I really enjoyed the Bible reading for today! A couple of verses that ministered to me are found in Psalm 40. First verse 3:
3And He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and fear (revere and worship) and put their trust and confident reliance in the Lord.
I LOVE to sing the songs He gives me to sing in the Spirit and also in English! He is worthy of ALL of our praise and Holy Spirit led praise is PERFECT praise! Hallelujah! Then verse 5:
5Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; no one can compare with You! If I should declare and speak of them, they are too many to be numbered.
I could spend all day, every day, from now until the Rapture of the Church and not come to the end of all the wonderful things to praise and thank Him for! That's just in MY life and family! When we make thanksgiving and praise our lifestyle, the eyes of our understanding will be more open to recognize the hand of God at work in every area of our lives! AMEN!
In Acts we have been reading about the miraculous things that have happened when the born again, spirit-filled Church of Jesus of Nazareth has gone into their world preaching the Gospel! Today in chapter 12 we see how the Lord worked miraculously, through one of His angels (who are ministering spirits sent to minster FOR us - Hebrews 1:14), to deliver Peter from the prison. These things were all new to the young church, but we have their testimonies to build our faith on! Spend some time every day in Psalm 91 so that you develop great confidence in the power of God to deliver you from any and every test, trial or tribulation that you find yourself facing!
In Acts 12:21-24 we also see the final result of a life spent rejecting God's Word and exalting self above the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! Not a glorious end for Herod! We should use this as incentive to continue to have the "living epistle" (2 Corinthians 3:2) of our lives be a true reflection of the Life of God within us! People who are searching for Truth will recognize it in our lives. Then you and I can be used by God to get them delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God's dear Son (Colossians 1:13)!
In Genesis we have the continuing saga of Joseph who just can't seem to stop himself from talking too much! First we see him (a couple of chapters ago) bragging to his brothers about the dreams he had in which they bowed down to him. The dreams were from God, but were for Joseph to ponder and not to preach! Now we see him telling Potiphar's wife just how great he is in Genesis 39: 8-9:
8But he refused and said to his master's wife, See here, with me in the house my master has concern about nothing; he has put all that he has in my care.
9He is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept anything from me except you, for you are his wife. How then can I do this great evil and sin against God?
It would be very interesting to see what would have happened to Joseph if he would have simply said "NO" to her and made certain that he never went into that house alone! Our suffering is either deserved (because of OUR words and actions) or undeserved (persecution for the Gospel's sake). The great good news is that God delivers us from all of those situations when we trust Him to do so! Also, if you're thinking that Pharaoh would never have found out about Joseph if he hadn't been in the prison, do you REALLY think that the God Who created the universe couldn't find a way to introduce Joseph to Pharaoh! Don't shortchange God! He ALWAYS has a back-up plan when we mess things up, but if we do things His way, we can avoid a lot of trouble and heartache! Keep reading! It's really getting exciting now!
Shalom in Him!
