Psalm 119:49-56 ~ Remember Your Word to your servant, in which You have made me hope.

Psalm 119:49-56

Zayin

Remember your word to your servant,

in which you have made me hope.

This is my comfort in my affliction,

that your promise gives me life.

The insolent utterly deride me,

but I do not turn away from your law.

When I think of your rules from of old,

I take comfort, O Lord.

Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,

who forsake your law.

Your statutes have been my songs

in the house of my sojourning.

I remember your name in the night, O Lord,

and keep your law.

This blessing has fallen to me,

that I have kept your precepts.

If you've seen FB, you probably know by now Psalm 119 is the longest Chapter in the Bible and is considered to be the exact middle. Twenty-two stanzas in the Hebrew alphabet and for Psalm 119. One stanza for each letter. This is elaborate framework for... prayer.

It's said (just Zayin) David used Psalm 119 to teach Solomon the alphabet and to write. Not just the alphabet - the alphabet of the spiritual life. An excellent beginning.

Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.

If only. If only Abram had this Psalm of prayer. And that treasured son, Isaac. Why didn't God say upon Isaac He would be named Israel. Makes sense, Abram became Abraham. Isaac to Israel. But no dice. Isaac was a good, faithful man. He married the blessing Abraham and Sarah sought - their kin Rebecca. It was a miraculous occurrence. There was a marriage only to one woman. Surely, one man could create the nation Yahweh told Abram about. That makes such sense. Isaac wasn't handed servant women. Didn't marry sisters. And Isaac was certainly willing to believe he carried Abraham's great blessing to be given to the next generation.

There was just one small hitch. Isaac adhered to the law. And grew blind. Spiritually blind. He believed only one of his children would be blessed of God. And only for birth order as a tradition in culture. People are funny, what they believe.

I've heard people, entire large, significant congregations bustling with people say - Jesus made rock soup. Surely, you've heard the children's book about Rock Soup. A man is hungry and starts with clean stones in a vat of water, promising soup. One by one people put in leeks, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, etc. And at the end of the book - voilà - it takes a village and we have soup. Soup is also a slang term for chemical glop.

Now, if Jesus made rock soup instead of - loaves and fishes feeding the multitudes on several occasions... why did He hide out and say the crowd was only there for the blessing. And if people were contributing their picnic supplies - why do we see only left over loaves and fish.

This miracle celebrates the Exodus being fed for 40 years.  Why not a basket filled with figs, cheese, dates, nuts, pomegranates, herring, cod, olives, and grains? Instead, only the food Jesus started with is left over. The people were fed by Jesus. Who is God's incarnate Word. How do we know? Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. Hope - God is who He says He is and His promises are sure. Faith - Those promises are for me. Love - have strength to comprehend the breadth, length, height and depth, the love of Christ surpassing knowledge and filling us with all the fullness of God.

How do we Know? Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. The Work God gives man is to believe. 

Jacob believed something larger was possible in God. Something as vast as the Universe. More like C.S. Lewis. God is not a tame Lion.

Malachi 3:10
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Jacob was indeed all in. Willing to let the Wind of God push him. To fight God for a blessing until dawn believing even in the fight God would want to bless. Believing mere words were a blessing. Words. Words of God. And at the end of his life, he was never asked by his sons to forgive their deceit, but Jacob, who had become Israel, wanted his sons and Joseph's sons to be included in the Blessings of God.

Jacob was cheated in marriage. Indignation seized Jacob a lot. Actually, he was treated badly in his marriages. Treated badly by distant family, his father, his mother, and his brother. Jacob knew the death of the woman he treasured, who brought trouble upon them. His family knew favoritism. Encountered rape. They warred over justice. His son slept with one of his wives. And his own children conspired to say his son was dead. He left the promised land and still believed as he died - God was in Charge. And blessings were to be - bestowed - gifted - given - lovingly adopting Joseph's children. And saying, with belief, amazing things were still to come.

Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. Abraham believed and this is credited to him as righteousness. Blessings were increased as Jacob displayed the greatest of these is Love.

Jesus created awe and wonder as He walked along this life. He saw the futility in law bearing above Love. He saw the sadness in easy breezy pleasy and unkindness of lack of law and structure. Speaking His Word:

Luke 18:9-13

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 

13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"

Abba, Father God,

Help me to be one of that number. In the Highest Name of Jesus. 

Dwell in us,  Reach past our brim, help Love flow shaken and running over!

Help us seek You first.

Dwell in those we Love, help them to brim with Your Love.

