OUR ONLY SOURCE OF HOPE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land. The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!

Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in You. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.

Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!

Psalm 25:12-22

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Hope. It’s something we all long for.

In our earliest years, we learn about the concept of hope. We hope we’ll receive what we want for our birthdays and Christmas. We hope we’ll be selected for things we try out for. We hope we’ll do well in school.

As we become adults, we hope to be successful in our work. We hope we’ll find our place in society and fit in. We hope to find the mate of our dreams and have a family with kids who will have hopes we can try and meet.

And when difficulty strikes, we turn to hope because sometimes that’s all we have to cling to. We hope that a relationship will take a turn for the better toward reconciliation. We hope that a job might come soon as living expenses mount. We hope that an affliction will be healed or at least managed so we can get back to some sense of normalcy in life.

Yes, we all have hopes. We hope for things yet to come, for a future still uncertain. We hope with a faith that things might get better soon.

But what do we hope in? Where is the source of our hope, the origin of change that will grant us what we are hoping for?

Are we trusting in other people? Are we trusting in ourselves? Do we even know who we are trusting, who we are hoping in?

If we’re going to hope legitimately, then we need a source that will undeniably provide for us, a source we can always count on to deliver, no matter what. And there’s only one source that gives us this kind of hope and that is the Lord.

David certainly looked for hope. His future often looked uncertain as he faced adversaries who were not just interested in challenging his throne but were ready to kill him to get what they wanted. Whether Saul, his son Absalom, or any number of rival kings surrounding Israel, David was surrounded by those who would have loved more than to do him harm. And so he hoped for safety and protection and rescue, not just for himself but for all of Israel, and he placed his hope in the Lord.

Look at the closing words of David in the 25th Psalm:

Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land. The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!

Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in You. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.

Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!

David, known as a man after God’s own heart, placed his faith and trust in the Lord. He truly respected God and the power He possessed, the power to change circumstances and impact the outcomes of life. He took refuge in the Lord, knowing that he had no other reliable source of hope, no greater source of deliverance and rescue. He knew that the proper guidance and counsel he needed to navigate through what were often perilous days would only come from God who instructed David in the ways he should choose. Because David respected and revered God as the One and only One who could help him in times of need, God in turn confided in David, turning to him and showing him grace, relieving the troubles of his heart and freeing him from anguish. In other words, God gave David what he longed for: hope.

Friends, we often find ourselves in the midst of life’s circumstances, challenges and difficulties, and, like David, find ourselves longing for hope. We long to find relief and release from our fears and anxieties. We long to find some sense of comfort and peace in the midst of uncertainty. We look for assurance when nothing seems assured. And we seek guidance and counsel to try and help us make sense of where we are and where we’re heading.

We all long for hope but those longings will go largely unfulfilled unless we place our hope and trust in the only true provider of them. That Provider was, is, and will always be the Lord Almighty who as He did for David, is ready to hear our petitions and act in support of His faithful followers in accordance with His will.

He is ready to bring us guidance and direction as He confides in us, instructing us in the ways we should choose. He is ready to show us His graciousness as we turn to Him in times of need. He is ever willing to relieve the troubles of our hearts and liberate us from our anguish, granting us peace and comfort.

Indeed, hope awaits us all but we need to know where to find it. There’s only one source. Trust in the Lord and in the Lord alone and you will always find yourself in the midst of hope today and for eternity through salvation in Jesus Christ.

Amen.

PS: In support of this scripture and the devotion, check out this song by Aaron Shust titled, “My Hope Is In You” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RRZgr7wNDs

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

THE BENEFITS OF SUBMITTING TO GOD

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.

Remember, Lord, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to Your love remember me, for You, Lord, are good.

Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of Your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

Psalm 25:4-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we walk through life each day, we need someone or something to lead us as we face a myriad of questions like:

- What do I need to do today?

- When am I going to do the things I need to do?

- How am I going to handle situations that will arise as I am doing things the things I need to do?

- How am I going to handle situations that happen that I was not expecting?

So how do we typically handle answering these questions? Where do we take our lead?

At times, some of the answers may already be locked in place to an extent.

If you have a job, then you know you need to go to work to make a living. You know you need to wake up at a certain time, dress in a certain fashion, get to work before you’re expected to start, and will presumably get off work at a certain time. Or maybe you’re a stay-at-home parent who has kids in school. You know you need to get up at a certain time to get the kids ready for school. You help them get dressed, have breakfast, and then see them off to the bus. After school is out, you need to get them home safely and take care of them until bed, ensuring they do their homework.

