings, will and Intellect! So, here is the Biblical instruction that will change your life:
“Keep… guard… watch over… protect… your feelings! Don’t let them get the best of you!” Yet, our culture… the worldly environment in which we live today… is now guided, directed,
and considers as truth, simply what their feelings say to them at any given moment! Living only by your feelings invites disaster! (Mother kills children in “Exorcism” article…) To receive God’s best for our lives, we must “keep guard” over our feelings, and make them
subjected to the Lordship of Jesus Christ! (Come on, say Amen… you know it’s true!)
Over the next weeks, we are going to consider our feelings, and how to understand them…
and how to submit them to the Lordship of Christ, as we receive God’s best for our lives found in serving Jesus!
Here we go, considering a feeling we all struggle with from time to time…
WORRY… anxiety over potential problems!
What did Jesus say about worry? Let’s read Matthew 6: 25- 34
2 Jesus said: “Do not set your thoughts on tomorrow…” Let’s break that down into an understanding we can deal with:
Does anybody here remember when television was basically three channels? I do! ABC, CBS, NBC, and that was it! Today there are…. Hundreds of channels! Maybe thousands of channels!
All of us as human beings have basically three channels we focus on… yesterday, today and tomorrow! Channels 1, 2 and 3!
Lots of people live on channel 1… Yesterday!(Chanel #1 Picture) Always talking about the past! Some continually beat themselves up about how they wish they could have done something
different in the past! But, the past is gone! No one can do anything about what has already transpired! Living in the past only brings about frustration and hopelessness because, no one can
change the past! It’s a dead end street that we waste lots of time, and energy on!
But Lots more people live on channel 3… tomorrow!(Chanel #3 Picture) Always worrying about the future! Trying to control what they cannot control! Let me be as honest as I can about
the 3 things people most worry about: Health… family… finances! We must come to grips with a few facts: -I cannot control the future of what will happen to my health! Let’s be real, I cannot control everything about my health, and neither can you! I might wind up with disease… I might wind up in a care facility… I might wind up with dentures! It is not within my ability to control exactly what happens with my health…
-I cannot control my family’s future! I cannot control my adult children! Or my Grandchildren! They will have to make their own choices! I do not know exactly what the future will hold for them! They may make some bad choices! I cannot control my financial future! The economy might crash… my stocks might become
worth much less tomorrow than they are today… I might fall prey to identity theft! However… though I cannot control the future…(Here’s where what Jesus said kicks in…)
I can control what I choose to do… today(Chanel #2 Picture)
-Concerning my health…I can choose to exercise, today! I can choose to eat right! (Cut out the
Ding-Dongs and doughnuts!) I can choose today to lose weight! These things affect the future!
3 -Concerning my family’s future… I can choose to love them today! I can display righteousness before them, today! I can fill them with God’s Word and principles! I can teach them to put the
Lord first and make right choices, today and it will positively affect the future!
-Concerning my finances… I can honor God, and sow good seed financially, today! I can
choose to tithe and be a giver today! I can choose to be generous, a cheerful giver today! I WILL then reap what I have sown and affect the future!
To avoid being overcome with worry, I must choose to focus most of my time, effort & energy, living today… on channel 2! (Chanel #2 Picture) Are you living today, or obsessed with
tomorrow? If you choose to live on channel 3, and worry about the future, it keeps us from doing what we CAN do, today to improve the future!
Worry is Concern over what we cannot control about tomorrow!
NEWS FLASH! You can control what you choose to do… today! Stay on channel 2!
Are you fixated on channel 3? STOP! Guard your feelings! Choose to do what you can do…
today!
Is worry a problem? Come today and ask Jesus to set your focus on what you can do…today,
and trust Him for tomorrow!
Guard your feelings!
What it is to Guard the Heart
It is really very clear what it means to "keep your heart," but the admonition does deserve some unpacking. What does it require of us?
