Psalm 86
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.
Numbers 22, practically no one who knows Scripture is unaware of Balaam's Donkey and the Angel of the Lord. Balaam's writings from 1000 plus BC are written in a cave in Jordan. Balaam's sins and failures are recorded in the Bible and his victories. The Mercy of God to allow Balaam who was beating his Donkey, three times, to see an Angel of the Lord.
We love this Scripture. And to imagine the Grace of God to speak to His Balaam who was errant. According to the New Testament, Balaam, like Ahab, did not change and grew far worse. And yet, the Mercy of God was available. With the Word of God, prophetic, not allowing the sin to go unchecked.
The Word of God records the faithful do have very unusual events happen in their lives. And, today, we can agree. 65% of praying people know God had given them answered prayer in their lives and call this answer a miracle.
12 I give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify Your Name forever.
How do we jump from Psalm 86 to a Donkey?
We all have a donkey portion of ourselves telling us what we could have done better. Sometimes the donkey portion isn't as wise as Balaam's Donkey.
Prayer brings us back to Jesus and recenters us back on His Love and changes our hearts.
One of the most important things we can do is remember a quote from Queen Elizabeth II, who was extremely faithful, with Her Father. Paraphrasing, she said, "So many times, someone is convinced their lives are dreadful, without any joy they had hoped for. What happens next will prove, the time before was indeed joyful. And, now, they only wish they could resume the time that was known to them as dreadful and, now, seems rather peachy keen."
Jesus would agree.
And would explain in a very short verse:
Luke 19:43
Easy to remember in Historical Events, hmm.
The Days will come upon you.
Jesus said this during the Triumphant Entry of Palm Sunday. Knowing... people who had known Jesus as Grace upon Grace during His Ministry were going to flood the Temple with up to 2 million people, according to Josephus food calculations in History, what a multitude IS.
Because... we want Jesus as the exact nature of His Father and be our Thy Kingdom of Heaven come, Thy Will be done on Heaven as on earth. Give us This Day.
By the First Easter Season, the loss of Jesus' daily ministry in the flesh, was mourned, very profoundly.
We would want to not have this happen to us in our lives. We could all raise our hands to allow us to skip the portion of our lives with pain and ask Jesus specifically - we would have the opportunity to skip the more painful portions of life.
And there is a way to have this happen - Gratitude. About a week ago, I posted this photo:
A lot of the Posts, I preach to myself. I realized about 2 days later, I was instead waking up to pray for 3 pressing needs, assuring Our Father of the correct need. When I realized this error, I began instead to list my gratitude over this and that and pointed to the gratitudes I want My Father and Your Father, to see I know my blessings and my blessings are seen and appreciated. Making my prayer conversation more appropriate for His Joy.
Having Gratitude, will uplift the heart, mind and soul. A Grateful Heart is supremely less bitter and has us jump over the puddles of quicksand called remorse. With Joy, time and today offers more opportunities.
When I'm asked to be more like Jesus, I have to say, I pray to be more like Jesus, but end up being more like Thomas. And would sincerely, with all my heart, want to be more like John, the Disciple. Thomas offered to die with Jesus and then asked to see the proof that he had seen daily. Even Thomas creates more opportunities for Jesus, knowing all people fall short. I'm supremely blessed to be Beloved of God.
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be Praised!
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light
to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into
the way of peace.
We pray for Peace
as a Nation
and as the world
recovers from the loss of food
in Ukraine
and because of Pandemic Recovery
We pray for Peace
Victory over the warmonger
and the vengeful.
We'd like to see
Peace again in the Middle East
and for Ukraine
at the Border of the USA.
For Taiwan.
In the Highest Name of Jesus
we ask His Help.
Amen
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment