God is my defense.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; the God of my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior. § The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him.
When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. § We may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever. § Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
For Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me.
Ps. 59:9; 2 Sam. 22:2–3; Ps. 28:7; Isa. 59:19;
Heb. 13:6; Ps. 27:1; 125:2; 63:7; 31:3
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” § “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses. § Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. § You … He has made alive … having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us … He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. § Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
Matt. 6:12; 18:21–22; 18:32–35; Eph. 4:32; Col. 2:13–14; 3:13
In the beginning, the Creator was not stingy with our environment. He filled it with life. Planet Earth was progressively transformed as every day God’s Word went forth and every day God’s Word was received. Each day’s change prepared the environment for the next day’s change until it was totally transformed. Yet it was as though it waited for something. In the same way a church sanctuary, all decorated, waits for the bride and a nursery, all equipped, waits for the baby, Planet Earth was prepared but waiting to be completed.
All of the daily changes seemed to be setting the stage for the climax on the sixth day. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Gen. 1:26, NIV).
Earth had been waiting for man! Man himself was the climactic jewel of Creation! You are His crown jewel!
Christ died and rose and lived again,
that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. § Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? § We judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. § He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God.
Rom. 14:9; Isa. 53:10–11; Luke 24:26;
2 Cor. 5:14–15; Acts 2:36; 1 Peter 1:20–21
Give us this day our daily bread.
I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. § His … bread will be given him, his water will be sure. § The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. § Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna … that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. § Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
Matt. 6:11; Ps. 37:25; Isa. 33:16; 1 Kings 17:6;
Phil. 4:19; Heb. 13:5; Deut. 8:3; John 6:32–34
My family in the living room of my father’s house. From left to right behind Daddy, in birth order: Gigi, me, Ruth (Bunny), Franklin, and Ned. The inscription seen in the background on the fireplace mantle that at one time was a diving board, is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God in German.
Two thousand years ago, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and revealed to him that the young woman he was betrothed to, Mary, was pregnant. As shocking as that news was to Joseph, it was even more astonishing to be told that Mary was still a virgin because the baby did not have a human father. He had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. The angel further instructed Joseph to give Him the name Jesus, because He would save His …
The only people who go to heaven are those who are born of water — – those who have been physically born. But those who go to heaven must also be born of the Spirit. Just as the virgin Mary conceived the physical life of the Son of God, you and I conceive the spiritual life of the Son of God when we are “born again.” From that moment on, we are essentially two people on the inside. We have the mind, emotions, and will that we were physically born with, but we now also have the mind, emotions, and will of Christ within us. We have a spiritual “implant” of the life of Jesus Christ within our bodies. This is actually Jesus in the person of the Holy Spirit.
This “implanting” of the life of Christ is a supernatural miracle. It is something God does in response to our humble confession and sincere repentance of sin coupled with our deliberate, personal faith in His Son.
