Devotion Acts 13:32-37 A Tailor Made Suit For One
Acts 13:32-37 – “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
“‘You are my son; today I have become your father.’ 34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ 35 So it is also stated elsewhere: “‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’ 36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
““We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: “‘You are my son; today I have become your father.’” What Paul told those listening to him is the same message that we tell to the uninformed. We tell them that since the fall of mankind God has been revealing to all people that He, who created all people, loves them and would provide a way back to being in communion with Him.
Paul refers to Psalm 2:7 – I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. This verse is used by cults and false religions to, in error, claim to show that Jesus is a created being and not an eternal member of the triune God. However the error is in absence of understanding. I. Howard Marshall in his commentary on the Book of Acts (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) explains “…this refers to the way in which God legitimates the king as his son, in the same way as a father would accept his wife’s child as being really his son and so promise him loving care and protection; the ideas of begetting is purely metaphorical.” Jesus was always the Son, before the incarnation, during His time on earth, and for all eternity. It was not at any point that Jesus became something that He was not or that His person or identity changed, it was that the Lord revealed the identity of Jesus as being his very own. God proudly told the world “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) When each of my sons were born, as soon as I could I carried them into the night and under the stars I held up my sons above my head. I professed to God and to all of creation that God had given me a son. I wanted the universe to know that I had been given sons. I held them up high and said (both times) with great thankfulness, humility and fatherly pride “I have a son!” My heart swelled with love and joy. God told the world that Jesus, who would be an offering for the sins of the world, was His Son, and that Jesus would reveal the greatness of God’s love and unlimited power to accomplish our salvation through the blood of His Son. A most worthy offering for a most unworthy world.
“God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ 35 So it is also stated elsewhere: “‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’ 36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.” These verses are very clearly speaking of a descendant of David, which Jesus was, and not David Himself. For David died and the Jews knew where he was buried. David, though a treasure of Israel and a beloved servant of God, died and his body decayed, as do the bodies of all people naturally do. However, the body of Jesus did not stay dead. In three days, as Jesus said would happen, He came back to life by the power of God. 2 Samuel 7:16 was speaking of the Messiah “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” These words were spoken by Nathan the prophet to David, but we know that David and Solomon died. So this verse, when speaking of the “Holy One” was not speaking of them, or any of his descendants who lived and died. The only one that this could be said of is Jesus, whose earthly body did die but did not see decay because He rose from the dead in three days. Therefore the Kingdom of Jesus, as Messiah, is one that He will never lose due to dying and thereby losing. Pastor Greg Laurie often says that he has never seen a U-Haul trailer being towed by a hearse to the graveyard to be buried with the deceased. When we die, we lose all earthly possessions, or they are passed on to the living. Jesus did die, but He rose from the dead and all that was given to Him by the Father still belongs to Him. His Kingdom, spiritual and the physical one to come, are His and cannot be lost or taken. Again let us strengthen ourselves with the Word that declares “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8) Jesus indeed rose from the dead and revealed Himself as the prophesied Savior. He did it in front of witnesses and that is an undeniable fact.
What Paul spoke of that day is the reason for our confident declaration that Jesus alone is the Savior of the world. Praise God! Let’s, like Paul and the rich history of believers before us, tell the world that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and in Him alone is eternal salvation and satisfaction. Thank You Jesus! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:30-31 The Very Provable Resurrection
Acts 13:30-31 – But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
“But God raised him from the dead.” Matthew 28:1-20 and other verses attest to the resurrection of Christ. Outside of the Bible there are other historians such as Flavius Josephus, Cornelius Tacitus, Lucian of Samosata, Maimonides and the Jewish Sanhedrin themselves that corroborate the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Sir Lionel Luckhoo of Guinness Book of World Records fame was a highly successful lawyer who defended two hundred forty-five consecutive cases that ended in acquittals. Certainly knew what was good evidence and what was not. He wrote “I have spent more than forty-two years as a defense trial lawyer in many parts of the world and am still in active practice. I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trial and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.” Wow.
Josh McDowell was a self-described agnostic who set out to disprove Christianity. He delved into the extant historical records, biblical and non-biblical and his disbelief and hatred of Christianity was eroded by the facts he found and he wrote the world renown book “Evidence That Demands A Verdict.”
Lee Strobel (Former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune) and J. Warner Wallace (Torrance, CA police detective in the Cold-Case Unit) are two others who were not believers but who became believers after setting out to prove that Christianity was not true. They both had an extremen anti-Christianity bias. However the evidence led them to dropping on their knees before Jesus. Lee Strobel utilized his legal expertise to write “The Case For Christ” and J. Warner Wallace wrote “Cold Case Christianity in which he applied his considerable forensic expertise. The books of McDowell, Strobel and Wallace present overwhelming evidence of the resurrection of Jesus.
