Category: Daily Prayers

 

 

In the Hebrew epistle a great deal is said about the need for persistence in the Christian life. The converts were losing heart and the man of God sought to encourage them to “hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first” (3:14). “So do not throw away your confidence,” he exhorts them, “it will be richly rewarded” (10:35).

This concept of the Christian life as a journey to be taken, a growth to be attained, is being lost to us through two widely separated modern errors.

 

The first is that of the liberal, who cheerfully advises the unrenewed sinner to continue in the Christian life, overlooking the important fact that he has no life in which to continue. Where there has been no impartation of life to the soul of the man, growth and development are impossible. To assume that a saving act of God has been done in a man’s heart when in reality no such act has been done is to set the soul of the man in mortal jeopardy and all but guarantee his final ruin.

 

 

Deu 5:6-7  “‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “‘You shall have no other gods before me.

 Matthew 4:10      Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

 John 5:23   that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

From the perspective of the entire Bible, it can be said that the law of God has three great purposes and uses:

· It is a guardrail, keeping humanity on a moral path.

· It is a mirror, showing man his moral failure and need for a savior.

· It is a guide, showing the heart and desire of God for His people. (Guzik)

When I think about our society/culture I wonder how did it get so far away from any thought about God. Growing up back in the 60’s and 70’s there was a knowing that there was a God who created everything, the principles of the 10 commandments, moral rights and wrongs, and a clear vision of those who were living outside of them. Now it seems very hard to find those living inside of them. In less than 60 years God seems to have been pushed aside and the current generation doubts that there is even a God, morality is for the simple-minded, progressive thought prevails, right and wrong are subjective, heaven and hell are make-believe, final judgment is a scare tactic, belief in Jesus Christ is foolishness, etc…..

What would it take to bring people back to their senses? A mighty work of God’s outpouring Holy Spirit!!!! Pray for this not only in your own personal life but in your family, neighborhood, city, state, and country. 

 

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:19

How are you doing when it comes to pondering? Psalm 107:43 says, “Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” (NIV). And Psalm 111:2 says, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them”

The virgin Mary teaches us something about pondering. When Gabriel appeared to Mary, he told her things she could never have imagined or expected. God surprised her with a plan for her life beyond anything she had dreamed. She quickly trusted the message and didn’t hesitate to obey the Lord’s commands. As more information came to light, she pondered it all in her heart.

God often surprises us with twists and turns we don’t expect. All of them are for our benefit and usefulness, but we have to ponder His ways and submit to them in faith and obedience. Proverbs 4:26 says, “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.”

Take time right now to prayerfully ponder God’s wonderful pathway for your life. (Jeremiah)

To strengthen faith we must hear God’s Word and ponder God’s doing, the marvelous works of God in our own day. (Hough)

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Ponder – give thought to, think about, reflect on, contemplate, study, meditate on.

Give thought every day to the wonders of God, things of God, and the grace, mercy, and love of God.  As David said in Psalm 139 – This wonderful knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

When time is spent “pondering God” our minds and hearts will come to a place of humbleness and worship, thanksgiving, and praise will come out. Time in God’s Word is where we find great things of God to ponder. Mysteries of creation, expected obedience, reward and punishment, grace, mercy, love, Prophecy, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, heaven, hell, anger, wrath, application, mighty and wonderous deeds, prayer, faith, fear, joy, peace beyond understanding, life, death, sin, holiness, justification, sanctification, repentance, sacrifice, redemption, reliance, trust, refuge, hope, etc…..

We think about a lot of stuff. Most of it is present-day living: family, job, finances, relationships, homes, school, politics, sports, social media, TV shows, or movies, health, fitness, etc…. Where is the pondering of God and things of God? It seems as though we give time to think about everything but Our Creator. Many people ponder the words of a song more than they do the Wonders of God. There are hymns and songs that are very precious to me and speak of the greatness of God. These should not replace time in God’s Word and pondering over it.  Spend time there today and ponder.

 

 

 

Joshua 5:1 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

The idea of a melted heart is a complete loss of strength and resistance. The Canaanites were stunned and terrified by the Israelites and the God who was with them.  “For the Canaanites, the events of the preceding days were a horror story. They had been terrified enough by seeing the Israelite hordes—some two million strong—spread out along the eastern bank of the Jordan. It was obvious that the Jews intended to invade the western lands. But the water was at flood stage. The people could not cross. There seemed to be time to get ready. Suddenly the waters ceased flowing, the people crossed over, and a battle was imminent. The suddenness of the crossing terrified everyone.”

