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Promises of fertility and fruitfulness, peace and prosperity are fulfilled as consequences that come to those who fear God and obey His covenant commands. Obedience to the Moral Code has a blessed result. This conditional promise is repeated hundreds of times.

Three blessing are promised for the one who fears God: just reward for your labor; happy home and family life; continued blessings on descendants. These family blessings come within the context of peace in the land contingent on the presence of God (Zion). There is also the presumption that the Lord keeps away the enemies that would steal and destroy.

The direct correspondence of cause (obedience) and effect (blessing) is not usually evident to the physical eye, but the eyes of faith can see more clearly. Nevertheless, this truth is revealed to us as incentive to remain faithful to God.

Now we have another problem: none of us is good nor can any claim obedience to the Law; thus none can claim a right to the promise. Then for us the Gospel promises this: Jesus was obedient for you and died for the disobedient. By daily repentance and faith in the Gospel I enter the kingdom of righteousness and peace and I enjoy the fruit.

 

 

 

 

The Lord God is involved, and wants to be involved, in all the everyday affairs of human life. He is interested in the things we do and the decisions we make. Having the Lord nearby with us for conversation, interaction and guidance makes life more fun, more interesting, and more fulfilling.

The advice is clear: involve the Lord in your daily life and decision-making. This advice is more easily acknowledged than it is implemented. We know that if something is of God it will succeed and blessings will follow; if it is of us alone without God’s involvement it will fail. “Unless the Lord build….Unless the Lord keep…” it will all be in vain, empty, useless. Pride and Unbelief fight hard to prevent us from living like this. Pride wants to take credit. Unbelief doesn’t think God cares.

Pride and Unbelief are enemies of life and continually keep God out of the picture; when God is ignored the joy of life is gone as well. When pride and unbelief are ignored by the Gospel the Lord is free to build and keep watch over: the temple in our body, the family in our life, and the city where we dwell. God is there.

 

 

 

 

 

“Turn again our captivity,” or, “Restore our fortunes,” are two ways of translating the same thing. We have lost a former state of freedom and we lost a former state of prosperity. Such a state of freedom and prosperity had never really been achieved in the history of God ‘s people. But the Exodus deliverance and the return from exile are the two great salvation events prior to Christ.

However, neither Salvation Event was really a return to a former glory nor a full restoration to a former peace and prosperity. Therefore, we pray for a full restoration to a dream and a paradaisical fantasy that we inwardly know we were created for but have never actually experienced. This prayer has been answered in the Christ Event. We have been taken out from captivity to the Enemy (who even admits: “The Lord has done great things for them”); and we have been taken to the dreamlike Paradise we could only imagine (and it turns out to be more than we could ask or imagine).

In deed and in truth, we have been fully restored to Life as it was meant to be. Jesus restores what Sin sreals.

 

 

 

 

In spite of outward appearances and inward feelings the promises of God are sure and certain and His faithfulness abides forever. Those who trust in the Lord will never be moved; they will rest secure because it is the Lord who surrounds them.

When it seems like evil is in control the temptation for God’s people is to compromise, “go along to get along,” and turn aside from the way. Don’t do it. Peace and security will not be found in the way of the world and of the majority. Only the Lord and His Word abides forever and He will have the last word.

Trust the Lord and remain faithful. Believe that the dominance of the enemy is temporary and only a false appearance. “This, too, shall pass.” The lot, the land, that God Promised is the spiritual and eternal kingdom that Sin, Satan and Death cannot touch. Remain in that promise and you cannot be moved.

Abide in Christ, walk by faith, and know that He and His Promised Land is the safe and secure, peaceful and protected place to be. Enter the Kingdom and stay there; enjoy the peace.

 

 

 

 

 

If God had been on our side we would not exist, either as people or as a people. If the Lord did not save us from enemies we would be dead, physically and spiritually. The three spiritual enemies want our bodies dead, separated from the soul and from God.

But God gave us a Savior who rescued us from Sin, Death and Devil. He saved us from 4 metaphors: 1) from a monster that would have swallowed us up, but death is swallowed up in victory; 2) from raging waters that would overwhelm us, but the storm is stilled; 3) from beasts tearing us with teeth, but Satan is crushed; 4) from the trap of the bird hunter, but the snare is broken we are escaped from the penalty of sin.

