Heavenhigh

God Reigns

# 42 2020 Dev. Psalm 97:1. God Reigns! Read all of Psalm 97. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 97:1 “The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.”

Psalms 90 through 100 are a series of 11 Psalms that open and close with “Lord” (Adonai) or “the Lord” (Yahweh). After Psalm 95, a call to God’s people to worship and Psalm 97 justifies the call to worship God Almighty.

Psalm 97 is divided into two sections with a verse at the center serving as a foil highlighting the theme of both sides of the poem. Vs.1-6 describes the power of God on the earth and God’s power over the glory of His creation. God’s glory is all around us: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.²Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge” says Ps.19:1,2. God’s righteousness, His power, His glory and His beauty is before us every day, particularly this time of the year. Creation alone justifies the worship of God!

Vs.8-13 describes the effect of God’s rule over the people of the world. Not all people of the world acknowledge God’s rule but God’s Word tells us that in reality God rules. We turn again to Ps. 19:8 “The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” Read all of Psalm19. It is about the voice of nature, the voice of God and the response of man. V.8- People rejoice! V.9- God is exalted! V.10- Love the Lord, hate evil, be faithful and God protects! V.11- The light shines! V.12- Rejoice and praise!

Verse 7 stands in opposition to God’s rule, “all who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols…” This Psalm was written many years ago when the world was awash with idols. In reality it is much the same today but much more subtle. We see idolatry all over the world; we see it in governments, in institutions, in religious organizations and in the personal lives of people. We all need to think about what really is important in our lives and evaluate our lives accordingly. But we do not end on this negative note because “The Lord Reigns.”

As the result of God’s reign: “Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.” Let us rejoice and turn on the light of God in this world.

The Living Stone!

# 41 2020 Dev. 1Peter 2:6. The Living Stone! Read verses 1-10. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

1 Peter 2:6 “For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’”

From a living Hope to the Living Stone, from a new birth in Christ to being built into a spiritual house, Peter connects his thoughts in chap. 2 to chap. 1 pointing back to v. 23 “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. And this is the word that was preached to you.” God’s word is still preached today and does not change even as the world changes. Therefore, put aside our brokenness and “crave pure spiritual milk…now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Peter gets theological making a big deal about God choosing; Jesus the living stone is chosen from eternality, God choses His people from before creation into eternity. Jesus, “chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house^[^a^] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Peter is speaking about the church; people, worshiping God every day making up the church of Jesus.

Jesus is the cornerstone, and all “who puts their trust in him will never be put to shame.” He is “the stone the builders rejected” referring to the religious leaders at the time but translates to religious leaders today, many of whom have caved to the ways of the world. Jesus is the “stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” We have a friend who very much wanted to be like what this person saw in our family. For months we fellowshipped together and finally this person asked – what does a person have to do to find purpose in one’s life and have the confidence a person is on the right track? It is simple, believe in Jesus, ask Him to forgive you and ask to be empowered to live for Him. Forgive? For what? Well, we are not able to save ourselves, we all have fallen short of God’s laws. The person’s answer: Really, I am not a bad person, I don’t need to be forgiven for anything. In the end the person moved on and we continue to pray.

We asked ourselves – what just happened? What is the responsibility of the individual to choose to believe? Certainly God chooses, and a person must respond by believing, but in the end choosing to believe happens as the Holy Spirit joins with our human ability to choose, people can reject or accept to believe. We are responsible but It is God “who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Thanks be to God!

A New Song

# 40 2020 Dev. Psalm 96:1. A New Song! Read all of Psalm 96. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 96:1 “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.”

Psalms 90 through 100 are a series of 11 Psalms that open and close with “Lord” (Adonai) or “the Lord” (Yahweh). After Psalm 95, a call to God’s people to worship God Almighty the Psalmist calls the world to worship and praise God.

Psalm 96 is divided into 2 themes, vs. 1-6 is a call to move into a different direction: “sing to the Lord a new song”. How difficult it is for followers of Jesus to move into a different direction. The Psalmist calls the whole earth into a different direction, “proclaim His salvation day after day” proclaim it “among the nations… among all peoples.” This call comes in view in 1Pe. 1 “Peter is writing to followers of Jesus scattered among the nations “who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:” The Psalmist continues to validate God as the only God of the nations: “for great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.”

