Joey's Journal - September 25, 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
May the Lord's mercy, joy and peace be with you always!
I am pleased to send you next week's journal for your reading and reflection. I really hope that Psalm 50 will touch your hearts and understand what the Lord needs from us. God doesn't need our 'burnt offerings' or sacrifices - a physical atonement for our disobedience against Him. He wants our true and contrite repentance for our sins. Furthermore, He wants our heartfelt thanksgiving and praise for His unfailing love and compassion shown to us. He forgives us faithfully even when we are faithless. The Lord, our God, is good!
May His blessings of protection, provision and guidance be with you.
Have a close and personal relationship with Him next week.
Joey
'But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession with Christ to spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.' (2 Cor. 2:14)
September 25, 2006
Heavenly Father, I give You all praise and glory for being an awesome God! You give us protection from danger and accidents, provision for our daily needs and guidance to live our lives more close to You. May we always remember to give You thanks and honor for Your continued blessing. Lord, during times when we distance ourselves from You, may we know that with the Holy Spirit, we will be by our side to bring us closer to You. Thank You Father, for being faithful to us. I offer my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings of this day and hope that they will be pleasing and acceptable to You. Keep our day free from the grasps of the evil one and always allow us to focus on You. I request these in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
My Reading - Psalm 50
Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors God
The mighty God, the Lord, has spoken; he has summoned all humanity from east to west! From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance. Our God approaches with the noise of thunder. Fire devours everything in his way, and a great storm rages around him. Heaven and earth will be his witnesses as he judges his people: Bring my faithful people to me – those who made a covenant with me by giving sacrifices. Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God himself will be the judge.
‘O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God! I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly bring to my altar. But I want no more bulls from your barn; I want no more goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me. If I were hungry, I would not mention it to you, for all the world is mine and everything in it. I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice; I don’t need the blood of your goats. What I want instead is your true thanks to God; I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High. Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.’
But God says to the wicked: ‘Recite my laws no longer, and don’t pretend that you obey me. For you refuse my discipline and treat my laws like trash. When you see a thief, you help him, and you spend your life with adulterers. Your mouths are filled with wickedness, and your tongues are full of lies. You sit around and slander a brother – your own mother’s son. While you did all this, I remain silent, and you thought I didn’t care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you. Repent, all of you who ignore me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you. But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.’
My Reflection – We have read about the sacrifices given by the Israelites to God. We have seen their burnt offerings and sacrificial lambs. They honored and praised God for the many blessings and this offering was handed down from the time of Moses. In this psalm, God clearly states His complaints of the people. They give Him praise and honor doing these offerings but, they still do not obey His laws and live wicked lives. How can God not be pleased by their actions! They just went through the motions of the sacrificial atonement and went back to disobeying His Will. No honor and genuine thanksgiving was given to God after delivering them from the enemy and more so, became hardhearted people for their evil and immoral lives of idolatry.
In present times, we believers, are like the Israelites. We call on the Lord to help us during our most trying moments; to deliver us from our present situation and bless us and so on. We may fall into the same pattern as the Israelites did, offering sacrifices of thanksgiving but losing their significance as we fall back to disobeying God’s Word. Have we ever looked back on the many times God has rescued us or answered our prayers without even acknowledging His goodness to us? We fail to repent of our disobedience to God and continue living our wicked lives. But, God clearly states that repentance is what He needs from us and an acknowledgment of thanks truly honors Him. When did we last repent and thank God for His love and compassion shown to us?
My Prayer – Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the many blessings You have given to us. Thank You for allowing us to call on Your Name and be delivered from certain damnation because we keep on disobeying Your Word. Lord, a contrite and humble heart is what You require of us; not an arrogant and unrepentant one. With our submission to You, our hearts are molded by the Holy Spirit to firmly obey Your commands. Help me, Father, to constantly have a repentant and contrite heart for You. All in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
by Joey B.
Busby SEO competition is still going on until January 31st.
