Shalom,

We begin with Psalm 69 in the Bible reading for today. As I was doing some research on Psalm 69 I read this in The Bible Exposition Commentary: "This Psalm is a Messianic psalm, an imprecatory psalm, and after Psalm 22 and Psalm 110, the most frequently quoted Psalm in the New Testament". Imprecatory means it is a Psalm where the author was calling for judgement on his enemies. A Messianic Psalm means it foretells of the coming Messiah of Israel. The verses that I am concerned with today are verses 30-31:

³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving,

³¹And it will please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that has horns and hoofs.

The word "praise" here is the Hebrew word we've looked at before, "halal", which means: to boast, to make a show, to be clamorously foolish. He says that to praise the Name of the Lord like this with song, and to magnify Him with thanksgiving, is more pleasing to the Lord than all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices! And verse 34 says this:

³⁴Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them.

The heavens, the earth, the seas and and every living thing is supposed to "praise", to boast about and be clamorously foolish over, the Lord! That brings up to me two other Scriptures! Psalm 150:6 and Luke 19:40:

⁶Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

⁴⁰He replied, I tell you that if these keep silent, the very stones will cry out.

Also, all of the Scriptures that speak of the trees clapping their hands ! Give him praise - ALWAYS and in ALL WAYS! AMEN!

In Mark 13 we see Jesus discussing End Time events with His disciples. Remember that in the Gospels Jesus is still talking to Jewish people under the Old Covenant. He is telling them what the last days will look like from a Jewish perspective. Remember that the Church will NOT be here during the Tribulation, but will be coming back WITH Jesus AFTER the 7 years of tribulation such as the world has never seen. We can read about the Church and what's in store for us in the Epistles, the Letters, written to the churches. Let's be about our Father's business of sharing the Gospel with all who will hear while there is still time for them to hear! AMEN!

In Leviticus 8-9 we see more of the instructions to Moses for preparing the priests for office. They had to follow the precise instructions and do everything as commanded or they would die! See Leviticus 8:33-36:

³³And you shall not go out of the door of the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration and ordination are ended; for it will take seven days to consecrate and ordain you.

³⁴As has been done this day, so the Lord has commanded to do for your atonement.

³⁵At the door of the Tent of Meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, doing what the Lord has charged you to do, that you die not; for so I am commanded.

³⁶So Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord commanded through Moses.

Then in Leviticus 9:6 we read this:

⁶And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.

And the results of Aaron doing everything as commanded:

²²Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them, and came down [from the altar] after offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.

²³Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord [the Shekinah cloud] appeared to all the people [as promised].

²⁴Then there came a fire out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

I am SO glad that I live in the days when the Spirit of God lives IN ME and I can go directly to the Throne of God, by His Spirit, and NOT have to go through all of this! Hebrews 4:16:

¹⁶Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].

Thank You , Lord Jesus! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 68 is a very triumphant psalm! There are some very interesting aspects to this Psalm that I am going to wait to write about until we go through the Psalms again in the Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan. This time I want to just cover a few of the verses that really stand out to me. First of all verse 1 in the King James Version says:

¹Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

Do you recognize the song here? I have always enjoyed singing that song! Knowing that "let" represents my choice makes it even more powerful to me! In my meditation I believe that as I choose to make the Lord my #1 priority, He will take care of the adversaries in my life! Then let's look at this same verse in the Amplified Bible:

¹GOD IS [already] beginning to arise, and His enemies to scatter; let them also who hate Him flee before Him!

God is ALREADY beginning to arise! I like that even better! The moment you and I make the decision to obey God's Word and make Him our first priority, He is already busy at work, with His eyes running to and fro in order to show Himself strong in OUR behalf! 2 Chronicles 16:9:

⁹For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

That certainly "scatters" the enemy! And our instruction in verse 3 is to rejoice!

³But let the [uncompromisingly] righteous be glad; let them be in high spirits and glory before God, yes, let them [jubilantly] rejoice!

Another verse I really like in this Psalm is verse 11. The Amplified Bible says:

¹¹The Lord gives the word [of power]; the women who bear and publish [the news] are a great host.

The Complete Jewish Bible says:

11 Adonai gives the command; the women with the good news are a might army.

Young's Literal Translation says:

¹¹The Lord doth give the saying, The female proclaimers [are] a numerous host.

So, ladies, don't ever let ANYONE tell you that you can't preach the Gospel! In fact, when Jesus sent Mary to tell the disciples that He was alive, He made her the very FIRST preacher of the Good News of the Gospel! AMEN!

And then I love verse 35:

³⁵O God, awe-inspiring, profoundly impressive, and terrible are You out of Your holy places; the God of Israel Himself gives strength and fullness of might to His people. Blessed be God!

What a very powerful Psalm! I am very sure that if YOU meditate further on this Psalm on your own, you will come up with many things you never saw quite that way before! That's what meditating on the Word will do for you!

In Mark 12 Jesus is using parables again. And, as usual, the religious leaders try to trap Him! I love how He answers the question about paying tribute to Caesar in verse 16-17:

¹⁶And they brought [Him one]. Then He asked them, Whose image (picture) is this? And whose superscription (title)? They said to Him, Caesar's.

¹⁷Jesus said to them, Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they stood marveling and greatly amazed at Him.

Then we have the Sadducees with that very silly story of the seven brothers and one wife! I love the answer Jesus gives about the most important commandment in verse 30-31:

³⁰And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.

³¹The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

Love Him first and then love each other as HE loves us! Remember that the promise is that THIS love will never fail! (1 Corinthians 13:8)

Then we have the example of proportionate giving shown by the widow!

In Leviticus we continue to read about the burnt offerings and how specific and precise they had to be. There were proper ways to do things and anything else was not acceptable! Thank You, Lord, for the New Covenant, which is a better one, based on better promises! Hallelujah!

Shalom in him!

Shalom,

Psalm 67:1-2 says:

¹God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.

²That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

These verses are calling on the Lord to be "merciful", the Hebrew word, "chanan", which means: to be gracious, to show favor, to have mercy on, to direct favor to; to bless us and to cause His "face" the Hebrew word, "paniym", which means: face, presence, person, to "shine", the Hebrew word, "`owr", which means: to be illuminated, to shine, to become bright, on us. Why? So that His way may be "known", the Hebrew word, "yada`", which means: to know, to perceive, to learn to know, to recognize, to know by experience, to be revealed on the earth and His "saving health", the Hebrew word, "yeshuw`ah", which means: salvation, deliverance, welfare, prosperity and victory among the "nations", the Hebrew word, "gowy", which means: people, usually non Hebrew people. Does this sound familiar to you? Look at Genesis 26:4:

⁴And I will make your descendants to multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your posterity all these lands (kingdoms); and by your Offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, or by Him bless themselves,

That was the promise that God made to Abraham! The rest of the Psalm is a praise to God for His wonderful blessings.

In Mark 11 we see Jesus entering Jerusalem for the first time as "King"! See Zechariah 9:9:

⁹Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you; He is [uncompromisingly] just and having salvation [triumphant and victorious], patient, meek, lowly, and riding on a donkey, upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus was entering as King, something He hadn't allow Himself to be called before this. Then we see Him cursing the fig tree for having no fruit that should have accompanied the leaves and cleansing the Temple area of all of the corrupt business dealers. The more that we meditate on the Word, the more that we will see that their is NO coincidence with God! Nothing that Jesus did was without a definite purpose! We know that His #1 purpose was to take OUR place for the judgement of sin, so that we could take His place of eternal Life with Him! Thank You, Jesus!