The second view, vs. 7-13, calls “all you families of the nations” to acknowledge “the Lord, bring an offering… Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns.’” Looking forward to 1Pe. vs. 10-12, it is obvious that God previewed salvation from the beginning of time (Gen 3:15), highlighted in the Old Testament particularly in the Psalms and comes to full view in Jesus. By faith, salvation is from the time of the fall and still is extended to the whole human race and will be available until the last day. Praise the Lord!

Further, the psalmist calls nature to rejoice; The Lord rules all peoples and the Lord rules His creation. “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth, let the sea, let the fields, let all the trees, let all creation rejoice before the Lord…” Why must every person and everything rejoice? “Because, “The Lord comes to judge the earth.”

Followers of Jesus are reluctant to speak about Judgment, no person is qualified to judge, not Christians, not non Christians, nor anyone from the many religions of the world. But all followers of Jesus know there will be a judgment of the actions and thoughts of all the people of the earth that ever lived, live now and those who will live in the future. Impossible you say? Don’t bank on it, our consolation is that God “will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.” Praise the Lord!

Living Hope

# 39 2020 Dev. 1 Peter 1:3-4. Living Hope! Read all of Chapter 1. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

1 Peter 1:3-4 “³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”

The first two verses, vs.1-2 sets the tone for Peter’s letter, written to followers of Jesus scattered throughout the Roman world. That migration was started by persecution and the death of Stephen soon after the establishment of the early Church. As difficult as this was, with much suffering, God used it to begin His purpose of calling all people back to Himself. From that time persecution has increased to the point that today over two hundred million followers of Jesus are under persecution. We have a lot to pray about!

Further, Peter tells us who he is writing to; those “who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” Peter here harking back to the day of atonement in the Old Testament church; when the blood of the sacrificial lamb is sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark. Today, the day of atonement is the last day of the 10-day celebration of the Jewish New Year.

The next section, vs. 3-9: “Praise to God for a Living Hope.” Is perhaps the most concise and simplified presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, it includes a warning of suffering as a testing of a person’s faith but it includes an acknowledgement of being “filled with inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls”. That “Living Hope:” lives by suffering in faith and lives by “inexpressible and glorious joy” in the lives of followers of Jesus. Thankfully, for now, real suffering for Christians in this country is rare. Is that why “inexpressible and glorious joy” is also rare among followers of Jesus? Yes, we need to redirect our living hope, rejoice always!

Vs.10-12 considering “this salvation” it is obvious that God previewed salvation from the beginning of time, (Gen 3:15) highlighted in the Old Testament and came to full view in Jesus; by faith salvation is from the time of the fall and still is extended to the whole human race and will be available until the last day. Praise the Lord!

Vs.13-25 “Be Holy”, therefore, points back to all Peter writes before. God has chosen His people, God gives them a living hope and God calls His people to holy living. Peter calls God’s people, including us, to reject the “evil desires” that we all struggle with, God says: “be holy, because I am holy”. Can we do that on our own? Some people think so, but the truth is we cannot, we are holy by the sacrifice of Jesus when we believe in God and we put our trust in Jesus. Amen!

If Followers of Jesus are tempted to become arrogant, Peter puts that to rest: “For, ‘All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
²⁵but the word of the Lord endures forever.’And this is the word that was(is)preached to you”. What else do you need to know?

Worship!

# 38 2020 Dev. Psalm 95:1. Worship! Read all of Ps. 95. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 95:1 “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.”

Psalms 90 through 100 are a series of 11 Psalms that open and close with “Lord” (Adonai) or “the Lord” (Yahweh). After Psalm 94, a prayer to God for relief from persecution and injustice that speaks to what we are experiencing today, this series pivots to Psalm 95, a call to worship God Almighty. This is a call that is commanded to every generation and is still being commanded today and is commanded into eternity.

Vs.1-2 The call: “sing for joy”, come to God to worship “with thanksgiving”, and “with music and song.”

Vs.3-5 Why worship? “For the Lord is the great God” the Creator of all things.

Vs. 6-7 How? “bow down” and “let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” because we are His people endowed with the divine.

Vs. 8-11 This is not only a call to worship but a call to repentance and a warning as well: ‘“Do not harden your hearts…they shall never enter my rest’”. God’s rest here is the “promised land” they refused to enter because they did not believe God’s promises (lack of faith). But it is the metaphor for God’s eternal rest waiting for believers at that time and waiting for believers today and what we preview every Sunday.

