All Ears

Q3. (Psalm 133) What about this short psalm seems to attract you? Why is "dwelling together in unity" so difficult? What kinds of commitments does unity require of us? How do the principles of unity and purity seem to conflict with each other? Why are reconciliation and unity such high values in Jesus' teaching, do you think? The idea of unity is what attracts me in this psalm... also oil and purfume are lovely things. Dwelling in unity is difficult because every one has thier own ways and thoughts and values and they are reluctant to put their values behind what another values or to compromise on what they think is right. If people could come to a point where the most important thing is to love another person or persons and that they may have to put their valued purpose or value one peg down to be able to love someone and keep unity then there would be less conflice People who think doctrine must be purely one way. look down and reject and exault themselves as better than worldly christians who do not hold to the same standards. If you do not see it this way you are to be ignored pushed our and put under and a split of people happens instead of saying We see you do not agree with such and such as we do but we all believe that God died for us and we must worship him and we will agree to worship together and be united over what is basic not what is seen as a thing of conflice . What is more important to love one another or keep a doctrinal law in the forefront and hate those who do not agree. Jesus expects us to love and reconcile and be in unity by what is written in his word and his Great Commandment love God with our whole heart and others as ourselves.So it was God loved even sinners.... us before we were saved etc. we can at least love one another.

Q2. (Psalm 15) The Wisdom Psalms are meant to instruct us. How would you use this psalm in your family to instruct your children? What topics of right living does it cover? The only way to use this Psalm to instruct your children is to live it. To your best ability.... we may fall short in areas but admit it to your children and apologize to them for being a bad example at those times. The teachings would include topics as .... Useing speach and tongue for good / not gossiping or hurting people with speach or lies It would include making prayer and God important in life ... showing a prayer life and attending church and spiritual activities and or fellowshiping with other christians Keeping ones word,,, a promis or agreement is to be kept ,,, equaling good neighbor policy and truth between people It would include how to handle money, lesson's of how not to be greeedy it is ok to have something you earn but not to have an over abundance and not to make proud display of it. not to hurt or take advantage of people by lending with lg. interest. lend to help them only asking the amt. lent back.

Q1. (Psalm 1). This short psalm seems to reaffirm what we already know: the righteous will succeed and the wicked will perish. Why do we need to be reminded of this? From an emotional standpoint, what lines in this psalm stand out to you. Why do you think you like them? We need to be reminded on this because we have a sinfull nature and we must be aware of this nature in us and strive to have our have our strength and behavior reflect in us from the Holy Spirit's being alowed to work in our lives. Not let our sinfull nature get an upper hand and show in our behavior and actions thus ruining our testamony. We do not always succede in this but hopefully as christians we succede more than we fail. The words that emotionally stand out to me are Verse 2 " But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night I am emotionally touched by this because I would like to have the time to meditate on God's word day and night. But the truth is that I do not meet the standard I would llike to have. I read the Word often but it is sparatic one day morning ,, next day night perhaps skipping 2 days then mid afternoon ..... I am not consistand and I feel this is a failure ... I should at least have a strong committment to one time each day be it am or pm.... but stick to it. This is convicting me a bit and I am determined to work on it. I am going to the Holy Spirt to ask help to do this.... God bless you all.... All Ears.

Hi I know I am behind at this date in loggine my answers into the blogg but I am catching up on a few today. In lesson two exersize I memorized psalm one just to prove " I could not memorize any longer, wrong i was able to memorize it ". and went on to memorica psalm 63 after that . It was an eye opener i was not past memorizing skill i still can do it .... Cheers....

. (Psalm 63) Why is recognition that God loves you the basis of all faith? What does this realization bring about in your life? Q3.... A. I will have to say this question baffles me a bit.... or more than that. I understand that one must be active in seeking out a relationship. I can see where a passive person who is not willing to put effort into a friendship, relationship will find no real connection with a friend or God. So that this loveing friendship with God needs to be actively sought. So in order to put effort into seeking God you would have to be convinced in his love and wanting to love you and His wanting to be loved by you And that is like Faith. You have to know something is real to believe in it and form a relationship with God or another. Knowing someone loves you gives you hope and an eagerness or longing to believe have faith. in whatever.... God, a marriage relationship or friendship. If you are not convinced that there is love for you then the faith does not develop. No reason is seen for the faith. Q3.....B. I guess that if you believe in Gods love for you ; you will feel and know there is something to be actively persuing and putting effort into. If you don't believe in His love for you there would be no reason for the persuing or effort. So this knowing should make your life active and persuing God in any way you can.

