THE VOICE OF THE LORD

Psa 29:3  The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. 

The go to verse in this chapter is verse two – “…worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” The true emphasis is on the voice of the Lord. We find the voice of the Lord is “upon the waters.” We find that His voice “thundereth.” We also see several other things about the voice of the Lord. It is “powerful,” it is full of “full of majesty.”

We then proceed to the results of the voice of the Lord. His voice “breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.” He makes the cedars to “skip like calves.” The voice of the Lord “divideth the flames of fire.” It “shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.”, It makes the “hinds to calve.” The voice of the Lord affects all things that have to do with life.

The lost never hear it. They never experience or see the results of the Lord’s voice. The Lord’s voice is in everything that we do. The voice and presence of the Lord can change lives. For the saved and the lost. For the lost it can give everlasting life. For the saved, it can lead in the path of righteousness.

Psa 29:11  The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.

The Lord gives strength. The New Testament reveals the care of the Lord for His people. The providential care and nourishment is similar to the care of the nation delivered during the exodus and the hand of the Lord during their wandering in the wilderness. This is my Lord. Is He your Lord?

AFFLICTIONS

Job 5:17; II Cor 4:17; Hebrews 12:11

Job 5:17  Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: 

Eliphaz is declaring that correction should bring an emotion that we don’t normally associate with correction. find in other places in God’s Word. He is declaring the joy of correction because of the advantages of correction. He says to not despise the chastening of the Almighty. The advantage of correction is that correction keeps us off the wrong paths that would bring us unhappiness. There is another reason to be happy about correction.

Hebrews 12:5-11

We find in these verses a relationship because of chastening. We are called children. Our earthly fathers disciplined us because we were his children. They did not discipline children that were not theirs. This is a demonstration of love. Our heavenly Father must have a relationship with us before He disciplines us. Since we are His children, He has the right to discipline us to correct us and bring us back to Him. He has the right to demonstrate his love to us. Verse 7 says “if we endure chastening He treats us as sons. That means blessings. God wants good things for His children. Pay attention to verse 8. If we have never experience chastening, it is because we are bastards and not sons. We are illegitimate. He will say, “depart from me I never knew you.” He chastens His children for the benefit of the children. That benefit is Holiness. And according to verse 11 we produce peaceable fruit of righteousness because of our chastisement.

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 

This passage bears the thought that correction that brings us back into the paths we should walk brings us great glory and God receives glory from our righteous and glorious walk. Notice that it is called, “light affliction” and the duration is for a “moment”.

Proverbs 3:11-12. – My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 

12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. 

Why despise chastening when it proves the love of the LORD. Whom He loves He chastens and corrects us and delights in us. Let us all be delightful for the LORD.

No chastisement, no love. Know chastisement, Know love.

AFFLICTIONS

Job 5:17; II Cor 4:17; Hebrews 12:11

Job 5:17  Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: 

Eliphaz is at this declaring correction that find in other places in God’s Word. He is declaring the joy of correction because of the advantages of correction. He says to not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 

This passage bears the thought that correction that brings us back into the paths we should walk brings us great glory and God receives glory from our righteous and glorious walk. Notice that it is called, “light affliction” and the duration is for a “moment”.

Hebrews 12:5-11

Notice a relationship in verse 5. We are called children. Our earthly fathers disciplined us because we were his children. They did not discipline children that were not theirs. Our heavenly Father must have a relationship with us before He disciplines us. Since we are His children, He has the right to discipline us to correct us and bring us back to Him. Verse 7 says “if we endure chastening He treats us as sons. That means blessings. God wants good things for His children. Pay attention to verse 8. If we have never experience chastening, it is because we are bastards and not sons. We are illegitimate. He will say, “depart from me I never knew you.” He chastens His children for the benefit of the children. That benefit is Holiness. And according to verse 11 we produce peaceable fruit of righteousness because of our chastisement.

Proverbs 3:11-12. – My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 

12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. 

Why despise chastening when it proves the love of the LORD. Whom He loves He chastens and corrects us and delights in us. Let us all be delightful for the LORD.

Future Things

Joseph Caples

Jan 30, 2020

I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us – Romans 8:18

There are many things we do not know about the end of this life or the end of the world. But God has given us all the assurance we need in order to look joyfully, expectantly forward.

Paul knew enough about what was coming to say, I reckon — an accounting term, meaning he had taken a careful inventory, done the calculations, and come to a careful and reliable conclusion. And what Paul was comparing was the sufferings of this time (with which he was intimately and personally acquainted) and the glory to come for every believer in Jesus Christ.

As Paul added up the multiple trials, heartaches, losses, and sorrows of this world and carefully considered this sum in relation to the glory afterwards, he came to this stunning realization: the two should not even be compared, because the amount of the one is so far greater than the mass of the other.

Anyone who has experienced even a fraction of the pain that this world holds will find this hard to imagine. We cannot conceive of a happiness so deep, a pleasure so complete, a glory so glorious that our grief here is swallowed up by it. But God does not ask us to fathom such a claim; he simply requires that by faith we believe it.

Are you living by faith in the enormity of glory, in the expansive joy that is found in the presence of Jesus?

Distractions

Anything that distracts us from vital prayer

in our lives is a treacherous thing. It steals

from us the blessings the Father longs to bestow,

and it takes from the Father

the glory he so richly deserves.

