Opening Prayer

I give myself to You today, my Savior; speak to me.

Maybe if #Jesus was on #social #media today, we would actually listen to #Him. Maybe we would take His #teachings, and apply them to our #lives, and bless others because of it. #Lord knows we could all use a good dose of #unconditionallove. I challenge you to take some time #today to put your #phones down, and #computers away for just a few minutes, and give that time to #God. Start small by setting aside just 5 minutes to connect with the #creator of the #universe. You will see that He’s far more interesting than social media. And let’s not forget, that God gave #life to the #geniuses who created #Twitter, #Facebook, #Instagram, #Snapchat, #linkedin #youtube #Tiktok and whatever else we are using to connect with the world. So imagine if we went straight to the source. God is the #mastermind behind all #knowledge, #creativity, and #connections. Wait till you tap into His #network. It surpasses them all. He’s waiting. And He’s always there. Just like Twitter. Only better. Give it a try. Give Him a “#follow”… #literally.

Read Psalm 89

Psalm 89[a]
A maskil[b] of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all generations.
2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your line forever
and make your throne firm through all generations.’”[c]

5 The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,
your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;
he is more awesome than all who surround him.
8 Who is like you, Lord God Almighty?
You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

9 You rule over the surging sea;
when its waves mount up, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain;
with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth;
you founded the world and all that is in it.
12 You created the north and the south;
Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm is endowed with power;
your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
they celebrate your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength,
and by your favor you exalt our horn.[d]
18 Indeed, our shield[e] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 Once you spoke in a vision,
to your faithful people you said:
“I have bestowed strength on a warrior;
I have raised up a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David my servant;
with my sacred oil I have anointed him.
21 My hand will sustain him;
surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 The enemy will not get the better of him;
the wicked will not oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down his adversaries.
24 My faithful love will be with him,
and through my name his horn[f] will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, the Rock my Savior.’
27 And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,
the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
28 I will maintain my love to him forever,
and my covenant with him will never fail.
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.

30 “If his sons forsake my law
and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees
and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant
or alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
and I will not lie to David—
36 that his line will continue forever
and his throne endure before me like the sun;
37 it will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky.”

38 But you have rejected, you have spurned,
you have been very angry with your anointed one.
39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant
and have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken through all his walls
and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
41 All who pass by have plundered him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Indeed, you have turned back the edge of his sword
and have not supported him in battle.
44 You have put an end to his splendor
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with a mantle of shame.

46 How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how fleeting is my life.
For what futility you have created all humanity!
48 Who can live and not see death,
or who can escape the power of the grave?
49 Lord, where is your former great love,
which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has[g] been mocked,
how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,
51 the taunts with which your enemies, Lord, have mocked,
with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.

52 Praise be to the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.

Footnotes:
a Psalm 89:1 In Hebrew texts 89:1-52 is numbered 89:2-53.
b Psalm 89:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
c Psalm 89:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 37, 45 and 48.
d Psalm 89:17 Horn here symbolizes strong one.
e Psalm 89:18 Or sovereign
f Psalm 89:24 Horn here symbolizes strength.
g Psalm 89:50 Or your servants have

New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

Have there been any times in your life when you have felt disappointed and let down by God? How have you responded?

Verses 1–4 are a song of praise because of God’s promise to establish David’s throne forever. This is the bedrock for what follows. Verses 5–18 are a confession of faith focusing on God’s rule. The psalmist speaks of four different characteristics of that. Look carefully to find them. (“Rahab” in verse 10 refers to a sea monster and also possibly to Egypt, and is not to be confused with the Rahab of Joshua.) Verses 19–37 explore God’s promise to David that his throne will last forever, even if David’s sons disobey God (31–33).

In verses 38–51 the mood changes. The psalmist does not say what has caused this rapid change to a sense of God’s rejection and abandonment (46). Look carefully at these verses to notice the forms that God’s rejection takes. Notice also the honesty with which the psalmist prays. He does not hold anything back in his complaint against God.

Yet, despite the bitterness of the psalmist’s words, he concludes with a declaration that echoes his expression of faith in verses 1 and 2. He will continue to trust God and worship Him (52). What was your reaction when you read that verse?

Apply

This psalm is encouraging in the way that it expresses disappointment so openly, yet asserts trust in God. Take time to write down your true feelings to God right now, the good and the bad.

Closing prayer

I praise You, Father, that I can tell You anything and You love me still. Hear my heart today and be with me.

