Shalom,
Psalm 128 is a celebration of the life of those who truly fear the LORD and belong to Him! Verse 1:
BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, to be envied) is everyone who fears, reveres, and worships the LORD, who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments.
"Blessed" is the Hebrew word, " 'ashre ", which means: prosperity, happiness, the happiness of one who has the favor of God bestowed on them! Who are blessed? Those who "fear" the LORD! This is the Hebrew word, " yare' ", which means: reverence! Hold HIM in high esteem and as your #1 priority, in reverence and awe for Who He is! THEN the rest of Psalm 128 will become true of YOU! The promises in the rest of this Psalm go all the way from finding the right spouse and having a blessed marriage, through having children and into older age with grandchildren! The entire life of a true worshiper is covered in the blessing of God! Then the Psalm ends with this in verse 6b:
6 ....Peace be upon Israel!
Continue to pray for the peace and prosperity of the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem!
John 5 speaks of the healing of the man lying at the Pool of Bethesda. As always, the religious Jews questioned the TIMING of the healing! Never mind that they just witnessed a miraculous manifestation of the power of God that NONE of them had ever witnessed before! Jesus had this to say in verse 24:
24 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the person whose ears are open to My words [who listens to My message] and believes and trusts in and clings to and relies on Him Who sent Me has (possesses now) eternal life. And he does not come into judgment [does not incur sentence of judgment, will not come under condemnation], but he has already passed over out of death into life.
There you have the Gospel! Jesus Himself presented it to them and they had a choice to make! So do we all! What we do with Jesus determines our eternal destinies! Choose wisely, and encourage others to do so, also! AMEN!
Ezekiel continues to speak of the sins of Israel and Judah. Where previous chapters spoke of their idolatry in turning to other so-called gods, these chapters speak of their reliance on other nations! God did NOT plan a global government on the earth until the reign of Jesus of Nazareth as King! In fact, He thwarted plans for such a thing when He confused the languages at Babel and dispersed the people. All of the current plans for global government and global currency, etc., are mankind's very futile attempt to show that they can do it alone without God! They can't! God began it and HE will have the final say in how this world ends up! HINT: He laid it all out in "The Book"! Check out Psalm 33:12:
12 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His heritage.
Nations who honor the God of the Bible have ALWAYS been blessed and those who don't, aren't! Keep that in mind as you continue your study in the Word of God and as you witness the things happening in the world today! Our God IS STILL God! AMEN!
Shalom in Him!
