This is the day.

Psalm 128:1 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.

2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.

5 The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.

6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

This is a very self explanatory passage (and the last one with the phrase we have been looking at in Psalms). Again the fear of the Lord is seen as a qualification for blessing. God loves each of His children, and He wants to bless them. Psalms gives us a good number of ways that we can be blessed in our lives. These last few weeks have shown me that God has a bountiful store of blessings simply waiting for those of His children who will truly sell out to Him. May God bless each of your lives richly, as you endeavor to know Him more.

Doxology


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Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

This is the day. for 6/29

Psalm 119:1 ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

Wow! The undefiled in the way. This is quite a statement. We need to keep ourselves undefiled, but it just seems so hard sometimes. Defilement comes from all directions, and bombards us on a daily basis. This is where verse two comes in. Keep His Word, and seek God, and walk in His Law. Doing these things will help us keep ourselves undefiled. God is good! A clean heart, and thought life will help us keep nearer to Him.

Draw Me Nearer


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I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Refrain

Draw me nearer, nearer blessèd Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessèd Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.

Refrain

O the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!

Refrain

There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.

Refrain

This is the day.

Psalm 118:26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.

I am told that Psalm 116-118 are Psalms about the coming of Christ to the earth in His incarnation. These songs would have been sung just before the Passover. It is highly possible that when Jesus "sung an hymn" after the Last Supper, that He was singing these Psalms. Whatever the case may be, Jesus was the greatest blessing to ever come in the name of the Lord. God the Son took the form of man, and the physical limitations of man (without sin), and came, in the name of the Lord, to become the Ultimate Sacrifice for the sins of the world. Many others have come in the name of the Lord, and have done mighty works for God, they are also blessed. I am talking about every preacher, teacher, missionary, personal worker, singer, and all the others that come in the name of the Lord to do His work, they are all blessed and a blessing. The most wonderful of all those who ever came in the name of the Lord, however, will always be Jesus Christ. Without Him the work of all the others would have been in vain. How fitting, here in the middle of the year, to take just this breif moment to reflect on the coming of Christ. He's not only the Christ of Christmas, He's the Christ of everyday. Praise His name. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

This is the day.

Psalm 112:1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
Psalm 112:2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

The fear of the Lord is part of being blessed. Yesterday's post was about verse one. Verse two continues the blessing. If you and I fear God, then those that follow us will be mighty upon the earth. The future generations upon whom we have had an influence because of our fear of God will be blessed and will be mighty because of our example. Have you and I ever really taken time to think about how much influence we have on future generations. One generation that serves God can influence five or six following generations, and one generation that does not follow Him can destroy just as many generations. I say with the Joshua of the Bible, "as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."


Faith of our fathers


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Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whenever we hear that glorious Word!
Refrain

Refrain:
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

Faith of our fathers, we will strive
To win all nations unto Thee;
And through the truth that comes from God,
We all shall then be truly free.

Refrain

Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife;
And preach Thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.

This is the day.

Psalm 112:1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

Two steps here to being blessed. First, fear the Lord! We live in a day and in a country (United States) where the fear of God is mocked and ridiculed. People say that there is no God, or refer to Him as the "man upstairs." The fear of God, however, is a very sensible thing. He has the power over your life and death. He has the power over Hell and the Devil. Those who mock Him will one day find themselves bowing to Him, and will wait on Him to seal their fate. Those who fear Him, on the other hand, will be blessed and receive the joy of living with God forever.

The second step is to delight in God's commandments, GREATLY! The Word of God, and the direction of God should be very precious to each of us. There are times in a Christian's life when we can get so close to God and feel the reality of his presence in our hearts and lives. What an awsome experience! Sometimes we may wonder if it is worth it to conform our lives to the standard set by God, but as the songwriter said, (yes, I do love Christian music by the way) "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

Look at Isaiah 36 and 37 for a description of the end of those who don't fear God.
I. Sneering at God and His people.
II. Sorrow of godly people because of mockery.
III. Supplication for punishment of the perpetrator.
IV. Slaughter of those that mock God.

This is the day.

