Daily Bible Study for Wednesday
July 20 2016
By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N
Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying
God’s Word Around The Globe”
Chapter Reading
for Today: Please read in
your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered
paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate
translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful
for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their
wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version,
that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I
will keep it with the New King James Version.
One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my
own writing. I am adding red to the letters when
it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.
Bible
Gateway Verse of the Day
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanses us from all sin.
Psalm
100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
Song: I Will Bless The Lord By: Eddie James
Psalm 16
The Benefits of a Relationship With God
Glory to God! Today we see a
very long list of who God is for those who call Him Lord, and what He can do –
hallelujah! He is so many things to us and does so much for His children each
day. He is a good God – yes He is. Praise His name forever! Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father;
You are so good and You always
do good at all times! We rejoice in You, our Savior and our Lord! We praise You
Father for who You are and all that You do for the sons of men. You are full of
loving kindness, mercy, grace and compassion. Father, I ask You to speak
through my mind, heart and hands today to bring us Your message of hope and
encouragement. Lord, I ask You to strengthen the heart of every person who will
ever read this lesson. Show them exactly what they need to see in You and in
this message that will cause them to come up higher in their walk with You.
Lord, I ask that Your message will go forth today, unhindered and unchecked by
any outside force or my flesh. Thank You Father for what You will teach us to
today. We will purpose to be doers of Your precious word and not forgetful
hearers. Thank You for always watching over Your word to perform it in our
lives when we place our trust in You and obey what You tell us. In Jesus name.
Amen.
When a person looks at this
Psalm, we can immediately see several key points about God’s attributes – His
characteristics, and a comprehensive description of the many things He does for
those who love Him – hallelujah! It’s a long list of benefits for the believer.
We can see that we can call on Him to preserve us. We can trust Him. He is the
Lord after all. He is our goodness and He gives us spiritual family that we can
delight in. He is our inheritance and He maintains what He has given us. What
God gives to His children is good – very good!
The Lord is our Counselor. He
must be our consistent focus. He keeps us from being moved by the storms that
are rocking the world around us. The Lord causes our spirit man to rejoice and
be full of joy. He takes care of us – oh how He does! And the really great news
for anyone who has ever experienced a ‘hell on earth’ experience, when we call
on the Lord, He does not leave us in that place or allow us to be destroyed.
Praise His name saints!
Our God will show each one of
us the way to go for our lives. As we delight in Him and remain daily in His
presence, we will (absolutely) experience complete joy – hallelujah! This Psalm
winds up with a great promise. Those who are in right standing with God will
receive constant pleasures forever more. Well, there we have it – a quick
summary of the goodness of God as described in our chapter today, and a
description of the many things He does for us. He is a faithful God. But let’s
look at each verse and break it down so that the truths contained therein can
sink deep into our hearts, shall we?
I will paraphrase what I am
getting from each verse. And I will believe that you have your Bible open and
are studying this as you read this lesson. You will likely gain your own sweet
messages from Holy Spirit as you go. Some of you may need to hear more about
this thing than another in the verses. The Lord will see that you get what you
need if you are willing to dig deep into the treasure of His word and allow
Holy Spirit to speak to your heart.
He knows what you need. And
what we each need for today will be something different because God has created
us to be uniquely different. We have all experienced different things and are
at different levels of growth and understanding in Him. But isn’t it great that
in one lesson such as this, the Lord can speak something very personal and
special to every person on the planet who will drink it in? Oh He is a good
God! Yes, He is!
In the first verse on this
Psalm, David is asking the Lord to preserve him. Did you know that you can do
that too? This isn’t just about what David was saying. These words are here for
you to use yourself. So instead of saying that David is asking the Lord to
preserve his life, why not put your name there and say that (Your Name) is
asking the Lord today to preserve your life? He will if you allow Him to you
know. Let’s look at some verses that talk about God preserving our life and see
how others have asked Him and trusted in Him to do so in the scriptures…
Psalm 32:7
You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from
trouble; You shall surround me with
songs of deliverance. Selah
Psalm 64:1
Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Psalm 116:6
The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.
2 Timothy 4:18
And the Lord will deliver me from every evil
work and preserve me for
His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory
forever and ever. Amen!
Psalm 86:2
Preserve my life,
for I am holy; You are my
God; save Your servant who trusts in You!