The Resurrection of Jesus is important for many reasons but let us understand that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then we have no hope (1 Corinthians 15:14). If He did not rise from the dead then He was a liar (John 2:19, John 10:17-18). He said he would rise from the dead and so for Him to be the Lamb without sin who died for the world (John 1:29), the pure and spotless One from God, He had to rise from the dead. If He did not, then He would have been just another deluded man like the magician Harry Houdini, or worse, a liar. Praise God that Jesus did rise from the dead, that He was and is exactly who He said He was, and that He is the one who leads the way to be born from the dead so that we can live forever with God (1 Corinthians 15:20). Praise the Lord! Praise God!
“and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.” The Apostles and Disciples of Jesus preached and taught in a time when people who had seen, heard and heard of Jesus were still alive. If what the Apostles and Disciples taught was wrong they could have come forward and declared, as eye-witnesses, a lie. They could have stood in numbers of hundreds and even thousands against what was being taught. But they could not. The Truth was still too well know. The number of witnesses for the validity of the Gospel was overwhelming.
Family we stand on the Truth whose Author and Defender of it is God Himself. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s Word to us. We must know The Truth. If we know the Truth then when a lie comes we will recognize it because it is not The Truth. Let us every day know God and His Word evermore so that the lies of the enemy will not hurt us. God has given us a defense for our faith, and the defense is also meant for offense (Ephesians 6:10-17) against the gates of hell that cannot withstand Spirit filled, Bible believing and knowing Christians (Matthew 16:18). Jesus rose from the dead. We know it because the Bible tells us so and what we know that it is also supported by many non-biblical facts. Yes facts. We securely stand on the firm foundation that is Jesus, the Son of God, God in the Flesh who is our loving and faithful Savior. Praise God the Father! Thank you Jesus! Thank you Holy Spirit! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Hebrews 11:1 We See Him
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Having faith in God. Not faith in faith, which profits little if at all, but faith in God. Faith in God is a firm conviction. This firm conviction is that He watches over us and blesses us. That He will do as He said He will do. The cornerstone of what we hope He will do is to bring us home with Him and to live with God Almighty in sight. Our faith, our firm conviction is stronger than a mountain of solid rock, more sure than the existence of the universe, and more everlasting than all of creation. This sure belief cannot be pulled from us because it has become rooted and intertwined with every part of who we are. Faith surrounds and brings to life every single part of the essence and reality of us. To suppose that faith could be removed from us is to suppose that one could remove our heart and brain and we could continue to be ourselves.
We have faith in God. Not because of what He does, but because of who He is. We had known of Him and now we know Him. We know that He is a righteous and holy God and that He does not change. We have faith in God not because of what He does. Sometimes we have in faith in God though we don’t at all know why He is doing what He is doing. We don’t love God because of what He does but because of who He is. None of us can say from one day to the next, or one moment to the next, what God will bring about. What we can know from one day to the next, or one moment to the next, is who God is and that He will never change. Therefore, what our faith holds onto is knowing who God is, what His intrinsic nature is, and not in what He does. Now, we can, knowing Him, have peace that He is God and there is none other like Him and that, whatever happens we know that we never lose our biggest prize, our eternal life with Him. Too often it is easy to base our faith on what happens. Rather our faith is permanently attached to Him because of who He is, not because of what He does because mostly, we don’t understand what He is doing. Simply, we have faith in Him because we know Him. We know Him because we have faith in Him. He makes that work.
This faith is the substance of things hoped for. God has made it so that the just (those justified by God through the blood of Jesus) are justified solely by faith in God (Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:8). Faith is the substance upon that which we hope for. It is the foundation of the hopes we have because we have hope only because we know that God is good and He rewards and keeps those who have sought Him. We seek Him for two reasons. One because we believe that He exists and also because we believe that He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). God has given us much physical evidence that He exists. Only a person who has refused to believe what is beyond denial would believe that God does not exist. No matter what such a person states, no matter how seemingly scholarly, we must know that such a person has ulterior motives, and not any proof, to say that there is no God. There never has been, and there never will be proof that God does not exist. It’s impossible to prove. Only an omniscient being could even attempt to prove that. The universe, our earth, and even ourselves are all proofs of the existence of God. There is no such thing as not knowing that God exists, there is only refusing to know that God exists. God have mercy on those who teach children that He does not exist. That teaching comes from hell.
Our faith, our firm conviction that God exists and our conviction of who He is, is the only reason we can have hope that all that He has promised us is true. God is the reason we have hope. Should an eternal soul remain dead and never be regenerated by God (John 3:18) and thereby end up in hell, that is where hope dies. Hope dies because forevermore, without cease or reprieve, that soul will remain eternally separated from God. Forever the condition is final and never changeable. Since they are eternally without God, they have nothing to hope on, nothing to have faith in. Without God their remains nothing and no one to have faith in and with no one to have faith in, there is no more hope. In hell is the first time in any person’s life that one will truly be without hope, and forever so. But for all the living, for all of us, there is reason for hope and that hope comes from a sure knowledge of God that brings our faith to life and our faith to undefeatable strength.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. We are blessed because we believe in a physically unseen Savior and God (John 20:29). Not that He is incapable of being seen. We who know Him have seen Him and do see Him. We see Him with spiritual eyes. We see Him with spiritual understanding. We see Him because His Holy Spirit lives within testifying of Him and bringing His Word alive to us. The unredeemed assert that we cannot see God. That is not true. It is true that they refuse to see God and so cannot see God, but we can see God. The evidence of God surrounds us and lives within us. Oh, we see God because we belong to Jesus and we see and understand things that the unredeemed cannot (1 Corinthians 2:5-16). Faith is the essence of our walk in and with God (Romans 1:17). With a renewed mind and heart we see by the Spirit what those who see only with physical eyes cannot see. We too must learn how to live, to walk and to see by faith and not by physical sight. We see eternal truth not so much by physical eyes as by walking with and in the Spirit, by holding His hand as He walks us along our paths and reveals the mystery and beauty of God to us.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” God is not real, is not knowable and cannot be seen by those who refuse to come to the light to see and to be seen (John 3:20). However, we who do believe, who do walk by faith and not by sight, do see God. To us God is more real than any person, place or thing on this earth. We may visit a place and never see it again. We may have fast friends one day and the next day be separated never to be reunited. We say goodnight to friends and we go to our own homes. Even if we see them the next day, they were separated from us throughout the night. Now who is more real? Is it the person whom we see now but not always? Is it the person who cannot always be beside us? No, the greatest reality is God! It is He who lives within and never leaves us and will be with us now and forever. God is more real to me than any other person who is with me today and maybe never again. He is more real to me than any mountain that could be here today and gone tomorrow. We see God. We know God. God draws us by faith, reveals Himself by faith, and keeps us by faith. By faith we see God. Not in some mystical but not real way. We see God who has revealed Himself to us because we belong to Jesus. We see God. I truly hope and pray that all of you do. Praise our seen God! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:26-29 He Knew Beforehand
Acts 13:26-31 – “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.
“Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.” Paul wrote Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” It is right and proper that God sent Jesus first to the Jews. Though the promise of salvation is to all, and though Jesus died for all, it was the Jews whom God used to reveal Himself to the World and to be the keeper of the Holy Scriptures. They, with holy dedication kept and protected the Word. So Paul gives the Jews due deference. In this acknowledgement to the Hebrews, the Gentiles are not slighted. It is best to focus on the fact that all Gentiles are included in the offer.
“The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.” Besides the scriptures that foretold the coming of the Messiah, there were also scriptures that foretold the rejecting of Him. Psalm 118:22 “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;” Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.” It is no surprise that He was rejected. As always, God who knows the hearts and minds of men and can use them to bring about His will for our benefit. He used the hard hearts of the Jews. Let us remember that then, as now, not all Jewish hearts were against Jesus. Many then, and now, love and follow Him. Praise God! So beautiful! Praise God!
“Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.” Isaiah 53:7-8 “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished.” God, being omniscient, is never surprised. As previously stated, He used the sin in their hearts to accomplish His will. He did not make them do it, but He knew what they would do. Jesus gave a parable about how a vineyard owner kept trying to get the rent from a his tenants. Instead they beat and killed all sent messengers, and even killed his son. This was a parable about how the Jews would rebel against all messengers that God sent to them and it would culminate with them rejecting and killing His Son. We should have no doubt that Jesus was talking about the Jews and what they would do to Him. The Jews didn’t (Mark 12:1-12).
“When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.” We see that Jesus, after His death on the cross (for our sins) was laid in a tomb (John 19:38-42, Matthew 27:57-60). The fact that Jesus lived and was crucified is also verified by non-Christian documentation. An ancient Greek historian named Thallus wrote (about 52 AD) of Jesus that He lived, that He was crucified and that just before He died, from noon till 3:00, darkness came over all the land (Matthew 27:45-50). Thallus confirmed the life of Jesus, the darkness and his death. Later, about 221 AD, early church historian Julius Africanus quotes Thallus. To see more non-Christian references of some biblical truths please see an article by J. Warner Wallace: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-there-any-evidence-for-jesus-outside-the-bible/
Our All-Knowing God, who knows the hearts and thoughts of every person, uses even the acts of the evil to bring about good for man and praise to Him, just as Joseph said (Genesis 50:20). They become unwitting participants. The Jews, even though they knew the scriptures, were hard of heart and the Lord used that to bring about His will. God never permits evil, but He knows everything and so He can use anything for His purpose. Paul is showing, from the history of the Hebrews and from the written Word that Jesus was the Messiah. All the evidence is still available to all. There is no better evidence to any person than the Word of God revealed to us by His Holy Spirit. Praise God who had and has everything planned out and also praise God that it will work out exactly as He said. Exactly. Jesus will come back for His own. Doers of evil will find their home in the eternal Lake of Fire. Lovers of Jesus, will find eternal comfort, peace and love with God Almighty. What a wonderful future we have. What a wonderful present, in Jesus, we have. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:23-25 The Messiah Is Coming Back
Acts 13:23-25 – “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
“From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.” David is the man being referred to. It was promised that through his descendants the Savior would come (2 Samuel 7:11b-16, Psalm 27:29, 36, Psalm 132:11, 17). Paul has declared that Jesus had the lineage of David that was required to be the Savior (See also Matthew 1:2-17).
As these verses reveal, the One who fulfilled all the prophecies about David’s descendant would be the Savior, as Paul calls Jesus here. Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise to David.
“Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.” We can see from this verse that it was apparent to Paul that even these people who were so hard to reach had heard of John the Baptist. It was well known that John was known by many as a prophet. He was the first prophet since Malachi who prophesied four hundred years earlier. Among the Hebrews, those hungry for the Lord were aware and desiring the blessing of hearing from God again. John was highly regarded.
Isaiah 40:3-5 revealed that one would come and who would “prepare the way” the way for the Messiah. There would come a prophet who would herald the imminent coming of the Messiah and preach that everyone should prepare their hearts to receive Him. John preached that to prepare their hearts they needed to repent of their sins and to be baptized in acknowledgement of their sins and of their desire to turn from them. John preached repentance to everyone so they would be ready for the imminent coming of the Savior. He preached that to “all the people of Israel.” Therefore we see that John the Baptist was heard of throughout Israel. Even Herod the King, who wanted to kill John, was afraid to do so because he knew the Hebrew people considered John a prophet (Matthew 14:5).
“As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’” Another example of how highly John was regarded and how obvious it was to the people that ee was a prophet is that he was continuously asked if He was the expected Messiah. His answer was always that he was not. He emphatically declared it by saying that not only was he not the Savior but that the Savior was so far above him that John was not even fit to untie his sandal.
Paul begins by declaring that the Messiah that the Jews were expecting to come, one of David’s descendants, was in fact Jesus Christ. Then, because of the veneration for John, Paul made it clear that John was not the Messiah and that being so by his own words. John was the one who was prophesied to come and to let the people know the Messiah was coming and to prepare themselves to receive Him. He emphatically and undeniably told and repeated to the people that Messiah is far above him. After all, the Jews knew that their Messiah would be God Himself. They have always looked to God as their Messiah and to no other (Isaiah 43:11). This is a firm statement of the deity of Messiah Jesus.
Our calling is the same as was the calling of John the Baptist. We are to do the works of God, we must proclaim the Gospel wherever we are, and we are not to allow people look upon us as if we are something. Rather we preach the Word and if God uses us to do a miraculous healing or physical miracle, then we instantly and always point to God and say it is He, and only He, that deserves all praise and credit for the moving of His Holy Spirit, the power of His Word and the signs He are His doing. We call people to yield to God through Jesus. We make sure that all their praise and gratitude belongs to God. John said get ready because the Messiah was coming. And Jesus the Messiah did come. We proclaim to the world and encourage each other to get ready because Jesus the Messiah is coming back. And Jesus will come back. Let the world that we all stand upon be the podium for us to cry out for all to be ready because Jesus is coming back. Praise God Jesus is coming! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:20b-22 What Is Unbearable
Acts 13:20b-22 – “After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.” Stephen, in Acts 7, when seized, was able to speak to the Sanhedrin and common Jews who were present. He began to express the common ancestry between his accusers and himself. He first mentioned “our father Abraham.” The Sanhedrin and he shared a common ancestry. Stephen was witnessing to the Jews as he laid out the common ancestry and also the rebellious nature of the people against their faithful God. Paul also laid out a history of Israel. He was illustrating to his audience that He also is Jew.
Samuel lived from about 1070 B.C. to 1012 B.C. The time frame referred to as “After this” is from the time of the deliverance from Egypt and establishing the Hebrews in the Promised Land to time of Samuel the Prophet.
“Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.” The great prophet Samuel, after the people rejected having God as their King and had asked to have a man as their king, under the guidance of God, chose Saul as the king and he ruled for forty years. He was later removed from being king for disobeying God. His disobedience was later tragically a part of his death as a specter from his disobedience came back to haunt him.
