Heavenhigh

God’s Eyes!

# 15. 2018 Dev. Ps. 33: 18,19. God’s Eyes! Read all of Ps. 33. 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 33: 18,19 “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, ¹⁹to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”

This the last Psalm of a series starting at Ps. 25 and ending in Ps.33. In these Psalms David is struggling with failure, rejection, opposition from friends and enemies. He is pleading for God’s mercy and salvation. Ps.32: (See Dev. # 13) brings him great comfort, rejoicing and the blessings of forgiveness as it should for us. Ps 33, culminating this series, is a liturgy of praise and thanksgiving to God for His care for His people and for nations that follow Him. The eyes of the Lord are on them and on us!

Verses 1-3 is a call to worship, it is a call of all the righteous in God’s sight.

Verses 4-9 praises the power of God’s Word, it is “right and true”. By His Word the world was created and all people on the earth, let them “fear and revere Him” for His creative power.

Verses 10-15 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” God’s has His plans, He is sovereign, “his plans stand firm forever”.

Verses 16-19 It is not the power or glory of man that can save “but the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love”.

Verses 20-22 is the benediction: “We wait in hope, he is our help, our hearts rejoice, for we trust in Him. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you”.

This Psalm speaks to us today; God is calling our nation back to Himself. He is calling all those who fear and revere the Lord to serve Him. God assures us that He is in control, He rules the nations and mankind. He promises us that His eyes are on us. Therefore, we wait in hope, we rejoice in His unfailing love, we trust Him for the future. We are in His hands! Thank you Jesus!

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The Gift of Life

# 14. 2018 Dev. Eph.2:4,5. The Gift of Life! 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.

Ephesians 1:4,5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

The back story on “God’s Grace” as Paul describes is that it was not always understood in the past and often is not understood today. In this passage I do not see the qualifying factors laid down by some churches and some Christians. Some Christians may not fellowship with other Christians because of a certain kind of theology or baptism. They certainly may not share in communion or pray together. Many disqualify gays and lesbians and those who are overwhelmed with what is considered as major sins. In our work in overseas missions this issue is exported, as example, converts with a Reformed or Presbyterian persuasion simply are considered as non Christian by certain denominational missionaries and their national churches and are fair game as people to convert.

The underlying issue is as old as Christianity itself. The rich young man asked: what must I do to achieve eternal life? Jesus gave him the answer: Love God, love you your neighbor and deny yourself. This was before Jesus’ mission was understood and before His death and resurrection ushered in the the new covenant. Did this rich man follow Jesus’ advice? We really do not know but it appears he did not. This question continues for many today, not only do people want to contribute to their own salvation, it is humanistic to do so and is the basis for all other religions.

Real Christians understand what Paul is teaching the Ephesians and what he is teaching us. What must we do to be saved? Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, even faith is a gift! If you think you contribute to your own salvation, or your practice contributes, or your theology contributes, then the question becomes, according to Paul, are you saved?

Paul tells us we were dead, unable to do one thing but by God’s love Jesus makes us alive by grace: “⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

As Jesus said: because we are saved we have the ability to love God, love our neighbor, deny ourselves and we do good works out of thankfulness to God. Amen!

Easter Blessing!

# 13. 2018 Dev. Psalm 32:1. Easter Blessing! Read all of Ps. 32. 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 32:1 “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered”.

By the power of the Holy Spirit David understands God’s goal of bringing creation back to Himself. That is what Easter is all about; we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ whose name means: “He will save his people from their sins” (Mt.1:21). From my experience in missions and as a church planter, followers of Jesus do not readily admit being sinful. We are forgiven sinners, after all, but that forgiveness needs to be extended to us daily.

David in Ps.32 gives us an Easter message for today. He begins with describing the blessings of God when forgiven; sins are “covered” and do “not count against him” or her and “in whose spirit is no deceit” (vs.1,2).

The next section describes sins unacknowledged (deceit). When sin is unacknowledged to ourselves or to God it is like an illness within us, David warns. Denying one’s sins causes suffering and groaning from which there is no relief (vs. 3-4).

Yet, there is relief for us and for David; he acknowledges his sin and no longer covered it up, he confesses to the Lord “and you forgave me. Let every Godly person pray” to God and I add let every person pray to God “while you (He) may be found;” “ surely” God is our protection and “hiding place”. God’s faithfulness is our “song of deliverance” (vs.5-7).

God answers David’s prayer as He answers our prayers as well. God says: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” This is the comfort of Easter and is our assurance that we will share in the resurrection at God’s appointed time because “the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.” The Lord is risen! We respond; He has risen indeed! Praise be to God!

Prayer!

# 12. 2018 Dev. Eph.1:17. Prayer! Read verses 15-23. 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.

Ephesians 1:17 “ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[^f^] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better”.