This is the bottom line of the call to worship; how long will we harden our hearts? How long will we allow to be corrected by the world and disregard humility, thankfulness, righteousness, daily worship and the fruit of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control? Against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22,23). Followers of Jesus transcend this world but we still live here for a short time; as we read Psalm 95 we realize that not only are we called to worship and to repentance but to dedicate all of our lives on this earth, living for Jesus every day. We have seen what God has done for us, all of us in our own way, have experienced God’s grace in our lives. For those who do not follow Jesus, you may not know or acknowledge God’s Grace to you and our country but I ask you; look truth into His face (Jesus) and let us all give thanks to God for every blessing we have received in this great land. Let us all pray that God will continue to bless His people!

Faith!

# 37 2020 Dev. James 5:13. Faith! Read all of Chapter 5. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

James 5:13 “is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. “

James addresses three huge subjects in Ch. 5: Oppression, Patience and Prayer.The author is speaking out against people for not paying a fair wage and not paying for work rendered. Is there a more pertinent situation going on today? I suspect most people support capitalism but there are problems among us. What do we call it when workers are not receiving a living wage and the CEO of that company receives millions a year with a golden parachute of more millions? How about sports deals of up to many millions a year for one person while workers and venders at the stadiums are barely making a living wage? James is calling this oppression!

Next James addresses: “Patience in Suffering” but James throws something into this section that many are not thinking about: be patient “until the Lord’s coming”. James is giving his readers and us the bigger picture. We are, after all, in the last days, Jesus is on the way. Yet, that does not mean we give up, no, he tells us to stand firm and do not complain, “because the Lord is near. As we know, we count as blessed those who have persevered”. Also, “the Lord is full of compassion and mercy”. In other words, be patient, God is in control!

James also addresses prayer. “The Prayer of Faith”. Prayer is always a function of faith. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Verse15 is the heart of this section: “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.” Healing and forgiveness, God always gives us. Our family prayed for my brother, who struggled with MS for five years. My brother is forgiven, and our neighbor, Mr. Todd, suffering from cancer is forgiven as well because he accepted Christ when my brother talked with him. After that event both died, God healing both of them, praise the Lord. Verse 20, “remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” Death here meaning “eternal death”; separation from God forever. Is healing and forgiveness the meaning for my brothers short life? Faith tells us that it is.

Justice, patience, prayer and faith all work together for healing and forgiveness under the Grace of God. Praise Him!

Our Rock!

# 36 2020 Dev. Psalm 94:14. Our Rock! Read all of Ps. 94. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 94:14 “For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.”

Psalms 90 through 100 are a series of 11 Psalms that open and close with “Lord” (Adonai) or “the Lord” (Yahweh). Ps. 94 is an appeal to God for relief from persecution and injustice. You cannot make this up; this Psalm is addressing what we all are facing in our country today. Not only injustice to minorities but also to conservatives, Christians, pro lifers, dedicated police officers, conservative judges and upstanding leaders that support the rule of law.

Vs. 1-3 is a prayer that all followers of Jesus should pray today: Lord, “RIse up, Judge of the earth”.

Vs. 4-7 The prayer continues laying out the problems and the disregard for God: “They say, ‘The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice.’ “Really?

Vs. 8-11 The Psalmist speaks to the perpetrators, “Take notice, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise?” Take note, who is speaking out today? “The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.” Amen!

Vs. 12-15 The prayer gives us the answers to our difficulties today: “Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law;” Pray that God will teach, give relief, not reject, and never forsake our land and God’s people.“Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” Amen!

Vs. 16- 19 This part of the prayer puts God squarely on the side of followers of Jesus. God “rises up”, God gives “me help”, and “your unfailing love supported me”. Praise God!

Vs. 20-23 points out the foolishness of being allied with those who reject law and order. When God is thrown out of public life, and leaders pay only lip service, do we really think God will continue to bless us and our land? The Psalmist ends on a positive note that gives followers of Jesus the comfort we need right now: “But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.”

That is what we hold onto, the promises of God!

Submission!

# 35 2020 Dev. James 4:1. Submission! Read all of Ch. 4. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you.”

Chapter 4 is a discouraging chapter, pointing out the human failings that lead followers of Jesus and non followers astray as well. James is the brother of Jesus and the leader of the church in Jerusalem. We may legitimately ask: to whom is this chapter directed? Of course, the Scriptures speak to all people, at all times of history but this chapter is directed to followers of Jesus. Vs. 1-3 he speaks of evil desire: “You do not have because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.”