In Leviticus we continue to see how the Lord gave very specific instructions for dealing with sin. Continue to study this and meditate with a very grateful heart on the fact that once we are born again (receive Jesus of Nazareth as Lord and personal Saviour) we need only obey one instruction when we miss it - 1 John 1:9:

⁹If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

Make sure that you DO this EVERY time you sin or miss the mark. Sometimes things can seem so easy that we neglect to realize the importance of it doing them! Don't allow sin to stay in your life. Confess it and accept and receive His forgiveness and the cleansing from ALL unrighteousness (sin we're not aware of yet). Be right back in close fellowship with Him!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 66 is calling the whole earth to praise the Lord! Verse 1 says:

¹MAKE A joyful noise unto God, all the earth;

A "joyful noise" is the Hebrew word, "ruwa`", which means: to shout, to raise a sound to cry out, to give a blast, to shout a war cry, to shout in triumph, to shout in applause, to shout for joy! That's a lot of shouting going on! Then verse 2 says this:

²Sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious!

We are to show forth the "honor" and glory of His Name and to make His praise "glorious". These two words are the same Hebrew word, "kabowd", which means: glory, honor, abundance, reverence, splendor, copiousness. The dictionary definition for "copiousness" is: profuse or exuberant in words, expression and style. Are you getting a picture of what this kind of praise and worship sounds like!? I think God wants to HEAR us, don't you? Look at verse 8:

⁸Bless our God, O peoples, give Him grateful thanks and make the voice of His praise be heard,

So let's be DOERS of this Psalm! If God wants to hear us, and He does, then we should make sure that He can! We should not let a single day go by without declaring the goodness of God and thanking and praising Him for all that He has done in our lives!

In Mark 10 we see the Pharisees again trying to trap Jesus. Won't they ever learn? He has always had an answer that leaves them speechless! Then we see the disciples trying to keep the children away from Jesus. Jesus is not one bit pleased with this! He says this:

¹⁴But when Jesus saw [it], He was indignant and pained and said to them, Allow the children to come to Me--do not forbid or prevent or hinder them--for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

And then He says this:

¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all.

"Like" a little child means in the same way that a child would! How does a child receive a gift, especially a very good gift? With joyful abandon! My grandchildren are always a joy to bless with gifts because they are so grateful and thankful for any gift! I will never forget the time one of my granddaughters was opening presents on her 4th birthday. One of her gifts had been wrapped in bubble wrap for safe-keeping during shipping. Her first words when she opened the present was "Bubble wrap! My favorite"! She was sincere! She loved popping bubble wrap and thought that was her actual gift! Do you receive the wonderful blessings in your life with such thankfulness and joy? We should, ALWAYS! That increases our capacity to receive more and to have the right heart to be a blessing to others!

In Leviticus 1-3 we see the instruction that the Lord gave to Moses about the sacrifices. It was a very blessed thing that the Israelites now had their God living among them and showing them how to properly approach Him in order to walk in the blessings that He desired for them to have. What WE should be getting out of this is a profound thankfulness that WE have a better covenant, based on better promises! Look at Hebrews 8:6:

⁶But as it now is, He [Christ] has acquired a [priestly] ministry which is as much superior and more excellent [than the old] as the covenant (the agreement) of which He is the Mediator (the Arbiter, Agent) is superior and more excellent, [because] it is enacted and rests upon more important (sublimer, higher, and nobler) promises.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for paying the ultimate price so that WE can live now in this much better covenant with You! AMEN!

Be thankful for that every day!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I was very intrigued by Psalm 65:1 today.

The Holy Spirit revealed some things to us last night as the elders of the Spoken Word Church were involved in praise and worship. He said that every sound and every note has significance and that we should be bold and freely speak or sing those things out. Then He said that silence has sound to Him! I didn't understand it fully last night, but set it aside to meditate on later. Then I read verse 1 of Psalm 65 today and was amazed! The Bible Exposition Commentary says that the literal translation of verse 1 is: "To You praise is silence". Then I looked again at the Amplified Bible:

¹TO YOU belongs silence (the submissive wonder of reverence which bursts forth into praise) and praise is due and fitting to You, O God, in Zion; and to You shall the vow be performed.

