Day 4 - Week 29- 1 Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!"

Anxious for tomorrow when I'll attend Beth Moore conference in Lubbock. I so respect the insight and teaching of this very gifted and strong woman of God. Ready for some great words of instruction from God's Word!

There's another blessing from our loving Father- the provision of wonderful teachers who light our way and make His Word clearer to us along this way of life. Peter was such a teacher! He clearly shares the joy of salvation in this week's verse. I love what Robert J Morgan writes about him:

"Peter wrote this letter approximately three decades after Christ's resurrection, yet his excitement was unabated. He still felt the exuberance he'd experienced years before as though it had happened yesterday. For Peter every day was Easter."

So tonight, think about the blessing of the people who have taught you about the truth of Jesus. The saying goes, "If you can read, thank a teacher.". Well, if you know Jesus, thank God for providing someone who brought Him to you...and for all who have followed in your life to add to your knowledge of Him.

Day 2 - Week 29 - 1 Peter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!"

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

There are SO many reasons for us to be thankful to our God!  Where do we start?  We could start a list of the ways in which He has blessed us, and I really think we could still be reciting our blessings when the sun comes up tomorrow.  Blessing upon blessing...in all avenues of our lives.

Tonight I enjoyed a particularly special blessing...being able to spend the evening with Christian friends discussing life issues that none of us have easy answers for.  But the fact of knowing that we all are seeking God's will above everything else brings an atmosphere of....well, of blessing!  What a wonderful blessing God gives us when we feel His assurance that He is at work on the things that we bring before Him, and that we will have clarity for decisions to be made because we have asked Him for His wisdom, His discernment and His guidance.

Christian friends are one of God's sweetest blessings.  They walk beside you, encourage you, and chastise you...all at the appropriate times.  I have been so blessed in this way.  Through each step of my life, God has always provided me with Christian friends.  I have been especially blessed recently by reuniting with my best high school friend who was such an encouragement to me in my faith during those years.  Paula and I went off to college together...she stayed...I didn't.  Our lives went on and in different directions, but for some reason God has seen fit to have our lives intersect once again and what a blessing that has been for me! 

During the years that I spent as a single mom, God brought some amazing women into my life that pushed me into a deeper level of faith.  Even though it was a time when I was sorting through a lot of obedience/rebellion issues, I was at the very same time being shown that obedience was God's way to blessing.  Through my disobedience, God very clearly taught me the value of obedience.  He was patient and spoke to me through some great friends who I still hold close to my heart today.

In my adult years, I have gathered a circle of very close Christian friends who are such an encouragement to me and who I know love me and pray for me.  And a wider circle of Bible study friends who stay together in God's Word and in sweet fellowship with each other.

Yes, God has abundantly blessed me with Christian friends.  I hope you can list those He has blessed you with as well.  If you feel you are lacking this support, I pray that you will find a Bible study group that you can start building relationships in that will bless you in ways you cannot begin to imagine.

And, pray that you will allow God to put you in a position to be a blessing for someone else who is needing that very special Christian friend in their life...you may be the very person that God has designed for that spot in their life.  Don't miss the blessing of being a blessing...it is what we were created for...loving others as our Christians brothers and sisters and walking through this journey of life together.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  He is the giver of every good and perfect gift!

Day 1 - Week 29 - I don't think I'm ready to leave Isaiah 53:5-6 yet! And we're moving into a new section of verses as well!!

Yes - we've finished up our ten verses of assurance!  We will now move into four verses of Praise and Thanksgiving.  But before we do...time to review!  Remember, we've dropped off the four verses of The Four Corners of the Bible, and the five verses included in the Romans Road to Salvation.  (I hate that because I had those two sections down really, really well!)  The three sections we have to review are:

The Gift of Scripture (6 verses) - the Gift of Prayer (3 verses) - and the Gift of Assurance (10 verses)!  Three wonderful gifts that we have been given by God - isn't it appropriate that we follow up the gifts with some verses of Praise and Thanksgiving relaying to Him just how grateful we are to be His children?