In this Way, Truth and Life

we will see more Heaven upon earth,

Your Good Creation.

Fill us with Hope and Love and Joy.

Bless our Nation in Jesus Christ.

Let us turn away,

not clickbait the things unappealing to You,

Turn us to Blessings and Building instead.

Our media statistics change, 

help us direct Your Love to our news.

Our Alleluia in Jesus Christ.

Amen

Our refuge is in You, Jesus, our Living Water.  Amen

Jesus

Abba, Father,

In Jesus Christ, we will never give up.

Jesus the God of ALL.

Jesus the God of Elliott, we pray Life and healing

Elliott's Joy and Love in Harby and their children.

Jesus, God of Encouragement.

Jesus, Hope and Future.

Jesus the Lord

saves the world

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †

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Romans 9 ~ His power known

 

Papyrus 46 -  104 pages of Scriptures dating to First or Second Century
 Divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises

Romans 9

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.


6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. 

For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 

17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

26 and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”


30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Papyrus 46 An ancient book, with no capitals, no spaces between words, and no punctuation

God’s Sovereign Choice

God has not failed.

At the Beginning of the year 2010, we saw animal die backs. About 40 events world-wide. Birds in Texas and Arkansas. Fish off the U.K. and cattle in Vietnam. Eschatology views on Google went hog wild. And then recently, we saw the news cry out about Ebola. Six or seven cases left Africa. People really worry about this.

And the truth is - none of these illnesses are new. We don't have to have panic now. We still live in a world where child death is rare. Where worldwide poverty is on the decline according to Christian Child Relief Efforts. And yet, we have this lingering concerns.

During the Middle Ages - plagues showed God has a plan. During World War I and II, we learned that people will blindly follow a government in unrealistic expectations of world domination. I hope we learned we need some self-sufficiency more than we thought before. God created autonomous government in the Book of Judges.

The older serves the younger.

Let's talk about Christian Expectation of the World today and what we speak of. Paul was concerned about national salvation in Romans 9. We speak of the World's Salvation.

We all know our children grow up and look to their brains, souls and experiences to decide if they follow Jesus Christ, go to Church, read the Bible. What if you grew up in a house that roundly, soundly and repeatedly told you that the world is going to hell in a hand basket fast?


“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

After delving into issues repeatedly thrown at us in a sensational style, we start to feel that real solutions are not
obtainable.

We proclaim that TV, undoubtedly, and music are letting our morals go. And do we praise the movies for their new realization that Christians want to think about seeing the Bible?

Do we tell our children to expect good jobs? Do we do what we can in business to produce lasting goods and reputable work? Do we call one sector civilized and expect the others to fall over? Do we try to help one another? Is Church a building where we go once a week to get some encouragement - or do we take the given opportunity to make life meaningful?

Is God forsaking the World?
Not yet.

We say - Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. What does that mean? We are saying the Word of God goes on and does not wear out and become obsolete. In Genesis One, God said He sees His Creation as good. In the Gospels, God says He loves the World and wants to save us with Jesus.

In the middle, we have the Psalms proclaiming the Earth is the Lord's! And the Fullness of the Earth is His!

And then you get people who want to know what the devil is doing. Evil. What is evil thinking. What evil is usually thinking - how to bluff, entice, look very powerful, then to hurt and use. Jesus told us He saw Satan fall from Heaven like Lightning in the New Heaven and new earth of the New Covenant. God now said He has the right to bring all of mankind to Heaven and pull the weeds from the wheat and create His Kingdom - now - at hand. Where people will say bring us some Heaven today.

Jesus then told us what the place is of evil. Today. The Prince of this World. Prince. Not Sovereign Majesty of God seated on Justice, Mercy and Truth. The title is more or less of a pretender. Jesus was shown the world and offered that world by evil in temptation - Jesus tells us this evil is prince of - the - temporary. The transient. God knows His World is Good. And He wants to save the World. Only God can do that.

The Catholic Church has centuries of knowledge. And the Catholic Church asks, "Do you renounce the glamour of sin?" That. That tells you what this is - flash and pass-by. 





There is an difference between loving life on earth - loosing our life to find life. 

And the Abundant, Meaningful life of knowing Jesus, for in Him is life, and that life is the light of all mankind. The light of Jesus shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Is God still making His power known?

Most of our generation has changed denominations - why?
People are looking for Bible Believing Churches. Belief is still there.

Why?
Ask believers if God has His Power known -
I will bet almost every single person knows of a miracle. No other explanation but God.

