The Way Of Happy People

Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.  His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:  The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:  The LORD preserveth the strangers; He relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.
The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the LORD.

Psalm 146:1-10

I Muse On the Work of Your Hands

Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in Thy faithfulness answer me, and in Thy righteousness.   And enter not into judgment with Thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.  For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.  I stretch forth my hands unto Thee: my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.  Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee.
Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto Thee to hide me.  Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.  Quicken me, O LORD, for Thy name’s sake: for Thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.  And of Thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am Thy servant.

Psalm 143:1-12

In His Name I Hope

Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O LORD.  Lord, hear my voice: let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If Thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  But there is forgiveness with Thee, thatThou mayest be feared.  I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.  And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Psalm 130:1-8

I Lift Up My Eyes

Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 123:1-4

GOD’S Judgments Are Right

 JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments.
They that fear Thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in Thy word.
I know, O LORD, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
Let, I pray thee, Thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Thy word unto Thy servant.
Let Thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for Thy law is my delight.
Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in Thy precepts.
Let those that fear Thee turn unto me, and those that have known Thy testimonies.
Let my heart be sound in Thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

Psalm 119:73-80

The Work Of GOD’S Handss

Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.  The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
His work is honourable and glorious: and His righteousness endureth for ever.  He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
He hath given meat unto them that fear Him: He will ever be mindful of His covenant.  He hath shewed His people the power of His works, that He may give them the heritage of the heathen.
The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure.  They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
He sent redemption unto His people: He hath commanded His covenant for ever: holy and reverend is His name.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Psalm 111:1-10

Great God, and Great King

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  In His hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is His also.  The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.  For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. To day if ye will hear His voice,  “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work.”  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, “It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways:  Unto whom I sware in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.”

Psalm 95:1-11

The Highest Himself

 His foundation is in the holy mountains.  The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.   Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know Me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.  And of Zion it shall be said, “This and that man was born in her: and the Highest Himself shall establish her.”
The LORD shall count, when He writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.
As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

Psalm 87:1-7

Those Who Dwell In The House Of The LORD

How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.  Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still praising Thee. Selah.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.  Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.  They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Psalm 84:1-12

Shepherd Of Israel

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.  Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up Thy strength, and come and save us.
Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt Thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.  Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.  Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.  The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.  She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast Thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?  The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
Return, we beseech Thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;  And the vineyard which Thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.  It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance.
Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for Thyself.  So will not we go back from Thee: quicken us, and we will call upon Thy name.
Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Psalm 80:1-19

The Judge Of The Earth

Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?  Yea, in heart ye work wickedness;.  ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.  Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;  Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.  Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.  As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.  The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.  So that a man shall say, “Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.”

Psalm 58:1-11

The LORD Most High Is Awesome

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.  For the LORD Most High is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth.  He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.  He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.
God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.  Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.  For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.  The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: He is greatly exalted.

Psalm 47:1-9

 

The Unclean Cleansed

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.  For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
Thou art my hiding place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

Psalm 32:1-7

May I apologies for the mistake.
The thoughts I previously shared here as though I was writing for our Church site on chapters, 14  and 16 of  Leviticus.

The only forgiveness and  cleansing and atonement is  found in Jesus Christ.  David the  writer of these verses of the Psalm above, now knows  for fact  that these words are true,

The LORD Our Strength And Shield

Unto Thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto Thee, when I lift up my hands toward Thy holy oracle.
Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.  Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them, and not build them up.
Blessed be the LORD, because He hath heard the voice of my supplications.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him.  The LORD is their strength, and He is the saving strength of His anointed.
Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Psalm 28:1-9

Who Is This King Of Glory?

The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.  For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.  He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.  Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.  Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.  Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.

