Shalom,

Sometimes when you meditate on the Word of God that you're studying, the Holy Spirit will show you something unique to your situation that you can put into practice. Sometimes you may see some things in the Word that you haven't heard taught before. When that happens, you have the opportunity to do further study and see how it plays out with the rest of the Word! Remember that Truths in the Word are established by 2 or 3 witnesses. That means that a particular principle found in the Word of God will be able to be found in at least another place or two in the Word. That's why I like to share other Scripture that you can check out to see that what's being shared here is actually Scriptural! Psalm 39 for today seemed a little cloudy and negative to me until the Holy Spirit pointed something out. Verses 1-2:

¹I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

²I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

We see here that David had good intentions. He wanted to keep a hedge of protection around his life by watching his tongue. In fact to "take heed to" his ways and to "keep" his mouth is the same Hebrew word, "shamar", which means: to keep, to guard, to protect, to restrain, to preserve, to put a hedge around. That's a very good thing to do! But notice that verse 2 says that he was "dumb with silence" and "held his peace" EVEN from GOOD! That was the problem! He thought that by just not speaking anything, he would protect himself. The Word tells us to be SLOW to speak (James 1:19), but it doesn't say to be silent! In fact we are told in many places exactly WHAT to speak! THE WORD! Not SAYING anything doesn't CHANGE anything! Notice that when David tried to just not talk, the results were that his "sorrow was stirred"! "Sorrow" is the Hebrew word, "ke'eb", which means: physical or mental suffering, adversity, grief, pain and sorrow. "Was stirred" is the Hebrew word, "'akar", which means: to trouble, disturb, afflict or calamity. Keeping silent wasn't the answer! In order to protect our hearts from fear, worry, guilt, shame, anxiety and other "evil" thoughts, we need to reject those thoughts that are contrary to God's Word, and then REPLACE them with good, positive thoughts from the Word of God. Remind yourself of the promises! If you don't, then what happened to David will happen to you! Verse 3 from the Message translation is especially good here:

But the longer I kept silence - The worse it got — my insides got hotter and hotter. My thoughts boiled over; I spilled my guts.

He kept thinking the wrong things and not speaking out good things and he finally "spilled his guts". He should have meditated on the promises of the Word, declared the Word to himself and then when he did speak, it would have been Words of power and authority! We have been given instructions on how to deal with negative thoughts in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:

⁵Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Then we have been told how we are to think in Philippians 4:8:

⁸For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

Do this and continue to speak good and Godly things with your mouth and you WILL have good and Godly things manifesting in your life! God is so good and His Word is so powerful! Let's USE it!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

We read Acts 10 in the Bible Reading plan for today. I really love this story of Cornelius! He was a "God-fearing and obedient" man! Verse 22:

²²And they said, Cornelius, a centurion (captain) who is just and upright and in right standing with God, being God-fearing and obedient and well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, has been instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house; and he has received in answer [to prayer] a warning to listen to and act upon what you have to say.

He cried out to God as a Gentile who wanted to know this God of the Jews and God led him to Peter! I really like how the Lord prepared Peter ahead of time so that when the request came, he was prepared to go! Our God is SO faithful to put us in position to be blessed AND a blessing! We just need to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and DO what He tells us to do! Also notice that, again, when they were born again, they ALSO received the Holy Spirit baptism! That's how it is SUPPOSED to happen! Then believers can be filled with "power from on high" and fulfill their God-given ministries! I LOVE Acts!

Then we see the power of the spoken word in Genesis. Remember when Rachel stole her father's household "gods"? Jacob, not knowing that Rachel had stolen them, said this in Genesis 31:32:

³²The one with whom you find those gods of yours, let him not live. Here before our kinsmen [search my possessions and] take whatever you find that belongs to you. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen [the images].

Now we see in chapter 35:16-19 what became of Rachel:

¹⁶And they journeyed from Bethel and had but a little way to go to Ephrath [Bethlehem] when Rachel suffered the pangs of childbirth and had hard labor.

¹⁷When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, Do not be afraid; you shall have this son also.

¹⁸And as her soul was departing, for she died, she called his name Ben-oni [son of my sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [son of the right hand].

¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.