At other times, maybe we are in control of what we do.

Take a retiree for example. You have already have done your life’s work, raised children to adulthood, and now get to reap the benefits of having all your time to yourself. You can get up when you like and then plan your own schedule for day, turning in when you feel like it. Typically, no one dictates what you do.

Notice what is missing from these scenarios? None of them mention consulting God about what He wants us to do.

It happens right and maybe it has happened or is happening to you in your life today. We can get so caught up in planning our lives that we forget to ask God about what He wants, about what His will is for us. Our routines don’t routinely involve God in the scheduling process and too often, that means that God isn’t included in our schedules.

With this, we can too often forget to pray, forget to study our Bibles daily (How many people only open their Bibles at church on Sunday and then leave them closed Monday through Saturday?), and become so busy with our own time management that we fail to be involved in our churches or in volunteering our time for the good of others, extending the love of the Lord and sharing the good news of the Gospel.

Now let’s bring arising situations into the equation. For when we fail to make God an intentional part of our plans and we want to be in control, what do you think happens when we face challenges? Yep, we think we can figure it all out for ourselves. We can do it right? We do everything else, surely we can deal with our own problems.

Is it little wonder we have a society that wallows in issues. Our very self dependence has only brought us higher rates of financial hardship to include indebtedness and home foreclosures, relationship stresses which include increased rates of divorce, depression and despair afflicting people at epidemic levels resulting in elevated suicide percentages, and obesity percentages that are off the charts, resulting in people contracting diseases that are completely preventable. Yes, people are literally eating themselves to death.

Friends, we’re not doing so well while trying to control our lives. And we won’t be because we are not submitting to God. We are not adopting a God-first attitude to everything we do.

Turning to the scriptures, David had to learn this in his life. When he tried to control things, he found himself caught up in lust and committing infidelity which led to a pregnancy he wanted to conceal. He tried to arrange for his mistress’ husband to sleep with her to pin the pregnancy on him but that failed and so David just arranged to have the man killed to try and cover up his iniquity. He thought he had a great plan but God thought otherwise and brought judgment on David, Bathsheba and the effects of the judgment would eventually spread to David’s family. The child he bore out of adultery would die. His daughter Tamar would be raped by his son Amnon who would then be killed by his brother Absalom. That murdering son would then try and kill David himself to gain the throne.

David had to learn the hard way about the consequences of not including God in his life planning. I’m afraid many people today are repeating his mistake from the past and suffering through their own consequences for that decision. That’s what makes this particular devotion critical because God is speaking to all of us and trying to help us avoid the kind of problems life can bring if we tune Him out.

So what did David do to change things? What can we do to change things?

David submitted his life fully to God, and so too must you and I.

Look what David wrote as we look at the middle verses from the 25th Psalm:

Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.

Remember, Lord, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to Your love remember me, for You, Lord, are good.

Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of Your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

David is in a total attitude of submission. He wants nothing of himself to reign supreme but rather for God to rule his life totally. David discovered that when he took the wheel of his life and tried to navigate through, he only ran aground. And through the series of painful consequences that followed, David saw that the only way to possibly make it through the obstacle course of life is to allow God to lead and guide him through it. It’s just too bad he didn’t do it from the beginning.

We have the story of David and his life in the Bible for a reason. God is trying to use David as an example, to show you and me how He expects us to conduct our lives and what will happen when we don’t. God expects us to submit to Him as He is our Almighty Maker and Master. We are to act as we are, subordinate to Him in every way. The only thing we lose by doing this is our own control as we humbly turn it over to God.

So what do we have to gain when we do this, when we, in the purest sense of humility, submit our lives fully as David did to God?

Well, David shares what he gained, and in turn what we will gain, in the scripture passage. There are four key benefits we receive from God:

1. He shows us His ways.

When we fully submit to God, we send the message to Him that we don’t know the way to go, that we are lost without His help. We ask Him to show us the way and He in turn shows us His way, and He does so through His Son Jesus who told us in John 14:6, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.” There is only one way for a Christian, for those who place their faith and trust in Christ, and that is to follow the way of Jesus. We have four accounts of His life (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in the Bible for a reason, so we can know Jesus as our Savior and we can learn to live as He lived. Submitting to God will result in Him showing us how to walk in the ways of Jesus.

