A word for the day: Raging waters, constancy, love

If the Lord had not been on our side

Psalm 124

If the Lord had not been on our side,
let Israel now say;
If the Lord had not been on our side,
when enemies rose up against us;
Then would they have swallowed us up alive
in their fierce anger towards us;
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us
and the torrent gone over us;
Then would the raging waters
have gone right over us.
Blessed be the Lord!
he has not given us over to be a prey for their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowler;
the snare is broken and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.

Those who trust are like Mount Zion

Psalm 125

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but stands fast for ever.
The hills stand about Jerusalem;
so does the Lord stand round about his people,
from this time forth for evermore.
The sceptre of the wicked shall not hold sway
over the land allotted to the just,
so that the just shall not put their hands to evil.
Show your goodness, O Lord, to those who are good
and to those who are true of heart.
As for those who turn aside to crooked ways,
the Lord will lead them away with the evildoers;
but peace be upon Israel.

A Song of Divine Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

Love is patient and kind,
love is not jealous or boastful,
it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way,
it is not angry or resentful.
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing
but rejoices in the truth.
Love bears all things and believes all things;
love hopes all things and endures all things.
Love will never come to an end,
but prophecy will vanish,
tongues cease and knowledge pass away.
Now we know only in part
and we prophesy only in part,
But when the perfect comes,
the partial shall pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
But when I became mature,
I put an end to childish ways.
For now we see only puzzling reflections in a mirror,
but then we will see face to face.
Now I know only in part;
then I shall know fully,
even as I have been fully known.
There are three things that last for ever,
faith, hope and love,
but the greatest of these is love.

Selah.

You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God

Hidden with Christ in God

How can we who died to sin still live in it?—I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.—He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.—Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

We are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.—“Just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.”—Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.—“Because I live, you also will live.”

“To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Selah.

Col. 3:3; Rom. 6:2; Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 5:15; 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 John 5:20; John 17:21; 1 Cor. 12:27; John 14:19; Rev. 2:17

A word for the day: God is both sun and shield

A sun and shield

For the Lord God is both sun and shield;
He will give grace and glory;
No good thing will the Lord withhold
from those who walk with integrity.
O Lord of hosts,
happy are they who put their trust in you!

Selah.

A word for the day: Joy is strength!

The joy of the Lord is our strength

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! for the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted. — “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” — The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him. — My soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. — We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. — I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Neh. 8:10; Isa. 49:13; Isa. 12:2; Ps. 28:7; Isa. 61:10; Rom. 15:17; Rom. 5:11; Hab. 3:18

Selah.

A word for the day: constancy

I will stand at my watch-post

Habakkuk 2:1-4

I will stand at my watch-post,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what He will say to me,
and what He will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faith!

Selah.