DIG for Monday the 23rd of March…..done it, done it, done it…..Psalm 51

I was chatting with some friends last night and we were talking about Psalm 51, and how it is a prophetic picture of living under the New Covenant, and not to be taken literally by the believer today.

As we were talking I got a picture of the Lord listening to someone speaking out this Psalm in the way that some still do. The exchange went something like this……

Believer – Have mercy on me God (verse 1)

God – Done it

Believer – Wash me from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (verse 2)

God – Done it

Believer – Purge me and make me clean

God – Done it

Believer – Make me hear joy and gladness (verse 8)

God – Done it

Believer – Blot out my iniquities (verse 9)

God – Done it

Believer – Create in me a clean heart and a new spirit (verse 10)

God – Done it

….and we could go on and on and on.

We are living under the New Covenant, in a time when Jesus has completed His finished work, in a time when all these things being asked for have already been given.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you have had mercy on me, have created in me a new spirit and have cleansed me from all my sin”.

Psalm 51 v 2…..Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin

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DIG for Sunday the 22nd of March…..Deuteronomy 28 v 2 real does work…..Deuteronomy 28 v 2

I am not writing this DIG to blow my own trumpet; I am writing it to testify to how good God is and to how He does what He says in His Word.

When I left my full time secular job last July I didn’t know how I was going to make a living, other than that I believed God would provide for me.

Believing that He told me to quite work I had to trust in Him and His Word.

As soon as I left work people came forward wanting to partner with me; giving into the church also went up.

The Lord said I should start a small business to help fund the ministry and work for this has been coming in to such an extent that I now very nearly have all the work (with regards to days per year) that I want or need.

The amazing thing is though that with only one single exception I have not gone and applied for this work, the work has come to me.

Hearkening to His Word has meant blessings have come upon me and overtaken me, I can testify to this and say that this verse is true!

Of course the whole Bible is true, but I can honestly say that this verse is “working for me”.

God is a good God, and wants us to live in health and prosperity (3 John 2).

He is our provider and our sustainer, providing blessing after blessing for us.

The key is to listen to Him and hear Him (to hearken), then trust and obey.

God has already provided all that we need for this life, we need to understand this and hear what He has for us and then move into it.

As we move into this plan His blessings will crash over us like a wave at the sea shore.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the wonderful blessings that you already have in place for me”.

Deuteronomy 28 v 2…..And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord

DIG for Saturday the 21st of March…..it was faith then and it is faith now…..Colossians 2 v 6

Faith is an important “thing” in the life of a believer.

It is of course by faith that we are saved initially (Ephesians 2 v 8).

I don’t think anyone in the church disagrees with that statement, you are saved as a gift of grace through your faith in Jesus and His finished work (Romans 10 v 9).

Paul says to the Colossians that they should walk their Christian life in the same way that they received Jesus initially (Colossians 2 v 6).

That means we walk the rest of our life and life our life through faith.

So if we required healing (part of your salvation) we are to receive that as a gift of grace through faith.

If we require to be moved from poverty (part of your salvation) we are to do that through faith, and receive it as a gift of grace.

If we require to be made whole in any way (also part of our salvation) we are to receive it as a gift of grace through faith.

Works and self-righteousness was not required for your initial salvation; that came as a gift from God because of faith.

Everything else in this Christina life (or your walk) comes in the same way, as a gift of grace through faith and not through your works or efforts.

God does not want your works or efforts before He can or will bless you.

He has already blessed you (Ephesian 1 v 3).

You can see these blessings made manifest in our life through faith, just in the same way as you received your initial salvation.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you require my faith and not my works”.

Colossians 2 v 6…..As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him

DIG for Friday the 20th of March…..temptations, trials and tests are not from God but can be used by God…..James 1 v 13

How often have you heard the following when you are in trouble or in a bad situation, “well God must have a purpose for putting you through this”?

NO!

God does not put temptations, trials or tests upon us.

He does not use illness, poverty, pain or anything evil to “try” or “test” us.

But what about James 1 v 2 to 4 then where it quite clearly says that we can be “improved” through temptations and trials?

I agree with that, but what I disagree with is the source of the temptation or trial.

Nowhere in those verses does it say God sends them.