Let's prayerfully review our Scriptures tonight:

The Gift of Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting and for training in righteousness.  Lord, help me to never doubt the holy inspiration of your Word.  Let me use it appropriately in all situations as You give me opportunity.
Joshua 1:8  This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.  Lord, let me dwell on Your Word rather than on the words of the world.  Let me hear it in my mind throughout my day so that I can stay centered on Your ways which will lead me to prosperity in the most valuable and eternal things of life.
Psalm 119:11  I have treasured Your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You.  I know that Your words lead me in ways that are pleasing to You - that's why I am placing them in my heart so that I can call on them at times of temptation.  Strengthen their memory in my heart.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6  Listen O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.  These words I am giving you today are to be in your heart.  Lord, help me to love You more and more every day - let the love I have for you surpass every other thing that may compete against my love for You.  Let me rely on You alone for my total being.
Deuteronomy 6:7  Repeat them to your children.  Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  O God - let me understand just how important it is to pass down the legacy of faith to my children and my grandchildren.  Do not let me be hesitant about sharing the importance of faith in You.  Let me share You in the everyday moments of life so they can see just how real You are.
Hebrews 4:12  For the Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.  Let me never underestimate the power of Your Word...let me rely on it as my true source of criticism, knowing that it will never mislead me and will never let me get away with things that are not pleasing to You.

The Gift of Prayer
Hebrews 4:16  Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.  Lord, I throw myself before you boldly, but asking you for your complete mercy and grace to pardon me from all of my sin and to accept me as your child...I can only do this because of my Savior, Jesus, who died for me.  It is because of Him that I can dare to come before You, but I can, and I do, with the boldness of a loved child.
1 John 5:14  Now this is the confidence we have before Him: whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  Lord, I thank You so much for always being there to hear my pleas.  Let me always have my heart in tune with You, and let me be reminded to always frame my requests within the confines of Your will, for I want nothing else in my life other than what You desire for me to have.
1 John 5:15  And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.  Lord, You are so good to me.  You assure me that my prayers will be answered and all that is within Your will for me will be given. Thank You..Thank You!

The Gift of Assurance
1 John 5:11  And this is the testimony:  God has given us eternal life, and that life is in His Son.  Hallelujah, thank You God!  Please remove any doubts that the Deceiver may try to plant...because of Jesus, I know that I am on my way to heaven with You!  Never let me doubt it!
1 John 5:12-13  The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn't have the Son of God, does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.  Thank You God, for making the way to You so clear!  You do not want us to be confused - You have provided One Way to You...Your Son is The Way!
John 14:1  Your heart must not be troubled.  Believe in God, believe also in Me.  Take away all my worries and fretfulness...I believe in Jesus, the Son of God, who cares for me more than I can ever know.
John 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  O Lord, I cannot even imagine what my eternal home will look like, but I know You are the designer and I know You do all things well.  Most importantly, I know that I will be at home with You!
John 14:3  And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back to receive you unto Myself, so that where I am, you may be also.  I look forward to the day when I hear my Savior's call to come home, to come home to be with Him, in the place He has prepared for me.  Please Lord, remove all fear and hesitation from my heart about traveling home to You, for I know You will be with me every step of the way.
John 14:6  Jesus told him, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man comes to the Father except through Me."  Lord, help me to stand firm in my profession of faith in You, even when the world tries to tell me something different.  You are the only way - You are the true way.  Help me to explain this to others who may not see You, in a way that will motivate them toward understanding You and how much You love us.
John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the worlds gives.  Your heart must not be troubled or afraid.  O Father, let my heart rest in Your peace, your perfect peace.  Take away from me the troubles and fears that this world brings into my heart, and replace it with your peace, knowing that You are over all and watch over my every step.
Isaiah 26:3  You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You, for it is trusting in You.  Keep my mind dependent on You - not on anything else - and certainly not dependent on myself.  Let me depend on You, because I completely trust in You.  Build my trust stronger and stronger each day.
Isaiah 56:5   But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.  Lord, keep fresh in my spirit the picture of Christ's suffering.  Let me never forget the pain, humiliation and suffering that He went through on my behalf.  He did it all for me - all to Him I owe.
Isaiah 56:6  We all went astray like sheep, we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquities of us all.  I am so guilty Lord of turning away from Your will to pursue my own course, designed with all of my selfish motives.  That rebellion was placed on Christ's back and I am so unworthy of His suffering on my behalf.  I don't understand the degree of love that designed this method of salvation.  All I can say is, "Thank You" - You didn't have to do it, but You did...for a wayward sheep like me!

After all of these verses describing the gifts that God has given us, we now get to voice our praise and thanksgiving to Him...we start with...

1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

The exclamation point wasn't actually in the Scripture, but how can you recite these words without it being worthy of an exclamation point? 

What a great and wonderful God we have who has allowed us to be born again into an active, living hope because of our resurrected Savior! 

As the saying goes, God is good....ALL the time!

Day 7 - Week 28 - Isaiah 53:6 "We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all."