It would do us all good to remember Ephesians 4:29:

²⁹Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

The words of our mouths are very powerful! Remember when Jesus merely SPOKE to the fig tree and it dried up? We need to make sure that the words we speak are things we REALLY want to take place! It's always best to speak HIS Word! Then we KNOW we'll be blessed and protected!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

There is SO much in the entire Bible Reading for today that we could do several blog posts to cover it! It's a good thing that the Spoken Word Bible reading plan covers Psalms and Proverbs twice! We'll look at a couple of verses and then move on to Acts and Genesis. Verses 1-6 say:

¹FRET NOT yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness (that which is not upright or in right standing with God).

²For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

³Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.

⁴Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.

⁶And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.

Notice that it says to not fret (have anxiety or worry and fear) over evildoers. It may LOOK like everything is going their way, but that is just temporary! We see in these few verses what we are to do as believers in Jesus of Nazareth and what our attitude should be. The results are spelled out very plainly, too. So also are the results that the evildoers, unbelievers and wicked people can expect UNLESS they change their thinking to agree with God and become believers! Read through the rest of the Psalm and take note of everything that is told for us to do as believers AND the promised reward! You won't even have to give a thought to the results of the wicked, except to realize how very much they NEED to hear and receive the message we've been called to preach - the Good News!

Then we see in Acts where Saul, who has been seething with hatred for the believers in Jesus, is stopped short by the Lord and captured by the very Gospel message that he has been so against! The thing that the Holy Spirit showed me so clearly this time through this passage is how very determined and focused the unbelievers were to stop the Gospel! Look at verse 1-2:

¹MEANWHILE SAUL, still drawing his breath hard from threatening and murderous desire against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

²And requested of him letters to the synagogues at Damascus [authorizing him], so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way [of life as determined by faith in Jesus Christ], he might bring them bound [with chains] to Jerusalem.

Saul was so consumed with his mission and would let nothing stop him! Then we see how the Jews who did not receive Saul's message reacted in verse 22-23:

²²But Saul increased all the more in strength, and continued to confound and put to confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus by comparing and examining evidence and proving that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah).

²³After considerable time had elapsed, the Jews conspired to put Saul out of the way by slaying him,

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the saints of God, the born again believers in Jesus of Nazareth were always so very determined to preach the Gospel to the unbelievers so the Holy Spirit could work through them with signs, wonders and miracles to set the captives free! I believe YOU are one of the few who really GET it or you wouldn't be reading this blog! Thank You, Jesus, for those who are on fire for the things of God! AMEN!

We see in Genesis where Jacob, who should have remembered that the Lord CHANGED his name to Israel, continued to deceive when he lied to his brother about where he was going! He didn't trust his brother and it was because he knew that he himself couldn't be trusted! That's the problem with allowing your word to become meaningless. If you don't have faith in your own word, you will have a hard time believing God will honor HIS Word. He WILL ALWAYS honor His Word, but we have to learn to trust in that Truth! Make sure your word to others is GOOD and you will have greater confidence in the Word of Almighty God! I Love it when the Word of God comes alive and is so very practical!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 36 in the Bible Reading Plan for today shows the great contrast between believers and unbelievers, the righteous and the unrighteous. You should read it in the Amplified Bible to get a clearer picture of what the Word is saying. Verse 1 says:

¹TRANSGRESSION [like an oracle] speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. There is no fear or dread of God before his eyes.

That's the biggest key to how people who do wickedness can do what they do. There is NO fear of God in their eyes. They do not understand the great and awesome power of the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible. Their minds have been blinded by the god of THIS world (2 Corinthians 2:4). It is really impossible for them to go a different way UNTIL they receive the Good News (the Gospel) and receive Jesus of Nazareth as Lord and personal Saviour! When they do, then they , too, can receive the blessing, abundance and protection spoken of in verses 6-10:

⁶Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgments are like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

⁷How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

⁸They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures.

⁹For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.

¹⁰O continue Your loving-kindness to those who know You, Your righteousness (salvation) to the upright in heart.

I love reading through Acts and observing how the Holy Spirit is working through these believers! There are some denominations that teach that this was only for the Apostles to start the early church. If you actually read the Word, you see that it was the Apostles AND many other believers! All those believers who received the Holy Spirit Baptism were able to operate in the gifts of the Spirit and to perform the same healings and miracles that Jesus had done! HE SAID it would happen in John 14:12:

¹²I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.

