1 Corinthians 1:3 - A blessing

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

A blessing for you this morning as I begin 1 Corinthians.

Lord, Thank you for new beginnings. Please bless this study. Amen.

Psalm 90:14 - Morning

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
     that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. Let's face it, I have a hard time getting out of the bed most mornings. It is my least favorite time of the day.

Lord, thank you for the gift of the morning, for the gift of another day. Please help me to appreciate the morning and what it brings. Amen.

Romans 2:1 - Passing judgement

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

In general I think of myself as a tolerant person. I accept people where they are, regardless of their life choices and I hope they will accept my choices as well. But the ridiculous thing is that as grand as my ideas are, it's the little things that trip me up. I get angry at my husband for being careless. I get frustrated with co-workers who don't do something exactly as I would do it. And there is more...but you get the idea.

Lord, thank you for speaking the truth to us. Please help us to not be judgemental. Amen,

Psalm 150:6 - Praise the Lord

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.

The perfect verse to end a study of Psalms: the last verse of the last chapter. It has been a phenomenal study which has taken me six months longer than I anticipated, Maybe on to Romans next, I am studying this with my sisters, so I may incorporate it here.

Just FYI, I had lots of pageview of yesterday's praise dancing post. Praise dancing and lots of instruments are also noted in this chapter.

Lord, thank you for the Psalms. Please help us to praise you, glorify you, and rely on you. Amen.

Psalm 149:3 - Praise dancing

Let them praise his name with dancing
     and make music to him with timbrel and harp.

I have a friend for whom praise dancing is a regular part of their worship services. I have lots of friends for whom instruments are a regular part of their worship services. I think this verse indicates God is ok with it. I am part of a fellowship who choses not to praise dance or use musical instruments in our worship service. I think God is ok with that too. I think God is concerned with our hearts. As long as we are bringing glory to God (and not ourselves) with our acts of worship, I think God is pleased.

Lord, thank you for allowing us to worship you in different ways. Please help us to keep the focus on you and your glory. Amen.

Psalm 148:13 - Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
     for his name alone is exalted;
     his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

Psalm 148 is very recognizable as it is the text on which the song "Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah" is based. It is a beautiful psalm of praise!

Lord, thank you for the gift of the Psalms, songs the ancient Israelites sang to you. Thank you for inspiring songs to be lifted from these texts for us to sing today. Amen.



https://hymnary.org/hymn/TH1990/page/114

Psalm 147:10-11 - What makes God happy?

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
     nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
the Lord delights in those who fear him,
     who put their hope in his unfailing love.

In the first two lines, In my head I modernize this verse to this: His pleasure is not in cars or athletes. Humans are drawn to strength and victory. We love to drool over new cars and cheer on sports teams. But God is not impressed by these things. This is not where he finds "delight". He finds happiness in us, in those who fear him, love him and put their hope in him.

Lord, thank you for delighting in us. Please help us to always fear you and put our hope in your unfailing love. Amen.

Genesis 2:18 - Eve

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

I am working on a lesson for our ladies class about a woman of the Bible. I chose the most obvious one...Eve.  The first woman. The first wife. The first mother. The first grandmother. Part of the first family (the first dysfunctional family). The first sinner. The first to loose a child. The verse above is the first reference to Eve.

Lord, thank you for giving us the story of creation and humankind. Please help us to learn from this story about ourselves and about you. Amen.

Psalm 146:7-8 - Prophecy or similarity?

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
     and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
     the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
     the Lord loves the righteous.

These verses of Psalm 146 were very familiar. Similar verses are in Isaiah 61:1-2, which are quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:18-19. Scholars say similarities like this are actually prophecy of the coming of the messiah. I am not sure if I agree with that or not, but for this same idea to be in the scriptures three times, God must want us to take notice.

Lord, thank you for being the champion of the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner and the blind, whether physically or metaphorically in need. Please help us to understand we are this person in need of a savior. Amen.

Psalm 145:15-16 - Satisfaction

The eyes of all look to you,
     and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand
     and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

Because of my food issues, I am always looking for verses which speak to that issue. Amid the praise offered in Psalm 145 these verses stood out to me. I feel like my food issues stem from dissatisfaction. I am always looking for something to satisfy me. I know it is God, but I keep looking for other things to satisfy. This is also the reason I regularly start new projects and quickly loose interest. All I really need is God. He will give me food at the proper time and satisfy my desires.

Lord, thank you for reassuring us that you will satisfy our desires. Please help us to rely on you alone. Amen.

Psalm 145-150 - Praisefest

I am closing in on the end of the Psalms.When I started this book last year, I thought I would be done in November of 2016. Ha! I was not prepared for the longer books which held too much good to skip through in a day, especially Psalm 119 which took 22 log entries. This morning as I read Psalm 145, it was all beautiful praise. I thought I might just copy the whole chapter down. Then I glanced at the next couple of psalms and realized I was going to have this problem through the end of the book because they are all beautiful psalms of praise. If I am ever having trouble coming up with new words of praise, I know where to look!

Lord, thank you for the Psalms. Thank you preserving these beautiful words generation after generation. Please help us to use these words to bring you even more praise. Amen.

Psalm 144:2a - Stronghold

He is my loving God and my fortress,
     my stronghold and my deliverer,

In the past few years the word stronghold has come to mean something negative to me. It is a thing which has dug into my life and I struggle to release it. This passage calls God our stronghold. Here is a definition of stronghold from the Mirriam-Webster online dictionary:

Definition of stronghold

1. 1:  a fortified place
2. 2a :  a place of security or survivalone of the last strongholds of the ancient Gaelic language — George Holmesb :  a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic a Republican strongholdstrongholds of snobbery — Lionel Trilling

I guess a stronghold itself is not a good or bad thing. Where is our stronghold? In God or in things of the world?