In the first verse David said
that he was placing his trust in the Lord. What does it mean to place your
trust in the Lord? It is a determined act of our will to make a decision to
literally do it. We have to decide we are going to trust Him, and then we have
to stand our ground in so doing, regardless of what comes our way. Let’s look
at some verses…
2 Samuel 22:3
The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and
my refuge; my Savior, You save
me from violence.
Psalm 5:11
But let all those rejoice who
put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy,
because You defend them; Let
those also who love Your name be joyful in You.
Psalm 7:1
O Lord my God, in You I
put my trust; save me from all those who persecute me; and deliver me,
Psalm 25:20
Keep my soul, and deliver me;
let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.
Psalm 31:11
In You, O Lord, I
put my trust; let me never be
ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness.
Psalm 56:3
Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.
Psalm 71:1
In You, O Lord, I
put my trust; Let me never be
put to shame.
There, we have several verses,
though not all of them, to stand on when we need to be reminded to place our
trust in God. The thing is, if we take these words and speak them out loud over
our lives, especially during difficult times or times of enemy attack, we will
rise up in victory every time. Our ‘arsenal’ should be filled with weapons such
as these to wield against the enemy when trouble tries to come our way.
The next thing we see in verse
2 of today’s Psalm is that we can speak to our soul (Did you know you can and
should do that?) and tell our soul that God is the Lord of our life. David
showed a lot of examples of speaking to his soul. It is a way to encourage
ourselves. We can even tell our soul (the part of us that is our mind, or
intellect, our human will and our emotions) to bless the Lord. Yes, and it is a
very good thing to do. So now let’s look at some verses that can help us
confess God’s word that reminds us and any devil that might be listening that
God is indeed the Lord of our lives…
Psalm 18:2
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my
God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.
Psalm 31:14
But as for me, I
trust in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
Psalm 22:10
I was cast upon You from
birth. From My mother’s
womb You have been My God.
Psalm 140:6
I said to the Lord: “You are my God; Hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord.
Also in verse 2 today, we see
that our goodness is nothing apart from God. God is good. We recently studied
that there is no man upon the earth who is good – apart from God. So because He
is good, His goodness dwells in us as His born again children – hallelujah! Back
in the book of Exodus, Moses was enabled to see the goodness of God pass before
his eyes. What a moment that must have been! Let’s review it for a moment and
just drink in the thought of it, along with other verses…
Exodus 33:18-23
And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass
before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But
He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And
the Lord said, “Here is
a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So
it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the
rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.23 Then
I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be
seen.”
Jeremiah 31:14
I will satiate the soul of the
priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.”
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
It is God’s Spirit that puts His goodness right
inside of us – isn’t that wonderful news? So though we are anything but good on
our own, we can be filled with the goodness of God as His regenerated children.
That’s worth shoutin’ about saints! Moving on to verse 3, what
does it mean “As for the saints who are on the earth,
“They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight?” David found great joy in others who loved the
Lord. We can too. Just like we discussed yesterday, while we cannot enjoy
fellowship with those who do not love or reverence the Lord, we can take great
delight in fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Getting together
with others who are born again is a great encouragement to us all.
That’s why we have to stay in church. The
meetings help us all to connect, encourage each other, and just show God’s love
to one another. Don’t you find it so refreshing to have a place to meet with
people that you have come to know and establish relationships with when you go
to church each week? There are many good reasons to be in church. This just
names a few. Paul said in the Bible that we should not stop meeting together…
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us
consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of
some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day
approaching.
We need to be in church saints. We need each
other. God never meant for any man to be an island. He gave us the many parts
of the body so it could function properly, just like our physical bodies need
all parts firing on “all cylinders” so to speak in order to operate correctly.
If anyone is making excuses about why they cannot commit to one church where
God wants them to go and be fed and to bless others, then they might consider
why this is happening. It is not the will of God for any Christian to be out of
fellowship – ever.
Verse 4 of today’s chapter shows us another
example of what we talked about yesterday. Light and darkness cannot have
fellowship. In this scripture, David is saying that he will not acknowledge
those who depend on idols as their ‘gods’. And for good reason. Hanging around
people as close friends who think nothing of God is like drinking poison.
Whenever we are with them we get a little more toxic every time until finally,
their evil ways can wear off on us and poison our walk with God – not good.