That's the life WE should be living in these last of the last days! Being about our Father's business of setting the captives free by every means made available to us by the Word of God and through the anointing of the Holy Spirit! It's a very exciting life we've been called to! Let's really LIVE it! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Did you read your Spoken Word Bible Reading plan for today? I hope so! Remember, if you don't have one yet, you can click on the church link to the left and order one there, or you can follow along daily from the home page. You'll be glad you did! Today I want to look first of all at the last 2 verses of Psalm 35:

²⁷Let those who favor my righteous cause and have pleasure in my uprightness shout for joy and be glad and say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.

²⁸And my tongue shall talk of Your righteousness, rightness, and justice, and of [my reasons for] Your praise all the day long.

It says to "let the Lord be magnified" (Yahweh or Jehovah) be (praised, lifted up, boasted about) who takes pleasure in the "prosperity", the Hebrew word "shalom" which means: safety, health, prosperity, peace, welfare, completeness, soundness, contentment) of His servant! That's us! He delights in our well-being! (Read 3 John 2!) And MY tongue "shall talk" (or speak in the KJV) which is the Hebrew word "hagah", which means: to ponder, to murmur, to imagine, to meditate, to talk, to roar, about my REASONS to praise Him - ALL THE DAY LONG! That's the kind of talking we should be doing MOST! About how GREAT IS OUR GOD! Then when we speak to others, it will be the right kind of talk (Col. 4:6)!

Then in Acts we see Stephen reciting the Word and the unbelievers moved to fury over it. Understand that when people come against YOU for the Gospel's sake, it isn't them, but rather the evil spirits that operate THROUGH them! Suffering persecution for the sake of the Gospel is undeserved suffering and there is great reward in that!

In Genesis we see Jacob reaping some of the harvest of his deceitful seed sown with his father, Isaac! Remember - what you sow is what you WILL reap! Unless, of course, you dig up those bad seeds and replant! I've had to do that before and I'm glad I did! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 34:1-3 shows us how David encouraged himself in the Lord during times of test and trial! This is our example of how a believer in Jesus of Nazareth should think, talk and act! Check this out in the Amplified Bible:

¹I WILL bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

²My life makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble and afflicted hear and be glad.

³O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.

We see many forms of praise and worship in these 3 verses. The Hebrew word "barak" (I will bless) which means: to bless God, to kneel and to praise. We're to do this AT ALL TIMES! No matter what the situation, BLESS THE LORD! Then we see that His "praise", the Hebrew word "tehilla", which means: laudation, admiration, praise and thanksgiving, is to be CONTINUALLY flowing from our mouth! We are to "boast", the Hebrew word, "halal", which means: to boast, celebrate, to rave, to make a show of, to be clamorously foolish about the Lord! Then we are to "magnify", the Hebrew word "gadal", which means: to praise, to promote, to lift up, to boast about the Lord and then to "exalt", the Hebrew word "ruwm", which means: to raise, to lift up, to extol, to praise highly HIS Name forever!

If we make a practice of doing what David did in these three verses, no situation or circumstance will be able to keep us down, or fearful or worried! Reminding ourselves of how great our God is will also bring to our remembrance who we are IN HIM! We will remember Philippians 4:13 that says this:

¹³I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].

Amen! Then be like Steven that we read about today in Acts 6 who stayed continually filled with the Holy Spirit and did many might works, the same ones that Jesus did! And we can learn to REALLY trust God to fulfill His promises to us, UNLIKE Rebekah and Jacob, who took matters into their own hands and caused much hardship and heartache! They DID get the results that God said they would have, but doing it their own way made life very hard for both of them! Let's learn from someone else's experience. That's WISDOM!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

We read Psalm 33 in our Bible Reading plan today. Let's look at verse 1:

¹REJOICE IN the Lord, O you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you upright in right standing with God]; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart].

