Daily Bible Study for Friday August
26, 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
Romans 12:4-5
For as we have many members in one body, but all
the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members of one another.
Psalm
100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
Song: Light of The World By: Chris
Tomlin
Psalm 43
Light of the World
Today is really a continuation of the Psalm we looked at
yesterday – Psalm 42. The Psalmist was downcast and disturbed. He appears by
his words to be deeply troubled in his heart. He was looking to the Lord for
help. The good thing here is that he knew he could call on God for help. Every
Christian should know this. God was his God and he even told his soul to hope
in God. Today we see more of the same, with a new twist to his requests. Let’s
pray…
Heavenly Father;
Thank You for Your word that brings light into every dark
situation we encounter in this world. Your Son is the Light of the world and we
are blessed to be in that light even as He is in the light – glory to Your
name. Father, I ask You to shine Your revelation light through me today. Use my
mind, heart and hands to bring us new understanding. Help us to see what we
could not previously see. Bring people from around the world to receive Your
message of light and truth in this lesson. I ask You to send this out
unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Father, thank You
for always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we place our
confidence in You. Your word never fails. Lord, we desire to be doers of Your
word and not forgetful hearers. Thank You in advance for what You will give us
today. We give You all the glory, honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen.
Like yesterday, the Psalmist continues to ask God for help
among some ungodly people. It sounds like the enemy was harassing him through
the people in his midst. And isn’t that how it continues to be today? Until the
devil is bound up and tossed into the pit, we will have to deal with him, so we
may as well learn how to take authority over him effectively right now – amen?!
He will likely outlive many of us in his time on the earth unless Jesus comes
real soon.
The first thing that really jumps off the page for us today
is that our writer was making a bold declaration of faith that God was his
strength. Is that your declaration as well? Are you 100% confident that God is
the strength of your life? That’s where it all really begins, doesn’t it?
Depending on His strength and not our own. This week I had a real lesson in remembering
that I cannot possibly do all the things that are currently being required of
me in my own strength. I need the Lord and these lessons from His word and His
Spirit to shed some light on the fact that I must not try to do these things in
my own limited human strength.
But that is what I had been doing of late and I was getting
completely worn out. I had too many tasks left at the end of the day, and not
enough day for all my tasks. Can anyone relate? We will continue to use my
examples this week to show you what I learned through this with the sincere
desire that you will glean something very meaningful from it too. God’s wants
to, first of all, use His word to do the most important part – His work in our
hearts.
Secondly, He wants to use people like you and me to be
examples to others. He wants us to shine the light, the truth, or in another
way of saying it, His revelation in what we have learned in our circumstances
so we can be a blessing to encourage others. That’s how the body edifies one
another. I get light from the Lord and I am called to share it with you. We
help each other. The goal is to bring each other up to a higher and better
place. God never tears down. He is always looking to build us up.
I didn’t realize that I was
trying to do things in my own strength lately. Others around me, especially my husband
could see it, but I guess in all my running (like a hamster on a wheel) I could
not see what I was doing. In today’s Psalm the writer poses some heartfelt questions.
He was wondering why the Lord had cast him off. How many know that when we
begin to struggle, it can “seem” like God has abandoned us. But we can’t be
fooled by appearances. He said He would never leave us or forsake us…
Hebrews 13:5
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
That said, we can still get to
“feeling” like this if we keep our focus on the circumstances which is always a
dangerous thing to do. When we get to looking at how things are going, or our
feelings, we can quickly forget the promises of God and His word, can’t we? I
was really struggling to keep up with all my duties. It felt like I was really “hitting
a wall” with everything. I was exhausted and my soul was not quieted within me.
I thought that my help was on the way so I just kept forging ahead.
The Lord
had shown me previously that we would have help. But I never really stopped to
ask Him officially. I was just making the assumption that it would “just
appear.” This week the Lord showed me that I have to ask, like I shared with you
these past two days. We must ask. Even though He knows what we need, we still
have to follow protocol and ask for His help. Then we have to take it a step
further and accept it.
