Daily Bible Study for Wednesday December
7, 2016
By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Hannylynn05@gmail.com
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 trust this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another
version, that is fine. I am studying from the KJV.
***Please
note a change! We will look at everything for our basic study from the King
James Version going forward. It is helpful to stay with one solid version as we
study so as not to cause confusion. I may add other translations for specific
scriptures as the Lord directs.
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
John 11:25
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the
life: he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Psalm 116
A Living Sacrifice…
When I first really discovered (in the spirit) the words of
this Psalm, I was just delivered out of a terribly dark situation. When I read
them, it is as if they jumped off the page and shouted, “That’s me!” I had sunk
so low at 47 years old that I never thought I would see the light of life again.
As the Lord would have it, there came a day when these words just came out of
my mouth, “We have to get back to God.” I knew that everything I was trying to do
to get free of the troubles I was in was not working. I needed help and my
spirit was being led by the Lord to the only place I could go – back to Him.
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father:
Thank You for being so gracious, righteous and merciful.
Father, You amaze us with Your unfailing love that continues toward us even
when we are at our absolute worst! It is too marvelous for words. Father, I am
asking You to give me the utterance and anointing to speak Your word in this
message just as You want it said. Bring the people from across this globe as
only You can do and multiply it in the hearts of those who need to hear it the
most for such a time as this. Bring the hurting, the disappointed and the
troubled. Cause this word to sink into their hearts as they read because You
always watch over Your word to perform it in our lives. Help us to have
spiritual eyes, ears and open hearts to really receive this down in our spirit.
Your word says that these words of yours are Spirit and they are life. And we
know that the entrance of Your word gives light. When we hear and the light
shines in our darkness, there will be healing, deliverance and revelation.
Cause this message to go out to Your intended audience unhindered and unchecked
by any outside force or my flesh. Thank You for the blessings You will bring to
Your precious children in this lesson. Father, we purpose to be doers of Your
word and not hearers only. We give You all the glory, all the honor and all the
praise in the mighty name that is above all names - Jesus! Amen.
The first eight verses of this Psalm describes the heart of a
person who has been in a place of great trouble and sorrow. The person cried
out to the Lord and He listened. How gracious is that? Imagine the worst of
sinners doing abominable things that the Lord hates turning and calling on Him
to have mercy on them and forgive them. Then picture our loving heavenly
Father, through Jesus His Son, reaching down and taking hold of that wounded
hand and lifting this person up and dealing with them ever so graciously. Can
you picture it? Does it sound familiar to you?
This message is all about a troubled soul who was in a bad
place and decided to call upon the name of the Lord. Then it shows us the Lord’s
response to that cry. Finally, the last 11 verses for the most part show us
what a person’s response is to the Lord because He so graciously delivered such
a person from a terrible place in their life. You may have experienced such a
trauma yourself. If so, then the words to this Psalm resonate well with you. I
had read the Bible in my “infant” stages of Christianity. I read it cover to
cover. Most days I read a small passage with a little daily devotional.
While I thought the words I read each day were good and
encouraging, they did not seem to make much of a difference in my life – at least
not as much as I would have liked them to. I am sure I read this Psalm but it
never stood out to me like it did after the terrible fall I had in 2003. Once I
surrendered my life to the Lord and asked Him to “fix me,” I began to read the
Bible very intently. It seemed as if the whole thing became a living movie with
depth and meaning right before my eyes. The words just kept jumping into my
heart. I was in awe of what I was reading – really for the first time.
As I read this chapter today, I thought about how much I want
to live my life for the Lord. I thought about the call He has placed on my life
to preach and teach His word to the church. I stand amazed again as I think
about what happened this morning even as I was preparing my breakfast. All of a
sudden I just started praising the Lord for who He is, calling out many of His
wonderful attributes. I began to cry as I thought of how wonderful He is. My
heart so longs to be close to Him for all eternity, because He delivered me.