2. He teaches us His paths and instructs us, sinners as we are, in His ways.

Knowing we are all afflicted by sin and thus prone to fail and fall, God not only shows us His ways through Jesus but He is continually training and instructing us along that way. The Holy Spirit was sent to be our great Counselor, ever ready to provide us education from the Lord as to how to live to include handling everything that life brings upon us. There is no situation we can’t handle and get through if we trust in the wisdom of God as relayed to us through the Holy Spirit. It’s in our best interest to receive everything God teaches and then put it into practice.

3. He guides us, the humble before Him, in His truth and righteousness.

When we humbly accept and adopt the teaching and instruction of God, allowing Him to guide us in the ways of Jesus, something awesome happens. We become people of truth and right living (or righteousness). The very truth and righteousness we find in the Lord becomes our truth and righteousness. Sin becomes pushed aside in exchange for a life pleasing to God as we become conformed and transformed into His image.

4. He imparts His great forgiveness, mercy and love upon us.

This is the ultimate reward for humble, obedient submission to God. For we will never know the depths of His forgiveness, mercy and love until we fully realized how lost we are because of our sinfulness and how much we need salvation.

When God shows us and teaches us about His ways, when He instructs and guides us toward truth and righteousness, we truly discover how great God and his ways are. And we fully see how depraved we are without them.

So with all this, where are you at in your life today?

Are you the David before full submission, controlling your own life, living by your own desires, and finding your life wrecked by your sinful decisions? Or are you like the humble, submissive David who has decided to allow God to fully show you His ways in Christ Jesus, guide and teach you in His righteousness, and in doing so, reveal the amazing enormity of His forgiveness, mercy and love?

You know where you are and so does God. My prayer is that if you haven’t already humbly submitted to the ways of God through His Son Jesus, you will today. He is ready to receive you and lead you to a life of love and peace and joy and hope forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

WHY TRUST IN GOD?

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

Psalm 25:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

“In God We Trust.” Take a look at the money we use in the United States and you will find the four word proclamation.

The motto was created in 1861 and Congress approved the motto to be minted on coins in 1864. The first coins that would carry the inscription were two-cent coins produced in 1864 and  most coins in the U.S. have bore the inscription since 1938. Paper money was printed with the motto beginning in 1957.

Additionally, the 84th Congress passed law in July 1956 declaring “In God We Trust” as the national model of the United States. In other words, the nation of the United States makes it known to all that it is a nation that has faith in God.

But does it? Do people in the United States truly trust in God? And if we asked someone if they did and they asked why they should, are we ready to answer the question? Are we ready to defend the importance of having a steadfast faith in God?

 We need to be and the Bible is the perfect place to draw our answers from and direct people to for their own study.

As the 25th Psalm begins, David begins to offer insight into the importance of trusting in God. Look at the first three verses:

In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

Well before the United States chose to use the motto, David was exclaiming where he put his trust. There was no doubt that David, a man after God’s own heart, was placing his faith in the Lord who watched over him. He had faced a lot of adversity and danger, but in every instance, God was with him, protecting and delivering.

So what do we have to gain through stating our trust and faith in God?

We find two key things in the words of David.

First, we are kept from shame.

It’s true that we are all afflicted with sin and thus prone to rebel and disobey God’s expectations, actions that place us in shameful disfavor with a God who despises sin. So how do we avoid the shame that comes through sinful behavior? We place our faith and trust in the Lord who will always guide us away from sin.

David understood that he couldn’t possibly police himself and avoid sin. This is why he asked God to not let him be put to shame. David asked God to give him the direction needed to ensure his life was pleasing to the Lord he loved and served. We need to do likewise to stay in God’s favor.

The second thing David knew he had to gain by trusting God was protection. When you read of the story of David, there were many occasions when he was in danger but was kept from harm, not because of his own doing but because God delivered him from those who wished to do him harm.