The first thing that strikes you about the command is its negative slant. It implies some kind of evil, some kind of adversary, some kind of opposition. Clearly, it demands that we protect our hearts against things such as sensualism, covetousness, materialism, greed, pride, bitterness, anxiety, rebellion, defiance, self pity. All these are obvious. But surely there is more. Does it not also demand that we be careful not to allow our hearts to be drawn away from the Lord by "harmless" distractions? Our love for leisure, things, toys, recreations, hobbies -- so many things -- can cause us to "leave our first love" (Rev. 2:4). The wise man's point is that we must give our energies and attention to making sure these things do not so occupy our minds or captivate our desires and ambitions that we forget the higher priority of loving and serving God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. A Christian man is not like other men. He has higher thoughts, higher desires, higher priorities, higher goals and ambitions. And while the world offers many harmless and enjoyable things, we must recognize that they are all dangerous. They may lead us to forget Him. The apostle John's command, "My little children, depart from idols" (1 Jn. 5:21), assumes this exactly. "An evil heart of unbelief" may quickly arise in a heart that is "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:12-13).
What this means, in plain words, is that we must watch very carefully over those things that would influence our minds. It is easy to allow the world to desensitize us in regards to sinful things. And a deceiving heart (Jeremiah 17:9) will take advantage of any situation to exploit it for sinful pleasures. We must watch against all this, and give ourselves to constant alertness against anything that would draw us away.
But there is a positive side to this also. How better to protect our hearts from evil than by being careful to bring it under the influence of "wisdom"? Protecting our minds is not merely a negative activity, it is a positive one. We must "program" our minds by the Word of God. Let it "dwell in our hearts richly" (Col. 3:16). We must "think on these things" that are "true, noble, just, pure, lovely" (Phil. 4:8). That is to say, we must bring our minds under the influence of what God has said. This is the constant exhortations the Scriptures make to us. And it promises that as we do we will be successful.
But more specifically than that, we must "set our affections on things above" (Col. 3:1), on Christ Himself. As He is the highest object of our affections and ambitions, our heart is "kept" stronger than ever.
Application
So, what have you done this week to protect your heart? I'm sure you may well have done much to exercise and protect your body. But what about your heart? What are the things you have allowed to influence your mind?
Proper heart protection does not just happen. We must "exercise ourselves rather unto godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7), and determine that by the means of grace God has given us -- the Word of God, prayer, meditation on the things of Christ, Christian fellowship, by these things -- we will keep our hearts only for Him.
http://www.preceptaustin.org/proverbs_423_commentary
Saturday, March 11, 2017
God knows
Our feelings and circumstances may change, but God's love and faithfulness remains the same forever.
Psalm 136
God’s Love Continues Forever
1 Give thanks to the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love continues forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
His love continues forever.
4 Only he can do great miracles.
His love continues forever.
5 With his wisdom he made the skies.
His love continues forever.
6 He spread out the earth on the seas.
His love continues forever.
7 He made the sun and the moon.
His love continues forever.
8 He made the sun to rule the day.
His love continues forever.
9 He made the moon and stars to rule the night.
His love continues forever.
10 He killed the firstborn sons of the Egyptians.
His love continues forever.
11 He brought the people of Israel out of Egypt.
His love continues forever.
12 He did it with his great power and strength.
His love continues forever.
13 He parted the water of the Red Sea.
His love continues forever.
14 He brought the Israelites through the middle of it.
His love continues forever.
15 But the king of Egypt and his army drowned in the Red Sea.
His love continues forever.
16 He led his people through the desert.
His love continues forever.
17 He defeated great kings.
His love continues forever.
18 He killed powerful kings.
His love continues forever.
19 He defeated Sihon king of the Amorites.
His love continues forever.
20 He defeated Og king of Bashan.
His love continues forever.
21 He gave their land as a gift.
His love continues forever.
22 It was a gift to his servants, the Israelites.
His love continues forever.
23 He remembered us when we were in trouble.
His love continues forever.
24 He freed us from our enemies.
His love continues forever.
25 He gives food to every living creature.
His love continues forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love continues forever.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Trust in our Good God despite hard times
You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Psalm 81:7
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8
(1) Our Lord’s name assures us of His presence among us. When our Lord Jesus Christ came to the earth as a babe in a manger, we are told the meaning of His name: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:22-23, emphasis mine). The very name of our Lord, “Immanuel,” assures us that God is with us in the person of Christ, just as Paul says He was present with Israel at Massah and Meribah.
