1 Thessalonians 3:10 (KJV) Wait! Lacking?

1 Thessalonians 3:10 (KJV)

Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

I am impressed with the transparency and humanity of this text. The Apostle, writing to these believers, expresses his inability to forbear, his distress, and his anxiety over the faith of these troubled souls.

• They were saved
• They were assembled as a church but
• They were not long believers before they were battered believers

And Paul had been forced to leave them. The persecution was so intense that he could not remain to establish them against the persecution.

Paul prayed for them, and Paul longed for an opportunity to see them face to face and “perfect that which was lacking” in the faith.

Wait!

Lacking?

Who was to say that their faith was lacking? What gave Paul the right to “perfect” whatever was lacking?

It takes humility to admit we have not arrived spiritually and maybe even more humility to accept that God could use a man of the same nature as our own to perfect us.

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

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Thessalonians 3:10 (KJV) Wait! Lacking?

1 Thessalonians 2:11 (KJV) A Father’s Work

1 Thessalonians 2:11 (KJV)

As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,

One can’t help but be impressed with the pathos of this chapter. Though Paul was not in Thessalonica long, he had developed a loving relationship with them. This was due largely to the investment he placed in them while there but must have grown through prayer, concern for their suffering and his intense longing to return to them.

He speaks of them as brethren
They shared the same family. They had all been washed in the blood of Christ and born into the family of God.

He speaks of cherishing them as a mother would
Obviously, the simile is pictorial. He was not feminine in any way. Understand the Bible normally as well as literally.

He speaks of exhorting them as a father would
This in no way breaks the point of Matthew 23:9 (KJV) And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

It’s another simile.

In a very practical way it does instruct a father’s work to exhort, comfort and charge his children. The strength of a father does tend to comfort. To be wrapped in the strong arms of your dad can support us even in our adult years. I loved getting “bear hugs” from my father. The other two, exhorting and charging, can be sources of contention between a father and his children. There comes a point when a young man especially doesn’t appreciate his dad’s “push,”

Godly humility will help him to see that this is God given work for the father.

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

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Thessalonians 2:11 (KJV) A Father’s Work

Psalms 118:2-4 (KJV) Remember His Mercy

Psalms 118:2-4 (KJV)

Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.
Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.
Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalms 118:1 (KJV)
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he isgood: because his mercy endureth for ever.

There could be no one excused from giving thanks unto the Lord. That said, the Bible provides three specific people groups who ought to say, “His mercy endureth forever.”

Israel
As a people, the children of God Israel were uniquely blessed. They were called of God to deliver to us the Word of God. Then they were those people from whom our Saviour came.

We who are the saved, the children of the Lord, must remember daily that God is merciful.

The house of Aaron
This is the priestly family of Israel.
In many respects, we can then say that we’ve drilled down deeper into the same family. I am also reminded that all Christians are the priests of today. We have equal access to God. We have the role of representing the people before God in prayer.

As servants of the Lord, we must remember that God is merciful.

Them that fear the Lord
Given the nature of the first two, I suggest this continues to be a deeper dive into the same family. Among the people of God, there are those who experience a closer walk with the Lord. They love the Lord, live for the Lord, and give themselves to the Lord. Their deeper relationship to the Lord reveals to them how shallow their relationship is.

Those who long to be close to God but find they are not as close as they long to be must remember that “His mercy endureth forever.”

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

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Psalms 118:2-4 (KJV) Remember His Mercy

Psalms 116:18-19 (KJV) Bible Faith is Public Faith

Psalms 116:18-19 (KJV)

I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

Bible faith is public faith.

As much as people insist that their relationship with God is private and personal, it is certainly not biblical.

I am afraid most people insisting on such a thing do so because they know they have no faith and do not wish to be challenged. It reminds me of the guy who knows he is sick and refuses to see a doctor and prove it. He would rather be sick and not know what it is than have a doctor confirm he is ill and offer a potential cure.

Whatever a person’s reasons for maintaining a personal private relationship with God, it is not a biblical one. The Psalmist expressed that he would worship God,

• In the presence of all the people
• In the courts of the Lord’s house and
• In the midst of Jerusalem

A personal faith that is not a public faith is not a biblical faith.

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

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Psalms 116:18-19 (KJV) Bible Faith is Public Faith

Psalms 114:4 (KJV) What Meaneth the Mountains

Psalms 114:4 (KJV)

The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.

Psalm 114 is just eight verses to describe the entire experience of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and entrance into the Promised Land.

It has three points:

• The Parting of the Red Sea
• The Skipping of the mountains and
• The crossing of the Jordan

The Red Sea and Jordan were obvious, miraculous, and immediate.

But what meaneth the mountains skipping?

I suppose one could claim it represents the whole of the wilderness wandering. God so moved that a desert land, known for little to sustain life, provided all the necessities for a multitude of travelers for forty years.

There is one event in those wilderness years that speaks of the mountains. It’s Sinai and the giving of the Word to Moses. The mountain was so alive while Moses was on it that the people feared to come near it. Yet when Moses returned, he came back with no less than the Law of God.

• He had the Ten Commandments[1]
• He had a structure for living[2] and
• He had the plans for the Tabernacle[3]

May I say that the Bible we hold in our hands is every bit as miraculous, marvelous, and soul-delivering as the parting of the Red Sea or the heaping up of the River Jordan? As monumental to the Jews, the Red Sea and the Jordan were, so is the Bible you and I are blessed to read daily.

So read it every day.

• Be thankful for its message
• Obey its Words and
• Tell others what it says

---

[1] A moral code

[2] Instructions for civil, social and spiritual life

[3] The house of God, translate that today as the local church

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

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Psalms 114:4 (KJV) What Meaneth the Mountains

Psalms 112:5 (KJV) A Good Man

Psalms 112:5 (KJV)
A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.

This passage is as practical as one finds in the Word of God. It ranks up with anything in the Proverbs.

A good man.
Strong’s Concordance says, “in the widest sense … beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease …”

A good man

• Manages his life in moderation
• Makes the most of his production and thereby
• Has some means at his disposal

A good man
Is compassionate, seeing the needs of others, and
Is generous, willing to do what he can to help the needy

A good man
Is trusting of the Lord and doesn’t fret over world circumstances.
Is fixed and doesn’t move from his convictions

A good man
Has eternal life and a good relationship with Almighty God

A good man
Is a grief to the wicked, who would desire to see him turn from the Lord or else to hide himself from the worldly.

I am reminded of Mark 10:18 (KJV)
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

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

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Psalms 112:5 (KJV) A Good Man

Psalms 110:4 (KJV) The Certainty of Our Saviour

Psalms 110:4 (KJV)

The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Saviour is a Certainty

That this Psalm is Messianic is beyond question. Verse one is quoted in the New Testament referring to Christ. The reference to Melchizedek is used in the book of Hebrews to point to Christ.

God has sworn, has promised, has given His Word concerning Christ.

• There was no question He would come
• There was no question about whom He would be (a priest after the order of Melchizedek)
• There was no question what he would do (take away the sin of the world)
• There is no question He will come again

Though, in the days of Noah, it repented the Lord that He had made man the Lord will not repent concerning Jesus.

The Lord will not repent of saving those who call upon His name.

We need never fear that GOD will keep His promise to save us for His name’s sake.

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

For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Psalms 110:4 (KJV) The Certainty of Our Saviour