David gives continual praise to the LORD                             verse 1- 2 

I will praise YOU – O LORD – with my whole heart

I will show forth all YOUR marvelous works

      I will be glad and rejoice in YOU

I will sing praise to YOUR name O YOU most High 

David praises LORD for his judgment of enemies                 verse 3- 6 

When mine enemies are turned back

they shall fall and perish at YOUR presence

      for YOU hast maintained my right and my cause

YOU sat in the throne judging right

YOU hast rebuked the heathen

      YOU have destroyed the wicked

                  YOU have put out their name for ever and ever

O you enemy – destructions are come to a perpetual end

and you havedestroyed cities

      their memorial is perished with them 

David requests for true seekers                                              verse 7- 10 

BUT the LORD shall endure for ever

HE hath prepared HIS throne for judgment

      HE shall judge the world in righteousness

                  HE shall minister judgment to the

people in uprightness

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed – a refuge in times of trouble

and they that KNOW YOUR name will put their trust in YOU

      for YOU – LORD – hast not forsaken them that seek YOU

 

David wants all of Jerusalem to sing praises                          verse 11- 12 

Sing praises to the LORD – which dwells in Zion

declare among the people HIS doings

      when HE makes inquisition for blood – HE remembers them

                  HE forgets not the cry of the HUMBLE 

David prays for mercy from the LORD                                 verse 13- 14 

Have mercy upon me – O LORD

consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me

YOU that lift me up from the gates of death

that I may show forth all YOUR praise in the

gates of the daughter of Zion

I will rejoice in YOUR salvation

 

David observes that heathen fall into their own traps            verse 15- 16 

The heathen are sunk down in the PIT that they made

in the NET which they hid is their own foot taken

The LORD is known by the judgment which HE executes

            the wicked is SNARED in the work of his own hands

                        HIGGAION                                        SELAH 

David observes that the LORD gives hope to needy               verse 17- 18

 The wicked shall be turned into HELL – and all nations that forget God FOR the needy shall not always be forgotten        the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever 

David wants LORD to take action                                          verse 19- 20 

Arise –             O LORD – LET not man prevail

LET the heathen be judged in YOUR sight

      PUT them in FEAR – O LORD

that the nations may KNOW themselves

to be BUT men                       SELAH 

 

COMMENTARY:           

 

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

 

:1.        I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your

            marvelous works. (NKJV  Strong’s #3034 יָדָה, יָדָה [yadah /yaw·daw/] v.

            A primitive root, used only as denominative from 3027; TWOT 847;

            GK 3343 and 3344; 114 occurrences; AV translates as “praise” 53

            times, “give thanks” 32 times, “confess” 16 times, “thank” five times,

            “make confession” twice, “thanksgiving” twice, “cast” once, “cast

            out” once, “shoot” once, and “thankful” once. 1 to throw, shoot, cast.

            1A (Qal) to shoot (arrows). 1B (Piel) to cast, cast down, throw down.

            1C (Hiphil). 1C1 to give thanks, laud, praise. 1C2 to confess, confess

            (the name of God). 1D (Hithpael). 1D1 to confess (sin). 1D2 to give

            thanks. James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Bellingham, WA:

            Logos Bible Software, 2001)

DEVOTION: On this Sunday I have finished church and it was a good day to offer praise and worship to the Lord!  The psalmist expresses that same aspiration as he makes this exclamation to his readers. Whatever day you worship the Lord whether on Sunday or another day of the week, the key ingredients are the same, whether in 2015 or 1000 B.C.  Follow the psalmist instructions to praise the Lord with all heart, tell how the Lord has done amazing things in your life, and praise will be as natural as breathing.  This praise in verse 1 is from your mouth while the praise in verse two is a different praise and has the idea of praise with an instrument.

Regardless of the day or the manner of worship we are to praise the Lord. If you are reading this on Monday then worship the Lord in word or instrument, in small groups or individually!

CHALLENGE: Praise the Lord in word or with an instrument every day this

week! (Brian Miller – board member) 

 

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers 

            : 2        I will be glad and rejoice in YOU: I will sing praise to YOUR name, O YOU most High. (2167 “I will sing                            praise” [zamar] means make music, to play a musical instrument, to offer raise to God using one’s                              voice as an instrument, to dance, or praise as an act of worship to God in a  chanting or melody with                          the voice as the instrument)

DEVOTION: One of the emotions that those who know the LORD should have on a regular basis is gladness. With this in mind David says that he will rejoice in the LORD. Too often we find that we are not in the right emotion when we come to worship the LORD. We allow the world to influence our thinking and with that happening it is hard to worship the LORD in the right spirit which is the Holy Spirit.

