Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Psalm 65 God's Abundant Provisions


Daily Bible Study for Tuesday September 27, 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

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Psalm 100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Song: Take A Little Time          By: Andre Crouch
Psalm 65
God’s Abundant Provision
There’s an ABUNDANCE of good things in the word of God, and this chapter is no exception! Today we will look at God’s abundant provision for His people. We will also look at people giving to Him abundantly, and cheerfully. Hallelujah! Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father:
You are an over the top, abundant, too much God! How we thank You for all You have done for us – past, present and future Lord! You really have been so good to Your people. You rain down blessings on the just and the unjust! Glory to Your name forever! Father, I ask You to give me the utterance today and the anointing to speak Your word to Your people. Use me as Your chosen vessel to birth a new revelation in the hearts of those who call upon Your holy name. Cause this message to reach across the globe to every nation and tribe, unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Lord, we are so grateful that You always watch over Your word to perform it in our lives when we trust in You and do what You say. Thank You for new wisdom and understanding today. Open our eyes and hearts to receive everything You want to teach us. Father, we purpose to be doers of Your word and not forgetful hearers. We know that we cannot step into all that You have for us if we do not obey You. Take us to new levels today Lord and cause Your people to praise Your name like never before! Thank You in advance for the answers to this prayer in Jesus precious and wonderful name! Amen.
This Psalm is dripping with abundance, just like all the paths of the Lord – hallelujah! This is shoutin’ ground saints! Our God is an abundant God. It started in the beginning in the Garden of Eden. The Lord gave Adam and Eve everything they would need to live a fruitful and abundant life. He made the weather perfect – like heaven. He made the earth perfect – wonderful, and beautiful. He set up the mountains and the seas and caused there to be animals, fish and birds to make man’s life rich and complete in every way. We cannot say enough about how good God is to people. He wants us to have the best, eat the best, wear the best, drive the best, everything top shelf! How many believe this about Him? Not nearly enough.
When we move through the book of Genesis we see how the Lord prospered His people even after the fall of man and the curse came upon the earth and mankind. How gracious is our God!!! Even though we blew it in a big way, He continued to shower His people with blessings. One could go back and study the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph to name only a few if they wanted to see just how abundantly the Lord provides. Then we could go further and study about all the wealth that He gladly gave to king Solomon, David and still others. He had the first tabernacle made from the finest material to be patterned after that which was in heaven – only the best for God! So in this chapter we can look at abundance as a two-way street. God gives to us abundantly, and then in worship and praise for all He has done for us, we give to Him abundantly. How wonderful is that! Praise His name forever.
With all of that said, we enter into our first verses of today’s chapter. Let’s make an outline of the things that we will look at in this chapter and then allow the Lord to take us where He will in each tasty morsel, shall we? Here is a summation of the things we see initially as we begin to read these verses…
Part 1 – Verses 1 – 5 Thanking God for His work in us and how He blesses us
A.    I will perform my vows
This is what we talked about in more detail the other day, but it always bears repeating. This is very important to the Lord. It should be equally important to us – amen. When we make promises to God, our job is to keep them. Many, if not most of us will come to God at some point or another in our lives and tell Him that we will do this or that for Him. Well, those are not empty words to Him. He is taking us at our word. He is 100% serious about seeing us do what we said. On top of that, He is looking for us to be cheerful givers. Let’s look at a great set of verses to start us off on that very subject…
2 Corinthians 9:6-8
But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 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.
The Lord is looking for us to give to Him in abundance from the heart with a cheerful, delightful attitude – enjoying giving to Him our very best. This is often preached in church as an “offering” message when people are preparing to bring their tithes and offerings to the Lord. That is certainly good. But there is more to giving to God than bringing Him our money – much more. When we give little, we will get little in return. It is a rule just like the rule of gravity – what goes up must come down. One who gives liberally will receive back unto themselves liberally, or in other words, in abundance. People who do what they said they were going to do for God must do so without holding a grudge in their hearts, as if to say, “Well God, I told You I would do this, so here I go.” It should never be drudgery to us.
If the heart is not right when we fulfill our vows to the Lord, He will not accept our “grudging gifts”. He never held back one thing when He gave us His all. Jesus, His only begotten Son was given up for us all as a spotless sacrifice to pay for all our sins, which will lead us into the second point of today’s study. So if He gives His best, and cheerfully so, shouldn’t we also give unto Him our very best? The answer to that question needs to be a resounding yes from all of God’s people – amen?
Once we digest this a moment (or two) then we can finish the rest of the verse. He is able to make all grace abound – say it, abound! That means to present in large numbers, or great quantity. The Lord can make it so that we have more than enough with all the grace that is needed to do everything He is asking us to do. Also, when we are seeking to serve Him and offer Him our best, He will provide all the strength and provision, be it physical, financial or relational to do what we need to do. He makes things abundantly ready for us to do what we need to do so we lack nothing in the giving, or the work required. Oh He is so good!
