Friday, April 15, 2016

MARVELOUS THINGS

Today’s Reading: Micah 7

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

Once inside The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, you can look to the right and see the entrance to the adjoining building, which is an Armenian monastery. The present leader of the Armenian Church was once the atheist leader of the Young Communists of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. He testifies to an amazing conversion to Christ.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verse: Micah 7:19

He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

 

Most of Micah’s words tell of the troubles that will come on the world because of sin, personal and collective. The cumulative result of rejecting God is stated in Micah 7:13, “The land shall be desolate because of those who dwell in it, and for the fruit of their deeds.” Man’s efforts at creating a utopian society have ended up in “desolation.” Consider the end results of the world’s mass murderers in the 20th century. The communism of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, (perhaps 100,000,000 murders) and the national socialists of Hitler (perhaps 20,000,000). The first four were atheists, and Hitler and the leaders around him, who tried to introduce the ancient pagan gods, despised Jesus and the writers of the Bible because they were Jews. Surely these abysmal failures of mere man are cause for despair. But don’t give up! The future is bright because God is not finished with the world yet. Read the last seven verses of Micah again!!! God has done, and will do, “marvelous things”!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, who is a God like You…pardoning iniquity, delighting in mercy, and having compassion on us? Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I’m overwhelmed by You, Lord. I give You my life again for this new day! I pray that I will not dredge up from the depths of the sea my past sins or the sins of others. May I think, speak and act in the Truth of Your Word and in the same mercy which You have sworn to give us “from days of old!” (last four words of Micah). In the Name of the One Whose mercy and truth took Him to the Cross and out from the empty tomb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I was 17 years old when I sang a solo in the Baptist Church of Renfrew, Ontario. I was very nervous, but as I got into it, the truth of which I sang gripped my heart and the fear left. The song’s words were “Down, down, down, down (I sang the words with my voice going lower and lower), down in the depths of the sea. The sins of the past are all gone at last; down in  the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19b). I had given my life to Christ just over a year before, and I realized that when I expressed the Word of God with my voice, I grew in confidence that those Words were true! (I’ve Googled that song and here’s what I found…click here).

Gossips, backbiters, and judgmental people go fishing down there in the “depths of the sea.” Then they often put what they find in their “net”…on the aptly named “inter-net.” Please, please, don’t even go there into the sludge of these bottom feeders. I’m sure that there are many lies there. Besides, when sin is confessed, forgiven by God, and cast into His sea of forgetfulness, He puts up a sign that says, “No Fishing!”

Yours with thankfulness for sins forgiven,

David

18 thoughts on “Friday, April 15, 2016

  1. Thank you Father fiYour David, Amen this day. the Bible proves over again and again the Word of God is alive and restoration of a life is received as it read and pondered.; having taken today,s 100 personal words to us; and the retread of the last verses of Micah: 7 and to drop my eyes on the “no fishing” WORD, I am lifted and moved deeply , very deeply. The hymn Down Deep in the Sea, may I be blessed with it as a musical ear worm to warn me and remind me of all things of our Lord and Saviour, amen…..Prov:25:11..a word fitly spoken in due season, …Prov: 15:23; and especiallly, Isa.:50: 4…Be blessed this day,David. tank you.

  2. Such a wonderful photo and caption, today. Thank you for the prayer, David. Oh, amen! “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Wishing all saints a blessed day, in the Lord!

    “The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.”
    (Proverbs 16:23, NKJV)

    You Are My One Thing // Hannah McClure // We Will Not Be Shaken
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHptBGS_tAo&nohtml5=False

  3. From Streams in the Desert, May 11:

    “The adverse winds blew against my life;
    My little ship with grief was tossed;
    My plans were gone—heart full of strife,
    And all my hope seemed to be lost—
    “Then He arose”—one word of peace.
    “There was a calm”—a sweet release.

    A tempest great of doubt and fear
    Possessed my mind; no light was there
    To guide, or make my vision clear.
    Dark night! ’twas more than I could bear—
    “Then He arose,” I saw His face—
    “There was a calm” filled with His grace.

    My heart was sinking ’neath the wave
    Of deepening test and raging grief;
    All seemed as lost, and none could save,
    And nothing could bring me relief—
    “Then He arose”—and spoke one word,
    “There was a calm!”“IT IS THE LORD.””

    L. S. P.

  4. Thank you Pastor David for that song which confirms God’s compassion and love for us…the sins of the past are forgiven at last down deep in the bottom of the sea…never to remember them again!!!

    “Who God like our God…Wonderful, Marvelous…Our Great and Mighty God…Who lives for ever and ever…Faithful and True. OUR GOD LIVES, OUR GOD LIVES: OUR GOD REIGNS, OUR GOD REIGNS, OUR GOD REIGNS. PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME FOREVER!!!! AMEN AND AMEN!!!

  5. I Worship You Lord, in the beauty of Holiness, I Worship You Lord in Spirit and in truth, I Worship You in Name of Jesus, I Worship You Lord in the beauty of Holiness!

    • How appropriate that picture is …once an atheist who has seen
      “The Light”!!! and is in “The Light”!!!

      That song should say “OH worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness…”it taken from Psalm 96:9…

      • Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12

        Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

        “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

  6. I love the glimmer of light and a reminder of the wonderful promises of God as we come to the conclusion of Micah – resting on the faithfulness of God. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:16) (I love the Living Bible Paraphrase of this verse…”Let us come boldly to the very throne of God AND STAY THERE..to receive His mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need.”

    I was inspired by David’s song, “Down in the depths of the sea” . Here are a few very old choruses that came to mind…Truly, His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting to those who fear him! …

    “Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the heavens above,
    Deep, deep as the deepest see, is my Saviour’s Love
    I though so unworthy, still I’m a child of His care,
    For His Word teaches, that His love reaches me..
    Everywhere.”

    “My sins rose high as a mountain, They all disappeared in the Fountain;
    He wrote my name down for a palace and crown;
    Bless His dear name, I’m free –
    For He wrote my name down for a palace and crown,
    Bless His dear name, I’m free”

    “Gone, gone, gone, gone , all my sins are gone,
    Now my soul is free and in my heart a song,
    Buried in the deepest sea,
    That is good enough for me,
    I shall live eternally,
    Praise God….. my sins are gone”

    These are all action choruses…even adults like them.
    Love to all,
    Samuel

  7. Thank you Jesus for washing our sins away and casting them in the sea of forgetfulness. Prayed your prayer David. Thanks for the postings of poems and song. Heard a good sermon on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit last night and the lady evangelist challenged us to speak in tongues every day which I am desiring to do. Blessings!

  8. Song: from Psalm 96:6: Oh, I Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness… I Worship you Lord in Spirit and in Truth, I Worship You Lord in the Name of Jesus, I Worship You Lord in the beauty of holiness!

  9. How appropriate that picture is…once an atheist…who has now seen
    “The light” and is “In The Light”!!

    The above comment is a separate from the Song taken from Psalm 96:6.

    Just thought I’d mention that.

    Have a blessed sleep all you saints!

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