There are prayers and excerpts of prayers in all of Paul’s books in the New Testament (look up: “A Complete list of the Apostle Paul’s Prayers in the Bible”) but this prayer is one of four significant prayers for the people he is writing to. (Eph. 1:17-19a, 3:16-19. Php. 1:9-11. Col.1:9b-12).

This prayer is a prayer every pastor, evangelist, church planter and church leader should be praying for the people of God. Further, this is a prayer every Christian should be praying for each other and a prayer from leaders and Christians alike for those who have not yet responded to Christ’s love! It is not a onetime prayer, I keep on praying, Paul writes. By the power of the Holy Spirit we respond to Christ, in the Spirit’s power we pray and when overwhelmed He prays for us (Ro.8:26-27).

What is Paul Praying for? “The Spirit of wisdom and revelation”, that the “eyes of our hearts” may see: “the hope to which we are called”, and share in “the riches of his glorious inheritance and his incomparable great power for us who believe”. This is what Christ intends for us living the Christian life, to know Him better. How easy it is to be overwhelmed with the problems of everyday living in this broken world. How easy it is to be encouraged by this prayer, pray it for others but not live it for ourselves. It takes two things to live out this prayer; Believe that this is God’s will for us, have FAITH! And living out our faith intentionally, knowing that God is in control of our lives as we look to him and serve Him. Thank you Lord Jesus for this “glorious inheritance” and for the power to live for you! Amen!

God’s Hands

# 11. 2018 Dev. Ps.31:5. God’s Hands! Read all of Ps.31. 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 31: 5 “Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God”.

Ps. 31 is an intense prayer for help and deliverance from opposition from friends and enemies alike. Verses 1 though 5 is the initial request for salvation and confirms again God’s faithfulness. “I have taken refuge in you, deliver me in your righteousness, you are my rock and my fortress”. Verse 5 was quoted by Jesus on the cross and by Stephen at his death, Acts 7:59. The Ps. certainly is about God’s care for his people during times of suffering and opposition at all times and places.

Verses 6-8 are summed up in: “I will be glad and rejoice in your love”. Verses 9-18 are the reasons for David prayer of which the seriousness of it is conveyed in v.13: “For I hear the slander of many; there is ‘terror on every side!’ They conspire against me and plot to take my life”.

Verses 19-24 is David’s praise for God’s love and for God’s care and David encourages God’s people to praise Him: “Love the Lord, be strong and take heart.” How do we read this Psalm and how is it applied to our lives today?

We read this Ps. in light of the New Testament, Jesus and Stephen’s quote and passages like I Pet. 4: 12-19 “Suffering for being Christian”. We completely trust God knowing that Satan uses people to discredit followers of Jesus. Along with Jesus we commit our spirit into God’s hands! Jesus committed His Spirit at His death so that we may live, we then commit our spirit into God’s hands at our death to ourselves and as a result we are kept alive for ever and ever. We are in a spiritual battle, “in you O Lord I (we) take refuge”, the only safe place for us, thank you Lord Jesus!

Spiritual Blessings

10. 2018 Dev. Eph. 1:3. Spiritual Blessings! Read verses 1-14. 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.

Ephesians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ”.

Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians with God’s will for him and addressing God’s holy people, “the faithful in Christ Jesus”. Paul is addressing us! The letter to the Ephesians is generally considered a circular letter meant for followers of Jesus wherever they are found. Paul here enlightens us with the divine purposes of God for those who follow Jesus and God’s divine purpose for the church. If you can, get your head around verse 4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight”. We are in God’s plan from forever to forever, simply put that means that everything that has happened or will happen to us in time and space is the result of God choosing us before creation. Predestined to be brothers and sisters of Jesus! Really?

How is it possible to be redeemed, forgiven, adopted as brothers and sisters “lavished, with all wisdom and understanding”! Neither Paul nor do we comprehend what is called “the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, —to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” By the power of the Spirit, in a mysterious way, we have responded to God’s choosing us before our birth. Suffice it to say that we are blessed to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves and that the church is so much bigger and more important than this present world! But then when we think about it, what is bigger than being chosen by God before He created the world? Praise be to God!

Rejoice!

# 9. 2018 Dev. Ps.30:5. Rejoice! Read all of Ps 30. 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 30:5 “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Ps. 30 is a song of praise for the dedication of the temple but also a time of healing for David. God’s eminence, David’s praise of God and his personal well being are inseparable from God in his life. The Psalm is probably connected to 1Ch.: 21,22, David gathering material for the building of the temple. The Psalm may have been used for the rebuilding of the second temple along with the Psalms of assent (Ps. 120-134).

