BE MERCIFUL TO ME HEAL ME DELIVER ME

Proclamation:

"O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.  Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.  My soul is in anguish.  How long, O Lord, how long?  Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of Your unfailing love."  Psalms 6:1-4 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by King David under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  While in the midst of an apparently stressful bad situation, David assumed that God was punishing him.  He asked God not to punish him while He was angry with him and then he asked God to have mercy on him.

Application:
Sometimes bad things happen to good people.  Whatever happens to us is all part of God's permissive will because He is in control of everything.  Remember, all things work together for good to them that love God. (Romans 8:28)  The spankings that we received as children were for our good, even though they hurt and we did not enjoy them at the time.  Not all of the bad things that happen to us are punishment, sometimes they are just tests of our faith.  Remember what happened to Job. (Job 1:1- 2:10)  Sometimes things happen to us to remind us that God's grace is sufficient to see us through whatever it is.  Remember the thorn which was in Paul's flesh that he prayed and asked God three times to remove. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)  It is always okay to ask God for mercy and help in the midst of our storms and our negative situations.  However, instead of always asking God to remove our mountains and our problems, maybe we should ask Him for the strength to climb and endure them.

ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE IT IF YOU BELIEVE IT

Proclamation:

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." Mark 11:24-25 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, which He spoke to His disciples, as recorded by the Apostle Mark, on the day after He drove the money changers out of the temple.  Jesus said when you pray and ask for something, you must believe that you have already received it and it will be yours. Then He said when you pray, if you are holding anything against anyone, forgive them.  This was one of the lessons that Jesus taught His disciples during the week prior to His crucifixion.

Application:
When we pray and ask for something that gives God glory, we will receive it if, and only if, we believe it.  We should believe and act as if it is already done.  However, we should not ask for anything while we are harboring an ill will against our brother because of a wrong done to us.  We must first forgive them before we ask for what it is that we want.  The point here is that we should not ask to be blessed while we are mad at someone.  Let’s not allow negative feelings cause us to miss out on a blessing.

WE ARE BLESSED CHOSEN PREDESTINED AND SPECIAL

Proclamation:

"Praise be to The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.  In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will; to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in The One He loves.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment ..." Ephesians 1:3-10 (NIV)

Explanation:

Under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, the Apostle Paul wrote these words in a letter to the believers in Ephesus.  Although he had never met them, he had heard of the demonstrations of their faith.  Paul wrote them to tell them that they were saints of God and very special.  They were blessed, chosen, and predestined by God, according to His will, to receive His glorious grace through Jesus, The Christ.

Application:
As believers in Christ we are also special.  We are blessed in more ways than we can count.  Before the beginning of time, we were chosen by God to be holy and blameless in His sight through the blood of Jesus.  We have been redeemed, our sins have been forgiven, and we have been given wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  Our heavenly Father knew that we would be believers before we were born.  He knows all about us and still loves us. (Acts 15:8)  He has blessed us in the past, He is blessing us now, and He has even more good things are in store for us when the fullness of time has come.

WE ARE ALL CALLED TO SERVE GOD

Proclamation:

"I keep asking that The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.  I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you ..." Ephesians 1:17-18 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this prayer were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Apostle Paul to the believers in Ephesus.  Paul prayed that God would bless them to know Him better, and that they would embrace that which The Lord had set forth for them to do for His glory.

Application:
God has a special purpose for each one of us. (Jeremiah 29:11)  We are not all called to preach the gospel or to teach it.  However we are all called by The Lord God to serve Him in some capacity.  We are not all given the same gifts or abilities, but we all have been blessed with at least one gift that we can use in His service. (1 Corinthians 12:7)  We should all pray for ourselves and for each other that we would recognize our gifts that we have been blessed with, and with the wisdom and understanding to know how we can use our gifts for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

BLESSED WITH MORE THAN WE ASKED FOR

Proclamation:

"God said to Solomon, ‘Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern My people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you.  And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.’" 2 Chronicles 1:11-12 (NIV)

Explanation:

The Prophet Ezra is thought to be the human author of First and Second Chronicles.  These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  When King David's son Solomon became king, he prayed to God for wisdom and knowledge in order to properly govern God's people.  Because his request pleased God, He gave him what he asked for and blessed him with much more than that including wealth, riches, and honor.  God blessed him to richer and wiser than all of the other kings on earth. (2 Chronicles 9:22)  He was blessed to be the wisest man on earth. (1 Kings 4:29-30)

Application:
Sometimes when our prayers are for the best interest of others, God blesses us with more than we ask for.  God knows the desires of our hearts, and when our desires are in line with His will, He blesses us in more ways than we requested.  Frequently, we are blessed in order to be a blessing to others.  However, sometimes God blesses us because of our compassion, consideration and concern for others.

SHARE WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING WHEN YOU SPEAK

Proclamation:

"A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions ... The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook." Proverbs 18:2-4 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live.  Here Solomon teaches the people that a fool is not interested in gaining understanding, all he wants to do is express his own opinion.  Whereas the words of a wise man express his deep and seemingly inexhaustible wisdom and understanding.

Application:
It seems that some people just like to hear themselves talk, even when they have nothing substantial to say.  A conversation with a fool is a waste of time. (Proverbs 14:7 and 26:4)  Know your audience, some people are not interested in the truth or learning anything new.  Some people will engage us in a conversation just to express their preformed opinions and often do not really want to hear a different point of view.  Before we speak, we should make sure that we know what we are talking about.  We should also make sure that what we say is adding something of value to the conversation.  Those who hear us should benefit from our words.  Knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are essential for effective communication and for sharing The Word of God.  "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." (Proverbs 4:7)  If you are not sure that you know something, be quiet and listen, and then verify what you have heard.  The Bible records in 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) that we should "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  We need to study The Word of God so that we can understand it and correctly explain it to others.  We should know what we are talking about before we speak.  It is never a good idea to simply repeat hearsay or offer an unsubstantiated opinion.

THOSE WHO HONOR GOD WILL RECEIVE HONOR THOSE WHO DON'T WON'T

Proclamation:

"... But now The Lord declares: 'Far be it from Me!  Those who honor Me I will honor, but those who despise Me will be disdained.'" 1 Samuel 2:30 (NIV)

Explanation:

The Prophet Samuel is thought to be the human author of this Book of The Bible which was written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  The Prophet Samuel told Eli, the priest, that his evil sons would soon die on the same day before they reached old age because they dishonored God. (1 Samuel 2:34)  Both of Eli’s sons were wicked and had no regard for The Lord God. (1 Samuel 2:12)  Eli knew that his sons were wicked (1 Samuel 2:22-23) and ye he continued to honor them. (1 Samuel 2:29)  Because of this The Lord God punished Eli and his entire family. (1 Samuel 2:31-32)

 
Application:
The Lord God has promised to bless us because we believe, but some of those blessings are conditional.  If we do not honor God, then we will miss out on some of our blessings.  If we choose to willfully dishonor God, then we will not only lose our blessings but we will also be punished and receive the wrath of God instead of His blessings.  Let us be sure to give God all of the honor that He is due.  We do not want to incur the wrath of God.