That tells me that we should take the time to be silent before Him in preparation for praise. We should be listening to Him as He speaks to our hearts, and then, with hearts fully engaged, sing out to Him with all we are! THAT is glorious praise! AMEN!!! Then verses 4-5:

⁴Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You choose and cause to come near, that he may dwell in Your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.

⁵By fearful and glorious things [that terrify the wicked but make the godly sing praises] do You answer us in righteousness (rightness and justice), O God of our salvation, You Who are the confidence and hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the seas;

Realize that YOU are one who has been chosen to come near Him! You are "whosoever"! (John 3:16; Acts Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13) Come near Him everyday in praise, thanksgiving and worship and you, too, will be filled with joy for Who He is and who YOU are IN HIM! AMEN!

In Mark 9 we see Jesus taking Peter, James and John up on a high mountain alone. They see Jesus transfigured before them so that His clothes were shining very bright white. I like the Amplified Bible better for this in verses 2-3:

²Six days after this, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was transfigured before them and became resplendent with divine brightness.

³And His garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller (cloth dresser, launderer) on earth could bleach them.

We won't talk about what happened next, who they saw, or what Peter said. (Let's give Peter a break, okay? At least he wasn't timid!) What I want to look at today is found in verse 15:

¹⁵And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.

Have you ever meditated on this verse and asked yourself why the people were "greatly amazed" when they saw Him? Just because He was Jesus? Maybe there WERE a handful of people that hadn't yet seen Him in person. I don't think that's it, though. I got my answer when I read this verse in the Amplified Bible:

¹⁵And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Jesus [returning from the holy mount, His face and person yet glistening], they were greatly amazed and ran up to Him [and] greeted Him.

Now that makes so much more sense to me! Just as the face of Moses shone when he had spent time in the presence of God, Jesus, having been "transfigured" with the Glory of God, still retained some of that appearance when He came down from the mountain. Do you know what that tells me? When I spend enough time in the presence of God, it will show to the world! I plan on clearing some of my schedule so that I can spend more time being filled with his glory so that I can affect the people in MY world with the presence and power of the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! That is actually how Jesus, Who was still 100% God when He walked on earth even though He never operated AS God, was able to DO the "works" that He did! You know the ones. Those same "works" that WE are to do, now that He has gone to be at the right hand of the Father! See John 14:12:

¹²Verily, 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.

Only by spending time daily in His Word and staying continually filled with His Spirit will we be able to DO those works! Let's DO IT! AMEN!

In Exodus 39-40 we see all the work of the Tabernacle being finished. I noticed three specific things as I was reading this today. First, I noticed that all that Bezalel and the others did, they did "skillfully". The KJV says "cunningly". This word is the Hebrew word, "chashab", which means: to think, to plan, to calculate, to invent, to imagine, to devise, to consider. Everything was made so precisely and according to God's specific plans. When I meditate on this, I see that God fully expects ME to use every one of the gifts and talents that He has blessed me with. He expects me to build on these by studying more, by practicing them, by doing them! He expects me to take the "talents" He has entrusted to me and make them more! He wants us to do EVERYTHING that we do with our whole hearts! Colossians 3:23:

²³And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

Second, I noticed that when Moses set up the entire Tabernacle exactly the way that God told him to do it, what we see in the layout of the "furniture" is a perfect cross! That didn't mean anything to those living at that time, but to US, it means EVERYTHING! God was foretelling the story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the very beginning! Thank You, Father, thank You, Jesus, thank You, Holy Spirit! AMEN!