Psalm 106:3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

Again we pick up the theme of being blessed. This time we find blessing in obedience. Keeping judgment is equated with keeping the law of God, or keeping God's Word. When we take our lives apart, and strive to make them line up with the Word of God, we find out that it is much easier to do right all the time. Yes, we still find ourselves slipping up, but it seems to happen much less frequently. Why is this? Well, the Word of God continually purifies our lives much like washing your hands keeps down germs. The next time we are faced with doing wrong "dirty" we find that we have "clean hands" and don't want to mess them up again. One of the keys to a successful life in any instances, but especially in Christianity is to obey what you are told to do.

TRUST AND OBEY

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Refrain

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

Refrain

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Refrain

This is the day.

Psalm 94:12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

Great verse! So often we think of being blessed as having only a smooth road, no bumps, no potholes, no mountains; only a straight smooth drive. This verse tells us that we are blessed if we are punished, and gives us the reason why. The chastening of God will teach us His law. Another reason I can think of that would show us we are blessed is the fact that God tells us that if we are without His chastisment we are not His sons. Yes, even in punishment the child of God is truly blessed.

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!


Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

EXTRA VERSES I HADN'T SEEN BEFORE.

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

This is the day. for 6/16

Psalm 84:12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
Psalm 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

84:12 Again we see that those who trust in God are blessed.(see earlier posts)

89:15 We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus Saves! Jesus Saves! Those who have "heard the joyful sound are truly blessed." The sound of His voice, the sound of His creation, and the beautiful music of the joy of His salvation in the hearts of His saints. Oh, What A Saviour, and what a great salvation! Those who are saved, walk in his light. God's face will shine on these people. Just think of how Moses changed when he had experienced the light of God, his own face shone so brightly that the people had him cover it. When you walk in the light of God, having know the joyful sound, folks will see a difference.

This is the day.

Psalm 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

What is my strength based on? So many people today put great stock in strength. Physical strength is hyped so much that people take great ammounts of harmful drugs to build themselves up. We pay "professionals" to help people acheive mental and emotional strength. Are these people truly strong in the end, though. Well, we can see here that God gives the kind of strength that brings blessing. We are told elsewhere in Psalms that our trust should not be in horses or chariots, but that it should be in the Lord. If only our nation and its people would again turn to the true source of strength, God, and realize His blessing through putting our trust in His strength.

Strong men who were weak.
I. Esau. He was a great hunter and an outdoors type of guy, but he trusted himself not God and was very weak in his decisions about life.
II. Samson. Probably the strongest man to ever walk the earth, and a man used mightily of God, yet he was weak in his vows to God, and his relationships with women. The latter lead to his death.
III. Saul. Head and shoulders above all of Israel, Saul 'slew his thousands,' yet his seeming cowardice under pressure (Goliath), and his rebellion and jealousy led him to an unhappy life, and lost the throne for his posterity.

This is the day. for 6/12

Psalm 84:4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

This verse causes me to think about eternal life. First of all it pronounces blessing on those who "dwell" in God's house. So man so-called Christians minimize the importance of God's house to the point that it simply becomes a social club, and a diversion if they become board. The statements, "Well I guess I should go." or "I don't have anything else to do." characterize their church attendance. Dwelling is being there on a consistant basis.

The second part of the verse is great. They will still be praising Him. It is wonderful to be allowed to praise God. The statement will still makes me think about how we will be praising Him for eternity. The false prophet and the antichrist will be cast into the lake of fire, Hallelujah. The devil and all of his host of demons will be burning for ever in the torments prepared for them, Amen. Every man, woman, boy, and girl who rejected Christ will be eternally separated from God in darkness and punishment, Oh my. Yet, we the blood-washed, born-again, saved children of God "will still be praising Him." What a Great, Mighty, God that we serve!

This is the day. for 6/11

Psalm 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

This reminds me of Esther. When she came to approach the king with her request, she had to be accepted by him or else she would die. Her approach to this great monarch must, of necessity, be in fear and trembling.