Indeed if people would only look further on in this book they would see that truth.

God does not tempt us with evil (James 1 v 13) and poverty, illness and pain are clearly evil (Deuteronomy 28).

Yes God can use them to help us in our walk and in our life.

This is a very important truth as if people think something is from God they will have less of an emphasis to resist it.

Pain, illness and poverty are from the enemy and we are meant to resist him.

Healing and abundance are from God (3 John 2) and we a re to submit to Him.

Resist the things of the enemy and submit to the things of God, that is what we should be doing (James 4 v 7).

This assumes that we know what is from God and what is from the enemy; this can be learned from His Word.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you want the best for us, you want us to live in health and prosperity”.

James 1 v 13…..Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man

DIG for Thursday the 19th of March…..Behold the Lamb of God…..John 1 v 36

While writing my DIG yesterday I was reminded about the baptism of Jesus where John the Baptist refers to Him as the Lamb of God.

We know the symbolism here; Jesus would be our Passover and would be sacrificed as such (1 Corinthians 5 v 17).

I also love here the picture of Jesus dealing with our sin.

Before His baptism John sees Jesus and says this, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1 v 29).

After His baptism he simply says, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1 v 36).

Why did he not mention about sin the second time?

Well, the baptism of Jesus is a picture of His death and resurrection.

Going into and under the water is a picture of death while the coming up and out of the water is a picture of His resurrection.

After His death and resurrection our sin was not an issue anymore, He had dealt with all our sin on the cross.

Jesus was the payment for all sin for all people, and the payment was made on the cross (1 John 2 v 2).

So with baptism being a picture of His death and resurrection there was no need to mention sin, as it was no longer an issue for God, it had been dealt with.

What a wonderful picture of the finished work of Jesus, with sin no longer being an issue for God all because of what Jesus would do.

We are blessed in living under the New Covenant when that work has been done and completed!

Speak this out….”Thank you Lord for the finished work of Jesus Christ, and thank you that He was the Lamb of God”.

John 1 v 36…..And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God

DIG for Wednesday the 18th of March…..Jesus is our Passover lamb…..1 Peter 1 v 19

I had the privilege last night of attending a Passover meal organised through Jews for Jesus.

We were taken through the symbolism of the Passover meal, where many things done are pointing to Jesus as Messiah and Saviour.

The original Passover was a clear picture about Jesus Christ.

The blood of a lamb was taken and “painted” on the houses to show that those inside were to live; the angel passed over those houses.

The blood of that lamb was their salvation.

In the same way the blood of Jesus is our salvation.

Jesus was like that lamb, without blemish and without spot as He was sinless (1 Peter 1 v 19).

Jesus was sacrificed as our Passover (1 Corinthians 5 v 17).

As I’ve said before we can learn a lot about New Covenant principles and about Jesus from the Old Testament; this is the case with Passover.

Once we are “in” Jesus we also are safe, we have been saved.

Because of Jesus we have been forgiven and reconciled, and as a gift of grace through faith in Him we have been saved and made righteous.

Once “in” Christ we have life everlasting.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that Jesus is my Passover Lamb, He is my sacrifice”.

1 Peter 1 v 19…..But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot

DIG for Tuesday the 17th of March…..righteousness and salvation is linked and cannot be separated…..Isaiah 51 v 6

I was talking with a friend yesterday and she was telling me how much of an encouragement Isaiah 51 had been to her recently.

We read it together and I have to say I loved the way that righteousness and salvation were linked.

In this prophetic word God is telling the people that His righteousness and His salvation are coming (Isaiah 51 v 5).

He says that even when the earth passes away His salvation and His righteousness will not (Isaiah 51 v 6).

We are fortunate in that we are living in the days, the new covenant, when His righteousness and salvation are here.

All men can be saved and made righteous as a gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

We are saved and made righteous at the same time as we believe and trust in Jesus and His finished work.

This salvation and this righteousness will never pas away and never be removed, once saved we a resaved and once righteous we are righteous.

What a wonderful truth!

Praise the Lord that we live under the New Covenant and benefit from this.

If you are saved, trusted and believed in Jesus, you are also righteous; this is what we can read about in 2 Corinthians 5 verses 17 to 21.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that as a gift of grace through faith in Jesus I have been saved and made righteous”.

