Thursday, February 28, 2013

THE SWEETNESS OF GOD'S WORD

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In Christ, Mark

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

Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long.

Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey Your precepts.

I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey Your word. I have not departed from Your laws, for You Yourself have taught me.

How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 119:97-104

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

If you had the opportunity to describe to God what impact His words have on your life, what would you say to Him?

Chances are you might say something like one of the following:

- God, Your words are a constant source of guidance for me as I live life each day given.
- God, Your words are a constant comfort to me. In times of trouble, I find peace by reading the Bible.
- God, Your words convict me and expose my sin, seeking to replace it with righteousness.
- God, Your words helped me find my salvation through Your Son Jesus and now show me how to live like He did.

I could go on for a long time with this and maybe you can comment at the end of this devotion and let God know what His word means to you. The point is that God’s word can’t help but impact the one reading it. As we look at the excerpt from the 119th Psalm, we find the psalmist being impacted by God’s words in his own special way. Look at what he said to God:

How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Now maybe one of you might have had this same thought but I know it wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind when I considered my feelings about the hallowed word of God.

God’s word. Sweet to the taste, sweeter than honey. It’s a thought that really grew on me as I read this passage.

For it’s really true isn’t it. Those who love God will love His word because there is a sweetness to the scriptures as we read and delight in them.

What makes the words of God so sweet? Consider the following drawn from the text of the passage for today:

1. God’s words are always with us.

Your commands are always with me.

When we read and study the words of God, they take root within us, allowing us to draw from them when we’re ministering to others or in those times when we need inspired or encouraged. Billy Graham, one of the greatest evangelists of all time, said as his eyesight failed in old age that he didn’t fear not being able to read the Bible because he had written God’s word in his heart and mind. I loved that and was inspired to do the same in my life.

2. God’s words are always available.

Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long.

There isn’t a time when we are void of a word from God, whether in written or spoken form. God is always ready to communicate with His people. There is no question about that. What is questioned is whether His people are ready to communicate with Him. It takes two to communicate properly, a sender and receiver. God is always ready to send. Are we ever ready to receive Him?

3. God’s word leads us to understanding and brings us wisdom that the world can’t provide.

Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey Your precepts.

This isn’t an indictment on worldly Bible teachers. I happen to count myself as one. It only means that no one can provide the wisdom, guidance, and understanding that God can through His word. Invest yourself in the Bible and in prayer, communicating regularly with God, and you will find the words of the psalmist come to alive within your own life.

4. Keeps us from walking the wrong path into evil.

I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey Your word. I have not departed from Your laws, for You Yourself have taught me. I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Jesus said the following:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

There’s a fine line in life between walking the right or wrong path and it’s easy to get off course. One way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to remain anchored in the word of God. The psalmist understood this. He discovered that when He followed God’s commands he would hate doing wrong. He understood that God hated sin and thus hated it himself, so much so that he was committed to keeping his feet from traveling on any evil path. This is the only way to know when we are walking on the narrow path, the path paved with God’s righteousness and holiness, the path that will lead to life eternal with Him through His Son Jesus, the Way and the Truth and the Life, the only way to the Father (John 14:6).

Friends, I can fully agree with the psalmist. The words of God are indeed sweet and there is no greater pleasure I have each and every day than reading His word, receiving His wisdom and understanding, and then sharing the words He places on my heart with you.

I pray you are tasting His sweetness in your own life today.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

AN ENDURING, PERFECT FAITHFULNESS

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In Christ, Mark

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

Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

Your faithfulness continues through all generations; You established the earth, and it endures.

Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve You. If Your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have preserved my life. Save me, for I am Yours; I have sought out Your precepts. The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder Your statutes.

To all perfection I see a limit, but Your commands are boundless.

Psalm 119:89-96

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

If you were to define someone as faithful, what would you say about them?

Maybe you would talk about their loyalty or you might discuss the matter of devotion. You would also probably talk at length about commitment and dedication and reliability.

We all want to be surrounded by people like this, don’t we?

To emphasize this point, let me ask you about the following:

1. How do you feel when someone you thought had your back instead stabs you there? I’ve been there and it’s terrible to have your trust violated.

2. How do you feel when someone you gave your heart to decided to turn from you and give their heart to someone else? I can tell you from personal experience that it hurts and often hurts badly.

3. How do you feel when someone you thought was in with you on something suddenly chooses to pull back and abandon their side of the deal?

4. How do you feel when someone you needed to help you with something could never be counted on?

I think many of us if not all of us have experienced the angst and sometimes distress that comes from someone not remaining faithful. And if it happens enough to us, we can find our hearts hardened, unwilling to trust anyone. I have been around people like this, people who have been burned so many times that they refuse to allow themselves to be in a position to ever be burned again. Maybe you know someone like this. Maybe that person could be you.

So what are we to do today in our quest for a faithful counterpart?

In my life, I had to learn to turn to the One who has been faithful for the ages, since the dawn of mankind.

Truly, in God we find an enduring, perfect faithfulness, One who has always loved His people and stayed committed to them even when they were not committed to Him. This God is our God today, the God who is ever with us, the God who is still watching over us, the God who is still steadfast in His allegiance.

Look at the excerpt from the 119th Psalm and you’ll find these words:

Your faithfulness continues through all generations; You established the earth, and it endures.

 God was, is, and will always be faithful, perfectly faithful. His Holy Word assures us of this, a Word that is as everlasting as His faithfulness. Look again to the psalm:

Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

Enduring, perfect, faithful scripture filled with enduring, perfect, faithful promises inspired by an enduring, perfect, faithful God, a God who will never fail in His loyalty, devotion, commitment, dedication, and reliability unto us.

Friends, if you’re searching for someone who is unerringly faithful to you, your search today is over. Turn to God and receive the One who will never leave you nor forsake you, the One who will always stand by your side in the good times and bad, the One you can always count on, the One who has been faithful for all generations and will continue to be so forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

PRESERVATION NOW AND FOREVER

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In Christ, Mark

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

My soul faints with longing for Your salvation, but I have put my hope in Your word. My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I say, “When will you comfort me?”

Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your decrees.

How long must Your servant wait? When will You punish my persecutors? The arrogant dig pits to trap me, contrary to Your law.

All Your commands are trustworthy; help me, for I am being persecuted without cause. They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken Your precepts.

In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of Your mouth.

Psalm 119:81-88

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

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes an incredible amount of perseverance to endure the things life brings before us and sometimes we just find ourselves worn out by it all. Maybe you can relate.

I know the longer I live, the more I look forward to the day when I will receive the salvation promises granted in the scriptures and be free from the things of the world that can afflict, frustrate, stress, humiliate, and often oppress us. And I give thanks to Jesus our Savior that we can have that kind of hope to cling to, a hope presented through His death and resurrection, a hope that leads us to see that we will be preserved eternally through the victory we have in Him.

But what do we do in the interim, in the time of waiting between now and that day when we will experience our promised salvation?

The answer is that we remember that we are preserved in the here and now by the God and Father who promised us that He would always be with us and because of that truth, no one can stand against us (Romans 8:31).

The psalmist certainly understood this fact well as we look at our scripture excerpt from the 119th Psalm. Consider these words:

My soul faints with longing for Your salvation, but I have put my hope in Your word. My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I say, “When will you comfort me?”

Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your decrees.

How long must Your servant wait? When will You punish my persecutors? The arrogant dig pits to trap me, contrary to Your law.

All Your commands are trustworthy; help me, for I am being persecuted without cause. They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken Your precepts.

In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of Your mouth.

The psalmist knew his hope was in the Lord and so he asked for the Lord’s preservation as He longed for the salvation to come. And notice that he wasn’t asking for preservation so he could just sit idle waiting for salvation to come. No, the psalmist wished to be preserved so he could obey the word of the Lord. He not only longed for preservation and salvation but also for obedience. He strongly desired to conform himself to God’s will and way for Him. We should do likewise.

This all seems easy enough but note that life wasn’t just going to allow the psalmist to have these yearnings unopposed. No, he was up against adversity.

We read where he was being persecuted without cause. Maybe you have been there. I know I have. He also was under attack by arrogant people who wished to dig pits and trap him. He even confessed that his enemies almost wiped him from the face of the earth, but they failed evident by his presence to write the words of the psalm. Indeed, the Lord did preserve him.

The Lord preserves us as well. He is ever present to help us deal with the challenges of life and will never let us down. He and He alone is our hope now and forever. In Him, we, like the psalmist, are preserved now and forever.

So what are we to do with life as we face trials and tribulations? Drawing from our psalm, I suggest the following five things:

1. We are to trust that God can handle everything and anything we’ll ever go through. We are to also trust His promises for they all are kept.

2. We are to wait for the Lord to carry out His perfect work in, around, and through us.

3. We are to seek God’s will and way, no matter our circumstances.

4. We are to learn from His word and Holy Spirit as we study the Bible daily.

5. We are to ever maintain and sustain hope, a hope granted through the salvation promise of Jesus, the Way and the Truth and the Life, the only way to the Father (John 14:6). For it’s in this hope, that we see ourselves as we are, victorious with our lives preserved now and forever by the Father and His Son Jesus.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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Monday, February 25, 2013

THE NEED FOR LOVE

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In Christ, Mark

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

Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn Your commands.

