85 Most Read Bible Verses--#81--Psalm 25:12-14

                Psalm 25:12-14 (NASB)

Who is the man who fears the LORD?  He will instruct him in the way he should choose. His soul will abide in prosperity and his descendants will inherit the land. The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him and He will make them know His covenant. 

Psalm 25 is worth your time studying and meditating about.  It gives me great hope, strength, and reassurance every time I study it.  Reading these four verses should increase your curiosity and desire to spend time with the entire chapter.  Psalm 25 is described as a prayer for protection, guidance, and pardon.

Who fears the Lord?  The word “fear” can be translated “reverence” so the more accurate question is “who reverences the Lord?”  If you have a sincere reverence (respect, adore, follow, be in awe of) for the Lord, He promises that He will guide you to make right decisions every step of your life.  I think about my life and while I have lived a wonderful life with a wonderful family and great career, I still wish that I had been a believer when I was in high school so that I might have been aware of a verse like this and had the Lord involved in my education and early career decisions.  Nevertheless, I do believe that once I gave my life to Christ, I have feared the Lord and because of this He has not allowed me ever to make a wrong major decision.  That’s how powerful this verse is for those who choose to believe it.

The person who reverences the Lord will find his/her soul abiding in prosperity and his/her children and grandchildren also being prosperous.  Prosperity might mean riches, but not necessarily materialistic riches.  Prosperity in the Bible simply means having all your basic needs met—health, food, shelter, protection, peace, happy living, and so forth.  The word for prosperity here means simply to live a good life.  It does not mean a quick way to get rich as some prosperity gospel preachers claim.  Such prosperity teaching appeals to the flesh and not to the spirit and it is false.

When you reverence the Lord, you will know His secret and His covenant.  What’s this about? It is much easier to share with someone—anyone—about your sorrows, even if they are secret.  However, with whom can and do you share your innermost-felt joys?  Only those you feel really care about you.  So it is with God.  He only provides His secret joys to those who are in an intimate relationship with Him.  Jesus said in Matthew 11:25 that God hides His will from those who think themselves wise and intelligent and reveals His will to those who trust in Him.  Jesus also told His followers that He spoke in parables so that those unwilling to believe in and follow Him would not understand the meaning of these stories (e.g. Matthew 13:10-13).

To know God’s covenant is to be His child, to be part of the body of Christ (the church) and to be in communion with Him (e.g. Matthew 26:26-28, John 1:12, Romans 8:16, Galatians 3:29, James 2:25).  You know His salvation, His forgiveness, His teachings, and His will. Thus, if and when you choose to fear, that is, to reverence and respect who God is, who Jesus is, who the Holy Spirit is, you will receive innumerable benefits, among them guidance for making right choices, living in prosperity, and being in a covenant relationship with the Lord.  Can you claim these promises today?  If so, you already know how blessed you are.  If not, you still have hope by choosing to commit the rest of your life to reverence the Lord.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” -- Proverbs 1:7 

85 Most Read Bible Verses---#82--Matthew 5:14-16

Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT)

You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

I love lighthouses.  I’m not sure why, but I do.  My wife and I one year drove from Seattle, WA to Monterey, CA and visited almost every lighthouse along the Pacific coast.  Most of these lighthouses are right on the coastline with spectacular views of the ocean.  I recall commenting while awestruck by one of those views that heaven must look like this and that this is what I will think of when I know that I’m close to dying.

We all know what the purpose of a lighthouse is……..to shine a beacon of light clearly seen by boats approaching the coastline so that they won’t crash into the rocks.  Jesus is telling His followers that we are like lighthouses.  You are to live your life in such as way that others see Jesus in you.  You are not to shine with the light of Jesus so that you get praised.  You want to be a light of the world so that the Father gets praised through you.  One way this happens is that others will desire to change their lives and lifestyles so that they emulate you and become shining lights themselves.  All this gives glory to God.   

Who was your role model when you decided to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord?  Who is your role model today who exemplifies light in this world?  Have you told these people that they are lights of God for you?  Are you a shining light to others?  Are you telling others about Jesus when others ask why you are so cheerful and enthusiastic about life?  If no one has commented about your positive attitudes and actions, are you certain that you are a disciple of Christ?  Are you quenching the Spirit in some way so that He is not shining through you?  Be assured of that right now by confessing your sins and rededicating your life to Christ and asking His Spirit to fill you daily.  Then live your life accordingly as a Spirit-filled follower of Christ, as one who is salt of the earth and light of the world.  Others will notice.   

    

85 Most Read Bible Verses--#83--Isaiah 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” 

Whatever opinion or thought that you have about what is going on around you, what you think will happen, what opinions you have, anything that involves your human thinking and reasoning and decision-making, be assured that God’s thoughts and ways about the same situations are opposite of yours.  Not only are they opposite but they are “higher” (greater, eternal, godly).  Here are some examples:

·  You believe and conclude that you are incapable to accomplish something that you’ve been asked to do or feel the call to do in the church.  God will see to it that you are very capable of accomplishing that task/ministry.

·  You look at your life and your circumstances and see nothing but doom and gloom.  God sees your life as special, wonderful, and purposeful.

·  You make a judgment about someone else that is very negative.  God’s judgment of that person is opposite of your negative view. 

·  You see no purpose or meaning in something you are doing or what someone else is doing or even who that someone else is.  God sees the opposite.

·  You conclude that a certain outcome is going to occur with that outcome being very negative.  God sees that outcome as very positive.

·  You hate something or someone; God loves that something or someone

·  You see life from a very narrow and temporal perspective.  God sees life from an eternal perspective.  Think about how you view a situation going on right now in life compared to a 5-6 year old child.  Magnify that difference infinitesimally and that’s the difference between you and God viewing the same situation. 

Ever since I was first made aware of these verses, I have caught myself many times thinking negative thoughts and remembering that these are not God’s thoughts.  I have caught myself acting or wanting to act in certain ways, then remembering that these are not God’s ways.  I have often wanted to take the “low road” and speak or act foolishly, then am reminded that God always takes the high road.  Often at the moment of time I’m wanting to do or say something negatively and then reminded of these verses, I’m wanting to ignore them.  However, I try not to and take the high road, but temporarily I’m unhappy about taking the high road.  However, always…….yes, always……later I am so happy and relieved that I took that high road and did not say or do what I really wanted to say or do.  His ways are always higher and you are divinely guided and protected to follow His ways, not your own.   

No, you and I are not God and we cannot always think and act like Him, but it is our mission as His children while on this earth to keep progressing toward being godly in all that we think and say and do.

In what situation(s) right now are you at a crossroads where you either can react with your words and your ways or choose to react via His thoughts and ways?  Keep these words from Isaiah close to your mind and heart as you will need them many times to help deal the right way with conflicts and problems that always come into your life.