God’s Word For Today

Text: Mark 1:9-15 (ESV)   9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness....

Text: Mark 1:4-8 ESV 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7...

Text: Mark 1:1-3 ESV 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” -Mark 1:1-3 ESV PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD Mark begins by quoting Isaiah’s prophecy [Isa 40:3] wh...

God’s Word for Today 9 May 2024 Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary;     praise him in his mighty heavens! 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;     praise him according to his excellent greatness! 3 Praise him with trumpet sound;     praise him with lute and harp! 4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;     praise him with strings and pipe! 5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;     praise him...

God’s Word for Today 8 May 2024 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song,     his praise in the assembly of the godly! 2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker;     let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! 3 Let them praise his name with dancing,     making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;     he adorns the humble with salvation. 5 Let the go...

Text: Psalm 148:1-14 (ESV)   1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! 2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! 3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! 4 Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. 6 And he established t...

Please read the text: Psalm 147:1-20 (ESV)   IT IS GOOD TO SING PRAISES TO OUR GOD   God’s people should praise him constantly. It’s pleasant and befitting. (v.1-2), Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.   God’s care extends over to those who are sorrowing a...

Text: Psa 146:1-10 ESV 1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in...

Text: Psa 145:1-21 ESV 1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondr...

God’s Word for Today 2 May 2024 -Psa 144:1-15 ESV BLESSED ARE THE PEOPLE WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD! Most of the verses in this psalm are found in some other parts of the book, especially Psa 18. David praised God for granting victory in past battles and requested success in a present military encounter with an enemy. He was confident that God would save His people. This is used by the king on a specia...

God’s Word for Today 1 May 2024 Hear my prayer, O LORD;     give ear to my pleas for mercy!     In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! 2 Enter not into judgment with your servant,     for no one living is righteous before you. 3 For the enemy has pursued my soul;     he has crushed my life to the ground;     he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. 4 Therefore my spirit...

Text: Psalm 142:1-7 (ESV)   1 With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him. 3 When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. 4 Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my...

Text: Psalm 141:1-10 (ESV)   1 O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! 2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! 3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! 4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work in...

Text: Psa 140:1-13 ESV 1 Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, 2 who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. 3 They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah 4 Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet. 5 The arrogant have hidde...

Text: Psa 139:1-24 ESV 1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonde...

God’s Word for Today 25 Apr 2024 I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;     before the gods I sing your praise; 2 I bow down toward your holy temple     and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,     for you have exalted above all things     your name and your word. 3 On the day I called, you answered me;     my strength of soul you increased. 4 All the ki...

God’s Word for Today 24 Apr 2024 By the waters of Babylon,     there we sat down and wept,     when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows there     we hung up our lyres. 3 For there our captors     required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying,     “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How shall we sing the LORD's song     in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,     let my...

Please read the text: Psalm 136:1-26 (ESV)   FOR HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER   In the Jewish tradition, Psalms 136 was sung after the Hallel at the Passover Feast. As a reminder, Psalms 113 to 118 form a collection called the Hallel or Praise songs. Israelites sang the Hallel at various annual festivals, the most important of which was the Passover.   In each verse from verse 1 to 26, the l...

Please read the text: Psalm 135:1-21 (ESV)   PRAISE THE LORD!   This psalm of descriptive praise extols God for His greatness and for blessing His people. Like Psalms 134, it calls on the priests to praise the Lord. There is a call to the worshippers to gather in the temple to praise God because he has chosen the nation Israel to be his people (v.1-4). Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD,...

Text: Psa 134:1-3 ESV 1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD! 2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD! 3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth! -Psa 134:1-3 ESV COME, BLESS THE LORD, ALL YOU SERVANTS OF THE LORD This is the last of the fifteen Psalms called Songs of Ascents. And, it is closely con...

Text: Psa 133:1-3 ESV 1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. -Psa 133:1-3 ESV WHEN BROTHERS DWELL IN U...

God’s Word for Today 18 Apr 2024 -Psa 132:1-18 ESV MY RESTING PLACE FOREVER  As they arrive at the temple, it is a fitting occasion to recall the beginnings of the temple. David, with much difficulty, eagerly brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem with the aim of building God a house for it later (see 2 Samuel 6:3-13; 2 Samuel 7:1-3;  Psalms 24).  Remember, O LORD, in David's favor,     ...

God’s Word for Today 17 Apr 2024 O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;     my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things     too great and too marvelous for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,     like a weaned child with its mother;     like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, hope in the LORD     from this time forth and forevermore. -Psa 131:1-3 ESV I HA...

Text: Psalm 130:1-8 (ESV)   1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for...

Text: Psalm 129:1-8 (ESV)   1 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say— 2 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.” 4 The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked. 5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward! 6 Let them be like the gr...