Bless the LORD and don't forget ALL His benefits

PS 103:2 tells us, “Bless the Lord , O my soul, and forget not ALL His benefits.”

We often pick one verse out of the Scripture and stand on it, but what about the verses around it? Sometimes we ignore warnings when we do this. Conversely, we also ignore blessings. Consider the entirety of Psalms 103,

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. 6 The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. 9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. 14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer. 17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, 18 To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them. 19 The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. 20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! 21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. 22 Bless the LORD, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the LORD, O my soul!” Psalms 103

Let us also consider Ephesians 1:15-23, “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:15-23 (NASB)

Many of us try to “cover” ourselves. We don't want to look “less spiritual” than we are, so we cover ourselves with excuses rather than to seek out the Truth that conflicts with our experience. Rather than to stand on the Stripes of Jesus, for instance, we say things like, “I'm prepared to accept anything that God does for me... in His Will.” when the will of God is clear in Scripture. When we pray for provision, we say things like God will give us what He can trust us with. Is this why Bill Gates is a billionaire? Is this why George Sorros has billions at his disposal?

God tells me to be anxious for nothing in Philippians 4:6.

Very recently, I was reminded of something that happened about a hundred years ago. I had heard it before, but this time it kind of hit me a little differently. A man, in desperation, hoped to go to America. He saved up his money. Every bit of money that he didn't absolutely have to spend got put aside. He was saving for a one way ticket from his country to America, the symbol of hope, the symbol of freedom. Finally, he had enough to pay for the passage and he bought the ticket. As he traversed across the Atlantic Ocean, he would often walk the decks of the ship and pass by restaurants where people were enjoying lavish meals that looked absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, he had only saved enough to pay for the passage, so he would make his way to his cabin where he would eat what he brought, bread and cheese. As the ship was coming to America, the man stood on deck, viewing Ellis Island, the symbol of the beginning a new life, hope, freedom... a chance to start all over again. A steward was standing on deck with him and asked him if he enjoyed the voyage. He said that he did, immensely. The only regret he had was that he didn't save enough so that he could enjoy some of those wonderful meals at the restaurants on the boat. The steward was shocked and asked, “Didn't you know? All those meals were included with the ticket?”

We all want to go to heaven. So we receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We have so much emphasis on receiving Christ to escape hell, that, all too often, we forget ALL His benefits. We accept the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross for our salvation, which is absolutely wonderful, and we explain away why we haven't been healed. We explain away why we don't have enough. We explain away why we can't sleep at night. We explain away why we don't have peace in a world of turmoil. We hold up the hope of seeing freedom, through Jesus, but we explain away all or most of the benefits that accompany salvation. We accept that fact that Jesus paid for our eternal life and forget that Jesus also paid for our healing, our prosperity, our peace, our blessings that make incredible differences in our lives here on earth while we are waiting for the most important event in our lives, our translation into heaven... our ultimate union with our Creator. If that were all that Jesus paid for, it would be absolutely wonderful, since there is simply no way that I, in myself, could ever attain that in myself. The very fact that Jesus died for my sins is absolutely beyond my comprehension. He did not have to do that, but because of His Love, He did. I'm eternally grateful... This, however, is not all He paid for.

We end up being like that man who booked passage on the ocean liner to go to America and, because he didn't know what was included, didn't take advantage of any of the benefits that were already paid for. All the activities... all the benefits... even the food sat there. They were there all the time, but he took advantage of none of it. He was happy making the trip to America. It was his main goal and the only thing he had his sights on. He didn't see the other benefits. What he didn't see, he didn't know to take advantage of. Though it was a wonderful, life changing event, his voyage was a bit miserable. We do the same thing with God. Our sights are on making it to heaven... if we can only endure the hardships of the life we are living now. Our sights are fixed on heaven, as well they should be, but we are so focused, that we can't see that Jesus has made provision for the entire trip. It's already paid for. We only have to be able to see it. Paul commended the Ephesians faith in Ephesians 1, but in verse eighteen, he tells them, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” We can't know the full hope of His calling if we can't see it. What we don't know, we can't walk in. What we don't walk in, we will never be able to experience. Without experiencing the Goodness of God, we can't proclaim it. In other words, how can my soul bless God and forget not ALL of His benefits is I don't even know that those benefits are? So, let's take a look at what Isaiah tells us of this Wonderful Savior, Jesus, Whom we call Lord.

Isaiah 53 contains a most beautiful prophecy of the “coming Messiah.” We quote it often, mostly to stand on healing, but there is so much more. In quoting it for healing, we quote what Peter quoted in the New Testament, “By His stripes we are healed.” This is found in Isaiah 53:5 and we only quote a forth of the verse. Interestingly, Peter apparently misquotes it. He says, “By His stripes we WERE healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 To make matters worse, we not only take just a piece of a verse in Isaiah, we also take just a piece of 1 Peter 2:24. We are told in the same verse, that He Himself bore our sins in His Body so that we could die to sin and lve to righteousness. Let us take a quick look at the entirety of what God says through Isaiah in this most wonderful prophecy.

“Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:1-12 (NASB) It's only twelve short verses, but these twelve verses contain powerhouse of information concerning God's desire for your well being and what Jesus already did to pay for the Father's desire for you. I'm quoting out of the New American Standard Bible because I believe it is the most accurate translation available and is based on the manuscripts that date back to being the closest to the time of Jesus. If you prefer the KJV, by all means, get your Bible out and use it.

Isaiah 53 starts with a simple question. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? That the God who created the entire universe would take such interest in me is absolutely incredible. How could He love me so much??? I'm like one ant on the face of an entire earth in comparison to God. Yet He does. And to compound the issue, He loves YOU the very same. If you were the only person on earth, Jesus would have paid the price for YOU. You and I are hopeless in the sight of the sins that so easily tangle us up and, as many mistakes that we have made, it only takes one to separate us from God. Our state of affairs goes from hopeless to worse with every sin we commit. And the penalty for just one sin, since God is holy and cannot have sin in His Presence, is DEATH. We're in trouble... BIG trouble, with no way out. Then came Jesus. He paid our debt and made the way for us to be holy and acceptable to God. WOW! Because of what Jesus did, we can be clean and walk into the Presence of God like a son who has done nothing wrong. Why??? Because the Blood of Jesus paid for everything that can possible separate us from the Father. And He has given us the Spirit that cries out, “ABBA, Father.” Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6 Just like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14:36. ABBA, by the way is best translated “Daddy.” There is only one catch. When someone gives you a gift, you don't actually have it until you accept it. If someone gives me a car and I never take the key or the title, I'll never own the car. Jesus has paid the price and hands you the title (certificate of ownership) and the key (of life). All that you need to do is receive what Jesus has already purchased and offered to you. It's incredible should simply put us in the total state of awe, but it's true and all you have to do is accept it like I did. Scripture tells us that if we confess Jesus with our mouth and believe that God raised Him up from the dead, we will be saved. Accept Him... Accept life. If you have done this, on the promise of God, you have new life...but there is more.

Verse two describes this Jesus as Someone Who grew up just like us, just a regular guy. He didn't appear like a King riding on a white horse in a golden robe. In fact, he didn't look like there was anything “majestic” about Him at all. And when He began to show His Wisdom, what did we do? According to verse three, we despised Him, we forsook Him, we gave Him more grief than any man should ever have to put up with, let alone the Son of God. We treated him like a leper and didn't think much about it. After all, he grew us in Bethlehem. How important could He be. If we only knew.

Verse four begins to tell us what Jesus took upon Himself through our rejection of Him and according to the plan of God, the Father, Who sent Him. We looked at Him as stricken, smitten and afflicted. We saw Him as a man overcome with sorrows, struck by God and, surely, if He was of God, He wouldn't have to go through what He did. In reality, we were looking at our own disgusting state. We were the ones with grief. He took those griefs on Himleft. We were the ones with sorrows. He was the One Who carried them. We were the ones who were struck by God, and that, of our own doing. We were the ones who set God's Face against us. We were the ones who were so sinful that God couldn't bear to look at us. But Jesus took that upon Himself. He gave Himself willingly, as a lamb goes to the slaughter, to pay for our shortcomings and set us free to come to God. Jesus is the One Who said, “Father, strike me instead.” The Justice of God requires punishment for sin even though His Mercy wants to touch you with His Love. Jesus says, “Give Me the punishment... give him (or her) Your Love.” As John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him might have eternal life...”

In verses five through nine, we see the price Jesus paid for you and me. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And His chastisement paid for our well being. The first question that begs to be answered in verse five is why was He pierced for our transgressions and in the very next phrase, He was crushed for our iniquities? Some translations even combine the two phrases, simply saying that He was wounded and crushed for our sins. Actually, transgressions is translated from “pesha‛ which means “a revolt (national, moral or religious): - rebellion, sin, transgression,” while iniquities is translated from ‛âvôn”; which means “perversity, that is, (moral) evil: - fault, iniquity, mischief, punishment (of iniquity), sin.” Likewise, pierced and crushed also come from two different Hebrew words. Pierced is from “chalal”which means, “a prim. root; to bore, pierce: - kill (1), pierced (2), pierced through (1), slain (1), wound (1), wounded (1).” while crushed is from daka (193d) which is defined, “a prim. root; to crush: - become contrite (1), contrite (1), crush (7), crushed (7), crushing (1), oppressed (1).” Chastening comes from, “musar,” defined as “ from H3256; discipline, chastening, correction: - chastening (3), chastise (1), correction (3), discipline (18), disciplines (1), instruction (20), punishment (2), reproof (1), warning (1).” So far, just in verse five, Jesus paid for our rebellion, our sins and our instruction. Then the last phrase is the most quoted, He was scourged for our healing. Healed, by the way, comes from “raca,” meaning, “become fresh (3), completely healed (1), heal (24), healed (22), healer (1), healing (2), heals (3), physician (1), physicians (4), purified (2), reappeared (1), repaired (2), take care (1).” or as Strong's puts it, “properly to mend (by stitching), that is, (figuratively) to cure: - cure, (cause to) heal, physician, repair, X thoroughly, make whole.” Cured means cured. Whole means whole. One might say, “DUH!!!” Some emphasize physical healing, barely touching on the spiritual aspect while others seem to ignore the physical aspect and stress that this means spiritual healing. While I agree that we can be whole, being spiritually healed, I must point out that “raca” infers the involvement of a physician. “Raca,” by its definition, means “...make whole.” Personally, I believe, both by interpretation and by experience, that by the Stripes (the beating) of Jesus Christ, we are made totally whole. That includes our spirit (that which lives forever and goes to God). It also includes our soul (our mental being) and our body (that which houses our spirit and soul while we are inhabiting planet earth).

