Psalm 117
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD.
Only two verses and yet it makes it clear. Everyone needs to praise Him. He is more than worthy. Also it reminds us that He loves us and He will faithfully do so. We have a promise from our Lord. In a world where counting on people can be few and far between, this is a blessing. A sure Word.
1 Timothy 6:9-12 – 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of
evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
The Bible and especially the New Testament doesn’t read like an American get rich book. I read them growing up. I was encouraged by more people to read them vs. the Bible, but ultimately I chose to read them at that time instead of the Bible. I knew what those books were telling me. Since I wasn’t reading the
Bible and I couldn’t tell you what it was saying at all.
I’ve read both of them now. It’s not a matter of taste where the truth lies in the words.
After studying the Bible, I know who the author is of it and I know who the author is of those get rich books.
You don’t even have to have money to love it. There are people that chase after it or things that pertain to it their whole lives and many never get it. Doesn’t matter, because that is where their hearts were.
Verse 9 talks about the temptation of foolish and harmful desires. Those things plunge men into ruin and destroy lives. I’ve seen some walk on a tight wire teetering much of their lives. Most everyone in this country has. The bad thing is no one who is trapped into it ever thinks its them, until they have hit rock bottom or pulled themselves out of it and into a new life with the Lord.
Verses 11 & 12 are the answer to 9 & 10.
Flee from the things of the world. Flee from the temptation. Flee from the destruction.
I know it’s tough. It’s all that is taught by the world today. The fallen flesh desires the very things that most are chasing after. Success by the world’s standards is based off the material possessions and positions attained. Not everyone thinks that way, but the world as a whole does and it is stronger than ever.
Most of us today live in the top 1 percent of luxury and wealth when you figure the beginning of man until the present. There were Kings that didn’t have access to what the average man takes for granted today. Yet most of us are only worried about what we don’t have and what more we could have. We desire it in the name of achievement and motivation.
God wants that same achievement and motivation from us to go towards His Kingdom and in our commitment and love to Him.
I want you to be RICH. Rich in your desire and relationship with the Lord.
Psalm 72 – 1 Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.
2 He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.
3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4 He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy;
he will crush the oppressor.
5 He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth.
7 In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.
8 He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him;
the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts.
11 All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him.
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him
and bless him all day long.
16 Let grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway.
Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon; let it thrive like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.
18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.
The name of Jesus will endure forever!
Genesis 9:6 – 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made man.
God gave the authority to Man to uphold the law when it comes to murder. We don’t do that hardly ever anymore. Is this a good thing?
Our prisons are full of people the system can’t let out. We’re supporting them to do nothing. Man justifies not using the death penalty by certain people saying, “Who says we have the right to take another life?”
God’s Word says man needs to hold man accountable. Why, because we are made in His image. Adam and Eve were supposed to help rule this world. Of course they got tricked by Satan in the form of the serpent and the sinful curse took over.
If man used God’s Word to rule the world, we all would be fine.
I’m not talking about a peoples skewed interpretations for their own desires or gain, I’m talking following God’s Word on what it says. Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. If you do those two things, you don’t get murder, stealing, greed, or hatred. If you love the Lord, then you also don’t have the other sins that he says are wrong in His Word.
Now because of the fall, man is all messed up spiritually. Look around you if you want to know what the consequences are. We bury our heads in the sand when we see a problem or try to justify it.
There is day coming soon when chaos is going to erupt. God is going to call home the Church and then
those who didn’t want God will get a chance to try and run this world without Him. The last half of the Tribulation will be so bad that some people will seek death and have a hard time finding it.
However, just about when there seems to be no hope, Jesus returns.
Matthew 21:21-22 – 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
Revelation 19:11-16- 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
When the Lord rules and reigns for a thousand years, it will be run by the Word of God. As above states in Revelation 19:13 and in John 1:1,14. Jesus is the Word of God.
The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.
Augustine
Philippians 3:20 – 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
As believers we are not of this world. Our citizenship is in heaven.
The Word of God is our love letter from our Creator. It brings life.
1 Peter 1:23 – 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
Think yourself as a plant and the Word of God and both the water and nourishment to help you grow.
Look around you and see others.
We need to feed ourselves the living water on a regular basis. Otherwise we dry up and wither.
Psalm 8:1-9 – 1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your
hands; you put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I love that how in this Psalm David gives praise to the Lord in the beginning and at the end.
In between it he mentions how Big and Awesome God is that he created the heavens and the stars and yet God still allows man who was made a little lower than the angels to still reign over the other creatures that He created on this earth.
The Lord is love and he loves the human creation He made. However, He wants us to love Him
back. If you can’t love the Lord who made you, you won’t find the free grace He has offered. It takes a repentant heart to find the way back to God. One must accept His death on the cross and die to their sinful prideful nature.
That’s when one finds out how majestic and loving our Lord is.
Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. The way to trouble God is not to come at all.
Dwight L. Moody
There is a misnomer that God is too busy since there is so much going on. Therefore I will only bother Him when things get really bad and as soon as they get better I won’t bother Him at all.
God doesn’t have a problem multitasking. He also isn’t interested in us living and doing our own thing without Him.
God created man for relationship, not for us to take off do our own things in a haywire mess. He didn’t make us to have man completely run away and reject God.
John 15:5-6 – 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
The easiest way to get away from God is to constantly not seek Him.
If we examine our own lives, we get into the most trouble when we are doing our own thing and don’t seek Him. This is to be expected since we are fallen sinful creatures.
Who in the bible is a man after God’s own heart? That’s right David. David looked to God for his guidance and constantly prayed and gave Him praise. During those times God didn’t tell David, you know I think you’re a little clingy or to close and you’re smothering me.
No, the people in the bible who constantly seek and praise God like David and others, we’re considered those who showed God the most love and were those that after His heart.
You’re not troubling God unless you’re off trying to do it all on your own.
The amount of time we spend with Jesus – meditating on His Word and His majesty, seeking His face – establishes our fruitfulness in the kingdom.
Charles Stanley
If you’re in a fruit stand and you make your living selling apples and nothing more, you best be selling apples. The problem with many Christians is they aren’t spreading the Word of God at all, because they don’t know it. They are selling what they think they should be, but the problem is there is truth to be shared and told to others.
The fruit comes from the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God (the Trinity). Jesus is the Word. The Holy Spirit doesn’t teach contrary to the Word. Jesus doesn’t do anything apart from the Father.
John 5:19 – 19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
As Christians we can’t be selling whatever fruit we want, especially as we see many doing in these last days. The only way to know if it’s the right fruit is to meditate on His Word.
The only things we can keep are the things we freely give to God.
C. S. Lewis
We know this to be fact. You take nothing physical from this earth with us. The new body we received will be just that, new. Everything else is left behind. The only thing we take with us is our actions.
Did we ask for forgiveness?
Did we make Jesus Lord?
Did we worship God?
Did we live for Him or selfishly for ourselves?
Did we try to love and reach others so they do not perish?
Did we love others as ourselves?
Did we live for God and a good life or did we live for evil?
These are some things we take with us and you can see none of them has to do with worldly success.
Ecclesiastes 5:15 – 15Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.
So what are we to be working for? Which kingdom?
Psalm 77:12 – 12 I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deeds.
We need to condition ourselves to reflect on our loving God, Lord and Savior throughout the day. Give Him thanks.