(2) Our Lord came to the earth, not to be with those who were at ease, but to minister to those who were afflicted. When our Lord was questioned about His contact with “sinners” He replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). And when the Lord Jesus presented Himself at the outset of His ministry, He revealed Himself as the fulfillment of this prophetic passage: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19, citing Isaiah 61:1, 2).
(3) God sovereignly controls every detail of our lives. Thus, we are where God wants us to be, even when we are in danger or distress. We read in Exodus 17:1 that Israel was “traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded” (emphasis mine). In the place to which He leads us, God will be with us.
(4) God uses situations of adversity to draw us closer to Him. We are informed that Israel’s adversity was designed by God for their good:
“He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you” (Deut. 8:15-16).
Thus, the difficulties which come into our lives are under God’s sovereign control, designed to produce (in the final analysis) that which is good for us. Adversity is therefore not an argument for God’s absence but for His presence with His people (cf. Hebrews 12:1-13). Thus the psalmist can say,
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees (Psalm 119:67-68).
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees (Ps. 119:71).
(5) God promises His children that He is always with them and that He will never forsake them.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you: never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).
(6) God’s Spirit has been given to witness to His presence within and to intercede for us, especially in times of adversity.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. … In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (Rom. 8:15-17, 26-27).
I would like to suggest that while we do not look forward to those times of adversity and testing (God testing us, that is), these are often the times when God becomes most present and most precious to us. A great deal of divine discipleship is worked out in the quiet and lonely solitude of our own wilderness situations, when we perceive that apart from divine intervention and provision, we would perish.
All too often we think of discipleship in “warm, fuzzy” terms, rather than in “wilderness” terms. We like to think of discipleship as intimate fellowship and sharing with other Christians, and so, in part, it is. But to be very candid with you, most of the men whom God “discipled” learned obedience in the lonely “wilderness” experiences of life. So it was for Abraham, for Jacob, for Joseph, for David, and the apostle Paul, to mention but a few.
Discipleship is the process of being disciplined, so that we are learners and followers of Christ. Generally speaking, we come to our greatest levels of trust and of faith when God pulls out all else on which we rely and leaves us only with Himself. Discipleship is not a comfortable process. And thus we should expect difficulties to come our way, and at the very same time, expect our Lord to be as near (or nearer) than He has ever been.
Is it possible that you are in a kind of wilderness, my friend, even as you read the words of this chapter? Then I would suggest that God may have purposed this so that you could come to know Him, in a much more intimate way than you have previously known Him. Perhaps you have never yet come to know Christ as your personal Savior. God may have pulled out all the props of your life, as He did with Israel, so that you could come to the point where you have no one but a gracious and loving God in whom to trust—first for your salvation—and then for your sanctification (your growth in His grace).
If you are a Christian and you have entered into a wilderness experience, I urge you to trust and obey God, to look for Him in a way that you have not yet known Him. Just as God meant Massah and Meribah for Israel’s good, He means your wilderness experience to be for your good as well. Ask God to reveal Himself to you in a new and fresh way, and He will do it.
https://bible.org/seriespage/10-grumbling-men-and-grace-god-exodus-171-7
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8
(1) Our Lord’s name assures us of His presence among us. When our Lord Jesus Christ came to the earth as a babe in a manger, we are told the meaning of His name: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:22-23, emphasis mine). The very name of our Lord, “Immanuel,” assures us that God is with us in the person of Christ, just as Paul says He was present with Israel at Massah and Meribah.
(2) Our Lord came to the earth, not to be with those who were at ease, but to minister to those who were afflicted. When our Lord was questioned about His contact with “sinners” He replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). And when the Lord Jesus presented Himself at the outset of His ministry, He revealed Himself as the fulfillment of this prophetic passage: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19, citing Isaiah 61:1, 2).
