May 22, 2019

Bible Reading May 22, 23 by Gary Rose


Bible Reading May 22, 23

World  English  Bible

May 22
Judges 1, 2

Jdg 1:1 It happened after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?
Jdg 1:2 Yahweh said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.
Jdg 1:3 Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him.
Jdg 1:4 Judah went up; and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they struck of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
Jdg 1:5 They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Jdg 1:6 But Adoni-Bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
Jdg 1:7 Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their food under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
Jdg 1:8 The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.
Jdg 1:9 Afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland.
Jdg 1:10 Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba); and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
Jdg 1:11 From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher.)
Jdg 1:12 Caleb said, He who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.
Jdg 1:13 Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.
Jdg 1:14 It happened, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, What would you like?
Jdg 1:15 She said to him, Give me a blessing; for that you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
Jdg 1:16 The children of the Kenite, Moses' brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
Jdg 1:17 Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.
Jdg 1:18 Also Judah took Gaza with its border, and Ashkelon with its border, and Ekron with its border.
Jdg 1:19 Yahweh was with Judah; and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
Jdg 1:20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out there the three sons of Anak.
Jdg 1:21 The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
Jdg 1:22 The house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel; and Yahweh was with them.
Jdg 1:23 The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)
Jdg 1:24 The watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray you, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.
Jdg 1:25 He showed them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family.
Jdg 1:26 The man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.
Jdg 1:27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants ofBeth Shean and its towns, nor of Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
Jdg 1:28 It happened, when Israel had grown strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out.
Jdg 1:29 Ephraim didn't drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
Jdg 1:30 Zebulun didn't drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.
Jdg 1:31 Asher didn't drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob;
Jdg 1:32 but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
Jdg 1:33 Naphtali didn't drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor.
Jdg 1:34 The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;
Jdg 1:35 but the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor.
Jdg 1:36 The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

Jdg 2:1 The angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you:
Jdg 2:2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars. But you have not listened to my voice: why have you done this?
Jdg 2:3 Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.
Jdg 2:4 It happened, when the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
Jdg 2:5 They called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.
Jdg 2:6 Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.
Jdg 2:7 The people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had worked for Israel.
Jdg 2:8 Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old.
Jdg 2:9 They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.
Jdg 2:10 Also all that generation were gathered to their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who didn't know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had worked for Israel.
Jdg 2:11 The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baals;
Jdg 2:12 and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger.
Jdg 2:13 They forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
Jdg 2:14 The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers who despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
Jdg 2:15 Wherever they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh had sworn to them: and they were sore distressed.
Jdg 2:16 Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them.
Jdg 2:17 Yet they didn't listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Yahweh; but they didn't do so.
Jdg 2:18 When Yahweh raised them up judges, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it grieved Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.
Jdg 2:19 But it happened, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they didn't cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.
Jdg 2:20 The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel; and he said, Because this nation have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my voice;
Jdg 2:21 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died;
Jdg 2:22 that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
Jdg 2:23 So Yahweh left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

May 23
Judges 3, 4

Jdg 3:1 Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
Jdg 3:2 only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing of it:
Jdg 3:3 namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
Jdg 3:4 They were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
Jdg 3:5 The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:
Jdg 3:6 and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.
Jdg 3:7 The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
Jdg 3:8 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.
Jdg 3:9 When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
Jdg 3:10 The Spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.
Jdg 3:11 The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
Jdg 3:12 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.
Jdg 3:13 He gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.
Jdg 3:14 The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
Jdg 3:15 But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
Jdg 3:16 Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh.
Jdg 3:17 He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man.
Jdg 3:18 When he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people who bore the tribute.
Jdg 3:19 But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to you, king. He said, Keep silence. All who stood by him went out from him.
Jdg 3:20 Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. He arose out of his seat.
Jdg 3:21 Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body:
Jdg 3:22 and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.
Jdg 3:23 Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.
Jdg 3:24 Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber.
Jdg 3:25 They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn't open the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened them, and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
Jdg 3:26 Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah.
Jdg 3:27 It happened, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he before them.
Jdg 3:28 He said to them, Follow after me; for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. They went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn't allow a man to pass over.
Jdg 3:29 They struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man.
Jdg 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land had rest eighty years.
Jdg 3:31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an oxgoad: and he also saved Israel.

