David had seen earthly kingdoms rise and fall in his lifetime. But this Psalm of praise he wrote exalted God for His limitless Kingdom…continuing from the ancient past into the infinite future. David was celebrating God’s sovereignty…His reign over all things…and the eternal scope of His rule. And we also praise You, God, today for Your faithfulness… for kingdoms will rise and fall…but Your Heavenly Kingdom is without end. Amen.
Tag: inspirational daily devotional
II John 6 ” And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.”
To walk in love means that the love of God has become so ingrained in you that it has become part of your personality. I come from a long line of stoic German farmers who are not huggers, so when I became a Nurse, I had to train myself to touch people…sometimes in very intimate ways, in potentially embarrassing procedures. And over the years, showing compassion and God’s love through touch just became part of me. We all need to determine to walk in love. To respect rather than disregard…to forgive rather than condemn…to show mercy rather than harshness…to be kind rather than cruel.
Psalm 25:4-5 “Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.”
Make Yourself known to me, Lord. Instruct me in Your ways… for only You are the source of all truth. As it says in Job 34:32, ” Teach me what I can not see.” For my hope and my life is in You. Amen.
Mark 4:20 ” Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the Word, accept it, and produce a crop – thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
Again we’re looking at the Parable of the Sower in this verse. The seed has been sown on good, fertile soil and has not only sprung up readily, but is bearing fruit. Our Christian walk is not a stagnant journey where we accept the Lord and never grow beyond the “Baby Christian” stage. We need a fruitful heart – a receptive, responsive heart willing to learn and grow. For the Lord wants us to be ever enlarging…ever growing…ever increasing…ever becoming more like Him.
Mark 4:18-19 ” Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the Word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word, making it unfruitful.”
In the Parable of the Sower, the seed (the Word of God) is sown among the thorns…obstructing its growth. When as a Believer, we don’t see fruit in our lives, we need to be asking ourselves – “What’s distracting me from God’s plan and purpose in my life?” The world’s frenzy is enough to distract us from what really matters, so we need to prioritize everything by these categories: God first, family next, world last. Distracted faith is as bad a luke-warm faith…it’s a unfruitful faith that God can’t use.
Mark 4:16-17 ” Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the Word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word they quickly fall away.”
In these verses from the Parable of the Sower we see the Word of God being sown over rocky ground. The plants spring up, but because they have no adequate root system, they die off quickly. In the Amplified Version of the Bible it gives us insight into this shallow faith. It states in Mark 4:17, ” And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away.” So how can we pray for this person? They have to go deeper. In I Timothy 3:9 it talks about keeping ahold of the deep truths of the faith…the divine secrets, revealed truths, and revelations from God. To move from shallow faith to a vibrant and intimate relationship with the Lord, a person has to go deeper with God…allowing Him to speak to them through the Scriptures, revealing important truths to them. And with these new revelations, they are then able to send roots of trust down deep.
Mark 4:15 ” Some people are like seed along the path, where the Word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the Word that was sown in them.”
This is from the Parable of the Sower, where the farmer sows the Word…the Logos…the Word of God, onto a hard-packed path. The seed just sits on top of the surface, unable to germinate and grow because of the hardpan – the unbroken subsoil beneath. To have a hardened heart towards the Gospel is to have an indifference towards the things of God…or to have an unfeeling conscience. So how can we pray for that person? We can ask the Lord to plow up that hard soil of rebellion in their life… that the Word of God may germinate and flourish there.
John 5:39 ” You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.”
Jesus Christ can be found on each page of the Bible. So as we read, we need to be continually asking…”How does this Scripture point me to You Lord?” By personalizing the Scriptures like this…reading the Bible will never become a dry and boring ordeal we just tolerate, but rather an ever new and exciting adventure of discovery.
Luke 19:8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ “
When we compare the actions of Zacchaeus and the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-22 we can see quite a contrast. Where Zacchaeus spontaneously offered to donate his great wealth to the needy…the rich young ruler, when challenged by Jesus to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor, left unwilling. True repentance changes us from the inside out. It transforms our heart, causing us to alter our actions and way of thinking to that of Christ’s.
Psalm 88:18 ” You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend.”
I’ve seen this first hand with my elderly parents the past year. Almost weekly, a close friend, neighbor or acquaintance dies…usually from old age, but that still doesn’t lessen the blow of their passing. Even though death and dying is a part of life, we still mourn and experience sadness in our loss. The Psalmist here is lamenting to God that his friends, parents, or maybe children are gone…leaving him in a very dark place in his life. We all at sometime in our lives will feel just like this Psalmist…grappling with the loneliness and sorrow of losing loved ones. And that’s OK. Giving ourselves permission to grieve is a healthy and vital part of the grieving process. It’s OK also to feel lonely. That person we’ve known so well has left, and what remains is a void…a gapping hole in our heart of palatable sadness. It’s at that time that cherished memories help to bridge the chasm of grief. Sharing those memories with others is also a way of slowly moving out of that dark place into the light. For God knows exactly how you feel…He understands your pain…you may feel lonely, but with Him, you’ll never be alone.
Safetypinlove 