The last thing I noticed was that as soon as the work was complete, the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. From that time on, they didn't move unless the cloud of God's Glory moved, and they stopped where He showed them to stop. WE now have that same Glory of the Lord living INSIDE of us! We should be moving when and where He says to move and staying when and where He says to stay! Have YOU asked Him lately about where you are living, where you are working and especially about where you are attending church? If not, don't you think it's "high time" to do that? I DO! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

David starts out Psalm 64 by saying "Hear my voice, O God". He said this NOT because he didn't think that God was listening, but as encouragement to himself that God WAS listening! Notice all of the references to words and speaking that we see in this Psalm. David says this in verse 3:

³Who whet their tongues like a sword, who aim venomous words like arrows,

He was talking about the things that were being said about and against him. What David is doing in this Psalm is taking control of his thought life. He is hearing all of these things, but he is choosing to think on the right things! Remember that thoughts COME, but we make the choice about what thoughts we take! Look at Matthew 6:31:

³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

That is how we take thoughts, by SAYING! If it's a good and Godly thought, repeat it! Say it, sing it, SHOUT it! If it's NOT, then DON'T take it! Don't say it! Instead, say what you want to have happen! That's what David did in verses 8-10:

⁸And they will be made to stumble, their own tongues turning against them; all who gaze upon them will shake their heads and flee away.

⁹And all men shall [reverently] fear and be in awe; and they will declare the work of God, for they will wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing.

¹⁰The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust and take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory and offer praise.

What a great way to think and speak! To "glory and give praise"! Now those are good thoughts we need to TAKE! AMEN!

In Mark 8 we see Jesus facing an "immense" and very hungry crowd, AGAIN! His heart is to meet their needs and He shares this with His disciples. Look at verse 4:

⁴And His disciples replied to Him, How can anyone fill and satisfy [these people] with loaves of bread here in [this] desolate and uninhabited region?

Can these POSSIBLY be the same disciples that saw Jesus feed the multitude just 2 chapters ago? There must be something we're missing here! There is something that I have been meditating on a lot lately. Remember in John 12:14 Jesus said this:

¹²Verily, 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.

So do YOU think that maybe He is expecting His people, who are called by His Name, to begin to do these things when faced with similar circumstances? I do! We have been praying this way for our partners in Haiti! We have seen from past experience that when "aid" is given TO Haiti, many times it never makes it to the people. The men and women of God that we partner with in Haiti are responsible for feeding many, many people, including very many children. We pray that the same miraculous multiplying of food happens at the word of our partners! AMEN! We have heard many miracles coming from Haiti, and expect to hear many, many more. To God be ALL the Glory! AMEN!

In Exodus 37-38 I am amazed at the great detail that went into the making of every single part of the Tabernacle and all of the tools and vessels that were used in it! Some of gold, some of silver and some of bronze. I like to meditate on the fact that Psalm 139:14 says this:

¹⁴I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

If He cared so very much about His natural "habitation", I know that He cares even more for me, as the Temple of the Spirit of God! (1 Corinthians 3:16) AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

In Psalm 63:1 says this:

¹O GOD, You are my God, earnestly will I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is.

The KJV Bible says "early" here. I learned a long time ago that the best time for me to spend in fellowship with Jesus is early in the morning. We see here that David thought so, too! The word "early" here is the Hebrew word, "shachar", which means: to seek, to seek early, to seek diligently, to seek earnestly! Earnestly, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, means: "Characterized by or proceeding from an intense and serious state of mind". Both are accurate in describing what David was saying here! Seek Him early and with your whole heart! Do you know what the Bible says about those who seek Him early? Check out Proverbs 8:17:

¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who seek me early and diligently shall find me.

Now those are the results I'm looking for! How about you?

In Mark 7 we see one of my favorite stories in all of the New Testament! We find it in verses 25-30:

²⁵Instead, at once, a woman whose little daughter had (was under the control of) an unclean spirit heard about Him and came and flung herself down at His feet.

²⁶Now the woman was a Greek (Gentile), a Syrophoenician by nationality. And she kept begging Him to drive the demon out of her little daughter.