Isaiah 51 v 6…..Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall live for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished

DIG for Monday the 16th of March…..the apostles doctrine, first in the list of church basics…..Acts 2 v 42

The start of the “church age” was a very exciting time and we can read about this all through the Book of Acts.

We can read an early account where about three thousand people were saved (Acts 2 v 41).

We also read about many wonders and signs being done by the apostles (Acts 2 v 43).

In between these two verses we read what the church were doing, what the believers where taking part in.

They were in fellowship, breaking bread together (taking communion or having meals) and in prayer (Acts 2 v 42).

But first in this list was continuing stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.

They were concentrating on the teaching of the apostles, which is what doctrine means.

They were focusing on the fundamental teachings from the leaders of the church.

These teachings are what we now know as the New Testament epistles; a major part of the Word of God.

This is where we read about our forgiveness, our righteousness; where we read that we have all we need for life and godliness.

This is where we read about the love that God has for us.

There are many things that go on in church today that is not on this list in Acts 2 v 24.

I am not saying that these are wrong, however they should not be given priority over the items in the list, especially continuing steadfastly in the Word of God.

Speak this out today….”Thank you Lord for your Word, your inspired Holy Scripture and thank you that understanding of this is what will change my life”.

Acts 2 v 42…..And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers

DIG for Sunday the 15th of March……no more fear of superstitions…..Psalm 91 v 5

Thanks to Zan for the DIG today……

In the news this week we have seen how different countries view and react to the spectacle of an eclipse.  In some places it is looked on with great fear and trepidation, as they believe it is a sign that something awful is going to befall them all.

It made me realise how wonderful it is to know and be assured of all the promises of God written in His word.

As we meditate on His word and believe and put faith in what we are reading, we can have such deep peace in the knowledge of Him.

We no longer have to worry about all the scaremongering that is constantly bombarding us in the media and by the people we meet.

We can give thanks that we now have peace with God because of what Jesus has done at the cross (Romans 5 v 1), and that God no longer wants to pour out His wrath on us every time we go wrong.

His word tells us that no evil shall befall us and no plague shall come nigh thy dwelling (Psalm 91 v 10).

Because He is for us it doesn’t matter who is against us as He is stronger than any foe (Romans 8 v 31).

Our Lord is continually pouring out His goodness over us as we go about our day (Psalm 23 v 6).

It is His delight to crown our year with His goodness (Psalm 65 v 11).

His blessings pour down on us and overtake us because He loves us all so much (Deuteronomy 28 v 2).

We have so many scriptures to meditate on that bring us peace and joy so we don’t have to give in to worry and fear when we read and see what is going on around us.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I no longer have to be anxious about my future because you go before me always, watching and helping me as I go”.

Psalm 91 v 5…..Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day

DIG for Saturday the 14th of March…..read all the Bible not just wee bits…..Romans 3 v 23

When I opened my Bible this morning I found that I was at Romans 3 and 4.

I noticed the one bit of highlighting that was on Romans 3 v 23, and was reminded that this was a verse I highlighted many years ago.

I was in a “different place” in terms of doctrine and theology back then and this highlight is a picture of that different place.

I had been focussing on the negative part of this passage, rather than the positive parts either side of it.

The teaching I was receiving was more about the sinning rather than the righteousness, justification or redemption.

From this I can see that my focus, or what I was mainly meditating upon was wrong.

This passage of Scripture is not about how we are all sinners and have come short of the standard that God has set.

It is all about how through the finished work of Jesus Christ that issue has been sorted!

Through faith in Jesus we have been made as righteous as God (Romans 3 v 22).

Through faith in Jesus we have been justified as a free gift and have been redeemed, or bough back (Romans 3 v 24).

Those are the truths we should be focussing on rather than the sin bit.

If I ever get a new Bible I will be highlighting Romans 3 v 22 and 24 this time!

Focus on and speak out about the goodness of God, as that is what will lead men to repentance (Romans 2 v 4).

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that the sin issue has been dealt with and that as a gift of grace through Faith in Jesus I am righteous and justified and have been redeemed”.

Romans 3 v 23…..For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God