(3) God sovereignly controls every detail of our lives. Thus, we are where God wants us to be, even when we are in danger or distress. We read in Exodus 17:1 that Israel was “traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded” (emphasis mine). In the place to which He leads us, God will be with us.
(4) God uses situations of adversity to draw us closer to Him. We are informed that Israel’s adversity was designed by God for their good:
“He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you” (Deut. 8:15-16).
Thus, the difficulties which come into our lives are under God’s sovereign control, designed to produce (in the final analysis) that which is good for us. Adversity is therefore not an argument for God’s absence but for His presence with His people (cf. Hebrews 12:1-13). Thus the psalmist can say,
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees (Psalm 119:67-68).
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees (Ps. 119:71).
(5) God promises His children that He is always with them and that He will never forsake them.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you: never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).
(6) God’s Spirit has been given to witness to His presence within and to intercede for us, especially in times of adversity.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. … In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (Rom. 8:15-17, 26-27).
I would like to suggest that while we do not look forward to those times of adversity and testing (God testing us, that is), these are often the times when God becomes most present and most precious to us. A great deal of divine discipleship is worked out in the quiet and lonely solitude of our own wilderness situations, when we perceive that apart from divine intervention and provision, we would perish.
All too often we think of discipleship in “warm, fuzzy” terms, rather than in “wilderness” terms. We like to think of discipleship as intimate fellowship and sharing with other Christians, and so, in part, it is. But to be very candid with you, most of the men whom God “discipled” learned obedience in the lonely “wilderness” experiences of life. So it was for Abraham, for Jacob, for Joseph, for David, and the apostle Paul, to mention but a few.
Discipleship is the process of being disciplined, so that we are learners and followers of Christ. Generally speaking, we come to our greatest levels of trust and of faith when God pulls out all else on which we rely and leaves us only with Himself. Discipleship is not a comfortable process. And thus we should expect difficulties to come our way, and at the very same time, expect our Lord to be as near (or nearer) than He has ever been.
Is it possible that you are in a kind of wilderness, my friend, even as you read the words of this chapter? Then I would suggest that God may have purposed this so that you could come to know Him, in a much more intimate way than you have previously known Him. Perhaps you have never yet come to know Christ as your personal Savior. God may have pulled out all the props of your life, as He did with Israel, so that you could come to the point where you have no one but a gracious and loving God in whom to trust—first for your salvation—and then for your sanctification (your growth in His grace).
If you are a Christian and you have entered into a wilderness experience, I urge you to trust and obey God, to look for Him in a way that you have not yet known Him. Just as God meant Massah and Meribah for Israel’s good, He means your wilderness experience to be for your good as well. Ask God to reveal Himself to you in a new and fresh way, and He will do it.
https://bible.org/seriespage/10-grumbling-men-and-grace-god-exodus-171-7
Monday, March 6, 2017
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Refrain from anger
A man's discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression.
Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated--it can only bring harm.
Psalm 37:8
Proverbs 19:11
Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
Proverbs 12:16
Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.
Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.
Proverbs 29:11
Whoever controls his temper is better than a warrior, and anyone who has control of his spirit is better than someone who captures a city.
Whoever controls his temper is better than a warrior, and anyone who has control of his spirit is better than someone who captures a city.
Proverbs 16:32
Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.
Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.
Proverbs 10:12
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
Proverbs 14:29
A gentle response diverts anger, but a harsh statement incites fury.
Proverbs 15:1
"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil an opportunity to work. Ephesians 4:26,27
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
Proverbs 14:29
A gentle response diverts anger, but a harsh statement incites fury.
Proverbs 15:1
"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil an opportunity to work. Ephesians 4:26,27
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Cast Your Cares on Him
Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.
My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly receive the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Cast Your Cares on Him
Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.
My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly receive the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated--it can only bring harm.
Psalm 37:8
Thursday, March 2, 2017
God is love, His love for you remains the same
to test whether life circumstances will undermine your trust in His goodness, love and sovereignty in your life.
e.g.: Job's life
Romans 8:31-39
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
e.g.: Job's life
Romans 8:31-39
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)