Our times together as believers should be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We should pray before we go to church and ask the LORD to fill us with HIS Holy Spirit, so that, we can genuinely worship the LORD.

Preparation needs to be made before we go to HIM in our times of devotions. Preparation needs to be made before we go anywhere where we are a witness for the LORD and everywhere means our home, work, church, and even shopping.

Too often we are not in the right Spirit when we start are day and this means that our life has to always start with prayer and then we can rejoice and be glad in the LORD which puts us in the right frame of mind to praise the LORD.

Our frame of mind has to be one where we are glad and want to rejoice. Once we do this we will be a bright light in our world. Our worship time will be great. Our work time will be great. Our family time will be great.

Too many believers look like they are sad rather than have the joy of the LORD. This is not a good testimony for the LORD.

CHALLENGE: Prepare each day to worship the LORD in praise. Some believers need more time than others!

________________________________________________________________

            : 7        But the LORD shall endure forever: HE has prepared HIS throne for judgment. (3427 “endure” [yashab]                          means to dwell, to sit down, remain sitting, to be seated, be settled, inhabitant, to be set, stay, have                               one’s abode, or be in a place for any period of time, usually implying a longer amount of time)

DEVOTION: We tend to think in the here and now. We want everything to be done in a hurry. We want to work on something and then move on the next project. We are individuals who don’t like to wait for anything.

The LORD is not like us. HE is one who is settled in Heaven and HE is working HIS plan through the ages. Time means nothing to HIM. HE knows what is going to happen. HE has created man to worship HIM.

Now we are not like HIM in many ways but one of the ways is that we seem to always be in a hurry. We want quick results on all the projects we are working on. The reason being that we want to move on to the next project.

The LORD has one project in mind. HE wants us to mature in the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. This takes time for those of us that are human. There are a few people that we might think are not human but they are. God is still working on them.

We are all going to face the LORD one day and we will receive the judgment. HE has established HIS throne for judgment and no one is going to be able to avoid it.

The LORD endures forever which means that HE is longsuffering regarding us. HE wants us to mature in the faith if we are a believer. This takes time but HE has all the time in the world.

We are going to face HIS judgment one day and we need to realize that HE is going to do it in love. HE loved the world enough to send HIS Son and those who have accepted HIM as their personal Savior will be judged different from those who reject HIM.

CHALLENGE: Are you prepared today to face the LORD in judgment? If not you need to make a commitment to HIM TODAY!!

 

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 16      The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. (1902 “Higgaion” [higgayown] means meditation, resounding music, musing, or plotting)

DEVOTION:  All of the psalms are songs that could be sung on special occasions or just on a given Sabbath as they walked to the Temple. Singing was part of the worship services of the Israelites. David was noted for his playing and singing of songs. He wrote many psalms.

When David sang, he did so with his whole heart. He sang about the wonderful works of the LORD in his life and for the kingdom of Israel. One of the key themes of his songs was victory over enemies. The enemies were ever present in the life of David as they are in our life today. Some are within and some are without.

David is first praising the LORD. David is asking the LORD to deal with his enemies. David is asking the LORD to deal with the nations that do not fear HIM. David wants the entire world to know that the LORD is noted for HIS righteous judgments.

Here is a word that tells us to meditate on what the LORD can do and will do. It can also mean a musical notation. We are to hear the sound of music when we think of the acts of the LORD. They are always in tune.

So, when we think about the LORD and HIS actions, we need to realize that HE is never out of step with what needs to be done in our world. HE was there for David. HE is there for us. Praise HIS name!

Remember that the wicked are caught in the nets or snares that they leave for the righteous. Our enemies will not win in the end. Sometimes they win in a battle but not in the war. We have to always keep this in mind when it seems that the enemy is winning. Their judgment is sure and final.

In spite of all the enemies we have around us we can sing praises to the LORD on a daily basis. When David sang, he did it with his whole heart – when you sing this Sunday will you be doing it with your whole heart?

CHALLENGE: The promise that God never forsakes those who truly seek HIM is great. Stand on that promise today. Share it with others who might be going through a time of trouble.