²⁷And He said to her, First let the children be fed, for it is not becoming or proper or right to take the children's bread and throw it to the [little house] dogs.

²⁸But she answered Him, Yes, Lord, yet even the small pups under the table eat the little children's scraps of food.

²⁹And He said to her, Because of this saying, you may go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter [permanently].

³⁰And she went home and found the child thrown on the couch, and the demon departed.

Yesterday we saw how the people who watched Jesus grow up had a very hard time accepting Who He was and had no faith in Him. Here we see a Gentile woman, who had no right to expect anything from Jesus in the natural, who had more faith in Him than even members of His own family! Because of her great faith, her daughter was set free! She believed that Jesus operated in so much power that even the leftovers would be enough to set her daughter free! And she got exactly what she believed! What do YOU believe that God and His Word will do for you?

In Exodus 35-36 we see the phrases "willing hearted" and "wise hearted" used many times! Are you wise hearted? The word "wise" here is the Hebrew word, "chakam", which means: wise, intelligent, skillful, artful and cunning. Use the gifts and talents that God has given you to fulfill His plan for your life and you ARE wise hearted! The word "willing" here is the Hebrew word, "nadab", which means: to present spontaneously, to give freely, to volunteer. What resulted when the people gave in this way? Look at Exodus 36: 6-7:

⁶So Moses commanded and it was proclaimed in all the camp, Let no man or woman do anything more for the sanctuary offering. So the people were restrained from bringing,

⁷For the stuff they had was sufficient to do all the work and more.

When we all do what we are able to do, and do it willingly, there is more than enough to get the job done! And what are the results in OUR lives? Look ate Luke 6:38:

³⁸Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

We can't EVER out give God! But it sure is fun to try! Hallelujah!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 62 is another Psalm of David. He had to have been encouraging himself in the Lord again in this one! Three times he refers to the Lord as his "rock", the Hebrew word, "tsuwr", which means: refuge, strength, mighty God!We find this is verses 2,6 & 7:

²He only is my Rock and my Salvation, my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be greatly moved.

6He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be moved.

⁷With God rests my salvation and my glory; He is my Rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God!

In verses 1,2 & 6, the word "salvation" is actually the Hebrew word, "yeshuw`ah", which means: salvation, deliverance, welfare, prosperity and victory! That sounds like great encouragement to me! Let's follow David's example and remind ourselves daily Who He is, what He has, what He can do, and who WE are (in Him), what WE have and what WE can do! Think, talk and act like the winner God made you to be! You'll start to look like it, too!

In Mark 6 we find Jesus returning to His home town to minister. Because they knew Him as He was growing up, these people have a very hard time accepting that He IS the Messiah! Even though they have all heard of His works (verse 2):

²And on the Sabbath He began to teach in the synagogue; and many who listened to Him were utterly astonished, saying, Where did this Man acquire all this? What is the wisdom [the broad and full intelligence which has been] given to Him? What mighty works and exhibitions of power are wrought by His hands!

...they still can't receive from Him (verse 3):

³Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James andJoses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here among us? And they took offense at Him and were hurt [that is, they disapproved of Him, and it hindered them from acknowledging His authority] and they were caused to stumble and fall.

Amazing, but true! Our lesson in this is to never forget that even though God uses people to stand in the ministry "offices", the Anointing is of GOD! Some believers will travel the world over to get into the meeting of some noted minster, and never receive from their own Pastors. That's what was happening here and this is what the results were (verses 4-6):

⁴But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor (deference, reverence) except in his [own] country and among [his] relatives and in his [own] house.

⁵And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people [and] cured them.

⁶And He marveled because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in Him). And He went about among the surrounding villages and continued teaching.

The response that Jesus had was to continue to teach the people and to send out His disciples to do the same work He had been doing!

