Psalm 86
A Prayer of David.
1 Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you--you are my God.
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace.
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. 13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant.
17 Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
This Psalm is of David.
UP Verses: 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 13, 15, 16, 17
DOWN Verses: 1, 3, 6, 7, 14
So is the Life of David in Jesus. Life - Jesus told us there would be days to come. Troubles to overcome.
Micah 7:8
Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Proverbs 24:16
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
Job 5:19
From six troubles He will deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you.
Psalm 37:24
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.
In the 1990s suicide was the 13th leading cause of death in the USA.
In 2016, Centers for Disease Control prevention lists suicide as number 9.
Drug overdose deaths in 2016 most likely exceeded 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States, according to preliminary data compiled by The New York Times.
Church going is declining according to some sources by 2%.
We feel we are not informed unless we read the news.
55% Turn out to Vote. The same as 1888.
Voting has a higher chance of changing the world than being daily immersed in bad news.
2/3rds of all marriages where the husband has a college degree - will only end by death do us part.
Divorce typically causes most friendships to end and the divorcing couple will have to start over. Why? We went people to show us stability and morality.
I've seen people or families in the time of their lives. Happy - on top of the world and sometimes a little smug. And someone comes along and shows them their "all that" is not. And when you get to be half of a century old - you start to realize more and more - the Bible is real. The wicked will fall away and down. The diligent of God continue with Love. Love is remembered and counts.
A lot of life is this. Really.
John 6:29
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
God did not say coast and enjoy believing God.
God did not say not reading the Bible is ok - just enjoy today.
God did not say do the rest of your lives and show up to Church every now and then.
God is real. God said WORK. God said faith is sometimes NOT what you see.
My Grandmother did what people should not do. Her life got harder as she lived longer. She married the love of her life - my grandfather - who had an itsy, bitsy problem with alcohol. And after 25 years of marriage, swearing not to let the problem conquer them - they weren't welcome in a lot in their small Mississippi town because they were drunk daily. And if you are drunk, you are not using all your mind to pray and see solutions God is going to put in front of you.
It's pretty hopeless to hope as a widow- drunk, at age 68, that you will remarry. Grandmother did. And an Episcopal Priest who expected her to fly right. And put up with her until she did. God is in business to do the improbable. With Faith. And my Grandmother did have faith. Lots. 3 of her 4 Great Grandchildren are named for her Love and for her.
Grandmother had a next door neighbor for 42 years. Virginia McMurray's husband had coached Ole Miss Football. Grandmother had the big Antebellum house and Virginia had the tidy 1930's cottage everything is cute as a bug house. Grandmother took naps. Virginia gardened. Virginia belonged to two Churches and was poor. Grandmother lived alone and Virginia and her son shared her house and had some squabbles. Some of the squabbles - my Grandmother agreed with Virginia's son. Virginia's husband had died youngish and suddenly. People knew Virginia was poor and she wasn't always at the top of the list to include. Virginia was known to attend most Church events and take people who couldn't drive. And Virginia taking care of those not at the top of the list - does not put you at the top of the list.
They lived next door to each other for 42 years. And some years - with their differences - they were kind. Some years they sniped. Some years they tolerated. Some years they wept together. Some years they envied. Sometimes children who prospered where held up as badges of honor and envy. Sometimes they wept again. They always did do honesty. And manners.
Grandmother died and I lost track of Virginia. She had always been good keeping up with us. I called Virginia and found something absolutely marvelous. Virginia, poor overlooked, loving, honest, diligent, kind, optimistic, real Virginia had in her late 80's been made the MC of the Oxford 4th of July Parade. And for a week, the entire week, people spoke at parties telling 60 years of Virginia has really been a good woman stories.
Virginia lived a life of 80 plus years that said, "Do not grow weary of doing good."
Sometimes honestly, Virginia would tell of being weary. And Virginia would make the choice to believe her optimism made the world around her a better place. Virginia was right. In late life Virginia had Breast Cancer. And Virginia beat Breast Cancer back and lived on. In her nineties she walked miles for the Breast Cancer Cure.
Abba, Oh Abba,
When the Saints,
When the Saints go Marching In. O Lord how I want to be in their number
and March with Virginia Too.
I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, who told of his true family to give his patients hope
who knew from his care who was seriously ill and practiced in to his 80s
Dr McKinney to two generations in my family.
And one was a queen, named Ebby who lived to be 104 and took calls all day long from people who
needed help and sent band equipment to impoverished kids and mattresses to veterans in trailers,
taking huge sheet cakes to her Church each Sunday and dedicating the pipe organ to her late husband.
And one was a shepherdess Margaret on the green of Emporium;
making wedding dresses and flower arrangements and gardening for Joy and Jesus.
And one was a Priest named Bill who was dying of heart failure in bed at age 90
when a prayer group in Texas prayed and others asked Jesus
and Father Bill got out of bed 25 years younger.
And one was named Aunt Clarice who lined her halls with cousins photos,
nieces and nephews and gave college, living room furniture,
widow relief, Christmases, and a clothing store operated to keep a family fed.
Yelling Heaven is All Real. Heaven is ALL REAL as she entered God's Kingdom.
And one was a Stockbroker who called his son from the Pearly Gates and said
Follow Me - I'm going far with God. Who'd taken care of Grandmothers, sisters in laws,
children, wife and grandchildren. Saving his son's leg from listening to God.
They were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.
They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong!
and they followed the right for Jesus' sake
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, named Cory, and one was a priest, named Tate,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast; of alcoholism,
In Jesus there's not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn't be one saint too.
They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still!!!
All the true stories of prayers offered and wallets and purses returned complete.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
and I mean to be one too.
Jesus lifting up the Lives of our Loved Ones.
Jesus encouraging the Holy Spirit to dwell within me, you and our Loved Ones, the people we pray for.
Jesus lifting this Generation of Father's Loving their sons.
Jesus having our prayers of faith, hope and Love lifting us up.
Jesus Love still at Work, Blessing us, this Nation, the World knowing the prayers of the faithful
are pleasing to God.
Be with us in our Ups and Downs, and we will do as Jesus says, "Rise Again!"
The Light Shines in the Darkness and has not overcome.
Jesus is our Alleluia. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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