DELIGHTFUL!
Today’s Reading: Psalms 119:129-176
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
THE BIBLE! Here’s Reynold’s Bible on a Roman road in Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus became known as the Apostle Paul. Paul was a true scholar educated in the Roman/Greek university city of Tarsus and then sent to Jerusalem, where he studied the Hebrew Scriptures under Gamaliel, the most renowned Bible teacher of his time. Paul probably knew Psalm 119 by heart. He wrote to a young man named Timothy these words, “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:15,16).
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Psalm 119:130, 174
The entrance of Your words gives light;
It gives understanding to the simple.
…I long for Your salvation O Lord,
And Your law is my delight.
We have every reason to be full of delight! (of “the light”). Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). Psalm 119 shines “understanding” into us! We understand that the “Words” which we read in the Bible express the thoughts of God. Paul writes, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16b). Peter, a follower of Jesus, needed the light of the understanding of God’s thoughts (God’s Words express His thoughts) when he actually contradicted Jesus because Jesus began to speak of His own death and resurrection. Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan, you are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:21-23). In other words, Satan was darkening Peter’s mind so that Peter’s thoughts, which he expressed, were not God’s thoughts, but thoughts from Peter’s own mind. The way to get God’s thoughts to be our thoughts is to read constantly God’s Words. In this way we make God’s thoughts the essential DNA of our very being. According to Psalm 119, God’s thoughts are “GOOD,” “RIGHT,” “PERFECTION,” “SWEET,” “WONDERFUL,” “RIGHTEOUS,” “UPRIGHT,” “FAITHFUL,” “TRUTH,” “EVERLASTING,” and our experience proves that God’s Words are a “DELIGHT!!!”
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I thank You that “The entrance of Your Words gives light” to me. I pray that the “Light of the world,” Jesus, the Messiah, will be my 24/7 Light, so that I will never stumble around in the dark. When I meet others, may I be conscious that there’s a light on the inside of me, and may the light shine brightly through me on my path and on the path of others. I ask this blessing in the Name of Jesus, the “Living Word,” the One who is the full expression of Your thoughts to the human family. Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
During my first year of intensive study of God’s Word in Bible College, someone (I don’t remember who) said something about the reading of the Bible that I have never forgotten. Here it is, “Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Scriptures.” The year after that I applied that knowledge in pioneering a new congregation in the Chalk River/Deep River area of Ontario. Yes, I went back to school for more years of study after that year off, but during that year of preaching and teaching God’s Word, I learned so much, perhaps more than I learned sitting in the lecture hall. That year, I filled in as the Principal of the local public school. The regular Principal was off for health reasons. The government of Ontario Department of Education, required us, as teachers, to teach the Bible to our students. The Department published a Bible study guide for us to follow. Just imagine trying to do this in a public school today! A while ago I drove around what was called a “Middle School.” I couldn’t believe my eyes! There was a high iron fence around the entire school with steel bars to protect the students from a possible violent assault. I was filled with such sadness. Our public schools in Canada and the U.S.A. have put the Bible and prayer out and the iron bars are in. There’s a security guard and a metal detector inside the one small entrance through the bars through which the students, teachers, and parents must pass.
Yours with delight in God’s Word, and with tears because of the foolishness of courts, governments and school boards in turning out the Light of God’s Word, thus inviting the darkness into the public schools. May God have mercy on us and on our children,
David
P.S. Which will it be in the local schools near us over the next few years, BIBLES or BARS!! Here’s that school building I mentioned above.
The iron fence at the Middle School (junior high).
Its so sad we havevto cage our students in for their protection but it almost looks like a jail Dear Lord we long for Your Word and prayers to be brought back into our schools make a way where there seems to be no way in Jesus name Amen
thank you David
Amen Lily May.
