SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 8/23/2012 7:10:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
117 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Psalm 117:1b
Message
of the verses: In yesterday’s SD we
began to look at the shortest psalm in all of Scripture by looking at the first
section of the first verse. Psalm 117
has the middle verse in the entire Bible, and is also the shortest book in the
entire Bible. Dr. Wiersbe writes the
following at the end of his introduction to this psalm, “A proper understanding
of this psalm will help us appreciate at least four privileges that belong to
God’s people.”
Sharing
the Gospel (v. 1b): “All nations;
Laud Him, all peoples!” “Praise him, all
you people of the earth.” (NLT)
It seems that the NLT has the better
translation when it says “all you people of the earth,” for that is more of
what the Hebrew means here. This can
refer to all the Gentile nations, those who are not of Semitic origin. This term can be seen in Revelations 7:9, “After
these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm
branches were in their hands.” (Italics
added) (This verse speaks of those
saints who had been killed in the tribulation period for the cause of Christ.)
We see the term “all peoples) in the
following psalms (47:1; 66:1; 96:1; 98:4, 7; 100:1).
The people of Israel were to be
separate from the Gentile nations, but they were not to be isolated from them,
for when we read in the book of Genesis that God called Abraham to begin a
nation that would bring blessing to all the earth (Gen. 12:1-3; Rom 4:17-18;
Gal 3:8). We know from reading the
Scriptures that for the most part Israel failed to take the message of God’s
love and salvation to a hurting world, but it was through the Jewish nation that
the Word of God was written and it was through the Jewish nation that Jesus
Christ who came to die on the cross for all those who will accept Him as Lord
and Savior. We read in John 4:22 that
Jesus said that salvation was of the Jews, and that is certainly a true
statement because salvation comes through the Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
We not live in the age of the Church
and we need to pass the truth along to those whom God brings into our lives,
and one of the ways that we can do this is through love. At this time I want to quote from a book that
was written in 1960 by a man who worked for the Moody Bible Institute, and is
about the leadership of D. L. Moody. I
have to say that the Moody Bible Institute has been a very important part of my
spiritual life, from listening to one of their radio stations, to going to
Chicago to visit MBI and attending many of their Founders Weeks. D. L. Moody is a man who did not have a
formal education, but had a love for the Lord that knew no bounds. The portion that I want to quote speaks of
God’s love, and after reading it last night before going to bed I became
convicted that this kind of love that Moody had was something that I needed
more of and since it goes along with “Sharing the Gospel” I thought it would be
good to add it to this SD.
“GOD LOVED the world when it was
full of sinners and those who broke His law.
If He did so, can’t we do it, and love our fellowmen? If the Saviour could die for the world, can’t
we work for it? … The churches would soon be filled if outsiders could find
that people in them loved them when they came, and if the elders and deacons
were glad to see them and were ready to take them by the hand and welcome
them. Such things would draw
sinners. Actions like these speak louder
than words. We do not want to talk of love
and not show it in our deeds; we want something more than tongue love.” (Moody To
All People pg. 56) Quoted from D. L. Moody On Spiritual Leadership by
Steve Miller)
The following was found written in
Moody’s Bible and was His Creed:
“Do all the good you can,
To all the people you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the places you can,
As long as ever you can.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Jesus
said to His disciples “If you love me keep my commandments,” and this is a
tangible way of demonstrating our love for my Lord, and one of the ways of
doing this is to love others as He loves them.
When we think about the two greatest commandments in Scripture we find
that both of them involve love, loving the Lord and loving your neighbors. I see the cross formed in these two verses,
for the vertical beam is loving the Lord and the horizontal beam is loving your
neighbor.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Loving the Lord and loving my neighbor.
Memory
verses for the week: 2Peter 1:8-11
8 For if these qualities are yours and are
increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten
his purification from his former sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about
His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things you will
never stumble, 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
8/23/2012
8:13:28 AM
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