OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD TESTS THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS OF OUR HEARTS

Psalm chapter 17 verse 3 ( Amplified version ) says this;

You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night;

You have tested me and You find nothing [evil in me]; I intend that my mouth will not transgress.

This verse is reflected in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 which says ( NASB 1995 version);

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Just before the Lord Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was praying and He revealed in His prayers that He had been subjected to an audit of His thoughts and intentions by the Father and that this test had yielded no faults.

The Lord Jesus, under the extreme pressure of fatigue and on-coming danger, had remained pure in heart and His motives and intentions were beyond reproach.

The Word of God Himself was tried under the exacting standards of God such that the boundary ( or interface ) between His soul and spirit was pierced and pried open like joints are pried apart  by tearing tendons and marrow is revealed by breaking open the bones. His every thought and intention was isolated and judged and He was shown to be absolutely perfect.

It was during this prayer that the soldiers who were searching for the Lord Jesus arrived at the garden and arrested Him.

The holy lamb of God went with His captors to face trial before the courts of men. Here, He was found guilty of making Himself out to be God and was sentenced to death.

The Lord Jesus was God and as such was not guilty of falsly claiming to be God and thus was perfectly innocent of the crime He was sentenced to death for.

The Lord Jesus knew He would be cleared in the final judgement as the last verse ( verse 15 )  of psalm 17  records;

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO WRAPS HIMSELF WITH LIGHT

From Psalm 104;

Oh my God You're clothed in splendor

Oh my Lord You're wrapped in light

Flames of fire are Your servants

When You speak, oceans take flight

May Your glory endure forever

I will praise You all my life

_________

Oh God, You wrap Yourself in light

You're clothed with splendor and might

You make the clouds Your chariot

Flames of fire your servants

Your messengers are the winds

Yes they become Your wings

May the glory of the Lord endure forever

May the Lord rejoice in His works

I will sing to the Lord all my life

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live

May my meditation be pleasing to You

As I rejoice in You.

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Psalm 104 (NIV)

1 Lord my God, you are very great;

    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;

    he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

    and rides on the wings of the wind.

4 He makes winds his messengers,[a]

    flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;

    it can never be moved.

6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;

    the waters stood above the mountains.

7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,

    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8 they flowed over the mountains,

    they went down into the valleys,

    to the place you assigned for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;

    never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

    it flows between the mountains.

11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;

    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;

    they sing among the branches.

13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,

    and plants for people to cultivate—

    bringing forth food from the earth:

15 wine that gladdens human hearts,

    oil to make their faces shine,

    and bread that sustains their hearts.

16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,

    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17 There the birds make their nests;

    the stork has its home in the junipers.

18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,

    and the sun knows when to go down.

20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,

    and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21 The lions roar for their prey

    and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises, and they steal away;

    they return and lie down in their dens.

23 Then people go out to their work,

    to their labor until evening.

24 How many are your works, Lord!

    In wisdom you made them all;

    the earth is full of your creatures.

25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,

    teeming with creatures beyond number—

    living things both large and small.

26 There the ships go to and fro,

    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 All creatures look to you

    to give them their food at the proper time.

28 When you give it to them,

    they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

    they are satisfied with good things.

29 When you hide your face,

    they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

    they die and return to the dust.

30 When you send your Spirit,

    they are created,

    and you renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

    may the Lord rejoice in his works—

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;

    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,

    as I rejoice in the Lord.

35 But may sinners vanish from the earth

    and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.[b]

OUR FATHER WHOM WE JOYFULLY WORSHIP

Psalm 100 verse 2 ( in the NIV ) says this;

Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

This verse exhorts all the people on earth to serve and worship the Lord their God with gladness and joyful songs.

It is good and appropriate to approach the Lord with music and songs,  laughter and happiness for He is our God and creator and we are His people.

Our posture as we draw near to Him should be a posture of gratitude and praise for He is is good and loving and faithful forever.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOM WE ENTREAT FOR REDEMTION

Psalm 79 89 verse 17 5 says this;

You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

This verse, excerpted from a corporate prayer of the children of Israel written by the Psalmist Asaph, laments the grief that has come upon them as a result of the judgement of God that had befallen them.

They suffer reproach from their enemies and their security is breached when their defence walls are ruined and foreigners are able to intrude into their territory with impunity.

They cry out to God to once again show favour to them as verse 19 says;

Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO WILL NEVER LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US

The book of Isaiah chapter 49 verse 15 says this;

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

This verse speaks of the bride of Christ being being promised that she will be restored by the Lord after she is seemingly abandr oned by God and decimated.

She had said to herself in verse 14;

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

But the Lord replied that even as a mother would not forget her own child whom she had given birth to, He too would never forget his bride.

The Lord accentuates the metaphor of the bond between a mother and child by pointing out that there are in fact some cases where a mother would forget her own child but He would never forget Zion.

The Lord then said in verse 16;

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

In saying this, the Lord eternally committed Himself to Zion.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE WRATH BRINGS JUDGEMENT UPON HIS OWN PEOPLE

Psalms 79 verse 11 says this;

May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.

The psalmist, this case Asaph, was considering the devastation that had befallen Jerusalem as judgement for their evil deeds.

Their sins brought ruin to them as the descendants of Israel were slain and left unattended around the the streets of the city.

The people Jerusalem lamented to the Lord to have mercy on them and save them them from the assault of the neighbouring kingdoms. 

As Psalm 79 verses 8  - 9 say;

Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. 

Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins

As they cried to the Lord in their desperation, they pointed out that some of His people were suffering as prisoners being held by the invaders and even worse, some of the captured people were condemned to die.

They pleaded with God to intervene by His strong arm to preserve those who were earmarked to die by the enemy.

At the late hour is when they called upon the Lord to shield them from destruction and they invoked the condition of the captured among them to press the Lord to take action in their favour.

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OUR FATHER WHO UPHOLDS ULTIMATE JUSTICE

The book of Isaiah chapter 14 verse 9 - 10;

The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones—all those who were kings over the nations.

They will all respond, they will say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.”

This astonishing passage describes a scene that will unfold in the abode of the dead when the anti-christ is uprooted and cast down.

News of the dethronement of the man of lawlessness will cause the netherworld to move into position to meet him as he descends into their place. The spirits of the departed people will be awoken to greet him when he arrives.

The former leaders of the world, still sitting on their dilapitated thrones in the gloom, will stand to catch a glimpse of the one who led them into darkness.

Upon seeing him, they will ponder the fact that this man, who dominated them and caused them to tremble with fear and who overthrew the cities of the earth, was now brought to nothing and was as weak as they were.

The one who aspired to the highest throne for himself, sunk to the lowest chambers for he had destroyed the land he had claimed and killed the people over whom he ruled.

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