Adrian Rogers

JOY UNSPEAKABLE

HEBREW HONEYCOMB

William Andrew Dillard
JOY UNSPEAKABLE

“Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?” John 4:11.
So goes the question from the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Jesus had asked her for a drink. The woman was astonished that a Jew would ask anything of a Samaritan. It was then that Jesus offered her living water for the asking. Re-read the story in John chapter four, and think with me.
Who was this Samaritan woman? The answer is she was a descendent of Jacob. She was, with her forefathers, a worshipful woman. She knew that Christ was coming, and looked forward to learning what he would reveal. Was she morally upright? No. But I have noted a lot of church folks more knowledgeable than she are not as well. That does not make it right, but it is so.
So how does this end? There is no record of her being born again at this point, and the inference is that she already trusted in God, but to find the promised Messiah (Christ) was overwhelming beyond words. She immediately shared that knowledge in great joy with the men of the city. They, in turn, came to hear Jesus and implored Him to stay with them a while, which He did. The men of the city said in similar joy, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” Hummm, it seems apparent that they knew about Christ, and they were looking for Christ which is not common among lost people.
So, the knowledge of assurance; of having seen and heard brought to them joy unspeakable and full of glory. Doubtless that joy led to others being born again that day and in the days following. The woman was static as she shared the good news, “He told all things that ever I did. . .” But it did not end there. Jesus shared with the people of Sychar some of the greatest news they could ever hope to hear as He abode a few days with them: news that would build throughout the age as individual disciples progress in knowledge, understanding, and maturity in the blessed Word. Joy gives way to joy as its waves of glory roll, as the hymn writer so marvelously wrote.
In 1900, Barney E. Warren penned the words to the great hymn , JOY UNSPEAKABLE. His understanding and experience is common to disciples of the age who are growing in Christ. He penned in the hymn, “I have found His grace is all complete. . . while I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet. I have found the pleasure I once craved . . . I have found that hope so bright and clear. . . I have found the joy no tongue can tell. . . it is like a great o’erflowing well, springing up within my soul. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory . . . Oh, the half has never yet been told.”

FEBRUARY 22 – Ichabod

FEBRUARY 22 – Ichabod

1Samuel 4:21  And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. 

God gives instructions that are complete. All we have to do is look for them. David in wanting to move the ark to Jerusalem did not ask the proper way to move it. Tragedy struck. In the days of Eli, his sons removed the ark from the place that had instructed to put it. Tragedy struck. The two sons died in battle. The ark was taken and when Eli heard the news, he fell backwards and broke his neck and died.

Exodus_25:22  And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. Notice here that God revealed plainly where He would meet the people. The door of the tabernacle is used in Exodus and Leviticus many times. The Cloud that God was in came to the door of the tabernacle and when the people saw it they worshiped.

When the Ark was taken into battle, the Glory of the Lord and his presence was no longer in the tabernacle. He no longer came to the door. We need the presence of the Lord when we worship. I cringe when ever I hear “The Lord showed up today.” That statement lends the idea that the Lord is not necessarily there every time we worship Him. That begs the question – are we worshiping him according to the way He wants us to.

I do not want to see the Glory of the Lord depart from His Churches. We need to seriously examine our doctrine, who we are worshiping, and how we are worshiping. Are we preaching all the doctrine or keying on one and subjugating others to minority positions? Are we worshiping God or our selves and telling God he has to accept that worship. Are we worshiping the way God tells us to worship.

If it is all about us, then there is nothing there for God.

Why People are Being so Mean to Victoria Osteen

Why People are Being so Mean to Victoria Osteen.

His Return in Glory

 

Revelation 22:12, 13

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be,” Revelation 22:12.

 

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor.5:10).

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. . . . For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23-26).

He will not tarry. When the Father tells the Son to go get His bride to the wedding feast, it will be the crowning event of the history of mankind, the most magnificent celebration the world has ever seen. He will not need seven years to judge His people. He is bringing His reward with Him. “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. . . . Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:27-30).

 

 

JUST SAYING

There are one hundred sixty-eight hours in a week. How many hours are spent storing up rewards where we live?

Robert Brock

 

 

Abounding Love

 

Philippians 1:9

 

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,” Philippians 1:9.

 

Our key words here are ‘more and more’ in other words flourishing love. This is rich, full and overflowing love for others. We love them for God’s glory, not our own.

 

We love to hear stories about anonymous donors giving away their fortunes to unsuspecting people. God loves kindness but instead of donating money, He had rather, instead, we donate His love. Sometimes, in spite of our command to love God first and then our neighbor, we get caught up in our own little self-centered world. Suddenly, we become the most important person in it. That is dangerous. Soon, we will become our own worst enemy because love not shared will become stagnant and die. He wants our love for Him to grow and grow, and as it does, we will love Him like we should. Then, His love will overflow onto other people.

 

Finally, as love grows, it is not to be ignorant. It is to be wise and discerning. You cannot make a person accept your brotherly love if they meet you at the door with a gun or threaten you with harm. In that case, dust off your feet and move on. There are other people who need the love of God and will accept His love. As a result, they will accept the love of others.

 

 

REFLECTION

 

And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you, (1 Thess. 3:12).

 

Beverly Barnett