Blessings From The Psalms

This morning, I read Psalms 31-50.  They are a blessing, and I have so little space to share so much.  Let me pick out a few thoughts that bless me.

1) 31:15-"My times are in thy hand:"  God knows all about me and how long I will be on planet earth.  I can trust him and when my time is over, heaven is waiting for me and I'm good with that.  We can trust Him and not worry or fret about the future.

2) 34:3-"O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together."  We need to worship together with other believers!  This is the wonder of church.  Our spiritual family is for our good and for carrying out God's great commission.  It takes all of us to magnify His holy name.

3)35:14-"I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother".  This verse tells us how to treat those who are our adversaries.  God wants us to treat them nicely, even when they are not treating us that way.  It does so much.  First it makes us a better Christian to love our enemies and behave properly around them.  Second, it lets others around us judge our character by our actions.  People may say bad things about you, but anyone who watches you a while will have a different opinion of you.  Third, it may be used of God to convict them.  Even Saul repented when David showed him mercy in stead of killing him. 

4)42:5- "I shall yet praise him".  When all was dark in David's life, he still believed that he would yet praise the Lord.  In other words, he had faith that there would be better days ahead.  Sometimes we thing that bad times are here to stay, but that just is not true.  "and it came to pass" is a great phrase in scripture.  We will yet praise Him, but you need faith to get you through the dark times of life.

47:6- four times in one little verse it says:  "sing praises".  I think God is trying to tell us that we ought to sing praises to His holy name.  It is not about our voices, it is about our heart!! 

Well, I've got to go for now, thanks for joining me again and hope you have a great day.  May God bless.  Dr. Mike Mutchler, Pastor

---

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Jewels From the Psalms

I've got my coffee and I'm catching up on one day I didn't get to blog.  In Psalms 13 through Psalms 32, I found so many thoughts, but here are a few:  Ps. 14:1- The fool says "there is no God".  How foolish to look at all God has given us in this beautiful world and yet someone foolishly says "I don't believe there is a God".  I wonder what man has done to believe in man, and yet God has done so much.  Still, all they do is show that they are indeed a "fool"!!  Ps. 16:6 says:  "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage."  I can identify so well to this.  I too have a goodly heritage.  Jim and Betty Mutcher are the world's best parents (in my humble opinion)!!  I have been so blessed to be raised by two dedicated Christians.  My parents gave me such a goodly heritage, and now I have passed that on to my children and their children.  Isn't God good!!  Thanks Mom and Dad, I love you both so much.  In Psalms 18:25,26, God says he responds in different ways to different people.  In the margin of my Bible I wrote:  "How does God seem to you?"  God responds to us based on how we respond to Him and if we are merciful then God response with mercy towards us.  This is so important to understand how to enjoy the Christian Life.  Love God, and you will certainly feel loved of God.  Ps. 27:13, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."  He didn't say he saw the goodness of the LORD, but he said he "believed to see…" .  Faith!  Doesn't it seem to always come down to that?  We are saved by faith and we live by faith.  Praise God.  Well, that's all for today.  Hope you have a blessed day.  Have you read your Bible?  Had your coffee?  Blessings on you.  Dr. Mike Mutchler, Pastor and Friend. 

---

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

JOB and PSALMS

Today, I have read Job 36 though Psalms 12.  I have had my coffee and now I'm just sitting in the rocking chair that the church bought me last year for my birthday.  I'm certainly thankful for it.  This past Sunday was such a wonderful Easter Sunday.  Great crowds, people getting saved, and a tremendous program that evening.  A blessed day. 

The last chapters of Job, God asks Job to answer some questions, like: "Hast thou an arm like God?"  Of course Job cannot answer any of God's questions.  The idea is this:  Don't question God when you don't have any answers yourself!  Finally in chapter 42:5, Job says:  "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear:  but now mine eye seeth thee."  God becomes real when we pass through the valley of adversity.  He knew of God in the calm of life, but he knew God after the adversities and trials had come into his life.  The last few verses of the book of Job, God doubles all that Job had lost.  Even his children, since he really didn't lose them, they were waiting for him in Paradise.

Psalms is a wonderful book of heart to heart talks between David and his God.  We love Psalms for the comfort and devotional aspects it possesses.  Let me share a few notable thoughts.  Ps. 2:3,4- Man rejects the bands and cords of God's law, but He sits in the heavens and laughs!!  How can little man rebel against God who is so great.  Ps. 4:3 tells us that God has set apart him that is godly for Himself.  Oh to have God set us apart because we seek His face!!  Ps. 8:9- "O LORD our LORD, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"  The Psalmist describes God in this verse, and all of us stand in awe of our God.  Ps. 11:3-"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  Our foundations have been given us by God.  All authority comes from God, so if these foundations be destroyed, we have little to stand upon.  Thank goodness we still have our God to look to and lean upon.  Well, so much for today.  Join me for tomorrows thoughts.   Pastor Mike Mutchler

---

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

Lessons Learned

In reading Job 15 through 35, we have lessons that Job learns.  In 23:10 he learned: "But he knoweth the way that I take:  when he that tried me, I shall come forth as gold."  Gold is only purified in the heat of the furnance.  Since it is a heavy metal, the impurities float to the top when it is melted to liquid.  We too must go through the furnace of affliction, but not for punishment, but for perfection.  He wants to perfect His will and ways in our lives.  Someone asked the man at the furnace how he knows when the gold and silver have been perfected, and he said it is easy.  The metal must be carefully watched but when the man can see his own face on the surface of the melted metal, he knows the impurities are all gone.  Isn't that what God wants all along?  To see His face reflected in our lives!!  Don't shy away from God's trying, but embrace Him during those times and know that He is working out His will and for your best life.

Well, I'm off to an early morning hospital call, so this is all I can give you today.  May God bless.  Pastor Mike Mutchler

---

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

Esther and Job

Today, I started reading in Esther 5 and read through Job 15.  Esther is a book about two people:  Esther and Mordecai.  Both were Jews in the Persian empire.  It starts off with the King, Ahasuerus, wanting his queen to come to a party and show off her beauty, but she refused.  Not wanting to set a pattern for women across the empire, the King's counsel said she, Vashti, should be replaced, and so the search was one.  Mordecai raised his niece as his daughter, and she went to the palace with hundreds of others throughout the kingdom, and she was chosen to be the next queen.  Now another character enters the story, Haman.  Haman has been promoted by the King and yet is not please because Modecai will not bow in his presence.  You see, a Jew will only acknowledge one God to bow before, just like a Christian.  Thus the strife begins.  Haman convinces the King to sign a decree to have all of the Jews killed upon a certain day, and now Mordecai must act.  He has Esther go to the king and plead their case, but there is a hitch.  Esther has not been called into the King's presence for many weeks and to go in unannounced means instant death!  She tells Mordecai to tell all of the Jews to fast for three days and then she will go into the presence of the King, and she says "If I perish, I perish".  This book is FULL of wonderful principles to live your Christian Life.  She goes in to the King, the King receives her and say he will answer her request up to a half of his kingdom.  (a man will do very much for a kind and loving woman).  She says to bring Haman and the King to a banquet she has prepared.  In the meantime, Haman has been preparing gallows 75 feet tall to hang Mordecai on.  So much good stuff I have to leave out of this book, but the end results is that the edict is changed, Haman is hung, and the enemies of the Jews are killed, and Mordecai is promoted in the Kingdom!!  A side note is that Esther 8:9 is the longest verse in the Bible. Wow... read it yourself, it is a great book of the Bible!!

 

Job, is a great book as well.  Most know the trials that Job faced, but the scripture that is given in this book is amazing.  Phrases like:  "yet trouble came"; "man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward", etc.  Here is a phrase I just came to understand today:  "Can the rush grow up without mire?"  This is talking about the bullrushes that grow long rivers or ponds.  I never really understood the phrase until reading through chapter 8 today understood it in light of the context of the passage.  What is being said is this:  Can the rush grow up without getting some mud on it?  The passage is talking about man and that Job's friends are saying he is not a perfect man.  There argument is this basically:  Can a man grow up in this world without getting some mud on him?  There are no perfect men growing up in this imperfect world... we all get some mud (sins) on us!!  What a great truth and way to illustrate it.  Well, I'll have more tomorrow.  May God bless you on this Esther Sunday!!

 

Pastor Mike Mutchler

---

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Ezra and Nehemiah

Ezra 7 through Esther 4
Ezra is about the command of King of Persia, Cyrus who commanded the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.  Ezra and Zerubbabel were used of God with willing workers to began the work and see it through.  But Cyrus passed away, and the opposition mounted.  The work even ended for a time, but God's people would not be stopped.  In chapter 5, the question is asked over and over, "who commanded you to build this house?"  The people against the Israelites wrote letters to the King of Persia saying these people are rebelling against the kingdom.  Darius was the king and was asked to make a search whether or not Cyrus ever gave such a command.  Many years had passed, but a search was made and sure enough the commandment was found and Darius even commanded that the opposition be taxed to fund the work!  In Ezra 8:23, it says "So we fasted and besought our God for this:  and he was entreated of us."  God listened to the fasting and praying of His people.... and He still does!!    The rest of the book of Ezra describes the need of repentance of God's people after the temple was built.  This is our constant need... to stay humble and ask for God's forgiveness and guidance. 
Nehemiah is about the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem.  God spoke to a laymen to go to Jerusalem and build the walls that had been destroyed over 100 years earlier.  Opposition abounded, but God blessed and every obstacle was overcome.  In 52 days, Nehemiah had rebuilt the walls.  Something that had not happened for over 100 years!!  Nehemiah had this belief:  "The God of Heaven, He will prosper us!"  We too need this same confidence!  God will take care of us as we look to Him.  Nehemiah is one of my very favorite books of the Bible.  It is full of leadership principles, faith principles, determination, ect.  It is an amazing book.  "I am doing a great work".  This is how he felt about the work God had called him to do.  We need the same confidence!!  After the walls were built, Nehemiah had the priest read the book of the law of God distinctly and caused them to understand the reading.  Preaching with explaining the Words of God is still needed today.  I hope I'm that type of preacher.  Well, tomorrow we will talk about Esther and Job.   May God bless!!   Pastor Mike Mutchler

---

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Chronicles and Ezra

In reading II Chron. 24 through Ezra 6, here are a few insights:  II Chron. 26:5, says of Uzziah:  "and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper."  If we seek God, He will bless us.  God desired to be a blessing to us but He desires us to seek His face.  Uzziah did this "until he was strong".  It's amazing that in desperate times, we seek the LORD, but when He blesses us, we often stray from the very source of blessing... the LORD!!  Let us purpose in our spirit not to do so.
In II Chron. 28:22, it says of Ahaz:  "And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD:"  Here we see that he was distressed, but didn't learn any lessons!!  How sad it is that things go horribly wrong in our lives and it doesn't humble us or teach us the lessons God has for us to learn.  We certainly need to learn the lessons of humility and staying upon God.  Don't let adversity come into your life, and you and I not be bettered by it.  Dr. Jack Trieber says:  "Don't become Bitter, become Better!" 
In II Chron. 29: 27, "the song of the LORD began".  When this happened God gave the victory.  Hezekiah was greatly outnumbered, but God gave the victory when the people of Israel began to sing unto the Lord.  We ought to sing out in faith knowing the Lord is honored by our faith. 
Ezra is an amazing book of God commanding a heathen King to rebuild the temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians.  Cyrus was the king of the Persians.  The Persian empire was one of the world's greatest ever!!  In chapter one, verse 2, Cyrus made a proclamation throughout his kingdom:  "Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth;"  This is how powerful he was and it was true, the Lord had given him all of the kingdoms of the earth, but then it goes on to say: "and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah."  This heathen king was charged by God to have the house of God built in Jerusalem.  This is what the book of Ezra is all about.  It is an inspiring story of God's grace and guidance.  Zerubbabel is the man who rebuilt the temple and Ezra is the priest who restored worship in the house of God.  Hope this helps you understand it more.  I will have another lesson soon for you.  May God bless!!   Dr. Mike Mutchler, Pastor.

---

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.