Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

In our last post, we looked at the first part of King David's beautiful prayer to Jehovah. Now we move to the next part of this prayer from a mature but humble saint of God. The context is David transitioning the kingdom to his son, Solomon, whom the LORD appointed to be the next king.  I suggest reading 1 Chronicles 28:9-21 , where King David gives Solomon the solemn responsibility to build the temple for Jehovah.  In those verses, you will find a very detailed inventory of all the wood, metals and precious things that David accumulated for this project.  You will also see a beautiful example of verbal inspiration in verse 19, where God gave David blueprints for building this beautiful structure.  The bountiful supply of building materials is what I call to our attention, for the next part of David's prayer speaks about it. We need humble hearts when praying to God.  1 Chronicles 29:14,15  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after

In this post we are going to reach back into the Old Testament historical narrative to study a prayer of King David. David's great desire was to build a temple for Jehovah, but the LORD would not allow him to do this. Why? Because the king killed so many people in battles.  However, Jehovah did tell David that his son Solomon could construct a temple for His name at Jerusalem. King David accumulated a vast supply of various materials for Solomon to use building a temple for God. This is one of the last prayers of King David before Solomon became King of Israel. Bless Jehovah when we start to pray for He is worthy! 1 Chronicles 29:10  Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.   David's prayer began with blessing Jehovah. He exalted the name of Jehovah as he prayed in public for his nation. The King offered the LORD his heartfelt praise and adoration, as he magnified Jehovah for

As we move farther into the New Testament, we will read many prayers of the apostles that will help guide how we pray to God. The following text is Paul's prayer to the Christians at Corinth. We are familiar with this church because it had a lot of spiritual and practical problems that needed to be addressed.  The abuse of spiritual gifts was one major cause of concern at Corinth and Paul's prayer speaks about the gifts, preparing them for an exposition of them in chapters 12-14.  Beginning with thanksgiving to God.  1 Corinthians 1:4  I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;   Paul began his prayer by expressing his deepest thanks to God for the grace and salvation they received from Jesus Christ.  What is grace? Grace is often defined as the free, unmerited love and favor of God, the source of all the benefits men receive from him.  It is God giving us something marvelous and wonderful that we do not deserve, something fre

We have spent more than one year studying through Psalm 119 and I would like to pause, so that we may study a different part of the Bible.  Even though we have only covered the first fifty verses of the grand Psalm about God's Word, there are some patterns we can benefit from.  Repetition of truth is what we need.  Jeremiah 35:12-15  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,  13)  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD.  14)  The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me.  15)  I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his

The joys of remembering what God says to us.  Psalm 119:49  ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.  Remembering God's Word sustains our soul and maintains a joyful heart in each believer.  Remembering God's Word prepares us to be faithful witnesses for Jesus Christ.  Remembering God's Word brings great comfort to us when we face challenging and hard times.  Remembering God's Word fills us with hope even when we face a hopeless situation.  Remembering God's Word revives and comforts us. Psalm 119:50  This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.  In our last post, we paid attention to the reviving power of God's Word. Remembering God's Word refreshes our spirit when we become weary in well doing.  It re-energizes our soul and brings to us a fresh zeal for loving and serving God. Remembering God's Word reminds us that we are not alone when we suffer.   Isaiah 43:1,2  But now thus saith the L

We move from the book of Acts into the letters written to believers in various New Testament churches by the Apostles. Praying for others needs at all times, displays the heart of Christ.  Romans 1:8-12  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.  9)  For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;  10)  Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.  11)  For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;  12)  That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.  Paul prayed for every single church that he ministered to, usually mentioning his prayers within the opening verses of his letters.  This letter to the church at Rome is no exception. In the first seven v

Note: Please remember that there are Christmas lessons in the archive section of the blog. I pray that they will be a resource for family devotions and be reminding us all about what God did in order to save us from our sins.   You will find 9 Christmas lessons titled "The True Story of Christmas" in the archives posted between December 16 and December 21, 2019. Everyone experiences good times, tough times and mediocre times as we walk through this life. Most of us prefer "good times" but what about hard times, when we face a very challenging situation? This post will show us God's will for enduring those hard times that we all will face at some point in life. A right foundation of faith is trusting Jehovah.  Psalm 11:1-3   In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?  2)  For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.  3)  If the foundat