Skip to main content

Possessor of the Nations, and of My Soul

Today I read: 2 Chronicles 1, Psalm 108-109, Micah 7, and 1 John 1.

Gospel summary: The Lord God owns all he has made and has a special possession of his people whom he redeemed by the blood of his Son, so that even when they sin at times, they still belong to him and he will not let them be condemned.

Prayer: Father in heaven, you alone own all the stars in the vaultless heavens and every creature from the skies to the seas. You alone are worthy of unceasing worship. Yet what is even sweeter to me than your general ownership of the universe is your special possession of your redeemed saints. You purchased men and women from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is sweet for me because I often sin against you and loathe the selfishness that still clings to my flesh, but you promise to cleanse me of all unrighteousness and even defend me before the great accuser, Satan, if I persevere in faith and continual repentance. Jesus, I would have no other advocate than you, for your sacrifice alone has bought for me a place in God's holy presence for all eternity. Help me live today like I am not my own and lead me to those you long to make your own. In Jesus' name, amen.

Memory verses: "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets." (‭Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭8-10‬ ESV)

Hymn: "O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" by S. Trevor Francis

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free,
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love;
Leading onward, leading homeward,
To my glorious rest above.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Spread His praise from shore to shore,
How He loveth, ever loveth,
Changeth never, nevermore;
How He watcheth o'er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth,
Watcheth o'er them from the throne.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Love of ev'ry love the best;
'Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
'Tis a haven sweet of rest.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
'Tis a heav'n of heav'ns to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
For it lifts me up to Thee.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sabbath or Lord's Day?

What is the Sabbath? Why did God include keeping the Sabbath in the 10 Commandments? Does the Bible call Christians today to keep the Sabbath? Should believers do any work on the Sabbath? Is the Sabbath Saturday or Sunday? Does any of this matter? These are all questions that the Bible answers for us, although there are a variety of different practices among churchgoers. It must first be noted that the keeping of the Sabbath was commanded by God Himself to the people of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness. God wanted His people to so reflect His holy character that He called them to rest from their work as He rested from the work of creation (Ex. 20:8-11). As He often does, God had called Israel to do the opposite of what common sense states. To take a day off of work is seen by many to be contrary to good productivity, but in the Lord's economy, it shows true success. By resting on the Sabbath day, Israel was publicly declaring to God their faith in His ability t...

Leading God's People to Trust His Word

Today I read: 2 Kings 12, Psalms 62-63, Hosea 3-4, and 2 Timothy 2. Gospel summary: Every leader of God's people must lead them to trust in him alone by rightly handling and teaching his Word. Prayer: God, you are my rock of refuge and you alone are worthy of my trust. Thank you that you have given me your trustworthy Word, because I live in a world full of deceitful promises. Help me today to put all my trust in you alone and not in any man, including myself or my accomplishments. Help me as a spiritual leader to lead your people to build their lives on the solid foundation of Jesus, the Word of God. Help me to teach and preach your Word properly, refusing to feed others on the false manna of my own ideas or creativity. Grant that I may live so by faith in you that others see your trustworthiness in my personal life and learn to trust you themselves. In Jesus' solid name I pray, amen. Memory verse: "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart be...

The Word: Fully Human, Fully Divine

The Christmas holiday brings with it questions of both the incarnation and the trustworthiness of its record. Was Jesus just a man claiming to be God or God pretending to be a man? If the Bible was written by men, can we really trust it? In this two-part post, we’ll see the fully human, fully Divine nature of both God’s Word (post 1) and Jesus, God’s Word made flesh (post 2). So this week, lets examine the reliability of the Bible, which bears the record of the God-Man, Jesus. The Word of God is fully human a) Human agents, with their own personalities and backgrounds, wrote the Bible The Scripture was written over more than a millennium-long stretch of time by several dozen authors from various cultural backgrounds. Therefore to consider that God could speak one distinct message for His people through such different people in different times and different places is surely a miracle. Students of the Bible can tell you that the message of God’s Word, whether Genesis or Revel...