Vs.4-6 addresses when the the world is too much with us, we can’t have it both ways: “anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God,” who” jealously longs for the Spirit he has caused to dwell in us. But he gives us more grace: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’”

Vs. 7-10 gives us the alternative to what James tells us before this: “submit yourselves, then, to God.” Resist evil, “Come near to God and he will come near you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

Vs.11-12 tells us not to judge or slander one another. “There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy, but you- who are you to judge your neighbor?”

Vs. 13-17 tells us that God is in control and that we are not: i.e.- followers of Jesus and those who are not. We “are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James is reminding us that we are human with many limitations, how easy it it is to be arrogant. James calls sin, not to do good when we know what good is.

That is the point in this whole chapter, followers of Jesus know what is right, what is just and good and when we do not practice what we preach Jesus is minimized, our message is minimized, our churches are marginalized and our young people leave our churches. James is speaking in clear and bold terms but today what James is talking about, evil desire, quarreling, friendship to the world, judging each other and arrogance is very subtle today. It is hidden in our society, in education, it is hidden, barely, in the media, it is hidden in social media, it is hidden in our churches. Part of the problem is that many people claiming to be followers of Jesus have their eyes and ears, and in some cases their hearts closed, demonstrated by those on the out side who see the problems that James is presenting here before we see it ourselves. The answer is also in this chapter: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Show us more grace, Lord Jesus, we pray!

The Lord Reigns!

# 34 2020 Dev. Psalm 93:4 The Lord Reigns! Read all of Ps. 93. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 93:4 “Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea—the Lord on high is mighty.”

Psalms 90 through 100 are a series of 11 Psalms that open and close with “Lord” (Adonai) or “the Lord” (Yahweh). Ps. 93 has two stanzas v.1-2 and v.3-4 with v.5 as the conclusion. The first stanza praises God’s Majesty: “the Lord is robed in Majesty and armed with strength.” This stanza tells us that God is in control since the beginning of creation: “you are from all eternity”.

The second stanza praises God for His strength: “Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea—the Lord on high is mighty”; This stanza tells us that God is all powerful.

The conclusion is about the law of God: “Your statutes Lord stand firm”, God is holy and God has no beginning and no end, His rule is from everlasting to everlasting. Praise be to God!

What do we take away from this short praise Psalm that comforts us today?We worry about our country right now; is democracy at risk, is our freedom at risk, is law enforcement at risk, what about our lively-hoods and our health, our families, our religious freedom and are we able to live in freedom and security in every area of this land? Everyone is asking these questions; in the cities and in the rural areas and even the country side, no one feels safe.

The answer is in this Psalm: God is in control, our God reigns, nothing will happen that God does not control, He is almighty and has ordained what will happen over the next three months, what will happen next year, and the year after that, and what will happen forever. Yet, we are responsible for our actions and will be judged accordingly. Followers of Jesus, stay awake!

God is not in space or time, but He is very concerned for His people, for His church, for His program of calling all people back to Himself and for justice in this world. We as followers of Jesus need to get onboard with God’s program, stop worrying about the future, keep working. God has us in His hands and God controls what will happen and what is good for His people. Our God reigns, praise be to Him!

Speech!

# 33 2020 Dev. James 3:1. Speech! Read all of Ch. 3. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

James divides this chapter into two sections and accomplishes the same purpose of promoting good communications, words supported by actions. He begins with speech, “the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” James calls the tongue; “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” He is pointing out when speech is misused but speech is also used for good. For followers of Jesus speech must always be used for good, yet, we all know how difficult that is to accomplish. We turn to Scripture: “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.” (I Pe. 3:10) and (Pr.15:4) “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.”

In vs. 9-12 James tells us that a person’s speech can not be good and bad at the same time; I interpret this to mean that our use of words is a matter of the heart, as well as dictating our actions.

In the second part of Ch.3, vs.13-18 James deals with the other part of speech; actions, by pointing out “two kinds of wisdom”. Heavenly wisdom Is displayed “by a good life, deeds done in humility” that come from the heart. Earthly wisdom is “bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts… or deny the truth.”

James starts this chapter with a warning; v.1 “Not many of you should become teachers, we who teach will be judged more strictly.” That warning applies to not only teachers, but also pastors, parents, civic leaders, law makers, police, and especially politicians. The bottom line we take away from good speech, words and action is: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

Amen and Amen!