Proclaim the Good News - God Lives.
Jesus is Working Today and His Father With Him.

John 1:12
As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

Proverbs 16:3
Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established.

Job 36:11
If they hear and serve Him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures.

1 Thessalonians 4:10-12
We urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Isaiah 33:15-16
He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity; He who rejects unjust gain and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil; He will dwell on the heights, His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him, His water will be sure.

Abba, Father, 

Your child speaks to Your open heart. I believe in Your Promises. We pray for the prosperity of goodness. For good hopes and faith giving us good health. Our souls' prosperity.

Dwell in us and those we Love.

Help us to seek You first

and finish well.

We commit our work, personally, to You, Father. 

Establish those who love You.

We ask for the coming years to have prosperity financially and in Spirit. That our pleasure in building our nation, our families, our Churches, our businesses delights You as well. 

We ask for life to be quieter from strife, from unneeded fears and concerns. That Your people will have wisdom to ask and motivate peace, kindness and love. Help us to manage our lives so wisely others are encouraged to do this as well.  

In practical concerns You share like housing and affordability, beauty, safety.  And in the peace, give mercy. 

Our refuge is in You, Jesus, our Living Water.  Amen

Jesus, God of Encouragement.

Jesus, Hope and Future.

Jesus the Lord

saves the world

Amen.

Abba, Father,

In Jesus Christ, we will never give up.

Jesus the God of ALL.

Jesus the God of Elliott, we pray Life and healing

Elliott's Joy and Love in Harby and their children.

Jesus, God of Encouragement.

Jesus, Hope and Future.

Jesus the Lord

saves the world

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †

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Romans 8:26-27 ~ The Spirit helps us

Galveston, Texas is the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement and has a bevy of homes from 1890 and 1905. Galveston is a small-town version of New Orleans. Well worth the exploration. 

Saturday morning, we prepared to leave the house my brother rented for our reunion. And I'd spent Friday evening talking to my son and Cal about Elliott passing on. We were sorrowful. And didn't feel any happier Saturday thinking about Elliott's wife, Harby, and their children.

My brother went on ahead of me to load up his truck. And the man next door with the fruit trees: figs, apples and peaches, stood on the porch and visited with my brother. They had been in conversation about the best time for ducks and shallow fishing and deep water fishing. As I got to my brother's vehicle, the man said he had spent the last year in MD Anderson for an extensive, rare cancer.  I looked at him again. He described a very extensive cancer briskly. And he said after the operation, the cancer was gone. I watched his cheerfulness as he told of the long year.  And he said, I thought I was a goner for over a year and I realized something important. My brother and I were both listening carefully and nodding, but not interrupting our neighbor. 

Our neighbor said, "I realized as I faced death with all these cancer experts, that if I lived or died, this was because God said so. If I died, God would have called me to His Heaven. And I have lived only because God has called me to this earthly life. All of the Bible is True. And we live because God gives His Word."

My brother said yes, and I raised my hand up and nodded. Our briefly neighbor was witnessing to Elliott being in God's Plan. Jesus tells us God calls Himself Help, Helper and Comforter. Our Neighbor continued in Good Cheer, "God Bless you, sir, in your travels and hunting and fishing." My brother has been extremely distressed, his hometown of El Paso lost all hunting and fishing dried up when the rivers were used for agriculture. "God Bless you, ma'am, in your travel and this day." Little did this man know, how much he had blessed me extensively. Beautifully. Wondrously. Ways we remember all of our lives.

Jesus the Lord, bless our Neighbor. Like the Good Samaritan, he is paving the Way. May he have long life and many joyous days giving this loving message. And bless my brother for being so good to our mother and me.

When we give our experiences, we give love. 

We don't usually hear people debunk or complain about being blessed as we were. God has seen our neighbor through pain, dire worry, extreme illness. And this man found, in this experience, a way to see the good and proclaim God of the living. God of Love.  Being in faith, to find Joy and Opportunity for God. With God being God. 

God, the Holy Spirit, prays for us.

Romans 8:26-27

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 

For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 

27 And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because 

the Spirit intercedes for the saints according 

to the will of God.

Elliott Hodges' music

Abba, Father,

In Jesus Christ, we will never give up.

Jesus the God of ALL.

Jesus the God of Elliott, we pray Life and healing

Elliott's Joy and Love in Harby and their children.

Jesus, God of Encouragement.

Jesus, Hope and Future.

Jesus the Lord

saves the world

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †

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