The next point is…
B.    He hears our prayers.
Isn’t that the most comforting assurance that even though God is so big, awesome and powerful, He is right hear listening to our cries to Him. Whether it is praise, thanks or requests for other members of the body of Christ (supplication), the lost (intercession) or ourselves, God is listening…
Psalm 6:9
The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.
Everyone needs to know that God really is listening. There are things that can block the prayers from getting results. That is another study altogether. For this lesson, suffice it to say that we have to go to Him with clean hands and hearts. We cannot ask while holding unforgiveness toward others in our hearts. If we expect Him to listen to and act upon our prayers, we must be fully prepared spiritually. There are certain prayer principals that have been provided by the Master in the New Testament, and examples have been given in the Epistles. One should make it a point to seriously study prayer because it is vital for getting things done in the earth.
To further study prayer from a man of God who was visited by Jesus while he lived on multiple occasions, the book he wrote on prayer can be quite enlightening. It is called the Bible Prayer Study Guide by Kenneth E. Hagin. You can find it very inexpensively on Amazon.com. I myself along with my husband am learning more about prayer than I ever imagined and we are very excited. We want to get answers to our prayers. We want to pray the right prayer and see the right results – how about you?
Next we see that all flesh goes to the Lord…
C.    In one way or another everyone will go to talk with God. Not everything that is said to Him is godly or pleasing, but all flesh will indeed go to God at some point. For the believer this should be an everyday – all day practice. He is the Lord of all.
Moving on…
D.   My sins prevail against me – but You purge them away.
We just mentioned God’s abundant gift of Jesus. Even though we humans have a pile of sins stacked against us, Jesus came and paid the full price for every single one of them. There is no sin that He did not cover with His precious blood! Now that is good news! God is all about bringing us tidings of comfort and joy – and not just in December when we celebrate Christmas and Jesus marvelous birth – hallelujah! Personally, I feel like Paul when he said… 
1 Timothy 1:12-17
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Rejoice my friends and be exceedingly glad because those of us who consider ourselves to be among the “chief” of sinners – the worst, Jesus the Christ is the Chief Cornerstone…
1 Peter 2:4-10
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 
Talk about grace! Praise His name forever! I sinned so bad it looked like there was no coming back from the dead – and I was nearly dead. In our hearts we are already dead in sins and trespasses. Then we are made alive by Jesus, the Son of God. This should cause every believer to rejoice in their salvation and want to do what they promised the Lord they would do, amen. If you know anyone who has not yet received Jesus as their Lord and Savior – won’t you consider sharing this study with them? Seeing someone heading for the edge of a cliff and doing nothing to stop them is not love at all. We must reach out to them that are perishing. Jesus is good news! God is good and He wants to shower everyone with abundant blessings! The gospel is good news – that’s what it means.
Speaking of blessings, let’s get to the next point…
E.    We are blessed because…
As verse 4 says it – He chose us. Just like we looked at in the verses above in 1 Peter, we are a chosen generation. Because we are His chosen people, through Jesus we have the blessing, privilege and honor of approaching the Lord where once we could not because of our many sins. Not only can we approach the Father God, but as saved Christians, we can dwell, or live (remain) in His courts (His presence) forever more. There’s more abundance – more good news! Are you getting more joyful as you read this? I certainly am! Praise God! Look at this…
Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 84:10
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
While looking at verse 4 today, I learned something new. I didn’t understand why it said courts, house and temple - all in this one verse. I sought the Lord and He heard my request and He answered me thus – the courts are the outer part where God is, the house is the inner part of where He dwells and the “temple” is the most holy place. Praise God. In this we see the arrangement of the tabernacle that was initially built by Solomon, don’t we? Everything with the Lord has a pattern and detail along with very specific purposes. 
The tabernacle was such that only certain people could come into the courts, while others could enter the house. Finally, the only one who could enter the most holy place was the high priest, and even then he could only go once a year for the atonement of the sins of the people with the blood of bulls. Now that Jesus (our High Priest) has entered the most holy place with the sacrifice of His blood that covered all of our sins for all time, we can now enter into God’s very presence since we are now His priests and kings. That is more abundance than we could have ever hoped for! Hallelujah! Remember the resounding theme for today is God’s abundant giving and our response to that is abundant giving back to Him! He is worthy saints!
The Lord answers us in righteousness. What does this mean? He gives us from His perfectly right ways the perfect answer/solution to our requests. He is abundantly more than enough to supply our every need…
Philippians 4:19
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Did you catch that word “riches” in this verse? That’s right, God provides for us richly. He doesn’t give us anything cheap. Everything that comes from Him is rich and abundant…
1 Timothy 6:17
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 