Jdg 4:1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead.
Jdg 4:2 Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
Jdg 4:3 The children of Israel cried to Yahweh: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
Jdg 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
Jdg 4:5 She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
Jdg 4:6 She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, Hasn't Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, saying, Go and draw to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
Jdg 4:7 I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.
Jdg 4:8 Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.
Jdg 4:9 She said, I will surely go with you: notwithstanding, the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Jdg 4:10 Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
Jdg 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
Jdg 4:12 They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor.
Jdg 4:13 Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.
Jdg 4:14 Deborah said to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand; hasn't Yahweh gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
Jdg 4:15 Yahweh confused Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
Jdg 4:16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.
Jdg 4:17 However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Jdg 4:18 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don't be afraid. He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.
Jdg 4:19 He said to her, Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
Jdg 4:20 He said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man does come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man here? that you shall say, No.
Jdg 4:21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died.
Jdg 4:22 Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples.
Jdg 4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
Jdg 4:24 The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

May 22, 23

John 4

Joh 4:1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
Joh 4:2 (although Jesus himself didn't baptize, but his disciples),
Joh 4:3 he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
Joh 4:4 He needed to pass through Samaria.
Joh 4:5 So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
Joh 4:6 Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Joh 4:7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
Joh 4:8 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Joh 4:9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Joh 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
Joh 4:11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water?
Joh 4:12 Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?"
Joh 4:13 Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
Joh 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
Joh 4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw."
Joh 4:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
Joh 4:17 The woman answered, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You said well, 'I have no husband,'
Joh 4:18 for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."
Joh 4:19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
Joh 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers.
Joh 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
Joh 4:25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah comes," (he who is called Christ). "When he has come, he will declare to us all things."
Joh 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you."
Joh 4:27 At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or, "Why do you speak with her?"
Joh 4:28 So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
Joh 4:29 "Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?"
Joh 4:30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
Joh 4:31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
Joh 4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about."
Joh 4:33 The disciples therefore said one to another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"
Joh 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
Joh 4:35 Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
Joh 4:36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37 For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'
Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
Joh 4:39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that I did."
Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.
Joh 4:41 Many more believed because of his word.
Joh 4:42 They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
Joh 4:43 After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.
Joh 4:44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
Joh 4:45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.
Joh 4:46 Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
Joh 4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
Joh 4:48 Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe."
Joh 4:49 The nobleman said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
Joh 4:50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
Joh 4:51 As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying "Your child lives!"
Joh 4:52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him."
Joh 4:53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." He believed, as did his whole house.
Joh 4:54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.

Rejoice in God and cast your care on Him. by Roy Davison


http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/dontworr.html

Rejoice in God and cast your care on Him.
Around 1990 Rita and I were walking through the narrow streets of a village in Germany after dark when two teenage boys sauntered past singing, “Don’t worry. Be happy.”
This refrain from Bobby McFerrin’s song expresses two teachings of Christ. “Do not worry about your life” (Matthew 6:25) and “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad” (Matthew 5:12).
This does not mean that we have no troubles. As Bobby McFerrin sings: “In every life we have some trouble. When you worry you make it double.”
Christians rejoice in God and cast their cares on Him.

Don’t worry!
Worry is excessive concern.
“Do not worry about your life” (Matthew 6:25). “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” (Proverbs 12:25).
Christians need not worry because God has promised: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6, 7).
A distinction must be made between healthy concern and worry. Emotional involvement in problems is not wrong. It can lead to constructive action. Paul spoke of his “deep concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28).
There is a big difference, however, between thinking about a problem and worrying about a problem. Worry involves a feeling of dread and anxiety that is negative, depressing, exhausting and paralyzing.
Materialism causes much worry. We worry when we are overly concerned about material and temporal things. Jesus explained: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. [Mammon is the god of money.] Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:24-26).
When we see how richly God provides for life on earth, we know that He will care for us as well. “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:32-34).1 Worry pulls tomorrow’s clouds over today’s sunshine.
Trusting in the providence of God, we can take life as it comes. Jesus does not deny that we have troubles. He just tells us to deal with them one day at a time. Each day, God will give us what we need for that day. Jesus tells us to pray, “Give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3).
Paul also tells us to pray rather than worry: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). Praying and thankfully counting our blessings puts our troubles into perspective.
I once saw an amusing wall plaque: “Why pray when you can worry?”
Worry is futile. If you can do something about a problem, ask God for help and get to work. If you can do nothing about a problem, turn it over to God in prayer.

Be happy!
God wants us to be happy. “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad” (Matthew 5:12). “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). 
In Christ we have the joy of salvation. After the Philippian jailer was baptized “he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household” (Acts 16:34). The Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing after he was baptized by Philip (Acts 8:39).
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1, 2). We rejoice “in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:11).
The joy that dwells in the heart of a Christian does not preclude grief. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). “Jesus wept” even when He knew He would raise Lazarus from the dead. But we are never defeated by grief.
Even in the darkest hour we can have inner happiness because we have hope. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our hope of eternal life.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:3-9).
We can rejoice even in the midst of persecution: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11, 12).
“Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! for indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:22, 23).
Peter explains: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:12, 13).
Jesus tells His followers: “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). We rejoice because Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven (John 14:1-3, 27, 28). 
“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord” (Philippians 3:1). “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).
Don’t worry. Be happy. Rejoice in God and cast your care on Him.

Roy Davison

1 See also Luke 12:22-31.
The Scripture quotations in this article are from The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise. Permission for reference use has been granted.


