Tag: Fear Him

Clean hands and pure heart

“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

Psalms 85:9  Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Psalms 24:4     He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Psalms 50:23     The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

Psalms 119:155     Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.

Mark 12:32     And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.  And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Acts 11:13     And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter;  he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’

Zechariah 2:5     And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

John 1:14     And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Exodus 34:6    The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,  keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

John 1:17     For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

Romans 3:25     whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Guilty, iniquity, wicked, transgression, sin, do not seek, false, deceit, and unclean heart are all words used to describe the heart and condition of man without Christ.  Now look at what scripture says of God and what is found through Christ to those who believe; good, steadfast love, salvation, faithfulness, righteousness, peace, clean hands, pure heart, thanksgiving, understanding, strength, saved, grace, truth, forgiven, and justified.  Open your heart and mind to His word and seek Him in times of peace and trials.  There is no other place to find truth, happiness, and hope for eternity.

Requested Blessings

“The LORD bless you and keep you;  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,”

Psalms 67:1   May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us,  that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.  Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

2 Corinthians 13:14    The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Psalms 28:9    Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Psalms 4:6    There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”

Psalms 80:3     Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Psalms 119:135     Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.

2 Corinthians 4:6    For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Acts 9:31   So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

Psalms 43:5    Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Titus 2:11    For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

Malachi 4:2   But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Acts 13:26    “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

Acts 13:47   For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

“God bless us.  Shine Your light upon us. Let light shine out of darkness. Be our shepherd. Give Your  peace.”  These are all positive requests from men of the past who were asking for God’s blessing for mankind.  These men believed in God and His sovereignty over all.  It is in His hands alone to bless, lead, and correct the actions of man and nations.  When our heart’s desire is to know God, to honor, follow and obey we seem to see life through a different lens.  This lens allows us to pray for others.  It allows us to pray for nations because our God is awesome in power and might.  He is able to do more than we ask and much more than we think.  How often do we want to the person who makes the change in people?  Our efforts sometime do nothing to bring others closer to God.  Yet if we pray for God to bless them and to change their heart our thoughts about that person change from one of condemning to one of hope and love for them.  Keeping our eyes on Him and patiently waiting for His perfect plan to take place in the lives of those we pray for is so much better than fretting, stewing, and being angered by others.

I will hear

“Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.”

“All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.”

Psalms 65:2  O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.

Psalms 66:19    But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Psalms 102:17    he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.

Psalms 145:18  The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.

1 Kings 18:37   Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

2 Chronicles 33:13    He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

Jeremiah 29:12  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Luke 11:9  And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

1 John 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Psalms 22:27     All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you

Isaiah 49:6     he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Isaiah 66:23     From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.

John 12:32     And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Sometimes I wonder if we have confidence in God and His promises.  I wonder if we know Him personally enough to know He is near and that He will answer our cry, pleas, and requests.  I wonder if we know what it means to seek Him.  I wonder if we know what it means to seek Him with all our heart, mind, and soul.  Do we spend enough time with Him to know Him? Do we live each day with a single purpose to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him?  Are we growing in our knowledge of Him?  I think there are times when we have sought Him and know the presence of God.  I think there are times when we totally forget Him and live our life for other purposes.  When I think about this I realize one clear truth.  If we purpose to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him, and if we stay in His word for this purpose – I know His presence and Holy Spirit occupy our heart and mind.  Our day is not filled with the worries and cares of this world.  Our focus is on Him and serving Him however He leads us in this world.  Another truth I know is true.  If we spend no time in His word there is little chance of us hearing His whispers leading, guiding, directing, and using us.  His word has no root in our being and we lose connection with Him seemingly content with drifting further and further away from Him.  Choose to stay in His word and seek to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him.

