April 17, 2020

HATE EVIL

Psalms 96:10 (97:10)

You who love the Lord, hate evil;
The Lord keeps the souls of His saints;
He shall deliver them from the hand of sinners.

Personal Challenge

Jesus charged us with two commandments. They are to love God and love our neighbor. Everything that we do is supposed to be couched in these two commandments and every other rule or guidance that we are given needs to be based on this love. So when we see the statement, "hate evil", it does not mean that we hate the person who is doing evil. We hate evil, but we are to love the person. This can definitely be a challenge. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

April 16, 2020

ENCOURAGEMENTS

Psalms 93:19 (94:19)

O Lord, according to the abundance of grief in my heart,
Your encouragements consoled my soul.

Encouraging Words

One of the beautiful things about our God is that He is not all about rules and regulations. He is about relationships. He loves us. That is the bottom line and the whole story. He loves us. In that love, He is there to console our soul through His encouragements. Glory be to God!

April 15, 2020

NO WRONGDOING IN GOD

Psalms 91:16 (92:15)

So as to proclaim, “The Lord my God is upright,
And there is no wrongdoing in Him.”

Encouraging Words

We believe in, and worship, a God who has always been righteous and upright. He has always been pure and without blemish. He is the One who created us in His image and it was us that spoiled that image. And yet, He still loves us and is constantly wiping the mud of sin off of His precious children, His diamonds in the rough. Glory be to God!

April 14, 2020

GOD WILL...

Psalms 90:14-16 (91:14-16)

“For he hoped in Me, and I will deliver him;
I will shelter him, because he knew My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will hear him;
I am with him in affliction,
And I will deliver and glorify him.

With length of days I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

Encouraging Words

What a blessing, what rewards, we receive for putting our hope in God. He promises to deliver us, to shelter us, to hear us, to be with us in our affliction, to deliver and glorify us, to give us length of days, and to be our salvation, when we put our hope in Him. Glory be to God!

April 13, 2020

OVERSHADOWED

Psalms 90:4 (91:4)

He shall overshadow you with His shoulders,
And under His wings you shall hope;
His truth shall encircle you with a shield.

Encouraging Words

I am so thankful that I was blessed with the opportunity to grow up in a rural community, with farm animals, gardens, and orchards to tend. These life experiences have made it so much easier to understand so much of the imagery in the scriptures. When you see a mother cow overshadowing her young calf and protecting that precious offspring with all of her being you see the love of God in this portion of the verse toward His children, us. When you see a mother hen collect her chicks under her wings to guard and protect them, you see God's desire to protect us and care for us. God is the one who loves and protects us with His shield. Glory be to God!

April 12, 2020

GOD'S HELP

Psalms 90:1 (91:1)

He who dwells in the help of the Most High
Shall lodge in the shelter of the God of heaven.

Personal Challenge

Once again, we are reminded that we are to put our trust, our hope, in our Lord, the Most High. It is so easy to abandon this and put our hope in ourselves, or the government, or anyone or thing else other than God. Putting our trust and hope in God alone is what it means to dwell in the help of the Most High. When we truly do this, our lodging will be His shelter, which nothing can prevail against. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

April 11, 2020

Saint of the Week

St. Anthony the Great