_________________________________________________ 

:20       “Put them in fear, O Lord: That the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.” (Nations, 582                              אֱנׄושׁ, [ʾenowsh], man, mortal man, person, mankind, of an individual, men (collective), man, mankind)

DEVOTION:  This verse and psalm contrast the infiniteness of God with the finiteness of mankind.  Once we see God for who HE really is, we realize who we are in relation to HIM.  What this verse also points out is God’s concern for all mankind, not just HIS own chosen people of Israel.

This points out God’s vision for the nation of Israel to be a blessing to all the nations as God predicted to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. They were supposed to draw foreigners to the worship of the one true God.  Sadly, they failed in their mission.

God is still interested in all people coming to know HIM.  We tend to be centered on our own little part of the world rather than asking HIM to move people from around the world to become HIS children.  And we should be doing our part along with that to help get out laborers into HIS harvest (Matthew 9:37-38). 

It is not simply someone else’s job to share the Gospel.  Jesus gave HIS disciples the Great Commission to go out and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).

CHALLENGE:  What are you doing to help spread the Gospel? (Marc Wooten Board Member)

______________________________________________________________

DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Frugality (wise use of resources)

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level) 

David cried out to the LORD                      verse 13, 14, 19, 20 

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group) 

Sing praise                                                     verse 2, 11 

______________________________________________________________

DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

God the Father (First person of the Godhead) 

LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal)   verse 1, 7, 9- 11, 13

                                                                                                16, 19, 20

Marvelous works                                          verse 1

Most high                                                       verse 2

Presence of the LORD                                  verse 3

Maintained David’s rights and cause         verse 4

Sits on throne where HE judges right         verse 4

Rebukes the heathen                                     verse 5

Destroyed the wicked                                   verse 5

Endure for ever                                             verse 7

Prepared HIS throne for judgment            verse 7

HE will judge the world                               verse 8, 16, 19

HE will judge in righteousness                    verse 8

HE will minister judgment uprightly          verse 8

LORD is refuge for the oppressed               verse 9

Refuge in times of trouble                            verse 9

God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign)            verse 17 

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)

God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)    

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation) 

     Enemies                                                          verse 3, 6

      Heathen                                                          verse 5, 19

      Wicked                                                           verse 5

                  Put out their name forever and ever

      Oppressed                                                      verse 9

                  LORD is a refuge in time of trouble

      Those who seek the LORD                          verse 10

      Wicked                                                           verse 16, 17

                  Snared in the work of his own hands

                  Turned into hell

      Nations that forget God                               verse 17, 20

      Needy                                                             verse 18

      Poor                                                                verse 18                    

 Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels) 

Heathen                                                          verse 5, 15, 19

Wicked                                                           verse 5, 16, 17

Hate                                                                verse 13

Forget God                                                    verse 17 

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins) 

Praise                                                              verse 1, 2, 11, 14

Glad                                                                verse 2

Rejoice                                                            verse 2, 14

Sing                                                                 verse 2, 11

Maintained right                                           verse 4

Maintained cause                                          verse 4

Righteousness                                                verse 8

Uprightness                                                    verse 8

Refuge                                                           verse 9

Trust in the LORD                                       verse 10

Not forsaken                                                  verse 10

Seek the LORD                                             verse 10

Declare LORD’S works                               verse 11

Humble                                                           verse 12

Mercy                                                             verse 13

Salvation                                                        verse 14

Expectation                                                    verse 18 

Israel (Old Testament people of God) 

      David – writer of this Psalm                        verse 1- 20

                  Praise LORD with whole heart

                  Show the LORD’S marvelous works

                  I will be glad and rejoice in YOU

                  I will sing praise to YOUR name

                  Consider my trouble

      Zion                                                                verse 11, 12, 14

                  City of the humble

                  Sing praise in the gates

                  Daughters of Zion     

Church (New Testament people of God)

Last Things (Future Events) 

      Gates of death                                                verse 13

      Hell                                                                 verse 17

______________________________________________________________

DONATIONS:

Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org.  Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church, please use that method.  Thank you.