If we ask for help and go
right back to doing things the old way, we have negated His offer to help and
He will certainly honor our desires. If we think we can keep doing it our way to
get the results He would like to see us achieve, we will not get there. God
will not force His help on us – ever. He will stand back and wait again until
we make up our minds that we are going to seek Him and allow Him to help us.
Like the Psalmist, we can start
wondering why we continue to suffer at the enemy’s hand. That’s why we really
need to get wisdom and direction through Holy Spirit. He can help us to see
what we couldn’t see. The writer asked God to shed His light and truth on his
situation. That’s what we all need. There is plenty of darkness all around us,
and we need to be able to walk in the light…
John 11:9-10
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not
twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in
the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
What does it really mean to
walk in the light? When we are born again, we have the Light of the World living
in us. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in us so we could carry His light
with us night and day, everywhere we go. By having His light (wisdom,
knowledge, understanding) living in us, we can get all the revelation and “light”
we need in every situation, if we will access it.
Many Christians do not
realize the power and authority that they have already been given. Nor do they understand
that the Person of Wisdom and Light is right there to call on at any given
moment. As a result, many stumble around in darkness like unsaved people. It is
like having a lamp on the inside of us. There is a “switch” to turn the lamp
on, but we walk around and forget to “turn on the switch” by calling on Holy
Spirit to help us.
This is one major reason why
so many “good” people die before their time. They are not turning on the Light
that is living in them. They ignore His warnings and end up in car crashes,
plane crashes, etc. They leave jobs and homes for things they were not supposed
to leave for and as a result they get into all kinds of trouble and things do
not go well. They get out of the perfect will of God and then they struggle and
try to blame those struggles on God. It just isn’t PHAR-I-SEE!
These past several days, I
really needed to know why I was struggling. The other day I just cried and
cried and did not understand the reason for the tears – at first. My soul was
uncomfortable. I knew there was something going on. I had to spend time with
the Lord and listen so I could gain light in the situation. I was in darkness
over this whole thing. Trying to start a ministry and run a household was
getting to be more than this one woman could handle. My husband has his plate
plenty full to. We needed the truth. We needed the light…
2 Peter 1:19
19 And so we have the prophetic
word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark
place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
To take heed means to pay
close attention to something. I needed to seek the Lord. Things weren’t looking
so bright even though I was still excited about the things that lay ahead of
us. I needed to wait for Jesus’ light to rise up in my heart – the Bright
Morning Star! Once I could get quiet and listen, I could receive the light for
why I was so troubled. Getting into His presence will bring light. Worshiping
Him and waiting on Him can bring all the light we need for the moment.
Like the Psalmist, no matter
what is going on around us, if God is our “exceeding joy” then we always have
hope that He will illuminate any darkness that we may be experiencing. Choosing
to go to worship the Lord and praise Him is the best place to begin. The
following Psalm says it well…
Psalm 100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
This was my “starting gate”
this week as I sought the Lord. I really had no idea what He would show me, but
in seeking Him I knew I would receive something. Is that your habit when there
is something bugging you and you can’t quite put your finger on what it is? If
you will make this your habit, you will always be blessed and gain the light
you need on your circumstances.
The really encouraging thing
we see in today’s chapter is that this Psalmist had faith in God even though he
was struggling. He still wanted to praise God and find his hope and joy in Him.
How many know that complaining and grumbling about our circumstances will get us
nowhere with God. The Bible is loaded with examples of what happened to the folks
who chose that route. We do not want to go there. If we do, we are giving place
to the devil in our lives, and shutting the door on our blessings. It keeps us
in darkness and that is never God’s will for His children.
