Good morning y’all. Today we looking at psalms 15. This psalm, tells us the qualities of those who can come into God’s presence or according to the Message version, those who dine with Him 🙂

Psalm 15:1 MSG: God , who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list?

I constantly what to eat dinner with God. I want to make sure I’m always on his guest list :).

David proceeds to answer the question for us in verses 2- 5. I want us to ponder on his response and I pray the Holyspirit will speak to us as we read In Jesus Name. Amen.

I am reading the psalm from the NLT Version.  Be blessed 🙂

1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
    Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
    speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
3 Those who refuse to gossip
    or harm their neighbors
    or speak evil of their friends.
4 Those who despise flagrant sinners,
    and honor the faithful followers of the Lord,
    and keep their promises even when it hurts.
5 Those who lend money without charging interest,
    and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever.

Let’s explore each of the attributes/qualities mentioned in the psalm.

1) Lead a blameless life – to be blameless means to walk and live uprightly (AMP version). It could also mean to be without spot or blemish. I found the excerpt below regards blamelessness from a christian perspective.
“When applied to Christians, the quality of blamelessness is both a positional benefit of salvation and a moral character to be achieved. Each person is worthy of accusation in the sight of God. The blameless character of Christians, however, is the intention of God, who “chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” ( Eph 1:4 ). Christ’s love and sacrifice for the church were such that he could present her to himself “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” ( Eph 5:27 ).
This positional quality of blamelessness is not earned by personal gain, but imputed by the death and resurrection of Christ ( Col 1:22 ).
In light of the positional reality, the believer is called to live in such a way as to attain the quality of blamelessness. In these cases, it is evident that blamelessness refers to public respectability as an outgrowth of private moral character. Christians must “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” ( 2 Peter 3:14 ). By growing in discernment and avoiding a critical spirit, believers can become “pure and blameless” in an age marked by wickedness ( Php 1:10 ;  2:14-15 )”. (William E. Brown, Bakers Evangelical dictionary, http://www.biblestudytools.com)

Psalm 19:13, also gives us insight into how we can attain the moral side of blamelessness
“Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression” (NKJV). Another translation says keep me from sinning willfully….

This is a prayer I  believe we ought to pray on a daily basis.

2) Do what is right – Doing the right thing at the right time is very crucial. Bible says, “it is a sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (James 4:17). Often times, we know the right thing to do, but because it’s probably not pleasant to our flesh, we refuse to do it or we do it partially. God doesn’t appreciate partial obedience as we see in the case of King Saul. He wants full obedience from us. I pray God gives us grace to do the right thing at all times, even when it’s uncomfortable.

3) Speak the truth from a sincere heart – God doesn’t like lying lips. Are we being truthful or are we comfortable with lying? Are we sincere in the things we say or we flatter and deceive people with our lips just to get what we want from them? Proverb 12:22 says: “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in those who tell the truth”. Ephesians 4:15 also says: “Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church” (Ephesians 4:15 NLT).

I pray God helps us speak the truth in love at all times.

4) Refuse to gossip – The GNB version says: “those who do not slander others”. I’m sure most of us are guilty of this offence. I know I am. Sometimes I do it unconsciously. Other times, I tell myself it’s not slander, it’s  just me telling another person what someone else has done. However you want to put it, based on today’s verse, it’s not a quality that God approves of.  We are basically poisoning the minds of others towards the person we have slandered.

To murder someone is not until you kill them with a physical weapon such as knife or gun. You can do more damage with the words from your mouth. James 3:5-6 says: “A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell” ( MSG)

I pray God helps us with this. A lot of lives and relationships have been destroyed as a result of gossip and slander.

5) Refuse to harm their neighbours – How we treat others says a lot about our relationship with God. Bible says we should love others in the same way Christ has loved us (John 13:34). Bible also says we should Love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22:39). Would you like to harm yourself? If it’s a no, then it’s time we stop harming our neighbours and start loving them, even those we term unlovable.
Romans 13:10 also says: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor….” (ESV).

6) Speak evil of their friends – This is similar to point 4 above. What are we using our mouths for? We are to use them to build up and not tear down. Let’s check ourselves today. Ephesians 4:29 says: “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (NLT).

7) Despise flagrant sinners – Psalm 1:1 says : “BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather” (AMP).