Not only can each of personally gain the same protection but we can collectively as a nation if we, like David, place our trust in God. Many nations would like to do us harm and we should not be foolish and arrogant to think we can defend ourselves. God has allowed powers similar to America to be destroyed. The Bible contains many examples of empires that fell because they didn’t worship and trust God. We would be well suited to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

So we know we can be kept from shame and protected if we place our trust in God. But the scriptures share a few other benefits. Let’s look at those and at what God provides those who place their faith in Him:

1. Straight paths to walk.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

When we trust in the Lord fully, we are not only kept from the shame of sinful living but we’re guided and directed through life. Life is definitely a journey with many paths to choose from. In fact, there are so many choices that it can become very confusing sometimes as to which course of action is the right one or even the best one if there is more than one right choice. In these situations, we can either opt to rely on our own heart and understanding or we can submit our decision to God, trusting that He will always point us the right way, making the path we travel straight and proper.

2. Prosperity.

“Those who trust in the Lord will prosper.” Proverbs 28:25

Who doesn’t wish for prosperity in life? We all do but how we define prosperity can be different, can’t it?

The world’s idea of prosperity is typically material-related. A person who is rich has loads of money to afford everything they desire. A big house. Fancy cars. Large bank accounts. And if we’re not careful, we can get sucked into this prosperity model and gauge everything we do or have on it. Maybe you do already.

The danger in this attitude is that we can feel poor when we are indeed rich. This is because we are looking for blessings in the wrong places. David saw his prosperity, not only in his kingship, but also in his relationship with God. He knew God was the only One who could keep him from shame and protect him. He knew that all he had, tangible and intangible, was from God.

We should adopt David’s look on things. For God blesses us so richly and we often don’t even thank Him for it. The very beating of your heart and sustaining breaths you are taking while reading this are gifts from the God who sustains you and keeps you alive to His service. Don’t ever take that for granted. And if we count the number of heartbeats and breaths we take each day and count them as blessings, who isn’t prospering?

Indeed, God does bless us abundantly. Break down your life into micro-levels and you will see everywhere that God is alive and well, doing great things for you and helping you prosper in and through Him.

3. Strength against adversity.

“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.” Psalm 125:1

In a later Psalm, David relayed on one other byproduct of a trust in the Lord: strength against adversity. Many things in life will bring us challenge and often try and shake our life’s foundation but those who place their full faith and trust in God will not be shaken, the foundation they stand on in Him cannot be moved.

When things get tough and we wonder if we’ll be able to make it, the Lord will protect and guide and provide us strength to persevere, eventually bringing us through the trial if we place our hope in Him. Isaiah put it like this in one of my favorite Bible passages:

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  

Isaiah 40:28-31

Why should we trust in God?

To receive perfect guidance through all of life’s circumstances. To gain wisdom and understanding no one can fathom. To be given strength when we’re weary and power when we’re weak. To be protected from matters of life that may bring us harm. To be granted renewed strength to soar and run and walk, not faint.

Yes, our faith and trust in God gives us all this and so much more. My prayer is that you will place their hope in Him today and allow Him to bring His prosperity into your life forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

THE KING OF GLORY

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty — He is the King of glory.

Psalm 24:7-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The word “glory” as it pertains to God plays prominently in the scriptures as God displays His glory over and over again. Just taking a look at the Book of Exodus gives us a glimpse of God’s glory on full display.

The first mention of God and glory comes in Exodus as He delivers His people from the hands of Pharoah in Exodus, Chapter 14. You’ll recall that the people of Israel were able to escape the pursuing leader of Egypt and his army when God drove back the sea so the Israelites could cross on dry land. Imagine you were there to witness this. Would you not have been amazed? I know I would have. I would have been awestruck as God revealed His glory in such an incredible way.

How did the people of Israel respond to this? Moses and the Israelites sang, “Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

Indeed, no one else could have done what saved the Israelites. Only God.

Then consider what happened when the Israelites began their journey to the Promised Land. They were hungry and the land was barren, yielding little food. And so they began to be hungry and grumbled, and in the midst of their need, God provided through His glory.

Look at Exodus, Chapter 16. In the evening, God provided the people of Israel quail and in the morning manna, food from heaven from the One who sustains His people. He did in the days of Moses as He has done throughout the history of mankind. And He still does so today. God never ceases to display His glory, a glory that delivers and provides aid to His people when in need.

We find the glory of the Lord in display in other parts of the Old Testament. God shows His glory to Moses in Exodus, Chapter 33 just before He delivers His ten commandments. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle of the people of Israel in Chapter 40 of Exodus and then guided them - as a cloud by day and fire by night - to the Promised Land, dictating when the people of God traveled and when they rested.

