Gary Gleans

God’s Word is always going to have an impact on our lives.  There is no way that we can be in genuine contact with the Word of God and not be changed.  By genuine contact I mean truly reading and meditating on God’s Word and its content.  Many people display the Word of God as some kind of a good luck charm.  This is useless superstition that resembles paganism much more than Christianity.  Many others will go so far as to read that Word of God in a kind of mindless stupor as they worry about all the other things that they have to do that day.  This ritualistic reading is a form of religion that comes far from being a genuine relationship with God.  However, when we do take the time and put forth the effort to read, study, meditate and allow the Word of God to penetrate into our hearts it will always have an impact. THE WORD OF GOD INSPIRES HOPE: Certainly, one of the greatest benefits of God’s Word in our lives is that it builds up hope in us.  The promises of God are a constant

Loving God’s Word is an essential part of being able to live in way that is pleasing to Him.  God calls us be obedient to God’s Word, but His desire is that we go far beyond a grudging obedience to Him because we “have to” and begin to delight in following Him because it is the desire and passion of our hearts.  When we begin to understand the benefits of God’s Word to our lives it should draw us into a deep love for the Word.  If we truly love God, the Love of God’s Word should be the most natural thing in the world for us. WHAT LOVING GOD’S WORD WILL DO IN OUR LIVES: One of the greatest motivating factors for loving God’s Word is the impact that it has on our lives.  God’s Word is our source of salvations; it teaches us how we can be saved from sin.  The Bible gives us answers to those who seek our harm or scoff at our faith.  We can have complete confidence in the truths of God’s Word.  The Scriptures are a genuine source of hope in our lives, no matter how difficult our circum

We need to recognize that we are in need of God to teach us and give us understanding of His Word and how we are to live out His Word in our daily lives.  All of us have a natural bent towards sin and we tend to go through life following the inclinations of our own hearts and doing things as we think they should be done.  This is a very dangerous practice.  We must be aware of the dangers that lurk in our hearts and call out to the Lord for instruction and help so that we will live our lives according to His design and desire and not our own.  This will not happen by natural process.  It will only take place as we intentionally seek for God to instruct and guide us through His Word.  There are two requests that we should constantly ask God to grant us. WE MUST ASK GOD TO TEACH US: We do not naturally know the ways of God.  We need to be taught about both who He is as well as what He requires of us.  God’s ways are far different from our ways so we are in constant need of instructi

Humility is an important prerequisite to being able to make full use of the Word of God in our lives.  As long as we consider ourselves to be just fine the way that we are we will not open our hearts to the Lord and we will not be submissive to the Word of God.  It is vital that we humble ourselves before the Lord and then dedicate ourselves to following the Lord in all that we say and do.   We desperately need God’s Word to instruct us, we need to have a clear understanding of God’s Word and then we need to be faithful to obey God’s Word.  None of this will happen apart from a humble spirit before God. RECOGNIZE OUR SIN AND RECEIVE THE SCRIPTURES: None of us like to admit that we are wrong or that we are in need of something.  However the first step to being able to please the Lord is to recognize our desperate and sinful condition before the Lord.  We are dead in our sin and our hearts cling to the sin that is killing and condemning us.  The Psalmist uses the expression of his s

God’s Word brings great benefits to those who know and obey it.  It is definitely worth it to pay close attention to God’s Word and then walk in obedience.  Those who choose to ignore God’s Word or live in rebellion against God’s Word will pay a very steep price for their disobedience.  It is a blessing to have the Word of God revealed to us so that we might know how to honor God and live a life that is pleasing to Him as well as gratifying for us.  Without God’s Word we would be adrift on the seas of relativity that has swamped our current culture.  God has taken care to reveal Himself to us and we would do well to heed that revelation. OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD BRINGS REWARD: God loves to grant rewards and wants to be known and trusted as a “rewarder” of all who seek Him.  Obedience brings rewards into our lives and God’s rewards facilitate our obedience.  The lives of believer should regularly experience this circle of blessing that stems from submission to God and His word.  We