Psalm 24:1-10

The LORD Our Defender, Sustenance, and King

The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;   Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;  Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.   We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
Now know I that the LORD saveth His anointed; He will hear him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.  They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.  Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

Psalm 20:1-9

The LORD Is Still Lord When It Is Darkest

Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.  They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:  Who have said, ‘With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?’  “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise,” saith the LORD; “I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Psalm 12:1-8

Most Excellent Name In All The Earth

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory above the heavens.   Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;  What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?  For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet:  All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;  The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:1-9

Guard Your Heart In The Way

Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.   For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.   Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

Proverbs 23:17-19

“The Way” is through  Jesus Christ, because He died  for our sins on the cross, He was buried, and He rose again.

The way that wisdom guides Us in fearing the LORD.

The Pleasant and The Excellent Things

He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.  Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.  That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.  Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,  That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

Proverbs 22:16-21

Hearts In The Hand Of The LORD

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever He will.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin. The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.

Proverbs 21:1-10

Love Instruction and Knowledge

Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.  A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will He condemn.  A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

Proverbs 12:1-3

Sometimes we do not like people who are trying to give us good advice or instruction on how or why we should do, or even not do something.

The  one who loves and approves of someone giving good instruction, also loves knowledge.

The “Good man” obtains “Favor of the LORD”,  but who is  a good man?  Those who are perfect before God.  Those to whom God calls “Just.”  Those who have believed God concerning what  He says about His only begotten Son, who is Jesus the Christ.

The Restoration of Worship

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.  And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.  And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.  Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.
Nehemiah 9:1-4

The people who are often referred to as “The Chosen People,” had been defeated by sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, and some taken into captivity, because they had neglected the right worship of the LORD their God.

They had chosen their own way while having the pretense of worshiping God on the Sabbath days they were keeping ritual, but their hearts were far from Him.  Many of them had worshiped the gods of foreign people around them; lowering their image of GOD, blaspheming their God, and shaming His name.

Now they have spent 70 years in captivity in Babylon, the king of the Medes and Persians, beginning with Cyrus released thousands of captives to return to Jerusalem to restore the city, the temple and the wall.

They are worshiping the LORD now in repentance and faith, as they should.  How did this all come about?  They had to be put through the fire.  Gold and silver is taken to a refiner, melted by fire and purified by skimming the chaff from the surface; purifying it. Thus, the people of Judah have been prepared by fire to worship the LORD God alone.

It started by the reading of the Law of Moses by Ezra.  The people stood when Ezra opened the book, they listened and heard the word of the Lord, and they were convicted that their sins were as evil as those who came before them.  They confessed and repented of their sins, and then they worshiped the LORD God with joy.

Just as GOD sent His Chosen people into the fire for cleansing;  He also sends those who follow Jesus Christ through the fire for our cleansing, and drawing us nearer to Himself.  That fire will lead us to repentance, renewing our worship, reviving us again for right living before the LORD our God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

There must be a clear teaching  and preaching of the word of God.  Giving the meaning and the understanding of the text, so that the hearer might know what this does for the listener.  Teaching how one is to live their life before God.

He Is Like A Refiners Fire

“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come,” saith the LORD of hosts.  “But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me,” saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:1-5

The words of John the Baptist tell us of the One who was to come, and He came just as John said,

“And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 3:10-12

Living Life In The LORD

And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, ‘Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.  But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.  Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.  Therefore it is come to pass, that as He cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear,’ saith the LORD of hosts: ‘but I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.’ ”
Zechariah 7:8-14

Before they had gone into captivity the people of Israel/Judah had turned the backs on the LORD, and served other gods which were no gods, but demons.

When they turned their backs on GOD they had no desire to love their neighbor, not even their own family.  So the prophets had warned them of their undoing.

For the follower of Jesus Christ today one way to tell that we are  right with the LORD is by the way we love our neighbor; whether it be the orphan, the widow, the stranger,  and/or the poor.

Jesus Christ, as Chief Ruler of your life is the best life to live; and that will have the above justness toward all people, and we will treat them rightly..