"Deportation"

"Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping." (Psalms 6:8) Webster's definition of deportation is: The legal banishment of an alien; exile. Let's try and get this into our heads: if we really want to quit being taunted, then we must demand that we be left alone! We have every legal right to do exactly that; however, it must be done forcefully, and sincerely; sincerely, meaning that we mean business!!! That was always my mother's favorite thing to say when she really meant for us to do what we were told, or else, she would say, "If you think I am kidding, well I am not; I really mean business; so do what I say, or else!" Here is the thing about what I am saying, and it really is quite simple: if we really mean what we are saying, then we are going to do everything required to make this happen! We never have to worry about God doing His part, because He is more than willing to assist us in cleaning out our house; but hiding something away for later on will not work!!! In other words; if we really mean business, then we will banish everything that causes us to stumble from our lives! Okay, let me tell you what I think about the authority we give the enemy to continue, and how we must put an end to it. First off; I do not believe that the devil can read our minds; God can, but the devil cannot; but he can witness our actions. In other words; taking something that causes us to stumble, and putting it away in a secret place, will not count for giving it up! He will see that action and know that you are not serious about quiting! So, if we are serious about doing something, then we must first banish those idols from our lives; and then, and only then, will we have the real authority to cast away all those demons that are associated with that sin; otherwise, they will continue to taunt us with that idol! The word 'Depart' that David is speaking of means to turn aside, or depart; and it speaks about, to cause to turn aside, or to cause to depart: holding onto those things will not cause them to depart, because they are attached to those things! Wicked is, what wicked does!!! The 'workers of iniquity' are such; they ordain wickedness! If you read the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, you will discover the difference in those that took down the 'High Places', those that held onto them, and those that stowed away the idols that were associated with them. It was only those, that not only took down the 'High Places' and destroyed the idols, that were serious about getting Israel back to holiness! If a king had destroyed the high places, yet had hidden away the idols, then one of his descendants would find those idols, and then reestablish the high places. We must be serious about doing business!

"Realization!"

"My eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies." (Psalms 6:7) Just when you think I could not get any weirder or more out there; well, let's just say, Hold onto your hats! This is the part where you figure out who is pulling all of the strings, and who it is that is actually putting you in all of those places that you do not belong! Subtil and crafty are his ways; yet invited in by our own affections and our lusts; the enemy gains a foothold into our lives by the things which we allow to be placed between us and God! I do not believe that a Christian can be possessed by demons, but I do believe that we can be oppressed by them. These are the powers of spiritual wickedness that have been invited into our lives by the sins that we commit. I know that I am touching on some very sensitive subject here, but nonetheless, I believe that this is a real and present danger in many of our lives. For some, this might be more than they can even try to consider as reality; that somehow sin opens the door for demons to taunt us, or have an influence upon our lives; but it does! Especially unconfessed sin that is left unchecked and left to be continued for any length of time: when it becomes a habit, then it is more than likely attached to a demonic force that is helping that habit to stay alive. Let me give you a little example of what I am talking about; and let's say that your sin is an object of desire, such as pornography. You have made a determination to not partake of that sin any longer, and then, wow and behold, what shows up at your doorstep? Do you think that God placed it there to tempt you, or was it someone else? Well, it was not God; for James 1:13 & 14 says, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." No way is it God who tempts us, but it is the devil; and he uses those things that we are drawn to, which give him a foothold to entice us with. This is what I mean by "Realization"; because we come to realize who it is that has been jerking our chain, and causing us to sin! Oh, he is not completely the one who is at fault, because we can always flee from temptation; but that is the point of his enticement, in that he gives us what we want! Well, I have rambled enough; let's get into what David is saying; shall we? The "eye" that David makes reference to, as in, "My eye is consumed because of grief", is a really interesting word; for it is a word that means to afflict, in the sense of something acted upon by an outside source, as an eye is by light. This word is 'Ayin', and it has a wide variety of applications centered around the functions of the eye, and the extensions of those functions. But, for time sake, let's just say that this eye which David is speaking of is the portal to his soul, and then go from there. Because the next word, is the word "consumed", which means fail, as in, I have failed again! But, it also means waste away, as in, I have surely wasted my life away!!! And then, the word "grief"; which is meant to be anger, but with a little twist; because the normal form of this word, shows the trouble that man causes, thus triggering hurt feelings. It is an interesting way to look at a very complex situation; because, although the eye is influenced by an outside source, the inner reaction makes an adjustment to that source, and thus becomes accustom to it; which then causes the grief or hurt, having been tricked by not only the outside source, but also by the natural reactions of the eye; or something of that sort!!! With that; we have the rest of the verse; which cuts a little more to the chase! "It waxeth old because of all mine enemies", is this eye which David has been speaking of, that being the portal of his soul, has been weakened or consumed because of his enemies. The word "enemies" speaks of adversary; to bind up, be tied up, or restricted; to show hostility towards, vex, harass, and to pretty much waste a life!!! You know what I am talking about!

"Reflections"

"I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears." (Psalms 6:6) Do you know what is happening here with David? After having determined in his heart that he could not put off another day from repenting before God, he is now doing what must come next, and he is reflecting upon all those things which he has sinned in, and how he must receive forgiveness for each and every one. Reflections of the heart can be very trying, and as I mentioned before, it is like peeling an onion: there are layers upon layers, and it is sure to bring a tear to our eye. This is no quick shout out to God for forgiveness, but is a fierce time of regrets for having laughed in the face of God! That might seem a little harsh to say, and might even sound as something which David would never do; but think about this for just a moment, and think about where our hearts are when we sin; the actual action of our heart when we do something which we know that we should not be doing. There is a certain hilarious rebellion that takes place in our hearts; much like a young child who laughs as he is doing exactly what his parent has told him not to do. When we honestly take the time to not only repent of our sins, but to think about how that we have sinned, which is to say, what motivated us to sin, then we are beginning to get to the root of our problem! The first thing that we must remember about David is that he was not only a king and a preacher, but he was also a prophet in his own rights; and being that he was a prophet, he was given insight into future events; very vivid insight into the actual scenes of what Jesus would be going through as He took our sins upon Himself on that cross. These were visions of what was to be, and were in a certain way, were more powerful than looking back to what has already been. That might not make much sense to some, but we are looking at our sins in a rear view mirror, whereas David was looking forward to what would take place to gain forgiveness of his sin. The thought of the cost of sin, and the price which was to be paid for that sin, was enough to leave him broken! There is something which should be noticed in what David is saying in the verse above; which is that he was not just weeping at night, and in his bed; but was also weeping during the day, and on his couch! In other words; this was not a quick time of repentance; but was one that went on from the night, and into the next day; and in the words of someone famous, "We sure as heck did not get here overnight..."

"Desperation"

"For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" (Psalms 6:5) If you did not quite get the refreshing point of yesterday's post, I am sorry for my lack to communicate that point well enough; however, if you did understand the point that I was making, then you should know how critical that it is to make it count!!! Which is where we find David at this point; being desperate to get it right, because there are no guarantees on having another day to try again! It's really not that hard to understand what David is saying in the verse above; unlike yesterday, and my wild interpretations; heck, he could have just been saying, Hurry up Lord, and save my soul, for Your mercies sake! But that would have just taken all the experience out of the whole process. Here, David is speaking of death as being the end of chances to get things right; and for David, death was always a possibility, because he had a whole lot of enemies; both outside, and inside the camp. But nonetheless, let's take a look at what David is saying, and see if we can gain any inspiration from these words; heck, who knows, we might even get a little desperate ourselves! First and foremost, is the word "death", which actually means DEATH, personified!!! But if we back up just a little to the first would used, we see the word "For", which tells us to look back to his previous statement that he made, which was, "oh save me for Thy mercies sake". In this we find David's desperation, "For in death there is no remembrance of Thee". But the thing that really makes my point, is the meaning of the word "remembrance" when it comes to this Psalm, because this word is a noun, and it comes from the verb 'Zakhar'. It is the word 'Zekher', and it means a remembrance, memory; memorial, commemoration; fame, name, praise; invocation. This verbal noun contains almost the same large range of meanings resident in the verb 'zakhar'. It is the permanent notice, the conscious effort to remember. However, within the context of this Psalm, the word 'Zekher' speaks of praise and celebration; which means a reason to celebrate or give praise. This goes back to what I was saying yesterday, about God's mercy not getting the recognition that it deserves, in "save me for Thy mercies sake". We can quibble all day long about what the word "remembrance" might mean, but we all know that hell is full of torment, and much of that torment comes from remembering and knowing what you did not do!!! Therefore, remembering God is not what David is speaking about; but let's take a little look at the next portion of this verse, and see if that paints a better picture for us; shall we? Between these two statements we have a 'colon', which is to be thought of as a gate, inviting one to go on; an example would be, "There is only one thing left to do: confess while you still have time!" The word that we should pay attention to is the word "thanks", as in, "in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" David is still speaking about death, but he is just putting it in the position of the grave; and if you can try and envision your hands lifting up from the grave to give thanks; well, that is about the same chance you will have to confess from there also...

"Preparation"

"Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for Thy mercies sake." (Psalms 6:4) Have you ever witnessed the calm before the storm? It is kind of eerie, especially if you are out in the middle of the ocean; when you can see the storm approaching in the distance, yet all around you, the water is perfectly still; you know that you are in for something really big! The reason that I bring that up, is that David is being prepared for something big to happen, and the preparation is happening two ways; one is by the way that God is preparing him, and the other is by the way that David is preparing himself. For in this moment there is silence; silence from God, as if He is getting ready to exhale, if you catch my meaning? Okay, you might not see what I am talking about, but here's the thing: the way that God works in these situations is much like the calm before the storm; whereas, He pulls back from us just prior to pressing in, in an effort to get us to prepare our hearts for what He is going to do next. You could think of this as a recoil, in which He is drawing back His hand in an effort to thrust it forward, but in a spiritual sense. The person who is willing to surrender all, will welcome this recoiling action with great anticipation; however, the person who is just going through the motions, will wonder where God went, if they even notice at all, and they will be in for a big surprise! Not seeing it? Well then, let's look at what David is saying here. The very first word which David says, is the word "Return", and it is a very interesting word, for it does not just mean return, but it also means to turn away, or withdraw. In the way that David is saying this, and in the context of what he is talking about, it means to 'refresh'; which uses both withdraw and return in the same word; as in, 'Refresh Your Spirit, O LORD'. The second word that should be looked at, is the word "deliver", which is a word that means 'to Arm', as to prepare for battle, or to make strong. In a nutshell, what I believe that David is saying, is for God to refresh His Spirit, so that his soul will be prepared for the battle. If you actually thought about the definition that was given of what a 'stronghold', or 'strong hold' means in the context of 2 Corinthians 10:4, then you should have gathered that it is the things on which we rely upon, or have based an opinion on or about, that are not based upon the true knowledge of God. In other words; our thinking is not right, and our computer needs a reboot!!! The second part of verse four, is David pleading on behalf of God and of himself; whereas he is asking God to save him, if for no other reason, then for His mercy to be made known. It is like asking for God to not let him be destroyed, because that will give pleasure to not only his enemies, but the enemies of God; making also God's mercy less powerful in the eyes of all that observe, including David's own heart! In other words; David is asking God to magnify His mercy in this situation; which means to make His mercy be magnified, by having mercy upon David's situation, and letting him come through this stronger than when he started... Oh, how I want that to be my prayer also!!!

