Psalm 30 ~ Gladness

Psalm 30

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up

    and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,

    and you have healed me.

3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,

    and give thanks to his holy name.

5 For his anger is but for a moment,

    and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

    but joy comes with the morning.

6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,

    “I shall never be moved.”

7 By your favor, O Lord,

    you made my mountain stand strong;

you hid your face;

    I was dismayed.

8 To you, O Lord, I cry,

    and to the Lord I plead for mercy:

9 “What profit is there in my death,

    if I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise you?

    Will it tell of your faithfulness?

10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!

    O Lord, be my helper!”

11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

    you have loosed my sackcloth

    and clothed me with gladness,

12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

    O Lord my God, 

I will give thanks to you forever!

We met with family today, for the first time since both Pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, and discussed the events no one would have thought would happen. And have. 

So many changes. And we can trace the changes to the vast computer changes.

No one anticipated seeing someone put drones, easily available, together and flying themselves, without a license, across the English Channel in the last few years. Meet Jane Jetson. George and Astro.

Texas A&M University did as I dreamed while I was a Freshman, Aggies knocked down so many buildings, the new ones match and are skyscrapers. Preston Hollow has so many stucco houses being built on a Texas size scale and California architecture.  Changes abound. To ride down Central Expressway in Dallas and the LBJ is entirely different from my childhood and from 5 years ago. So many tall buildings reaching out into Preston Hollow, Dallas is far different than the 1970s. And oddly enough, Preston Hollow is about 20 minutes from downtown Dallas and is completely quiet in the evenings since the Pandemic. The traffic gets quiet and the stores are really empty. Different from The Woodlands, near Houston, and different from Uptown near Dallas.  Changes abound.

Happiness. Will we be happy again. Is God concerned about our Happiness. 
What a question.  God of Love. God of Encouragement. Fierce God of the Old Testament Who has loathed child sacrifice and pagan gods of fertility despair. Is God concerned about our happiness. Biblically every Chapter tells us as Jesus did - Life will have struggles.

Back to the question - Is God concerned about our Happiness? 

Proverbs 13:12 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, 

 but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Like so much of the Scriptures, we find this is literally true, medically, and is the purity of Spiritual growth or the decline of Joy. Our observations on life, tell about our fears and hopes. How abundant are the Blessings of God. God tells us this:

Philippians 4:8 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Psychology agrees and calls this self-fulfilling prophesy. In a funk, help someone up. Help mankind prosper with good, gracious words and deeds not expecting to be repaid, Philanthropy and Volunteerism.

The Scriptures are real. Expect difficulty. Expect to Pray with Hope. Expect to be the blessings seeker and finder.  God calls His own Spirit: Teacher, Comfort, Comforter.

Is God concerned with our Happiness?

Moses thought so and Psalm 90 tells us Moses asked to be happy. You gotta figure Moses knew something about God. Even the History Channel runs proof of the Exodus at Passover. 

David believed in God's Joy at our Happiness.

Psalms 100:2 

Worship the LORD with gladness; 

come before him with joyful songs.

Seeking God with Joy has some self-fulfilling prophetic portions! 

 Hebrews 1:9 

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; 

therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions 

by anointing you with the oil of joy. 

Psalms 97:11

Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. 

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness 

  

Luke 1:14

He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth 

Acts 2:46

Every day they continued to meet together 

in the temple courts. 

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts

John 15:11

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Acts 14:17

Yet he has not left himself without testimony:

 He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; 

he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.

John 16:24

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. 

Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Acts 12:14

When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"

2 Chronicles 29:30

King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped.

1 Thessalonians 3:9

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have 

in the presence of our God because of you? 

2 Samuel 6:12

Now King David was told, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God." So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.

Psalms 4:7

Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. 

Mark 4:16

hear the word and at once receive it with joy  

Esther 9:17

This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, 

and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy. 

Esther 9:19

That is why rural Jews – those living in villages – observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.

Nehemiah 12:27

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres.

