Psalm 42:1:
1AS THE hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.
To "pant" is the Hebrew word, "arag", which means: to long for, to pant after. The dictionary definition of pant is: to long demonstratively, to yearn. Demonstrative is: marked by the open expression of emotion. To yearn is: to have a strong desire. The psalmist is saying that he has the same intensity of feeling for being in the presence of God that the deer has when he is overcome with thirst and MUST HAVE water! When was the last time you just HAD to be in the presence of God? Sometimes we can get so busy with DETAILS of life that we forget that we were MADE to praise God! We cannot survive without spending time in His presence! We MUST HAVE close, intimate fellowship with the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible in order to flow in the LIFE that others around us need, not to mention our own needs! TAKE the time, EVERYDAY! It is vital, for you AND for all those you care about! AMEN!
I absolutely love the Amplified Bible for 1 Timothy 6:3-5:
3But if anyone teaches otherwise and does not assent to the sound and wholesome messages of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and the teaching which is in agreement with godliness (piety toward God), 4He is puffed up with pride and stupefied with conceit, [although he is] woefully ignorant. He has a morbid fondness for controversy and disputes and strife about words, which result in (produce) envy and jealousy, quarrels and dissension, abuse and insults and slander, and base suspicions, 5And protracted wrangling and wearing discussion and perpetual friction among men who are corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, who imagine that godliness or righteousness is a source of profit [a moneymaking business, a means of livelihood].
If the people we cone in contact with, even believers, do not want to submit to the Word of God, it is because they are "puffed up with pride" and "stupefied with conceit"! Pride is: an excessively high opinion of oneself (apart from God!) and conceit is: an exaggerated opinion of oneself. Oh-oh! Do you remember what follows pride? (Proverbs 16:18). To be stupefied is: mentally confused; unable to think with clarity or act intelligently. Morbid suggests an unhealthy mental state. Do you get the picture of the futility of carrying on a discussion with someone like this? What to do? Smile, walk away and let THEM come to You when they are in a position, like the deer, when they realize that they NEED what you have to offer! We cannot MAKE someone see sense! That is the job of the holy Spirit. We should pray the prayers in Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1 for them. Then pray in the Spirit and let God do the work. He will! AMEN!
There were two things that stood out to me in Isaiah 1-2 today. The first is found in Isaiah 1:2-3:
2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: I have nourished and brought up sons and have made them great and exalted, but they have rebelled against Me and broken away from Me. 3The ox [instinctively] knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib, but Israel does not know or recognize Me [as Lord], My people do not consider or understand.
God's people had gotten so away from the presence of God by their disobedience to His Word that they had become like those we looked at in 1 Timothy. Stupefied! They didn't even know and recognize their God anymore! They weren't even as smart as animals that DO know who feeds them and cares for them! Keep yourself in constant and consistent fellowship so you always recognize Him!
In Isaiah 1:19 we have this promise:
19If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
It is NOT enough to simply obey the Word! This verse tells us that we must also be willing! That involves our attitude when we DO the Word! If you have a problem with your attitude when obeying the Word, then pray telling the Father that you are "willing to be willing" and let Him do the work! I have found that I get willing in a hurry after praying THAT prayer! What is the promise? We will "eat the good of the land!" That goodness refers to goodness, gladness, welfare and prosperity! Sounds GOOD to me, how about you?
And then in Isaiah 2:1-4:
1THE WORD which Isaiah son of Amoz saw [revealed] concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be [firmly] established as the highest of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. 3And many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4And He shall judge between the nations and shall decide [disputes] for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
There WILL come a time when these things happen! It is yet in our future. The thing that I hadn't noticed before was the fact that the "mountain of the Lord's house" would be the highest mountain ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! Some big changes are coming to the Earth for that to happen! Soon and very soon we are going to see our King! King Jesus! Are YOU ready? Hallelujah!
Shalom in Him!