And that is what this Psalm is about, at least for today. Look at verse 12 for
a minute again…
Psalm 116:12
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
The word “render” means “to pay.” It can also mean “to give
for use or benefit.” The Psalmist, under the direction of Holy Spirit is asking
the question, “What can I give the Lord for all he has done for me?” Friend, is
that the question in your heart today? What has our gracious heavenly Father
done for you that would cause you to pose the same question? No matter what we
have done, the Lord wants to bring us up and out of it into a bountiful, aka, a
full, generous place of gifts and favors. Another question is this? Are you
willing to be a living sacrifice to the Lord – holy and pleasing? Think about
this as we go today.
One thing we need to make clear at this point is this. What
the Lord does for us is always a free gift. The salvation of our souls was
provided free of charge through His Son Jesus Christ. Along with that comes
salvation from troubles and challenges in our lives as we walk with Him. The
Lord does not give them with the intent that we “have” to pay Him for what He
has done. We never could anyway. But what He appreciates is when we are so
grateful for what He has helped us through we become willing to be His servant
by serving others in the earth who we are walking beside every day. Look at
this…
Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.
He desires for us to love Him – openly and freely, without a sense
of obligation. Love is a choice. It is not a feeling. To love someone means to
do something good for them, just because we love them. God loved us first,
before we ever loved Him…
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
We didn’t have to do anything
to earn it, and in fact, we couldn’t. The human heart is deceitful above all
else. We don’t have it in us to properly love God because of the fall of man. We
have to make a free will choice. In His great love for us, He gave us that. He
does not desire that any should love Him because they feel like they have to or
they are obligated. He wants our love to be freely and lavishly given, just
like anyone in your life with whom you have an intimate relationship – it is no
different.
None of us would want someone
to love us because they think they have to. It would strip the true meaning of
what love is and make it like a “robotic” type of relationship; dull and
lifeless - devoid of meaning. I used to think I loved the Lord before I had
that terrible fall. I enjoyed going to church and singing His praises. I
listened to Christian radio and watched good, clean movies. I taught my
children to honor His name by never saying it unless they were talking about
Him reverently.
We can go through the “Christian
motions” in our lives and yet never really know Him. Many of us can seem like
we are “on fire” for the Lord, and then suddenly, out of left field, we deny
Him and run away to our own devices. That’s what happened to me. It was the
last thing in this life I would have imagined I would ever do. Yet when the
heat was on in my life with pressures coming at me from all sides, instead of
running closer to seek the Lord for help, I turned and ran away. What I ran
from was precious. What I ran into was the face of death, just like our
Psalmist describes today in verse 3.
There is a disciple in the
Bible who most of us are familiar with. He walked closely with the Master for
the entire ministry period of three years. He was right there by His side
listening to Him teach, watching Him be used of the Father to perform many miracles,
signs and wonders. He saw the sick get healed, blind people could see, the deaf
could hear, the demons fled and the dead were raised to life. Yes, this disciple
saw it all. If there was anyone who should know the love and the power of God,
it would be him. Yet, in a moment of intense trial, rather than pressing in
closer to the Lord he claimed to love so much, he fled and denied him. Yes, you
guessed it. That was Peter.
But we can’t be too quick to
point an accusing finger at him, can we? When I studied the life of Peter more
closely in the Bible and in a book that was written by a pastor about him, I
began to feel like he must be my long lost cousin or some other “close”
relative. I began to call myself “Peterina.” LOL! Far from funny indeed really,
but I could relate all too well to him. He was overly emotional and unstable in
his commitment to the Lord – at least for a time. His “wishy-washy” behavior
was a sign of his spiritual immaturity.
Fortunately for Peter, God
knows the heart. Although Peter’s heart may have still been in disarray, the
Lord knew that his intentions were to really love the Lord and follow him. How
many realize that God meets us where we are?
He knows what we do not yet see. But here’s the thing. In order to see
more, we have to press in to the Lord when the trials come – not run away. I
did not understand what I was doing at the time like I can see it now. I was “ra-ra
Jesus” at the time - before my great fall.