Have you ever thought about this?
In 100 years like in 2123 we will all be buried with our relatives and friends.
Strangers will live in our homes we fought so hard to build, and they will own everything we have today. All our possessions will be unknown and unborn, including the car we spent a fortune on, and will probably be scrap, preferably in the hands of an #unknown collector.
Our #descendants will hardly or hardly know who we were, nor will they remember us. How many of us know our #grandfather’s #father?
After we die, we will be #remembered for a few more years, then we are just a #portrait on someone’s #bookshelf, and a few years later our history, #photos and deeds disappear in #history’s oblivion. We won’t even be #memories.
If we paused one day to #analyze these #questions, perhaps we would understand how ignorant and weak the #dream to #achieve it all was.
If we could only think about this, surely our #approaches, our thoughts would #change, we would be different #people.
Always having more, no time for what’s really #valuable in this #life. I’d change all this to live and enjoy the #walks I’ve never taken, these #hugs I didn’t give, these #kisses for our #children and our loved ones, these #jokes we didn’t have time for. Those would certainly be the most #beautiful #moments to remember, after all they would fill our lives with joy.
And we waste it day after day with #greed, greed and #intolerance.
-#Anonymous #thefathersrightsmovement

When the Bible speaks of eternal life, it refers to a gift of God that comes only “through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This gift is in contrast to the “death” that is the natural result of sin.

The gift of eternal life comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ, who is Himself “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The fact that this life is “eternal” indicates that it is perpetual life—it goes on and on and on, with no end.

It is a mistake, however, to view eternal life as simply an unending progression of years. A common New Testament word for “eternal” is aiónios, which carries the idea of quality as well as quantity. In fact, eternal life is not really associated with “years” at all, as it is independent of time. Eternal life can function outside of and beyond time, as well as within time.

For this reason, eternal life can be thought of as something that Christians experience now. Believers don’t have to “wait” for eternal life, because it’s not something that starts when they die. Rather, eternal life begins the moment a person exercises faith in Christ. It is our current possession. John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” Note that the believer “has” (present tense) this life (the verb is present tense in the Greek, too). We find similar present-tense constructions in John 5:24 and John 6:47. The focus of eternal life is not on our future, but on our current standing in Christ.

The Bible inextricably links eternal life with the Person of Jesus Christ. John 17:3 is an important passage in this regard, as Jesus prays, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Here, Jesus equates “eternal life” with a knowledge of God and of the Son. There is no knowledge of God without the Son, for it is through the Son that the Father reveals Himself to the elect (John 17:6; 14:9).

This life-giving knowledge of the Father and the Son is a true, personal knowledge, not just an academic awareness. There will be some on Judgment Day who had claimed to be followers of Christ but never really had a relationship with Him. To those false professors, Jesus will say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:23). The apostle Paul made it his goal to know the Lord, and he linked that knowledge to resurrection from the dead: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10–11).

In the New Jerusalem, the apostle John sees a river flowing from “the throne of God and of the Lamb,” and “on each side of the river stood the tree of life. . . . And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1–2). In Eden, we rebelled against God and were banished from the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). In the end, God graciously restores our access to the tree of life. This access is provided through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Right now, every sinner is invited to know Christ and to receive eternal life: “Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

How can you know that you have eternal life? First of all, confess your sin before our holy God. Then accept God’s provision of a Savior on your behalf. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for your sins, and He rose again the third day. Believe this good news; trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and you will be saved (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9 –10).

John puts it so simply: “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11–12).

If you feel like you have been #thechosenone, there are seven evident #signs #God has #chosenyou.
You Have Been Called To A #HigherPurpose. …
Your Life Mirrors #Biblical #Events. …
You Feel An #Unseen #SupportSystem. …

SpiritualDiscernment. …

You’re Drawn To #People #WhoNeedHelp. …

YourGifts Are #BeingUsed For #Go God is Inclusive in His Choosing

God chooses Israel and ultimately Jesus, and this results in the exact opposite of God favoring one group to the exclusion of all others. Instead, God works out his plan to extend his #love to all the world through one group or individual. God.
~ #destined to fulfill a certain #role or #mission, often because they have #unique #abilities or #traits. #divine “Here is my #servant, whom I #uphold, my chosen one in whom I #delight; I will put #mySpirit on him, and he will bring #justice to the nations.” This phrase typically refers to someone who has been selected or called upon for a special purpose or mission. In religious contexts, it may refer to a #prophet or savior who has been chosen by a #divineentity to carry out a specific task. How Do You Know If You Are Chosen By God? All who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are chosen by God (John 15:16). This means that if you have accepted Jesus’ death and resurrection, then you have been chosen by Him to be His beloved child.