Fruitful life in the triune God

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

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Monday, April 12, 2010
Devotions: Ps 1-4, 7; Exod 15:21-31; 1 Pet 1:1-12; Jn 14:1-17

Those are blessed who shun wicked counsel, stay away from sinners, and don’t sit down with scoffers, and who delight in YHWH’s law and meditate on it day and night. They are like trees planted near flowing water, fruitful in season, ever green, prospering in all they do. Cursed are the wicked, blown away like dust in the wind, incapable of facing holy judgment, barred from the assembly of the righteous. YHWH keeps the way of the righteous, but lets the wicked perish. Given this, why do the nations and peoples vainly plot against God and His anointed? The heavenly Master simply laughs in derision, and commands them in wrath and fury: ‘I have set My king on My holy hill!’ I will testify that YHWH has chosen me as His son; He has made all the nations the heritage of His Messiah, Jesus. So let earthly masters be wise: serve YHWH with fear and trembling; kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish, for His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him! YHWH, how many human foes I have! But You, O Lord, are my shield, my glory, my uplifter! You answer when I cry out to You. I will not worry, day or night; God is for me, and none can overwhelm me. Deliverance belongs to YHWH, Who blesses His people. Gracious Lord, continue to bless me. I will abide in God and trust Him, Who has set me apart for Himself. I put my trust in the Lord! Let God’s countenance shine on me, as I go my way in peace and safety. I stand under Christ’s righteousness, sinless in God’s reckoning. I am content for God to contend for me, and bring down His judgment on my wicked enemies. Repent, you wicked, or face the naked blade of the Almighty, and His flaming arrows. I will sing praise to YHWH, Lord Most High.

Miriam broke into song after YHWH delivered Israel and destroyed the hosts of Pharaoh in the sea: ‘Sing to YHWH, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea!’ Next, Moses led the people three days’ journey into the Wilderness of Shur. They came to Marah, and found the water bitter and undrinkable. The people murmured, Moses prayed, and God showed Moses a tree, from which he took a branch and threw it into the water. The water became sweet. At this place, YHWH made a statute and ordinance for the people: ‘If you will diligently hearken to the voice of YHWH your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and heed His commands, and keep His statutes, I will keep you from all the diseases with which I afflicted the Egyptians, for I Am YHWH, your Healer.’ Their next stop was at Elim, where they found twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there beside the good water.

Peter, Jesus the Messiah’s apostle, wrote to the exiles in the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia: ‘chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus the Messiah and for sprinkling with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead, and to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation which is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in all this, although now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus the Messiah. You love Him without having seen Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy! And as the fruit of your faith, you obtain the salvation of your souls. The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they searched to know what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when they were predicting the sufferings of the Messiah and the subsequent glory. God revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in the very things that have not been announced to you by those who preached the gospel to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—good news into which the angels long to look!’

Just after Jesus had warned Peter that the apostle would deny Him three times that very night, He spoke these words to all His disciples: ‘Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? After I have done this, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that were I Am you may be also. And you already know the way where I Am going.’ Thomas replied, ‘Lord, we don’t know where You are going; how can we know the way?’ Jesus told him, ‘I Am the Way, and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on, you know Him and have seen Him.’ The Philip spoke: ‘Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied!’ Jesus replied: ‘Have I been with you so long and yet you do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father—how can you ask this? Don’t you believe that I Am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority; rather, the Father Who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I Am in the Father and the Father in Me—or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these they will do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever: the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you.’