His Mercy Is Forever

As I pondered the walk we as believers have this morning I found myself slipping into an old mindset of “not good enough” that I learned as a child. It goes something like this: I am not good enough now to ask God for help, but I will work hard to get better and then He will help me. WRONG! God helps us BECAUSE we are not good enough on our own. None of us are.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Paul was aware that God’s goodness toward us is because of who we are as people. God does not think like we think. He does not wait to help us until we do everything right. He helps us because we ask for help and acknowledge that He is the one that can help. Paul was in part quoting Solomon when he spoke, and there is more to that message.

Ecclesiasties 7:18 It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.
19 Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Solomon said to take hold of this piece of wisdom, that just men also sin. Paul further acknowledged this in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

And it was David that told us why this is true, why God is on the side of us as humans and not as perfect beings. It has little if anything to do with us. We are to but call out to Him and praise Him.

Psalms 118:1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.
4 Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever.
5 I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

Today, let’s give thanks to our God and praise Him forever.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You and declare You our King. We love You and long for Your kingdom on this earth. You alone can give us that kingdom. We want our sustenance to be from You. Send us today Your abundant provision. Forgive us our sin, and free us from the darkness and bondage of it. Let Your people be set apart and free unto You, O King! We love You. Heal us. Deliver us. Show us a sign for good. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Edifying Ourselves

Thinking in the early hours this morning about the possibilities that face us as believers for both good and bad days, I thought about how there are days when I wished someone would just say something to make me feel better. It was not until this morning that I realized that that someone could be me. I could build myself up, and in fact should do so. Scriptures might refer to this as meditation, or muttering to oneself, as it can also be translated.

Psalms 119:97 MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

Here we see that the psalmist deliberately uses the scriptures to speak to himself to build himself up. He does this all day long. This is one of the best ways to be edified, and also to edify others. Today, if you have a struggle, meditate on God’s commandments, and build yourself up!

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are worthy to be praised. Send us Your kingdom. We long for Your reign here. Give us Your overwhelming provision today. Forgive us when we just get this stuff wrong. Heal and guide us. Deliver us from evil. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen

The Along Side Traveler

In an email today I was included with others who have a common friend. This friend was recently in a car accident that has left certain damages to them physically and financially (not this persons fault as they were rear ended). Lately I have been trying to understand what God wants me to do in a more specific moment by moment manner. Our Messiah seemed to be more clear on this by watching heaven.

John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

John 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

It seems that the Father is doing something and saying something in heaven, and we are to do and say it here it here. We are told to do the things He did.

John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

We have the opportunity to do what Jesus did, if we will listen and follow after His example.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You as our King. We need Your kingdom in the earth. Send us Your abundant provision today. Help us not to give in to temptations, and forgive us when we have. Heal and deliver us. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Proving Is Building

This morning I was reading a scripture and thinking about how we are to edify one another. As believers, we are to build one another up.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

Paul was clear that we are to follow after and promote peace amongst believers. If we do this, we are edifying to one another, because our God is the King of Peace.

I also thought about how God would likely have examples of edifying His people. I found a scripture in Deuteronomy where Moses was recounting to the people that God had used the wilderness journey to prove them and build them up. He was doing this to prepare them for the promised land and the good times to come.

Deuteronomy 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7 For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

God uses the lean times, the challenging times, to build up our character. In these times we need to learn to trust in Him and His ways. We need to know that He is our source, and always will be. It made me think that the lean desert times are in preparation for something greater in the promised land. Perhaps that means there is something greater, something that is as much greater than the promised land as the promised land is from the desert, that God is ultimately trying to prepare us for in the end? Whatever the case may be, we must never think that we did it on our own. We are here because God wants us here and wants to bless and edify us.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are King. You alone carry us through the desert times. We need in all times, good and bad, to experience Your kingdom here on the earth. Send us Your overwhelming provision today. Forgive us when we miss the mark. Help us to always remember You are our source. Heal and deliver us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

All Together

It was early when I woke up this morning and could not get back to sleep. My mind started off busy. I was thinking about how all of us as believers are really working together toward the common goal of living together forever with God. When we do this well, we all are the better for it. Sometimes we get this wrong and end up striving with people to get our own way. Or maybe we think we understand some spiritual point better than someone else. In either case we truly miss the blessing of all being together spoken of in scripture.

Palms 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

Although only three verses, this sums up well what occurs when we work together to serve God. And to do this we only need to seek Him first. If we are all doing that at the same time, then we are all going in the same direction together. Everything works out then.

Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

If we can find it within ourselves to just seek the best, then we will all be building each other up. We will be working together as a team. We will one day stand together in front of our King!

