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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