Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A_2sMkAoWZU   Heres the link to my Psalm 1 talk on YouTube

Acts 5:42 ESV And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. If we’re mocked, intimidated, imprisoned, and martyred for our faith, our gut reaction might be to pack it in. We’re not to go with our guts but with our spirits. The early church prayed for boldness and received it. Not only was the early church bold, but they were zealous. They didn’t slack in their mission to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ. At every opportunity they ‘gossiped the gospel’. In addition to zeal, the early church was faithful to her calling from Christ to make Him known. They didn’t let opposition stop them. They persevered in their mission. Also, the early church was strategic. They didn’t rely on leaflets, but face to face encounters, to make Christ known. They didn’t leave door to door evangelism to the cults. ‘Lord, make us bold to proclaim You for Your honour, amen’.

 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-chamberlain/episodes/Two-Ways-to-Live-A-Talk-on-Psalm-1-e2hkjs7 Follow the link for a talk I gave on Psalm 1 on Spotify, about how there's ultimately Two Ways to Live :)

 I get stats for my readership, which seem to suggest I have at least a couple of prolific readers, in Singapore and Hong Kong!  I would love to hear from my readers. You can either comment on my posts, or email wisdomsgates @ gmail.com (no gaps). Hope to hear from you soon :) God bless, Robert

  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 ESV Taken out of context, we might assume that we can ask for a private jet and expect to receive it! In context, Jesus had cursed a fig tree which had withered. He had also told His disciples they could have the faith to cast a mountain down into the sea. The meaning of the context is that the Jewish people, by rejecting their Messiah, invited judgement on themselves. Only about 40 years later, the Jewish people were devastated by the Romans. The Romans destroyed the Jewish temple in A.D. 70 as they crushed a rebellion. By implication, I think Jesus was hinting to His disciples to pray for justice for the Jews who rejected Him. He also wanted them to pray for the vindication of their faith in Him. Old Testament Judaism is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. The temple in Jerusalem is no longer needed because God presences Himself with His people by His

  Zephaniah 2:3 (ESV) Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD. We’re not naturally in God’s good books. We need to seek after Him. We need to be restored to a right relationship with Him. God loves humility. God Himself is humble: He doesn’t think more highly of Himself than He ought. We ought to humble ourselves before Him. Righteousness/goodness/obedience/humility don’t come naturally to us. Yet they’re all important. We need to seek after such things; to have faith in God to credit such things to our bankrupt spiritual accounts. I like the fact that Zephaniah’s not presumptuous. God doesn’t owe it to us not to be angry at us. A day of wrath is coming, only if we seek to be hidden in Christ can we escape the righteous anger of God at our sinfulness. ‘Righteous Lord, may we seek You with all our hearts. Please humble us and make us righteous through

 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. LUKE 1:49 (ESV) Humanly speaking, God had made Mary’s life a whole lot more inconvenient. To be pregnant out of wedlock in her culture was taboo: even in those days a virgin birth was unheard of. Joseph needed a divine dream to reassure him that she was still okay to marry. Thankfully, Mary perceived what an amazing honour it was for a humble young lady like her to bear the Son of God. There wasn’t a hint of grumbling or even complaint from her. She was grateful for the Almighty’s work in her life. Mary knew she wasn’t anything particularly special. She needed Jesus as her Saviour as much as anyone else. She wasn’t naturally holy or great, but she knew God is. God is set apart from us, even the virgin Mary. He is the Holy One, not us, or Mary. We all need Him to be merciful to us. ‘Almighty Lord God, we praise You for the great things You’ve done for us and acknowledge Your holiness. For the honour of

  Isaiah 25:1 ESV O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. What an honour and privilege to be able to call the Lord our God, unworthy though we are! I’m sure the wonder of that wasn’t lost on David. God took him from tending sheep to shepherding His people of Israel as their king. God is worthy of our praise because He does wonderful things. For David, I’m sure he had in mind being taken from pastures to a palace. For us spiritually, we get taken from impending doom to an inheritance in glory. From eternity past, God intended to save for Himself a people. By Christ’s sacrifice we can wonderfully be saved. His death wasn’t plan B but God’s plan all along. God is faithful and sure. As such, His plans are also faithful and sure. He doesn’t give up on us and He know what He has in store for us, for our greater good. ‘Lord our God, we praise You for Your goodness to us in Christ

  To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:43 ESV Peter was preaching to a Gentile Roman. He wasn't afraid to refer to the Jewish Scriptures however, because they validate his assertion. Cornelius was at least a God-fearer, so he was open to such a statement. All the prophets bear witness to Jesus. If we read Obadiah for example and can't find Jesus, we're not looking hard enough! Even Jesus on the Emmaus road took His disciples on a whistle-stop tour of the Old Testament and said it's all about Him. Take Habakkuk for just one example of many. He said that the righteous live by faith. That's quoted thrice in the New Testament, such a significant statement it is. The righteous live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In another quote by Habakkuk, the earth will be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea. There isn't a nation on earth without representatives