Zechariah 8:19

This is what the LORD Almighty says: "The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah.

 Therefore love truth and peace."

Proverbs 10:28

The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.

Numbers 10:10

"Also at your times of rejoicing – your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts – you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God."

Philippians 2:29

Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him

Esther 8:17

In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. 

 

Esther 8:16

For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.

Ecclesiastes 5:20

They seldom reflect on the days of their lives, 

because God keeps them occupied 

with gladness of heart.

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, 

for God has already approved what you do.

How to lift a funk

Esther 9:22

As the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. 

Esther 9:18

The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy. 

Ecclesiastes 9:8

Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 

John 16:22

So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again 

and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

John 17:13

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

 

Psalms 100:2

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Isaiah 35:10

And those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; 

everlasting joy will crown their heads. 

Gladness and joy will overtake them, 

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Jeremiah 31:7

This is what the LORD says: "Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, "LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.'

Isaiah 51:3

The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

Psalms 30:11

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy 

Psalms 45:7

You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, 

your God, 

has set you above your companions by anointing you 

with the oil of joy. 

Deuteronomy 28:47

Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly 

in the time of prosperity 

Psalms 35:27

May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say,

 "The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant."

Jeremiah 31:13

Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

Isaiah 51:11

Those the LORD has rescued will return. 

They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. 

Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. 

 

1 Chronicles 16:27

Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.

1 Chronicles 29:22

They ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the LORD that day. 

Then they acknowledged Solomon son of David as king a second time, 

anointing him before the LORD to be ruler and Zadok to be priest.

Jeremiah 33:11

The sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying, "Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever." For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,' says the LORD. 

Isaiah 30:29

And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

 Psalms 51:8

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

 2 Chronicles 30:21

The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests praised the LORD every day with resounding instruments dedicated to the LORD

  2 Chronicles 30:23

The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully.

Psalms 105:43

He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy 

  

Psalms 65:12

The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. 

Psalms 45:15

Led in with joy and gladness, they enter the palace of the king.

Psalms 106:5

That I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise. 

Like the Book of Hebrews, the 11th Chapter, the quotes about faith with Gladness, Happiness, go on and on. More than we can know or imagine.

Abba, Father God,

Help us to Seek You first.

May the Word of God living in us,

 Strengthen us in 

all Goodness.

In the Name of Jesus for ourselves,

and those we love. Amen.

So the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness

and praise spring up before all nations.

Jesus bless Elliott with Your Willing Healing!

Please

Father God help us to fill those we love with renewed hope for years ahead

 filled with love. 

We ask in the Highest name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let the Amen be of His Will being the Exact Nature of 

Jesus Christ. 

Blessings for the Goodness of Your Will and Plan. Amen!

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

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Luke 5:27-39 ~ Following Him

 

Luke 5:27-39

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 

31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 

34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 

36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

The True Vinedresser

If we compare The Scripture for Today with the Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 

16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 

17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 

18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 

19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 

21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 

24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Levi is a savvy thug. 

He consorts with the Roman Empire to push the Jews to cough up money to make him look good to the Romans.  And Levi sees Jesus is with God Himself. Immediately, given the opportunity, Levi follows Jesus. Like the ten talent servant, Levi risks. He is going to share Jesus with others and the others he knows to share Jesus with are - thugs.

Jesus is delighted. 

Small-town papers would publish this party and say, "A good time was had by all."

The two talent servants are having a big discussion, figuring out what power is what. 

Rather like demanding Jesus tell them how to have Power with talking to God. Rude. But Jesus is going to forgive them. He sees good in them. Reading the last page of the discussion, we all see it's going to turn out alright. 

The days we say:  

Difficult God, Bossy God with your reaping plan, gathering up all the means, no justice power, not providing what I wanted - abundant seeding. Making me afraid, I hid all the goodness safely in the dark. Jesus says days will come we call God the lazy, mean judge.  And we are the bad servant.

He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 

Not to take our faith, the Love we have for God and let it falter. Keep Love and Hope alive. Every day as the Book of Hebrews says. Today.

37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Once the fearful, complaining servant has let his opportunity go for the ages it takes for the Master to Return, the opportunity has gone. Fled.

We are Living Stones, a Royal Priesthood

Called to be the Light of Jesus Christ.

His Love.

Abba, Father God,

Help us to Seek You First.

And in making us part of Your Eternal Family, to remember the Heavenly House, the Garden, The Gardener, being part of the Body of Christ.

In Realizing How Great Your Love is for me

for you

for us

Let us be bold for God.

Willing to tell about God.

Levy started out just by walking with Jesus

Studying Jesus

and eventually leaving with Jesus,

and this we will all do one day.

Levy realized Your Love.

And the Beauty of Your Mercy to those with Love.

Help us "Follow You" like Levi.

Trusting Your Love that we are giving people.

The Joy of the Lord is our Strength.

Help us gain in solid strength in You, Abba,

that we do not tear away the old of the person You have created.

Instead, with Love, Jesus, let the new match the old

and be seamless like Your Robe.

Pleasing You, Abba.

Not bursting apart

the containers of life You have given us

instead being renewed

with the Oil of Gladness

in Salvation and Love.

We pray for the Nation.

Your Good Creation still experiencing Covid.

And pray healing and health

to cover us all in

Love, Joy and Peace.

Praying Health and Wellness for Elliott

and Peace for those who have illness in their families.

In the Highest Name of Jesus,

we ask Your Good Will,

and You provide

more than we can ask or imagine.

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

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Isaiah 61 ~ The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord

John 1:16-18 

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord

for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins

and restore the places long devastated;

they will renew the ruined cities

that have been devastated for generations.

5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks;

foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

6 And you will be called priests of the Lord,

you will be named ministers of our God.

You will feed on the wealth of nations,

and in their riches you will boast.

7 Instead of your shame

you will receive a double portion,

and instead of disgrace

you will rejoice in your inheritance.

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,

and everlasting joy will be yours.

8 “For I, the Lord, love justice;

I hate robbery and wrongdoing.

In my faithfulness I will reward my people

and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 Their descendants will be known among the nations

and their offspring among the peoples."

"All who see them will acknowledge

that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”

10 I delight greatly in the Lord;

my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness

As a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up

and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness

and praise spring up before all nations.

Abba, Father, 

Help us to always seek You first,

 as we

observe the Way, the Truth and the Life around us.

Help us find Your Message to us today.

We take this broken set of years and see Hope again.

Anoint us Father God, send us.

Let us all have Good News, we have all been poorly.

Jesus of our Gospels, bind up broken hearts,

freedom for the captives of all trouble,

the prisoners out of darkness and into Marvelous Light.

The Lord's Favor Year

when we remember what is done to the least of us

is done to our Jesus Christ.

Let Jesus and His Justice  

roll down like waters

and His Righteousness 

like and ever-flowing stream

Comfort those who mourn

Zion

and the Oil of Joy

The Crown of Beauty

the garment of Praise

let them be

Oaks of Righteousness

displaying

Your Splendor, Father.

Rebuild, Restore, Renew

Always. Eternally, Made New.

Shepherds, Ministers, Riches Unheard or Thought of

You, Father, do more than we can ask

or have thought of.

Rejoice in God's Inheritance.

Our God Loves Jesus

and His Justice

 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature 

that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, 

and every animal of the earth with you, 

as many as came out of the ark"

In my faithfulness I will reward my people

and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 Their descendants will be known among the nations

and their offspring among the peoples.

So the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness

and praise spring up before all nations.

Jesus bless Elliott with Your Willing Healing!

Please

Father God help us to fill those we love with renewed hope for years ahead

 filled with love. 

We ask in the Highest name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let the Amen be of His Will being the Exact Nature of 

Jesus Christ. 

Blessings for the Goodness of Your Will and Plan. Amen!

The Words of Jesus bless us.

Lamb of God. 

Thank You. Alleluia. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

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