A suddenly dividing sea. Quail and manna from heaven. A cloud and fire to lead and guide. These are just a few ways that God revealed His glory before David even penned one word in the Psalms. There was little question at that point that God was truly the King of glory. Look at the words of David at the end of the 24th Psalm:

Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty — He is the King of glory.

There were many kings in David’s time, he being one of them. But David wasn’t just any other king. He was the king appointed by THE King, the Lord Almighty, the King of glory. Indeed, David had witnessed God’s power first-hand, how through His strength and might, He empowered David and his people to gain victory over their enemies. Through the glory of God, David knew he and the people could do all things. That was the confidence they gained. And this was the confidence David wished for all to have, that all would lift up the gates that guard their hearts and allow the King of glory to enter in and abide.

Perhaps, that’s the message God wants you and I to receive today. He wishes for you and me to experience His glory, the glory that fully shows us His strength and might, the glory that fully reveals the love He has for us.

For when we open our hearts and minds to receive God’s glory, we see our world in a different light for we see the glory of the Lord in everything. We see it in the sky above us as we marvel at the clouds and the wind and the rain that sometimes is accompanied by claps of thunder and bolts of lightning. We see it in the birds of the air, the animals of the land, and the fish of the sea. We see it in the eyes of the people we meet every day, all carefully fashioned and created by the hands of the King of glory.   

Friends, there is little doubt that God places His glory on display each and every day. There is no shortage of beauty and splendor, no scarcity of magnificence as we live in the world He made. With this, we should show no shortage of gratitude and adoration toward Him, no scarcity of praise and honor given unto Him. For no one is more worthy of receiving all we are and all we have than God.

Who is the King of glory?

He is the Lord Almighty and He wants to abide within our hearts and reign over our lives. My prayer is that you will receive Him and experience His glory today.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

FIVE QUESTIONS

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.

Psalm 24:3-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Four questions: (1) What does God require of us?, (2) How do we receive God’s blessings?, (3) How might we be vindicated from our sins?, and (4) How do we get close to Him?

These are questions all believers should ponder regularly.

We can look for answers in any number of places. We could ask someone we trust who is a believer to get their take on it. We could try and answer the questions based on our own intellect and beliefs. Or we could just go to the best source of truth available and look into the Word of God where we find the Will of God revealed fully.

Indeed, God has invested an entire book to answer the questions we have about Him and life. In fact, His Holy Word is life’s instruction manual for you and me, ever ready to guide, convict and instruct. There is no book like it.

So let’s look at this amazing book, the Bible, that ever springs to life and feeds our spirits and souls every day when we read it. Let’s look at it, specifically in the 24th Psalm, and see one place where we can find all the answers to the questions above. Look at these four verses:

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.

Now, let’s look at each of the four questions:

1. What does God require of us?

The scriptures here are clear. If we want to have a relationship with God and fully receive all His love and guidance, we have to have clean hands and pure hearts. God despises sin, the very sin that makes you and me dirty and impure. We can’t hope to have full relations with God if we choose to hold onto sinful behavior. We have to make a choice. Either we pursue God and His righteousness, modeling the life of His Son Jesus, the only One who ever lived perfectly, or we choose to reject God and His ways, pursuing our own desires instead, trusting and worshipping worldly idols while swearing to false gods.

God requires us to be clean and pure, to allow our sins to be washed away by the precious shed blood of Jesus, so we might be presentable, cleansed and purified before the God of all righteousness. Then, and only then, will we be at the place where God requires us to be and ready to fully receive His love and guidance, ready to receive His richest blessings.

Yes, as you can see, the answer to question 1 brings us to the answer to question 2: How do we receive God’s blessings?

It all starts with clean hands and pure hearts. We must be at our best to receive the best gifts from God. And His gifts are priceless and eternal.

Many people look at God’s blessings in a material sense and I believe doing that subtracts from full experiencing His riches. For God’s blessings aren’t so much about things as they are about eternal values that bring us peace and hope, eternal values like grace and mercy and love. These eternal values were on full display when God gave His only Son Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, as a living sacrifice for us so that we might not perish but have life eternal, a life where we’ll all have perfectly clean hands and pure hearts because sin will be no more.

God’s word is clear. If you want to receive God’s blessings, you have to have clean hands and a pure heart. By following the life of Jesus by modeling your life after His, you can always find yourself in a place presentable to God, in the place He requires you to be.