  In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Hebrews 5:7 ESV Jesus is the only One whose prayers didn't need an intercessor, because He is the sinless Son of God. We do need a mediator. Thankfully Christ Himself is the Mediator between God and mankind. If we want to know how to pray, we would do well to consider Christ. A wrestling Jacob and a songwriting David have things to teach us about prayer. Jesus though is our ultimate example. We all want deliverance from death deep down. Even if we're suicidal, we don't want oblivion necessarily, but something other than what we're experiencing. If we cry out to God in sincerity, He will hear us. We're to be reverent in coming to God. We're not to be flippant or careless. We can't simply waltz into His presence. 'Our Father in heaven, please help us to be reverent an

  even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28 ESV We tend to think of service as humbling, demeaning even. Yet as Jesus said, 'who is greater, the one who is served, or the one who serves'? It doesn't require any greatness to be served; it does require greatness to serve. The Son of Man didn't come to serve us because we're worthy. He serves us in spite of our unworthiness to be served by Him. We deserve His condemnation, not His service. The ultimate act of service is to lay down our lives for the undeserving. That's exactly what Jesus did for us. Humanly speaking, His crucifixion was an epic miscarriage of justice; spiritually speaking, Christ's crucifixion means God is both just and the justifier of the ungodly. If Jesus so served us, how ought we to be? We're not to act all entitled. On the contrary, we ourselves are to give our lives in His service. 'Gracious God, than

  Psalm 143:8 ESV Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. What’s the first thing we do when we wake up? Is it to scroll our phones and check our notifications? Or is it to check in with God through His word, without technological distractions? If we trust in the Lord, we ought to long to hear from Him first thing in the morning. We need daily reminders of His unfailing love. His mercies are new every morning, thankfully. Every day, we need God to direct us. We might be in a groove (or a rut!) of regular practices, yet we should be open to being flexible to whatever life throws at us and what God has for us. He can help us deal with anything that seems to attack us. Morning by morning, we should lift our souls to the Lord. We are to wait in expectancy up Him. He will never fail us. ‘Dear Lord, we come to You this morning expectant of Your goodness to us afresh this day. Please lead

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 ESV Jesus is the way. He’s not just one way of many. He’s the only way to God the Father, and reconciliation with Him. Jesus is the truth. He’s not just a truth. Truth isn’t subjective, it’s objective, and it’s personified in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the life. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. Without Him we would be dead and buried. No-one can be reconciled to Father God without Jesus. He is the means by whom we can be adopted by God as our heavenly Father. Outside of Christ we’re hopeless. ‘Father God, we come to You through the Lord Jesus Christ. Please help us to follow, believe, and live for Him all our days, until You call us home. In His name we pray, amen’.

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 ESV The good news is that God is powerful to save everyone who believes in Him, whether Jew or Gentile. It doesn’t matter whether we’re religious like the Jews or irreligious like the Greeks. All we need to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wasn’t making this up. He quoted the Old Testament Jewish prophet Habakkuk, to whom God revealed that ‘the righteous live by faith’. We get right with God by putting our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The world would attempt to pour scorn on the idea that we need a Saviour. Religious people like to delude themselves that they’re good enough for God. Irreligious people like to delude themselves that there’s no God that they need to be justified by Him. If we’re religious, we need to abandon attempts to earn acceptance by God. If we’re irreligious, we need to stop blinkerin

 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Mark 16:15 NLT So, Jesus defeated death. He rose again on the third day after His crucifixion. This isn’t just good news, it’s the best news ever! One of the implications of Jesus’s resurrection is eternal life for all who will trust in Him. Yet how can we trust in the One we haven’t heard of? This is why the feet of those who bring good news are beautiful! It’ s all very well to be a ‘keyboard warrior’ for Jesus: sharing the good news of His resurrection online. Yet the gospel is easily drowned out by the distractions of bad news online and the diversion of social media. There’s no substitute for the face to face telling of the best news ever! I’m preaching to myself here. I’m like the apostle Paul in the sense that he was bold in his letters, but more timid face to face, as he admitted to the Corinthian church. The cowardly will not inherit eternal life: we need to overcome natural introver

  ESV For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 We're saved by faith alone in God's grace. Having been saved however, we are to work for God. Our works aren't cause for us to boast however: it's God working in us for His glory. We are created by God to work for Him. We're born again by God's Spirit through faith in Jesus to do good works. We just need to step up to do what God's already prepared for us. We don't have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Our works are what God had prepared in advance for us to do. By His Spirit He empowers us to work for Him. We're to walk in step with God's Holy Spirit. We're to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Let's stick to the narrow path of life, following our Lord and Saviour. 'Father God, may we work joyfully for You as You deserve. May we walk in Your ways. In Jesus' name, amen'

  I can picture David's army chief Joab coming to tell him the Philistines have invaded. David says, 'not today Joab, I'm meditating on loving my neighbour', but Joab says, 'it's not very loving of your neighbour to let them be slaughtered by the Philistines now is it?' So off they go. Nowadays of course we have the YouVersion Bible app where we can read the verse of the day, do Bible plans, and listen to audio Bibles. A really good practice is to memorise Scripture: as David said elsewhere to God, 'I have hidden Your word in my heart so that I might not sin against You'. So it's all very well meditating on God's word, but what will the fruit of that be in our lives? What will we be like if we meditate on God's word? 'He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.' Trees are rooted and secure. We're to be planted by God and