____________________________________________________________

QUOTES regarding passage 

And then notice those two queer looking words at the end of verse 16, “Higgaion. Selah.” You do not need to read them, for they are not part of the Psalm. They are simply instructions to the choir leader. “Higgaion” is a type of Hebrew music to which this Psalm was to be sung, and “Selah” is like one of those little rest marks that we have, to give the choir a chance to breathe before they go on. It comes in such a solemn way here for he is going to say a very serious thing in the next verse; but first he says, just rest a moment; pause a moment. He tells us something the world does not like to hear, something that men do not want to believe, but here it is in God’s Holy Word: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” There is something about that, that has a very strange effect on the child of God, for while his heart goes out in sympathy as he thinks of the awful doom toward which the wicked are sinking, yet it enables him to lift his heart in praise as he thinks of the judgment from which he has been saved. When I think of what hell means, it ought to fill my heart with great compassion as I look upon the multitudes about me. On the other hand, how I should praise the One who has redeemed me from such a doom! (Ironside, H. A. (1952). Studies on book one of the Psalms. (58). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers)

____________________________________________________________

3–8. Thine is the kingdom. Where lesser men boast of success and talk of power, David sees God as his rescuer (3) and sings of justice (4). More than this, his thought leaps ahead from his own story (my enemies, my just cause, 3f.) to what it prefigures: God’s total victory (5f.) and reign of justice, world-wide and everlasting (7f.). The past tenses of verses 5f. are ‘prophetic perfects’, a feature of the Old Testament: they describe coming events as if they have already happened, so certain is their fulfilment and so clear the vision. But the tenses in 7f. could refer to the future or the present; both are appropriate. (Kidner, D. (1973). Psalms 1–72: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 15, p. 86). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)

_____________________________________________________________

David describes the victory in verses 3–6, verses that should be read in the past tense: “Because my enemies were turned back …” Note the repeated “You have” in verses 4–6. God turned the enemy back, and in their retreat, they stumbled and perished before the Lord. Why did the Lord do this? To maintain the right of David to be king of Israel and accomplish God’s purposes in this world. God’s rebuke is an expression of His anger (2:5; 76:6). To “blot out” a name meant to destroy the person, place or nation completely (83:4; Ex. 17:14; Deut. 25:19; 1 Sam. 15; and see Deut. 9:14, 25:19, 29:20). In contrast to the wiping out of the nations, the Lord and His great name stand forever. His throne cannot be overthrown. In fact, in the victory God gave David, the king saw a picture of the final judgment and victory when God will judge the world, and Paul referred to verse 8 in his address in Athens (Acts 17:31). (Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be worshipful (1st ed., p. 44). Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries.)

_____________________________________________________________

9:5–10 Verses 5 and 6 reveal the Just Judge’s dealings with the godless, vv. 7, 8, His dealings with all men in general, and vv. 9, 10, His gracious dealings with dependent disciples. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Ps 9:5–10). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

_____________________________________________________________

Ver. 8. And he shall judge the world in righteousness, &c.] The word תבל rendered world, is, as Ben Melech well observes, a general name for all the countries of the habitable world; and so shews that it is the universal judgment that is here spoken of; and which will be carried on and finished with the utmost righteousness, and according to the strictest rules of justice and equity; and is therefore called the righteous judgment of God, Rom. 2:5. see Psal. 96:13 and 98:9; Acts 17:31. He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness; which signifies the same with the former clause, unless by the world there, should be meant the wicked of the world; and by the people here, the people of God; to whom the righteous Judge will give the crown of righteousness. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 560). London: Mathews and Leigh.)

____________________________________________________________

8. Whatever earthly courts may do, heaven’s throne ministers judgment in uprightness. Partiality and respect of persons are things unknown in the dealings of the Holy One of Israel. How the prospect of appearing before the impartial tribunal of the Great King should act as a check to its when tempted to sin, and as a comfort when we are slandered or oppressed. (Spurgeon, C. H. (n.d.). The treasury of David: Psalms 1-26 (Vol. 1, p. 98). London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers.)

_____________________________________________________________

7–10. Here, by a change of person in the speaker, we find a beautiful transition made to Christ himself, in which the sacred writer is celebrating the glories of his person, and the greatness, and extensiveness, and everlasting duration of his kingdom, and by contrasting his monarchy to that of all created power, the glories of his mediatorial reign is set forth most blessedly. Reader, do not hastily pass over the several precious things here said of our almighty Sovereign. He, thy Brother, as well as thy God, will be thy Judge! He who hath died for thy sins, as thy Surety, will one day come to see of the travail of his soul in the redemption of his people, and be satisfied. He who now looks on, and is the refuge of his oppressed, will judge their cause, and in due time deliver them out of all their trouble. Surely, Reader, if you know this Jesus, if you believe in his power, if you depend upon his salvation, you will trust everything, for time and for eternity, in his Almighty bands. But, my brother, mark, I beseech you, the certain truth,—if you know him not, you cannot trust him. None ever confided in an unknown God. Oh, precious Lord Jesus! now I see the beauty and the excellency of that blessed scripture, in which thou hast said, And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. John 17:3. (Hawker, R. (2013). Poor Man’s Old Testament Commentary: Job–Psalms (Vol. 4, pp. 188–189). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

