Psalms 30:7-9 (KJV)
LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

It is appointed unto man once to die. We will, barring Christ’s calling away of the saints at the time of the rapture, face death for ourselves. The Psalmist is not arguing against it. Nor is he denying he would face it.

This is a time in his life when his “mountain is strong.” His life is vital and his purpose is clear. At such a time, even if there are threats, a person may have confidence that to be present in this world is of value:

• To God
• To others
• To ourselves 

When our time of death comes God gives grace. Until then we fight for life.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Psalms 30:7-9 (KJV) We Fight For Life

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Acts 27:29 (KJV)
Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.

The sailors had done all they could do. They had labored and, to the best of their ability, plied their skills against Euroclydon. So they cast their anchors and “wished for the day.”

Daylight would not solve their problem. It could very well spell their doom. But at least they could look their problem in the eyes. They could confront their situation head on.

No good thing comes from hiding in the darkness of difficulty. Regardless of the storm we face we are always best to face it and deal with it.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Acts 27:29 (KJV) Wishing For the Day

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Psalms 29:4 (KJV)
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

Virtually every one of my commentaries defines this as thunder. Surely this may be the parable but not the meaning of the Psalm. Who would waste their breath describing thunder without assigning it a greater value?

I heard a presentation from a blind person the other day. They described how their blindness has made them more aware of what they hear. It’s not that they hear better than others but that they pay better attention to what they hear. A blind person recognizes the uniqueness of a person’s voice just as a seeing person easily recognizes a person by the features of their face.

God’s voice, for those who pay attention, is easily recognizable. For some it may just sound like so much thunder. But to those who are dead to the world and alive unto God there is no question when God speaks.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Psalms 29:4 (KJV) When God Speaks

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Psalms 26:1 (KJV)
A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.

This Psalm begins with not sliding and ends with his feet standing. It is reasonable to view it as a means to prevent falling away from the Lord.

He begins with trusting the Lord
That’s salvation but it is more than that. It is leaning on him and resting in His judgment. It is obedience to his teaching. Integrity means something like simplicity. The will of God is not complicated. We complicate it by trying to fit our Will into God’s.

He separates from those who sin
As much as we wish everyone to be right with God and wish no one evil, the fact is we cannot hang around sinful people without that sin influencing us. A conscious choice to remove ourselves from the sinful gatherings and surround ourselves with the altar of God is essential to the spiritual life.

He seeks the Lord
Verse 11 the Psalmist asks for redemption and mercy. Redeem generally refers to salvation. In this case it refers to beginning severed from the guilty and being moved near to God. Mercy means to bow down. He is asking that God now near to him.

Finally he is on level ground.
Any trouble we have living the Christian life is a trouble we have with trying to fit it into our world. In as much as we move away from the world and simply obey God’s Word, the way becomes pretty plain and simple.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Psalms 26:1 (KJV) How To Keep From Slipping

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Psalms 25:1 (KJV)
Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

The Hebrew word for soul comes from a root that means “breath.”

Genesis 2:7  (KJV)
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

This is interesting because the spirit is that part of the man that communicates with God on the vertical plane. The soul communicates, on the horizontal plane with all that we see. Other definitions of the Hebrew word would be  “animal” and “life.” David lifted up, literally laid before God the very life given to him by God. It belonged to him.

It would not be off base to compare this to Romans 12:1 (KJV)
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

David, in Psalm 27, practices what is begged of us in Romans 12. It is in this prostrated state where our body – yea, our very life, is laid at the feet of God in surrender and in sacrifice that we are not ashamed in this world.

The body and soul striving for victory in this world will find itself at odds and outmanned. That soul surrendered before God will find that whatever this world does to it, God already has the victory.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Psalms 25:1 (KJV) Laid Before God

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Psalms 20:5 (KJV)
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.

John Gill gives two options for the use of such banners:

• A standard under which a soldier fights
• A declaration by which victory is celebrated 

In the context of petitions I suspect the former is the meaning of the Psalmist. He makes his allegiance clear and seeks the help of the One to whom he is aligned. But there is room for the later as well. In either case the point is that

• His trust 
• His hope and even 
• His victories 

are in the Lord.