God is the greatest of all kings. Sometimes we get the idea that we can non-chalantly approach Him, and He must hear us. We pray with an almost cocky attitude, and very little respect. The Psalmist says that the Lord chooses whom He will, and allows whom He will to come close to Him. If any of us have a close relationship with God it is not because of our merit. It is because God chooses to allow us to approach Him.

How wonderful it is, when you have a close relationship with God, to be able to go to His house. What a great level of satisfaction we can have with the goodnes of that place. Truly we can say, "The Lord is Good", and "I am Blessed"

This is the day. for 6/10

Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

So many things in our lives bog us down, and seem to get us into a corner where defeat is all but inevitable. Yet, God gives us a remedy for these times in the Psalms that we have been observing. The last post was about how to be blessed by not considering others and their ways, this post is about considering others. We have a tendancy as humans and especially as Americans to be inconsiderate of the poor. We seldom realize that, even though we are not wealthy in terms of many of those around us, we have wealth that is unimaginable to most of the people around the world. So many in other countries are struggling every day just to be able to eat enough food to sustain life. God says to consider these people. Probably one of the moste important things about thinking about others is that we get our thoughts off of ourselves for a while. Take some time to consider someone less fortunate than you, and remember that as a Christian, every sinner that you know is a spiritual pauper.

Poor people in the Bible who were richer than some thougt.
I. The widow who cast in the two mites. Jesus commended her actions.
II. Lazarus. He was a beggar, but he was going to Heaven.
III. Jesus Christ. Though He lived the life of a poor servant, He is the King of Kings.

This is the day.

Psalm 40:4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

It is wonderful to see the patterns in the Bible sometimes! The theme of being blessed because you trust in the Lord, has run through these passages, and, of course is the first step to leading a blessed life.
In this verse we see some more ingredients to a blessed life. The first mentioned here is not respecting the proud. So many people today are puffed up and boastful about what they have done, or their accomplishments. Sometimes, it is easy to begin to admire or possibly even emulate a proud person because they have a certain position, or are wealthy. Several other places in the Bible we are told that pride is wrong, and that the only One we should be actively involved in advancing is Jesus Christ.
Second, we see here that the blessed person is not to respect someone who tells lies. Many people hate those who lie, and often when giving an excuse for not accepting Christ people will say, "I'm pretty good, at least I don't lie." God says for us to keep clear of those who are given to lying. Perhaps one of the most subtile forms of lying is gossip, for often gossip includes only partial truth molded into a form that sounds true. The Blessed man will endeavour to avoid all types of lying, at all costs.

2 Examples in the Bible of how God dealt with pride and lying.
I. Nebuchadnezzar--King of Babylon--God took this proud man and made him live for seven years like an animal, going on all fours, and eating grass to break his pride. Daniel 4:29-37
II. Annanias and Sapphira--Christians in Acts--God struck this husband and wife dead for lying to Him and the church about money. Acts 5:1-11

This is the day.

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Truly the Lord is good. It is of interest to see that the Psalmist says taste and see that He is good. Two of our keenest senses are our taste and our sight. The taste of the Lord's goodness that we get is through eating of His Word. We can see His goodness in the world around us, and in our own lives.

The Bible says we are blessed if we put our trust in Him. How can we go for so long, seeing the Lord's goodness to all of those around us, and in our own lives, and not put our trust in Him. Truly, humans can be very stupid beings. God is good, and there is no one in whom you can put your trust that will give greater rewards and be more faithful than Him.

God is good.
I. He makes the sun and rain to shine and fall on both the wicked and the righteous.
II. He gives each one of us numerous chances to accept His way of salvation.
III. He provides for even the sparrow, and the grass of the field.
IV. He has given the ultimate remedy for the sin of the world, and all any of us has to do is accept it. (The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sin.)

This is the day.

Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Amen! On May 31, 2001, God forgave my transgression, and covered my sin with the Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Oh, what a wonderful day that was in my life, the burden rolled away, my night was turned today, when Jesus came into my heart. Oh how blessed the saved person truly is! If the unsaved world only knew the joy, and the jubilation that is given to the child of God. Look at how the people of God were so greatly blessed throughout the Bible. Noah was saved from the Flood, Abraham was cared for by God and given a son in his old age, the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years and ate and drank every day with their clothes never wearing out, and on and on it goes. God always provides for His own. The Psalmist proclaimed that he had never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. What a wonderful position to be blessed of God, and have your transgression forgiven, and your sin covered.