Verses 1-3 Exalts God and praises Him for deliverance. Verses 4-5 is a call to praise God for his mercy and a call for rejoicing after a time of suffering and mourning. Verses 6-7 Is a discussion of God’s favor and God’s rejection. Verses 8-10 Is a rhetorical discussion of God’s disfavor and a request for mercy. Verses 11-12 Is God’s answer to David’s request; “wailing into dancing, from sackcloth to clothed with joy, singing from silence, praising God forever!”

This Psalm has become personal for my wife and I, cancer for both of us drove us into the depth and placed us in the pit. It looked like the end of life as we knew it but God brought us back from what at the time seemed like the “realm of the dead”. We know illness comes from Satan and when cancer hits it is because God has allowed it but it was hard to get our heads around God’s sovereignty. What it comes down to is faith, God’s plan is a good plan even when it involves cancer. We learned about faith! Our faith grew large! Our dependence on God takes on a new meaning! We thank God that we can say: “Weeping may stay for the night but rejoicing comes in the morning”. God “turned my (our) wailing into dancing…” Thanks be to God!

Do Good!

# 8 2018 Dev. Gal. 6:9-10. Do Good! Read Chapter 6. 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.

Galatians 6: 9-10 ^9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers”.

Paul has been admonishing the Galatians for their regression into the legalism of Jewish law. Now he tells us to do good. What kind of freedom is Paul talking about? True, doing good in order to earn salvation is a slavery more intense than the boundaries of Jewish law, one never knows if one have done enough. What Paul is talking about is living free in the power of the Holy Spirit, doing good out of thanksgiving and as our response to God’s salvation.

Paul starts out with the most difficult situation, the falling into sin of a fellow brother or sister. “Restore that person gently”, and know that you also may fall into sin. If churches and individuals would admit that we are all forgiven sinners and listen to Paul we would have a lot more members in churches and many more people in the family of God! Verse 7 says it all and we do well to listen: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”.

We are to do good to fellow Christians but also to all others. Doing good to people fulfills the law. Love God and love others is the summary of the law, Jesus tells us. We only are able to love to the extent we have received it; the love of Jesus sets the standard for doing good to others. Works aside, what matters is being the new creation we are in Christ, according to Paul. “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule…” Amen!

God’s Peace

# 7. 2018 Dev. Ps. :11. God’s Peace! Read all of Ps 29. 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 29:11 “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”

Ps. 29 is a hymn/prayer praising the God of creation and is the central theme of this series of Palms 25-33.

Verses 1, 2 is the introduction: “Ascribe to the Lord (attribute to the Lord) you heavenly beings. Later NIV translations, “O mighty ones”. David is calling all of God’s creation to stand in awe of the Lord (Yahweh) of His strength, His glory, His splendor and at His name.

Verses 3-9 is the main body of the Psalm. Here is described the most powerful events in nature attributed to the voice of the Lord. Massive thunderstorms and lightning strikes, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes and volcanic action. “And in his temple all cry ‘Glory”. We see these advents as “acts of God” as the conclusion indicates. Yet this raises serous questions.

What about about the damage to the earth, to personal property and death to people, is all that attributed to the voice of God? What about global warming?

We have had an unusual number of devastating storms this year, how do we come to grips with the reality of the damage? These are difficult questions but the answer is simple.

The first thing we must not forget is that God is sovereign, He has complete power and complete control over nature. The second thing we must not forget is that Satan is the one who brings misery to this earth and to people, he is hell bent on destroying what God has created. The third thing we must not forget is that God has control over Satan, he can do nothing without God’s permission. The fourth thing we must not forget is that God’s plans our not our plans, His purposes are not our purposes. Humans are not able to understand God’s ways but we do understand His love as expressed in His voice, the Son of God, Jesus Christ!

Therefore, we are able to understand the conclusion of this Psalm. Verses 10,11 “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever.The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” It is by faith that we know that God has a good plan for our lives and peace as He prepares us for service in heaven! Praise be to our Lord God!

“Walk by The Spirit”

# 6. 2018 Dev. Gal.5:16,17 “Walk by The Spirit”! Read verses 13-26. 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.

Galatians 5:16,17 “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.”

“The Galatians originated as a part of the great Celtic migration, which invaded Macedon, led by Brennus (278-277BC). But by the time Paul wrote this letter sometime between 48-51 AD Galatia was a province of Rome” (Wikipedia). Though influenced by Greek culture most people here were not Greek or Roman. With this letter Paul moved Christianity out of the influences of Judaism.

We summarize Paul’s intention in this letter:” It is by grace through faith that people are saved and it is by faith alone that they are to live out their new life in the freedom of the Spirit” (NIV). Freedom does not give us a right to live after the flesh and Paul graphically describes what God does not approve. Verses 19-21: sexual immorality, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred and jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, drunkenness, orgies and the like.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Paul tells us that “the entire law is summed up in a single command: “love your neighbor as yourself”. That is the boundary within which we freely live in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit in our earthly living is freedom, for real! Praise God!