By His grace, I want to please the Lord Jesus. I want (1) to know Him and to believe Him; (2) to glorify Him; (3) to find satisfaction in Him alone; (4) to experience His peace; and (5) to enjoy His presence.
I am awed at the promise that God has for those who obeyed Him. He will bless their children even up to a thousand generations....but to those who disobey, even the 3rd and 4th generations will be punished.
Exodus 20:4-6 (New International Version)
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Give these blessings to your children:
Numbers 6:24-26 (New International Version)
24 " ' "The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." '
I've been thinking of God's unfailing love. John's famous verse comes to mind: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16
And so I check the bible (NIV) for verses with the phrase "unfailing love". Let's meditate...
Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailinglove, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Exodus 15:13 "In your unfailinglove you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
Psalm 6:4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailinglove. Psalm 13:5 But I trust in your unfailinglove; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 31:16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailinglove.
Psalm 32:10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailinglove surrounds the man who trusts in him.
Psalm 33:5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailinglove.
Psalm 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailinglove...
Psalm 33:22 May your unfailinglove rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 36:7 How priceless is your unfailinglove! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 44:26 Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailinglove.
Psalm 48:9 Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailinglove.
Psalm 51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailinglove; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Psalm 52:8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailinglove for ever and ever.
Psalm 77:8 Has his unfailinglove vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?
Psalm 85:7 Show us your unfailinglove, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailinglove and his wonderful deeds for men...
Psalm 119:41 May your unfailinglove come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise...
Psalm 119:76 May your unfailinglove be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.
Psalm 130:7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailinglove and with him is full redemption.
Psalm 143:8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailinglove, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Psalm 143:12 In your unfailinglove, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.
Psalm 147:11 ...the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailinglove.
Proverbs 19:22 What a man desires is unfailinglove; better to be poor than a liar.
Proverbs 20:6 Many a man claims to have unfailinglove, but a faithful man who can find?
Isaiah 54:10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailinglove for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
Lamentations 3:32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailinglove.
Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailinglove, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
I have been encouraging my husband to read the Bible and other books about God. I want him to know God more.
You know my husband is not much of a reader. He's the type of guy who likes to watch...movies, videos, youtube....
I have been praying to God that He draws him closer to Him. Guess what? My husband agreed to attend Alpha (previous blog). Alpha includes dinner and you know what?! ...videos and discussion groups about Jesus and Christianity! Talking about answered prayer and a God of details!
I am reminded of David's psalm....
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-17 (New International Version)
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
It's not easy to forgive. If I am just basing my forgiveness on my strength or my will, then I won't forgive at all. But the Lord has forgiven me so much. Who am I not to forgive others?
I always compare it to forgiving debts. I have a large amount of debt that I can never ever pay...and God in His goodness just cancel it. Poof! What a relief! How much gratitude do I feel? I can now forgive others not based on my strength but on His power. Nancy Leigh Demoss put it more accurately in her reflection today at Our Journey. Read on.
From OUR JOURNEY booklet, Reflection for April 8, 2009 (Wed.)
Not Me, Not This
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." - Micah 7:18-19
Are you in a situation where forgiveness seems impossible? Perhaps you're thinking, "I just can't forgive this person for what he's done to me. He's done it too many times. He's hurt me too deeply."
But is there a threshold of pain beyond which we are not required to forgive?
The Scripture reminds us that Gos has "cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19, emphasis added). Not some, but all.
These sins include things like the scorning mockery and insults of those who "despised" Christ (Psalm 22:6-7), who totally "rejected" everything about His character, His person, His reason for living (Isaiah 53:3). It's one thing to be disliked; it's quite another to be despised - hated, spit upon, ridiculed, humiliated, betrayed, and wanted dead. Add to these the sins of our own that contributed to the guilt Jesus bore on the cross.
Yes, this is the same God "who blots out your transgressions" and who "remembers your sins no more" (Isaiah 43:25 NIV), who found us "dead in our trespasses" and "made us alive together with Christ" because of His "great love" for us (Ephesians 2:4-5).
You may not feel any natural "great love" toward the one who brought such shipwreck into your life - the one who trampled on your marriage vows, the one who abused you as a child, or the one who cheated you out of a thousands of dollars.
No one would expect you to.
But the power - and the beauty - of the transformed Christian life is that "it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13 NKJV, emphasis added).
It will never be the depth of your love that causes you to forgive such heartless acts and attitudes. It will never be within your power to overlook the wicked lies and wild justifications of those who have made you distrustful. It can only be the love of Christ transplanted into your believing heart that can exchange your weakness for His strength.