May those who fear You rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in Your word. I know, Lord, that Your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

May Your unfailing love be my comfort, according to Your promise to Your servant. Let Your compassion come to me that I may live, for Your law is my delight.

May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on Your precepts.

May those who fear You turn to me, those who understand Your statutes.

May I wholeheartedly follow Your decrees, that I may not be put to shame.

Psalm 119:73-80

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

Innately, we all yearn to be loved. It’s one of those absolute facts that’s hard to explain except for the truth that we were designed and crafted by God, the Master Creator whose essence is love.

Yes, from the moment we emerge from the womb, we seek the security and comfort that comes from one who cares for us out of love and compassion. This urge continues through our childhood years as our parents love us and raise us up into adulthood, the point where we branch out on our own and seek someone to love and share our lives with, someone who can fill the love gap left by our parents.

Life leads us toward seeking consolation and love. When we’re in need, we look for someone who loves and cares and can provide. When we’re in distress, we search for someone to love us and bring us a sense of comfort and relief. When we’re alone, we hunger for a companion, someone to share love with.

This is why we need the Lord in our life. Because we all yearn for love and the Lord IS love personified. We don’t need to look far for love and compassion. The Lord is ever with us to provide it and it is not just any love. Look at the words of the psalmist from the 119th Psalm:

May Your unfailing love be my comfort, according to Your promise to Your servant. Let Your compassion come to me that I may live, for Your law is my delight.

The love of the Lord never fails. Unlike the love that we will find in flawed men and women, the Lord’s love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:13). It never fails to meet us where we are and bring us to a place of peace and reassurance. When the love of the Lord wraps its arms around us, we are taken back to the days when we could do nothing for ourselves and our mothers and fathers took care of our every need out of love. This is what our Heavenly Father does for us in adulthood if we just allow Him to do so.

So what are we waiting for?

I hear so many people testify that they feel alone or unloved in their worldly relationships. So many people are longing for a love that will never falter, a love that is perfect for them. They go on an insatiable quest for a soul mate, so often looking in all the wrong places because the One who IS love and longs for their soul is right there for them. All they need to do is seek Him.

Friends, how long will it take for us to just turn to the Lord and His love that is unfailing and fully satisfying? My prayer is that everyone looking for love will turn to the Lord today and find it.

And just in case you think this all ends with one finding the Lord and His love, think again. For as famous broadcaster Paul Harvey used to say, “Here’s the rest of the story.”

For the beauty of turning to receive the unfailing love of the Lord is that we will start to embody that same love within our hearts. With the Lord as our soul mate, our soul becomes connected to His and thus our actions toward others begin to display His love. In other words, others start to see the Lord through us.

Again, look to the psalmist’s words:

May those who fear You turn to me, those who understand Your statutes. May those who fear You rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in Your word.

When we let the love of the Lord take root within us so that our actions become a reflection of His, we will begin to exhibit other characteristics of the Lord that are byproducts of His love, by products like grace and mercy and forgiveness and empathy. People are drawn to us because they see something that they don’t see in others. We will stand out from those who live for the world for no one connected to the world can ever live and love like the Lord. And we welcome people to enter into a relationship with us because we want them to find the Lord in their lives.  

Given all this, can you see that sometimes the first glimpse of the Lord people get is through seeing Him alive and well inside you and me? And when they do see the Lord, they come to a place of rejoicing for they begin to experience Him and the unfailing love they have been looking for.

Yes, we all are born with a need for love. Thanks be to God that He is always ready to deliver it to us in a way that never fails anytime we need it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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

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Sunday, February 24, 2013

BEFORE AND AFTER

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In Christ, Mark

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

Do good to Your servant according to Your word, Lord.

Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust Your commands. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

You are good, and what You do is good; teach me Your decrees.

Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart. Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in Your law. It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees.

The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

Psalm 119:65-72

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

Most of my readers probably think I have been a Christian, strong in his faith, all of my life. They would be wrong.

You see, I started in my youth in the church. My mother made sure I attended on Sunday and went to Sunday School. She made sure I got baptized and confirmed. She did all she could do to ensure I knew who Jesus Christ was.

But then something happened. I became an adult and given my own choices, there was a period when I decided that church was something I didn’t need any more. Unfortunately, when I vacated the church, I also vacated everything else in my Christian faith to include prayer and the study of God’s word. Like the psalmist in today’s scripture, I had gone astray and this led to an affliction.

