April 28 – He Hears When We Call

“I love the LORD, because He hears My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.”  Psalm 116:1-2 (NASB)

What reasons come to our minds when we think about why we love the LORD God?. This is an intensely personal “thank you” Psalm to the Lord for saving the psalmist from death. The occasion and author are unknown, although the language used by Jonah in his prayer from the fish’s stomach is remarkably similar. Compare Psalm 116:3-4 with Jonah 2:5-6. In these words the psalmist tells how he reacted to the way the Lord responded to his call for help. These words may well also express our feelings in reaction to how God responses when we cry for mercy. It's surely true that when the Lord responds by turning his ear to our call for help our hearts respond in love for Him. Yes He is a wonderful, faithful Lord and we do love Him. And isn't it true that when God does hear our prayer it encourages us to again and again call on Him whenever we need help? This is a habit we want to have throughout our lives. Let’s join with the psalmist, saying what he said in our verse “I will call on him as long as I live.”

193

July 23 – How to Know

“But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:”  1 John 2:5 (NIV) 

Our focus for the past six days has been of God's Word as the psalmist treasured it in Psalm 119.  Today we find again, in the New Testament letter of First John, the instruction regarding the importance of our attitude and response to His Word.   When we read or hear the words of the Bible taught in person or by radio, television or other recording, we have the opportunity to pay attention to what we are being taught.  God's Word is meant to be obeyed and our verse tells us what happens when we obey what God has said to us.  We will obey God if we truly love Him and He responds to our obedience by showing us more of His love for us.  So, the promise is that by obeying God we will experience His love and we will be more of aware of His love for us.  Also as we obey Him, His love will touch other people through us – that is the purpose of His love, it is for us and for others to experience through us.  It is also there to confirm our position in Him.  We can know we are in Him if we obey His Word. 

April 28 – Call, For He Hears

“I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;  he heard my cry for mercy.  Because he turned his ear to me,  I will call on him as long as I live.” Psalm 116:1-2

In these words the psalmist tells how he reacted to the way the Lord responded to his call for help. These words may well also express our feelings in reaction to how God responses when we cry for mercy. It's surely true that when the Lord responds by turning his ear to our call for help our hearts respond in love for Him. Yes He is a wonderful, faithful Lord and we do love Him. And isn't it true that when God does hear our prayer it encourages us to again and again call on Him whenever we need help? This is a habit we want to have throughout our lives. Join with the psalmist, saying what he said in our verse “I will call on him as long as I live”. 

January 31

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 (NIV) 

This question is really meant to encourage us in our Christian life. We have many Bible verses which remind us that God loves us. That He accepts us and His Children when we believe in Jesus. In the verses before this in Romans 8 we are told that He is involved in our lives each day in every way and that there is nothing that will ever be able separate us from His love. If all that is true, then we can be sure that God is for us. So the question in today’s verse is “who can be against us?” It does not mean that no one can be against us. Satan is still the great enemy of our souls as He is God’s enemy. What our verse means, of course, is that God is greater in power than any enemy. We can know that whoever is against us is not able to defeat God who is for us. We have victory in Jesus.