Published in The Old Paths Archive
http://www.oldpaths.com

God’s Attributes (Part 5) He is Merciful by Ben Fronczek

http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?p=1701

God’s Attributes (Part 5) He is Merciful

Here is a hard question for you. In your life thus far, how many times do you think you’ve broken God’s laws, any of His commandments, how many times do you think you have sinned against Him?
– How many times have you lied,
– or used His Holy name in vain,
– or taken something that didn’t belong to you,
– or coveted something someone had.
– Or how many times have you been greedy.
– How many times have you lusted,
– or envied, or plotted evil, or let you anger get out of control,
– or gossiped about another,
– or didn’t help someone in need when you should have,
– or even grumbled or selfishly complained.
– How many times have you gotten downright drunk or stoned.
– How many times have you become impatient,
– or said something nasty about or to another?
How many time have you sinned, intentionally or even unintentionally? Probably more than you can ever remember. And if just one sin was not taken care of it would keep you out of heaven.
If Jesus had not beaten, and nailed to that cross to die for you and the sins you committed, and you stood in judgment before God this day what would His verdict be?    Scary thought isn’t it!
Today I will be talking about an attribute of God that is very important to us, and that is His Mercy.
And what is mercy? Where God’s grace refers to Him pouring out unmerited and unearned gifts to us; His mercy refers to Him withholding from us what we really deserve.
How important is Mercy in scripture. Someone once wrote; “God’s mercy is actually a monumental theme in Scripture, the English word appearing some 341 times in the Bible. The four Hebrew and three Greek words associated with this term appear a total of 454 times and are also translated as “kindness,” “loving kindness,” “goodness,” “favor,” “compassion,” and “pity.” Of the 66 books of the Bible, only sixteen do not use one of these words for mercy.” (Henry Morris III)
Ps. 145:9 indicate God mercy is abundant
Ps 136:1 Say “His Mercies edureth for ever:” (NKJ)
Ps 103:17 “from everlasting to everlasting.” (NKJV)
Since we are all sinners (as Romans 3:23 states) we all deserve death or an eternal separation from God. But God choosing not to cast us away and not destroy us is an act of mercy. He chose to withhold what you deserve.
Tomas Watson said that “Mercy is the result and effect of God’s goodness”
This scholar also goes on to mention some other things concerning God’s mercy: His said,
#1. It is the great design of the Scripture to represent God as merciful. This is a loadstone to draw sinners to Him. We are drawn to His merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and abundance of goodness.
#2. God is more inclinable to mercy than wrath. Mercy is his darling attribute, Micah 7:18 says that “He delights in mercy.
#3. Mercy sweetens all God’s other attributes. God’s holiness without mercy, and his justice without mercy would be terrible. His mercy holds back the speedy execution of His Justice.
#4. God’s mercy is one of the most beautiful pearls in His crown; it makes the Godhead appear amiable and lovely. God’s mercy is His glory. His holiness makes Him illustrious; His mercy makes Him attractive.
#5. All experience God’s mercy to some degree.
#6. One act of mercy engages God to another. A parent’s love to his child makes him always giving.
#7. As God’s mercy makes the saints happy, so it should make them humble. Mercy is not the fruit of our goodness, but the fruit of God’s goodness.
So far we have seen that God is all powerful – that most powerful being, period; omnipotent, and sovereign and the creator for all. He is also an eternal being. Time does not past for Him. And because HE is outside the dimension of time He can see all at once and is ever present. In other words He is omniscient and omnipresent.
He is also totally and perfectly HOLY and He transcends all others because of His perfect morality and total uniqueness. And in the last lesson in this series I touched on how His holiness affects all of His other attributes.
And Because He is absolutely holy we would never have the hope we have as Christians if He did not remove our sin. We need to be cleansed.
The salvation God provides is an illustration of both His mercy and His grace. We are sinners we deserve judgment and to be cast from from His Holy presence forever. But because chose to show us mercy, and because we believe in and accept His wonderful gift of Jesus’ saving sacrifice, and accept Him as our Lord and Savior… which cleanses us of sin, He gives us the hope of eternal life with Him… that’s grace, or the unearned, unmerited favor of God.
Romans 5:8 ESV “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Eph 2:3-5 (NIV) “…Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”
1 Peter 1:3 ESV “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Really that’s what the Christian story is all about. God showing us His love mercy for us His children despite the fact we have messed up more times than we can even count.
So how should we respond to God’s mercy?
Closing:   In Joel 2:12-14 the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. 13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. 14 Who knows? Perhaps He will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.”
He asks you to turn back to Him. If you’ve messed up again, then turn back to Him again. For in Lamentations 3:22-23  we are told The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
 What will you choose to do this day? I pray that you will return to Him this day not matter what you did yesterday or the day before. Like the Father of the Profigal son He waiting with open arms for your return.

For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566
All comments can be emailed to: bfronzek@gmail.com