Now we’re not sure about the affliction the psalmist suffered through but we do know it led him back to his faith which was renewed and stronger than ever. Before this turning point, the psalmist was lost. Afterwards, he rediscovered he could face anything in life because God’s word and its associated promises were sufficient to give him confidence, inner strength, and peace, no matter what life would bring.

As for my life, I walked down the road of relying on myself and my strength and my judgment. I wanted control and God allowed me to do just that to show me just how much I could mess my life up when I did so. And so I walked this path of destruction and in doing so, ended up wrecking my family.

You see, I was married with two beautiful little girls. God had blessed me so very much with a woman I was to love like Christ and two children who He entrusted to my care. I was to lead my family spiritually but I didn’t. You need the Spirit to do that and I had chosen to turn my back on the Great Counselor Jesus sent to guide us. I elected freely to walk the road of destruction and my payoff was divorce as my wife found another to love and took the kids with her. I was left as void as my faith life had been.

This experience left me bitter and angry. I blamed everyone except the one I needed to blame: myself. This went on for three years. It was a wilderness experience where I still tried to find my way without the Lord and little fruit was bore during that time. I call this stage of my life “BC” because it was everything that happened before I accepted Jesus back into my heart and back into my life, never to turn back again to the man I used to be.

For my wilderness period ended when God brought a woman into my life that He used to bring me back to Him. I just call her “Amazing Grace” because that’s what she was to me. Grace told me that if we were going to have a relationship, the Lord would have to be first. I agreed although my heart raced with anxiety as I had been away from the church for so long. The questions swirled in my heart and mind:

“Will God take me back to Him?”

“How is He going to receive me? Will He be angry?”

“Am I going to be able to understand the Bible? I don’t remember the Old Testament from the New anymore.”

But I wasn’t deterred, although I was nervous, I must admit. I started to go to church with Grace and guess what, I realized right away just how much I missed. My heart filled with the Holy Spirit as I was reintroduced to reading the scriptures, listening to sound preaching, and singing His praises through hymns. The Lord wrapped His arms around me and showed me nothing but love, just as the father received his lost son in Jesus’ parable (Luke 15).

This was the start of my “AC” or “After Christ” portion of my life, a season I have lived in for more than 20 years now and a season I will never leave as long as I have breath here on earth.

In this “AC” period, I cling to the Word of God and its associated promises, trusting in the Lord in any and all circumstances. I have been given the gifts of writing, teaching, preaching, and singing for the Lord during this new period of serving Jesus.

The psalmist also had a rebirth and renewal after recommitting his life to the Lord, Look at what he had to say:

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

You are good, and what You do is good; teach me Your decrees.

Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart. Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in Your law. It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees.

The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

From insubordination to obedience. From hardship to goodness. From fear to confidence. From pain to delight. From worthlessness to riches. All these changes happened in the psalmist’s world when we chose to turn back to the Lord from his sin. It was quite a before and after contrast.

The Apostle Paul had his own before and after experience. You’ll recall that he wasn’t always Paul but at one time Saul, a murderer of Christians. Who would have imagined that the man who oversaw the stoning of Stephen (Acts 6, 7,8:1), a man elected to work for the cause of Christ, would become the greatest apostle in the scriptures. Saul’s “AC” life began after a one-on-one encounter with the very Jesus he persecuted on the road to Damascus. Struck blind, he remained that way for three days until a visit from Ananias led to his sight being restored, his eyes open to a new life in Christ Jesus, a life that led Paul to write the following:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13

Paul penned these word while in prison, uncertain if he would ever be free again. And yet, he was content because He knew He had Christ and that’s all He needed in life. Before he killed Christians. After, he helped lead them to salvation.

Friends, the Lord is always pursuing us. Like Jonah, another man who experienced a before and after experience with the Lord, we might try and run from Him but He will always find us and seek to turn us back to Him by whatever means He chooses. The psalmist experienced it. Paul experienced it. I did too and for that I am eternally grateful.

You see, God gave me a second chance to live and love. Grace and I have been married for more than 20 years now. My girls who I lost when my wife left returned to live with Grace and I seven years later and that’s where they remained until they became adults. The Lord knew my home, now a proper Christian home, was the place where they would be nurtured and brought up in Christ, just as I had been raised by my mother. And I was now ready to be the spiritual leader I should have been from the start.

Our God is a God of second chances. There is no doubt about that. No matter how far you may have fallen away from Him before, He is ready to catch you and bring you back to write your own “after” story. My prayer is that you’ll allow Him to do just that today.

