"Count your blessings one by one."

“Do not count your horses or your chariots.”

Even though counting is the first thing we learn from our first birthday to the last year of our life, the council of Scripture is not to count, for if you count your horses and your chariots, your savings and your possessions, you’ll end up trusting in that which you have accumulated, in that which you can count and see with your eyes and not trusting in Jesus.

The Bible says. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7.

Paul Z. is one of the godliest men I have ever known. He used to be an elder at a large church in Newark, Delaware. His exclusive task in the present time of retirement is to manage at his own expense my website. Paul keeps my writings in meticulous order and places them on the website [http://perugerry.com].

I have always wanted to know if anyone at all reads that link. Perhaps one person or one hundred thousand or not one at all. In all honesty, I was tempted to know if anyone reads the over thousand small articles I have weitten over the last twenty years. So far, I have refrained from doing so due to the warning from scripture not to count because you can fall in the temptation of trusting in that which is visible and in that which you can count.

The believer’s lives are characterized by walking by faith not by sight.

Faith is to take Jesus at his word and go home trusting that your child has been healed the hour Jesus said she was healed. The word of Jesus should be enough for us all.

To trust in the name of the Lord alone is to trust in his whole personality, character, attributes, essence, credibility, holiness, power, authority and everything that he is. What would a man gain if he counts the stars of heaven and every grain of sand of the universe? The Psalm writer with great pride and conviction wrote: “Some trust in horses some trust in chariots but we trust in the name of the Lord.”

He speaks of it at the climax of his thinking because it is better to trust in a person than in lifeless numbers that mean nothing to anyone but to the idolater. It is better to love and obey God by trusting him by faith above anything else in the whole wide world.

If you have been tempted to know what you have, what you know, what you can do, or what you cannot do; refrain from counting them. David counted his horses and chariots and offended the God that he loved. Yes, we are so prompt to wander away from the God we love to go after lifeless idols of our making.

Let’s repent from such evil thoughts and be against ourselves. But if you must count, then count your blessings one by one and trust anew in the God who has not failed to Father Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Jesus. Know that you will not be the first person who he fails. This is my way to celebrate the coming out of prison of my stepbrother Daniel who was released from prison yesterday in Argentina. In Jail he has experienced Jesus in a fresh and new manner that has brought joy to my heart.

Focus on Jesus and slap your face when your wandering eyes look elsewhere but at his precious face.

In the name of Jesus alone.

Gerry Gutierrez.

Pictures are at the Barcelona Market, learning to prepare myself a good Sushi and going to see Leo Messi in Camp Nou Barcelona.