“After removing Saul, he made David their king.” King David who wrote much of the books of Psalms was the king who was the successor to Saul.
“God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’” David was Israel’s greatest King. If one, anybody, is going to have someone give a definitive representative statement of their life, there can be no higher witness than God. Wonderfully God said of David that he was a man after God’s own heart and that he would do everything that God wanted him to do. God said this about him so we know it is true. Yet we know of David’s sin. David’s sin and his love, loyalty and obedience to God seem to be contradictory. After all, the Word says that those who love God will obey Him (1 John 5:3, 1 Samuel 15:22, Jeremiah 7:22-23). Yet, David not only sinned, but He sinned big. But understanding of God’s statement about David is contained within God’s testimony of Him. It was David’s heart. David’s greatest desire was to live in the presence of God and could not bear not being in the presence of God. After his great sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah, after the Lord exposed His sin, David repented and pleaded with God “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51:10-12). David sought God’s mercy and to be restored and renewed by God. He did not say that he would, by his own will and ability, depart from the evil in his life, but he sought God to “create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” He knew that the nature of his flesh would desire to do evil and that only God could change him to live better for God, and to keep him living for God. David’s greatest fear was to be separated from God. He could give up his natural life (he was a mighty warrior), but the thought of not having close fellowship with God was an unbearable one. Yes David, a very imperfect man was loved by God as God knew that in spite of his sins, he desperately wanted the love and fellowship of God more than anything else.
For us it is the same. The thought of living even the smallest moment outside of the love of God is terrifying. Sure, we are afraid of hell, but that is not the essence of the matter. Living for even the briefest moment outside of the presence and love of God is the worst thing that could happen to us. Not just because of the thought of punishment but because of not having the presence of His Holy Spirit within in. How empty and cold would that be? It makes us shudder! I cannot remember what it was like before having Jesus as my Savior and Lord, and nor do I want to. It is the same for all who truly love Him. Let us be like King David, whom some day we will meet, and love God with all that we are. Let us be forever transformed by His love to become more like Him. May we never wake without Him on our minds and may we go to sleep with thoughts of Him, and His peace, being with us. Family, I pray that always His peace and joy be the calm and exhilaration of our hearts. Love, peace and joy to all of you, today and forever! His love, His peace and His joy. Praise God! Love God! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:16-18 Only God
Acts 13:16-18 – Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.
“Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!’ Paul stood up to preach. That is thought to possibly be the tradition of Hellenist Jews. Certainly Paul wanted their full attention. He wanted them focused and attentive. He had something of eternal value to say. Just as our pastors want our focus and full attention to be on the Word of God as they preach and teach it to us.
“The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country;” Jesus said to us that we did not choose Him, but that He chose us and appointed us to do His will (John 15:16). 1 Peter 1:2 makes it clear that we did not choose God, but God Himself chose us, He saved us and He keeps us and sanctifies us through Jesus Christ “who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” God chose and called Abraham (Genesis 12) and it was solely by the will God that He Himself saved the people of Israel as He promised Abraham. Israel was saved by the grace of God. If God had not chosen Abraham, then there would never have been a people of Israel. Israel was saved by the grace from God. Believers in Jesus are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). So any person who was ever selected, called and kept by God, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, has been saved by the love and grace of God. We are all the same. We are all born with the sin nature we inherited from the physical forefather and foremother of all, Adam and Eve. Their sin was passed down to every one of us. So we are all in need of God’s love and grace to save us. After all, remembering His omniscience, it took great love and grace for Him to even create us. If not, we like Abraham, would have remained eternally cursed. Praise God who chose to love us and call us and make us His own. Oh, forever and with all our hearts let us praise God!
When Israel was in another country, in Egypt, God prospered them more than the people of the land. Family, God can prosper us wherever we are (Genesis 47:27). God caused them to prosper so much that the new king grew concerned that they were a possible threat so he put them into slave labor and then ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill the male babies when they were born (Exodus 1:8-16). Kings and governments become proud and think they are the ones who bless people with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They are not! It is God who is the ultimate one who blesses us. We may live in a wonderful nation, a great state, a great city or county, and a great neighborhood, but that all is a blessing from God and not something we or anyone else has made happen. Israel, as can we, may look upon a person and declare that blessings have come from them but that has never been so, it has always been the Lord. It is the same thing for us. God is the one from whom all blessings flow (James 1:17). By the will and might of God was Israel brought to Egypt to save them from the famine. By the will of God Israel prospered in Egypt. And by the will and power of God was Israel rescued from Egypt. Joseph and Moses were merely men called by God to do His will.
“for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance.” As the people were rescued from Egypt we see miracle after miracle of God saving the people with His own supernatural signature. Moses was God’s chosen vessel, but there is no doubt that their Rescuer was God. He protected them, fed them, provided water, made their clothes to not wear out and He even, not Israel, was the one responsible for the overthrow of seven nations in Canaan. We obviously see a theme. It is God who does the work and not us as we see in Zechariah 4:6 “…Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”
“All this took about 450 years.” Most like referring to four hundred years in Egypt, forty years wandering in the desert and ten years of acquiring the promised land.
Family, by the will and might of God He created all men and women. Also by His will was Israel created, and by His will did Jesus come to be our Savior and were people called to be the body of Christ. All by His will and might and love. It is all, in hindsight, so easy to see. Paul is about to lecture how Israel was not grateful for all of God’s blessings. May we learn from them. May we look upon our many blessings from God and be thankful to Him and never doubt Him. We know that He has always been faithful to us. Let us not doubt, but praise and give thankfulness and glory to Him. It is right and all who love Him will do so. Praise our God! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:13-15 The Favor of God
Acts 13:13-15 – From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”
“From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. 14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch.” As we have before noted this Antioch was not the same Antioch from which they began the mission. They left from Syrian Antioch and now they were in Pisidian Antioch. Actually there were seven cities by the name of Antioch. Seleucus I was about twenty-three years of age when he served under Alexander the Great. Eventually he rose up from the ranks and ruled over much of the eastern part of Alexander’s empire. His father’s name was Antiochus and so Seleucus I honored his father by naming seven cities after him. Probably because Syrian Antioch was the first place the name of Christian was applied to the followers of Jesus, Antioch is now a popular name for cities across the world and there are at least twenty-one cities in the United States that share that name. Pisidian Antioch was not actually in Pisidia and was called, at the time “Antioch towards Pisidia.”
“On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.” It was the custom of Paul to first go to the Synagogues. It would seem a strategic starting point as those who attended there would know the Old Testament scriptures and the prophecies concerning the Messiah. In this synagogue were both Jews and Gentile converts and seekers-of-God. This location was not easy to get to. After landing in Asia Minor the port cities were surrounded by mountains. The roads were dangerous with thieves and murderers. It was about a one-hundred mile trek from the port to the city of Pisidian Antioch. Because of the dangers of criminals, of getting hurt traveling through the mountains and also because of the one hundred mile trek, not many outside Rabbi’s came to visit.
“After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”” The custom of the Jews was to first read from the Law and then to read from the Prophets. After that if some capable person in the congregation had a word they may be asked to share. This is really, even for Christians to this day, Preaching 101. Sometimes a believer will tell someone they need to be “saved.” Many times a person will want to know from what they must be saved? They don’t know what it is they must be saved from. So first they must be taught that all people have a need to be saved from their sinful nature that has separated them from God. So first the Law is preached so that people may know they have a need to repent. After they know how hopelessly they are lost, they must be given the hope of redemption offered through Jesus Christ. They must receive the promises of God to have hope for their future. Men with soft hearts and honest minds will see their need and come to Christ, if not at the first time of hearing, then in time as God continues to work on their hearts they will come to the Lord, if their hearts are right.
Paul had incredible Jewish credentials. Both Paul and Barnabas were Jews from Jerusalem which instantly gave them a good reputation. So they asked them if they would like to speak. Paul was like a starving wolf who was just thrown a lamb chop, he probably had to control himself not to run up and deliver a message in the name of Jesus.