Anyone in the world would have
thought, at least on the surface, that I was some strong Christian; which is
why so many were so shocked when they saw me do what I did, including myself. I
didn’t even know I had it in me. I really surprised my own self. And, it was
very unpleasant to see. We know how Peter denied Jesus when He was going to
face His numerous trials that would lead Him to the cross…
Mark 14:30
And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the
cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Yes, the Lord knew Peter would turn and
run when the going got tough – just like He knew I was going to. He knows what
you and I are going to do every step of the way before we are even born. It is
too high for human comprehension. But after the denial came the repentance. The
tears, the sorrow and the deep anguish that sin can bring resonated through
Peter’s sorrowful soul – and mine. Can you relate? Anyone who really does have
a heart for God will come back to their senses. How do we know? Because the Bible
tells us this…
Luke 22:32
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Since Jesus was operating as
just a man on the earth, He had to depend on Holy Spirit for His revelations
and directions. He was made aware of a need to pray for Peter, and that prayer
is what saved Peter from certain destruction. (Holy Spirit helps us in our
weaknesses because we do not know what we ought to pray for - Rom. 8:26) Peter
wanted to serve the Lord, but his flesh got the best of him in a moment of
trial. The devil certainly had a role to play too because of all that was going
on at the time. But Jesus had prayed for him. We can see the Lord’s heart in
praying for those who are His in John 17 – the chapter revealing Jesus prayer
to the Father. The great thing is, Peter turned around. Look at what happened
before Jesus left the earth one morning after a home cooked meal by the Master Himself…
John 21:14-17
14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed
himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon
Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto
him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my
lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I
love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the
third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all
things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my
sheep.
Jesus was now asking Peter to do something
for Him. In a relationship, each one does some giving – freely and willingly.
Jesus was asking Peter to feed His sheep (us) His word. While they sat and ate
physical food, (probably the best fish breakfast ever served in all history)
the Lord asked His beloved disciple to preach the word of God to His people. He
was placing a call on Peter’s life to go and tell others the words of life. Peter
knew Jesus had the words of eternal life.
To answer the question from verse 12 in
our Psalm today, we can see how the Lord was giving Peter an opportunity to
serve him by serving His people. That was something Peter could do for the Lord
from a heart filled with gratitude for the tender mercy that the Lord had shown
him. Peter had heard the words of eternal life and believed them for himself.
He not only believed them, but he spoke them and his life was forever changed.
We speak out of our mouths what our hearts believe, and then that is what will
come to pass. When we agree with the word of God and speak it out of our mouth
in faith, big things can happen. Hallelujah! It is with the heart that man believes…
Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Jesus wanted Peter to tell others the
words of eternal life so they could believe in their hearts and drink from the
cup of salvation too. Glory to God. The Psalmist said “all men are liars”,
knowing that he was a sinner, like Peter had sinned, like I had sinned, and
you. Knowing we have sinned and missed it is the best place to start. A humble
heart before the Lord will never be denied. Nothing in my life really began to
be transformed until I acknowledged my sin before the Lord.
Now let’s look at all the things the
Psalmist wrote about what he wanted to do for the Lord because of all His
benefits to him. In two separate verses it is stated, “I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all His people.” This means that a person is determined
that they will make commitments (promises) to the Lord and keep them – right in
front of the others who worship the Lord. This, of course will be a good
example for the church to see us keeping our promises to God. It not only fulfills
our obligations that we have willingly made to the Lord, but our actions will encourage
others to follow suit. After all, we are called to do the following…
James 1:22
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves.
How many know that the Lord is
more pleased with our obedience and faithfulness than a thousand explanations
about why we had to give in to the flesh yet another time? God is pleased to
see results. He is not some hard taskmaster wanting to rule us with an iron
thumb. No, in fact, everything the Lord wants us to do is a good thing. He is
always looking to bring us up to the highest place.
He always wants to bless
us. He always wants to heal us and set us free from bondage. He has given us
everything we need for life and godliness, and friend, if you have ever looked
around the world today, it is full of ungodliness. It is a terrible thing. It
has nothing to do with the Lord if it is a bad thing.
