Word of God

"Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path"
Psalm 119:105

What is that lamp to our feet?
God's Word

What is that light to our way?
God's Word


Where is God's Word today? Where is His instructions, His commandments?
Is it in our culture? - NO!
Is it being taught in our school systems? - NO!
Is it being esteemed by our governments? - NO!


Is it being preached in our pulpits? - Very Few!
Is it in our understanding as a people? - Very rarely!


What is eternal - Only God's Word! (Psalm 119:89)
What is true - Only God's Word! (John 17:17)
What is a guide for our lives - Only God's Word! (Psalm 119:105)
What will give life - Only God's Word! (John 6:33)
What is perfect - Only God's Word! (Psalm 19:7)
What brings cleansing and a washing to our soul - Only God's Word! (Ephesians 5:26)

- Is God's Word relevant in your life or is it optional? Do we stake our life on it or the dictates of our own heart?  

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and light for my path - Psalm 119:105

Your Word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens - Psalm 119:89

May His Word (The Bible) become foundational in our lives, may His statutes become our joy and love. May we live not by our own desires but by His Word for it is the only thing that will endure forever.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. - Matthew 24:35

prayer:
Lord Jesus, return us to Your Word, return us to your instructions, return us to your law which is perfect and converts the soul. Father, gives a thirst for Your Word and a desire to live it out, may Your Word be our joy and delight. We praise You and bless You, in Jesus name. Amen.



 

Road to Recovery

Ruth 1:7
With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

Naomi had lost her husband and her two sons while living in the land of Moab, it nearly appears that God was punishing Naomi, but God brings a restoration to her life. 

The Scripture says that she heard that God was blessing the people where she came from, Israel, and she decided to return. With her daughter-in-law, Ruth, she set out back to the land where she belonged, where God had blessed her and was now blessing again.

...She set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah...

Today, if you have lost something or someone you love, you have had a tragedy and you don't understand why it must have happened the answer is to go back to where you came from. God brought her back to the place of "Praise". Judah, means praise. Naomi was going back to where she had received from God in the very beginning, she got back on the road that would lead her to, "praise". She didn't stay where she was. She went back. 

In the end Naomi becomes a very blessed and joyful woman. Ruth marries Boaz and has a son, and the Scripture says that Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and cared for him and the women living in the area said, "Naomi has a son." God restored everything to her, He changed her bitterness and restored her joy and her life, she went back to the place of "Praise", she went back to the place where she came from.

If you are hurting today, don't stay where you are, go back to the place where you first came from, where you first received from the Lord.

 

Is the Lord your Inheritance?

"The priests, who are Levites- indeed the whole tribe of Levi- are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the offerings made to the Lord by fire, for that is their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them."
Deuteronomy 18:1-2

The tribe of Levi was to have no earthly inheritance with the other clans of Israel. They were to do the work of the ministry in the tabernacle. They were given houses to live in and their daily provisions came from the offerings and sacrifices given by the people, but they did not receive any land inheritance as the other tribes did. Instead, the Lord was their inheritance. He was to be their portion, their allotment.

In the book of Revelation it mentions that Jesus has made us kings and priests (Revelation 1:6) unto God. We are kings and priests to God, not only are we of the tribe of Judah through Christ but we are of the tribe of Levi and God's desire is that He be our inheritance, our one desire, our one focus in life.

The Bible speaks of receiving an incorruptible inheritance, where moth or rust cannot touch it. What is that inheritance? Its the Lord. It is so easy to get caught up in the cares of life and this present world, and in making this world our inheritance, but have you made the Lord your inheritance, have you taken up your cross, daily, and do you follow Him and minister unto Him daily. Is pleasing Him your one desire, your focus, your one goal in life? Or is it other things?

May we make Him our inheritance daily and seek to follow in His perfect will continually.

prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, I thank You that You desire for Your children to walk in Your ways and to place You first in their lives. May we all place you as our inheritance and seek to do your will. We love You Father, in Jesus name, Amen.
 

Shores of Kittim

"Ships will come from the shores of Kittim; they will subdue Asshur and Eber, but they too will come to ruin."

Numbers 24:24

This was a prophecy given by Balaam. He was a corrupt prophet, but God used him to give this prophecy.

