May 6, 2021 – I'm Following Jesus

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Thursday, May 06, 2021
Chapters: Psalms 89, 96, 100-101, 105
Message: Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Hello My Friend,

Jesus said, as He was praying to His Father before His passion, [John 17:19-21,23-24,26 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.]

God answered His Son’s prayer, each and every person who believes in Christ, and accepts that we are not only sanctified, but made perfect through our faith in Him alone become, and are just as one of them. God, our Father, through Jesus, His Son, is faithful. Yes, He will chasten us. Yes, He will prove us. Yes, He will reprove us. Yes, He will have compassion on us, and His mercies are forever for those whom have received their LORD, Jesus Christ as their Saviour. And this song came to my mind as I was praying this morning, [Great is Thy faithfulness; Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassion’s, they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.]

God is so faithful to me, I know I do not deserve it, I sure fail Him every day, but He never fails because He made a promise to never leave nor forsake one soul who put their sincere faith and trust in His Son for their salvation. I love the fact that the second you call upon Christ’s name that His mighty arm reaches out to us, He takes a hold of our hand and never lets go of it, [Psalms 89:13-18 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. 14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. 15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. 16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. 17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. 18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.]

[Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound:] What is the joyful sound of Christ’s saints? His words as He speaks to them. His voice as He whispers in their ear. His prayers to our Father as He intercedes on our behalf on what we are praying to Him. We rejoice all day at the sound of His name because no matter how hard things get, He is faithful, He will never leave nor forsake us, and He will never go back on His promises, even when we fail Him.

[Psalms 89:20-28,31-33 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: 21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. 22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. 23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. 24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. 26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. 28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. 31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.]

[Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,] The rod is not some iron or wooden instrument to beat someone with in order to try to get them to obey. It is the discipline, chastisement, support, and the mighty power and authority of Christ that God uses to bruise us with so that we will learn to fear or give honor respect to Him by living in obedience to His commands, [Ezekiel 20:37-38 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: 38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.]

When we are feeling the rod of God, whether it is something of our own doing or we got caught up in due to others, it can get kind of disheartening. We cry out to God, begging for His mercies, asking Him to forgive every transgression, even things that we make up because there must be something that we are doing wrong our Father is so wroth with us and seems to have cast us off.

[Psalms 89:38,40–44,46-48,50-52 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. 40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin. 41 All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours. 42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. 43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle. 44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. 46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? 48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. 50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; 51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. 52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.]

[Thou hast broken down all his hedges;] Every time I see the hand of God interceding and blessing me with so many good things I start to fear what is coming as I know someone is watching, standing before God and complaining that His hedge is about me and that is the only reason why I have not forsaken Him. As much as I despise the devil for what he puts me through, it reminds me that I belong to Christ and he is so jealous of me that he would like nothing more than to see me turn my back on Jesus. It is actually a great blessing that God has such great faith in me that He allows the devil to afflict me. My Father has such faith in me that He knows that while I may not understand things too wonderful for me, I do understand that even if I die, I will be with Jesus. It does not matter what rod the devil throws at us, we can rejoice in our salvation.

[Psalms 96:1-8,13 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. 2 Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. 4 For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. 6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 8 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. 13 Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.]

[bring an offering, and come into his courts.] What is the greatest offering that we can bring before the LORD? Our faith. Our faith in Christ does more than secure our home in heaven, and if it does not, then perhaps we need to rethink our salvation and make sure that we realize that every promise is true, when we trust that Christ will save our soul from hell when we accept that He alone is our salvation, then that means everything else written in the Bible is true. You cannot pick and choose what you believe, you must believe in all that He is, [Hebrews 11:1-3,6 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.]

The stubbornness, the quirks, the messes that we are, believe it or not, are all a part of who God created us to be. He knew what we would be, face, endure, get into before we were even in our mother’s womb, and yet He still brought us into this world. So, rejoice in the quirks, for it is God who gave them to you to use for His glory. [Psalms 100:1-5 A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.]

[we are his people,] How incredibly awesome is it that? God fully knowing who we would become in this life, that we are one of His people and proclaims us as such? That alone ought to be an incentive for us to behave ourselves, [Psalms 101:1-2,6-8 A Psalm of David. I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. 2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.]

[he that walketh in a perfect way,] It is Christ in us that enables us to walk in a perfect way, meaning through His goodness and righteousness, in fact, we can stand before God perfect and sinless. How? When our Father looks at us what He sees is His Son, the perfect, sinless, blood of His Son, [I Corinthians 1:6-9 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.]

How awesome it this! God is so faithful to every single soul who has accepted His Son as their Saviour. And I mean those with a pure heart. Yes, we will face some pain. God is faithful. Yes, we will mess up. God is faithful. Yes, we will get angry. God is faithful. Yes, we will sin. God is faithful. God knows our faith in Him, He knows that we are faithful to Him. He does not remain faithful to us because we are more righteous that anyone else, in fact, we are quite the opposite in our own flesh. He is faithful to us because we put our sole faith in His Son, and that is the covenant that He made with all who believe in His Son, period.

[Psalms 105:4-5,8,14-15,43-45 Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. 5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: 44 And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; 45 That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD.]

[Saying, Touch not mine anointed,] Yes, we are going to get chastened because God is a just God and He’s not going to let us get saved and live however we please, there are consequences to living in sin while we are here. If we are not faithful to Him, He will send chastisement, but let me tell you, it would be no where near the paid we would face if we die without Christ. It is better to suffer the pain of now, and we may even learn a thing or two, [II Corinthians 7:10-11 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Psalms 89:26-27 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.]

Today’s Prayer: God, I am going to sing out to You, Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassion’s, they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. God, thank You for loving me and not giving up on me, for Your faith in me to know that I would find Your Son, and for Your faithfulness to me, no matter how many times I mess up. Thank You for my faith, for giving me a heart that loves You and for keeping me faithful. Lord, Your mercies truly are endless for Your anointed, You may chasten us like any good father would so that we might become more faithful to You, but it will not last, you are faithful and just to cleanse all our unrighteousness. And You are even faithful to help me endure the pain, and find a purpose for it. I praise You, I love You, I need You, I am nothing without You, and I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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