So many suffer needlessly because they think that being a Christian means we must suffer lack. That is a lie from the pit of hell saints! Do not believe it! There is nothing in the Bible that teaches that. Men have misinterpreted the scriptures and taught their misunderstanding to others. As a result, people have latched on to false teachings. Some even put more faith in a song than they do a Bible verse! It is absurd! God is a giver, and a very abundant one at that. It is the devil who takes away from us.
We are blessed because the Lord is the confidence, of all the earth. He is the only One we can really trust and rely on 100% of the time for 100% accuracy in every situation. How many would like to start trusting in God and start really putting their confidence in the only one who can satisfy them abundantly and never ever let them down? That’s our God. More good news – more abundance. He is the God of abundance. At church we sing a song called “Too much God.” Here are some of the words – “He gives too many blessings; you just can’t hold them all. He gives running over till it all overflows, He’s a too much Jesus this much I know.” Hallelujah!
Part 2 Verses 6 – 13 God’s Abundant and Powerful Work in The World and in Our Lives
The last verses in this chapter show us how the Lord formed the mighty mountains - froming them as strong and powerful. And, in verse 7 the good news is that He stills the noise of the seas with its roaring waves. What waters are roaring and tossing in your life right now? Did you know that this promise is something that can calm those raging waters? Look at this…
Isaiah 43:1-2
43 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.
How’s that for more good news. All of us go through some very deep, raging “waters” in our lives at some time or another. And when we do, we need to know that we will not drown in them! When I see this verse today it reminds me of the time we were on a canoe trip with a church youth group. My daughters were about 9 and 10 years old. One daughter went with dad and the other came with me. We were short a life vest so I offered mine to one of the kids. Since I am quite comfortable in the water, I believed I would not have need of the life vest.
As we began to launch the canoes downstream, it took no time at all for me to realize that I had never canoed by myself (as the one who drove the boat) before. I had always been the passenger while someone else had done the steering. In no time at all, my canoe shot across the swiftly flowing river and my precious daughter and I capsized! There she went floating downstream while I was trying to grab our shoes and other belongings that were quickly floating beyond my reach! I began to panic. My husband was much further down the river and did not see the dilemma I was in for a bit. He finally noticed and took the other daughter into his boat. He slowed his boat down enough to wait on me, but then something unexpected and quite frightening happened.
As I tried to bring the boat from it’s now upside down position back upright, my foot became wedged between two tree roots at the bottom of the river! I was stuck! In addition to that I had a case around my neck to hold our car keys and my lipstick. It was on a string that suddenly caught on to the underside of the canoe. So not only was my foot stuck, but now the thing around my neck was attached to the canoe rendering me helpless to move! The water was very fast moving, and it was up to my mouth. I found myself literally tilting my head as far backward as I could just to be able to continue to breathe.
As unafraid of the water I had always been having grown up around it, the panic continued to rise. Fear was gripping me on every side. Meanwhile, the rest of the group continued down the river. It took my husband awhile to catch on that I was in trouble. At first he laughed at me and kidded me, saying that I didn’t know how to steer my canoe. But by now it was no laughing matter. I began to see my life go right in front of me. I thought that I was going to drown that day while my family looked on at me and floated by laughing.
Life can be this way for many of us at times. We can be going along just fine until suddenly, something happens that we did not expect. It gets intense very quickly. If we are not careful, we could get into a state of panic. I have learned a lot about fear since then. It may come and come on strong – but when it does we have to cast it down and quick. Otherwise it will overtake us. We can see the passing of a family member or close friend. Tornados come and destroy homes. There’s hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires, and a host of other things that the devil and the curse in the earth are bringing into people’s lives.
There is the loss of a job, a marriage, a business, etc. When we see the waters rising in our lives and feel as if it is going to sweep us under, we can know that we have a mighty, awesome and powerful God who said it Himself in His word, “I will be with you.” He assures us that the waters will not overtake us and the fires will not burn or even scorch us.
When a Christian truly knows God personally, and obeys Him, then they can know without a doubt that He has sent His ministering spirits to guard them (us) in all their ways lest they dash their foot against a stone. Obedience is the key to that kind of protection. As long as we are walking in the light (understanding) we have at any given moment, God can and will protect us. I know that the Lord is the One who spared my life that day. It shook me up something terrible. It took a long time to stop thinking about it. Today I am living proof that God is powerful enough to deliver one out of some dreadfully strong and unfavorable circumstances. He has provided for me abundantly on countless occasions! Praise His name forever!
Verse 7 goes on to say that the Lord can still the confusion of the people. The Lord is the God of peace and a sound mind…
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The devil is the author of confusion, but the Lord gives His people a sound, peaceful and clear mind. All confusion is from the devil. The minute we see things looking confused is a good time to stop and pray and take authority over that spirit. God ushers in peace and quiet to His people – an abundance of peace…
