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Psalm 1:2: Their delight is in the law of the Lord and they meditate on his law day and night.
One of the things we do is follow rules. We like to follow rules to keep our lives in some sort of order - at least most of us do!
But what happens when you are faced with a rule which you think will harm others? What do you do: follow the rules, or follow your concern for the other person?
There is no hard and fast answer here because we have so many rules in our world to help keep us as safe as possible.
What we need to ultimately do is to follow what we discern the bible says about the circumstances...
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John 16:24: Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
One thing Jesus always did was to encourage the disciples to ask things of God, but not just any which way, but to ask in his name. That means asking things of God through the name of Jesus.
When we do that we are placing our trust in Jesus to be our advocate and step forward to get the request to come true.
Jesus wants to help us and if we show we have the faith to ask things through his name, he has the willingness to step up and ask God on our behalf!
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Psalm 144:1: Blessed be the Lord my rock, who teaches my hands for war and my fingers for battle;
Unless we want to move forward in life, we have to be ready to make the changes which will allow us to move forward.
Sometimes that involves stepping forward for some sort of fight and not being passive.
Sometimes God wants to teach us to fight the 'good fight' so we can move forward in life...
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1 Timothy 4:4: For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving;
Where do you go when you are searching for goodness or righteousness? Trying to gain good things from bad surroundings is very hard work and may well lead us to accepting bad things instead of seeking the good things!
God has always offered and given righteousness. People have taken that and twisted it to suit their own deeds or desires; taking away from the good God is trying to give us.
Nothing God offers us is rotten - so when we get bad things or go through bad things, it is not God dishing them out, but the world and other people - even if they say it comes from God!
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1 Timothy 3:1: The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.
Just how much are you willing to do fro and with God? He has chosen each of us to do something for him, whether it be to just say hello to a person who is lost or to do everything in our power to save someone from a terrible thing...
But he does not just require physical things of us. He chose us because of our spiritual selves, the part which can encourage others in ways which go beyond the physical capabilities.
Just being and encouragement for someone at the right time can speak louder than anything we may be able to do for them physically!
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John 15:12: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
One of the things we are reminded of from Jesus and in our bibles, is how we should love one another as much as we love ourselves.
Whilst this may be a terrible idea for anyone who does not love themselves at the moment, it will all make sense when they learn how precious their lives are to God!
To God, we are not just his creation, but the people he loves and the people he came down to earth and gave his life for! Yes! He loves us that much!
Now, take that as an example and try to live it with the people around you...
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Psalm 147:5: Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his wisdom is beyond all telling.
Have you ever just stopped and wondered why things work the way they do, or why someone was in the right place at the right time; maybe even you...
God's power goes beyond our understanding and beyond our expectations, but we do not always give him the glory for everything which happens the way it does!
We get far too caught up in our lives and we only see the physical and worldly things which happen around us.
Maybe today is the day when God wants you to stop and think about who is the one behind organising the things which happen at the times they do...
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Isaiah 55:1: Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
How are we supposed to interpret words like this? We live in a world which seems to revolve around money!
God wants to give us so much more than the money and corruption which it brings through this world. He wants us to have things only he can give us.
The love which means more than what we can say with words. The love and care we can share with the people around us. The joy we can live within by simply living with him in our hearts!
These are the food which means more than earthly food to us, because they feed our souls and not just our bodies!
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Philippians 4:8: Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Isn't it amazing Christ is going to speak up for us at the end of times! But what sort of things do you think he will have to admit to?
This verse reminds us of our duty, not just to love the Lord and our neighbours, but to try and do what is righteous - to aim to do the will of God in our lives.
This verse has so many little things we ought to be aiming for - and yet they are small things in our lives...
Do it for Christ!
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Psalm 139:1: O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
One thing we do not think of much is how God knows us from the inside out. Every thing about us, our thoughts, our deeds, our imaginations: God knows it all.
There is nothing we can hide from him, and yet he still chooses to love us for all eternity.
No matter how far we get from God - or at least how far we think we get - he is there with us, watching over us and willing us to do what is righteous.
Try to stop for a while and listen out for him...
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Psalm 117:2: For great is his steadfast love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever. Alleluia.
This is a lovely small Psalm, probably written down just to praise God for something which had gone right for a change!
If we want to be able to live more of our lives with words like these on our tongues, then we have to seek out the truth and live by the truth - that way we are never caught out by lies, be them from yourself or from other people!