"Crucify That Flesh!"

"My soul is sore vexed: but Thou, O LORD, how long?" (Psalms 6:3) Did you think I was kidding about using this title for this verse? Well, I was not! The first thing that I want to look at in this verse, is the question, "but Thou, O LORD, how long?" One way that this question could be directed, is that of a lack of patience, whereas David could be saying, How long do I need to be suffering with this pain or trouble? This could very well be the case; however, there is another question that could be asked, and it has to do with the battle itself, as in, How long till this battle can be won? And then again; we have another question to consider; which is one in which I believe that we all ask at one time or another, and it is the question: How long, O LORD, till your mercy runs out? In other words; how long will God tolerate my rebellion in this certain area of my life? And with that, we have another question which goes along with that, which is, How long till my tomorrows end? We can only put it off for so long, because we never know when our tomorrows will be no more! Now then; about the "soul" which David is speaking of, when he says, "My soul is sore vexed"; because, this is the life form of the inner man; the breath of life, which is the eternal soul that I was speaking of earlier; and is that which I was asking about it knowing the standing that it has with God, even though the flesh might not realize that true standing. The reason that this is the case, is because the soul is a spiritual life form; and being that this is the case, it has a more direct connection with the spiritual world, of which the mortal flesh cannot detect. The idea that is given by "sore vexed", is one of muchness, or exceedingly more trouble than the flesh; being the flesh which was spoken of in verse two. The point being, that even though the flesh is troubled, the soul is more troubled; and the reason being, is that the soul knows more about it's condition, or it's standing with God. Another good example of what I am talking about, would be our quest to fill the void in our lives, prior to coming to Christ. Driven by the desires of the flesh, yet motivated by the need of our soul, we tried numerous things to fill that void; all of which failed to satisfy the need that our soul desired; until that one day, when we made the right choice, and that need was met! Well, here we have another level of the soul's need, but this one requires that the flesh be crucified with Christ; meaning that the desires of the flesh are no longer considered, because the flesh has been nailed to the cross, along side of Christ. It might be hard to picture how this works, as we struggle to place ourselves upon a cross; but this is the work of the Holy Spirit, so we really do not need to worry about the details of how it is done; only that we surrender over our lives, for Him to do it! Besides; when Jesus died upon the cross, He did not die for just our sins, but He died for the sinful man in the process; which means that He died in our place, and that it should have been us that was hanging upon that cross, and not Him!!! However, it was only Him that could have paid the price for us, seeing that He alone was righteous, and that we are not; therefore, our death upon the cross would not have mattered much. But now; now that we have been made free from sin, and the sinful man has been made free from the bondage of sin, we must take our rightful place alongside of Christ, so that the man of sin can be declared dead, and he can live in Christ; or better yet, so that Christ can live in him... "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts." (Galatians 5:24) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

"The Flesh Cries Out"

"Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed." (Psalms 6:2) We always seem to look for the easiest answer to correct our situations; and in this day and age, much of our healings come in the form of a pill. But this condition which David is speaking about here, is something for which there is no earthly cure; however, it is something that is felt within the body, and because that it is, I am sure that someone has either tried to make a pill for it, or has wanted one! As David describes the condition of his pain, he says, "my bones are vexed"; what this is, is the description of the substance of all that he is, being troubled or dismayed. Primarily, the reason for this condition, is the fact that there is nothing he can do physically to correct this condition; which in this case would be prayer, worship, fasting, or any other such thing that would usually do the trick. The only thing left for the physical body to do, is to cry out for mercy, and then wait upon the LORD to answer; although, the answer is usually not the one that we were looking for, or wanted to hear! Basically, this is the point of being at the end of one's self, where answers and solutions are nonexistent; where the only thing left to do, that can even be considered, is to just lay everything before the LORD, and then surrender all control to Him! However, this is something that naturally we are not able to do on our own, because our natural tendency is to assist God in our healing process. Okay; you might need me to give an example of what I am talking about; right? Well; we could relate this to that of a person who is drowning; whereas, the lifeguard will wait for that person to actually drown, before attempting to rescue them; this they will do, because of the feeble attempts that the downing person will do, in order to try and save themselves, could actually cause harm to the lifeguard in his attempt to grab hold of the person who is drowning, and is throwing his arms and legs in all sorts of directions. In other words; we must learn how to drown!!! And in so doing, we are placing all of the work in God saving us, and healing us, in the hands of the One who shall pull us to safety. Again, we must remember that this is a spiritual battle, and as such, it is only something that can be won by the Holy Spirit; and He will wait for us to quit flopping our arms up and down, in an effort to save ourselves; at which time, He will then be able to do what it is that He must do! "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, sayeth the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6b) It is by the power of God's Spirit that strongholds shall be brought down; and it is only by our acceptance of this fact, that we will be able to release control of such things into His hands! This is the part that makes us give up control: because the word "stronghold", means, anything on which one relies; of the arguments and reasoning by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend against his opponent...