We begin with the word "rejoice", which is the Hebrew word "ranan" that we looked at yesterday. You can scroll down and look at that meaning. Today I found another meaning that you can add to it: it also means to creak or make a stridulous sound. Stridulous means: a shrill grating or chirping sound! Have you ever heard Middle Eastern women in a crowd when they are happy or excited about something? THAT is the sound this is talking about! I can't say as I have ever done that! I also have to admit that I have NEVER enjoyed listing to that sound! Now I see that I am EXPECTED to make a sound like that in my rejoicing! Well, I certainly AM teachable and willing to make corrections, so I guess I will have to practice my stridulous sounds!

We are supposed to do this and also to "praise" Him. The word praise here is the Hebrew Word, "tehilla", which means: to give laudation, to give praise, adoration and thanksgiving PUBLICLY! This is all becoming and APPROPRIATE for the born again believer! It is expected of us because HE is worthy to receive it all! AMEN!

Then in Acts 5 we see the religious leaders AGAIN angry at the apostles for doing the works of Jesus! When they lock them up and an angel lets them out, wouldn't you have expected them to FINALLY believe? Instead, they BEAT them! WOW, I guess there was no such thing as "common sense" back then, either! Not among unbelievers anyway! Gamaliel gave them such sound advice! You JUST MAY be found fighting against GOD when you come against other believers. Don't go there!

Genesis takes us to the birth of Esau and Isaac, one who treasured the birth-right and thought the blessing that went with it a very precious thing, and one who thought so little of that same blessing that he sold it to fill his belly instead of finding some food for himself! I won't feel sorry for him a bit when he's found crying later! Keep reading, it gets VERY interesting as you get into it further.

I hope you have been allowing the Holy Spirit to teach You more about Jesus through the Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan. That IS the real purpose for studying God's Word! To KNOW HIM! AMEN!

Shalom in Him,

Robin

Shalom,

Psalm 32:8 is a very precious promise from God to us! Here is what it says:

⁸I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

HE will teach us His Word and direct our lives! Did you know that when you received Jesus of Nazareth has Lord and personal Saviour, that you were MADE the righteousness of God? 1 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that! So Psalm 32:11 is talking to YOU!

¹¹Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

The word rejoice here is the Hebrew word "giyl", which means: to rejoice, to spin around in joy, to exalt and to tremble! To shout for joy is the Hebrew word, "ranan", which means: to be overcome, to shout for joy, to sing for joy, to give a ringing cry in exaltation! So let's DO IT, you righteous!

Acts 4 we see the chief priests and other religious leaders getting involved after Peter and John had healed the man who sat at the Beautiful Gate. They didn't like that the place was in a REJOICING uproar over the healing of this man. They set Peter and John before them and demanded to know by what authority they had healed this man. Sound familiar? First Jesus, now His followers are asked the same questions! Peter proceeded to preach the Gospel to them! What a great opportunity! What was the immediate result? We see this in verses 14-18:

¹⁴And since they saw the man who had been cured standing there beside them, they could not contradict the fact or say anything in opposition.

¹⁵But having ordered [the prisoners] to go aside out of the council [chamber], they conferred (debated) among themselves,

¹⁶Saying, What are we to do with these men? For that an extraordinary miracle has been performed by (through) them is plain to all the residents of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But in order that it may not spread further among the people and the nation, let us warn and forbid them with a stern threat to speak any more to anyone in this name [or about this Person].

¹⁸[So] they summoned them and imperatively instructed them not to converse in any way or teach at all in or about the name of Jesus.

Amazing, isn't it?! They see someone healed right before their eyes and it doesn't move them to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour! Peter and John's response:

¹⁹But Peter and John replied to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obey you rather than God, you must decide (judge).

²⁰But we [ourselves] cannot help telling what we have seen and heard.

²¹Then when [the rulers and council members] had further threatened them, they let them go, not seeing how they could secure a conviction against them because of the people; for everybody was praising and glorifying God for what had occurred.

When we DO the works that Jesus did, we will have the same results that Jesus had! Then let the naysayers say what they will. As long as God gets the glory, the people will believe and receive! And THAT is our #1 priority and WHY we do what we do! AMEN!!!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Sundays are usually very busy days here, so the blog will be brief today. We will look at Genesis 22. Verses 1-2 say:

¹AFTER THESE events, God tested and proved Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am.

²[God] said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you.

