live2bless

Psalm 101:3 reads, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.” If some interest I have or something I pursue doesn’t in some way have a hand in making me more responsive to the voice of Jesus, what’s it ultimately worth? Zero . Wednesday, June 15, 2022 Yesterday I quoted Psalm 101:3 — “I will not set before my eyes anythin...

Psalm 101:3 reads, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.” If some interest I have or something I pursue doesn’t in some way have a hand in making me more responsive to the voice of Jesus, what’s it ultimately worth? Zero .

I’m presently asking the Lord to teach me what Galatians 5:24 means. It reads, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” It seems to suggest that we are only truly free from the passions and desires of the flesh when we no longer have to make a decision regarding temptation that comes from the flesh. Why? Because we’ve already made a decision to be...

“You open my ears to listen.…I delight to do your will, my God, and your instruction is deep within me.”   Psalms 40:6,8 (CSB) Such delight can only be experienced — coming from Jesus’ heart to ours — when we are persuaded that there literally is nothing better that we can ever do than the next thing God tells us to do. Regardless of what we may tell ourselves, absolutely every deviation from...

Since God’s loving kindness and faithfulness have no limit it follows that there is no limit to how worthy of praise he is. In other words, because God is completely self-sacrificially loving and good, we and all creation could never praise him enough. And the moment all creation sees, in the words of Isaiah, “the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God” , God will be thoroughly vindicated in e...

Psalms 34:1 reads, “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Let’s ask, Why do we praise someone? Because we observe that person doing something we or someone else stands to benefit from in some way. And notice that the more people benefited the more praise we lavish on the benefactor. Also take note of the fact that praise gets even greater in proportion t...

In Philippians 3:10-14 (NIV) the Apostle Paul writes, 10 “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus to...

In Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV) we read, “Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” In view of that exhortation, here are what I think are two important and helpful questions we can consider regarding anything we intend to do: Number one: is Jesus...

If in the world to come, eternal hell and death is the wage of my sin — what I justly deserve — then can any amount of trouble I face in this world somehow be more than I deserve? No matter how bad, will it not always be far less than I deserve? And isn’t it stunning that right this moment I’m not burning in the lake of fire for my sinfulness? Isn’t that fact alone reason enough to openly weep wit...

In Luke 18:8 we read that Jesus said, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” So what is it to have faith? to live by faith in Jesus? I offer you the following: To live by faith is to walk as friends with Jesus. You don’t see him, but you confined in him because you have satisfying reasons to believe he is as real as you are, exceedingly powerful, loving, and trustworthy.

Perhaps one of the greatest truths in the Bible in terms of revealing God’s nature and therefore, by extension, governing the DNA of all reality is this: “…the words the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (Acts 20:35b NIV) The word translated “blessed” could justifiably be translated happy, but it goes far deeper than the irregular condition that word usually...

In Psalms 78:40-41 we read this of the Israelites after God delivered them out of Egypt — “How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland! Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.” What is it to “put God to the test” ? It is when, facing a problem, we make it clear that only if the Lord resolves it in a particular way and...

Consider the following verses and ask yourself: just what is meant by the word “life”? Psalm 16:11 — “ You show me the path of life , in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. ” John 1:4  — “In him was life , and that life was the light of all mankind.” John 8:12 — “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoe...

How do we know when we are relying on something or someone other than the Lord for our peace of mind? When we are preoccupied with how we feel about things and what we want or don’t want. That is to say, we are not talking to God about an interest we have or a plan or about a decision we we’re about to make. And our emotions generally give us away: we are irritated or abrasive or impatient or anxi...

If all deception were gone, would it be apparent that what human beings most need is, in fact, what they most want? Is it even conceivable that God should make us for a certain purpose and not have it be what we most want? If we were free of all deception we would instantly see that God would never command us to do anything other than what we most want to do. “For in him all things were created: t...

Don’t ever see anything but yourself as your life's biggest problem and challenge to overcome. That sounds brutal, for sure, but consider this: nothing forces a reaction out of us. Nothing makes us react poorly to an adversity. Nothing compels us to cave into temptation. For that matter, the Apostle James writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kind...

Psalms 16:11 reads, “You will show me the path of life.” In John 8:12 Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” In the realm of the Spirit as in all of life’s relationships, friendship with God, that is, proximity to him is experienced to the degree that there are shared interests and values. That means that to the e...

Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV) — 15 “Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity , because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Perhaps the greatest personal tragedy on earth is to leave this life with our purpose unfulfilled. Next to that may be to know our purpose and yet waste time. The...

In Hebrews 3:15 (NIV) we read, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” What habits keep our hearts receptive to God's counsel? Of the likely many habits, allow me to suggest just three: 1) Practice thinking of the kind of person you most want to be throughout the day, especially as you see it in Jesus. One way of doing that is to pray: keep on asking,...

The thought occurred to me today that perhaps there is ultimately only one good reason for doing anything: am I doing what I do because of how precious people are to me? Now, on second thought, we might ask, what about loving God as the one good reason? In answer to that it may be helpful to distinguish between the most important reason for doing something and the most important reality in our liv...

Whatever you rely on that you think can’t or won’t fail you is your god. Whatever you depend on to maintain your peace of mind is your god. Whatever you trust will always be there for you is your god. How do you know when you are relying exclusively on the true and living God? When nothing can shake you because you are employing the power of the Holy Spirit to allow nothing to disturb you, frighte...

James 1:17 — “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 — “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Have you ever wondered as to what’s the sense of thanking anybody for anything? Almost everyone from day one is taught to say “thank you”, my quest...

Let me share with you what I consider some insightful thoughts to reflect on. They come from a psychologist named Jordon Peterson and may help explain why Solomon wrote the following in Proverbs 4:20-27. 20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’...

In Ephesians 5:10 we read, “…find out what pleases the Lord.” We will grow increasingly careful to do what Jesus wants us to do or avoid to the extent that we (1) know how exceedingly precious people are to the him and (2) cherish our assignment to work with him in helping others. Why is that? 3 reasons: 1. Because we treat others according to the value we place on them. 2. Because only Jesus know...

In 2 Peter 3:18 — we read, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” The Greek verb translated “grow” is in what’s called the “present imperative active” tense. That is to say, the apostle Peter is commanding us to continually be growing as a matter of habit. Grace is sometimes made to sound as if it is some wonderful, ethere...