We talked about speaking to
ourselves yesterday. A positive “self-talk” is necessary for the Christian on a
regular basis. In our chapters these past two days we see a lot of this. Again today,
the writer says to his soul, “why are you so downcast, why so disquieted within
me?” That’s what I was wondering the other day. But in God’s presence, I got my
answer. One thing I did not stop doing; placing my hope in God – my God! I
still praised Him regardless of how I was feeling. I knew His word, His wisdom,
would be health to all my flesh…
Proverbs 3:7-8
Do not be wise in your own
eyes; fear the Lord and
depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and
strength to your bones.
Here is what wisdom is…
Proverbs 4:20-22
My son, give
attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let
them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and
health to all their flesh.
And here is what good news
does for our health…
Proverbs 15:30
The light of the eyes rejoices
the heart, And a good report makes the bones healthy.
I cannot tell you in words how
much better I felt these past two days after the Lord shed His revelation light
on my circumstances. I released it all to Him, I cast the care of it to Him and
asked Him to help me. After that it felt like a 1,000-pound weight had been
lifted from my shoulders. We are not supposed to shoulder these cares – Jesus is
the Burden bearer – not us!
Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.
God’s words certainly are sweet
to our souls saints! Hallelujah! Here is what the Lord wants for every one of
His children, bar none! Here is another verse that is very applicable to this
study…
Proverbs 19:20-21
Listen
to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days. There
are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.
Now let’s look further at what prosperity is…
3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that you may
prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
There are three components
here. We see financial and overall prosperity in everything we do. We also see
prosperity in our health. It is not God’s will that any of us be sick. That
comes straight from the devil. And very importantly is the prosperity in our
soul. What does that mean? Successful progress in one way to describe prosperity.
The Lord desires that we prosper in our souls. He wants His light to shine in
our soul and out from our souls. He has told us in the world that we are the
light of the world…
Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Friends, we are called to
shine the light and love of Jesus in us as a bright example to others so they
will want what we have. When they see us all broken down, sad and depressed,
not having enough money to even pay attention, they will turn and go the other
way. They already have the brokenness and poverty. Why would they want more of
the same from you and me? No, they need to see the real deal saints. They need
to see us living an abundant and prosperous life, the life that the Lord
Himself promised to those who love Him.
When they see us doing so well
in our health – never getting sick, and in our finances, where it looks to them
like everything we touch turns to gold, and our families are doing well and we
are doing everything we put our hands to with excellence, then and only then
will they see something different from the rest of the world and start asking
questions.
I summary I think, the Lord
wants to shed His revelation light on our hearts, our circumstances and the
world around us.
He wants us prospering so we really can be the light of the
world. A downcast Christian is no invitation to anyone. But one who is healthy
and prospering and out there blessing people – well that’s a different matter altogether.
Today will you seek the Lord and His marvelous light so He can shine on your
circumstances and help you to understand things in order to bring you up to
that prosperous place where you belong? Then, will you go out and shine your
light to the rest of the world? They are eagerly waiting to see your light…
Romans 8:19
For the earnest expectation of
the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
You are the light of the
world! Shine bright, shine bright!
Questions:
What did you learn today about the “light?”
Whose strength have you been leaning on more lately - yours or
the Lord’s?
How have you been seeking God to give you understanding about
the things you are currently facing?
Have you approached God in a spirit of worship, praise and
thanks?
What positive self-talk have you been speaking lately?
In what ways can you shine your light to the rest of the
world?
What meant the most to you in today’s study? Why?
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
God is the first and only place to
go for help with our enemies
Seeking God’s light in our
circumstances brings revelation
We can place our hope in God at all
times regardless of what we are facing
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for giving us further understanding of how we can
seek Your presence for revelation on every matter we face. Thank You for Your
light that ever lives in us to help us and be an example to others. Lord, show
me what I need to see in my life that maybe I have not been able to see before.
I ask You to correct any wrong thoughts or behaviors in me so I really can
shine Your light to this lost and hurting world. I praise You in advance for
Your answer to this prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
Who do
you know right now that could use some light?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the
light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor
do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it
gives light to all who
are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
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