Bible Verse of the Day

August 22^nd Through August 27^th

 

 

Monday August 22^nd 2016

Romans 8:32

32-He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all —how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

The greatest gift ever known to the world is not gold, silver, fame or fortune, it is the free gift of Salvation. It comes to us with no cost, however it did not come about without a price. Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we could be justified before a perfect God, that we could never stand before on our own merits. Our Heavenly Father has given us His supreme gift; how can we think for a second that He will not freely give us all that we need. Because God loved us so much and gave His Son, so that we can be together with Him for eternity, He will give us all the tools necessary to conform our lives into the image of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus (2 Peter 1:3).

There is not just this one gift that God will bestow upon those that follow Him, but many countless gifts. Of all of these gifts that we can receive from God, not one compares with the Gift of His Son.

Romans 8:28-30 is a most beautiful expression of the eternal purpose of God. There are some in the world that do not adhere to the Substitutionary atonement of Christ. The reasons are varied; some think more highly of themselves than they should (Romans 12:3), and think that they can do something to merit their salvation and eternal life. When one thinks that there is some work that is required for salvation, he or she has, in essence, said that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for nothing. They are literally trampling underfoot what Jesus, so lovingly and willingly, did for us when He laid down His life on the Cross of Calvary (Hebrews 10:29).

Still others do not believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, while others think that He was some great teacher or prophet. Romans 5:8-10 and 8:32 is a good beginning of the answers and truth of Christ Jesus’ substitutionary work on our behalf at the Cross.   

 

Tuesday August 23^rd 2016

Psalms 94:18-19

18-When I said, "My foot is slipping," your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.

19-When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

 

The world around us today is falling further and further into the traps and snares of Satan,and the saddest part is that most do not even realize it. So many today just want to keep upwith the flow of society, to make sure that they are politically correct. There are major denominations that are changing their beliefs, philosophies and principles in order to be aligned with the views of the majority of the world. This is occurring even though these worldly views completely oppose what the Bible Teaches. The only way this can happen is if the powers that be, convince an unsuspecting world that the Bible is not literally the Word of God, but only a writing by inspired godly writers.

This turn towards evil, ever so frustrating to Christians, is however, not unique to the 21^st century. The writer and time period of this psalm (Psalm 94) is unknown, however it is evident from the thesis of the Psalm that it was composed during a time, or leading up to a national calamity for the Children of Israel. We see in verse 20-21 that this impending disaster was in part due to the evil and corruption of their own government. Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—  a throne that brings on misery by its decrees? The wicked band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death (Psalm 94:20-21).

This psalm was most likely written to encourage those that were being affected by the outside forces and their own government, that was apparently allied with the foreign invaders. The message in this Psalm is that no matter what catastrophe befalls us, either from outside powers or our own leaders, God is aware of what is happening and will judge all people of the earth.

 When I said, "My foot is slipping," your unfailing love, LORD, supported me: There will always be times that we feel like the ground underneath us is falling away. There will be times in our Christian walk that it feels like we are walking on solid ice, with every step it feels like we are about to fall. There is a constant that we can always be sure is rock solid, that is the love of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, that will always be there to support our every step.

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy: It is difficult to read the news every day, and see the violence and cruelty that some are amassing on their fellow man, and not become a bit anxious, uneasy or apprehensive. If we just keep our eyes focused on Christ Jesus, knowing that He is in control, we can maintain the Joy and peace that God wants for His Children.

 

Wednesday, August 24 2016

Psalm 116:1-2

1-I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.  

2-Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

 The writer of psalm 116 is unknown, as is the time period. The psalm is untitled so it is difficult to pen it to a specific state of affairs. It is obvious in reading the psalm that the composer has recently fought and won a battle with death. In verse 11 he says that “everyone is a liar” which might indicate that all around him were sure that he was going to die. Then as well as now, death will come in God’s time and not in mans. God must have had some additional works for this servant to do before He took him home.

God can take any of us home at any time He pleases, so as the writer here (Psalm 116) praises God for life, we should all do that on a daily basis. Two times in this psalm the writer says that he will fulfill his vows to the Lord (Psalm 116:14 & 18). Once we are saved we have been freed from the jaws of eternal death, and our remaining time on this earth should be entirely focused on serving Christ, in whatever capacity He has called us to do.