Verse six explains that we have all gone astray and turned to our own way... but God! The word “astray” comes from the Hebrew “taah,” which means “to vacillate, that is, reel or stray (literally or figuratively); also causatively of both: - (cause to) go astray, deceive, dissemble, (cause to, make to) err, pant, seduce, (make to) stagger, (cause to) wander, be out of the way.” We have all turned to our own way. The Hebrew word is “derek” meaning “a road (as trodden); figuratively a course of life or mode of action, often adverbially: - along, away, because of, + by, conversation, custom, [east-] ward, journey, manner, passenger, through, toward, [high-] [path-] way [-side], whither [-soever].” We have turned,, wandered, staggered, wandered into our own course of life or our own road, our own course of life, our own custom... our own little journey. In other words, we have made our own interpretations and decided for ourselves what God can reasonably expect from us. Even though Scripture tells us that no Scripture is of a private interpretation, we have decided that we know best what God meant when He wrote the Bible through the prophets He inspired. (2 Peter 1:20, 21 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”)

Verses seven through nine describe the Messiah as the willing Sacrifice. He was oppressed without cause and afflicted without any reason at all. In our human nature, everything within us would cry out and object, but Jesus, our Messiah, never even opened His Mouth. He accepted everything they dished out and never even complained. He knew that He was paying for everything you and I have done and took on Himself everything that you and I deserved. He was cut off from His people, punished with our punishment and even killed. He accepted the death penalty without even a whimper even though He did absolutely nothing wrong. And it pleased God. Wow!!! Self sacrifice for those who could not help themselves. It reminds me of the fast that God, Himself, desires, to loose the bands of iniquity, to undo the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke, feed the hungry, house the homeless, cover the naked. Check out Isaiah 58:6, 7 and the blessings that follow in Isaiah 58:8-14. God smiles when we help our neighbor get free from a yoke off bondage. Jesus broke every yoke, He loosed every bond of wickedness. He set us free and all we have to do is see that this is God's Gift and accept it.

The results of Jesus' ultimate sacrifice is the ultimate reward. He earned the Name above all other names. He is worthy above all others. He laid down His pride, His body, His very Life. God looked at us and saw that we were helpless and hopeless. And Jesus said, “Here I am... send Me.

Now think about that man who took the ocean liner to America. He paid for the trip, but enjoyed none of the benefits because he didn't know what he had paid for. He thought he was paying for the journey and never realized, until the end, that everything else was included. It was paid for, but he suffered through the journey, just being happy to see America.

People, we accept Jesus and know that He paid the price for our sins so that we could make the trip to heaven. So many of us struggle through that trip and earnestly look forward to heaven, seeing it from a distance and just filled with awe that t we are actually going to set foot in that wonderful place that God has prepared for us. And surely, if all we had to gain was heaven, it would be worth the trip. But we miss so much because we don't consider what Jesus actually paid for. Do we have grief? Why? Jesus paid for that. Do we have sorrows? Why? Jesus carried them. Have we been in rebellion? Have we sinned? Jesus paid for that rebellious heart and those sins that we knowingly and unknowingly committed. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus. We have freedom to walk into the holy of holies now because of the Precious Blood of Jesus. We also have freedom from those griefs, those sorrows, those inadequacies and yes, those sicknesses. Do we need healing? Jesus paid for it. Oh , some will say that this applies to emotional healing and God gave us doctors for the physical healing. Really? Remember that healing means “totally whole?” Do I appreciate doctors and nurses? Sure I do! They dedicated their lives to helping saints and sinners get well. I just know a better doctor and know that Jesus paid the price for my salvation, my healing and my restoration, both spiritually and physically. The greatest thing is the passage to heaven, but I don't want to give up ANYTHING that Jesus paid for and says I already have. Jesus paid too much for that ticket!

Father, open our eyes. Jesus is the Truth, the Way and Life. If the only thing done on the Cross was to pay for my salvation, it would be more than enough and I thank You and praise You for eternal life. Your Word tells us that Jesus paid for so much more, so open our eyes and help us see what Jesus paid for and the price He paid that we might not only be saved but also be totally healed, spirit, soul and body, totally whole. Thank You, Jesus, that “It is finished!”