Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

John 12:24-25 – ²⁴ I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If missionaries only cared about their lives and what they were going to do for themselves, people wouldn’t be finding out about Jesus.  Had the prophets, disciples, and Paul not answer the call, people wouldn’t have had the truth in the form of God’s Word today and the truth revealed.  These people and millions more have died to their own lives and as a result we have all had a chance to find the Lord and the truth.

Are some called and others not?

No.

We are all called.  We are all going to be held accountable on what we have or haven’t done.

Do we all have the same talents or are we suppose to use the same gifts?  Not at all.  You were uniquely and wonderfully made.  You have talents.  God wants you to use that talent for the kingdom.  The devil wants you not to use your talent on the Kingdom or for God, but for you to use it on yourself.

Die to yourself and produce a crop.  Ask and seek the Holy Spirit in what you are supposed to do today for the Kingdom of God.  Today is a new day.  If you earnestly and honestly seek the Lord, fruit will come forth.  Even when Paul went the opposite direction the Holy Spirit was sending him at times, the Lord still used his walk at those times because he was in the Word and seeking Truth.

We are finishing up our Praise the Lord week.

I like to repeat things, because I myself am one of those people that have things stick after I have heard or read them more than once.

Good habits are formed by making yourself do them for a period of time.  Bad sinful habits seem to come easy.

You can’t out give God in any area of your life.  The one thing He wants is your heart and obedience.  He can’t force you to do that. 

So what’s the one thing you can give God who has just about everything?

That’s right, YOU!

Psalm 113:9- ⁹ He settles the barren woman in her home
   as a happy mother of children.

   Praise the LORD.

We’ve seen the Lord bless the barren woman before with Sarah and Elizabeth.  The Lord even came in on a virgin birth to bypass the sinful gene passed down by Man.

Nothing is too great for our Lord to accomplish when it comes to miracles such as this.  He is the Creator.  He created the whole universe out of nothing.  That’s why we need to trust and obey. 

We have a loving God who just wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.  On the flip side we don’t want to be on the wrong side of our God.

Luke 12:4-5 –  ⁴ “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. ⁵ But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

God loves us and wants no one to perish.

2 Peter 3:9 – ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Praise the Lord of the entire universe!  He is worthy!

This is a week of praising the Lord.  A reminder that you cannot think of God too much.  You can’t praise Him too much. 

Give Him thanks all day long and glorify His name.

Psalm 113:7-8 – ⁷ He raises the poor from the dust
   and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
⁸ he seats them with princes,
   with the princes of their people.

I write a lot about chasing after the world and the riches of this life a lot.  That is what I feel the Lord wants me to hit on a lot, because it has never been so widespread and affected so many before in one generation.  This generation as a whole in America is either chasing after it or spending their time either complaining that they aren’t allowed to get it or they want it and just dream about it.  All three cases are warned about throughout the Bible.

Don’t get me wrong though.  The Lord likes us to have our needs met.  He likes blessing us with comforts.  The Lord takes delight in the above scriptures.

What’s the difference?

The difference is where our heart is.

It’s kind of like your children.  You want them to do well and live comfortably, but do you want them to become so involved in their careers that they never made contact with you?  Do you want them choosing the almighty dollar over your love?

I’m reminded after the athlete that does well.  The television camera gets on him and what is the first they say?  Just being a Christian and seeing them giving my Lord the glory for their success makes my spirit jump with joy.  Then on the flip side, it can be as bad as Ali.  Stating he is the greatest and no credit is given to anyone.

The Lord wants to provide you with the blessings, but first and foremost He wants to give your love and devotion first.

Matthew 6:31-33 –³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The Lord cares about us more than we can possibly imagine.  He certainly isn’t going to allow anyone to give their total devotion to Him and not have that individual taken care of in the big scheme of things.

Serve Him and Praise Him all throughout the day.

All week long we are concentrating on praising the Lord.  The more we concentrate the more habit forming it becomes.  Isn’t it that way with all of our habits?  We are creatures of habit and change is difficult.

My wife married a pretty spoiled boy who had a mother who did almost all the chores around him.  Those habits are definitely ones you don’t break overnight.  Most bad habits come pretty easy.

We need to start good habits.  If you’re not praying before meals, then start making a new habit.  If you’re not praying before going to bed at night, make it a point to every night.  Pretty soon you’re doing it all day long in little spurts. 

Those become times of PRAISE.

Psalm 113:4-6 –  ⁴ The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
   his glory above the heavens.
⁵ Who is like the LORD our God,
   the One who sits enthroned on high,
⁶ who stoops down to look
   on the heavens and the earth?

Who is like our God? 

No one!

He is the Creator of everything.  That doesn’t just include things or creatures, but emotions, all the rules of law (scientific, justice, etc.) everything and its function.

That’s beyond understanding, but still awe inspiring.

God looks down at the Heavens and Earth.  He made it all.

Yet most people have no time for Him in this country.

That’s a spiritual problem.  One we need to break.  In ourselves and the best we can for those around us.

Praise the Lord!   

It never goes unnoticed.  I believe there is a record of everything and these will be the records you will be the most happy to see.

We are doing a week of nothing but concentrating on praising the Lord.  Not just His holy name but praising also just praising our God, our Lord, our Savior.

I’ve said it before in prior posts.  What kind of a relationship do you have with anyone if you put NO time into it?  Be honest, you don’t have one at all.

Take that serious and realize we don’t want to stand in front of our Lord with no relationship.  We don’t want others that proclaim His name to stand in front of Him with no relationship.  We need to encourage each other to stay in tuned with Him daily and walk with our Lord.

Psalm 113:3 – ³ From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
   the name of the LORD is to be praised.

That’s everybody.

It is pure and simple that everybody needs to serve and praise the Lord.  Not a Lord, not a Lord that has been sincerely made up, not a Lord different than the one of that has a Son name Jesus, who has paid they way of redemption for all that accept Him as Lord.

I, right now could make up some weird philosophy and sincerely put it together and the world would tell you to respect it.  Especially if it was politically correct and doesn’t step on others people’s toes or acknowledged it was the only way.  That should worry you.  It also should make everyone aware that anyone could have or can do that.  Just because someone sincerely chooses to accept and serve that doesn’t make it truth. 

We all need to seek the truth, not just what tickles our fancy.

The Lord wants praise from everyone under the sun.  That’s’ everyone.

The Lord has put on my heart that we need to focus on praising Him.  This week we will read a couple of verses from Psalm 113 each day and focus on praising our Lord.

Psalm 113:1- ¹ Praise the LORD.

   Praise, O servants of the LORD,
   praise the name of the LORD.

We’ve gotten too busy in America.  It doesn’t even matter what we’re doing.  It can be work, activities, or straight leisure.  We’ve gotten too busy.

Psalm 113:2-² Let the name of the LORD be praised,
   both now and forevermore.

What do you give a God who has everything? 

Let’s start with the one thing we we’re created for.  Praising Him and having fellowship with Him.  All with our free will. 

Ah yes, we’ve been through a sinful fall and the choice of seeking and serving God after that is huge.  He absolutely loves it.  Look at the history of the world after the fall.  It’s not hard to see that the narrow road is not the one being chosen by most humans.

Matthew 7:13-14- ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

You can’t out give God.  You can’t give Him too much of your time or your heart, which is the very thing He wants more than anything.