"The Awakening"

"O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure." (Psalms 6:1) There comes a time, when we as mere mortal man, discover how inept that we are to deal with certain issues of our hearts, let alone, that of the spirit world! These times are known as Times of Awakenings; whereas, we come to terms with what it is that God expects, and how far that we actually have fallen short of those expectations, or in our performance to be what is expected of us. To put this in a way that is easily understood: let's say that you are a stock car racer, and you have perfected your car's performance abilities, and have mastered that of your own driving abilities; however, the day that you show up for the race, it turns out that it is a formula one race, and you are awakened! And there is not a snowballs chance in you know where, that you are going to win that race! This is what happens when we think that we have the power over a spiritual battle, and when we try to handle that battle in our flesh; it's not going to happen; and if we think that it is, we are going to be sadly mistaken. Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." He says this as he has left off telling us how to treat each other, and then goes into what is needed for spiritual warfare; "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." In other words, it is a spiritual battle that we face, and is one that we should not try to take on in our flesh, or in our own strength. We can try, saying to ourselves, and even promising God, that we shall not do this or that any longer; then setting out to walk accordingly, we soon discover, that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is so very weak! This is where we find David in the writing of this Psalm; it is at a point of realizing how powerless that he actually is, and how dependent he is upon the power of God in dealing with certain things. This is not an unusual thing to happen to us as we set out to perfect our lives in Christ; because, as we begin to surrender more to His will, and to His love, we find ourselves becoming less of a spectator, and more of a warrior; which means, the battle is made more real in our lives!!! But there is another side of this endeavor to become righteous; and that is, that the closer we draw to God, the dirtier we become; the brighter His countenance around us, the more we see the need to be cleansed! "O LORD, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thine hot displeasure."

"The Rumbling"

"To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David." Another introduction to a Psalm that has a word of mystery! If you recall, Psalms Four's introduction contained the word "Neginoth", which we learned meant music, song, or a stringed instrument. And then in Psalms Five, we had another word which was "Nehiloth", of which there was no known meaning; and, of which I determined that it meant 'Prayer Language', and was the Holy Spirit speaking through us. Here in this introduction in Psalms Six, we have the word "Neginoth" mentioned again, but then we have this word "Sheminith", which the definition of it says, perhaps a musical notation, like an octave; or perhaps an eight stringed musical instrument. Personally, I like the octave definition, because the Lexicon says, 'octave, in music a word denoting the lowest and gravest note sung by men's voices'. I would like to consider something about our soul; which is, does the soul know more about our conditional standing with God then the body does? Within each and everyone of us is a living soul; an eternal soul, which continues on living far after the body has expired. So, the question which I am asking, is to whether or not our soul, which is eternal, has a better grip on what is our true relationship with God, then does the body, or the flesh? And then; if that soul has a better understanding of that relationship, does it cry out for correction? In other words; having a soul living inside of this body, which is better equip to see the eternal things of God, and has better insight into what is required to be in the presence of God; would that soul be trying to cry out for things to be set in order? And if that soul were to be crying out, what would that sound like? Where am I going with this, you might be wondering? The Bible clearly says, that in the last days, there will be a rumbling in all of creation; something like birthing pains that are experienced during a pregnancy. If there is a rumbling in all of creation, wouldn't that also include our eternal soul? Yes; your most likely right: Here goes Rich again, on one of his far-out adventures. However; as I was praying about what God was showing me in this Psalm, and how Spiritual Warfare actually takes place, there was a distinct difference that I saw between the role of the flesh and that of our spirit, which is our soul. Within this realm of warfare, the spirit in us and the Holy Spirit are in complete agreement as to the strategy of the battle; it is the flesh which is in opposition as to what needs to be done. In other words, this war between the flesh and the spirit, is a war that involves us; the Holy Spirit is given to assist the spirit within us to win the battle; and the battle can only be won with His assistance! Sounds out there, I know; but I am just trying to explain what I believe that I have been shown. As far as our flesh goes, it must be crucified with Christ; which means, that the things of the flesh must be put to death, so that the spirit may come to life; and, along with the Holy Spirit, may have dominion over the flesh; once and for all...

"Spiritual Warfare"