Remember, it is one thing to witness to the lost
or minister to them as Holy Spirit directs. It is quite another to keep them as
close friends. I have seen the Lord take a lot of people out of my life –
permanently. Others He has told me to “hold on to” but keep at a distance.
There are some I have known since childhood who are still not walking with the
Lord. I stay in touch and expect God to answer my prayers for them to grant
them repentance unto life. Until then I love on them from a distance. And that
works just fine. Remember, we are in the world, but not a part of it.
Psalm 31:6
I have hated those who regard useless idols; but I trust in the Lord.
Remember saints, that to ‘hate’ is to despise. We can despise those that
do not honor God as the Lord, but still love all men and pray for them. It
sounds like an oxymoron, I know, but that is how it is with us as believers. We
love them but despise what they value when they make gods out of anything but
the Lord God Jehovah!
In verse 5, we see that God is our inheritance. Oh, and what a great
inheritance He is! The best we could ever receive. There is no estate on the
earth that we could inherit that could ever even remotely compare to the glory
of God as our rich treasure and future for all eternity. There is a whole lot
in the Bible about the things God has given His children as His inheritance –
but He Himself is the best one of all…
1 Peter 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us
again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for
you, 5 who are kept by
the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time.
Inheriting the Lord is to inherit that which is incorruptible
– perfect, pure and undefiled. Isn’t that worth looking forward to as we enter
into glory with Him and our inheritance is made complete. We prayed today that
this message would encourage us. If these verses do not encourage you and me,
nothing will – praise the Lord!
The verse goes on to descried him as our “portion”
of our inheritance, and our cup. So what does that mean anyway? He fills us up
with Himself – all things that are good. Everything we need to be filled with,
we will obtain from this rich inheritance.
Psalm 23:5
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs
over.
To have our cup running over means that the Lord is more than enough for
us. He gives us everything in abundance. Look at what happened when the Lord
multiplied the fish and loaves. On two separate documented occasions, He fed
crowds exceeding 4,000 and 5,00 people with 12 basketfuls left over...
Matthew 14:20
So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve
baskets full of the fragments that remained.
God not only wants to supply all our needs saints – He wants to give us
more than enough. Hallelujah! And when we have more than enough, we have plenty
to give to others. Many in the body of Christ think that we have to be poor to
be a Christian. Friends, that is not what the Bible teaches at all. The Lord is
a more than enough Provider – Jehovah Jireh. God is an abundant giver in every
measure of the meaning of that word…
Psalm 65:11
You crown the year with Your
goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.
Matthew 13:12
For whoever has, to him more
will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken
away from him.
2 Corinthians 8:14
but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their
lack, that their abundance also
may supply your
lack—that there may be equality.
Sometimes we have need and at others times, it is another whose need can
be fulfilled by us as the Lord directs. He uses people to move money around on
the earth. It does not rain down out of heaven. And the Lord is able to make
His grace abound toward us so that we will have everything we need to do
everything we need to do…
2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that
you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may
have an abundance for
every good work.
Next, our Psalmist noted that
the Lord maintains his lot. In other words, He keeps what He has given to His
children. How many know that it is the Lord who gives us our every breath? It
is the Lord who keeps us safe from the enemy. He keeps us from deadly car
accidents and the schemes of the enemy who is constantly looking for an entry
way into the lives of God’s children and all people to steal, kill and destroy.
Thanks be to God who keeps us…
Psalm 66:9
Who keeps our soul among the
living, and does not allow our feet to be moved.
Psalm 119:92
Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in
my affliction.
If we had not delighted in the law of the Lord, we would have already
perished. Thanks be to God for His indescribable love and power to protect us. The
Lord keeps our stuff by rebuking the devourer for our sakes when we are
faithful tithers. That means that our stuff can’t keep breaking down. He keeps
our things in good shape. We have to remember though that all of these promises
of what God does or will do for us are contingent upon us obeying Him and doing
our part. If we do not hold up our end of the deal – then legally, He cannot
hold up His. Make sense? That is why obedience and submission to Him is
critical. Otherwise, we become an open target for the devil to bring
destruction into our lives.
