There are two Truths that I really LOVE that are found in today's Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan! The first is found in Psalm 92:1-5:
1 IT IS a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises [with musical accompaniment] to Your name, O Most High, 2 To show forth Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night, 3 With an instrument of ten strings and with the lute, with a solemn sound upon the lyre. 4 For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works; at the deeds of Your hands I joyfully sing. 5 How great are Your doings, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep.
"Good here is the Hebrew word "towb", which means: pleasant, excellent, valuable, appropriate, becoming, happy, prosperous. It is a BLESSING for us to have the RIGHT to sing praises to Him! "To sing praises" is the Hebrew word "zamar", which means: to sing, to make music, to play an instrument. You may not play a musical instrument, but you DO have two instruments that can be played! Your hands! Clapping your hands along with a song in praise and worship is NOT wrong to do! It is the only way that SOME of us can play as we sing! SO, have FUN giving praise, thanksgiving and worship to the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! HE delights in that! It IS a very good thing to do! AMEN! The next Truth that I love is found in Luke 4. First of all, note that verses 1-2 tell us this:
1 THEN JESUS, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit 2 For (during) forty days in the wilderness (desert), where He was tempted (tried, tested exceedingly) by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry.
BEFORE Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted, He was "full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit"! When you and I stay filled with the Spirit and full of God's Word, we , too, can answer, with confidence, "it is written" to the enemy of our souls who is constantly throwing fear, doubt, unbelief, guilt, worry, situations and circumstances at us to try and stop us, the very same way that he tried to stop Jesus! We DO have the very same Holy Spirit that Jesus had! STAY FILLED! Not only will we be able to take DOWN the enemy and stop him in his tracks, we will also be able to say, with Jesus, what we see here in verses 18-19:
18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], 19 To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound.
AMEN! The Anointing that was in and upon Jesus for ministry is also within and upon US as member of His Body! It is past time we started acting like it! A lost world is waiting! AMEN! So, let's "GO" accompanied by Hillsong United!
Shalom in Him!