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Moving on, people from every corner of the earth tremble at the awesome wonder of the signs performed by our great and awesome God. The earth even rejoices that God brings it morning and evening at each new day. He gives abundant provision to His people in giving us seed, time and harvest. New seasons coming around consistently and the maintenance of the entire earth upon its axis are but a tiny effort to Him – glory to God. Abundance. Can you see His abundance at every turn?
The Lord waters the earth and it brings forth a harvest. He also sends His word to water His people and produce a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who are fully trained by it…
Isaiah 55:10-11
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
This is so glorious. God sends His word down into our hearts. His word is considered a seed and it is also considered water. When He sends His word and waters it, it shall surely come back to Him fully complete in that for which He sent it – hallelujah! God’s word works in our lives when we receive the seed, the water and the faith over time to watch it grow into a full harvest. That’s abundance! That is good news! The Lord always watches over His word to perform it in our lives when we trust in Him and place our faith on it. Whatever we need in our lives, God’s word has an abundant provision to cover it. That’s worth shouting about.
Just today I started out not feeling well. I had symptoms that were very uncomfortable. I claimed that by His stripes (Jesus) I am healed. Then I kept saying I am getting stronger and stronger. I am feeling better by the minute. I thanked Jesus for healing me. The Lord showed me that my faith had healed me. I took that word in my heart and I acted on it in faith. By mid afternoon the symptoms had completely left me – praise His name forever. His word that He sent forth had healed me. It produced a harvest. It did not return to Him without first watering my heart and bringing an abundant harvest. I am so grateful. He wants to do this for everyone. But not everyone will believe it or receive it. This is so SADD-U-CEE!
The Lord wants to see a harvest in all our lives. A harvest of righteousness, peace, and wealth in our mind, body and bank accounts. He never wanted to see His children lack any good thing…
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 34:10
The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.
How about you? Would you like to see your life become rich with the abundance of the Lord? You can have it you know. All you have to do is remember this. What grace has already provided, faith must possess. We take God’s abundance by placing faith on what He has already made available to us through Jesus Christ our Lord…
Psalm 78:15
He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths.
Jesus is the Rock in the wilderness for dying men. When Moses was told to strike the rock, it was a symbol of Jesus being opened up to pour out streams of Living Water flowing from His side to give a drink that would never run dry to the thirsty soul. Anyone who has not accepted their free gift of salvation cannot receive the abundance that God has waiting for them. But once we drink of His goodness through precious Jesus, we will be satisfied with the richest of fare… 
Isaiah 55:2
Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Who among us wouldn’t like to have abundance in our souls? This is a soul that is free from fear, doubt, worry, anxiety, or poverty. Friends, we can all enjoy the blessings of the Lord that makes rich. Once we taste and see how good He really, really is, why would we want for anything else. His love is abundant and overflowing for anyone who will come to His well to drink it in.
The last three verses in this chapter are so wonderful and promising it should make us all leap for joy. The Lord makes our year to be covered with His goodness. His ways are the ways of abundant life for all who will believe it and receive it. Just like the pastures and the hills rejoice in that they are clothed with flocks and food, so God’s people can rejoice with His abundance ready at hand at all times. This should cause all of us to have His praise continually upon our lips – amen!
Questions:
What have you promised to the Lord that you would do for Him?

Are you willing to give God what you promised cheerfully?

List some of the promises contained in verse 4.

What can you do when troubles and/or confusion arises in your life?

What is the purpose of God’s word according to Isaiah 55:10-11?

In what ways have you seen the Lord cover your year and life with abundance?

If you have not been experiencing the abundance of the Lord in your life, will you seek Him to find out what may be blocking it?

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

God loves a cheerful giver
God is an abundant giver
God wants to make every area of our lives drip with abundance 

                          Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father:

Thank You for the abundance of Your love in my life! I cannot thank You enough for all You have done for me. I just want to take a little time right now to say thank You! You are so good and gracious. Thank You for sending Your word into my life to bring forth that harvest of righteousness and peace. Father, I ask You to show me anything in my life that may have been blocking Your abundant blessings from flowing in. I do not want to miss out on the many good things that You have for me as I walk in the light of Your love. Show me anything I need to see Lord and I will make it my goal to change what I am doing to line up with Your good and perfect will. Thank You for Jesus and all the abundance that He has brought into this life for me. Thank You in advance for the answers. I believe I receive them in Jesus name! Amen.

Is your life overflowing with God’s abundance? How can you share that with others?

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

Jeremiah 33:4-9

“For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword: ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’




                                                

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