Singing Scripture- 2

 Singing Scripture- 2

July 28, 2026

Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) 

But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 55:12 (NKJV) 

“For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands.

Yesterday we were talking about singing scripture and there are two more verses in today’s reading that have been used in gospel songs. Pastor Joseph used to sing a wonderful gospel version of Isaiah 53. I couldn’t find anything like it on YouTube, though there are many other songs using this verse. I still prefer the Maranatha Gospel Tabernacle version! We could really rock the house in those days. In fact, we danced so much that the floor bounced and the beams threatened to give way. Those were the days!

The second scripture song could also cause dancing in the aisles. We sang that one in an Israeli folk dance style. That one is on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/M915v9r1T6M?is=6KN-GBy_seQaFvV1

At that time, I was living in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, which was a Jewish neighborhood, so we had several Messianic Jews in our congregation and sang several songs in that style. One of my favorites was psalm 133 sung in Hebrew. That’s still the only passage I know by heart in Hebrew. And, of course, we danced to that as well. Maybe that’s one key to memorizing scripture. When you clap your hands and move your feet, you can’t help but to remember the words. So get your whole body involved and sing some scripture today.

P.S. If you are interested, many of the scriptures I use in my blog come from the daily reading plan in the Blue Letter Bible. I’m currently using the Life Journey 1 year plan.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/dailyreading/

Singing Scripture

 Singing Scripture 

July 27, 2026

Isaiah 51:11 (NKJV) 

So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 52:7 (NKJV) 

How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace , Who brings glad tidings of good [things,] Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Psalm 92:1-2 (NKJV) 

1 A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day.night, 

[It is] good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night,

In today’s scripture reading, I came across three verses that we used to sing. I miss the singing of scripture. It was a good way to memorize the scripture and to encourage yourself in the Word. Once you get one of these choruses in your head it can stick with you all day. That can be a good thing, helping you meditate on the Word in the midst of daily activities. If you are like me and grew up with these songs, you’re probably singing them in your head right now. But if not, look them up on YouTube and learn a new way to experience scripture today.

Eagles

July 24, 2026

Isaiah 40:30-31 (NKJV) 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew [their] strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Truth and Deception

 Truth and Deception

July 22, 2026

1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NKJV) 

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, givingheed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

How many families today are torn apart by lies and deception. One may be vaccinated and the other not, or one voted republican and the other democrat, or one hurt the other and the other can’t bring themselves to forgive. Both sides believe that they are right. “My truth”, and “your truth”. But they refuse to speak to each other because of the differences. It seems that forgiveness and reconciliation are impossible because neither party will acknowledge any fault of their own. So how do you manage these types of family conflicts when people can’t even agree on what is true? They are like Pilate who famously asked Jesus “What is truth?”, but who didn’t want to know the answer, standing in front of him.

John 18:38 (NKJV) 

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to theJews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.

Those who believe in Jesus know where to find truth. Jesus said, “I am the truth”.

John 14:6 (NKJV) 

Jesussaid to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

So how do we reach people who refuse to believe in objective truth? Logic fails to convince such a one as even mathematics and logic will not prevail unless one believes that they are based on truth. Being trained in physics, I find this hard to grasp as we were taught to test every hypothesis against experimental fact and objective reality. When a person has abandoned trust in reality it is very difficult to reach them.

It seems then that we need to rely on Jesus and the spirit of truth to war against the spirits of deception. It is a matter of spiritual warfare that cannot be won in the natural, but must be waged in the spiritual. Only when the deceiving spirits are silenced and driven out can a person see truth for what it is and receive Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. So if you have such a conflict in your family or circle of friends, pray to bind the spirits of deception and pray that the spirit of truth will touch their heart and change their mind. Jesus is the way to reach an unreachable person to heal and deliver them.

Lord Willing

 Lord Willing

July 20, 2026

James 4:13-17 (NKJV) 

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what [will happen] tomorrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you [ought] to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do [it,] to him it is sin.

When I was growing up in the country, we had a saying that I think derived from this verse. If we were invited to go anywhere, the normal response was, “We’ll be there, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise,” this expressing goes back to before the roads were paved and bridges were built over the streams. If it rained too hard, the creeks would rise to where you couldn’t ford them easily and you would get you model-T stuck in the mud. Thus the expression. And then, everyone was familiar with the Bible, so the “Lord willing” part would remind them of this verse in James. It was a simpler time and most people were more aware of their reliance on God and the forces of nature. 

Now days, with our modern technology and paved roads, it takes a much more severe storm to flood the roads. We are more self reliant. Perhaps we need to remember that we are dependent on the Lord for simple things like waking up in the morning and taking a fresh breath. Boasting in our arrogance is certainly a modern trait, even though it was also present in James’ time. So remember the Lord as you go about your daily tasks, and remind yourself that you can complete them “If the Lord wills…”

River of God

 River of God

July 19, 2026

Psalm 46:4-7 (NKJV) 

4 [There is] a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy [place] of thetabernacle of the Most High. 5 God [is] in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7 The LORD of hosts [is] with us; The God of Jacob [is] our refuge. Selah

Another song we sang in the early days was “River of God”, based on Psalm 46. I think this one was particularly popular with us as the church was named Three Rivers Fellowship for a time. Of course, Pittsburgh is also known as the three rivers city as the Allegheny, Monongahela come together at the Point to form the Ohio RIver. The church had originally been named Maranatha Gospel Tabernacle when I first joined, then was renamed TRF when Pastor Joseph joined together with Pastors Dale and Dennis to bring three churches together into one. Anyway, we enjoyed singing about the river of God.

In the Bible, the river is frequently used to symbolize the flow of blessings. In Ezekiel 47 we see the river flowing out of the temple and the imagery is repeated in Revelation 22 where the River of Life flows out from the throne of God, providing healing for the nations.

Revelation 22:1-2 The River and the Tree of Life

1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

So today, I pray for rivers of blessing to flow into your life, and through your life to the nations. The flow of the Holy Spirit works through us to bring blessings and healing to those around us. Let the streams make you glad for the LORD of hosts is with us.

The Redeemed of the Lord

 The Redeemed of the Lord

July 18, 2026

Isaiah 35:10 (NKJV) 

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, Witheverlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

I got saved and baptized in the Spirit during the charismatic renewal of the early 70’s. One feature of that revival was we sang a lot of scripture songs. This verse in Isaiah was one of the scriptures that was used as the basis for the chorus “Therefore the Redeemed of the Lord.” If was a good song for me because I got saved out of a great a deal of turmoil and sadness. I was coming out of a failed marriage relationship and had left one graduate school after two years of study in high energy physics and was starting over at another school to study Biophysics. It was a time when the Lord was tearing down a lot of what my life had been built on and was building new foundations in Him. I needed joy and gladness to chase away the sorrow and sadness. We sang many such songs on those days and they helped me to rebuild a life of joy based on serving the Lord. Another song was “Mourning into Dancing” from Psalm 30:

Psalm 30:11-12 (KJV) 

11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 To the end that [my] glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

The joy of the Lord is our strength, so whatever difficulties you may be facing today, know that you can return to the Lord with singing and obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sadness will flee away.