In this chapter we also see what happened with John the Baptist and how Herod, who had a "reverential" fear of John (verse 20):

²⁰For Herod had [a reverential] fear of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and [continually] kept him safe [under guard]. When he heard [John speak], he was much perplexed; and [yet] he heard him gladly.

...still succumbed to peer pressure and had John put to death! He had so many chances to receive the Truth! Not a very glorious end in sight for him!

In Exodus we see Moses interceding for the people again. He makes a return trip up the mountain to get, again, the tablets filled with the Law. Moses asks to know God more in verse 33:13:

¹³Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You [progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly] and that I may find favor in Your sight. And [Lord, do] consider that this nation is Your people.

Moses spends time with God and the people KNOW it! People will KNOW when you and I spend quality time getting to KNOW Him more, too! Make it YOUR determined purpose to KNOW Him!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 61:1-2 is the start of an old familiar song! I have always liked this song:

¹Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

²From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (KJV)

The Amplified Bible says:

¹HEAR MY cry, O God; listen to my prayer.

²From the end of the earth will I cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the rock that is higher than I [yes, a rock that is too high for me].

"Hear" is the Hebrew word, "shama`", which means: to to hear with attention or interest, to listen, to understand, my "cry", the Hebrew word, "rinnah", which means: entreaty supplication, proclamation, joy and praise. "Attend" is the Hebrew word, "quashab", which means: to heed, to be attentive, to incline thine ear, to pay attention, to hearken, to my prayer!What David is saying here is that whenever he is under attack from the enemy, he cries out to God, fully expecting that He will hear and deliver him! We should have the same confidence!

In Mark 5 we see Jesus dealing with the demoniac. The evil spirit recognized Who Jesus was! When Jesus cast out the "legion" (many evil spirits) from the man, they asked to be allowed to go into the herd of pigs. When the pigs were filled with demons, they ran headlong into the seas. The people who came saw what had happened to the demon possessed man. Do you think they were happy to see the man set free? Some may have been, but they asked Jesus to leave. Why would that be? The principle at work here is found in 1 Timothy 6:10:

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

It is the LOVE of money that IS the root of all evil! Is there an evil that you see in the world? Follow the money to get to the source! ALWAYS! These "people" were actually farmers. Even though they could see a miracle with their own eyes, they were more concerned about what other livestock they would lose if Jesus kept casting out devils! Make sure God is ALWAYS your source of supply and you won't ever get into that way of thinking!

We won't be covering everything that can be covered in this blog, just what seems to stand out to me each day in the Bible plan. We may cover Jairus and his daughter and the woman with the issue of blood another time, but I do want to point out something here. Did you notice the difference between those who "laughed Him to scorn" in verse 40 and the woman in verses 27-28:

²⁷She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment,

²⁸For she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health.

She believed and said what she wanted to have happen! She also GOT what she believed and said! Look at verse 29:

²⁹And immediately her flow of blood was dried up at the source, and [suddenly] she felt in her body that she was healed of her [distressing] ailment.

And then verse 34:

³⁴And He said to her, Daughter, your faith (your trust and confidence in Me, springing from faith in God) has restored you to health. Go in (into) peace and be continually healed and freed from your [distressing bodily] disease.

AMEN! Jairus believed that Jesus could and would heal his daughter. The situation made him stretch his faith to believe that Jesus could do something even afterwards! He didn't give in to fear and his daughter was raised! The people around had to have heard something about Jesus, but now they, too, knew! Exciting!

In Exodus 31-32 we see the Lord telling Moses that He had called and equipped Bezaleel to do the work He had for him to do. The Lord had filled Bezaleel with the Spirit of God and given him wisdom and knowledge and understanding and creativity to accomplish what God had called him to do. Has God called you to do something specific with the gifts and talents that He has already given you? If so, then you will be encouraged by reading verse 6:

⁶And behold, I have appointed with him Aholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and to all who are wisehearted I have given wisdom and ability to make all that I have commanded you:

God has put into the heart of those who are wise, all of the wisdom they will need to carry out the work He has called them to! That means YOU, too! Find ways to use the unique, individual gifts and talents that God has blessed you with, for the benefit of others! you will be amazed at how much your gifts and talents will grow and increase! ATTITUDE is so very important!