This prophecy was given thousands of years before its fulfillment. The ships from the shores of Kittim, is speaking of Greece and Italy. The New Living Translations says, "the shores of Cyprus."

Asshur can only mean the Assyrian Empire and Eber would be Israel (Strong's Concordance).

The Greeks conquered the Medo-Persian Empire in 333B.C., Assyria would have been part of this empire. The Romans eventually conquered the Greeks and subdued all of Israel.
Rome eventually collapsed from within and ceased to exists, fulfilling the entirety of this prophecy.

God spoke through the prophet Balaam thousands of years before the fulfillment of the prophecy and said exactly what would take place.

God is sovereign and the Bible says that He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), He is all-knowing and all-sovereign. Nothing is hidden from Him. He has "time" in his hands.
If God knows the end from the beginning he knows us. He knows where we are and what is going on, nothing takes Him by surprise. We just need to know how to surrender to His purposes for our lives and walk in His paths.

Today, trust God, trust Jesus He is all-sovereign and will not allow anything to happen that He is not already aware of.

prayer:
Father I thank You that You are the all-sovereign God, You know the end from the beginning. I choose to trust in You at all times. Be Lord in my life, In Jesus name. Amen.

p.s. If you don't know Jesus Christ as you Lord and Savior, trust in Him today. He said, "I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6

There's going to be a Wedding!

"I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

Matthew 26:29

The most sure sign of Jesus return, are His own words.

After He took the cup at Passover and gave it to His disciples saying that the cup is His blood of the New Covenant, the Covenant of forgiveness of sins, He then says that He will not drink of it again until they are in His Father's Kingdom.

- Jesus is speaking of the future union between the Bride (His church, believers everywhere) and Himself, we call it the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb".

Revelation 19:6
"Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.' (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)"

We will sit down face to face with our Lord and eat and drink with Him at this time. It will not be something mystical or far out, it will be a literal time when we are before Jesus partaking of the fruit of the vine with Him.

May we have peace and joy knowing that His word is certain and will not pass away!

prayer:
Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your word, You said You are going to prepare a place for us and if You go You would return to receive us. Lord Jesus, in spite of what our eyes see in this world we thank You that Your word is certain and we will trust You, in Jesus name, amen. 

Mixed Signals

And they said, "May the Lord look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharoah and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

Exodus 5:21

Many times when we set out to serve God and obey Him things get worse before they get better. God had told Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. Instead of listening to Moses and honoring God's command Pharaoh made it more difficult for the Israelites and increased their work load. 

It is the same in our lives. When we obey God with all our heart, many times things will get worse before they get better and we might wonder if it was worth it. Was it worth coming to Christ, is it worth following Him. The answer is, yes, if we continue to be faithful, the victory will come. Pharaoh eventually did release the Israelites. Yet, even after they were released they still had trials and difficulties, but God was always faithful, and those who persevered made it to the promised land.

The apostle Paul told Timothy that all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2Timothy 3:12). In the midst of these difficulties God is working in us, He is perfecting our faith, and eliminating the things that are not pleasing to Him. He is conforming us into the image of His Son and if we stay faithful to Him the end result will be much greater than the present sorrows.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2Corinthians 4:17


prayer:
Father, we thank you that you are at work in our lives, you know the end from the beginning and you know that our desire is to live and serve you faithfully. Give us the grace when the trials are great and let us know that this present difficulty is working a more exceeding weight of glory in our eternal future. We thank you and love you.
In Jesus name. Amen.

Something to Ponder

What is your greatest joy in life? Is it getting a new car a promotion at your job or maybe it was when you found that special person to whom you are now married. Maybe it is when you bought your first house or landed that dream job.

These are all wonderful things that bring joy to our lives and rightfully so, but could there be something greater, something more valuable than all these, more valuable than all the accolades and accomplishments of life?

Yes, I believe so; the winning of a lost soul. Jesus made it very clear that all of heaven rejoices when one lost sinner repents, "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth..." (Luke 15:7).

What is your greatest joy and passion? Is it to make heaven rejoice? Is it to make your Heavenly Father rejoice?

May we fix our gaze upon making our Heavenly Father rejoice when we win the lost. The immense value of a lost soul.



In His service,

Philip