Open my Eyes

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

“Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

Psalms 34:6  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Psalms 3:4  I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill

Psalms 10:17   O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

Psalms 66:16-20   Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.  I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.  But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

Revelation 7:17  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

2 Kings 6:17  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Kings 19:35  And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

Daniel 6:22  My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

Matthew 18:10  “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Psalms 119:18  Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

There are many examples of God working wonders beyond our imagination.  I love the passage in 2 Kings where Elisha’s servant saw the enemy and shared fear and asked Elisha what should we do?  Elisha responded with “Oh God please open his eyes that he may see”.  The passage in Daniel where God shut the mouths of the lions is another example of God working beyond our imagination.  How much do we limit God by our lack of faith in His unlimited power, strength and might?  God does not change He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  It is mankind that continues down paths away from God. They no longer see need for they are blinded by their own self worth, self reliance, and self preservation.  The bible says they have itching ears seeking to hear what it is that aligns with their wayward thoughts.  They believe the lies of those who speak with authority about things which deny God and absolutely any need for Him.  Scripture is also clear where it says by the world wisdom no one will find God.  God calls this wisdom foolish.  It is the holy spirit working in us to bring honor and glory to God.  We do this by humbly submitting each day to Him, seeking to listen and obey His leading.  Listen to David when he said “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”  We do well to stay in His word with the same request.

Joy or Gloom

” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. “

Psalms 32:8  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psalms 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,

Proverbs 3:1   My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

Proverbs 8:10  Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,  for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Matthew 11:29   Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Proverbs 26:3  A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.

Jeremiah 4:22   “For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.”

Jeremiah 8:6  I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.  Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the LORD.

“My people are foolish”, “they have not spoke rightly”, “everyone turns to his own course”, “they have no understanding”, “they do not know Me”. How many are the paths people will follow to find peace, joy, and rest for their souls following blindly and headlong on a straight path to hell?  God is not blind to the actions and thoughts of man.  Nothing is hidden from Him and rather than humbly submit, follow and obey Him they pick their own course.  This course is one with temporary satisfaction at best but does not satisfy deep into the heart.  Turn to God and He will instruct and teach you.  His gentle guiding will give rest to your soul. He will set your feet on solid ground and make life fulfilling.

Joy & Sorrow

“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. “

 

Psalms 13:1
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.  But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.  I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Jude 1:21
Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Isaiah 12:2
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

Psalms 147:11
but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Habakkuk 3:18
yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Psalms 119:81
My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.

Psalms 36:7
How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

“I hope in your word”.  What have you read in God’s word lately that gives you hope, a place of joy, a refuge, trust, and a reason to rejoice?  God’s word says He gives “perfect peace to those whose mind is stayed on Him”.  His word is a place we can run to in times of trouble and find peace, hope, joy, strength, mercy, grace, and love.  Yet, would’t it be better to have these words in our heart and mind already?  Wouldn’t it be better for us to be clutching these promises while in the beginning of our trial rather than searching for something to hang on to?  Wouldn’t it be better to have these anchored so that when we encounter someone hurting we can be used by God to encourage them? Purpose to keep His word alive in your heart and mind each day.  Always be ready to give account for the faith and hope you have be given in His word.

Let Us Begin

but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love

Nehemiah 2:11
So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work

Ezra 5:5
But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them

Psalms 33:18
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love

Psalms 147:11
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love

Psalms 149:4
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation

The story of Nehemiah is a good reminder to us all.  He was with those who had been taken in exile yet he did not forget God.  When he heard the news of how broken Jerusalem was his heart was broken and he sought comfort bringing this to God.  His heart was all about the honor and glory of God.  Imagine living in exile and God stirring your heart to the plight of something outside of your control.  In fact the only way you would be able to move on this stirring is if God’s hand was in it.  Then the King asks you what is on your heart, you tell him not only what is on your heart but that you need the King to allow you to rebuild the city, supply safe passage back to the city, supply letters to show those in opposition of what you are about to do, and letters instructing others to supply materials for the job at hand.  Any of these questions could have been answered with your head chopped off.  Yet God’s hand was in it.  His timing, His plan, His sovereign will.  This is a good reminder for us to always keep our heart’s desire for serving God.  Without this desire we will never be willing to hear and act on what God places on our heart.  No matter how big the task is that God lays on your heart – remember God is more than able to overcome our weakness and feeling of not being equipped – who can stop what God puts into motion!