Lord, thank you for being our true stronghold. Help me to reject other strongholds and find my security, fortification and survival only in you. Amen. 

Psalm 143:8 - Morning

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
     for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
     for to you I entrust my life.

Because I sit down to study in the morning, I am always drawn to the passages about morning. This is a beautiful verse and encapsulates a perfect morning prayer.

Lord,
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
     for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
     for to you I entrust my life.
Amen,

Psalm 142:2 - Complaining

I pour out before him my complaint;
     before him I tell my trouble.

No one likes to hear us complain. We can wear our friends and family out with complaining. But, there is one we can go to who does not tire of our complaints: God. God will listen to us for as long as we talk, God loves us and as a baptized believer, his spirit lives in us and is always ready to listen.

Lord, thank you for always listening to our complaints. Please help us to fully trust you and give our concerns over to you. Amen.

Psalm 141:3 - A prayer for obedient eating

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
     keep watch over the door of my lips.

I recently heard the phrase "obedient eating." This is much better than the word "diet." As a person with a stronghold of overeating, I am always looking for scriptures to help me in my struggle, The verse after this requests, "Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil," and "do not let me eat their (evildoers) delicacies."

Lord, thank you for giving us scriptures which apply to our situation. Please set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Amen.

Psalm 140:1 - Blessed with non-violence

Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers;
     protect me from the violent,

As I read many of the psalms, especially 140, I am reminded how blessed I am that I do not live in fear each day. I live in a safe neighborhood, in a safe city, in a safe country. I know there are acts of violence out there, I see them on the news. But my life is so peaceful and protected. It is a blessing I had not really thought about before.

Lord, thank you for the peace and safety I enjoy. Please help me to remember what a blessing it is and please help those who are faced with violence and evildoers every day. Amen.

Psalm 139:21-22 - Hatred?

Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
     and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
     I count them my enemies.

Really David? (This Psalm was written by David.) Hatred? What happened to Love God, Love People? What happened to being unoffendable and merciful? Most of the time I have some words of truth, but today I just have questions. This may be a old testament vs. new testament issue. After all. in the old testament, God asked his people to kill entire nations. But when Christ came a new law was revealed, putting to death the old law of sin and death. Christ is the one who said."Love your enemies." (Matthew 5:43-48),

God, thank you for sending Christ to offer us salvation and a new law. Please help us to love everyone, even our enemies and those we do not agree with. Amen.

Psalm 139:13 - Creation

For you created my inmost being;
     you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Have you ever thought about that when God created the earth, he didn't stop creating. He is creating new people every day. He hand crafted each of us in our mother's womb.

Lord, thank you  for creating us, for caring so much about each and everyone of us that you knit us together. Help us to honor you and give you the glory for your creation. Amen.

Psalm 139:9-10 - Change

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
     if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
     your right hand will hold me fast.

No matter what we are facing in life, God will be there with us. If I am waking up before I normally do, that usually means something big is happening. I may be going on vacation or starting a new job. Making a move and settling far away is a big change for anyone. God is with us and guiding us at all times.

God, thank you for being with us in all circumstances. Please help us to trust you. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21 - Plunder

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

I've had an epiphany, and aha moment. God has been bringing me to this point for several months and the last few days have made it clear. I tried to share this with a ladies class last night and I think I realized that aha moments may be difficult to translate to others who have not been walking your journey, but here it goes. The process of seeking healing may even be more important than actually receiving healing. We all have one or many strongholds, right now my stronghold of focus is food issues. My sisters and I have been reading the book Breaking Free by Beth Moore. At the end of the book she states that our motivation may have been to find deliverance, but hopefully we will find more of the deliverer. She also talks about the idea of plunder and that when the Israelites left the slavery of Egypt, the Egyptians gave the gold. God gives us more than what we've asked for. In fact, God can even give us plunder if he does not give us healing right away or ever. Perseverance in study and prayer gives us a closer connection and relationship with God. Dealing with our stronghold will help us to have mercy on others who are dealing with their stronghold. And if we do receive healing, that's just the icing on the cake and gives more plunder because now we have an amazing story of healing to share with others.

Lord, thank you for plunder. Thank you for the things you do that go above and beyond what we ask for. Please help us to persevere in our struggle against our stronghold. Amen.

Proverbs 11:12 - Unoffendable and merciful

Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense,
     but the one who has understanding holds their tongue.

Be unoffendable and merciful because I am a sinner. This is a lesson God has been working on teaching on me. And last night I blew it. I said something mean to my next door neighbor. I suppose I thought I had "righteous indignation", but truly, there is never a reason to be mean. Just this weekend I heard a speaker talk about this very subject. Most people know their sin and already feel guilty about it. Pointing it out to them does not help. Even if they don't recognize their problem, me being mean to them about it isn't going to help the situation at all. How likely are they to make any changes because I was mean?

Lord, thank you for offering me unlimited mercy, Please forgive me for deriding my neighbor. Amen.

Psalm 139:1 - God knows me

You have searched me, Lord,
     and you know me.

God, the one who knows everything, knows me. He sees the big picture, but he also sees my little picture. He knows how I feel and what I think(v2). He know what I am going to say before I say it (v4). God, master of the universe, cares about me.

Lord, thank you for caring about each one of us individually in the midst of this whole world. Please help us to remember, we are not alone and in your eyes, we are significant. Amen.

Psalm 138:3-Boldness

When I called, you answered me;
     you greatly emboldened me.

Our experiences with God strengthen our boldness in him. The more we see him working in our lives, the more we want to share this with others.

Lord, thank you for every time you answer us, when we can see you working in our lives, whether it was exactly what we asked for or not, whether your answer was yes, no or not now. Please help us to see your work in our lives, so that we will be greatly emboldened and share you with others. Amen.