_____________________________________________________________

 

FROM MY READING:

 

                                         

                                         Daily Hope

                                        Today’s Scripture
                                         Romans 9:14-33

I have worked with individuals at times that are difficult to figure out. There have been times when it appeared that they said one thing but did another. Perhaps these discrepancies were intentional or at times they were accidental and just a misstatement or act. I am sure there are some individuals who would say the same about myself and my actions.

Paul apparently had some who had sought understanding about God’s ways and decisions. “Is there unrighteousness with God?” (v.14) Paul’s answer is very powerful as he uses both a positive and negative example to illustrate that very point. Two historical figures such as Moses and Pharoah show both the mercy and hardness of God. It does not matter whether an individual is closely aligned or rebellious, God will demonstrate mercy on whom He wishes.

God is faithful even though His people are not and the fact that He chose some and not others does not lessen His faithfulness. He has the power to make a vessel of dishonor and honor from the same pile of clay as He chooses. He does so His glory may be manifested. Whether that clay is Jewish or Gentile, He reserves the right to call whom He chooses. 

Paul’s quote of Hosea and Isaiah brings the truths home that the people of Israel had these principles before them hundreds of years previously. They had overlooked the Lord’s plan and had become calloused and blinded to God’s clear teachings. Israel’s heavenly Father had plans for both Jews and Gentiles and then only a remnant would be saved. (vv.27,29).

A quick perusal of the Old Testament will show us that God is quick to judge and is merciful to whom He chooses. He holds the nation of Israel in His hand but also demands from them obedience and submission. He is also quick to accept those who are not Jews and bring them into a relationship with Himself. Israel’s rejection had opened the door for Gentiles to experience God’s justice even though the people of Jewish heritage describe it as wrong or unjust. 

Thanks be to the Lord that He is just and considers each individual separately. The Jews may be His chosen people but God allows those who come by faith and seek Him to be found. May we always remember it is God’s decision, work and righteousness that allows anyone to come to Himself.   With an Expectant Hope, 

                  (Pastor Miller -Board Member of SCM)

__________________________________________________________________

 

Our most pressing obligation today is to do all in our power to obtain a revival that will result in a reformed, revitalized, purified church. It is of far greater importance that we have better Christians than that we have more of them. Each generation of Christians is the seed of the next, and degenerate seed is sure to produce a degenerate
harvest not a little better than but a little worse than the seed from which it sprang. Thus the direction will be down until vigorous, effective means are taken to improve the seed…. To carry on these activities [evangelism, missions] scripturally the church should be walking in fullness of power, separated, purified and ready at any moment to give up everything, even life itself, for the greater glory of Christ. For a worldly, weak, decadent church to make converts is but to bring forth after her own kind and extend her weakness and decadence a bit further out….  So vitally important is spiritual quality that it is hardly too much to suggest that attempts to grow larger might well be suspended until we have become better. (A.W. Tozer, The Set of the Sail, 154-156).

_____________________________________________________________

His ascension and our union

And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. Luke 24:51.

We have no corresponding experience to the events in Our Lord’s life after the Transfiguration. From then onwards Our Lord’s life was altogether vicarious. Up to the time of the Transfiguration He had exhibited the normal perfect life of a man; from the Transfiguration onwards—Gethsemane, the Cross, the Resurrection—everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps the door open for humanity.

On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesus had gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the Mount to identify Himself with fallen humanity.

The Ascension is the consummation of the Transfiguration. Our Lord does now go back into His primal glory; but He does not go back simply as Son of God: He goes back to God as Son of Man as well as Son of God. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God by the Ascension of the Son of Man. As Son of Man Jesus Christ deliberately limited omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience in Himself. Now they are His in absolute full power. As Son of Man Jesus Christ has all power at the throne of God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords from the day of His Ascension until now. (Chambers, O. (1986). My utmost for his highest: Selections for the year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering.)

________________________________________________________________

Dave was strong and gave me the courage to choose hope rather than despair. I knew all the Bible passages about faith and trust, yet when the man I loved, my husband, the father of my children, the man who preached boldly about faith, could be dying, I wasn’t sure that I could find the faith to carry on.