I remember thinking as a little girl (probably around 7 or 8) that if I tried hard enough I could make it through just one day without doing anything wrong.  At night I would think, "tomorrow I won't do one thing that God will be unhappy about."  And the next night I would realize that I would have to try harder the next day, because the current day had not proved me to be the perfect child that I had aspired to be.

Day after day, now for 55+ years, I have committed sin upon sin.  Some have been small sins, some have been doozies!  Some have been sins that I didn't even realize committng until after the fact, and some have been so willful that I cringe when I think of the deception that I followed rather than the truth that I knew was God's way for me.  There are times when I look back and truly say, "WHAT was I thinking??" 

As hard as I have tried and continue to try, I will never attain perfection in God's sight...and you know what?  He knew I never would.  So instead, He took all of those sins that I have piled up over these years, and all the sins that I, no matter how much I try not to, will still commit in the years to come, and placed them on the back of my Savior, my Jesus. 

Now the picture of that load of sin heaped on Jesus' bleeding back puts a deep desire in my heart to follow Him and His way and to avoid the sins of the past, to listen to His voice of direction rather than "turning to my own way" in willful rebellion.  Such rebellion sets us up for detours in our Christian walk and certainly diverts us from blessings that God has in store for us. 

So here I am at 55, still aching to please my God. But the motivation is no longer so I can prove myself worthy of God's love...what I understand so much more fully now than I did then, is that God loved me in spite of my sinfulness and that because of that love, my sins have been covered by the blood of the Lamb. My ability to do right and to do good has no bearing on God's continuing love for me or on my eternal home.  My faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior has everything to do with it.  He took the punishment for all of my sin.  I have a Savior...Jesus is His name...

I have a Saviour, Jesus is his name,

and for every sin in my life, he frees me from blame.

There are many times I’ve wandered from the narrow way,

But his love has always found me, and so I can say:

I have a Saviour, Jesus is his name.

And for every sin in my life, he frees me from blame.

His voice has called me when I walked away from him,

and he placed his arms around me, and he took me in.

Into realms of brightest sunshine, liberty and grace,

That he won at Calvary for the human race.

I have a Saviour, Jesus is his name.

And for every sin in my life, he frees me from blame.

His love has saved me, now I’ll never walk alone.

Now I have a precious Saviour who will lead me home.

He has paid a price for my life that I can’t repay.

He just asks that I would love him, and so I can say:

I have a Saviour, Jesus is his name.

And for every sin in my life, he frees me from blame.

And so I’ll praise him till my life on Earth is through,

for the love that surely guides me every day anew.

And when life on Earth is ended, I’ll still share his love,

praising him with hosts of angels in the realms above.

I have a Saviour, Jesus is his name.

And for every sin in my life, he frees me from blame

© 2006 Ray Jaensch

Day 6 - Week 28 - Isaiah 53:6 "We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all."

Finally back home and back to regular routines!  I hate that I have missed so many nights sharing these two verses with you.  They are two of the most beautiful verses that show us who we really are in comparison to our Savior.

We are sinful, He is holy.

We are rebellious, He is in complete union with God the Father.

We are restless, He is peace personified.

We are diseased in all manner, He is complete wholeness.

We turn away from God and toward ourselves, He is the One who reaches out and turns our paths back---

because He loves us so! 

Yes, God punished Him for our iniquities, the punishment required for us to be forgiven, but never forget that Jesus willingly took the punishment upon Himself because of His love for us.

Philippians 2:6-7

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Isaiah 53:5-6 are in the Old Testament's greatest chapter of prophecy regarding Jesus Christ our Savior.  Robert J. Morgan states,

The details of Christ's crucifixion as given predictively in Isaiah 53, coupled with its personal and universal application, have convinced multitudes of people to follow Jesus Christ.  In the stories of Jewish converts to the Lord Jesus, this passage is frequently mentioned.

He goes on to include this quote from J. Sidlow Baxter...

As trait after trait swings into focus and fulfillment, can we write any other name under Isaiah's amazing portrait of the sublime Sufferer in chapter 53 than Jesus of Nazareth?

When Scripture is studied in its entirety, reading the stories of history, the books of prophesy, the gospels, the epistles...the truth  becomes very clear, as the Holy Spirit reveals bit by bit, from beginning to end, that Jesus is the One who is at the center of every verse written.  He is the One, the only one, who can take on the "iniquities of us all" and bring us into God's presence as redeemed children.

Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord!

Emmanuel, God is with us, blessed Redeemer, living Word!

Jesus, name above all names
Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord.
Emmanuel, God is with us.
Blessed Redeemer, Living word.
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Jesus, name above all names
Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord.
Emmanuel, God is with us.
Blessed Redeemer, Living word.
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