BTR Weekly eNewsletter: Blessings in Your Family

Issue #699 ~ January 10, 2022

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your encouragement and support. We pray you will be blessed daily through the Word. Please freely share this email with others.

Christ is All and in All,

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Blessings in Your Family

"Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table."

Psalm 128:3

"Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord."

Psalm 128:4

Let's listen to Job as he testifies in a time that seems totally contrary to blessings in his family.

Job 10:12: "You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit" (NIV).

Job 34:21: "His eyes are on the ways of men; he sees their every step" (NIV).

Job 34:32: "Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong I will not do so again" (NIV).

Verse 3: "Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table."

In verse 1 we are told "Blessed are all who" do 2 things: (1) "fear [respect] the Lord" and (2) "who walk in his ways."

Those who do this have 4 blessings awaiting them: (1) "You will eat the fruit of your labor"; (2) "blessings and prosperity will be yours"; (3) "Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house"; and (4) "your sons will be like olive shoots around your table."

In verse 2 the psalmist is focusing on the gentleman's professional life. In verse 3 he turns to his personal life.

He is characterized by a fruitful family..

The wife is characterized as being "like a fruitful vine within your house." The word "fruitful" has in it the idea of refreshment and lavish enjoyment.

In thinking of the characteristics of the vine, there are 3. The vine: (1) clings; (2) climbs; and (3) clusters in fruitfulness.

One husband said: "Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up

children; now I have six children and no theories." (God's Little Devotional Book for Dads, 284)

Verse 4: "Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord."

The word "Thus" points us back to the 4-fold blessing of the man who fears God he described in verses 2 and 3. We could translate the word "Thus" as "Behold," "Low," "Observe," "Stop, look and listen." God is the author of all this. We had "Blessed" in verse 1, "blessings" in verse 2, and now "blessed" here in verse 4.

"Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord."

J. Vernon McGee said: "You cannot get away from the fact that, unless there is that reverential fear of God and obedience to Him there will not be a happy home."

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Praises & Prayer Requests

1. Pray: An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.

Proverbs 31:10, 11 (NASB)

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2. Pray: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, Ephesians 5:25 (NASB)

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3. Praise: Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Psalm 144:12 (NIV)

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4. Pray: And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18 (NASB)

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5. Pray: Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. 2 Corinthians 5:11 (NASB)

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Please join me in singing verse 2 of "There Shall Be Showers of Blessing":

There shall be showers of blessing:

Precious reviving again; Over the hills and the valleys,

Sounds of abundance of rain.

Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing

we need Mercy drops around us are falling,

But for the showers we plead.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Bible Teaching Resources

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