Then we see the people having absolutely no patience in waiting for Moses. Nothing new here is there?! The part that has always been a mystery to me is how Aaron went along with this! Part of my thinking is that he didn't have the same anointing as Moses had to deal with these people. Maybe he was stalling it out so that Moses would have time to get back down the mountain by the time Aaron was finished. I've never seen it explained how Aaron could get away with saying Exodus 32:24:

²⁴I said to them, Those who have any gold, let them take it off. So they gave it to me; then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

One thing is certain, though. God did hold the people accountable for their part in this. Notice verse 35:

³⁵And the Lord sent a plague upon the people because they made the calf which Aaron fashioned for them.

What did we learn? Obey God, be patient, continue to hear the Word so faith grows, act on the Word and never give up! At least that's what I learned today! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

The latest Psalms have been a record of things that David wanted to remember. What a great way to remember - put them in a song! My favorite verses in Psalm 60 are verses 11-12:

¹¹O give us help against the adversary, for vain (ineffectual and to no purpose) is the help or salvation of man.

¹²Through God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.

The Amplified Bible is very good here! He is calling on God for "help", the Hebrew word, "`ezrah", which means: help, succor or assistance, against the enemy, because the "help", the Hebrew word, "teshuw`ah", which means: salvation, deliverance, of man is "vain", the Hebrew word, "shav`", which means: emptiness, falsehood, vanity, nothingness! Don't ever COUNT on people for your deliverance! God will use people to get the answer to you, but you must put your faith, trust and confidence in God alone! Verse 12 says it so well!

In Mark 4 we see Jesus getting into a boat in order to teach the people because there was such a crowd. Because the people were always trying to get up close to Jesus, this gave Him some space. Do you think that some of the people still tried to get to Him by wading into the water? Those are the kinds of questions I like to ask the Holy Spirit when I meditate the Word. He was there! He knows exactly what took place! Jesus is teaching the people in parables. I believe that He did this to separate those who really wanted to know from those who were just hanging around to see another miracle. He explains the parable of the sower to His disciples, including the Twelve. So it wasn't just the apostles that He taught. Be a real disciple and the Word will become clearer to you every day.

The parable of the sower shows us that we are responsible for the type of ground we have for the Word of God to be "sown" in. Prepare your heart to receive the Word by spending time first in praise, thanksgiving and worship. Pray in the spirit trusting the Holy Spirit to reveal anything to you that may interfere with your understanding of the Word. Then pray this prayer (or one like it) from Psalm 25:

⁵Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long.

He WILL do it! And then Jesus Himself instructs us about this in Mark 4:24-25:

²⁴And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you--and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

²⁵For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.

There is no standing still in this life in the Word! If we want to , we can grow stronger in our knowledge of God's Word every day. If we don't, like verse 25 says, even what knowledge we think we have, we will not be able to maintain. Remember from the parable that the enemy comes IMMEDIATELY (verse 15) to steal the Word away! Don't let him do it! AMEN!

In Exodus 29-30 we see still more precise instructions from the Lord to Moses. This time the instructions are concerning the priests and how to consecrate them for ministry, what clothes they will wear, exactly how to dress them, what their duties will be, how they are to wash and how to anoint them. There is a recipe for the holy anointing oil and for the incense that is to burn there. When you read these things, remember to be thankful for the fact that we are living now, with a New Covenant, based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6)! We are cleansed from sin, as believers in Jesus of Nazareth, when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). We are anointed with the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20). Our incense is the praise, thanksgiving and worship we offer up to Him daily! We are also an aroma to the world (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)!

Shalom in Him!