We do not know why John Mark left after they had arrived in Perga (V13). There are a few guesses, but scripture does not tell us why. Could it have been because Uncle Barnabas was no longer the leader of the company? We know that Barnabas had been the most prominent member of the group and his name was mentioned first. In fact in V1 Barnabas was mentioned first and Paul (Saul) was mentioned last. But after the Lord used Paul so powerfully in Vs 6-12, in the next verse the group was mentioned as “Paul and his companions.” Some think that perhaps John Mark became resentful that Paul was elevated to take the lead and his uncle was now in the second spot. Maybe, maybe not. But one thing we can know is that God is the one who promotes and who demotes as best serves His purpose. And we all should be completely happy that it is He who makes the decisions. After all, we know that John the Baptist was the phenom on the scene until the time of the ministry of Jesus to start. Because God has put a person in charge at a location or certain duty, does not mean that God will always have that person in charge. A missionary may start a church where there was not one, but he may give way to a man with the gift of pastoring to then lead the new church. This has been a pattern well established by God. We all must learn to know that it is all God’s call. Every single time. It is God who establishes favor. Psalm 75:7 “It is God who judges: He brings one down, He exalts another.” So we, like the group with Paul, must not keep our eyes focused on men, but on God. We follow God. Not that we don’t admire, respect and even find good models of faith in men and women. Certainly we do. But ultimately God decides who sits in different positions. A person may be meant to lead and grow a group for a time and then that same man may be moved to another group to bless. As that happens, as it is ordained by God and not men, then both groups will be blessed. The group that the man leaves God will already have prepared another to lead. The ministry that the man is moved to will be blessed. God grants favor and not man. It is God’s plan that will succeed and will bless us. Neither should men fight against that favor lest they find themselves fighting against God at their own peril. Let us trust God. He is worthy and when we do trust Him, we are safely in His will. Let’s trust and praise God. He always has a person prepared. Praise God! Yes, praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:4-12 Directed And Moving Out Part 4
Acts 13:4-12 – The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
“Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” As we have already noted from 1 Corinthians 12:7, the manifestations of the Spirit are meant to glorify God. Of course they are. When a person is sharing the Word of God and the about the glory of God and a supernatural gift is displayed, such as supernatural discernment, or supernatural healing, or supernatural knowledge, then people that the Lord meant to touch will know it in their hearts and minds. When God speaks there is always a reaction! The desired reaction is to glorify God and to save or edify souls. The souls of men react to the touch of God’s Spirit, to His Word and to His supernatural gifts. Some respond appropriately and are saved such as in Acts 2, and unfortunately some famously have not (Exodus 7-12) and have suffered for their hard heartedness.
The sentence against what the evil Elymas was doing came quickly after Paul, filled with the Spirit spoke a prophetic word concerning Elymas. Although the Lord could still do this today, I pray that none of us ever have to be corrected in such a way. We have the Spirit of God within and should have no fear of that.
“Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. The sentence of full blindness, him not even being able to see the sun, immediately was fulfilled. Put yourself in his place and imagine the fear he felt as he became blind. He was “seeking someone to lead him by the hand.” This proud man who thought he could thwart the will of God was now pleading for someone, anyone, to lead him about by the hand.
In the preceding verse we see that the blindness of Elymas would be “for a time.” Noting that Ananias and Sapphira died for their deceit (Acts 5:1-11), Elymas got off easy. Ananias and Sapphira received a permanent sentence. Elymas received a temporary one. A thought of why Elymas received the temporary punishment was because Paul, by the Holy Spirit, discerned that Elymas need not die. That Paul was informed by the Holy Spirit that Elymas would, after having been blinded, repent and come to Jesus. We don’t know that, but we can always hope that it is true. We should never take pleasure in the punishment of the wicked but always hope for their redemption since that displays the heart of God in us (Ezekiel 18:23). We must remember that when with transformed hearts we hate the evil that the world does, we also formerly did the same things (Titus 3:3-8). Let us have the love of God for the lost (John 3:16) and always desire people to turn from evil and to worship God through Jesus.
“When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” As we have noted, the purpose of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit is to glorify God and to lead people to Jesus. Here we see that the Holy Spirit operating through Paul brought the proconsul to belief in Jesus. Now it is in error taught that we don’t need these supernatural gifts of the Spirit in the world today. Family, don’t believe it. Today the gifts are still invaluable in sharing the love of God with the world. They are also invaluable in ministering to others, and even ourselves (1 Corinthians 14:4). After all we know that we all have times when we would like to hear from God about something, or when we have been under attack and desire a word from Him to lift us up. These gifts are still an extremely valuable tool of the Spirit to save souls and to minister to already saved souls. Trust God! Trust His Holy Spirit. Do not fight against God and attempt to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Paul’s desire for all of us is that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit would flow through us (1 Corinthians 14:4). He thanked God for his own speaking in tongues (prayer language)(1 Corinthians 14:18). Paul said to not forbid speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:39). He was not writing specifically to other apostles, but rather to an undisciplined church. He was writing to all of our churches today, disciplined or undisciplined. He told them that they should not forbid speaking in tongues. He was in essence saying the same thing as 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Let me again state that if one has not seen the gifts of the Spirit flow through oneself that is not a sign that one is not saved. We are saved only by faith in the work of God through Jesus our Savior. The gifts are not given to exclude, but to include and build us up and to save souls. The gifts do not cull people who are saved, but they are evidence of the Holy Spirit that we are saved. They are meant to prove that we belong to Jesus and we come with the Eternal Truth of the Gospel.