Prayer
Father, we exalt You as the Most High. We need You and Your love. Maybe even more we need Your kingdom in the earth. Help us today Father. Send us Your abundant provision. Forgive us when we do wrong. Heal and deliver us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Hearing Clearly

As believers we have several things of common. Perhaps the most obvious is, we are humans. As humans we are thinking creatures and have desires and expectations. We want things to go a certain way. Sometimes the desire is strong enough for us to have challenges hearing from God just what He wants us to do. But we can still get to that place where we can hear him.

John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

As I sit here I cannot help but think that there are times that I hear the voice of another, and that makes me sad. But I will keep moving forward because it is important that I do because only if we try can we affect any type of change. And it is change for the good and the better that we truly seek.

We have a great God. Let’s serve Him today.

Prayer
Father, we love and adore You as our King. You have made so many marvelous things, and Your kingdom is something that is beyond our ability to describe it. We need You and we need Your abundant provision today, Yahuah our Father. Please heal us and deliver us today. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Building Well Is Work

Thinking about how we walk out our walks as believers this morning it made me think of construction. It is cold and windy and snowy here this morning. When I was much younger I worked construction in weather like this. I can remember getting to work and starting fires in 55 gallon drums to try to warm our hands throughout the day. The company I worked for had a good reputation as a builder of quality homes, and we did good work. But it was challenging at times. I think it is the same way for us as believers, building our walks with God one day at a time, one hour at a time, moment by moment.

Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

We see from this letter from Paul and Timothy that they understood that there was a process we go through as believers. Be change over time as we grow in our understanding. For me this is challenging many times. Like many others here in America, I have become accustomed to things happening at a faster pace, a pace that I control. In our walk, God is working to get us to be more like Him, and to have that be engrained in us as our most natural way to be. We become those people of faith, doing the works of God and living after the manner He wants us to live.

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

Back in the times of home construction there were times when we would get something crooked or damaged and have to redo that particular trim, wall board, or some other material in an attempt to build a good building that we could be proud to have done. It is that way with us, as Peter says. Sometimes the temptations of life give us a sense opof heaviness when we give place to them. But God is faithful to work together with us and in us to help us mature and become the sons and daughters of God that He has called us to be. We just need to do the work.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You as the Most High God. You alone can help us in this earth. We need Your kingdom and Your presence here today. Send us today Your abundant provision. We ask that You forgive us our mistakes and failures to walk with You, and help us to be with You always. You never leave us or forsake us. We want to do the same toward You. We need Your love in our lives today. Heal us and deliver us. Show Your people a sign for good today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Holding Fast, Holding On

When we are faced with choices about what to believe, sometimes it can seem like a real challenge. When we pray for our children to grow and go to college one day while they are yet in elementary school, it seems afar off. There is not a great deal of demand on us to really have to believe and trust God for what we have sought Him for as it will be years before we actually face that moment. It can be different, however, when the time is at hand. This is what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness. In spite of all they had seen, when it came to food or water they would complain because they were at the moment of need. In that moment, their actions were different than their previous actions and beliefs. This caused them to lose the prize of rest that God had for them.

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Their unbelief showed up in their talk and actions at the moment of need. As I was thinking of this today it reminded me of situations I have been in recently and over the last year or so where I just had to give up on what I believed about the points of need I had and let God be God over them. As I did this He delivered us out of many situations where I thought there was no hope. We are well trained to believe that life has to go a certain way or something is wrong or will be wrong. God is still God. We must trust Him to be our Provider and our Healer. Today, if you are facing what seems like overwhelming circumstances, just remember we serve the same God that delivered so many miracles to deliver His children from oppression. He still does that for us today. Let us pray for each other that we hold fast and hold on.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. We desperately need Your kingdom in this earth now Father. Please reach out to all of Your people that may be struggling with unbelief and help them to believe one more time. Help them to know deep inside that You alone are our God and the one that provides. Send us today Your overwhelming provision. Forgive us when we fail You. Heal us and deliver us. Please help strengthen our belief today. We love You. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Brave Warriors

It seems throughout human history there are conflicts where men and women fight and die. Why we cannot live at peace seems odd when we think of how “civilized” our world supposedly is. But these events have been happening with man killing man since the beginning.

Genesis 14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

There have been many times that men of valor have had to set right wrongs done by men of greed and evil. Today in America we honor our warriors for their service. It is both a time of recognition and sadness, for it is a sad thing for our enemies to force us to kill their sons. We pray today for peace in the earth.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are our King. Your kingdom is the only kingdom worth serving and we pray You send it today. Give us Your abundant provision today. Forgive us when we get life and serving You wrong. Help us find Your paths and walk in them. Heal us and deliver us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.