Verse 6 talks about the boundaries of our inheritance. As we continue on
from what we were just talking about, we see that we have limits – but they are
good limits. What He has given us is bountiful, full, and abundant. But when we
step outside of those “lines” we are outside of His perfect protection. Many
think Christianity to be too restrictive. But that is not so. We have broad
places where we can go. In fact, we can do far more things than the things we
are restricted from. The lost think they have the freedom to do anything, but
in reality, they are in terrible bondage. Eventually their roaming gets them
into trouble. But for the saved in Christ Jesus, the places where we can go are
good. We have a broad place as our inheritance in Christ Jesus…
2 Samuel 22:20
He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in
me.
1 Chronicles 4:40
And they found rich, good
pasture, and the land was broad, quiet, and peaceful; for some
Hamites formerly lived there.
Psalm 118:5
I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in
a broad place.
Our inheritance from the Lord
is good. He gives good things…
Psalm 84:11
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will
give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 103:5
Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Luke 1:53
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.
The Lord fills the spiritually hungry with good things, but those who
depend on their money (or anything other than God) go away empty. In the next
verse we see an example of speaking to our soul and telling it what to do.
David said “I will bless the Lord who has
given me counsel.” We can tell our
souls to bless the Lord…
Psalm 103:1-2
Bless the Lord, O my soul; and
all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget
not all His benefits:
How many people understand the
importance of ministering to the Lord. In a time of prayer – communion with
God, it is always best to start with worship and praise, thanksgiving and
blessing His heart. He loves His children and should be ministered to first.
After that He lovingly ministers to us – it is a joyous thing. David realized
that it was God who has given him the counsel – or advice that he needed to get
along.
He also knew that even at night, God would instruct him as he slept. Did
you know that God can instruct us even as we sleep? It’s true. Sometimes it is
in the form of dreams. Other times He can work in our spirit in ways we cannot
imagine. How awesome is He! Sometimes when we remember a dream but do not
understand it’s meaning, we need to seek the Lord. He will tell us if it
something He wants us to know.
David said in verse 8 that he
set the Lord always before him. In that he meant that he kept his focus on the
Lord at all times. And isn’t that what we all need to do saints if we are to
succeed in this life? When we lose our focus, we can begin to sink – sort of
like Peter when he stepped out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus. He
lost his focus. When he focused on Jesus his faith was strong.
But when he
focused on the tossing waves of the tumultuous sea, he began to sink. The only
possible way to make it in this life is to stay focused on Jesus – at all
times. Ask me how I know this? Every time I have allowed my focus to get on the
things of this world, I ran into trouble. After enough times of falling into
peril because of being off in my focus, I am learning, like all of you, that I
have to fix my eyes on Jesus…
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run
with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God.
Do you suppose that Jesus had
to stay focused on what He was sent here to do? You bet! If He had taken His
focus off of the tasks before Him, we would all perish – thank You Jesus for
staying focused! Help us to do the same – amen!! David went on to say that
because he kept the Lord at his “right hand”, he would never be moved. So if we
jump back to Peter walking on the water, we can think about the success he
would have had in reaching the Master if he had not allowed the stormy seas to
move him.
Saints, that needs to be the
way we react to life’s storms, doesn’t it? We have to stay focused on the One
who can carry us safely to the other side of this life. Just the other day,
when I was working out at the gym – I had a terrible sprain in my ankle. I knew
immediately that I had to focus on Jesus the Healer and not take my mind off of
that no matter how I felt. Today it is one week later and my ankle is 100%
healed! Glory to His name forever!
If I would have fretted about
how it looked or felt, I would likely be barely walking today. Instead, I have
been able to maintain my exercise routine. When my ankle swelled up, I did not
consider going to the Dr. I considered my Healer and I didn’t let go of it. I
kept my gaze firm and my healing has fully manifested – hallelujah, thank You
Jesus! Nothing in this life should
move us. This is such a huge subject that we could camp on it for many weeks.
But for the sake of today’s review, we will keep it brief. Here is a bit more
about not being moved by life’s circumstances…
Acts 20:22-24
22 And see, now I go bound in the
spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 except
that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and
tribulations await me.24 But none of these things move
me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race
with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to
the gospel of the grace of God.