God put Abraham to the test and Abraham PASSED this test! Abraham did NOT go up the mountain crying all the way because God told him to sacrifice his son. And Isaac (who was probably about 25 at the time!) didn't worry and fret all the way up the mountain, either! Don't you think that a strong young man could have fought his elderly father and NOT allowed himself to get up on that altar? What made Abraham do what he did and Isaac go right along with it? Because they BOTH remembered the promise that God had made to Abraham that through Isaac God would make of Abraham a great nation! They both knew and believed that even IF they had to go through with the sacrifice, God Himself would bring Isaac back to life. THAT'S the faith that the Bible talks about US having! The faith of Abraham (and Isaac!)! Notice what Abraham told his men when he and Isaac left to continue up the mountain alone in verse 5:

⁵And Abraham said to his servants, Settle down and stay here with the donkey, and I and the young man will go yonder and worship and come again to you.

Then what Abraham said when Isaac asked him where the sacrifice lamb was:

⁷And Isaac said to Abraham, My father! And he said, Here I am, my son. [Isaac] said, See, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt sacrifice?

⁸Abraham said, My son, God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. So the two went on together.

They were both in agreement and here is what God did:

¹¹But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! He answered, Here I am.

¹²And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear and revere God, since you have not held back from Me or begrudged giving Me your son, your only son.

¹³Then Abraham looked up and glanced around, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering and an ascending sacrifice instead of his son!

Now for the result of Abraham's (and Isaac's) obedience:

¹⁵The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time

¹⁶And said, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld [from Me] or begrudged [giving Me] your son, your only son,

¹⁷In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies,

¹⁸And in your Seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.

God Himself did not hold back His Son, His ONLY Son, but GAVE Him for us! Jesus did not hold back His own life, but laid it down for us! And now the Holy Spirit lives inside of every believer in Jesus of Nazareth to lead, guide and direct us every day and to teach us the Word of God so that we can walk in obedience to it! Hallelujah! Keep meditating the Word! There is so much in every verse that we could take all of eternity and never reach the end of all there is to learn!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

There is SO much we could talk about in today's Bible reading! I love Psalm 30! Verses 4-5:

⁴Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

⁵For His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime or in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

We are to sing to Him and give Him praise for Who HE is, but also for every good thing that He has done! In The Spoken Word Church we like to say: "For anything good in my life, I give GOD the credit, thanksgiving and praise! For anything bad, DON'T BLAME GOD"! He is such a GOOD GOD! His favor on our lives will last forever! Weeping (over tests, trials and tribulations) WILL come, BUT, the promise of God IS that joy (rejoicing and celebration!) WILL come in the morning, or early! Earlier than you think, IF you don't give up and quit! The result of this blessing is that we thank and praise Him more! Verse 12:

¹²To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

AMEN! Then in Acts chapter 2 we see the disciples filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues! What a wonderful gift in our lives, to be able to communicate with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit through our own Heavenly prayer language! It's a language that only THEY understand! Our minds don't know what we're saying, so we can't be distracted and doubt and fear cannot enter the picture! The devil cannot understand it, either! He can't read our minds. He only knows what we tell him! Praying in other tongues goes right over his head, and he can't do a thing about it, EXCEPT to try and get us NOT to do it! NOW you know better! We'll talk more about this as we continue to move through Acts!

Then in Genesis we see something very interesting! Remember back a couple of chapters when Abraham gave Lot the first choice in the land that he wanted? Lot looked at the very best land and chose that for himself. He then chose to live in the city of Sodom. Abraham let him choose first, then God gave Abraham all the rest! NOW see what has become of Lot! He's lost everything, including his wife. The lesson here is to ALWAYS put others first and God will honor and protect that which belongs to you! He even told Abraham what was happening and allowed Abraham to intercede on behalf of Lot. We truly DO have an incredibly awesome God! Hallelujah!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I hope you have been enjoying the Word with your Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan! We just left Matthew and have moved into Acts. I love that we can follow Jesus being raised from the dead with the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the church of Jesus of Nazareth! Tomorrow will be especially exciting for anyone interested in learning more about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We also moved back to Genesis from Job and will be continuing on with the life of Abraham and Sarah. Today we will be looking at Psalm 29:1:

¹ASCRIBE TO the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

I love how the Amplified Bible says to "Ascribe" to the Lord glory. The Hebrew word used for "ascribe" here and "give" in the rest of the Psalm are the same. It is the Hebrew word "yahab" and it means to give, to ascribe, to grant, to provide. The word ascribe, according to Dictionary.com, means: 1) to credit or assign, as to cause or source; and 2) to attribute or think of as belonging. I LOVE that! It establishes the fact that glory, honor and praise BELONG to our God! And they do! Then we are told to not only recognize that glory belongs to Him but also strength. He IS the source of all of our strength! Hallelujah! Verse 2 says:

²Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.

We are reminded in this verse to give Him glory and then told to "worship" Him. That's the Hebrew word "shachah", which means: to bow down, give reverence, to worship and to make obeisance. Obeisance is a movement of the body expressing deep respect or deferential courtesy, as before a superior. That He most definitely is! Worshiping Him in the beauty of His "holiness", "qodesh", which means: separateness, set-apartness. He is holy: separated from the world and set apart unto God! We are to be, too! (1 Peter 1:16). Then verse 11 says:

¹¹The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.

He WILL give us His strength for all things and will bless us with "peace", shalom which means: completeness, safety, soundness, welfare, health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment, friendship. I LOVE the Word of God! I hope you do, too!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I want to look at the last verses of Matthew 28 today. Jesus had risen from the dead. The women and then His disciples had seen Him. At this point the disciples had fallen down to worship Jesus. He said this:

¹⁸Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

I love the Amplified Bible! Where other versions say "power", the Amplified bible says "power of rule". That's exactly the kind of power that Jesus is talking about! The word is the Greek word, "exousia", which means: privelage, authority, jurisdiction, power, right and strength! The right to rule in Heaven and on earth had been given unto Him! The He said this:

¹⁹Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Because all power was given (bestowed upon) Jesus, and we are IN HIM, and He is IN US, we now have His endued "power" to do His will! We are to make disciples of all races of people, baptizing them (to immerse or submerge) "in", the Greek word eis, which means: to or into. We are to "baptize" them into the NAME. That is not referring to water baptism, although water baptism is a great outward sign of our inward transformation. That is referring to the New Birth! Being immersed in HIM! In the Name! Then He goes on to say:

²⁰Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).

He said we are to teach the Word, remembering that He is "with" us always. That word "with" is the Greek word meta, which means: amid, in the midst of, union. HE is living IN us now and forever! We are NEVER alone! Let's be about our Father's business KNOWING that all the power we need lives IN us! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

We read Matthew 27 in our Bible Reading Plan today. We mentioned this when we looked at Psalm 22 a few days ago. I encourage you to go back and look at that again as you read and study Matthew 27 today! We will be looking at Psalm 27 today:

¹THE LORD is my Light and my Salvation--whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?

How can we fear anything in this life when we KNOW that we are on God's side?! Remember Romans 8:31:

³¹What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]

Then do what David did in verses 2-3! He reminded himself of the times when God delivered him in the past:

²When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

³Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, [even then] in this will I be confident.

Then, encouraged by that, he spoke out what he desired to have the Lord do for him:

⁴One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.

⁵For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock.

⁶And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; in His tent I will offer sacrifices and shouting of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

⁷Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; have mercy and be gracious to me and answer me!

⁸You have said, Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need]. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word].

Then he exhorts US to have this attitude in times of tests, trials and tribulations:

¹⁴Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.

Great advice from the man who consistently went AFTER God's own heart! Make loving HIM, pleasing HIM, waiting on HIM and serving Him be your first priority. Then you will have the same confidence in the Lord that David had! And YOU have a BETTER covenant, based on better promises, than David had (Hebrews 8:6)! Meditate on THAT until it becomes real to you! Fear will leave, boldness will come, and then you're off and running!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Two things really stood out to me in reading Matthew 26 today. Verse 1-2 say:

¹WHEN JESUS had ended this discourse, He said to His disciples,

²You know that the Passover is in two days--and the Son of Man will be delivered up treacherously to be crucified.

It has always been amazing to me that Jesus actually TOLD the disciples what was going to happen to Him, and they didn't respond at all! At least no response was recorded here. No questions, nothing! It appears that it went right over their heads! But remember, they were not born again yet. They had no way of of understanding Spiritual things, YET!