Thank you for this study Rev. Mainse. Yes, I think God has diversity in our society (schools, etc.) and world wide to bring us closer to Him. Found a great quote online today written by Dr. Jim Denison:
“During my first visit to Cuba, I told one of the pastors that I had been praying for persecution against his people to lessen. He asked me to stop. Seeing my puzzled expression, he explained that persecution was being used by God to purify the church and strengthen the resolve of true believers. Then he told me that many in Cuba were praying for persecution to increase against Christians in America, for the same reason.
When I started my doctoral dissertation, I wrote on an index card the words of Galatians 6:9, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.” That card got me through some tough days. When I went to East Malaysia as a summer missionary, my pastor gave me a devotional book inside which he had written the words, “The will of God never leads where the grace of God cannot sustain.” That sentence got me through the jungles of Borneo.”
Fear Not!!
Blessings to all on this snowy Fall day here in west central Alberta.
Having trouble with the blog. Yesterday and today, I clicked on the audio button but the words being spoken were not the written words indicated as the scripture reading. This happened when I just went to the http://www.100words.ca web site. I then went to my e-mail and read the non-audio portion. At the end to send a comment, there was no “bubble” showing next to the date as mentioned. I do belong to a group which contacts me frequently and I often give them the web site as a “growing” tool. I do hope that they are able to get into the site easily. It sure looks dangerous at that school. The wall of iron would prevent people from escaping in an emergency. How awful. Is this in Canada?
How sad, Lord I pray for our children, may the Light, Your light once again shine in our schools, the return of Your Word in their midst. Amen!!
It is sad that we have let almost anything else except Christ into our schools. But remember, our schools are a reflection of the standards of our entire society (or lack of them). The righteous commandments of our God are not to restrict our freedoms, but to make us free.
Amen! Agree with you entirely David. Will it be BIBLES or BARS? Did anyone see the news lately showing a policeman hired by the school in the States violently upsetting a female student in her desk and dragging her desk and all out of the classroom. I tried to start a Bible Club in a local elementary school quite a few years ago. I wonder why Christians couldn’t do so if the Muslims are able to have their own prayer meeting in a school in Ontario, Toronto is it? I taught Religion in a high school in Africa. Lord help us is right.
Recently, I got a phone call for the second time for a donation for policemen to go into the schools to talk to the children about bullying. How about a donation for Christians to go into the school and teach the ten commandments, especially, “Thou shalt not kill.” Amen? The Ten Commandments should be posted on every classroom wall, and I wonder how many students know any of them.
AMEN…AMEN..AMEN to today’s message… I well remember the good old days teaching when we started the day with “The Lord’s Prayer”and “God Save The King” followed. by, (if I remember rightly) a half hour period of scripture starting the day properly, in my opinion…but that was back in “the forties” that I taught school.
I thank God for you and this wonderful 2 year programme.
BLESSINGS
Blessed
Amen Irene
in my area there are some Cristian schools however it costs a lot of money to send childen to these schools, I’ve often wondered why wealthy people would not support Christian schools, find families that would like to send their children and help pay for their education, you receive a tax receipt, HOWEVER many people invest where they can get a financial return on their money and I have to gasp sometimes when some of these investment companies file bankruptcy…..yes, I understand why some need to have a financial return on their investments, I’ve known many who lost all their investment money due to “questionable” practices in the investment SO, I ASK THE QUESTION, WHY NOT INVEST IN OUR CHILDREN!
The long and the short of it, if money was available I do believe that many people would send their children to Christian schools but it is about the cost of this education!!
These BARS AND NO BIBLE in public schools makes me weep too, David. I pray WITH ALL MY ♡♡♡HEART♡♡♡FOR GOD’S WORD BACK IN SCHOOLS♡♡♡
Please let me know what else I can do, except for my prayers. BECAUSE I KNOW THAT GOD WATCHES OVER THIS WORLD OF CHAOS HE IS STILL THE HIGHEST ABOVE ALL.
Thats the only way I can find peace.
Thanks Jenny.