Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Living by God's word and God's love, in God's world

Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - Devotions: Ps 12-14, 119:1-24; Dan 2:17-30; 1 Jn 2:12-17; 
                                                             Jn 17:20-26

Help me, Lord. I can find no one who is godly!  Everyone lies; no one keeps faith. People all seem to have flattering lips and devious hearts.  Let YHWH arise and deliver those who need His help.  His promises are purified seven times, like silver in the furnace.  The wicked prowl, and vileness is exalted among the sons of men everywhere.  Lord, how long must I await Your mercy?  Consider and answer me, I pray You.  I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.  I will sing to YHWH, for He has dealt bountifully with me.  Fools deny God's existence, but He is watching seeking any who are wise.  There is none that does good!  God is the refuge and deliverer of the righteous. And when He restores His people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel will be glad.  Blessed are all who walk in YHWH's law--who keep His testimonies, who seek Him wholeheartedly. They do no wrong but walk in His ways.  God, You have commanded us to be diligent in keeping Your statutes.  I will not be put to shame if I focus on Your commandments.  I will praise You with an upright heart and learn Your righteous ordinances.  How can one keep his way pure? By living according to Your word.  I seek you with my whole heart; do not let me stray from Your commands.  I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.  I declare Your ordinances aloud; I delight in Your testimonies.  I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my attention on Your statutes.  I will not forget Your word.  Please: open my eyes to behold the wonders in Your law.  I am a pilgrim on earth; don't hide Your commandments from me.  You have rebuked those who wander from Your commandments.  But Your testimonies are my delight.

As Daniel prepared to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he asked his Israelite allies to pray, so that they would not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.  That night, Daniel received a vision that prepared him to speak with the emperor.  The prophet praised aloud: 'Bless be the name of God forever and ever, to Whom belong wisdom and might.  He controls times and seasons; he raises kings up and casts them down.  He informs the wise and gives knowledge to the understanding.  He alone can reveal deep mysteries; light dwells within Him, and he knows what is hidden in darkness.  To You, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise; for You have given me wisdom and strength; You have revealed what was hidden to all, and have made known the king's matters.  And so Daniel alerted the king's servant Arioch that God had revealed Nebuchadnezzar's dream, 'and I will show the king the interpretation'.  Arioch took Daniel before the king, who asked, 'Are you able to tell me the dream I saw and its interpretation?'  And Daniel gave all credit to God: 'There Is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to you what will come to pass in latter days.  God has revealed all this to me in order that you may benefit from the dream and its meaning.'

John's treatise continued: The world and its lusts pass away, but those who do God's will abide for ever.  Children, it is the last hour; many antichrists have come already.  That's how we know what time it is.  They departed from among us, but they were never of us.  But You have been anointed by the Holy One, and you know the truth.  Who is a liar? Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah: anyone who denies the Father and the Son is the antichrist.  And no one who denies the Son has the Father.  Those who confess the Son have the Father also.  Abide in what you have heard from the beginning; doing so, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is what He has promised us: eternal life!  I am writing about those who would deceive you.  But you really need no teacher; the Holy Spirit anointing you received from Him abides within you.  So: as His anointing teaches you all truth, abide in Him as you have learned to do.  Then, when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink in shame from before Him.  If you know that He Is righteous, you may rest assured that everyone who does right is born of Him.

The conclusion of Jesus' High Priestly prayer:  I pray also for those who will come to believe through the words of these You have given Me--that they all may be one, as You are in Me and I in You, Father, and that they all may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.  I have given to them the glory You gave to Me, that they may be one even as We Are one: I in them, and thou in Me, so that they become perfectly one and the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You love Me.  Father, I desire that they, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I Am, to behod my glory, which You have given Me in Your love for Me before the foundation of the world.  Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You; and these know that You have sent Me.  I made known to them Your name; and I will make it known, t hat the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

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