: Q2. (Psalms 42-43). What is the psalmist feeling during this spiritual struggle? How does he combat his spiritual depression? Have you ever felt this way? How did you reach out to God at this time? Q2.... A It seems the psalmist her is expressing sadness, loneliness, anger, grief and regret. He is far away from familiar and usual things. Not in his usual place of worship, or with the people he is use to being and shareing worship and fellowship with. Q2....B the techniques noted in his trying to combat his spiritual depression seem to be . Self Talk reminding himself of postitve events of the past. Allowing himself time to dream of the past good and joyous experiences of worship. dancing and praise. Dreaming of them and telling himself that God is Good and this loneliness and being away from this will not last forever. Also when he starts talking to himself he says God is good and has good things and Gdo is not just in the temple He is anywhere we are. Q2... C.Yes have felt depressed spiritually many times. Have used self talk alot , Have tried playing christian music and psalms. Playing bible on cd ,,, Have sought out to be with a friend who is not is sp. depression and spend time with that person. Have gone to places that I deem to be special and peacefull . Down by a river or along a path in the woods. or my favorite just floating on my back in a pool, pond or river. It just takes striving to meet up with God's presence, or changing some small thing in your life that is wrong. Ps... God uses all things for our good and in HIS time he meets with us. He is there all the time we distance ourselves from Him. Only we don't always see it that way.

Q2. (Psalms 42-43). What is the psalmist feeling during this spiritual struggle? How does he combat his spiritual depression? Have you ever felt this way? How did you reach out to God at this time? Q2 A.... I see the psalmist expressing slight anger, depression , sadness , grief and regret. Feeling depressed and lonely etc... Q2 B... Self talk is definitely one way the psalmist is dealing with his spiritual depression. reminding himself of good times. Telling his soul that not all is lost, That things can be better. Reminding him self of the good times with God's presence and the Joy experienced in the past. Also dreaming and meditating of good past experiences Like marching up to the temple , singing ; dancing and praising God in exuberance. dreaming of the happy sounds of the music. The smiles and happy voices he remembers. remembering how closeness felt with the Lord. Trying to cheer his soul within him by thinking back. Calling out to God for help in lifting his spirit from the pit of depression. Q2... C. Yes I can relate, Have been thru these depressions, dry spiritual periods and I might add total depressions etc etc not to elaborate. The basic thing is I have used self talk, I have listened to music to lift mood, Read a scripture or book of the word that I know is lifting and happy . Did something that I liked to do like go sit by water, swim, go be with someone I enjoy. Pray for God to help lift my sadness. Try to analise where I went wrong or did before I started into the sadness or anger. Found a book with advice ( spiritual ) and read it if it related to where I was at.Other times I just isolated and got worse. It is your attitude and ability to reach out that help. When you don't you go deeper.

Q1. (Psalm 27) What does it mean that David desires to "dwell in the house of the Lord"? What does it mean to "seek his face"? How does David provide hope at the end of this Psalm? Q1. part A... In this 27th psalm when it says "David desires to dwell in the House of the Lord". I feel the meaning is that David desires to be very close to the Lord; and be able to feel and experience this closeness.Being Close to the Lord and experienceing and feeling this closeness is like a safe haven for David or like the shelter of a cave etc etc.... This feeling of closeness with the Lord God left him feeling happy ! The feeling and knowing this closeness brought out David's Joy. and he could sing and dance and celebrate in this knowledge and Feeling close to His lord. Q1.Part B The expression " To seek His face" means to me that David wanted a meeting with His Lord God. Close enought that David felt they were face to face communicating. In a place he could hear what God was saying to him and David could answer and feel God heard his response. Q1 Part C... It seems to me that the hope David gives in the end of this psalm is reminding himself and the others hearing the psalm of Abraham. Abraham waited and waited for years for the promised Son and decendents God had promised him. Abraham being human did not always wait patiently and tried to fulfill it himself at times. But David's reason for bringing up Abraham was the point that God Did Fulfill the Promise to Abraham and since He is a faithful God He and We today can have Hope in that if we wait for God to fulfill his word and promises He will. If we wait and stay close in His presence.

