God's Path. God's way's. Waiting on the Lord. Ps 25

Psalm 25:4 Make me know Your ways, O LORD ; Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation ; For You I wait all the day. 6 Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your loving kindnesses, For they have been from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions ; According to Your loving kindness remember me, For Your goodness' sake, O LORD. 8 Good and upright is the LORD ; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are loving kindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

4 Make me know Your ways, O LORD ; Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation ; For You I wait all the day.

Here the writer is asking God to teach him and lead him. Why? Because He is the God of the writers Salvation. We need to recognize who God is when we are speaking to Him. So often our prayers consist of "Here is my want list and my plans God. Please have the stuff delivered ASAP and rubber stamp my plans. In truth, we far too often don't even care what God has for us.

The writer waits all day long. I really don't think this means he waits one day and if God does not answer he moves on. The writer is patient waiting for God's timing. As Christians we must be patient and wait for the Lord.

6 Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your loving kindnesses, For they have been from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions ; According to Your loving kindness remember me, For Your goodness' sake, O LORD.

I am so glad that God is compassionate and His loving kindness will not allow him to remember our past sins. Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Our past will not be held against us. Nor will God forget us because of His character.

8 Good and upright is the LORD ;Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.

Who does the LORD instruct? Sinners. When does He instruct them? When they are humble. Far too many believe they need to "clean up" before they can come to God and be saved. NO! All you need to do is humbly come to Him.

10 All the paths of the Lord are loving kindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Does this verse say there are many paths to God? No way. Each persons journey is different. Your fellow church member my be rich. One family from my Church has a severely disabled child as a result of a stroke very soon after his birth. My wife and I have jobs yet so many are un or underemployed. Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. We may not understand it at the time. Isa 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. But we will one day know and understand all the He has done for us. 1 Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face ; now I know in part, but then I will knowfully just as I also have been fully known.

I pray the you have been encouraged.

The Unpardonable Sin

Have you ever read a passage in scripture and it seems to contradict what you know to be true based on other passages? It's happened to me a few times and most have been explained to me. Sometimes it's the perspective of the writer that does it. Sometimes it's the English translation that causes the confusion. Be aware that these were letters written to the churches. They did not have chapters, verses or subject titles. Therefore thoughts get separated in our English Bible that were together in Greek or Hebrew.

Jesus says in Mathew 12:32"Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

This appears to contradict 1 John 1:9 where we are promised to be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

Today's devotional is from Charles Stanley. He proves that sometimes the answer to the confusion is right in the text and one only need to pay attention to context to get the meaning.

I have pasted the passage below and then copied the devotional in it's entirety.

Mathew 12:22 Then a demon-possessed man who as blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that he mute man spoke and saw. 23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" 24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons." 25 And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand ? 27 "If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28"But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin

30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.31"Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32"Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

July 28
What Is the Unpardonable Sin?
Matthew 12:22-32

In Matthew 12, Jesus talked about the unpardonable sin. Christians sometimes misconstrue His comments and end up fearful that they could commit an unforgivable offense. The context of today's passage helps us understand why that is not the case.

Christ used the power of the Holy Spirit to heal a demon-possessed man who was deaf and mute. Amazed onlookers began to suspect He was the promised Messiah (v. 22), so religious leaders tried to quell the crowd's growing excitement: they claimed the Lord was Satan's fellow worker, who had used the Devil's power to accomplish this miracle. Christ refuted their statement and in verse 32 said, "Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him."

Jesus' comments addressed a very specific situation unique to His time. Though the Pharisees had themselves seen the Lord heal many people through the Spirit, they attributed the miraculous work to Satan. Jesus declared that this sin—claiming that God's Holy Spirit was the unclean spirit of the Devil—was unforgivable.

The sin was blasphemy, done deliberately and without repentance, by knowledgeable religious people, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary. This situation—personally witnessing Jesus' miracles and blaspheming the Spirit—cannot be repeated today.

Numerous New Testament verses assure us that no iniquity committed today is beyond the scope of divine forgiveness. The unpardonable sin Jesus referred to was something that could take place only when He lived on earth. So if guilt threatens to overwhelm you, read Romans 8:1 with gratitude.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visitwww.intouch.org.

Watch Online Videos of Dr.Charles Stanley and In Touch Ministries at LightSource.com
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