“ Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions ” ( Psalm 51:01 ) .   Guilt is a powerful emotion, and King David is feeling the weight of his heinous sin at this point in his life. In fact, much of the remainder of David’s life was spent in regret because of his immorality.   It would seem the inevitability of guilt would place an automatic restraint on every child of God when entice

Fifth in a Series of Studies on Ephesians 1:15-23   “ And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all ” ( Ephesians 1:22-23 ) .   Jesus lays claim to all authority in Heaven and Earth in Matthew 28, and here Paul confirms that God is the One who gave Him that authority: Paul says Jesus is over “ all things .”    Included in the “all things” is the church, which is

Fourth in a Series of Studies on Ephesians 1:15-23   “… which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated  Him  at His right hand in the heavenly  places,    far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come ” ( Ephesians 1:20-21 ) .   God, the Father, manifested His exceedingly great power through His Son Jesus Christ, first, by raising Him from the dead and, t

Third in a Series of Studies on Ephesians 1:15-23   “ and what  is  the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ” ( Ephesians 1:19 ) .   As Paul continues his prayer for the Ephesians, he mentions the third wonderful spiritual blessing he wants them to “know”: the superlative nature of God’s power in blessing all believers—that is, “ the greatness of His power toward us who believe .”   Having a knowledge of the Eph

Second in a Series of Studies on Ephesians 1:15-23   “T he eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints ” ( Ephesians 1:18 ).   This wonderful verse occurs in the middle of the Apostle Paul’s earnest prayer on behalf of the Ephesian brethren. He has heard of their great faith, and he gives thanks for it; however, he does not stop with the giving of thanks. He

First is a Series of Studies on Ephesians 1:15-23   “ For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,     I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,     that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him ” ( Ephesians 1:15-17 ) .   Continuing in his expressions of gratitude and praise for the blessings God h

“ He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy ” ( Proverbs 29:01 ) .   In the metaphor here, Solomon is talking about any person who refuses to listen to attempts to correct his sins because he has “hardened his neck”—that is, he has rejected correction often because of obstinacy. The fate for such a person is eternal destruction.   The preacher obviously wants all readers—in every generation—to stop and examine themselve

“ Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord !” ( Psalm 117:1-2 ) .   Addressed to all of the heathen nations of the earth, this psalm offers an explanation about the kind of reception they can expect from God when the dispensation of the Messiah becomes effective.   Since the Jews have been recipients of the Lord’s “merciful kindness” under the Law o

“ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost !’ ” ( Luke 15:6 ) .   This verse is a culmination of the Parable of the Lost Sheep in which the Shepherd rejoices when he finds the sheep that was lost and returns it to the fold. This parable shows the deep love the Father and the Son have for all of creation.   Jesus has just finished some hard teaching to the multitudes, inc

“ 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 ? ( Psalm 27:1 ) It is significant that David, sometimes labeled as the “light of Israel,” shares his close relationship with God and his strong dependence on God in this psalm, the first half of which is a psalm of praise and honor of God while the second half is more of a pleading with God. Even David as the “light of Israel”considered God Himself as hi

“ Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting ” ( Psalm 139:23-24 ) .   Filled with piety and devotion, this psalm has been acclaimed by some Jewish scholars as David’s most excellent. He has explored God’s divine attributes of omniscience and omnipresence before asking God to help him in a self-assessment.   David knows his heart, and he knows his behavior; but he asks God to

“ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ” ( Hebrews 10:31 ) .   While much of the religious world decries “fear” when speaking of matters relating to God, the writer here and writers throughout Scripture proclaim its virtues. When understood in the context of all scriptures, it becomes a positive thing.    Fear is defined as “a mixed feeling of dread and reverence.” This definition mixes the positive and negative to portray an attitude toward God that

“ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ ” ( Philippians 1:6 ) .   Having expressed his gratitude for the fellowship he has enjoyed with the Philippians, the Apostle Paul offers a note of encouragement for their future in this verse: he assures them God will not leave them as they go forward.   Paul’s relationship with the Philippians began because of the gospel, but it has developed beyond j

“ The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles,And they go down into the inmost body ” ( Proverbs 26:22 ) .   A talebearer is one who “maliciously gossips or reveals secrets.” “Tasty trifles,” obviously a metaphor, is translated “wounds” in the King James Version. “Inmost body” is translated “innermost parts of the belly.”   From these definitions, we can deduce that a talebearer is not a pleasant person to be around and, in fact, is quite a troublemaker, stimulating

“ Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, ...

“And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or of their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:21). While...

"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? ” ( Psalm...

“ Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the Lord !” ( Psalm 144:15 ) .   Having assumed the...

“ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ” ( James 2:14 ) . Through...

“ A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead ” ( Proverbs 21:16 ) . Although he states it...