I wish I could tell you there is an easy way to survive any bend in the road of life, but that would not be true. I can tell you that each day held its own level of anxiety and that each day the Lord provided just enough strength and hope for that day.

As a wife and mother, I attempted to keep life as normal as possible. Celebrating holidays and birthdays, attending sports events, and mingling with our church family kept me hopeful. On the few days when I felt completely overwhelmed, I would drive up into the mountains east of our home. Getting out by myself gave me time to gain perspective alone with the Lord and realize that the choice I made to hope was not a once-for-all choice, but a moment-by-moment choice.

During these times, I discovered that hope, as the writer of
Hebrews said, is the “anchor of the soul” (6:19). Hope was the anchor that brought me back to the God I had trusted with my life as a child. Now I had to trust God with the life of my husband.

In our private moments, Dave and I would draw strength from each other. Over the years, I have prayed for many people and circumstances. But how could I hold the man I loved in my arms and pray for God to spare his life without giving in to a sense of quiet desperation? Dave could sense when I was feeling down and knew what to say to lift my spirits and to help me regain a sense of hope.

Today, our journey together is continuing. In the course of Dave’s recovery, two of our children have married, more grandchildren have been born, and Turning Point has launched a television program. We have discovered that looking forward is the only way to live.

No matter what your circumstances may be, please read this book with the awareness that the man who wrote it is a living testimony to the sustaining power of hope found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Jeremiah’s confession of faith is recorded in Lamentations 3:21–24:

This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I hope in Him!”

Living with hope,

Donna Jeremiah (Jeremiah, D. (2000). A bend in the road (pp. xvi–1). Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group.)

__________________________________________________________________

The Loss of Legacy  

For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children. PSALM 78:5 

I cringe at findings like the following from the 2000 census, as reported by the Department of Health and Human Services. These are family statistics comparing white children and African-American children: 

•Living in families with a father and mother—75.2 percent of white children and 33.3 percent of African-American children  

•Living in single-parent families—17.7 percent of white children and 46.2 percent of African-American children

•Living with no parent at all—3.7 percent of white children and 12 percent of African-American children As I read these, I think of my friend Crawford Loritts sharing a tribute to his dad on our radio broadcast one day, thanking him for his faithfulness as a father:  

Thank you for choosing not to get paid triple time on Christmases and other days when we needed the money living in that small Newark apartment, because you wanted to spend time with your kids. Thank you for not buying new cars until after we were grown because you wanted to have money for vacations. . . . Thank you for teaching me and telling me that I’m a man and for standing with me during hard times. Everything I am today is because of you, Dad. You never made a big splash and you never blew your own trumpet, but you quietly did the deed. It’s sobering to consider how quickly a legacy can be lost when a father is not there for his children. It’s heartbreaking to think of the kids who are growing up disconnected from families and a generational heritage of faith— both in African-American homes and many others across the racial spectrum. Oh, how today’s children of all races desperately need the hearts of their fathers to return to their calling!  

DISCUSS

What are you doing to secure a spiritual legacy in your family? (Moments with You by Dennis and Barbara Rainey)

____________________________________________________________________

Ephesians 2
All men are dead in sin, but by grace through faith in Christ they may be saved from sin.
INSIGHT

Two of the most wonderful words in the Bible occur in this chapter: “But God . . .” We were dead in our transgressions and sins; we followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the spirit of disobedience; we lived to gratify the cravings of our sinful natures; and we were by nature objects of wrath. BUT GOD, because of His great love for us, made us alive with Christ. We have been saved; God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms, that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

                                          (Quiet Walk)

HOLINESS

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1 John 3:3
Holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are. There is a great deal of teaching on this subject that really amounts to this: “We are to be holy and live the holy life in order that we may become truly Christians; every phase or aspect of the doctrine of justification by works really teaches that.” But any suggestion we may have in ourselves that we are to deny ourselves certain things, that we are not to do certain things, and that we are to discipline ourselves in order that we may become Christian is a denial of the doctrine of justification by faith. I am not to live a good and holy life in order that I may become a Christian; I am to live the holy life because I am a Christian. I am not to live this holy life in order that I may enter heaven; it is because I know I am going to enter heaven that I must live this holy life.
That is the emphasis here: “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” I am not to strive and sweat and pray in order that at the end I may enter into heaven. No; I start rather from the standpoint that I have been made a child of God by the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am destined for heaven; I have an assurance that I have been called to go there and that God is going to take me there, and it is because I know this that I am preparing now.
A Thought to Ponder: Holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are
     (From Children of God, p. 41, Dr. Martyn  Lloyd-Jones)