He does not hide this but rather boldly displays it.

• His rejoicing in salvation
• His joy in victory
• His loyalty in peace 

is in the Lord.

The Christian may well make his best difference in the world when he is clearest about his loyalties.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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Psalms 20:5 (KJV) Clear Loyalties

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Matthew 12:36 (KJV)
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

An interesting thing happened to me the other day. I was in a conversation with a man I deeply admire, a preacher 26 years my senior. In the course of conversation I mentioned that I had recently turned 60, telling him the date of my birthday. The conversation carried on with little change of direction with the mention. We enjoyed the meal and the fellowship. I thought nothing of my mention of my birthday and would have guessed my friend thought little of it either.

Next day was Sunday and my friend was preaching. In the course of his message he brought up our conversation, my mention of my birthday and then said, “I was up last night thinking about that. I had a son born that same month and year. He died just two months later.”

I didn’t know. I meant nothing by it. He did not make a big deal of it at the time. But just the mention of my birthdate opened the doors of a sixty-year old grief for him.

It reminded me of how powerful words are. No wonder Jesus warned that we will give an account of every idle word. Words expressed with little thought and deliberation can be painful, even downright harmful.

My words were spoken in innocence and received without offense. Still they caused pain. I am not saying that what I did was wrong, I don’t think it was. But it does serve as a reminder how important it is that we consider our words.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Matthew 12:36 (KJV) Every Idle Word

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Romans 4:2 (KJV)
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

Now here is a telling verse.

The question needs to be asked, “From whence do we wish to have glory?”

• A man may have glory before men or
• A man may have glory before God

The one is derived by works while the other is the product of faith. It is not possible to have both because friendship with the world is enmity with God.

That there is a place for work is well documented in the Book of James. The Christian is not saved to sit idly by. God has saved us to good works and ordained that we should walk in them.

The heart of the matter is, I think, twofold:

Whose pleasure do we seek?
Do we seek to please men or God? The answer may not be as obvious as we think it to be. Oftentimes the pleasure of God will be at the displeasure of men, even our brethren. Just ask Apostle Paul.

How shall we seek it?
If we have determined to seek the pleasure of God then we must ask ourselves how we would go about it. The natural man would do it through his own ingenuity. He would design a system:

• Of checks and balances
• Of do’s and don’ts
• Of good and bad 

and set himself about working his system.

The spiritual man would take the much more unnatural course. He would rest in God’s promises. He would trust in the Lord. He would be satisfied to serve the Lord whenever, wherever and however God pleased. He would wait on the Lord to glorify him in eternity.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Romans 4:2 (KJV) From Whence Glory?

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Psalms 15:1 (KJV)
A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

While our first thoughts in reading this Psalm send us to the qualifications of eternity, this may not be the most practical or useful understanding.

The Psalm was almost certainly written around the time David brought the ark to Jerusalem. He had set up a tabernacle for it and he had reassigned the priestly tribe duties more appropriate to an established form of worship rather than a nomadic one. He had doorkeepers, singers and so forth.

Now consider, as he develops this new concept of priestly service, he contemplates the standards requisite for the duties. Thus, rather than being a lesson on how to get to Heaven this might better be instruction on how to qualify for and remain in service for the Lord.

This holds more weight today in the fact that every Christian is a priest. Just as a Levite could never be anything but a Levite as he received that by birth a Christian can never be anything but a Christian as he has received that through the new birth. However we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah that the priestly people can be disqualified from service through disobedience. The same is true of the Christian. Certain actions, or failures of action; certain sins, can disqualify one from service and require a removal from position.

This Psalm is an answer to the qualifications of the bishops and deacons as given by Paul to Timothy. But it is more than that as every Christian has a responsibility to be a qualified servant in the house of God.

Anyone may attend. Only the righteous may abide.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Psalms 15:1 (KJV) Who Abides in the Tabernacle?

