Daily Bible Study for Friday
September 2, 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
Psalm 119:64
The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy; Teach me Your statutes.
Psalm
100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
Song: God Is Good By: Lisa Page Brooks (You Tube)
Psalm 48
Holy City of Our God
The Psalms say it repeatedly, and we can’t say it enough –
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised! Hallelujah! He is worthy! He is
such a good God! He has done marvelous things. The place where His glory dwells
in His holy city cannot be compared to any other place. He is glorious. He is
wonderful! We cannot look at His word too much. We cannot mediate on who He is
or what He has done too much! And we certainly can’t stop telling the
generations about the greatness of God – our God! Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father;
We come into Your presence today with fullness of joy! You
are so glorious and worthy of all our praise! Thank You for giving us Your
written word backed up and revealed to us by Holy Spirit so we can gain
understanding about the many wonders of You! We adore You above all else and
praise Your name forever. Father, I ask You to bring Your people from every end
of the globe to meditate on Your word today. Bring glory to Yourself in this
message. Cause it to go forth unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or
my flesh. Father, I ask You for the utterance and the anointing to speak Your
word boldly as I ought. I invite You Father to speak through my mind, heart and
hands to Your people. Lord, as always we desire to be doers of Your word. Thank
You for always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives. Thank You in
advance for the answer to this request in Jesus mighty glorious name! Amen.
We start off with looking at
the beauty of where the Lord dwells – in His Holy City. Jerusalem was always
known as the holy city. That is God’s gathering place with His people Israel on
the earth. It is where they were called to take up residence with Him. While on
the earth, God’ dwells in the hearts of those who accept Him as Savior and
Lord. In the end, all of this on the earth will be burned up in fire and there
will be a new heaven and a new earth. We will behold the beauty and splendor of
the Lord our God such as never before…
Revelation 21:9-27
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven
bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me,
saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And
he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me
the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having
the glory of God. Her light was like
a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 Also
she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the
gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 three
gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and
three gates on the west.
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city
had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God
illuminated it. The Lamb is its
light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall
walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into
it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day
(there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall
bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it 27 But
there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an
abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of
Life.
We cannot even begin to
imagine the joy of the whole earth when this takes place saints! Glory to God!
We as His children, who have our names written in the Lamb’s book of life have
a glorious inheritance awaiting us! We have an inheritance like none other in
our God. Praise His name forever! Being with Him and in His place of dwelling,
when God is dwelling among men, will be more glorious and wonderful than human
words can pen or tell.
Indeed, the Lord is known in
His city as a refuge. He is a place where His people can go and remain at rest –
away from all evil for all eternity! It is no wonder this Psalm starts off the
way it does! Truly our Lord is great and greatly to be praised. When was the
last time you looked at these verses and meditated on them? Friends, this is a
refreshing reminder to me today as well as you that when things around us look,
well, a bit “tense”, we can keep our eyes on our inheritance. That’s what Paul
did. He knew that one day these light and momentary troubles would all pass
away and that he along with all believers would dwell with the Lord in His holy
habitation…
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the
things which are not seen are eternal.
We can’t see these things yet but we sure can be
excited about them. Hallelujah! When the pressures of life and the enemy are
trying to close in on us – look to the wonderful hope we have in Christ Jesus.
That’s why the Lord gave us the Bible. We can see what has happened before and
learn from it. We receive instruction, correction and wise counsel in His word.
It really is meant to be the lamp to our feet…
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
With that in mind, the Lord
tells us to think His word day and night – it will encourage us. Whatever we
are going through, we can look to the Rock…
Psalm 61:2
From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
The walls of the city are high,
representing the fact that it is a place of refuge – unscalable by anything
damaging or evil. Glory to God! Even people in the highest positions of
authority and power on the earth can look at the place where the glory of the
Lord dwells in His Holy City and stand amazed. In times past they considered it
and were filled with fear. Back in the Old Testament, people saw what the Lord
did for His people and turned and ran the other way. Hallelujah!
