Psalm 115

Psalm 115

NKJV

A  week  of  Devotions

Presented by your host

Beth McLendon

Monday

Verse 1

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,

But to Your name give glory,

Because of Your mercy,

Because of Your truth.

The Bible tells us to live in a way that will

Give

   God

           Glory. 

I endure all things for the cause of Christ.

I live in a way

so that glory is given to Christ.

Verse 2 - 3a

2 Why should the Gentiles say,

“So where is their God?”

This verse can refer to times

when the life of a believer

shows

hardship and lack of miracles, etc.

Unbelievers sometimes taunt Christians

because of the

difficult circumstances and situations in their life.

Note that

the Bible tells us

that

Believers WILL face hard times.

So Again...

Where is God?

Verse 3 tells us that God is in heaven.

Yet

we also know that

when we give our life to Jesus Christ,

God is also IN us.

Galatians 2:20

speaks of believers as it says...

“I am crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I who live,
but it is Christ who lives in me; 
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live in faith,
the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself up for me.”

Also see:

Ephesians 3:17, Romans 8:10, Colossians 1:27,

2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

If you want to understand the Trinity better, click here

So when

Believers are talking among themselves,

 the question becomes...

 Where is God?

The Answer  becomes -

   In me... 

And others see God reflected in me as I obey him.

For Christians -

God wants our reactions to life to reflect

that

God is on the throne of our life.

Video Below:

Where is God?

Close your eyes for the first minute or so...

the video visuals are not in sync.

The video opens up the idea of

Self-Awareness ...

A Self-Awareness question:

Am I showing forth God in my life?

The video says.....

Am I reflecting the image of Almighty God?

That is a question to ask ourselves.

Note that:

In order to answer that question,

we must honestly look at ourself.

Most people denigrate the good things in themselves

- - - and - - -

they hide from looking at their weaknesses and sins.

In order to grow spiritually, we must develop

more

Self-Awareness.

In order to Grow Spiritually

we need...

Self-Awareness

about our good traits and behaviors.

Self-Awareness

about our weaknesses and sins.

Tuesday

Verse 3 continued

3 But our God is in heaven; 

He does whatever He pleases.

Our God is unrestricted.

God is Sovereign. God knows Everything. God is all Powerful.

God does whatever he pleases.

God is outside of time.

God can handle...

A N Y T H I N G! 

Verses 4-8

In verses 4-8,

the Psalmist

speaks about

the idol statues that the

Gentiles were worshipping.

Yes,

we need to realize that

worshipping statues and

even just bowing before them

is a sin.

We read about this

in the Ten Commandments of

Exodus 20:4-5 

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—

any likeness

 of anything

 that is

 in heaven above, or that is in the

earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 

 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

Mary and other dead Christians would be in this category.

But

we also need to realize that we can make

anything

an idol and put that idol on the throne of our heart. 

4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.

5 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;

6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;

7 They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.

8 Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.

As verse 8 says:

We become like what we worship.

Psalm 115

talks about

The Futility of Idols

and the

Trustworthiness of God

Idols can be

money, sports idols,

movie idols,

food,

addictions, cars, family members,

etc.

What are you going to worship.... Today?

Wednesday

Verses 9-11

Trust in the Lord

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.

11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.

Where

have you placed your trust?

It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in man.

Psalm 118:8 NKJV

Verse 12-13

Understanding The Fear of the Lord

12 The Lord has been mindful of us;
He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.

13 He will bless those who fear the Lord,
Both small and great.

A large part of

Fearing the Lord

is

Respecting the Lord.

He will bless the house of Beth because she fears Him.

He will bless the house of __________  because you          

  fear Him.                       (Fill in your name)

The Fear of the Lord

is important to understand.

God blesses those who fear him.

What does that mean?

The section below

is taken from our page about

The

Fear of the Lord.

Please consider visiting that page: Here

Fear of the Lord

is a phrase

that

stands for

a way of looking at God

and

interacting with God.

It includes

a way of

living our life

with the awareness

of the

seriousness

of the Words 

that God puts in the Bible - 

both the enjoyable words

and

the

judgment words that are linked to sin.

Many Bible verses

give us

warnings

and if we have a

healthy

Fear of the Lord,

we will heed the warnings. 

The Fear of the Lord

is not

about being afraid

that God is a monster who is unpredictable

and unnecessarily harsh.

Because...

As we get to know God,

we realize

that

God is loving and just.

God wants to have

a close,

warm relationship with us.

He wants to be a

loving Father and a helpful Coach to us.

He wants

to be

our best friend!

We all need to learn more about

the definition

of the phrase...

Fear of the Lord

because God's Word emphasizes this trait.

Thursday

Verse 14

14 May the Lord give you increase more and more,

you and your children.

~ ~ ~

Psalm 115:14 is the heart of God.

God wants to bless us.

~

God gives good gifts to all of us.

Yet,

the Bible does tell us that 

we can make choices that will 

increase or decrease the blessings of God.

For example,

Isaiah 1:19 NKJV says

If you are willing and obedient,

You shall eat the good of the land;

Let's follow God

so that

we are in a position to get

all of the blessings God has for us.

And let's not forget that Jesus told us that...

If you love me, you will obey me.

John 14:15

~ ~ ~

The Blessings of God

Verses 15-18

15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s;
But the earth He has given to the children of men.

17 The dead do not praise the Lord,
Nor any who go down into silence.

18 But we will bless the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

The God of the Heavens and earth has given us his Scriptures in order that we would be blessed in all things including with intimacy with him.

Friday - Sunday

Gaining Insights into

Self - Awareness 

is the best thing you can do

to increase your spiritual growth.

So I have given several videos to increase your

awareness and focus your attention

on your

self - awareness and that of your

teens and children.

Self-Awareness

Self - Awareness

is a topic that has been introduced on this page. 

I will continue

in this section

to give more insights into

Self - Awareness

for you

and for you to share with

your children and grandchildren. 

Note that:

I am only recommending these videos and not any other videos associated with these videos.

Let's Talk about Self - Awareness

More thoughts

A pastor who teaches about

the importance of

Self-Awareness.

The pastor above

did a video "short" about how he began

to get self - awareness

in HIS life.

It is only a couple of minutes and

I URGE you to listen to it.

Here is the link. Copy and put it in your address bar.

https://youtube.com/shorts/X6QeNmP6_Rs?feature=share

The video link above:

The pastor above had a video "short" that said -

My wife and I were having a huge fight

and she was in the bathroom crying

and I was outside the door saying,

"Why is it that the whole world thinks that

I'm AMAZING except you?'

A voice whimpered,

"Because no one knows the real you like I do."

The pastor said

that was

the beginning of 

his

Self Awareness.

God wants to do some work on us. 

We have to let him.

We have to yield to him.

Below:

Ideas to help children

gain

Self - Awareness and Self - Control.

I especially like the

Bubble activity for increasing Self - Control.

More

Insights into the topic of 

Self - Awareness and Self - Control.

In the video below,

we learn that

Awareness determines perception

and

perception determines solutions.

Awareness > Perception > Solutions

Please consider

watching this video and helping your

children and teens

in this area.

This video helps us think through coping skills.

Help yourself and others as you learn

more about

Self - Awareness, Spiritual Growth

and also

Coping Skills for Life's Difficulties.

For other Psalm pages - click here

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Psalm 115 posted April 2022