We are constantly under the attack of temptations that seek to draw us into a life of sin and destroy us.  It truly is warfare.  However, we do have a weapon that we can use in order to do combat in this war for our souls.  That weapon is the Word of God.  However, like any weapon, it must be used and used correctly if it is going to be helpful and make us victorious over temptation.  Nations stockpile weapons that they hope they will never use as a deterrent to war.  People carry guns for protection but hope never to have to use it knowing that just by showing the gun it will discourage a would be attacker.  The Word of God is not like one of these weapons.  Holding a Bible in our hands or having one lying open on a table in our homes will do little or nothing to protect us from temptation.  If God’s Word is going to be an effective weapon in our lives we make the following commitments. WE MUST COMMIT TO THINKING ABOUT GOD’S WORD: Temptation happens in our minds and the battle fo

Psalm 119 is by far the longest chapter in the Bible.  I have been going back and forth on how I want to handle this chapter for quite some time and have spent most of the day going back and forth but have finally come to the conclusion that I want to interrupt my chapter a day routine and spend the next several weeks in just this one Psalm.  The Psalm is and acrostic with each section starting with a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  The Psalm is one of the most complete descriptions of the power and benefits of the Word of God, so I have decided to take my time and just work through one section a day.  It is not like I have a deadline or anything so get ready for a month of Psalm 119.  THE PRINCIPLE OF OBEDIENCE: There is a basic principle of obeying God’s Word.  That is, if we are serious about obeying God’s Word and walk in a way that is blameless before God; we will experience great blessings in our lives.  Obedience to God’s Word truly is its own reward.  The text d

This Psalm is an anthem of worship to the Lord.  It is a call of all of us to trust and praise the Lord for who He is and what He has done.  It is important that we regularly remind ourselves of the truth that God is over us and in full control of the events that surround us.  We can trust Him to do what is right and know that He has the ability to accomplish His will in the history of the world.  God’s love is limitless and so is His power over all of us.  It is foolish for us to rely upon ourselves or on others.  We must trust God and be assured that He is ready, willing and able to defend and provide for those fear Him WE TRUST GOD BECAUSE HE IS MERCIFUL: The mercy and love of the Lord endures forever.  All who have lived in a close relationship to the Lord can attest to the truth of that statement.  We have all experienced the reality of God’s mercy and love.  All of us deserve death and condemnation for our sin; but God treats us with love and mercy.  When we are in distress

God calls us and all the nations of the earth to praise Him.  God desires to be praised and to have His name exalted though out all the earth that He has created.  He desires to be praised and exalted by all the people of the earth.  Every man, woman and child; every nation, tribe and tongue is designed by God for the purpose of praising the Lord.  The question that we must answer is if we are being faithful to fulfill this purpose.  This brief Psalm gives us two clear reasons as to why we must praise the Lord. GOD’S LOVE IS SURE: There is one thing about which we can be sure: the great love of God.  He has a love for us that goes beyond any love that we could give or any other love that we have experienced.  We cannot explain why God loves us and do not fully understand how God loves us; but God most certainly does love us in profound way.  We are called to respond to God’s love by praising Him for His great and abundant love. GOD’S FAITHFULNESS ENDURES: The other truth in w

This Psalm starts out with a beautiful and simple statement that should be at the heart of every single one of us: “I love the Lord.”  There are many aspects of our walks with God that involve obedience and duty.  However, we must not be satisfied with a dutiful walk with God.  Certainly, we must walk in obedience and fulfill our duties as believers.  But, we must recognize that the purest motive in our lives is that of love.  We must open our hearts to truly loving God in all that we do, say and think.  God wants to be the delight of our hearts and not just some sort of duty that we must perform.  There are many reasons that we should love Him as well as results that should evidence that love and this Psalm reflects these thoughts. THE REASONS WE SHOULD LOVE GOD: The first reason that we should love God is because of the many things that He has done for us.  God hears and answers our prayers when we call upon Him.  No matter how difficult this life may become, God is always avail

The name of God is to be glorified in all the earth and throughout all of the heavens.  We are not to try to compete with God for the glory that should belong solely to Him.  Unfortunately there are many who do not know God or have turned from their knowledge of God in order to bring honor and glory to themselves.  Even more unfortunately, many men who do know much about God rebel against their responsibility of glorifying God to run after that which pleases them.  The priority of our lives must first of all be to seek to know God deeply, then dedicate our lives to bringing glory to Him and then finally to take the message of God to the nations of the world.  We are responsible to worship the Lord and then to proclaim the message of worship to all the nations of the World.  This is God’s purpose for each one of our lives. THE FALSE IDOLS OF MEN ARE UNWORTHY: Since men were made by God to worship; all men do worship.  The crux of this issue is whom or what do we worship.  Since men