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Psalms 10:4 (KJV)
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

There are two possible perspectives for this passage, and it’s context:

On the one hand we could see it as behavioral
The wicked does what does because he is wicked.

On the other, we could see it as descriptive
Those who behave in these ways are wicked.

• It is wicked to persecute the poor
• It is wicked to bless those the Lord abhors
• It is wicked to have a mouth full of cursing 

If we take this as an appropriate interpretation then verse four provides a convicting consideration, 

• It is wicked that God is not in all of our thoughts.

Note the word all. God is to be in all of our thoughts. Not just the religious ones. Not just when we are at church or in our devotions. God should be in our thoughts:

• While we are at home
• While we ply our trade
• While we enjoy our meals
• While we visit with company 
• While we conduct our business 

We understand that a wicked man would not have God in all his thoughts. Have we considered that it is wicked not to have God in all of ours?

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Psalms 10:4 (KJV) God In All Our Thoughts

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Romans 2:2 (KJV)
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

Albert Barnes writes of this verse, “…it is the common and admitted sentiment of mankind. It is known and believed by people generally that God will punish such crimes. It is implied in this declaration that this was known to the Jews, and it was particularly to the purpose of the apostle so to express himself as to include the Jews. …”

Though the book of the Roman is written to believers (see Romans 1:7) in this passage he rhetorically speaks to the man born with Jewish blood and resting in that birth.

Albert Barnes continues, “… Outwardly he might appear well to people; but God searched the heart, and saw the secret as well as the open deeds of people, and they who practiced secretly what they condemned openly, could not expect to escape the righteous judgment of God. God, without respect of persons would punish wickedness, whether it was open, as among the Gentiles, or whether it was concealed under the guise of great regard for religion, as among the Jews.”

We are sure, there can be no doubt, and it is commonly admitted by:

• The Christian 
• The Jew and even
• The unsaved Gentile

that there is a judgment of God to come.

Be prepared for that judgment.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4300 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Romans 2:2 (KJV) There Is A Judgment of God to Come

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Romans 1:1 (KJV)

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

I see, in this verse, a series of ever narrowing relationships between man and God.

A servant

The largest of the circles of relationship, this would include everyone. It includes the lost as well as the saved since God is able to use the lost as He chooses and for His glory. It is, of course, so much better to be the willing servant of Jesus Christ.

Called

A call is specific. In this case the call was to the apostleship. Some are called into the pastorate. Some are called to be missionaries. Some are called to be second men. Each of us is called or fitted to be members of a particular church.

Separated

The narrowest of the circles, there are servants who are not as dedicated as others and there are those who are called but have not answered that call.

The more separated toward God a child of God becomes, the fewer people he will find he has close fellowship with as there are few willing to be separated from the world and unto God. This is not to be regretted, as fellowship with God is our highest purpose.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Romans 1:1 (KJV) Ever Narrowing Relationships with God

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Acts 28:21-22 (KJV)

And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.

But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.

As much of an uproar as we think Paul made:

• In Damascus
• In Thessalonica
• In Ephesus
• In Jerusalem
• In Caesarea

When Paul got to Rome the Jews there had not so much as heard of him.

They had, however, heard of Christianity.

No doubt much if not most of what they had heard had pertained to the ministry of the Apostle Paul. He had already written a letter that had reached to the brethren who lived in Rome. But it was not Paul they had heard about. 

• They had heard about Christ and they had heard about the faith in Christ. 
• They had heard how the Jews had spoken against it. 
• They likely had also heard the reaction of much of the Gentiles against it. 

But no one had said much about Paul particularly.

I want to suggest that this is as it should be. Our faith should not be about personalities and strong leaders. Our faith should not be focused on who is 

• Doing the most or 
• Building the biggest or 
• Writes the best 

Our faith should be focused only on the person of Jesus Christ and what faith in Him is accomplishing through the churches He has established.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4200 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Acts 28:21-22 (KJV) Faith Focused on Christ

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