Psalms 118:147 (119:47 LXX)
I arose at midnight and cried out; I hoped in Your words.
Encouraging Words
My God is always present in my life. He is always available to me when I call out for His assistance in my life. He is where my entire hope in this life rests. He is when I find my confidence to make it through each day and to find true peace in the chaos of life. He is constant even as everything around me is in constant change. Glory be to God!
Proverbs 16:3
The beginning of a good way is to do righteous things,
And this is more acceptable to God than to offer sacrifices.
Encouraging Words
The author of Proverbs reminds us that the journey toward living a godly and righteous life begins by doing righteous, or good, things. He is not saying that our righteousness comes from the things that we do, God is the source of our righteousness through Christ. But when God has begun His saving work within us, we humbly follow in the footsteps of our Lord and start doing good things that glorify Him and begin the process of building righteousness in our lives. This is much more acceptable to God than sacrifices. Glory be to God!
John 5:39-40
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Personal Challenge
Jesus is not a book. So many people today act as if the leather-bound Bible is Jesus, however, it is the inspired Word of God that was canonized by the church a few hundred years after Jesus walked upon this earth as the incarnate God. Up until that canonization the church operated from the traditions and teachings of the early church fathers. Those traditions and teachings still exist, in addition to the canonized scriptures. Our modern approach to Christianity has abandoned the foundational components of our faith and substituted for them the expositions and interpretations of so many individuals. No wonder the modern church has fractured and splintered into thousands of denominations and self-defined institutions. In the early church, this would have been viewed as heresy. If we really want to have a full understanding of who Jesus is and enter into a deep and life-changing relationship with Him, we must do as He said in this verse over 2,000 years ago, and go to Him in order to have the life He has for us. We need to return to the ways of the early church and the early church fathers. Come and see!
Psalms 118:133 (119:133 LXX)
Direct my steps according to Your teaching
And let no lawlessness rule over me.
Personal Challenge
This verse, like so many others, poses a dilemma for a modern person. We believe today that we have the final say on who we are and what we do. We live in a very individualistic and self-focused society. The Psalmist reminds us that it is God’s teaching that we submit to if we desire to live a godly life. His teachings come from His Word, His Church, His traditions, not what we determine to be taught. Glory be to God!
Proverbs 16:1
All the works of the humble are evident before the Lord,
But the ungodly will be destroyed in the evil day.
Personal Challenge
The early church fathers believed that humility was living a life of virtue. What are these virtues? They are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, and kindness. As we strive to live these virtues in our lives we build the ability to exercise the virtue of humility. If we chose the way of the world, which is lust, gluttony, greed, acedia, anger, and vanity then we produce pride in our lives and build a wall between us and our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!
John 5:30
I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Personal Challenge
So, how is it that Jesus, who is one of the Trinity, say that He can do nothing by Himself? We must always remember that Jesus is two natures in one person. He had two natures. He is fully God, a member of the God-head, begotten by the Father and fully eternal. It is through Him that creation was done and in His image that all of mankind was made. He is also fully man, just like the handiwork of His creation, incarnate, and living a human existence like every one of us has done since Adam. He had to deal with human temptations, human emotions, and a human will. This is what He is referring to when He says, “I can of Myself do nothing.” As a human being, He had to submit His human will completely to God’s divine will in order to do that which God had called Him to do. How does this fully human, fully God thing work? No one knows, for it is truly a mystery that only God knows the answer to. What is so special in all of this is that Jesus, the incarnate human being, made it possible for us to follow in His footsteps and to be able to submit our will to God as He did. This is our journey to theosis. This is our true work in this life. This is my desire even though I continue to exercise my own personal will all too often. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
Psalms 119:130 (118:130 LXX)
The revelation of Your words gives light,
And it causes children to understand.
Personal Challenge
Throughout the New Testament writings, we are taught that we must come to our Lord as little children in order to get all that He has to offer us. Children are innocent. They are open and trusting. They receive input more than they produce output. Here we have the Psalmist saying the same thing. God continually pours out His light upon us. He reveals Himself to us this way. But if we are so caught up in the ways of the world, the busyness of our lives, and our propensity to being in control, then that light goes right past us and we gain nothing. We must humble ourselves and be as a child in His presence, emptying ourselves of our adultness so that we can be receptive to the revelation that He desires us to have. This is a lifelong endeavor and not a point in time action. As St. Paul tells us, we are running a marathon and not a sprint. Our true pursuit of our Land Jesus Christ becomes a pursuit of humility, supplication, submission, and obedience to Him who is greater than all. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner especially the sin of pride and self-centeredness.
Proverbs 15:32-33 (15:37-38 LXX)
He who rejects instruction hates himself,
But he who gives heed to reproofs loves his soul.
The fear of God is instruction and wisdom,
And the beginning of glory will respond to it.
Personal Challenge
Instruction, discipline, correction, reproof and other similar terms are all used in the Proverbs to teach us that we must joyfully accept these things in our lives if we desire to grow in the image of Christ. Since we live in a fallen and broken world it is so easy to turn away from our God and to embrace the things of this world, In doing so, we sin. God desires that we be in constant communion with Him, so He corrects our sinfulness in order to bring us back to Him, just as a parent corrects their child to teach them the right way to behave. We are so blessed that our God loves us so much and that His corrections are always from that love, As we heed the discipline of our Father we begin to see and understand His wisdom and the wisdom that He desires us to have. This is part of our journey towards His glory. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
John 5:24
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Encouraging Words
Jesus makes it clear to us in this verse that He and His Father are inseparable. The gift of everlasting life comes from hearing the word of Jesus and through that word believing in the Father. Our salvation is not in Jesus alone, or the Father alone, or the Holy Spirit alone, but in all three of them, the Trinity. Jesus also makes it clear that our everlasting life, our passing from death to life, begins that very moment that we believe in the Father who sent Him. We do not have to wait for our death to enter everlasting life. This is why our sinning after we become children of God is something that needs to be dealt with and repented of. Sin pulls is away from the presence of God and the blessings of eternal life that He wants to pour out upon us as we continue our journey through this temporal world. This is where the Holy Spirit comes into the picture, He is part of our lives to lead us in paths of righteousness and to turn our head and heart away from the temptations of the world. But we must listen to Him as well. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!
Verse of the Day 