Friends, there is so much here
today, so take what you need the most and feast on it – that’s what the Lord
wants us to do; feast on His word and meditate on it day and night. Because
David had the Lord continually in his focus, and was not moved by life’s trials,
his spirit within him rejoiced. How about us saints? Can we do that too? When
we rejoice in the Lord, in faith, despite what goes on around us, He is well
pleased! It thrills the Father endlessly when He sees His children taking
delight in Him even when everything around them seems to be falling apart. Remember,
a Bible that is falling apart is a sure sign of a life that is not.
And if our knees get a little
sore from prayer and our voice runs out, we can rejoice – be exceedingly glad
that the power of our God never will – hallelujah! We can relax (rest in hope)
and know that God is for us. He is on our side. He will work on our behalf when
we trust in Him fully and wait on Him to help us. He does not leave us in a
state of destruction – I am a testimony to that for certain. Like verse 10
says, the Lord will not allow those who love Him to be destroyed. He didn’t let
it happen to Jesus, and He won’t let it happen to us as long as we do things
His way – the good way. Instead of us being destroyed, our enemies will be
destroyed.
Today’s Psalm ends with a
wonderful promise. God shows us the way we should go in our lives…
Psalm 143:10 NIV
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Psalm 90:12
So teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
Isaiah 48:17
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you
to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go.
Jeremiah 42:3
that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk
and the thing we should do.”
As long as we listen to Holy
Spirit every day, all day, we will not have to wonder what to do, where to go, how
to live, or should we go here or there. None of the decisions that we must make
in this life will be a heavy burden if we simply listen to His Spirit and do
what He says. God is the one who makes it easy – we humans are the ones who
make it difficult and cumbersome.
The final two sentences in
this Psalm today give us a promise that should excite us all! We talked about
being in His presence already in our recent study. That is the place to live
and stay – it brings great joy. It brings complete joy – something no person
can take away from us. No storm or trial can take it. We can have this joy all
the time. The more we trust Him, the more we will abide (remain in) His
presence and maintain our joy regardless of what is going on around us. It is a
glorious place to be. To be in His presence and experience true joy all the
time is a sure sign of spiritual maturity. It is not an unattainable goal
saints – we can all reach that goal.
Psalm 94:19
In the multitude
of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.
When the anxieties try to come on us, and they
will, or the worries or fears, we can resist them and replace them with faith
thoughts. We can choose to stay in the place of quiet rest and trust in God, no
matter what. It is a choice. We do not have to give place to those spirits in
our lives. The minute we sense the devil trying to steal our joy, we need to do
an “about face” or a complete turnaround and kick that devil right in the head
with the words of faith. We have the authority – all we have to do is choose to
use it.
The final statement today says, in essence that
when we are in right standing with God, we can enjoy pleasures from the Father’s
hand endlessly. Hallelujah! How is that for a deal saints? Look at this…
Psalm 65:11
You crown the year
with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.
Questions:
List some ways that you have asked the Lord to preserve you.
When was the last time you firmly placed your trust in God?
List your favorite verses from today’s study to review on a
daily basis.
Why should we speak to our soul?
How can a person be considered good?
Why do we delight in the saints in the earth?
Why is it so important to stay connected to a church?
Why is it important to avoid close relationships with lost
people?
What is our greatest inheritance in this life?
Describe the measure in which the Lord gives.
What does it mean to be “kept” by God?
Describe God’s boundary lines.
Why is it important to minister to the Lord?
What does it mean to you to focus on the Lord?
How can we avoid being moved by life’s storms?
List some ways that God has been leading you lately.
List one sign of spiritual maturity.
In way(s) has this study helped you the most?
Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, the God of
our salvation! Selah
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
There are many benefits available for
those who love God
It is good to bless the Lord each
day in our prayer time
Focusing on the Lord brings unending
joy
Let’s
pray…
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the many ways that You bless those who love
You. Thank You for loading us with benefits each and every day. If it had not
been for You I would not be alive to give You praise in the land of the living.
Father, I ask You to show me who I can share this good news with? Who is in my
realm of influence that needs this encouragement right now? Who can I tell Abba
Father? Thank You in advance for showing me how to share the joy and the blessings
of what it means to have a close relationship with You in Jesus name! Amen!
Who
can you encourage today as the Lord has encouraged you?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
Romans
4:16-22
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace,
so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of
the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father
of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made
you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who
gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they
did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so
that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So
shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak
in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a
hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He
did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in
faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully
convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And
therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
No comments:
Post a Comment