I really appreciate how this
Psalm was written. The person is admitting that they are truly the Lord’s
servant. We can determine that it was the cry of Peter’s heart that day on the
beach, amen. After my crisis, it became the cry of my heart – to be His
servant. Does that describe you too friend? Are you offering to the Lord a
sacrifice of thanksgiving for all He has loosed you from? Paul had a similar
experience in that he was in a lot of bondage and the Lord had great mercy on
him and turned him from a persecutor into a preacher…
1 Timothy 2:5-7
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a
ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an
apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles
in faith and verity.
There is a common thread in
these two men, Peter and Paul that resonates well in what we have been
discussing today, and even as it relates to me. All of us thought we knew and
loved the Lord. In each of our cases, we had followed hard after the Lord doing
what we thought was the right thing, only to find out that we had really missed
it and sinned terribly. But glory to God, once we were brought to our spiritual
senses with God’s help, we turned toward the Lord in full devotion, by His rich
grace and mercy, and made a determined effort to follow Him and be used of Him
to build His church.
There are literally millions of people out there who are
calling themselves Christians today who do not really know the Lord. They think
they do because they go to several masses a day and say a certain number of prayers,
or take a certain position of prayer at certain times of the day. There are all
kinds of goofy ideas out there that the devil has blinded people with to keep
them away from really knowing the Lord through Jesus. He knows that if people
really caught on and found out who they can be in Christ Jesus and what authority
they really have over the evil one in this world, that his plans to steal, kill
and destroy mankind would be over. It would be all over but the “burning.”
As I sit here alone in my office chair with the Lord, I have
no idea whatsoever of who will read this message. My heartfelt desire
personally and in our ministry work the Lord has given to us is that people
will really know and love the Lord. Friend, I want that for every person alive.
That is my hearts’ desire and prayer to God – just like Paul said…
Romans 10:1
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that
they might be saved.
So my friend, if you are not sure that your lamp is burning
bright with the oil of Holy Spirit in you and your fire is less than flaming
for Jesus, get to someone who you can talk with. If the Bible isn’t making much
sense to you when you read it, dig deeper into the Lord. Ask Him to show you
what you need to see. Send us an email. The Bible says that we are to do this…
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove
your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you,
except ye be reprobates?
If I had done this back in 2003 when my heart was so grieved,
I could have spared my myself and my family a lot of grief. If I would have
pressed in closer to the Lord, He would have been happy to show me where the
problem was in my heart. And He wants to do that for you. At Fish N Loaves
Ministries, my husband and I are always available to pray with you and point
you in the scriptures to the Lord as He directs us. We cannot counsel you, but
we can pray with you. Holy Spirit is our Counselor and He can and will help.
Please let us know if there is anything that we can do to minister to you my
friend. God freely loved me and delivered me. That’s why I love Him. How about
you?
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
When trials come, we can cry out to
the Lord and He will hear us
Believing in the gospel and speaking
it will be the first step to freedom
A grateful heart will offer
something back to the Lord
Questions:
What meant the most to you in this study and why?
What kind of relationship do you feel you currently have with
the Lord?
Does Jesus seem real to you every moment of the day?
Are you getting revelation from Holy Spirit when you read the
Bible?
What will you differently as a result of this study?
Who can you share this study with?
What
will you render unto to the Lord for all His benefits to you?
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father:
Thank You for Your compassion and mercy on me
when I called on You. Father, I deeply desire to follow you and praise You all
the days of my life by offering my service to You. Help me see what I need to understand
after reading this study. Show me anything and everything so I can be delivered
from any wrong thoughts or motives. Help me to be a servant to the hurting
world around me. Thank You in advance for Your help in Jesus name. Amen.
And God Said… You fill in the blanks…
Matthew 12:18
Behold my servant, whom I have
chosen; my beloved,
in whom my soul is well pleased:
I will put my spirit
upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
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