8) Honor the faithful followers of God –
We should honor  and deal respectfully with our fellow Christians. Matthew 10: 41 says: “Whoever welcomes God’s messenger because he is God’s messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward” (GNB)

9) Keep their promises even when it hurts – Some of us are too quick to make promises without thinking it through. Proverbs 20: 25 says: “Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost” (NLT).
Also, we can’t be careless with our words. Ecclesiastes 5:2,4 & 5 says: “Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few. When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it” (NLT).

10) Lend money without charging interest –  Are we extorting our neighbors or making money at their expense? Psalm 112:5 says:  “Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly”(NLT).

11) Cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent – God doesn’t condone bribery. Exodus 23:8 says: “Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth” (NLT).

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. We thank you for your word. Holyspirit, pls show us the areas we need to work on and give us the grace to make the necessary amends. Help us not to sin against you willfully Lord. Thank you dear Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Thanks for joining today.

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Have a blessed day dining with the KING 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Good morning y’all. Today we are looking at Psalms 14.

I will be reading from Contemporary English Version

Be blessed 🙂

Psalms 14:1 : Only a fool would say, “There is no God!” People like that are worthless; they are heartless and cruel and never do right.

I concur with David that only a fool will say there is no God, because God is real. He exists and is in control of everything. Even creation tell of his marvellous works. All we need to do is look around us and we will see that God exists. Who made the heavens and the earth? who told the sun to come out during the day and the moon at night? Who set the stars in the skies and knows each one of them by name and none is missing? Don’t be fooled by some big bang theory, God is real and alive.

Psalmist says the heavens tell of his glory and their expanse declares the works of his hands (Psalm 19:1-6). Jeremiah tells us He is the one who placed the sand as a boundary for the sea (Jer 5:22). Matthew says He even clothes the lilies of the field (Matt 6:28-29). Isaiah says he has ears and can hear us (Isaiah 59:1). Job says He lives (Job 19:25)

Friends, take a moment this morning to appreciate our God for He is real and alive. HE Is the only true and living God. There is no other God besides him.

Psalms 14:2 : From heaven the Lord looks down to see if anyone is wise enough to search for him.

Its comforting to know that God is looking down from heaven, for anyone wise enough to search or seek Him. Wise, in the sense that they know God exists and long to know him. He is constantly looking for those who truly want to know him. Why would He do that, unless He also longs for the fellowship and wants to reveal himself to us. In Jer 29:13 he says: “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

Psalms 14:3-4 : But all of them are corrupt; no one does right.  Won’t you evil people learn? You refuse to pray, and you gobble up the Lord’s people.

This is so true of the world we live in today. Our government and people in authority have started rejecting God. In their own eyes, they can rule and govern without His help. We see how they have removed God from schools and hospitals. These people are fools according to today’s psalms. They are proud and and do that which is evil. When will they learn, that you can get rid of God? He is everywhere. Whether they accept it or not, God exists!

Psalms 14:5-6 : But you will be frightened, because God is on the side of every good person.  You may spoil the plans of the poor, but the Lord protects them.

The foolish ones will be frightened. God will shake and frighten them to remind them, that He is God and the one in control. I am reminded of King Nebucadnezzer in the book of Daniel. God brought him to his knees. This king felt he didn’t need God. In his mind, he had arrived and could do without God. God humbled and showed him who exactly is in control. After his humbling experience, below are the words of King Nebucadnezzer:

“After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’ “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.” (Daniel 4:34-35, 37 NLT)

I pray we will humble ourselves before God of our own accord as opposed to God having to humble us. Nebucadnezzer had opportunity to have humbled himself but he didnt and God did it 4 him. Needless to say, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

God is on our side…whoop! whoop! Even though the enemy may try to thwart our plans, the Lord will surely protects us and make sure their plans don’t succeed. I’m reminded of Romans 8:31 which says “What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us?” Hallelujah!!!

Psalms 14:7 : I long for someone from Zion to come and save Israel! Our Lord, when you bless your people again, Jacob’s family will be glad, and Israel will celebrate.

David was sure God will show up hence his statement ‘when you bless’. He didn’t use ‘if’  which would have suggested a probability of God showing up to deliver them. When is certain…

Friends, Hold on! Help is on the way. God is at work and will show up at the right time. He is never a second, minute, hour or day late. He is always on time. Be encouraged 🙂

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. Thank you for reminding us that you are God; the God who sees, hears and speaks to us. Thank you for reminding us that you are on our side :). Lord we pray you open our eyes  to see you in all that we do and help us be aware of your existence as we go about our days. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen

Thanks for joining today

Have a blessed day and remember God is REAL 🙂

***With God all things are possible***