Psalms 1 ¹ Blessed is the manwho walks not inthe counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the LORD,  and on his law he meditates day and night.

Our new pastor BB shared to us how we could succumb to SIN.

1. Don’t walk in the area of sin and weakness. Here BB is enticed from the look of the kare-kare.

2.Don’t stand in the area where you would most likely be tempted. RUN AWAY BB!!!

3. Once you come near, you tend to walk, stand and lastly sit in and succumb to the temptation.

BB’s three steps to avoid temptation is great but we must also remember that the power to overcome the temptation and sin is through the power of Christ. We are already made victorious over sin through Christ’s death and resurrection and God gave us His grace the Holy Spirit to empower us to say NO to ungodliness.

Romans 8^:3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

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How do you read/study the Word of God? Do you reflect on it? or interpret it? How does it struck you? How do you apply it in your life? I don’t want to just “read” the bible Pastor. You know what I mean, right?

I think the most important thing to do is to first have a habit of reading your Bible daily. The more you read it, the more it gets into you.

Secondly, get a translation that would fit you. I am now using ESV since I would like a really good translation for studying.

Thirdly, get supplemental study guides. I am using ESV study Bible and Warren Weirsbe’s Commentaries. The internet is also full of helpful guides. Just learn how to sift through the reliable ones and the dangerous ones.

Lastly, pray for revelation. This is I think the most crucial of all. When God shows His word to us, it hits us.

Hope you enjoy reading the Scripture.

Excited for the next 7 days of seeking God thru prayer and fasting.

As I seek God, I realized that it is He who seeks me. Can we really seek God – I think it is He who made an all out search for me.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

It is quite obvious in the text below what God was emphasizing on and I believe it was written this way to remind us time and time again of God’s great love for us. Mahal ka ni Lord!!!

Psalm 136

^1(A) Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
²Give thanks to^(C) the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.
³Give thanks to^(D) the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁴to him who alone^(E) does great wonders,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁵to him who^(F) by understanding^(G) made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁶to him who^(H) spread out the earth^(I) above the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁷to him who^(J) made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁸the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
⁹the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁰to him who^(K) struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
¹¹and^(L) brought Israel out from among them,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
¹²with^(M) a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
¹³to him who^(N) divided the Red Sea in two,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
^14(O) and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
¹⁵but^(P) overthrew^[a] Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
¹⁶to him who^(Q) led his people through the wilderness,
for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁷to him^(R) who struck down great kings,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
¹⁸and killed mighty kings,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
¹⁹Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
²⁰and Og, king of Bashan,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
²¹and gave their land as a heritage,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
²²a heritage to Israel his^(S) servant,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

²³It is he who^(T) remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
²⁴and^(U) rescued us from our foes,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
²⁵he who^(V) gives food to all flesh,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

²⁶Give thanks to^(W) the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

Psalms 125:1-2

1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

I am surrounded by God as with a shield. No fear shall come before me today. No weapon Satan formed against me shall prosper. I am surrounded not only by God’s angel but by His very presence. What a way to start the day!!!

The essence of lukewarmness is the statement, “I need nothing.” The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied. To find out whether you are among that number, don’t look into your head to see if you think that you are needy; rather, look at your prayer life. It doesn’t matter what we think in our head, the test of whether we are in bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction is how earnest and frequent and extended our prayers for change are. Do you seek the Lord earnestly and often in secret for deeper knowledge of Christ, for greater earnestness in prayer, for more boldness in witness, for sweeter joy in the Holy Spirit, for deeper sorrow for sin, for warmer compassion for the lost, for more divine power to love? Or is the coolness and perfunctoriness of your prayer life Exhibit A that you are spiritually self-satisfied and lukewarm? – John Piper

“God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” — John Wesley

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” — Oswald Chambers

“In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God’s work especially the work of world evangelism as in intercessory prayer….When the prayer warrior intercedes, he forgets his personal need and focuses all of his faith and prayer attention on others.
”To intercede is to mediate. It is to stand between a lost being and an Almighty God, praying that this person will come to know about God and His salvation.” —  Dick Eastman, The Hour That Changes The World

“No one’s a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil; not that he practices it, but he suffers from it.” — Guy H. King

“It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently, believingly, continue in prayer until we obtain an answer; and further we have not only to continue in prayer unto the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us, and will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing.”  — George Müller

“Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” — Andrew Murray

“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things ‘above all that we ask or think.’”  — Andrew Murray

“God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” — John Wesley

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” — Oswald Chambers

“In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God’s work especially the work of world evangelism as in intercessory prayer….When the prayer warrior intercedes, he forgets his personal need and focuses all of his faith and prayer attention on others.
”To intercede is to mediate. It is to stand between a lost being and an Almighty God, praying that this person will come to know about God and His salvation.” —  Dick Eastman, The Hour That Changes The World

“No one’s a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil; not that he practices it, but he suffers from it.” — Guy H. King

“It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently, believingly, continue in prayer until we obtain an answer; and further we have not only to continue in prayer unto the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us, and will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing.”  — George Müller

“Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” — Andrew Murray

“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things ‘above all that we ask or think.’”  — Andrew Murray

This is a challenge for me. I usually pray silently but I have been practicing to pray out loud for the following reasons:

1. It keeps me on track.

My mind tend to drift when I pray in my mind.

2. It is a statement of faith.

Prayer is also proclaiming. We profess our faith. There are times that when I pray I end up shouting in my room and thanking God. It is a journey when we pray, you will never know where God will lead the conversation.

3. When I talk to people, I don’t talk using my mind I have to open my mouth.

This is not a law in prayer but just sharing some things that benefits me when I pray out loud.