Yes, Jesus leads us to the place where God wants us to be, the place where we can receive His blessings. He also plays the key role in the answer to question 3: How might we be vindicated from our sins?

First, some bad news. We all have sinned and no matter how hard we try to have clean hands and pure hearts, we have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and thus stand deserving of His wrath. Not a great place to be.  

But there is good news. For God so loved us that He gave us His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God did not wish for us to perish from our sins and so He sacrificed His Son Jesus in our place. Instead of you and I being nailed to the cross of Calvary, Jesus was nailed there, the final sacrifice for atonement of sins, a perfect sacrifice because Jesus was perfect. And His perfect blood was shed to wash our imperfections away, making us as white as snow.

Jesus set us free from the penalty of sin through His death and resurrection. He justified us (or made us just-as-if-I-had-never-sinned) and is the only way we can be vindicated before God. He is also the only way we can be with God for eternity and thus the answer to question 4: How do we get close to Him?

Jesus told us, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) No one can get to God the Father except by way of Jesus. The path to ascending the mountain of God and standing in His holy place runs through Jesus. Believe and trust in Him, and You will find your way to God. Choose to not believe and trust in Him and you will never enter God’s kingdom, death will be the end of you, and you can experience God’s wrath.

In the final translation, there are four questions here but only really two choices to make.

You can accept Jesus as your personal Savior and allow Him to give you clean hands and a pure heart.

or

You can reject Jesus and choose the world and its desires instead, opting for sin over righteousness.

One way leads to life eternal (accepting Jesus). The other leads to death and damnation through God’s wrath (rejecting Jesus). There is no middle ground.

With this, which way will you pick?

That is really the fifth question here. And the one that matters the most.     

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

ALL BELONG TO GOD

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him. For He laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.

Psalm 24:1-2 (NLT)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Think about the things you have for a minute.

Within the walls of where you live are many of those things you have. You know the things I am talking about. They may be your possessions: your furniture, your television, your electronic gadgets like your gaming system, or computers. You have lots of stuff in your home, stuff that belongs to you.  

Maybe you have a car or two in a garage or sitting in the driveway of your property. That car gets you from point A to point B and typically you have things in your car like the music you like to listen to or maybe a charger or other accessories for your phone. You might have tools or other items in your trunk. Everything in the car belongs to you. It is your property.

Perhaps you have a spouse and/or children that live with you. They are precious to you and you love them very much. You take all measures to watch over them and protect them, not just because you love them, but because it is your responsibility to do so. They have been entrusted to you by God and thus in a way belong to you by merit of delegation.

There’s little doubt we can relate to having a place for the things we value, a place that is ours as well as everything in it.

Now consider this on a grander scale, like creation, and not even all of creation but just a part of creation. For in the 24th Psalm, David reminds us of the domain of God and the vast nature of that domain. We may assume accountability and responsibility for the things that belong to us but compared with the Lord, our realm looks awfully meager. We might own our little pieces of the rock but we must keep in mind that we have a divine property manager who owns THE rock we’re on: earth.

David tells us so when he writes, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.” We might have stuff but God has us. We belong to Him and no other. We solely belong to Him because He made us and blessed us with the lives we have. God brought us into His creation and at His appointed time, He will take us out of it. We have no say in the matter because we belong to Him.

Go back to where I talk about the things we have and reconsider the matter of family. We might have a spouse and/or children but we don’t own them. Why? Because God’s word in the 24th Psalm tells us. All people belong to God. There is no debate here and we have no right to question God when a spouse or child dies. They belong to God and He will draw them back to Him when He chooses. We need only feel blessed that we were granted time to have them in our lives, time granted by God Himself.

Yes, God builds the foundations of our lives by first building us and then building us up through family and other relationships. After all, God is in the foundation building business. David goes onto tell us that God “laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths”, such was the amazing power of His creative, almighty hands.

Indeed, God built everything, all that we know and all that we see. Think about that and you can’t help but stand in awe and wonder before Him. Think about it as well and you can’t help to be comforted and trending toward being at peace.

Why?

Because this God with the power to make all things is the same God that is for us. And if He is for us, then truly who could stand against us? (Romans 8:31) The answer is no one because no one has the power and authority of God. No one. God has no rival or no adversary. Nothing and I mean nothing is beyond the works of His hands.