In our chapter today the next
thing we see is a lot of great things about Who God is. Remember, we have
already discussed this. When we talk about the things that make up our
wonderful God – we are looking at His attributes, or in other words, His
qualities - the personality traits and abilities that make up Who He is. Surely
we cannot even begin to skim the surface on the greatness of our God. We see
several key traits mentioned that can give God’s people great comfort if they
will heed it.
He is great!
Deuteronomy 10:21
He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes
have seen.
He is greatly to be praised!
Psalm 145:3
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.
God is our refuge!
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
He is lovingkindness!
Psalm 63:3
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall
praise You.
He is full of righteousness!
Psalm 7:17
I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
We rejoice in His judgments!
Psalm 97:8
Zion hears and is glad, and the
daughters of Judah rejoice because of Your judgments, O Lord.
The truth is that God’s ways
make His people glad. It may not seem that way when we first come into the body
of Christ at times while we are fighting to destroy our flesh. But after we
have had some time to bask in His presence and meditate on all His promises
while witnessing His miracle working power in our lives, we begin to really
appreciate all the good things that God does for us. Recently I have seen Him
turn my heart in ways I had not previously imagined. It has been the cry of my
heart, like every Christian, that God would judge me and create in me a clean
heart. His judgments will make us glad and cause us to rejoice. For some that
may take longer than others. If we will stick with Him, He will get us where we
need to be - glory to glory…
2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed
into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Understanding Who God is and what He can and wants to do for you and me
is of the utmost importance. That is why it is critical to our very lives to
stay as close to Him as we can. With His help He will renew our minds…
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
That equals daily time in His
word and receiving His promises by faith. It is speaking His words over our
lives in faith and trusting Him. He will get us to where we need to go
according to what the word tells us if we will be willing and obedient. If we
stop “tugging on the line” and start walking through His word with Him
willingly, we will accomplish things we never dreamed possible. Praise His name
forever!
In the last three verses of
our chapter today, we are told to consider the fortification of God’s Holy
City. We can see the strength of God in her. There is protection in the
presence of the Lord from every enemy. Hallelujah! Never forget the promises in
Psalm 23 and Psalm 91. They only apply to those who do their part though – one must
never forget that! Dwelling with the Lord brings us all the strength and
protection we need. We will find nothing like it any place else in all the earth.
Once we have tasted of the
goodness of God and all the beauty of His holiness – His character and His
love, we are instructed to tell the next generation. We should not ever hide
this information from them…
Psalm 22:30-31
A posterity shall
serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
that He has done this.
Deuteronomy 6:7
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
The kids in our world today have grown up in a godless generation. Many
have turned away from the things of God as it has been foretold in the Bible
during the very end of times that we are now in. Like never before, we must
tell those younger than us about the greatness of our God. They desperately
need the Savior. They need to have something solid to hang onto in this life
and for all eternity. In a world so full of abuse, etc., they need to know how loving
and kind, powerful and wonderful our God really is. They need to know God, our
God, who will be our guide for all eternity. Praise His name forever.
Questions:
List some things that you are praising God for.
In what way does the promise of the new Jerusalem encourage
you?
How has God been a refuge for you in the past?
How have you seen God’s power at work in your life?
List the “attributes” about God in today’s chapter and
explain what they mean to you.
Why can Christians be glad about God’s righteous judgments?
What are the key things that you have considered about the
strength and protection of the Lord’s presence?
Who of the younger generation can you tell about the goodness
of God?
Who can you share this study with?
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
God’s dwelling place is beautiful –
a place of refuge and strength
There is a great deal that our God
can do for us who are His children
We must tell the next generation
about God, our God
Let’s
pray…
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the wonderful beauty, power and goodness that
make up who You are! You are great and greatly to be praised. Father, because
You have shown me Your glory in my life, I want to be used by You to tell the
next generation. I ask You to show me who I can tell. Lord as You do, I will be
faithful to follow the leading of Holy Spirit to lead them to the Rock that is
higher than I. I thank You in advance for Your help and I give You all the
glory, honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen.
Are
you excited to tell the next generation about your great God?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
Acts
22:15
For you will be His witness to all men of what
you have seen and heard.
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