Glory be!

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Saturday, February 20, 2010
Devotions: Ps 30, 32, 42, 43; Ezek 39:21-29; Phil 4:10-20; Jn 17:20-26

I will extol You, YHWH, because You have kept my foes from overwhelming me. You have restored my soul from the Pit. God’s anger is brief, but His mercy is everlasting; we may cry through the night, but joy returns in the morning. YHWH God is my Helper! Lord, You have turned my mourning into dancing and decked me with gladness. I give You thanks for ever. Blessed are all to whom God imputes no iniquity, in whose spirit is no deceit. I confess my sins to God, and God forgives me. I am ransomed by Christ’s blood, through God’s grace. YHWH, You are my Hiding Place, my Refuge. God teaches me, and surrounds me with His steadfast love. Let all God’s people rejoice and exult! Father, I thirst for You like a parched stag in a dry wilderness. When will I see my God? Others challenge my faith, but I will abide in Him and trust God to bless me in His good time. Let my soul hope in God and wait for Him! Deep calls to deep. God vindicates me and defends my cause. Lord, send forth Your light; bring me to Your holy hill and into Your house. I will trust in God my Helper.

God spoke through Ezekiel: ‘I will set My glory among the nations, and they shall witness My judgment. Israel shall know that I Am YHWH their God. The Gentiles will understand that Israel’s sufferings and exile result from their sins, so that I hid My face from them, dealing with them according to their transgressions. But now I will restore their fortunes and have mercy on My people. Their shame will be forgotten, and they will lives securely in their land. All will know that I Am God, and I will pour out My Spirit upon the house of Israel.’

Paul rejoiced in the Lord, since the Philippian Christians had renewed their concern for him. He wrote, ‘I have learned to be content in any circumstance, plenty or hunger, abundance or want. I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. Your gifts are a fragrant offering, pleasing to our God. And He will supply all your needs through His glorious riches in the Messiah Jesus our Lord. To God our Father be eternal glory!’

And Jesus prayed: ‘I pray also for those who will believe in My name through the word of these first disciples; make them all one, Father, even as We are One, so that the world can believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be One as We are One: I in them, and You in Me, that they become perfectly unified, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me and have loved them as You love Me. Father, My desire is that they whom You gave me may be with Me where I Am, to behold the glory You have given Me in Your love for me from before the foundation of the cosmos. Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these know that You have sent Me. I made Your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love You have for Me may be in them, and I also in them.’