___________________________________________________________________

God the Owner
“The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1)
In communist countries, “the people” own the lands, while in capitalist countries individuals may own “private property.” Both are myths unless these are viewed as a stewardship from God. We don’t really own anything, “for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7).
In the mineral kingdom, the most important substances are the precious metals upon which monetary standards are based, yet God makes it clear that all “the silver is mine, and the gold is mine” (Haggai 2:8). The greatest members of the plant kingdom are the mighty trees of the forest, and God reminds us that “the trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted” (Psalm 104:16). All the birds and beasts in the animal kingdom are His also. “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10).
Again and again God reminds us that “all the earth is mine” (Exodus 19:5), and even the infinite heavens belong to Him. “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is” (Deuteronomy 10:14).
God has, indeed, given man “dominion…over all the earth” (Genesis 1:26), and Satan has, indeed, laid false claim to “all the kingdoms of the world” (Luke 4:5-6), but the fact remains that “the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Daniel 4:32).
Most of all, every Christian should understand that he and all he has belong to God by both creation and blood-bought redemption. “Ye are not your own…For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). HMM,

______________________________________________________________

1 Kings 18
The prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
INSIGHT 

The confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal is one of the most exciting chapters in the Bible, with fire raining down from heaven — consuming meat, water, and stone! Then after Baal worship is defeated, it rains, signifying an end to that judgment. Elijah prays, “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again” (v. 37). God does not punish His children for sin but rather chastens them in the hope that they will repent and return to Him.  (Quiet Walk)

____________________________________________________________

TO TAKE AWAY OUR SINS

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1 John 3:5
Why did the Son of God ever come into this world? When we think about the Lord Jesus Christ and especially about His death on that cross on Calvary’s hill, what is its purpose? Is it just something about which we sentimentalize? What does it represent to us? What is the explanation of it all?
That is the question that John answers here, and let me put the answer in a negative form. Our Lord did not only come to give us a revelation of God, though that is a part of the purpose. He said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9), and we also read, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). But that is not all, though He indeed revealed the Father and has come to do that. In the same way, He has not only come to teach us about God. There is incomparable teaching there, such as the world had never known before and has not known since, but He did not come only to do that. There is also, of course, the example of His life, a matchless one, but He has not come only to give us an example of how we should live in this world. He is not just a teacher or a moral exemplar; He has not come merely to give us some kind of picture as to the nature and being of God. All that is the re, but that is not the real reason, says John.
He has really come, he says, because of our sins, because of the predicament and the position of men and women, because of this whole question of law. He has not come only to instruct us and to give us encouragement in our endeavor and a great example. No; there is a fundamental problem at the back of it all, and that is our relationship to God in the light of God’s holy law.
A Thought to Ponder
He has not come only to instruct us and to give us encouragement in our endeavor and a great example.  (From Children of God, pp. 51-52, by Dr. Martyn.Lloyd-Jones)

__________________________________________________________________

The Fatherhood of God
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” (Acts 17:28)
“The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man” was a religious cliché promoted for many years, especially by religious liberals in the period between the two world wars. However, continuing hostilities between and inside most nations now make the idea of universal brotherhood in this present world almost farcical.
The fact is, however, that God truly is the Father of all men, in the sense that He created them all. “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10). That was the rhetorical question posed to Israel in the last book of the Old Testament. In the New Testament the apostle Paul confirmed the same great truth to the pagan Gentiles. “[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,” and “we are the offspring of God” (Acts 17:26, 29).
The sad fact is, however, that most men and women have actually become “children of the wicked one” (Matthew 13:38) because of sin. We can only become spiritual children of the heavenly Father by being born again through faith in Christ. But we then truly “become the sons of God,” as assured to all those who “believe on his name” (John 1:12).
Now we believers can all rejoice in the wonderful truth that we have the same heavenly Father. We have been “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew…but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:10-11).

May God help those of us who are (or will someday become) fathers on Earth to truly be children of our Father in heaven and thereby be genuine models of the heavenly Father to our human children here on Earth. (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)

______________________________________________________________

When to Sacrifice

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22–23

______________________________________________________________________

We now have a Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.