"A Prayer for Mercy In Time of Trouble", is the title of Psalms Six; Do I dare go on? Actually, I have no plan on stopping; but, is anyone going with me? I have chosen the title for today as "Spiritual Warfare", because I believe that this Psalm will be speaking to me the most about the tearing down of strongholds in our lives; well, at least it will be of my own. I knew by Saturday morning that it was going to involve the destruction of the flesh, but I did not know how that would look until the message given at church on Sunday. Pastor Gene was giving his last message to our church, and had asked God to lead him as such, saying, Lord, what should I say to your people in this last message before them? It was a powerful message about crucifying the flesh, once and for all!!! You know, I need to tell you something that you do not know about last week, especially Friday morning; I almost quit going forward in the Psalms that morning; and had it not been for the word 'Fortitude', I just might have been sharing about something else today. But I felt that God was leading into something really big; something that could change my life in a way that could actually make a difference. This is how God's word can make a difference in us, is by our letting It speak to us personally, and powerfully; adding to that, the power of the Holy Spirit, and you have the workings of something splendid to bring us into a whole new relationship with our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit! Therefore, I do not want to let up now, because I believe that God is doing something here, of that I am sure; and even to the point of looking foolish, I am prepared to go all the way! Not to change the subject or anything, but did you catch the Whitney Huston funeral on Saturday; it wreaked me, and I was in tears; that was some good stuff!!! I especially loved the Drudge Report headline, "The Nation Goes To Church", because that was precisely what took place for anyone watching that: the Gospel was preached!!! The Spirit of God is moving in a powerful way right now, throughout this whole world; it is like as if there is a "Last Call" being given out, to get ready! I strongly believe that that is the case; as a matter of fact, I had a different title for today's post, which was "Crucify That Flesh!"; however, I decided to save that one for verse Three! The reason I was going to have that title, is because of the meaning of "Trouble" in the title of the Psalm; it is a word that means vexed, as in disturbed or anxious; to make haste or hurry to get something done. And, the only way that we are going to be ready, is by fighting a spiritual battle with the help of the Holy Spirit! There is no other way to win this battle, then to surrender our lives fully to the Spirit of God; which means, to be completely filled with the Holy Spirit; to the brim, with a 'Splash-Out' kind of filling that can only come by complete surrender! What that means, my dear brothers and sisters, is that it is time to quit playing church, and it is time to start waging warfare; right now, while the iron is hot: We must strike, while the iron is hot! Now, if you are wondering where mercy comes into play in all of that; well, let's think about this for just a moment: to honestly surrender, means to deny one's self; to deny one's self, means to lay our life down; if you were to be a soldier on a battlefield, and you had just surrender to the enemy, what would you be looking for?

"Protected..."

"For Thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt Thou compass him as with a shield." (Psalms 5:12) What more do we need to say to that?!!! Yes, we have been made holy by the washing of the blood of Jesus Christ; and some can argue as to whether or not our righteousness much matters after that; but as to our movement upon this earth, between the time that we accept Christ into our hearts, and the time that we stand before Him; well, let's just say, we do not want to be found naked before Him: but clothed in righteousness! But; as for being protected in this world, there is only one way for us to be assured of that, and that is by us loving Him enough to become righteous!!! He has given us all the tools that we need to practice righteousness; and the only thing stopping us from doing so, is ourselves! One thing that we must always remember, is that the Holy Spirit is a Gentleman, and that He will not force us into submission; He will however, say, "No; don't do that!"; but then, it is still up to us to submit to His warning! Again, as with most all the Psalms, the last verse is the punch-line, or the summary as to what that Psalm is meant to say. In this verse, we have two very important messages that are being put forth. The first being that the LORD will bless the righteous; which goes without question for those of us that are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ; however, what we are in Christ, is that we have been made free from sin; what we are not, is free to sin! We must strive for righteousness, for He is righteous! We cannot think that just because He has washed away all of our sins, that we are therefore free to sin; because we are not! Secondly; the word "favour", that speaks of, "with favour wilt Thou compass him as with a shield", is speaking about delight; as in, He is delighted in us. This works two ways, in that He is delighted in us because we are covered by the blood of His Son; but He is also delighted in us because we emulate His Son; which means, that not only are we washed by His Love for us, but that we are loving Him back; which is really what it is all about... "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. But whoso keepth His word, in him verily is the Love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." (1 John 2:4-6) ...and yet, we are not quite there...Yet...

"Fortitude Realized"

"But let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them: let them also that love Thy Name be joyful in Thee." (Psalms 5:11) 'The definition of fortitude is having strong will to face danger or pain: an athlete who finishes the race in spite of an injury is an example of fortitude.' So; if you have stuck with me through the weird and strange translations, then after the battle, it is time to truly realize who we are in Jesus Christ! What battle? you might be wondering; Really? I would hope that you are not! But just in case that you are, I will play it out for you. We started out with what was to be a simple prayer of asking God for His protection; something that we felt that we were entitled to, as being one of His children. Then, in the process of asking Him for this protection, we discover that there is a condition by which we enter into His protective fortress; that being the condition of holiness, for He is Holy! After weighing our condition against that of His Holiness, we discover that we are found wanting, and that we are in need of some serious work to be done in the area of righteousness; even seeing the things by which we have fallen short of, and even to the point of seeing that we were deceived by what we thought were our good intentions, when in reality, we were only serving ourselves. And then, we make our determination to clean house; yet, we have only chosen to clean out certain things, while still holding onto the things that we hold dear. But, in holding onto these things, we find that our prayers are being given from our mouth and not from our heart; this is due to the rebellion of our heart in not completely giving Him our all! Finally, we come to realize that even those things which we thought were not such a big deal to hold onto, are the things which cause the Holy Spirit to be quenched in our lives; therefore, causing us to be outside of the protection that we seek! And, after doing battle with the strongholds that cause us to hold onto those things, we can finally come to the point where we put all of our trust in Him! We can now trust in Him, because we have released everything that was holding us back from putting all of our trust in Him! Therefore; we can now rejoice!!! We can ever be joyful, because we know that He is defending us, because we have now surrendered everything to Him! In this; we know that we love Him; therefore, we can be joyful in Him, because we are secure and fortified in His Love, and nothing can remove us from His hand of protection!!! "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:15-18)

"Shadow Boxing"

"Destroy Thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against Thee." (Psalms 5:10) By now you might have figured out that I am not following any commentary or popular teaching regarding this Psalm; I warned you that it might get weird, and that I was going to be speaking as I am spoken to! Again, let me say it for about the sixth time, this Psalm is about 'A Prayer for Protection'; and being that this is a prayer, we must also consider what it is that makes us not be protected or outside of God's protection. Okay; let me ask you this: Have you ever asked God to have His way in your life, at all cost? That is to say, 'God, have Your way in me, no matter what it cost; I surrender all!!!' First of all, the word "Destroy" that is given here is not the same "destroy" from verse six, which meant to destroy, as in destruction; but the destroy that David is talking about here in verse ten, is the one which speaks of making guilty, to fail in duty, or to become guilty. The other word to be considered is the word "fall", as in "let them fall"; which is a word that means prostrate, or to prostrate oneself, or to fall prostrate; however, it also means fail; and when speaking of "by their own counsels", it means to fail at their own devises or plans. And then, we have "cast them out", which means to thrust or drive away; and given that there is a multitude of transgressions, it could therefore mean, 'To Thrust Far Away!' But the one that really did it for me, was "rebelled", as in "for they have rebelled against Thee"; because in this, we really step outside of God's protection!!! This word "rebelled" means to be disobedient towards God, and any time that we are disobedient towards God, we have stepped outside of the shield of His protection! What this is, is willful disobedience; which speaks about knowing or being instructed on that which is right, yet doing or acting out that which is opposite of what God is telling us to do. A really good story that comes to mind is found in 1 Samuel 15, which is Saul's sin at Gilgal, where God tells Saul to go and destroy Amalek for what they had done to Israel; with very detailed instructions, God said, "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass". (1 Samuel 15:3) Yet, Saul did not do as the Lord instructed him, but he made a choice to go against God's word, by choosing the things which he felt were worthy of keeping, and destroying the things that he felt were worthy of destruction. "But Saul and the people spared Agag (the king of Amalek), and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly." (1 Samuel 15:9) You know this story, and "the bleating of the sheep in mine ears" part of this; but what I want to focus upon this second, is 1 Samuel 15:22-23, wherein Samuel tells Saul what he has done, and why that it is such a big deal in God's eyes: "And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king." Wow!!! "And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10:6) Sometimes we need to pull out all of the punches, as we fight those things that cause us to stumble; because, many of the demons that we have made, have our faces...

"...It's Complicated"

"For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue." (Psalms 5:9) Have you ever had one of those days when you feel lost and alone? How about feeling as though you are just speaking to yourself? I know; you most likely do not know what I am talking about; but this is no ordinary prayer, and it must be looked at as such! Imagine that you are trying to attack something that is part of who you are; and then consider the method by which you would use to do that. It would appear that David is speaking of his enemies in this verse, and it is very possible that he is. However; there is another consideration that can be made, and it has to do with realizing what True Worship of God is meant to be! For example; True worship is from the heart, not from the mouth; and each and every example that David is giving here, is of that which involves worship of the mouth, but the heart is not worshipping at all, but is actually just going through the motions and following the mouth. Okay; let me try and explain this a little better; however, I must warn you, it is a little complicated. The first thing that we must establish and agree upon, is that true worship of God begins in the heart; of that, I believe we can all agree. When we come before the LORD to pray, and we practice a routine prayer that we have memorized or that is routine wording which we just speak out, this is not to be considered as from the heart, but is more like pretending to do our part. To put this in a picture that can be visualized in our minds, we could imagine it like telling our spouse that we love them every time we are about to leave the house, because that is what we do; but, now consider what that saying would look like, if you knew that it might be the last time that you would see them. Does that help any? True worship of God is desperate to be as close to Him as we can be, in the moments that we are worshipping Him! Otherwise, we are just going through the motions of worship; which is just to satisfy ourselves that we have worshipped; but in reality, it was just empty words spoken to ourselves. David, on the other hand, knew how to worship God; as he had learned this out in the fields when he was a Shepherd. With that said; there is a difference between how David worshipped God, and how we are allowed to worship, and that difference is the Holy Spirit! David would have the Holy Spirit come upon him, we get to have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us! Now, why do you think that this is the case? Jesus Christ has made this possible, by the removal of sin from our life; that this vessel can now become a dwelling place for God, that He can take residence within us!!! Now, I would like to ask you; Do you worship Him in Spirit and in Truth? Jesus, while speaking to the woman at the well, said, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him". (John 4:23) This Jesus said to the woman because she said that her fathers worshipped at this mountain, as to proclaim that there was a certain place to worship; but Jesus was speaking about not only the place of worship, but the attitude of worship, and that it would happen from within. In other words; it is not about where we worship, or even what we say in worship; but about a heart that is expecting God to hear us, because He is living inside of us! Then, He is always ready for worship, and so are we...

"And Then..."

