How are these Scriptures appropriate now?

***The Heart of God

Luke 1:76-79

Zachariah (father of John the Baptist) said,

76 “And you, little one, shall be called a Prophet of The Most High;

for you shall go on before the face of The LORD to make ready His ways,

77 to bring and give the knowledge of Salvation to His people

in the forgiveness and remission of their sins.

78 Because of and through the heart of tender mercy and loving-kindness of our God,

a Light from on high will dawn upon us and visit us

79 to shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to direct and guide our feet in a straight line into the way of peace.”

Job 9:4

“[God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;

who has ever hardened himself (or herself) against Him and prospered or even been safe?”

Job 36:1 & 5

1 Elihu proceeded and said,

5 “Behold! God is mighty, and yet despises no one nor regards anything as trivial;

He is mighty in power of understanding and heart.”

Psalms 33:11-12

11 The counsel of The LORD stands forever,

the thoughts of His heart through all generations.

12 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the nation whose God is The LORD,

the people He has chosen as His heritage.

Psalms 105:7-8

7 He is The LORD our God;

His judgments are in all the Earth.

8 He is [earnestly] mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart,

the word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations,

Romans 8:25-30

25 But if we hope for what is still unseen by us,

we wait for it with patience and composure.

26 So too The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness;

for we do not know what prayer to offer

{nor} how to offer it worthily as we ought,

but The Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication

and pleads in our behalf

with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

28 We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor]

all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good

to and for those who love God

and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

29 For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand],

He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them]

to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness],

that He might become the firstborn among many brothers (and sisters).

30 and those whom He thus foreordained, He also called;

And those whom He called, He also justified

(acquitted, made righteous,

putting them into right standing with Himself).

And those whom He justified, He also glorified

[raising them to a Heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].

(Now reread Ephesians 1 before continuing on.)

Matthew 11:27-30

27 “All things have been entrusted and delivered to Me by My Father;

and no one fully knows and accurately understands The Son except The Father,

and no one fully knows and accurately understands The Father

except The Son and anyone to whom The Son deliberately wills to make Him known.

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened,

and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

29 Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me,

for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart,

and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.

30 For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--

not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing,

but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant),

and My burden is light and easy to be borne.”

Mark 8:1-3

1 In those days when [again] an immense crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat,

Jesus called His Disciples to Him and told them,

2 “I have pity and sympathy for the people

and My heart goes out to them,

for they have been with Me now three days (listening to the Sermon of the Mount)

and have nothing [left] to eat;

3 And if I send them away to their homes hungry,

they will be feeble through exhaustion and faint along the road;

and some of them have come a long way.”

1 Corinthians 2:16

For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of The LORD

so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge?

But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah)

and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.

Ephesians 2:6-7

6 And He raised us up together with Him

and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him]

in the Heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (The Messiah, The Anointed One).

7 He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come

the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor)

in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

***Blessings and Challenges From God Showing His Heart

Psalms 66:16-20

16 Come and hear, all you who reverently and worshipfully fear God,

and I will declare what He has done for me!

17 I cried aloud to Him;

He was extolled and high praise was under my tongue.

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The LORD will not hear me;

19 But certainly God has heard me;

He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God, Who has

not rejected my prayer

nor removed His mercy and loving-kindness from being [as it always is] with me.

Romans 5:3-5

3 Moreover let us exult and triumph in our troubles

and rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship

produce patient and unswerving endurance.

4 And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity).

And character produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal Salvation.

5 Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us,

for God's love has been poured out in our hearts

through The Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.

Psalms 10:16-18

16 The LORD is King forever and ever;

the nations will perish out of His land.

17 O LORD, You have heard the desire and the longing of the humble and oppressed;

You will prepare and strengthen and direct their hearts,

You will cause Your ear to hear,

18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,

so that man, who is of the earth,

may not terrify them anymore.

Proverbs 16:1-8

1 The plans of the mind and orderly thinking belong to man (or woman),

but from The LORD comes the [wise] answer of the tongue.

2 All the ways of a man (or woman) are pure in his (or her) own eyes,

but The LORD weighs the spirits (the thoughts and intents of the heart).

3 Roll your works upon The LORD [commit and trust them wholly to Him];

so shall your plans be established and succeed.

4 The LORD has made everything [to accommodate itself and contribute]

to its own end and His own purpose--

even the wicked [are fitted for their role] for the day of calamity and evil.

5 Everyone proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting, hateful, and exceedingly offensive

to The LORD; be assured [I pledge it] they will not go unpunished.

6 By mercy and love, Truth and fidelity [to God and mankind-- not by sacrificial offerings],

iniquity is purged out of the heart,

and by the reverent, worshipful fear of The LORD

men (and women) depart from and avoid evil.

7 When a man's (or woman’s) ways please The LORD,

He (or she) makes even his (or her) enemies to be at peace with him (or her).

8 Better is a little with righteousness

(uprightness in every area and relation and right standing with God)

than great revenues with injustice.

Psalms 33:13-15 & 18-22

13 The LORD looks from Heaven, He beholds all the sons (and daughters) of men;

14 From His dwelling place He looks [intently] upon all the inhabitants of the Earth--

15 He Who fashions the hearts of them all, Who considers all their doings.

18 Behold, the Lord's eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe],

who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness,

19 to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

20 Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for The LORD;

He is our Help and our Shield.

21 For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted (relied on and been confident)

in His holy Name (character).

22 Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O LORD,

be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.

Psalms 73:23-28

23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;

You do hold my right hand.

24 You will guide me with Your counsel,

and afterward receive me to honor and glory.

25 Whom have I in Heaven but You?

And I have no delight or desire on Earth besides You.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is

The Rock

and firm strength of my heart

and my Portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from You shall perish;

You will destroy all who are false to You

and like [spiritual] harlots depart from You.

28 But it is good for me to draw near to God;

I have put my trust in The LORD God

and made Him my refuge,

that I may tell of all Your works.