I would like to say that many may have unknowingly had a gift of the Spirit flow through them. Not understanding what the gifts are and how they are used is entirely possible. However, whether one has one gift or another, God has received us all and loves us all. The Word says that how we are known as belonging to Jesus is by our love one for another (John 13:35). Let us do so to the praise of God! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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Devotion Acts 13:4-12 Directed And Moving Out Part 3
Acts 13:4-12 – The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
““You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” In 1 Corinthians 12:10 Paul refers to the gift of “discerning of spirits” (KJV), or as NIV would say “distinguishing between spirits.” It is a gift that the Holy Spirit gives and it is a supernatural gift. It is certainly true, as some would assert, that discernment need not be a supernatural gift from God, but rather a learned ability. It is true that some hone their discerning abilities naturally by pointed observation, memory and wisdom. However Paul is talking about this gift as a supernatural ability. Let’s consider 1 Corinthians 12:7 which Paul uses to lead us into a listing of supernatural gifts from the Holy Spirit. In this verse he states of these gifts that they each are a “manifestation of the Spirit.” This word manifestation means to reveal something, to lay it bare, to uncover it. This word means to make something clear and obvious. If a person has a gift for painting, but people don’t believe that they do but believe the paintings are a work of another, the person could easily show that their ability by doing a painting in front of the skeptics. Here V7 is stating that Spirit is showing that the person who is being used is of God. The Holy Spirit is showing that He is present and the work is not of the person but the work of God. These gifts are meant to show that we, as are the gift(s) we are given, are a supernatural manifestation to show that we are being used of God. The purpose is to glorify God and point to Jesus.
The gift of discernment is not a natural learned device, but rather a supernatural gift. It is knowing something because the God has revealed it. Let’s consider Matthew 16:13-17 in which the Lord Jesus Christ asked His disciples who people said that He was. The people were not seeing who He truly is. Then Jesus asked Peter “who do you say I am?” Peter responded “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then tells Peter “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” We see that the natural mind had no way of knowing this truth. The knowledge was given to Peter by God. It was supernatural knowledge. What did what Peter said reveal? It revealed that God had given him knowledge that human intellect could not give him. This is true in a general way for all of us as we see in 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 “ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” However, the gift of discernment is knowing something about a specific situation or person that one would not know unless God revealed it, for God’s own purpose. Another specific example of the gift of discernment (though the Bible is full of them) is in Acts 16:16-18. Here a servant girl who had a spirit of divination (telling the future) began following Paul and Silas whiling shouting out “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” After a while Paul became very annoyed by this and turned and ordered the evil spirit out of her. Now, how would Paul know she had an evil spirit? Wasn’t this girl shouting out something true? She even seemed to be praising God! Yet, Paul identified the spirit as evil and called it out of her. And it left and she could no longer do her divinations. This was supernatural discernment of God working in and through Paul. This gift of discernment is knowing something that is only known as God reveals it.
We see that there are many evil doers and even Satan himself that disguise themselves as Christians, or good people 2 Corinthians 11:14. That is a good enough reason for us to receive needed discernment at specific time. Sometimes we sense evil, but cannot define it. We are discerning something wrong, the presence of evil in an event or person. Sometimes evil is obvious and no supernatural gift is needed, but there are other times when it would be a very protective blessing. The gift could be to heal others, to protect us, and at all times is to glorify God.
Chuck Smith wrote “Now have you ever met people who seemed to be all right-what they said was fine. You watch them and they seem to do the right things, but yet you had an uneasy feeling about them? There was just something that you could not define and you could not describe. There was just an uncomfortable feeling around them. And then later on you discover that it was just all a charade with them. There was no reality of a walk or a relationship with the Lord and you understand why you had that feeling of discomfort when you were around them.
That is the way the gift of discernment of spirits operates. There is just something that is not quite right. It is sort of an intangible thing. You cannot really put your finger on it always. But I have discovered that one of the difficult things in having the discerning of spirits is that if a person does not have the discernment of spirits you cannot understand why they can be so gullible. It is so plain. It is so obvious. You say, “Can you not see?”
When Paul called out Elymas as a child of the devil and doer of evil, this was supernatural discernment. After all, couldn’t Elymas just have been a trickster who had mastered doing illusions. We have plenty of those around today. Paul saw this man was not merely dishonest, but had evil within. Under the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit he called this man out and what Paul said Elymas knew to be true. And so did everyone else as evidenced by what followed.
The gift of discernment may manifest as an uneasy feeling, or a thought or knowledge that presents itself in one’s mind that is obviously not one’s own thought. We do well to heed that. If we are not sure then we need to quickly ask the Lord if the feeling or thought or knowledge is from Him. The prayer and the assurance from God are important. All of us can feel “creepy” about something or someone and be wrong. Make sure what is being sensed is from God. Like most things, as we explore this gift we will get better at it. Be aware and be sensitive to the urgings and cautions from the Holy Spirit. God is good. He knows how to guide and protect us. He has given us His Holy Spirit and the Word to guide and protect us and to glorify Himself. Let everything that we do praise and glorify our God who so richly gifts us! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
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