Then we have verses 6-7:

⁶Now when Jesus came back to Bethany and was in the house of Simon the leper,

⁷A woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask of very precious perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table.

This woman gave something of great value! You would think everyone would be happy to see Jesus so blessed and appreciated! But that was NOT their reaction! Here is what they said:

⁸And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, For what purpose is all this waste?

⁹For this perfume might have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.

Isn't it funny how easy it is to tell OTHER people what they should do and how to do it! It's much easier for some people to always talk about doing and giving, but never actually DO anything! I LOVE the reply that Jesus gave to them! Verses 10-13 :

¹⁰But Jesus, fully aware of this, said to them, Why do you bother the woman? She has done a noble (praiseworthy and beautiful) thing to Me.

¹¹For you always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.

¹²In pouring this perfume on My body she has done something to prepare Me for My burial.

¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this good news (the Gospel) is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told also, in memory of her.

Jesus was very touched by what this woman had done for Him. It revealed a heart of love for her Lord! Let's be believers that give of ourselves (in EVERY area) to and for Him, loving Him "From The Inside Out"!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I just love studying the Word of God. The Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan is such a good tool for doing so! I want to share 2 verses from Psalm 25 today, and then a couple from Job. Psalm 25:5:

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.

Someone shared this verse with me as a prayer a very long time ago and I like to pray it before I read the Word! It is giving HIM glory for Who He is and then asking Him to teach me what the Word is saying to me in my own individual life! A prayer according to His will (His Word) is one that He hears and I have! Thank , You, Jesus! AMEN! The other verse I want to share is verse 14:

¹⁴The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.

Unbelievers and unbelieving believers cannot understand how we can have such an intimate fellowship with the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! But that's' exactly what HE wants to have with us! I choose to fear (revere and worship) Him and He reveals Himself to me by His Spirit and through His Word! Then He reveals the mysteries and secrets of His Word to me as I pray in the Spirit and meditate on the Word! What a wonderful, blessed life He gave us!

We always begin the year with Job because it was one of the earliest books written. If you read the Book of Job with the understanding that Job's three friends haven't the slightest knowledge of Who God is, which colors every thing they say and makes it untrue and unacceptable! When God reveals Himself and makes things clear to Job, he (Job) repents, prays for others and is delivered! Let's look at these verses in chapter 42 as we end the Book of Job today:

¹⁰And the Lord turned the captivity of Job and restored his fortunes, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.¹¹Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him over all the [distressing] calamities that the Lord had brought upon him. Every man also gave him a piece of money, and every man an earring of gold.¹²And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys

When Job prayed for his friends, God turned things around for Him! He was blessed with more wealth and abundance than he had before! Then verse 17 says:

¹⁷So Job died, an old man and full of days.

We should all be as blessed as Job was at the end of his days on earth. To have a very full, productive life and an abundant entrance into Heaven! Hallelujah!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

We will be looking at Psalm 24 today. Verses 1-2:

¹THE EARTH is the Lord's, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it.^{²For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the currents and the rivers.}

I LOVE this verse! The earth is the Lord's! It ALL belongs to Him! I want to establish that Truth with a few more verses:

^{John 1:3All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.}

^{Haggai 2:8The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, says the Lord of hosts.}

^{Psalm 50:10}For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills or upon the mountains where thousands are.

All of this belongs to God, AND, because we are coheirs together with Jesus of Nazareth, we have a great stake in it, too! The last part of verse 1 also says that the PEOPLE of the earth belong to God! Psalm 2:8 shows what our attitude, AS coheirs with Jesus, should be concerning the people of the world.

⁸Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

This should be our prayer, as born again believers, for the unbelievers of the world. We KNOW this is the will of God because we have His Word on that, too, in 2 Peter 3:9:

9The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

How exciting to know that the SOVEREIGN God, Who is still in control, has set this all up because of His great love for us! How can we not give Him first place and priority in our lives? I love verse 10 of Psalm 24, also!

¹⁰Who is [He then] this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah [pause, and think of that]!

THAT is our god! Hallelujah! Praise Him!

Shalom in Him!