Shalom,


Psalm 86:9- 13:


9 All nations whom You have made shall come and fall down before You, O LORD, and they shall glorify Your name.10 For You are great and work wonders! You alone are God. 11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your Name. 12 I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; I will glorify your Name forevermore. 13 For great is Your mercy and loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol [from the exceeding depths of affliction].


The key for a born again believer to stay in close fellowship with the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible is to take time every day to remember Who He is, who you WERE, what He has done for you, who you are NOW because of HIM! That will maintain a grateful and thankful heart! We can take credit for NOTHING good in our lives, but we CAN take great confidence in what HE has done! Because of the new Covenant we have with Him, through the blood of Jesus of Nazareth, everything we have belongs to Him and everything He has belongs to us! Thank You, Jesus! Now let's live like it!


Two things really ministered to me in Luke 7 today. The first was something I read in the Bible Exposition Commentary: 

COMPASSION IN ACTION

Compassion has been defined as "your pain in my heart." What pain our Lord must have felt as He ministered from place to place! In this chapter alone, Jesus is confronted with the miseries of a dying servant, a grieving widow,' a perplexed prophet, and a repentant sinner, and He helped them all. If a "hardship committee" had been asked to - decide which of these persons was "deserving," we wonder who would have been chosen.

 Jesus helped them all, because compassion does not measure: it ministers. Bernard of Clairvaux said, "Justice seeks out only the merits of the case, but pity only regards the need." It was compassion, not justice, that motivated the Great Physician who came "not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

My goal is to develop a heart like Jesus! I want to see people as Jesus sees them and saw them. Then I want to minster as He did! How about you? The second thing that really ministered to me is found in the story of the woman who anointed Jesus with the expensive ointment. Verses 44-48:


44 Then turning toward the woman, He (Jesus) said to Simon, Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but she from the moment I came in has not ceased [intermittently] to kiss My feet tenderly and caressingly. 46 You did not anoint My head with [cheap, ordinary] oil, but she has anointed My feet with [costly, rare] perfume. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, many [as they are], are forgiven her -- because she has loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little.


This story goes right along with what we looked at above! In order to maintain a grateful heart, like this woman evidently had, we MUST appreciate what our life was, and would still be, without HIM! Allow the thankfulness to rise up in YOU! Love Him MUCH, for we have all been forgiven very, very much! AMEN!


Hosea 13-14 give us a picture of what happens to those who do NOT remain thankful to Him and honor Him! Because the Tribe of Ephraim had turned to idol worship instead of worshiping the One, True God, He had to discipline them! Look at this from the Bible Exposition Commentary:  

"For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb 12:6; Prov 3:11-12). Chastening isn't a judge inflicting punishment on a criminal in order to uphold the law. Rather, chastening is a loving parent disciplining his or her child in order to perfect his character and build his endurance. Punishment has to do with law, which is important, but chastening has to do with love, which is also important. 

Hosea warns Ephraim what will happen and why in Hosea 13 and then God's plan to restore them in Hosea 14. Hosea 14:9:

9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of the LORD are right and the [uncompromisingly] just shall walk in them, but transgressors shall stumble and fall in them.

What should WE do, then? BE WISE! AMEN! We can start with Hillsong's "For All You've Done":

Shalom in Him!