For the experience I chose to Write my own Psalm. I did not stick to the old testament Parallel ism 's but will try that some time soon. I just wrote from my heart. Lord , awakening to the beauty of the morning is inspiring The sunlight sparkling off the dew; and the sunrise speak of your wonders. They show the beauty of your works. Lord you meet me where I am at each day. Yes when my path is not straight and I wander in wrong directions. Your Spirit guides me gently back to your straight way. Lord , I thank you for your Grace; Grace and strength you supply. Yes your strength to go forward,even in difficulties and disasters. Yes you strength is comforting. Lord just Thank you for being you. For being near when I am lonely. Yes lonely, wandering and questioning. You are like a beam of light giving comfort and direction. Your goodness God , I feel Your kindness and Love , I cherish. Your direction and correction, I need and seek. So that I can walk in Your Way and walk in Your presence. I bless you and thank you and Pray to stay close Lord lead me close to you Please , And stay by my side. It is hard to be original in making up a psalm but I game it my best effort. I am still going to work on one that uses the parallelism but I found it takes alot of time and effort... I will share it when I get it done. Am really enjoying this even after just one lesson!!!

Q3. (Psalm 139). In what way does the wonder of creation in the psalm seem to affect the psalmist? In his concluding prayer in verses 23-24, what does he ask God to do? Q3. Part A... In this Psalm I seem to feel that the wonder of creation as seen by the psalmist makes him think inwardly, meditate on an consider that God knows us intimitely. He reflects on how God knows us in the womb and internal thoughts as well as what we do and say outwardly. that God knew us always and knows our future. And along with this knowledge he dreams and meditates and ponders God and how his creation even himself are really known by God Q3. Part B....In the psalmist concluding prayer, the psalmist asks God to go into his thoughts and memories and inner being and see what in him is wicked and sinfull and to guide and lead him in God's acceptable and good ways. to change his perspective and his way of living out life into a way acceptable to God.

Q2. (Psalm 19) Verses 1 to 6 seem very different from verses 7 to 13, but there is a common thread that relates the first part to the second part. What is it? In what way does the psalmist seem to bask in God's Word? Have you ever felt that way? How does the psalmist's wonder in creation seem to affect him in this psalm? In the classic prayer of verse 14, what is David asking God to do? Q2. Part A.... Verses 1-6 voice how God speaks scilently , wordlessly thru creation and the heavenly sights. verses 7-13 voice how God speaks thur the written words of the bible , scriptures. The common thread is God speaking ; communicating to us His created beings... whether wordlessly in the images of creation or written communication of the words of Scripture whichever he is communicating to us both ways. Q2.Part B.... The common thread running thru all these verses is communication from God. The first few verses are voicing how he communicates scilently thru his creation, heavens and nature The next few veses are voicing how he communicates thru the written words of the scripture. It is all communication what ever form it takes he is speaking to us of His grandure and care and greatness. Q2. Part C.... The Psalmist seems to bask in the God's Word . Bask is to be exposed to as our skin is exposed to the sun and we are warmed or burned whichever; exposed to wind and cold if we do not dress properly.etc....... But here the Psalmist is exposed to Gods word. He is getting good our of it, He is recieving pleasure in reading and meditating on it; He is encouraged by the word; He is enjoying what it says to him. As we all should bask in the Word. Q2.Part D.... Yes At times I have Felt this way. At times when the word is speaking of things I have experienced or speaking something I need to hear I am happy , pleased, and enjoy the word. and it is comforting to at times pleasureing in just how much he cares for us. Q2.Part E.... The effect on the wonder of creation seems to affect the psalmist *** to make him meditate on how Creation and God are good and meditate on how he is and it brings him to evaluate himself and his thoughts and actions . He thinks ofthe errors and sins of his thougts and actions Q2.Part F..... The Psalmist is asking God to act like a kinsman redeemer and to protect him. To pay the redemption of the sin of the thoughts and actions that he knows are not pleasing to God. To redeem him and make him acceptable in God's Sight because he knows he cannot make himself good and that God cannot look on him if he is full of sin so He humbles himself and asks God to make him in a redeeming sense acceptabel to come into God's presence.

Q1. (Psalm 8). What does this psalm teach about God? What does it teach about human beings? What does it teach us about Christ? What does it teach about our responsibilities? This Psalm teaches us that God should be our Lord( Lord meaning maker over all we do and say ie our actions and speech.) The psalm teaches us that God's name is great and we should lift it up before people in praise and prayer with honor. The psalm teaches us to be humble and praise him. If we don't children and rocks and hills etc... will praise Him. The psalm teaches about human beings that we were made a little lower than the heavenly beings. The psalm teaches that we were crowned with glory and honor by our maker God. The pslam teaches we were made to be rulers ( protectors and keepers ) over God's creation. The Pslam teaches us it is our responsibility to praise God and honor him The psalm teaches us to care for and took over and protect God's creation as far as the earth and soil plants, animals and other humans that he made . Do what we can to care and protect them, and the created animals and plants and sea creatures. We are responsible for keeping what he put on earth well and good as he made it.