How often I have to remind myself of these truths!
November 14, 2015
Worship: Great is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas Chisholm (1866–1960); Faithful God sung by Gateway Worship
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
There is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above;
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above;
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
(Refrain)
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own great presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.
Thine own great presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.
(Refrain)
VERSE 1
If I call will You come, when I cry do You hear
I believe every tear is caught up by a faithful God
So I will cry until You come, cast my cares into Your arms
I can’t see past this storm, but I’m counting on a faithful God
CHORUS
Faith- ful God, You hold my life se-cure
All my days are Yours
I be- lieve my God is like a fire defending me
Faith- fully, faith- fully
VERSE 2
I believe You still heal and demons still bow
I’m con- vinced there is power in trusting in a faithful God
So I will praise till You ap- pear, and set Your foot upon this shore
I declare that every foe is subject to my faithful God
CHORUS
Faith- ful God, You hold my life se-cure
All my days are Yours
I be- lieve my God is like a fire defending me
Faith- fully
BRIDGE
I know that You are mine and I am Yours, I am Yours
And I know Your faithfulness, it will endure
It will en- dure
CHORUS
Faith- ful God, You hold my life se-cure
All my days are Yours
I be- lieve my God is like a fire defending me
Faith- fully, faith- fully
© 2009 Zach Neese/Gateway Create Publishing/Integrity’s Praise! Music CCLI#5545610
Video: https://youtu.be/nAibNB44TR8
Witness:
This is one of those two-day entries again. I started yesterday, but I was so tired I had to stop and take a power nap before work. As is my custom, I began this quiet time with prayer and the reading of a previous day’s entry. Today was from October 19, 2015. In the witness portion of my journal I spoke of the business of life and how that had kept me from making any entries for several days. I then exhorted myself not to be discouraged by this, but to keep going. I ended with this thought:
We must not become weary in well-doing, nor become too busy to be well doing.
That goes not only for quiet times but for anything of God that you feel like giving up on. The message from Haggai parallels what I am saying here. My pastor is preaching a short series on the book. In that day they were exhorted to rebuild the Temple but after a month of work they were discouraged. This Temple would never be as glorious as Solomon’s. What good would it do to continue to work on it? They could see no progress taking place. What was the source of their discouragement? They were discouraged by two things, “comparison” and “lack of progress”. We can get discouraged by comparing the past with the present or comparing our situation with someone else’s. We are especially discouraged when life seems to be going well for the ungodly and all hell is breaking loose in ours. What is the answer? God says in Haggai 2:1-5:
On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
NIV
Be strong and do the work. That is the answer. Be strong because God is with us and in us. Do the work because God is with us and in us. What will be the results? What does God promise? If we read on in Haggai, we hear God give this promise to His people:
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
Hag 2:6-9 NIV
A greater glory and peace are promised to those who persevere. My pastor, Craig Groeschel, says:
“Successful people do consistently what normal people do occasionally”
If this is so in the natural, how much more in the supernatural?
So, yes the ungodly often prosper temporarily, but in the end, all hell will break out for them. Yes, in this life we face tribulation, but in the end glory and peace will break forth in our lives.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Gal 6:7-10 NIV
WORD:
|
Ps 23:5-6
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. NIV |
Ps 23:5-6
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
KJV
|
The other day we looked at the word “goodness”. The word is a rich word with a breadth of ways it has been translated in various passages. I said that God’s goodness encompasses all of these. Today we look at the word “love” or “mercy”. I believe the NIV and KJV fall short here. Yes, these are proper translations of the word here, but the word means so much more. Therefore, it should be translated by a compound word like “lovingkindness” (NASB, NASB ’95) or several words such as “unfailing love” (NLT) or “faithful love” (HCSB) or “loyal love”(Bible Knowledge Comm). From this we could say that God’s “goodness, favor, joy, and best as well as His loyal and faithful love, kindness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
Therefore, my prayer for you and myself is this:
Eph 3:16-19
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
NIV
For the Lord our God declares:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Ps 103:11-12 NIV
Ps 103:17-19
But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children —
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
NIV
So I will pray also:
Eph 1:17-22
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
NIV
Understanding this:
Ps 139:5
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
NIV
Yet I will
Ps 106:1-2
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Understanding in the end this:
2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord
or fully declare his praise?
NIV
I have all eternity to try!
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
(from Biblesoft Hymnal, PC Study Bible electronic database Copyright © 2003-2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
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