Without a doubt, our good news today is that we belong to God, we ALL belong to Him. We belong to a God who loves us and cares for us more than anyone else we know. And this God of Creation, with all His power and might, is not only for us but also with us, alive and well right where we live, ever ready to guide us, direct us, correct us, and transform us into the people He wants us to be, the people He created us to be.

Yes, God has truly given us all we have. He has blessed us beyond belief, despite our sinfulness, overflowing our respective cups with His grace, mercy, and love. He sustains us and through His Son Jesus, He saves us. And He does it because we belong to Him.

So what do we do in return? Do we acknowledge this sovereign Maker of all things, the One we belong to? Do we take the time to thank Him for all that He is and all that He does?

Friends, God has given us everything. Don’t you think we should give Him our all in return as a sign of gratitude?  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING?

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:5-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Why would anyone not choose to submit their life and follow God, accepting the eternal salvation promise offered in love through belief and trust in His Son Jesus?

Maybe it is because they would rather rule their own life and do what they want to do, balking at the restrictive commands and demands God places on His followers.

Or maybe it is because they are not knowledgeable about the benefits that comes with a life of obedience to God’s will and professing faith in His Son as Savior. In other words, they don’t know what they’re missing.

Thanks be to God for His holy word that instructs and guides us, that ensures we have no excuse to not know what we’re missing. Just look at the closing words from David in the 23rd Psalm:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

David, a member of the flock of the good Shepherd, realized that he gained more than direction, peace, and safety from his faith and trust in the Lord. Here’s what else he received:

1. Protection in the face of adversity: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

It would have been enough for the Lord to provide David with a meal to sustain him but that wasn’t enough. No, God would provide a meal for David in the presence of his enemies. In other words, David could feast in peace with his enemies watching on in hunger knowing that God was with him. Truly, as the scriptures promise, if God is for us, who can stand against us? (Romans 8:31)

2. Favor and honor: “You anoint my head with oil”

To be anointed by God is to be set apart, selected for His work. David knew well what it was to be anointed as he received the oil of anointing poured on his head by Samuel, the young shepherd boy chosen, favored, and honored by God to be king (1 Samuel 16:12-13). Today, God still sets apart people for special purposes, to lead and guide His people toward fulfilling His will and way. He “anoints” us with unique gifts and talents to do this and we are to be ever using them to His glory.

3. Blessings: “my cup overflows.”

My mother used to always tell me to “count my blessings and when I finished, start counting again.” Her point was that if we always keep account of how much God has blessed us, we’ll never lose sight of His goodness and provision. David realized how much God had blessed him and saw his cup as overflowing. We will see it that way as well if we truly consider all God has done for us.

4. Goodness: “Surely Your goodness will follow me all the days of my life.”

Who is good? No one but God. Jesus told us this (Mark 10:18). And so if we hope to be good in any way, it has to be through God’s goodness working in and through us. And when we submit our lives to Him and vow to stay obedient to His word and way, then something awesome happens. His goodness will follow us all the days of our lives, just as it did for David.

5. Love: “Surely Your love will follow me all the days of my life.”

We all have an innate desire to be loved. Sometimes it is hard to find in this world we live in. That’s why we need a love that will never leave us nor forsake us, a love that is always with us for the long haul. It’s a genuine love, a perfect love that comes from the Father who created us as His children. Indeed, there is no greater loving parent that God, our Father. If you ever doubt that then ask yourself this: Why would a Father sacrifice His only Son to pay the penalty for sinners like you and me, if He didn’t love us?

The fact of the matter is that God, our Father, did so love the world and all His children that He chose to sacrifice His only Son Jesus to pay the debt for the sins of the world so we wouldn’t have to bear the cost. And it is even better than just being spared. For all those who believe and trust in Jesus as their Savior, the One who died for their sins and then rose again on the third day, will not perish but will join Jesus and the Father in a life eternal. In other words, death is not the end, it is just the eternal beginning.

And this takes us to the final thing David knew he had in the Lord.

6. Salvation: “and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

David knew he would be with God for all eternity. You and I can be as well as long as we accept Jesus as our personal Savior and receive the inheritance promise and eternal hope He brings.

Friends, can the world bring anyone what the Lord can? David knew it couldn’t and it wasn’t even close.

My prayer is that you will see it too, especially now that you know what you would be missing otherwise.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com