May the Lord's mercy, joy and peace be with you always!
I am pleased to send you next week's journal for your reading and reflection. I really hope that Psalm 50 will touch your hearts and understand what the Lord needs from us. God doesn't need our 'burnt offerings' or sacrifices - a physical atonement for our disobedience against Him. He wants our true and contrite repentance for our sins. Furthermore, He wants our heartfelt thanksgiving and praise for His unfailing love and compassion shown to us. He forgives us faithfully even when we are faithless. The Lord, our God, is good!
May His blessings of protection, provision and guidance be with you.
Have a close and personal relationship with Him next week.
Joey
'But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession with Christ to spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.' (2 Cor. 2:14)
September 25, 2006
Heavenly Father, I give You all praise and glory for being an awesome God! You give us protection from danger and accidents, provision for our daily needs and guidance to live our lives more close to You. May we always remember to give You thanks and honor for Your continued blessing. Lord, during times when we distance ourselves from You, may we know that with the Holy Spirit, we will be by our side to bring us closer to You. Thank You Father, for being faithful to us. I offer my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings of this day and hope that they will be pleasing and acceptable to You. Keep our day free from the grasps of the evil one and always allow us to focus on You. I request these in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
My Reading - Psalm 50
Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors God
The mighty God, the Lord, has spoken; he has summoned all humanity from east to west! From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance. Our God approaches with the noise of thunder. Fire devours everything in his way, and a great storm rages around him. Heaven and earth will be his witnesses as he judges his people: Bring my faithful people to me – those who made a covenant with me by giving sacrifices. Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God himself will be the judge.
‘O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God! I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly bring to my altar. But I want no more bulls from your barn; I want no more goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me. If I were hungry, I would not mention it to you, for all the world is mine and everything in it. I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice; I don’t need the blood of your goats. What I want instead is your true thanks to God; I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High. Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.’
But God says to the wicked: ‘Recite my laws no longer, and don’t pretend that you obey me. For you refuse my discipline and treat my laws like trash. When you see a thief, you help him, and you spend your life with adulterers. Your mouths are filled with wickedness, and your tongues are full of lies. You sit around and slander a brother – your own mother’s son. While you did all this, I remain silent, and you thought I didn’t care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you. Repent, all of you who ignore me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you. But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.’
My Reflection – We have read about the sacrifices given by the Israelites to God. We have seen their burnt offerings and sacrificial lambs. They honored and praised God for the many blessings and this offering was handed down from the time of Moses. In this psalm, God clearly states His complaints of the people. They give Him praise and honor doing these offerings but, they still do not obey His laws and live wicked lives. How can God not be pleased by their actions! They just went through the motions of the sacrificial atonement and went back to disobeying His Will. No honor and genuine thanksgiving was given to God after delivering them from the enemy and more so, became hardhearted people for their evil and immoral lives of idolatry.
In present times, we believers, are like the Israelites. We call on the Lord to help us during our most trying moments; to deliver us from our present situation and bless us and so on. We may fall into the same pattern as the Israelites did, offering sacrifices of thanksgiving but losing their significance as we fall back to disobeying God’s Word. Have we ever looked back on the many times God has rescued us or answered our prayers without even acknowledging His goodness to us? We fail to repent of our disobedience to God and continue living our wicked lives. But, God clearly states that repentance is what He needs from us and an acknowledgment of thanks truly honors Him. When did we last repent and thank God for His love and compassion shown to us?
My Prayer – Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the many blessings You have given to us. Thank You for allowing us to call on Your Name and be delivered from certain damnation because we keep on disobeying Your Word. Lord, a contrite and humble heart is what You require of us; not an arrogant and unrepentant one. With our submission to You, our hearts are molded by the Holy Spirit to firmly obey Your commands. Help me, Father, to constantly have a repentant and contrite heart for You. All in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
by Joey B.
Busby SEO competition is still going on until January 31st.
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