The most humble people are like words in the parenthesis…beneficial to all but not wanting the main attention.

1Peter 5:

⁵ Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, ⁷ casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

⁸ Be ^[c]sober, be ^[d]vigilant; ^[e]because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. ¹⁰ But ^[f]may the God of all grace, who called ^[g]us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, ^[h]perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

In the Bible, God said King David was a man after His own heart except for the situation in which he committed adultery with the wife of one of his most dedicated warriors. And then had the warrior killed on the frontlines of a battle. A prophet came to David spoke a parable about a family’s well-loved lamb that was taken by a selfish rich person. The story angered David then the prophet Nathan told him the story related to him. Then David admitted the great sin of adultery he had committed.

David wrote many Psalms. He loved music. He played the harp and was a songwriter. The Bible calls songs Psalms. I imagine he was a man with big emotions. The best songwriters are like that. The songwriter and piano player Billy Joel is very famous. He once told how some of his greatest songs came from hard times he was working through. He took his emotions and put them into words and made a popular hit out of them.

I surely never want to fall into a trap of a great sin like David. His situation should be thoroughly studied to make us more aware of the temptation to sin. He wrote out his regrets and begged God to forgive him. And his descendents also committed adulterous type sins but in a greater capacity. I know I can do wrong. I just don’t want to have to work through harder times because in a moment of weakness, sin got the most of me. It is a great benefit to study every aspect of what David did so we don’t falter like him.

So, I cry out to God today.

Heavenly Father,

I thank you that I’m hidden Christ. So is my family. We are aware that our enemy, the adversary of our soul  wants to destroy us and our representation of the Gospel. Oh, God, protect us and in times of temptation we realize our enemy, and we submit to you and we resist the devil and he is FORCED to flee! Thank you ahead of time, Heavenly Father, victory is ours because greater is He who is in us, that is Jesus Christ our Lord!, than he who is in the world. Amen!

Psalm 51:

For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

Moses was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. Then they bagan to complain. Moses was frustrated and he cried out to God. The Spirit of God was on Moses. God told Moses to gather leaders and He would place His Spirit upon them also to help him with the burden of all the people who were whining.

Numbers 11:

1Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. ² Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped. ³ After that, the area was known as Taberah (which means “the place of burning”), because fire from the Lord had burned among them there.

⁴ Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. ⁵ “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. ⁶ But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”

⁷ The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. ⁸ The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. ⁹ The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.

¹⁰ Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.¹¹ And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? ¹² Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors? ¹³ Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴ I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! ¹⁵ If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”

Moses Chooses Seventy Leaders

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle^[a] to stand there with you. ¹⁷ I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.

¹⁸ “And say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. ¹⁹ And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. ²⁰ You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

²¹ But Moses responded to the Lord, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, ‘I will give them meat for a whole month!’ ²² Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?”

²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”

²⁴ So Moses went out and reported the Lord’s words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle.^{[b] 25} And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again.

Whoever you are, I pray these godly, loving words over you and yours today! I also pray this over modern day Israel just like God told His priests to do long ago.

God told the priests in the temple from this Old Testament passage to bless His people with this special blessing.

Numbers 6:

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

²⁷ Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”

It’s important to know the Bible. It’s important to think and dwell on God. It’s important to ask Him questions. That’s how we get closer to Him. Then the power of God can fill our lives. A Sadducee, a religious leader in Jesus day, kept asking Jesus questions. Until finally He said, “You’re not far from the Kingdom of God.”

Mark 12:

¹⁸ Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question:¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.^{[a] 20} Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. ²¹ So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. ²² This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. ²³ So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. ²⁵ For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.

²⁶ “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses,^[b] ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’^{[c] 27} So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”

²⁸ One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. ³⁰ And you must love the Lordyour God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’^{[d] 31} The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[e] No other commandment is greater than these.”

³² The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. ³³ And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

³⁴ Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

I’m not going to compare myself to anyone else anymore. I’m going to train my brain to push out comparison thoughts I have towards whether I consider them greater than or less than me. It doesn’t matter in the eyes of God. God made each of us very unique with a fulfilling special plan for our life.  I have to admit famous, rich, confident, highly intelligent and successful people can intimidate me. I choose to overcome that anxiety, with the the help of God, when I am in their presence.

Look at it this way, we all have butts. Literal, nasty crap comes out of our butts pretty much everyday!!!!! In fact, this is how God made us so that we would have healthy digestive systems! If someone intimidates me, I’m just gonna remember they sit on the toilet like me and commit the unspeakable act of taking a crap!

Psalm 139:

Almighty God deserves our highest honor.

Psalm 47:

God has ascended with a mighty shout.
    The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring.
⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises;
    sing praises to our King, sing praises!
⁷ For God is the King over all the earth.
    Praise him with a psalm.^[a]
8 God reigns above the nations,
    sitting on his holy throne.
⁹ The rulers of the world have gathered together
    with the people of the God of Abraham.
For all the kings of the earth belong to God.
    He is highly honored everywhere.

I woke up this cold winter morning to fresh fallen snow outside my window. It’s Sunday. There will probably be fewer in church today.

In Mark 10 and 11, Jesus was preparing for His death on the cross. He told His disciples  straight out everything that was about to unfold. Then He made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The people honored Him as He rode in on a donkey. Then He went to the temple. The temple had become a marketplace where people sold animals that were used for sacrifices. Jesus in controlled anger sent the message the House of God would not be a place to buy and sell but a house of prayer for all nations. The zeal for God’s house, as prophesied before Jesus time, consumed Him.

Today I’m going to church. My church doesn’t close it’s doors on Sunday even if there’s an Oklahoma blizzard outside.

So, I pray,

Heavenly Father,

I thank you for the snow. Bring souls to church today that need Jesus. We come together on this cold morning to worship you, as true worshippers do, in Spirit and in truth. It’s a little harder to get to church today but Lord bless all who attend and let the angels in Heaven rejoice as sinners repent today. Let it be said of us, as the Bible says of Jesus…the zeal for God’s House has consumed us.

~With Jesus I pray! Amen!

Mark 11:

¹⁵ When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, ¹⁶ and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.^{[a] 17} He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”^[b]

There are three verses that say with God nothing shall be impossible. One occurred when the angel told Mary, a poor teenager, she was pregnant with Jesus.  Another occurred when Jesus was talking to a young man who wanted to follow Him but he didn’t want to give up his riches. The other verse occurred when Jesus healed a man’s son of demon possession.

I believe that with God nothing is impossible. He spoke and created everything from nothing. God can use me to make the impossible a reality so that His name will be honored.

Mark 9:

¹⁷ One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk.¹⁸ And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.^[d] So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

¹⁹ Jesus said to them,^[e] “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.

²¹ “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.

He replied, “Since he was a little boy.²² The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”

²³ “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?”Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

²⁴ The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil^[f] spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”

²⁶ Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

Bring children to Jesus by loving them and taking them to church and telling them about Him. And then remember to open your heart and be, even vulnerable like children, especially to God.

Mark 10:

¹³ One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

¹⁴ When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. ¹⁵ I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.