We would not be alive eternally and enjoying God’s life if the Lord had not been our Savior and Protector. We would not continue to live eternally today and tomorrow if the Lord should ever stop being our Savior and Protector. But our Lord Jesus does not stop: He forgives sin daily and richly, delivers constantly from death and the devil, continually gives eternal life, gives daily bread, protects and defends from evil, hears prayers, lives in the heart and is with us always.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking up to the God in Heaven who is Lord and Master over my life and all things is the proper attitude of prayer. The one who prays is in the attitude of dependency and helplessness. The physical posture may or may not reflect that, but the spirit holds the posture of dependence and trust, relying solely on the mercy of the Master.

The image of the one in need is like a dog or a servant looking to the hand of the kindly master. “I am helpless, but I know my master can extend his hand to help, or to punish; I am at your mercy.” I could take matters into my own hands, but I am weak and powerless and would probably just mess it up and make it worse.

My enemies (sin, death and devil) hold me in contempt and will show no mercy whatever. Their goal is my utter destruction and they will not stop until that is accomplished. The sooner I realize this and turn in trust to the mercy of my kind Master the better off I will be. So I wait upon the Lord until He has mercy on me. My entire life depends on mercy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where is the invisible God and where can I find Him on the visible earth where I live? The Bible reveals this crucial answer: He is in the Holy of Holies in the Temple on Mt. Zion in the city of Jerusalem. This is the  Presence of God, the place where the Lord dwells on the physical earth. Everyone knows that he may come to this city that houses the Presence to find God.

Then the Presence was transferred to and settled in a human being, Jesus of Nazareth: the Kingdom of God has come. Then, the Presence was moved to and located in the human hearts of those who believe and are baptized. When those individual believers gather in a place in the name of Jesus to hear the Gospel and worship Him that “Place” becomes a “Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem is a physical, visible geographical location on earth that houses the Presence. Any ground so hallowed, where the King rules His kingdom within, is a Jerusalem; this city can be set up anywhere and should be set up everywhere, at least in every home.

Pray for the peace and prosperity of that Jerusalem to which you journey. Pray thus: “Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.”

 

 

 

 

 

When one is in a covenant relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ he comes under the direct care and supervision of the Creator of the universe. Because of Christ he knows that the same Almighty God that created him is the same God (in Christ) that saves him and gives eternal life; and the same God that saves him is the same God that protects  and guards Him day and night and forever.

From what God are you needing help? I am getting help from my Creator, my Savior, and my Keeper. The Lord is my Shepherd! I shall not want nor fear. This Keeper is in my presence day and night for physical (sunstroke) and mental (moonstruck) protection and shade. He does not sleep or rest, so I may both sleep in peace and relax in carefree comfort: “He will preserve your soul.”

“All” is an important word for faith to take hold of for peace and comfort: “The Lord will keep you from all evil.” This preservation includes daily comings and goings and longer journeys from now until forever. My unbelief will dispute this promise, but walking by faith wasn’t guaranteed to be easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord hears our calls for help when in distress and he answers our prayers. Our spiritual enemies are troublemakers. Satan is a slanderous liar whether speaking directly in the mind or through other people in the world; he attempts to distort what others think of us or what we think of ourselves. Either way, he uses lies and distortion to contradict what God thinks of us, since He sees Jesus in us. God uses flaming arrows of Truth; the Truth: “I love you.”

Satan also is constantly attempting to stir up trouble and cause strife between people, and we all live among people like that. Lies and misunderstandings cause contentions among families, friends, churches, and community groups, which escalate to conflict and war; and wars you will always have with you.

Every single person considers himself a peacemaker, in that each wants to live undisturbed and avoid confrontation; every peacemaker becomes a troublemaker when his own selfish “pursuit of happiness” is blocked. I need to confess when I, who desire peace, am the one causing trouble. The warlike enemy has crept into my self and must be overcome through prayer and faith. This requires powerful conviction by the Spirit.

 

 

 

Psalm expresses the believer’s meditation on, love for, and delight in the Torah, meaning Instruction. The Torah is the five Books of Moses, the Law, and by extension, over time, it includes the Prophets, the Psalms, and the New Testament: the Bible. Eight different synonyms for the Word are used over 176 verses.

Intense love for the Gospel is understandable, but love for the Law and Commandments? What’s up with that? The Law (the Word of God) is loved because it expresses God’s will and His mind, and it God Himself that is loved and greatly desired: to know Him personally and live, really live.

“Quicken me according to your word” is prayed eleven times, often in response to affliction. My enemies are constantly seeking to destroy my life, at least to diminish the full enjoyment of life. Jesus comes to give life: “My words are Spirit and they are Life;” in the Scriptures you have eternal life, they testify of me; me has He quickened, who was dead in sins.

Affliction comes from one of the life destroyers (sin, death, devil). It is permitted by God for a purpose: to repent and believe the Gospel so Jesus can Give Life.