An interesting point in the study of Psalm 116, is that the Jews traditionally sang this Psalm after their Passover meal. At the Last Supper, which was the last Passover Meal that Jesus shared with His disciples, this psalm would have been sung. Think of Jesus singing verses 12-14 as He raised the cup of salvation; ¹² What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? ¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. ¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

Jesus knew that His cup of salvation would only be the true cup of salvation if he fulfilled His vows (Psalm 116:14 & 18) to His Father and went to the Cross.

Thursday August 25 2016

Psalm 119: 165

Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.

 In the past few months we have had 9 other verses from psalm 119, as the verse of the day. Being the longest psalm, as well as the longest chapter in the bible, there is a massive number of messages from God to be gleaned from this Psalm.

Today we have governmental bodies, not only here in the United States, but around the world, that try to frighten and threaten as a means to keep people away from God’s Holy Word. Apparently, the same thing was happening when this Psalm was penned. We see in verse 161, “Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart trembles at your word.” Then in verses 162-164 The writer rejoices in the great promises of God’s Word, loves God’s Law and praises Him seven times a day.

Great peace have those who love your law: It seems that the whole world seeks a peace in life, that is somewhat difficult to find in the realm of worldly matters. There is a peace that will envelop your entire being that comes from the love of God’s Holy Word. We must take note that it does not say here, great peace will come to those that keep God’s Law, because none can do that. It says those that love God’s Law will discover the peace that nothing in this world can bring. This peace will come to those that have discovered, in God’s Word, His great mercy and grace.

And nothing can make them stumble:  Thomas Horn (October 20, 1780-Janurary 27 1862) once wrote: “Amidst the storms and tempests of the world, there is a perfect calm in the breasts of those, who not only do the will of God, but ‘love’ to do it.”

  Friday August 26^th 2016

Romans 12:4-5

4-For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,

5-so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Paul had written 1 Corinthians a year before he wrote the letter to the Romans. In that previous book he had first introduced the body as an illustration of the church (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). Each and every Christian has the same responsibility and calling towards God and that is devotion and commitment (Romans 12:1-2). However, the will of God for each and every individual Christian will vary regarding life and ministry, in the whole “Body of Christ” (Romans 12:3-21).

We are all part of the Body of Christ, the church, we are not just a group of islands maintaining our own entity. The church is a united total, but we are each diverse in the one body. The important thing to remember is the balance between the two, unity should never be neglected at the cost of the individual and as well, the individuals should never weaken or lessen the unity of the Body of Christ. The key to maintaining this interwoven harmony is to always remember that Christ Jesus is our commutuality, we are all one body in Christ. 

Our right hand and our left hand has never been involved in a conflict, they work together and help each other. We all, as believers and followers of Christ Jesus belong to each other, so that support for the entire body is maintained. Each of us benefits from the work and ministry of all the other members. When we begin to comprehend and appreciate this, it will help us greatly to overcome any pride we might foster.

 Saturday August 27^th 2016

Isaiah 26: 3

3-You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

There are so many great promises in the Bible, a few weeks ago we had a Sunday morning message about God’s Promises. We discovered that there were somewhere around 30,000 promises from God in his Holy Word. There are none that are greater or lesser that another, they are all awesome. What a promise we have here in Isaiah 26:3, we can be kept in a place of perfect peace, not just peace but perfect peace. One could not expect any less from a perfect God, than perfect peace.

There are some that do experience this wonderful promise of perfect peace, but it is momentary, and they are not kept there. Others may experience peace but not perfect peace. These  forms of peace are found in worldly places and occurrences, not from God. If something is not from God there is only one other place it can originate, from Satan. This counterfeit peace is also the peace of ones that are asleep spiritually.

There are also people that  God will keep in perfect peace, the ones  that completely trust in  Him (Matthew 6:24; Philippians 4:7;James 1:6-8). This verse seems to allude to believers in a corporate setting, but it can also refer to each individual as well.