SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 12/9/2012 8:39:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Ps. 146:7-10
Message of
the verses: We will continue to look at the 146th
Psalm remembering what Dr. Wiersbe wrote at the end of his introductory
commentary on this psalm: “The author of
this psalm understood that God was not just a part of life but the heart of
life.”
Life
Means Loving God (vv.7-9): “7 Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free. 8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; The
LORD raises up those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous; 9 The LORD protects the strangers; He supports
the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked.”
1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved
us.” Now here are some verses that state
that God loves: “Husbands, love your
wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, (Eph.
5:25).” “"For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall
not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).”
“"Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their
descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great
power, (Deu. 4:37).” “But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us (Rom. 5:8).” “"I have
been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave
Himself up for me (Gal. 2:20).”
As we look at the verses from Psalm
146 we see things in them that Jesus Christ did while He was on the earth
demonstrating His love, for He opened the eyes of the blind, (John 9), He set
the prisoners free from sin by dying on the cross to pay for their sins.
When we looked at 1John 4:19 we saw
that the only way that we have the ability to truly love God and others is
because He first of all loved us. Let’s
look at some more verses from 1 John 4:
“20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he
is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot
love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that
the one who loves God should love his brother also.” John is saying that because God first loved
us we are to demonstrate that love, by loving others. Dr. Wiersbe writes, “if we truly love God, we
will love those who need God’s help and will do all we can to help them (1John
3:10-24; James 2:14-26). Living in love
means more than enjoying God’s love for us.
It also means sharing God’s love with others.”
Life Means Reigning with God (v.
10): “10 The LORD will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!”
There is a verse in the book of Ephesians that states, “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).” This verse states that believers are now seated with Christ in the heavenly places, and this has been a mystery to me, but I do believe it. John MacArthur writes the following from his study Bible: “The tense of ‘raised’ and ‘seated’ indicates that these are immediate and direct results of salvation. Now only is the believer dead to sin and alive to righteousness through Christ’s resurrection, but he also enjoys his Lord’s exaltation and shares in His preeminent glory. In the heavenly places: The supernatural realm where God reigns. In 3:10 and 6:12, however, it also refers to the supernatural sphere where Satan temporarily rules. This spiritual realm is where believers’ blessings are (cf. 1:3), THEIR INHERITANCE IS (1Pe. 1:4), their affections should be (Col. 3:3), and where they enjoy fellowship with the Lord. It is the realm from which all divine relations has come and where all praise and petitions go.”
Why is this important? Well we may think that the time when we begin
to reign with the Lord will be when we get to heaven, but the time when we
reign with Him has begun the moment that we have been saved. God uses believers to do His work on earth
and that means that we all have ministries to accomplish for the Lord, and that
is how we are reigning with Him here on earth.
The psalmist finishes this psalm by
telling us to Praise the Lord.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have
understood that I have a ministry for the Lord, to do work for Him that He has
planned for me in eternity past (Eph. 2:10), but it was not so clear that this
ministry meant reigning with Him. It is
good to learn things and to put them in to practice.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Contentment,
and to be transformed continue to be my steps of faith.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-8
11 Out of the depths I have cried to
You, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let
Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. 3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord,
who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness
with You, That You may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope. 6 My soul
waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than
the watchmen for the morning. 7 O
Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is lovingkindness, And with
Him is abundant redemption. 8 And He
will redeem Israel From all his iniquities.
12/9/2012 9:26:53 AM
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