God delights in making something out of nothing.  From the beginning He created all that exists out of absolutely nothing; He simply spoke everything into existence.  He continues to be in the business of doing that in the lives of men and nations.  He takes sinful “nothing men” and makes them into His own likeness through Christ.  God takes sinful “nothing nations” and establishes it to accomplish His purpose.  God is all about doing awesome things with that which was awful.  He delights in making the ordinary extraordinary.  It’s what He has always done and it’s what He is doing in your life and mine. GOD’S PRESENCE MAKES THE WEAK STRONG: Israel was enslaved in the land of Egypt without hope and power until God’s presence was seen in the nation.  He determined to deliver this frail and hopeless nation even though they were powerless to help themselves.  There were many obstacles that stood in the way of their freedom, but they were of no consequence because God was with them.  T

We are called to praise the Lord.  The greatness of the Lord should always be on our lips.  He should be the subject of our public conversations as well as our private meditations.  God is certainly worthy of our praise; the amazing thing is that He desires our praise.  We are the ones who are not worthy of praising Him; and yet by His loving kindness He gives us the honor of living to praise Him.  Praising God should be our greatest honor and most delightful pleasure.  There are countless reasons that we should praise the Lord, but this Psalm points out two of the most prominent of them. WE PRAISE GOD BECAUSE HE IS GLORIOUS: We praise that which is extraordinary, and God is very extraordinary.  God is glorious and is always worthy of our praise.  We are His servants and He has given us the task of using all of our skills to praise Him.  This will be our task not only for the time that we live on the earth, but will occupy our time and be the focus of our efforts for all of eterni

Our actions and choices have consequences.  We have often considered the negative consequences of these choices, but there are also many positive consequences that are related to the choices that we make in life.  I believe that one of Satan’s most effective tools is to tempt us to focus on God’s punishment for disobedience and forget the rewards for obedience.  The truth is that there are great and glorious rewards promised to those who fear and obey the Lord.  While we should not ignore the negative consequences of sin; we must regularly remind ourselves of the promise of God that assure us of the positive consequences of obedience.  God is a glorious giver of gifts and a Father who delights to lavish His love on His children who walk in the light of His Word. THE REWARD OF THE OBEDIENT IS ENJOYMENT: God delights in granting pleasures to His children.  Satan often paints a picture of God being a kill joy.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  God loves to see His children r

We have multiple reasons to praise the Lord.  We praise Him for who He is as well as for what He has done.  He is great and awesome and we praise Him be admiring His character and being amazed by His attributes.  Because of who He is, He also does amazing works on our behalf.  God’s faithful provision for our needs, His protection from harm as well as the promises He fulfills are also motives for praising the Lord.  We would do well to remember these motives so that we will constantly praise the Lord as we go through life.  It is easy for us to take God’s greatness for granted which causes us to neglect our responsibility of praising Him.  We should strive to set regular reminders of God’s greatness around us and set aside time to regularly contemplate His greatness so that we will not be negligent of our duty to praise the Lord. WE PRAISE GOD FOR DOING HIS WORK: God is constantly at work in our lives.  His provisions for us are constant and precious and He reveals those works to

The reign of Jesus Christ on this earth is very unique in the sense that it is, in one sense, already here and yet in another sense, not yet here.  The reign of Christ over the earth has been constant from before the foundations of the earth until this day and will continue for all of eternity.  However, due to the fall of man, there is another kingdom at play on the earth that is orchestrated by the enemy of our souls, Satan.  As long as the kingdom of Satan is operational of the earth, the kingdom of Christ is not yet fully realized.  That is why this Psalm starts out with Christ seated at the right hand of the Father “UNTIL” His enemies are made His footstool.  We must never doubt or forget about Christ’s current sovereignty over the earth, but we must also recognize and live in light of Christ’s coming reign where Satan will be crushed and we will be perfectly transformed by the power of the Gospel and be able to enjoy the reign of Christ for all of eternity. THE PROMISE OF CH