God loves us. That is the truth. But he also wants us to love like him, without borders, without limit and always supporting all that is holy and the truth!
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Psalm 1:1: Blessed are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.
When I begin to read this Psalm, I am always reminded of the story of Job in the bible. He was a man who stood up for all that was right and praise God no matter what was happening in his life.
The friends around him were choosing to live their lives according to their own rules instead of what God was asking of them. They imposed their own limitation on what was the truth so they could live the way they wanted to live!
God simply wants us to listen to him, and to obey him because he is the only one who actually knows what is best for our lives and for the people around us.
If we all lived our lives as God wants us to, the world would be an amazing place to live in!
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Psalm 119:45: I will walk at liberty, because I study your commandments.
One of the things you get to do as a Christian is to walk in the freedom of Christ!
What does that look like? Well it is probably easier to look at what it does not look like until you get to know Christ and his ways.
Firstly there are no rules like you must be circumcised, or you must pray to a statue at a certain time of day, or you can only pray in a temple, or you must give a certain amount of your income to the organisation.
Being a Christian is based around the love of Christ, yourself and the people around you. Once you live that out you begin to want to do things for others and for your church.
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Psalm 113:5: Who is like the Lord our God, that has his throne so high, yet humbles himself to behold the things of heaven and earth?
Have you noticed how people always want something to look up to, or they lift themselves up to positions so others will look to them... then they look down on the people around them!
Jesus wants us to accept each other as neighbours and to live with each other as if we are all humans.
Yes, there will be leaders and there will be followers; there may even be servants...
But hwo we treat each other is what really counts!
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Psalm 138:3: In the day that I called to you, you answered me; you put new strength in my soul.
When you call out to God and he answers you, those are the times that you will never forget about as long as you live - or at least that is how we think we will be...
But, in reality, when we have had our prayers answered, God has put us in the right place at the right time, we tend for forget i was him who answered our prayers and him who supplied all that we have - including our lives!
He is the one who guides us, leads us and strengthens us, all the time!
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Psalm 105:2: Sing to him, sing praises, and tell of all his marvellous works.
How often do you brag about how good one of your friends are or someone you know and about all they have accomplished?
How often do you brag about all the things God has done in your life? Probably a bit of a difference there and that may be down to a few things:
1. You may not see how much God does in your life unless you go looking for it
2. You may find it awkward to talk about Jesus
3. You may not be relying on Jesus as much as you could.
Jesus is here for us all and wants to love and support us in all walks of life!
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Psalm 111:7: The works of his hands are truth and justice; all his commandments are sure.
We cannot hope to live a life like Jesus, but we can be sure to try to aspire to living more like him!
There is nothing wrong with aiming high but make sure you do not get down because you can never reach that bar which you have set.
God may be holy, but he is also gracious and merciful - that is how we can hope to live closer to him otherwise we would be lost forever.
Try to follow his commandments, but remember his great mercy as well and ask for that forgiveness - always.
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Galatians 3:3: Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
Jesus did not say we would have a nice easy ride after we become Christians. No, he warned us we would have all manner of people fighting against us, blaming us and doing things against us because we chose to listen to him!
It is, therefore, a much easier task to give in to the worldly pleasures and ways instead of following that narrow, hard. winding path we should be leading!
God wants to give us the strength and wisdom to walk that narrow path - as long as we are willing to listen to him and let him lead us!
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Ezekiel 18:25: Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?
How many times have you complained about something only to find out later in life that you were actually in the wrong? Or how many times have you had a near miss because you were not concentrating?
God does not change the rules. Mankind changes the rules all the time. It is little wonder the lawyers of our land make so much money trying to figure their ways round the ever changing laws while we get lost in the mire!
We should not be so fast to blame God for all the things wrong in this world, because all of them are due to the people around us - we are the cause of the problems in the world.
Trying to follow the constant laws of God and live a life pleasing to him is not an easy task - we will get blamed for doing things wrong!
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Psalm 89:4: ‘“Your seed will I establish for ever and build up your throne for all generations.”’
God has made sure he has kept all of his promises to us all. He continues to do so much behind the scenes in our lives that we often forget he is doing things!
But think about the wording here - a seed is a starting point. It needs nutrients to grow. It needs input from a greater source...
God is our greater source and we constantly need input from him to live out the lives he wants us to live - which coincides with what is actually best for us!