The Devotional - 1494 - The Gospel is Good News

The Devotional – 1494 – The Gospel is Good News

Psalm 119:153-160 = Consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget Your law. Plead my cause and redeem me; revive me according to Your word. Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek Your statutes. Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; revive me according to Your judgments. Many are my persecutors and my enemies, yet I do not turn from Your testimonies. I see the treacherous, and am disgusted, because they do not keep Your word. Consider how I love Your precepts; revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness. The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

Comments and Challenges:

Oh can I say it again? I love the Word of the Living God who loves me even before I knew Him. Romans 5:8 – says… But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we are still sinners, Christ died for us. God has truly considered our affliction in sin and rebellion, yet He has not forgotten His love for each of us. Now I do not understand how He does Love, but I suppose that I do not need to fully understand it since He has given me peace in all issues of life.

Romans 5:1 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ – Faith and peace; faith in God and the peace of God, equal the grace of God. All of this is a perfect expression of God’s Love for all of humanity. What I am seeking to say is this; Christ Jesus is the sacrificial LAMB of God for all men, women and children who ever lived or will live. The sin of the world is covered and cleansed in His DEATH.

There is another side to this story. Those who believe, or TRUST this TRUTH also believe in His physical RESURRECTION from that death. In believing in His sacrificial death and His victorious resurrection we are reconciled, note Romans 5:10. We do not earn reconciliation, nor do we deserve it, thus the only way to have the curse of sin removed is by accepting the grace gift of God through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:1-10.

Now tomorrow, I will pick up on Psalm 119 again and continue in the section we are in today. My morning is packed with things to do so I must move quickly. “If we meet and if you get to know me and then forget me you have lost nothing really. But if you have briefly heard a word or two about Jesus Christ the Son of God and forgotten that Word, then you have lost much! He is a friend who would stick closer to you than a brother”.

Nathanael said to Him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” John 1:48 the context of John 1:43-51 speaks of the omnipresence of God in our everyday life and whatever tree you are under… He sees. Either you are under the Tree of Life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – Genesis 2:9

Thursday's Blog - 1491 - Humility overcomes worldliness

The Devotional – 1491 – Humility overcomes worldliness

Psalm 119:121-128 – I have done justice and righteousness; do not leave me to my oppressors. Be surety for Your servant for good; do not let the proud oppress me. My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation and Your righteous word. Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, and teach me Your statutes. I am Your servant; Give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies. It is time for You to act, O Lord, for they have regarded Your law as void. Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold! Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way. 

Comments and Challenges:

Humility is the cure for worldliness: The world around us cannot see “humility” since it is blinded by oppression. In other words; the oppression of the unjust and the unrighteous is the way of the world. Billboards proclaim unjust acts of conduct, radios blare the worldly oppression of music and news that is unfit for the human ear. Also ALL media; television, hi-fi, Wi-Fi and “who gives a fly” is the catalyst used to block the human being from knowing that he or she is made in the image of God, Genesis 1:26.

To those of us who are saved by Grace, God has provided opportunity through His Spirit and by the direction of His Word to not only know humility but to practice it too. The psalmist says: “I have done justice and righteousness, do not leave me to my oppressors”. The prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray is saying the same thing with words like, “deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory – forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:13.

Watching daily the psalmist says that his eyes are failing to see this deliverance from oppression. We must remember that this writer is not alone in this camp, he is with many prisoners who’s God is Jehovah and yet he is alone; just a small handful (maybe) as they seek for God to deliver them from evil. He says to the LORD, “work with me LORD in mercy and teach me your statutes, I need more understanding in order to know Your testimonies. My oppressors tell me daily that Your Law is void”.

The psalmist overrides this oppressive statement of unrighteousness with these wonderful words. “Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, yes than fine gold! Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things; I consider to be right, thus I hate every false way”. Humbleness of heart is not in any way giving up, but it is a bold action to correct worldliness. 

We must be first in humbleness of heart in our personal walk with God. “Lord, teach me your Statutes, I am your servant; give me understanding that I may know your testimonies”. As children of God we must be willing to lead the way; repenting begins with the saints of God, notice in closing this morning.

James 4:7-10 – Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.