Amen.

PS: If you have your own personal before and after faith story, please comment on today’s blog and share with others. Your testimony is a powerful way to minister!

In Christ,

Mark

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

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Saturday, February 23, 2013

BECOMING A SEEKER

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In Christ, Mark

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

You are my portion, Lord; I have promised to obey Your words. I have sought Your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise.

I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statutes. I will hasten and not delay to obey Your commands. Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget Your law. At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous laws.

I am a friend to all who fear You, to all who follow Your precepts.

The earth is filled with Your love, Lord; teach me Your decrees.

Psalm 119:57-64

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

“I have sought Your face with all my heart.”

These seven words of the psalmist may form the root definition of the Christian walk: ever seeking to live in a way that finds ourselves in the favor of the Lord.

It’s a lifelong pursuit as we will never achieve perfection in our quest to live in the righteousness we find in our Savior, Christ Jesus. After all He was Emmanuel, God with us. He came from heaven to earth, fully man and yet fully God. He lived to show us how to and then died to save us all, commanding us to carry on His work of bringing others to salvation, to a life forever with their Creator Father God through Him. He also ordered His disciples to teach others to obey all He commanded. In order to do that, we need to know what Jesus commanded. We need to seek and know Jesus and when we do, we need to follow the lead of the psalmist who showed us what we should be seeking:

1. We should be seeking Him as our Portion.

 You are my portion, Lord.

In Christ, we find everything we need, now and forever. Nothing will ever fulfill us like He does,

2. We should be seeking His grace.

Be gracious to me according to Your promise.

Despite our best efforts to seek Christ and live according to His will and way, we are still sinners and fail and fall. We’re fortunate that we serve a loving, caring, and forgiving Savior, one who shows us His grace and mercy, a mercy that is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

3. We should be seeking His ways.

I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statutes. I will hasten and not delay to obey Your commands.

When we truly seek Jesus with all our hearts and as our portion, we will see that our ways are far away from His. We’re convicted by His Holy Word and Spirit to turn from our sin and unbelief, turning our steps toward the ways of righteousness by obeying His commands.

4. We should be seeking His hope.

Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget Your law.

No matter what the world might bring upon us, no matter what might be takes from us, we will always have hope and hope eternal through Jesus Christ. Our salvation promise can never be taken away, even by the most wicked person who tries to come against us.

5. We should be seeking Him to give thanks.

At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous laws.

This is too easy. Think where you would be today without Jesus in your life. When you do, you can’t help but be immediately drawn into a sense of praise and thanksgiving unto Him and all He has done, to include saving your life.

6. We should be seeking to be a friend like Jesus.

I am a friend to all who fear You, to all who follow Your precepts.  

Jesus actually took the Old Testament words of the psalmist and enhanced them, or as I often say, Jesus took the Old Testament to a new level when He came. Just look at His teachings on murder and adultery for additional examples (Matthew 5). Jesus was a friend to everyone, even the people the spiritual leaders of the day saw as unclean and unworthy of being around, people who were seen as sinners by sinners who were blind to their sins. Sound familiar? We have many people like this today, modern day Pharisees and Sadducees who are no less sinners than the people they choose to judge. Jesus said He came to hang out with sinners like you and me because they, being sick, needed the Great Physician to heal and save them (Matthew 9:9-12). We need to be friends to all, even when they might not wish to be friends to the Lord, just as Jesus did.

7. We should be seeking His instruction.

Teach me Your decrees.

As we study the Word of God, we will find ourselves instructed by the Holy Spirit. It will happen every time we delve into the scriptures when we come with a heart and mind ready to receive His guidance and direction, rest assured of that.

8. We should be seeking His love.

The earth is filled with Your love, Lord.

I’m reminded of the lyric in Third Day’s song, Your Love O Lord:

Your love O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness stretches to the sky, Your righteousness is like a mighty mountain, Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide. I will lift my voice to worship You my King and I will find my strength in the shadow of Your wings.

When we seek Jesus and do so with all our hearts, the first thing we will find is love for it is at the core of who Jesus is. The love that fills the earth is His love, a love that came to save all who will place their faith and trust in Jesus as their Savior, to those who fully realize and understand through God’s Word that there is no other way to the Father except through His Son (John 14:6).

My prayer today is that every person in this world will become a Christ-seeker and experience the rich fullness of His love, grace, mercy, and salvation.

Amen.

PS: Listen to Your Love O Lord here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEF7IoQ3eUk

In Christ,

Mark

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