And so because He has forgiven us - and because of His boundless life which now indwells us - what offense is too great for us to forgive? -NANCY LEIGH DEMOSS
Prayer: Father, I confess it is hard to forgive sometimes. I am thankful that You do not ask me to forgive through any power of my own but instead through Your power and love. Help me to extend Your grace to others. Amen.
Journal: Am I guilty of believing that some offenses are too big to forgive? What have I learned from Christ's example that can change the way I think about forgiveness?
YDRYN used to be an alias I gave my crush in high school. :)
But now, I am giving it a new meaning....coming from the verses I am inspired to identify it with.
YOUNG
1 Timothy 4:12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
DELIGHTFUL
Psalm 16:6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
RIGHTEOUS
Psalm 97:11 Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.
Psalm 112:4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man. Psalm 118:20 This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.
YEARNING FOR GOD
Psalm 84:2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Isaiah 26:9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
Jeremiah 31:20 Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD.
NOBLE
Luke 8:15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Isaiah 32:8 But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
I just got back from the introduction dinner/seminar of the Alpha course. The Faith E-Free Church in Manhattan is running it. It's a 10-week seminar series about topics exploring Christianity. Topics include the ff.:
Introduction Dinner: Is there more to life than this? Week 1: Who is Jesus? Week 2: Why did Jesus die? Week 3: How can we have faith? Week 4: Why and how do I pray? Week 5: Why and how should I read the Bible? Week 6: How does God guide us? Week 7: How can I resist evil? Week 8: Why & how should we tell others? Week 9: Does God heal today? Week 10: What about the Church?
Weekend: Who is the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do? How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit? How can I make the most of the rest of my life?
(http://www.alphausa.org)
For me, it's a good refresher course. Going back to the basics of my faith in Christ. It cuts across faith....Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Baptist, seeking.... The important thing is to know and to have a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God. It tells about the "good news" about God's love and how He gave His Son to pay the debt we can't ever ever pay! (Oh, I hope I'm not revealing too much. hehe)
For those who are seeking, it is a "permission" course where one can ask questions about Christianity and/or just plainly be heard. It's a safe place to raise questions about God. Plus, there's superb dinner served with great hospitality.
How precious is the eyes of the Lord on those who are His own. Be comforted, beloved.
Source: God is always watching - from Always True by Dr. James MacDonald
THE EYES OF THE LORD IS:
1. INESCAPABLE:
Proverbs 5:21 For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths.
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
2. SYNONYMOUS WITH RIGHT AND TRUE Deuteronomy 12:28 Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 13:18 Because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.
3. ATTENTIVE TO HIS OWN 1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
4. SEARCHING PEOPLE TO BLESS 2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
5. PROVOKED TO GRACE Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
This is an excerpt from the sermon of Dr. James MacDonald of Walk in the Word. A timely piece about money in this time of recession. How often Christians are bombarded with secular view of money. It takes faith and trust in the Lord to obey His command about money. But once we've obeyed the Lord, freedom comes in! From personal experience, the Lord is always faithful. Oh, if only we obey Him!
Read on!
"Money - gain it honestly, esteem it rightly, and share it generously, or it will destroy you."
15 BIBLE VERSES RELATED TO MONEY:
MONEY CAN DESTROY YOU:
1. Proverbs 22:7
The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender.
2. Proverbs15:6
In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,
But in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.
3. Proverbs 9:17-18
“ Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.
4. Proverbs11:4
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath (of the Lord/ judgment),
But righteousness delivers from death.
5. Revelations 20:11-12
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
MONEY - GAIN IT HONESTLY:
6. Proverbs 13:11
Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished,
But he who gathers by labor will increase.
7. Proverbs 28:6
Better is the poor who walks in his integrity
Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
8. Proverbs 20:7
The righteous man walks in his integrity;
His children are blessed after him.
9. Proverbs 19:22 What is desired in a man is kindness,
And a poor man is better than a liar.
MONEY - ESTEEM IT RIGHTLY
10. Proverbs 18:10-11
The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
The righteous run to it and are safe.
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
And like a high wall in his own esteem.
11. Proverbs 23:4-5
Do not overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease!
Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
12. Proverbs 28:22
A man with an evil eye hastens after riches,
And does not consider that poverty will come upon him.
MONEY - SHARE IT GENEROUSLY:
13. Proverbs 22:9
He who has a generous eye will be blessed,
For he gives of his bread to the poor.
14. Proverbs 3:9-10
Honor the LORD with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
15. Malachi 3:10
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the LORD of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
Money - gain it honestly, esteem it rightly, and share it generously, or it will destroy you.
Posts