  Psalm 1 ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ is the title of a film starring Will Smith, but it’s also what a lot of people assume the meaning of life is. We all want to be happy, so it seems to make sense to pursue happiness. The problem is that happiness is an emotion which comes and goes. Pursuing happiness is a bit like chasing the wind, it’s a very hard thing to do! A better way to live would be to pursue God, because He is the Source of happiness, joy, and blessedness. Psalm 1 is all about happiness, joy, and blessedness. The Psalms in general are literally and metaphorically at the heart of the Bible. They are song lyrics to help us worship God. We might assume then that Psalm 1 is full of ‘hallelujahs’, ‘praise the Lord’, ‘let everything that has breath praise the Lord’, ‘let all that is within me praise his holy name’. Perhaps surprisingly, Psalm 1 is more about blessedness, joy, and happiness. God wants us to be happy to praise and worship Him. Nonetheless, there are Psalms

  Joshua 1:9 ESV Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Anyone could tell us to be brave. Unless they give us reason to do so, their call is very empty. Thankfully, God accompanies His command to be strong and courageous with a promise. We don’t need to fear. We don’t need to be dismayed. If God is for us, who can be against us? Nothing can separate us from the love of God for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, no matter what life throws at us, we can be strong and courageous in our Lord and Saviour. Does this mean we can do whatever we like? This verse isn’t license to do whatever we might feel like in any given moment. We are to meditate on God’s word and seek to obey it wholeheartedly. When we fall short, Christ’s blood covers us. ‘Lord our God, please help us to be strong and courageous, and not to be frightened or dismayed. Thank You for Your promise to be with

  ‭‭Revelation 4:11 NIVUK‬‬ ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/rev.4.11.NIVUK As our Creator, God is worthy of our worship. He made all things well. We have messed up, but He's going to restore everything. God is glorious. He spoke the universe into being. By the word of His power He made everything. We do well to honour God. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. He is supremely honourable. God is powerful. He made all things because He wanted to. He sustains us by His might. 'Almighty Father, we worship You our Creator, because You are worthy of our praise, in Christ's name, amen'

  Hebrews 12:2 ESV looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus was known as a ‘man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering’. Yet He was also a joyful man, even during His earthly sojourn. Even though He knew He was headed for the shameful cross, He knew what lay beyond. Before Jesus could be crowned with glory, He had to wear a crown of thorns. We must take up our crosses and follow Him. He has won glory for us, but there’s suffering to be had before we get there. God can turn shameful things like suffering, persecution and even crucifixion into how we will be glorified. By the cross of Christ, we can have our shamefulness dealt with. By His resurrection and ascension, we too can be glorified. Like Peter on the sea of Galilee, if we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can stand. If we look away, we will drown if Jesus doesn’t catch us

  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples! 1 Chronicles 16:24 ESV Why doesn’t God immediately translate the people He saves to glory? Because He wants us to declare His glory among the nations! He wants us to declare His marvellous works among all the peoples. The scoffer might question how he can see God’s glory. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim the work of His hands. If he has eyes to see the creation, he should recognise the creator. The supreme glorious act of God was to send His Son to die for us, so that we can have eternal life. Death might not seem glorious. Yet God turned what seemed shameful into the glorious means by which we can be saved from the condemnation we deserve. The most marvellous thing God did for us was for Christ to die for us. Thankfully, death isn’t the end, but He’s victorious over it. On the third day, Christ rose again, and through faith in Him, we can too. ‘Glorious God, ple

  ‭Romans 5:1 ESV‬ Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.5.1.ESV We're justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not by works, so that no one can boast. Justification is being made acceptable to God, which is by the blood of Jesus. We're not justified by 'pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps'. Paul is in perfect harmony with old testament writers like Moses and Habakkuk. Moses said that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Habakkuk said that the righteous live by faith. One of the great fruits of justification by faith is peace with God. Peace isn't just the absence of hostility with God. Peace is also about enjoying fellowship with God. As the angels announced at Jesus's birth, 'glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests'. Peace with God isn't for everyone but only for those

  1 John 1:9 ESV If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This was the verse my mum quoted to me when she led me to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. My deathbed convert granddad had died days before and I asked mum how I could be saved (even though I will have heard many times through my parents and church). I put this verse into practice there and then and felt an immediate sense of relief. One might wonder what sins an eight-year-old might have to confess. Before my granddad’s conversion I arrogantly assumed I was a Christian. After all, I knew most of the answers at Sunday School and church kid’s clubs. Pride was the original sin that got satan kicked out of heaven, and I was guilty of it too. Thankfully, this verse is true, and God has always been faithful to me. He forgave my sins through Christ crucified and cleansed (cleanses/will cleanse) me from all unrighteousness. What He did for me He can do