We share this sin cursed planet with many sinful men.  This reality brings about much suffering and injustice.  There are times when the unrighteous seem to dominate and thrive while the godly suffer persecution.  This is a reality for which we must all be prepared and we must not let it discourage us or cause us to doubt the goodness or sovereignty of God.  We must not allow sin and the consequences of sin to allow us be fooled into thinking that God has somehow lost control of the world or that He no longer cares about the events that happen here.  Instead, we must do as David does in this Psalm: pray.  Prayer is the means through which we communicate with God and demonstrate our dependence upon God.  Our prayers should be genuine and honest, expressing the desires of our hearts and seeking the will of God.  Too often we pray with formality or repetition that does not reflect our feelings or thoughts.  God is pleased when we pray with an authentic attitude before Him. A PRAYER F

Everybody has a job to do.  God created all of us with a purpose in mind and He desires that we fulfill that purpose to the best of our ability.  God’s purpose for us is that we should praise Him.  God has also promised to do His job; which He always does to perfection.  God’s promise to us is that He will provide for and protect us. The problem is when we stop doing our job or do our job halfheartedly because we question or doubt if God is doing His job.  We must set our hearts against this tendency.  We must recognize that God never fails to do exactly as He has promised to do even when we do not understand His ways or His thinking.  It is not our job to question how God does His job.  It is our job to praise the Lord because we trust that God is doing His job to perfection. WE PRAISE GOD VIGOROUSLY: David said that he set his heart steadfastly before the Lord to praise God with all of his being.  His promise was to lift his voice to the Lord in praise, to use all the instrument

Throughout the history of man since the Fall God has established a pattern in His dealings with them.  God desires to be praised and worshiped by His people.  He works in our lives in such a way that we should be aware of His constant deliverance and therefore be motivated to give thanks to Him.  Those who have truly experienced God’s forgiveness and love should be the first to simply “say so.”  We must stand ready to admit our failures and then recognize and be thankful for God’s salvation.  Time and time again God has dealt with man according to a pattern that leads us from sin and sorrow to salvation and satisfaction.  This Psalm gives us a clear repetition of the five step pattern of God’s gracious dealings with sinful man. REBELLION AGAINST GOD: Men are naturally rebellious against God since the time of the fall of man.  We sin just as naturally as we breathe.  We often to not even think about it but will simply find ourselves in a state of disobedience before God.  There are

Confession of sin is good for our souls and it puts us in a right relationship with God.  Our natural tendency is to try to hide our sin or rationalize it in some way.  This will only pull us further and further away from the Lord as it facilitates our pride as well as further sinning.  If we will confess our sin it will demonstrate our dependence upon Him and fill our hearts with gratitude towards Him.  When we admit to our failings, it establishes our hearts in the tender loving kindness of our Lord; it inspires us to be thankful to the Lord and motivates us to praise Him.  As we remember the mercy of God it will also help us to live in a way that is pleasing to Him as we will desire to be righteous in our actions.  God’s favor and forgiveness should be our greatest desire and they are only available when we recognize and confess our sin. WE MUST REMEMBER OUR FAILURES: It is never fun to remember the sins of our past, but it is a healthy exercise that will humble our hearts and

God calls us to be thankful for all that He has done for us.  However, His focus on that which He has done is not limited in any way to our life time.  We are to be thankful for all that the Lord has done long before we were born. God wants us to recognize the value of His work in the past as it most certainly has a vital impact on what is going on in our lives today.  It is of great value in our lives to take time to remember the workings of God throughout all of history as well as in our lives.  The best way for us to demonstrate our gratitude is to open our mouths and make His work known to others.  We can sing praises to the Lord and in prayer express our gratitude to the Lord; but what truly demonstrates that we are impressed by God is when we do not contain His works to ourselves but proclaim His works to all people in all nations.  This Psalm recounts the history of the nation of Israel and demonstrates how God has sovereignly worked to make provision for Israel throughout thei

There are a lot of reasons that we should praise the Lord and worship His greatness.  He is so high about us and all that exists was planned by Him for His glory and praise.  All that is in the earth, all that is above it; and all beings both on and around the earth were created for the purpose of praising God.  His glory is the purpose of all that was made.  The universe is like a tent that God rolls out and all of the angels live to do as He instructs them to.  Unfortunately, man stands apart from the rest of creation and often lives in rebellion against God and does not give Him the praise that He rightly deserves.  We are the one exception in the universe because we rebel against the purpose for which we were made.  This also gives us a unique ability to glorify Him in a greater way than all the rest of creation.  That is why we must constantly remind ourselves to praise and worship the Lord. WE MUST PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS CREATIVE POWER: God spoke the entire world into exist