Worship Devotional CXXI

May 7

Originally posted to the Facebook group on 5/7/2022.

The Blessing For All The Families Of All The Peoples

Worship Devotional for 5/8/22

~ Mother's Day ~

Psalm 67:

"May God be gracious to us and bless us; look on us with favor Selah so that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, God; let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations rejoice and shout for joy, for You judge the peoples with fairness and lead the nations on earth. Selah Let the peoples praise You, God, let all the peoples praise You.
The earth has produced its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him."

Psalm 121:

"I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.
The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side. The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life. The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever."

Psalm 139:

"Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord. You have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me. This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there Your hand will lead me; Your right hand will hold onto me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night' — even the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.
For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.
God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend; how vast their sum is! If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with You.
God, if only You would kill the wicked — you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me — who invoke You deceitfully. Your enemies swear by You falsely. Lord, don't I hate those who hate You, and detest those who rebel against You? I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way."

We have come to know the God who is righteous and holy and just. He is the eternal God, the Creator of all that exists, and the Judge of both the living and the dead. We behold our Maker with fear and awe, for He is the one and only true and living God over all, and we have sinned against Him.

We are right to fear Him. He has set the standard and does not allow wickedness and evil to go unpunished. He defines what is good and just and true. We were made in His image to reflect His glory to the rest of creation, but we chose to go our own way and defy His commands. We deserve death for our wickedness and eternal punishment for our rebellion against the eternal and holy God. God in His justice and goodness cannot allow evil to remain.

But we have to come to know and to believe in the good news of God's salvation for all peoples! For Jesus Christ, the righteous Son of God, bore the punishment we deserved in His body on the cross, having become one of us as the Son of Man. God has made a way for our salvation, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

"He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

With His own righteous blood, Jesus paid the price for our redemption in full. Every failure, every sin, every weakness, every fear, every rebellious thought and inclination has been atoned for by the Lamb of God who was slain for us and yet lives! This is good news, and it is for all the world. We as those who have believed and have received this blessing of salvation in Christ are now called to live the rest of our lives on this earth for the glory of God and for the spread of this good news of His kingdom among all peoples. We have been redeemed and adopted into the family of God.

Because of what Jesus has done, you now belong to a family that has an eternally secure and blessed future. You are loved. You matter. You are a child of God, who is for you and not against you. You are blessed. You no longer have to live in fear, for the Lord loves you with a perfect and everlasting love that casts out all fear. He is strong in your weakness, a perfect refuge for your weary soul. He is with you and for you always.

God has made a way for us to be truly saved, loved, redeemed, and made new. We now have hope instead of despair, love instead of fear, and life instead of death. We rejoice as we share in the blessing God has bestowed upon His people, and we declare the good news to all the families of all the peoples in every nation on earth, so that all who are chosen and called by God may believe and receive the blessing along with us to the eternal glory of our Father in heaven.

Numbers 6:22-27:

"The Lord spoke to Moses: 'Tell Aaron and his sons how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
"May Yahweh bless you and protect you; may Yahweh make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may Yahweh look with favor on you and give you peace."
In this way they will pronounce My name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.'"

Psalm 146:

"Hallelujah! My soul, praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing to my God as long as I live.
Do not trust in nobles, in man, who cannot save. When his breath leaves him, he returns to the ground; on that day his plans die.
Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever, executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The Lord frees prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are oppressed. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects foreigners and helps the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The Lord reigns forever; Zion, your God reigns for all generations. Hallelujah!"

Ephesians 3:14-21:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that He may grant You, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God's love, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us — to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Songs: