Psalm 119:98-99

Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for Your words are always with me.  I have better understanding and deeper insight than all my teachers (because of Your word) for Your testimonies are my meditation.  

The deeper connection we want from God comes from reading and meditating on His word.  The bible is our insight into how God thinks and His expectations for us, and what He wants to give us.  God provides us with gifts and opportunities for wisdom and leadership in our lives.  

Psalm 89:1

I will sing of the goodness and lovingkindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.

The power of praise and worship will open up the heavens.  Praise helps us express our love for God and all that He has done.  Worship shows that we know that God is our source and supply. It takes the focus off ourselves and back to God. 

Psalm 46:8-9

Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has wrought desolations and wonders in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow into pieces and snaps the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire.

The wonder of God and His power and strength is to be praised.  God can move any obstacle for us as His children.  We can have confidence in His abilities and not doubt that God can protect, heal and save.  Our shout of victory and triumph come in complete faith in our Father in Heaven.  

Psalm 1:2

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law (His precepts and teachings) he (habitually) meditates day and night.

God designed us and knew we would need the bible to keep our focus. Meditation on the word of the Lord brings joy and strength to our lives.  Every time we open our bible and read, we refresh our spirit and soul and solidify the love and purpose of God for our lives.  That focus on God’s teachings will keep and sustain us through all. 

Leviticus 26:3-4

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and (obediently) do them, then I will give you rain in its season, and the land will yield her produce and the trees of the field bear their fruit.

Keeping the commandments of God brings blessing into our lives.  Along with these benefits, God can keep us safe and protected.  Obedience to the word of God isn’t a punishment but a screen filtering out any impurities that try to draw us away, which will then open the door for our lives to bear good fruit in abundance.

Leviticus 23:3

For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation (calling together). You shall not do any work (on that day) it is the Sabbath of the Lord wherever you may be.

God invented rest and rested Himself from all His work.  The world today tries to pull us away from rest and to come together.  Many of us can remember when no shops were open on Sunday.  Rest and coming together draws our focus back to God from the busy world.

Romans 1:16

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation (from His wrath and punishment) to everyone who believes (in Christ as Savior), to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

At one time in his walk with God, Saul, before he became Paul, was persecuting Christians for the gospel.  What a difference the grace and love of God made in his life.   Paul’s life was radically changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus in a new direction of faith and hope in Jesus, and Paul shared his new faith.  We are the extension of Paul now, called to share our faith and the story of our radically changed lives.

1 Timothy 4:1-2

But the (Holy) Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, (misled) by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron (leaving them incapable of ethical functioning).

There is a point of no return that a person can reach.  One compromise will lead to another until sin leads us entirely away from God.  Sin is not something we should give place to, and avoiding it is to our benefit.  Our faith developed in the truth and love of God is a barrier to deception and protection for us to eternal life.  

1 Timothy 6:7

For we have brought nothing into this world, so (it is clear that) we cannot take anything out of it, either.  

We live in houses and work jobs, but our lives mean more than what we gain financially.  We are here because God wanted a family made in his image.  We will take out of this world how we fellowshipped, prayed, gave, honored, and obeyed God in our time on earth.  Our goal on this earth is eternal life. 

1 Timothy 6:6

But godliness actually is a source of great gain when accompanied by contentment (that contentment which comes from a sense of inner confidence based on the sufficiency of God).

We were never designed to carry the burden of life on our shoulders.  God wanted to walk with us and guide us through this life.  Adam changed the original plan.  Jesus restored to us the possibility of living a contented life again, guided by God in our spirit.