Shalom,


Psalm 112:1-3:


1 PRAISE THE LORD! (Hallelujah!) Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who fears (reveres and worships) the LORD, who delights greatly in His commandments. 2 His offspring shall be mighty on the earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed. 3 Prosperity and welfare are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.


I read in one commentary that this verse did not apply to New Testament believers because it was part of the Old Covenant. That statement is totally FALSE! Remember that our New Covenant is a BETTER Covenant, based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6)! That means that anything different about the New Covenant is BETTER! We can expect, when WE meet the conditions of the promise, to have these wonderful promises AND SO MUCH MORE!  That is why we can also identify with verse 7:


7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firmly fixed (leaning on and being confident) in the LORD.


It makes no difference where the "evil tidings" are coming from, we shall not be moved by them! Our God will deliver us every time that we trust in Him and His Word! Thank You, Jesus! Amen! Here is Hillsong United with "Rise":

I really like 1 Peter 4:1-3 in the Message Bible:


1 Since Jesus went through everything you're going through and more, learn to think like Him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from the old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. 2 Then you'll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you (the old you) want. 3 You've already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it's time to be done with it for good.


The moment we were born again our spirits were made new, in the image of God (2 Corinthians 5:17)! The problem is that we still have the nature of the flesh as long as we are living here on earth. The Good News is that when we renew our minds with the Word of God to think, speak, and act like God, then our spirit and soul (mind, emotions and will) combination is much stronger than the will of the flesh! Stay strong in God's Word and your flesh nature will not be able to "lord it over you"! Thank You, Jesus! Then verses 7-8 are vital:


7 Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. 8 Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.


The Amplified Bible says:


7 But the end and culmination of all things has now come near; keep sound minded and self-restrained and alert therefore for [the practice of] prayer. 8 Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].


Notice that we are told to be alert for prayer. That means to pay attention! Don't just walk blindly through your life doing the same things you have always done! Stay in intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit Who lives in you! He will lead, guide and direct you moment by moment and day by day, so that you will be able to buy up every opportunity to fulfill the calling that God has placed on your life from before the foundation of the world! Yes, you are THAT important to God and His plan! Don't take that lightly! At the Reward Seat in Heaven, you will be eternally glad that you paid attention! 


In Daniel 3-4 we read of the three Hebrew young men who refused to bow to the image that Nebuchadnezzar had made of himself. Do you think he may have taken pride in the fact that Daniel had identified the head of gold in the king's dream as referring to him and his kingdom? Pride has brought many a good person down to their knees! We see that again in chapter 4 when the king again gets prideful and God uses those seven years to show him just Who was really the source of every "good and perfect gift" (James 1:17)!


The declaration of faith of the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is found in Daniel 3:16-18. Not many translations actually get this accurate and some make it sound like they didn't know for sure if God would actually deliver them. Here is the translation that I like best! This is from the New American Standard Updated Edition:


16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 If it be, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O King. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."


I have heard this taught before that what they actually were saying is, and I paraphrase: "IF you are able to throw us into the furnace, our God WILL deliver us; and if you do not throw us in, we STILL will not worship your gods or your image!"  I really like that! Whether or not this is actually how it went down, the bottom line is that the faith of these three men was put to the test before all of the people and God came through! They didn't GET faith by going through this. The faith that they had in Almighty God to deliver was proven to all when they came out unharmed! Build your faith by meditating daily on the Word of God so that when you are faced with a  "fiery furnace" situation, your faith will pass the test! God LOVES to do that! Hallelujah!


Shalom in Him!