 The miraculous passage through the Jordan was not only a testimony to Israel, but also to the Canaanites. It was an additional warning to them that God’s judgment was on the way, coming through the armies of Israel. Rahab had already reported to the Israelite spies that the Canaanites knew of, and were terrified by, the great things God had done for Israel (Joshua 2:9-11). The miraculous crossing of the Jordan added to their dread that judgment was coming from the LORD, Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. (Guzik)

How dreadful is their case, who see the wrath of God advancing towards them, without being able to turn it aside, or escape it! Such will be the horrible situation of the wicked; nor can words express the anguish of their feelings, or the greatness of their terror. Oh that they would now take warning, and before it be too late, flee for refuge to lay hold upon that hope set before them in the gospel! God impressed these fears on the Canaanites, and dispirited them. (Henry)

I wonder how many people on their death bed, lay in fear of their approaching death. They realize their life has been all in vain and shortly now they will come into judgment. They come with nothing into this event. They have lived a life that has rejected God, God’s Word, and Jesus Christ. They have no hope. Their end is very near and though they could repent, they do not. Rather fear and distress guide them into eternal torment. How sad is this? They come face to face with eternity without Jesus Christ to receive them, no hope of eternal life, no joy of meeting Jesus face to face, no peace of mind. Their last breath will be in worry, fear, helplessness, hopelessness, and void of any peace. 

 

 

He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”?
John 14:9

We often hear the expression, “Like father, like son”—and similar expressions: “Like mother, like daughter,” “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” and “chip off the old block.” We know the meaning of all these proverbs: The traits and appearance of a mother or father are often replicated in their children. Traits are not perfectly passed on, but seeing parent and child together makes us think, “Oh, I’m not surprised!”

When it comes to Jesus and His Father, appearances are not passed on since “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). But as to traits, Jesus could say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” And Paul wrote of Jesus, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). The writer to the Hebrews said, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Hebrews 1:3, NLT). No wonder Jesus answered as He did when Philip said, “Show us the Father”!

Many people wonder what God is like. They don’t realize they can discover God’s character by discovering the Person of Jesus Christ. (Jeremiah)

 

 

 

Luk 12:15  And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

 Job 2:4      Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.

 Psalms 37:16    Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.

 Proverbs 15:16    Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.

 Proverbs 16:16    How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

 Ecclesiastes 4:6  Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

 Ecclesiastes 5:10-16    He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.  When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?  Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.  There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt,  and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.  As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.  This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?

 Matthew 6:25-26    “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

 1 Timothy 6:6-8     But godliness with contentment is great gain,  for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.  But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

 

 

Luke 12:15-21   Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,  and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

 Luke 8:14     And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

 Psalms 10:3     For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD.

 Psalms 62:10     Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

 Psalms 119:36-37    Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!  Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

 Jeremiah 6:13     “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

 Habakkuk 2:9      “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!

Mrk 7:20-23  And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,  coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

 Colossians 3:5    Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

1 Timothy 6:7-10   for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.  But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

 2 Timothy 3:2    For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

 Hebrews 13:5    Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

 2 Peter 2:14   They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

 

 

Psalm 119:67      Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.

 

 

When we are far away from God, the first stage on the journey home is a crisis. I’ve never known a Christian living in the far country who returned to God without a severe crisis coming into his or her life. C. S. Lewis said it this way: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge paid tribute to the value of pain in his own Christian life. He said, “Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness.”

When we come home to God, we gain a different perspective on the painful things God used to bring us back to Himself. Think about our ultimate homecoming, the day we get to heaven. In Revelation 21:4, John said, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain.” John was not saying that God will wipe our memories so we don’t remember the terrible things that happened to us. Instead, when we get to heaven, we’ll gain a new perspective on the suffering we went through in this life. One day, we’ll see our suffering as the prelude to an even greater existence.

In the same way, when we come back into a right relationship with God, it’s not that we will look back at a divorce, an illness, or the death of a loved one and say, “Wow, what a happy experience!” But if God uses those difficult circumstances to bring us back to Himself, one day we’ll be able to look back on them, as Muggeridge said, with particular satisfaction.

I think that’s what David had in mind when he said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67). David was never going to be happy about the crises God used to get his attention. Yet when he finally came back to God, he saw the value of those afflictions. God uses crises to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself. (Jeffress)

 

 

 Psa 139:16  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

 Psalms 40:5   You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

 Isaiah 55:8-9    For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 Jeremiah 29:11    For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

 Psalms 3:5    I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.

 Psalms 16:8-11   I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 Psalms 63:6-7      when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;  for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

 Isaiah 26:19     Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

 Daniel 12:2    And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

 1 Thessalonians 5:10     who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

 

 

 Psa 139:14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

 Genesis 1:26-27     Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

 Psalms 92:4-5   For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.  How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!

 Psalms 104:24     O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

 Psalms 111:2   Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.

 Job 5:9   (God)  who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number:

 Revelation 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Al