Psalm 32:1 (Blessing in forgiveness)
I. God forgives all your sins when He saves you. (You don't have to keep up the payments, you are totally forgiven)
II. God forgets all of your sins when He saves you. Isaiah 43:24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
III. God covers your sin with Jesus' blood.

A great commentary passage on this verse is Romans 4.

This is the day.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Thinking again about being blessed, we find another reason that people are blessed in Psalm 2. Those people who are truly blessed, have put their trust in God's Son.
Often we hear some of the "old timers" say, "God has really blessed me." They are often talking about their measure of good health, or the fact that they have so many things around them that they have hoarded and stored up over the years, sometimes they are speaking of the ammount of money they have in the bank. Looking at their lives, and their attitudes, though, often reveals a contradiction. They have no real testimony of having given their hearts and lives to God. They don't seem to have a personal relationship with God. They change the subject when you ask them if they are saved, or give you the famous "I hope so." This is not only older people, but extends to a great majority of people today. They tell me God is blessing them, but they don't even know Him. Psalm 2 tells us that all those who put their trust in the Saviour are blessed. Prosperity is not a measure of blessing. Many heathen kings and cheiftans have been very rich, but did not know God. The key to being blessed is putting your trust in God's Son.

Psalm 2:12 (Blessings through the Son.)
I. Have a personal relationship with Him. (At least in our Western Culture, you don't kiss someone you don't know.)
II. Fear Him. (The warning in this passage is to try to keep from experiencing the Son's anger.)
III. Put your trust in Him. (This is the way to accomplish the other two points. When you completely put your Trust in the Son of God, you become God's Son, thereby establishing a personal relationship with him, and no longer have face His fierce wrath.)

This is the day.

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

I had been thinking about being blessed, and decided to go through the next several devotions looking at what Psalms gives as the characteristics of a blessed individual.
Webster's 1828 dictionary gives us these definitions for blessed:
blessed
BLESS'ED, pp. Made happy or prosperous; extolled; pronounced happy.
BLESS'ED, a. Happy; prosperous in worldly affairs; enjoying spiritual happiness and the favor of God; enjoying heavenly felicity.
Here we see that blessed really simply means happy. In today's world so few people are happy, and so many seek happiness. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the unhappy people in the world would just follow the Bible method of having happiness!

Psalm 1 shows us a threefold recipe for being a blessed person.
First, don't walk in the cousel of those who do not know God (or act like they don't know Him). This is sound advice. We are warned throughout the Bible to follow good counsel. Our counselors should never be unsaved or backslidden people. We should always desire to seek godly counsel.
Second, don't stand in the way (align yourself with) sinners. Wisely choose those who you allow to be your friends. Don't seek an intimate realationship with someone who is an unsaved person.
Third, don't sit in the seat of the scornful. Don't have a scornful, mocking attitude toward others. The world is full of "wise guys" who think it their duty to ridicule others and make them feel bad. If you want to be blessed, stay away from those people, and watch your own attitude to make sure YOU are not a "wise guy."

Biblical examples of these principles.
I. Rehoboam's foolish counselors led him to the decision that divided his kingdom. 2 Chronicles 10. On the other hand, Hushai counselled Absolom in a way that saved king David, but really was against what Absalom wanted. 2 Samuel 15 and 16. Beware of who your counselors are!
II. The Bible is full of examples of breaking down the barrier of separation in relationships. One example that comes to mind here is a romantic relationship, that of Samson and Delilah. Judges 16. Oh, how foolish we Christians are to not maintain separation.
III. Again, the Bible records many who mocked the people of God or the things of God. Just remember the children in the Bible who mocked Elisha in 2 Kings 2, God does not take the scorning of his people lightly, another example is Rabshakeh in Isaiah 36, here we find that God does not take the mocking of himself lightly either. We should be careful not to become scornful.