The Power of Gentleness...

You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.--Psalm 18:35

To My Beloved Daughters…

David knew as a man of war that it was God who made his way perfect and allowed him to be triumphant over his enemies.  He understood that He was upheld by the strength and skill of His God's right hand…and that it was His God's gentleness that made him great  Beloved, there is such power in gentleness!  Gentleness was the power behind the greatest good this world has ever seen.  Gentleness went to the cross and died in our place…the darkest moment in the history of this world was, in reality, the brightest beacon of hope this world had/has ever seen.  Jesus by his gentleness achieved victory over sin and death for each and every one of us who believe.  Jesus' gentleness brought hope to a dying world.

“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.--1 Corinthians 15:55-58

David, a great warrior, responded to the gentleness of His God!  We love God, 1 John says, because He first loved us.  Romans tells us that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.  David learned gentleness from God, His Father and showed that gentleness to others.  This is what made David great…He surrendered his way and followed and imitated God's way.  This is why David is called a man after God's own heart…He learned of God and imitated His ways…

Do as it says in Matthew 11:28-30: 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Learn His gentleness…see His gentleness towards you everywhere in your life…extend His gentleness to those He has placed in your life…Make Jesus your cornerstone…make Jesus the foundation of all you do and say…He will be  your success and your greatness.  It may not be the kind of greatness that will be admired by the world, but it has its own reward far above the praises of men both in this life and in the next.  

A life spent with Jesus brings victory both now and eternally…

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.--Romans 8:31-39

A life spent with Jesus brings influence…

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.--James 5:16b

A life spent with Jesus brings knowledge of God…

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,--Ephesians 1:17

to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.--Ephesians 3:19

that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;--Colossians 1:10

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,--2 Peter 1:2

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.--Psalm 25:14

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, andthat He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.--Hebrews 11:6

A life spent with Jesus brings us fellowship "in Christ" that spans generations…

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.--Ephesians 2:1-18

A life spent with Jesus brings us an eternity in glory…

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.--Romans 8:16-17

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.--Romans 8:29-30

The Well of Water...

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.--Genesis 21:19a  

Praying for eyes to see the goodness and grace of my God today!

Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.--Numbers 22:31

And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.--2nd Kings 6:17

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.--Isaiah 35:5-6

But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.--Luke 24:16-31

Jesus of Nazareth, A Man Attested by God to You...

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him:

‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’--Acts 2:22-28

“Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.--Acts 2:22-32

Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.--Luke 24:44-45

Jesus was delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God…

The careful study of Scripture makes it more an act of faith not to believe than to believe:  The Bible predicts history ahead of time…supernatural, otherworldly, outside of time…Jesus is spoken of throughout the OT.

The seed of the woman, whose heel was bruised - Genesis 3
The blessing of Abraham to all nations -  "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” --Genesis 22:18
A priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek - Genesis 14:18; Psalm 110:4
The Man who wrestled with Jacob - Genesis 32
The Lion of the tribe of Judah - Revelation 5
The Voice from the burning bush - Exodus 3
The Passover Lamb - Exodus 12
The Prophet greater than Moses - Deuteronomy 18
The Captain of the Lord's Army to Joshua - Joshua 5
The Redeemer mentioned in Ruth
The Son of David who was a King greater than David
The suffering Savior - Psalm 22
The Good Shepherd Psalm 23
The Wisdom of Proverbs
The Lover of the Song of Solomon
The Savior described in the prophets
The Suffering Servant - Isaiah 53
The princely Messiah of Daniel

List is from David Guzik's commentary on Acts 2