"Lead me, O LORD, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make Thy way straight before my face." (Psalms 5:8) If you did not understand the "Two Hands" part of what I was saying in yesterday's post, that's okay; because it was mostly just an inside joke, regarding my own inadequacies. And Then; we press onward into what comes next! Who are "mine enemies" that David is referring to in this verse above? Well, one enemy for sure is the accuser of our souls, who is none other than the devil himself. However; we have another enemy that we have with us always; and if you need a hint, you need only to go and look in a mirror; because the biggest enemy that we have against the Spirit, is our flesh!!! Do you see the implications that are being made here yet? The word used here by David for that of his "enemies" is a word that is used exclusively by him, and it appears five times within the Psalms. It is a word that means twisted, as in to twist like a rope, as in to bind up, or to go in a circle; to be hard or to make firm, as in a bad sense; to press together, as in to oppress like an enemy or adversary. Do we need God to lead us or what?!! I see the issues of my heart as being the things that I have a habit of doing wrong; which are triggered by certain moments of my past; not necessarily by the object of desire, but more by the impulse within me to respond to something that I am familiar with. I believe that this is David's 'Polar Bear Alert', in which he is asking God to blaze a trail for him, and to help him conquer the bad habits that continually cause him to stumble. If you are not familiar with what a 'Polar Bear Alert' is, then you should read "Counter Attack" by Jay Carty. In his book, Jay shows 2 Corinthians 10:5 as our tool to use for tearing down strongholds in our lives, which says, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ". If we were to continue to Paul's writing to the very next verse, then we can really get a more clear picture of what David is talking about here, when he says, "Lead me, O LORD, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies"; because in 2 Corinthians 10:6 it says, "And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled". And, just in case you might think that David is speaking of actual other people, well, so be it; but the point is still the same; whereas, we must ask God to lead us in His righteousness, so as to not give our enemies anything to accuse of in! Then; as to David saying, "make Thy way straight before my face"; the general premise to what David is speaking about, is that of looking straight ahead, as to not be stumbled by those things which distract him from God's righteousness. We need something else to be focused upon when we are tempted! If that be the cross, then so be it! But we must have something that we are to use that will guarantee our bad habits are not surrendered to! Our own 'Polar Bear Alert'...

"TWO HANDS"

"But as for me, I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy: and in Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple." (Psalms 5:7) Yes, I titled this after a Jars Of Clay song; just in case you were wondering. As I was thinking of this mornings post on this verse, as I drove around yesterday, I had their new CD in, and this song seemed to fit nicely with the message. I have waited a whole week for this day, and now it is here, and I feel nervous and excited all in one!!! Desperation and Thanksgiving; both of these very sincere attributes, all rolled up into one heart-felt praise unto God!!! Okay, maybe I am getting ahead of myself. Here is the thing that is going on inside of David: David knows in his heart of hearts that God is All Powerful, All Knowing, and The Creator of his very life; therefore, he realizes that God knows every fiber of his being; He knows his heart, and the intentions of his heart; He knows his thoughts, and the dreams in which he dreams; He knows the words that he is going to speak, before they are even formed upon his lips; therefore, there is no fooling God! We might fool ourselves, and even fool others; but there is no fooling God!!! Okay; let's begin by looking at "Thy house", in which David says, "I will come into Thy house". This could mean temple, but that is not what I see David is saying; because in the end of this verse, he says, "I worship toward Thy holy temple"; this means 'abode', or 'dwelling place'; which speaks about the very presence of God's Creative Spirit. The significance of what this means, is that of 'being undone before God', as he opens his heart wide-open before the God which created and knows his very life. The second part of this "house" which David is speaking of, is "in the multitude of Thy mercy", which is where the Thanksgiving comes into play; because of the fact that God knows all there is to know about him, he is so thankful for the fact that God is a God of Mercy! The desperation part comes into play as David proclaims "Thy fear", as he says, "and in Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple". This is what I was speaking of when I said that there is a fine line between what we are and what we are not! That fine line is based upon which way that we look!!! This is what Paul was saying by examining ourselves, as to whether we be in the faith; whereas, the faith is in knowing what we are, and what we are not in Christ! The word "fear" that David is speaking of, is that of a holy reverence; which is also portrayed as "fear and trembling". This is a fear that is generated by knowing that God knows our very thoughts; and in that, we know that we are not able to hide anything from His sight; therefore, we beg for mercy, as we enter into His very presence, being thankful that He is a God that has mercy upon us! What we are talking about here is the beginning of receiving God's protection, which is based upon a heart that is surrendered to His mercy; knowing full well that we are not worthy of that mercy, we come before Him as His child, and with fear and trembling, we submit are lives to that mercy! Now then; as to our relationship with Jesus Christ, and as to being in the faith: the mercy that we have received is based upon the finished work which Christ performed upon the cross! David was looking forward unto the cross; we on the other hand, are looking back to the cross; either way, the mercy of God is realized at the cross of Christ, where we have been made worthy to enter into His presence with Thanksgiving; yet knowing full well, that it is not by our worthiness to enter in, but it is by that of His Son Jesus Christ! Oh, that we could just remain desperate and thankful every waking moment of our days!!!

"Seriously !"

"Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." (Psalms 5:6) Here is a phrase that I haven't heard in a while: 'Practice Makes Perfect'. It seems that we have grown so accustom to failure, that there is a tendency to just not try more to succeed at something that we fail in. But; in the practice of holiness, we should never give up!!! Do you want to know why? Because God will never give up on us! What does this have to do with the verse above, you might be wondering? Well; this is a very serious verse; therefore, I will try to relate something that God is showing me, with what I believe that David is saying here; and it has to do with the patience of God, and to the ultimate end of His patience. The first thing to look at is "those that speak leasing"; which at first glance, might not take hold in our hearts as something which we need to pay much attention to; mostly because of the first few words, which say, "Thou shalt destroy them"; so automatically, we skip over the rest, thinking, Well, that does not pertain to me. If you recall from Psalms 4:2, that this word "leasing" is a word that means a lie, falsehood, or deceptive thing; and, as I mentioned yesterday, those that are deceived either do not know it, or will not admit to it. Here's the thing, and why 'Practice Makes Perfect' has anything to do with this: it is because there is an opposite reaction to that phrase, and it has to do with believing a lie: the more we speak a lie, the more we believe it to be the truth; that is just how our minds work. This is why it is so vitally important that we check ourselves against the whole counsel of God's Word; not just the parts that we like or accept, but all of it!!! Secondly; we must go back to the word "destroy"; which actually means what it says: DESTROY! Again; I need to remind you that this is A Prayer For Protection; and when we are talking about protection, this can also include protection from ourselves. In light of what you think that you know, or what others have said, this Psalm has a living message that gets to the heart of what makes us unprotected, as well as asking for God's protection. Surely, we that are covered by the blood of Jesus are protected; but, the real question is, Are we truly covered by His blood? Or are we just pretending that we are, and fooling ourselves in the process? This is what Paul meant by examining ourselves, as to whether we are in the faith; it is a process by which we take the actions of our hearts, and measure them against fruit of the Holy Spirit: Are they real??? One thing that we must never do, is to look at someones life to gauge that of our own; we must work out our own Salvation, with fear and trembling! With that, we must also realize that God does allow room for mistakes; however, mistakes are not a lifestyle, they are simply mistakes that are made out of pure ignorance of what is expected of us. Thirdly; we have the word "abhor", which is not a word that we hear very often, but is similar to words such as detest or despise. One reason that the LORD will despise or have a low opinion of "the bloody and deceitful man", is because of all the chances that have been given him to get it right. He really is a God of patience; however, His patience runs out upon our death; at which time, there will be judgement! Besides all of this, there is something else to be considered; something that goes towards the unprotected which are His, if there is such a thing, and I believe that there is! That has to do with His perfect will for our lives, and how He will allow us to get thrashed by the devil, to such a point, that we will surrender our lives totally to Him. And then, finally, we have "the bloody and deceitful man", of which He abhors; which for a lack of a better description, is the man that brings others into his deceitful ruin. My mom always use to say, Misery loves company; which is something that we do not want to be associated with, for the punishment of such shall be great! We all have someone who looks up to us at one point or another in our lives, and the way in which we persuade them in matters! It is one thing to deceive ourselves, but to bring others into our ring of deceit is unforgivable, and we will be despised by God for doing it. Having said that; there is always room for restoration with God, and we can see that with the Apostle Paul; who before coming to Christ, had led many that were following him into persecuting the church. This may be the reason that he referred to himself as the chiefest of sinners; for not only what he had done personally, but for having persuaded many to others to do also. But we have to remember something very important about Paul's case: what he did, he did out of ignorance...

"Self-Examination"

"The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." (Psalms 5:5) Any time that we have opportunity, such as when we are questioned by God or conscience, the very next step that we should take, is to examine our own heart. What is my motivation, and what makes me move? Do I aim to please God, or is it that I am serving myself? This is not a simple task to do, and can be much like trying to perform heart surgery on our own heart; it could get quite complicated, just about to time you open up your chest! However, if you really want to try, there is a really good Sermon by Charles Spurgeon from Oct. 10, 1858 that is titled "Self-examination", which is real easy to find by typing self examination in the Bing search engine; I don't know what will happen in google search, but you are welcome to try; the actual Sermon number is 218, if that helps. Anyways; my point is, that we are often way to quick to judge others, and yet, even quicker still to examine our own heart; and blindly goes in the way that leads to self-destruction! In his second letter to Corinth, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" In other words; by what right have we been given the ability to be called holy, if not by the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross? It surely is not by our own doing; nor, is it by our faith alone; but it is by our faith in Jesus Christ, and then, by His working in us, that we might be called Holy! The word "foolish" that David is speaking of refers to those that are vain or boastful; and when first looking this word up, I had to question if I was reading the reference number right; for it is a word that means to shine, brightness of light; and is a word by which 'Hallelujah' comes from. Self-examination of our own heart is like peeling an onion: there are layers upon layers to be pealed back, and it is sure to bring some tears to our eyes. The reason that this is so very important for us to do, is that those who's motivations are not right, shall not stand in His sight; which means that on that Day, we will not be able to present ourselves as well pleasing in His sight; as all will be striped away, and we will be found naked before Him! We only have one chance to get this right!!! And then we have the 'colon'; which by now you should know what it represents. "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity" is the reason that we shall not be able to stand before Him, if our hearts are not right; His eyes like a flame of fire, shall burn through all that is not right! The "workers of iniquity" is something which takes on a life of it's own; whereas, those that are placed within this category are ones that have made something onto themselves; thinking that they are serving God, they are so blinded by self-ambition, that they cannot see the product of what they are making, and that what is being made is all about self. A quick examination that we can place upon ourselves, is to ask yourself, What makes me move? Is it His Word that guides my every waking moment? or do I just use His Word to begin my day, and then set out upon my own destination? Seriously; we only have one chance to get this right!!!

"The Morning Prayer"

"For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with Thee." (Psalms 5:4) Oh, wait a minute, I thought that Psalms Three was titled "A Morning Prayer"? Why is the Title of today's post, "The Morning Prayer"??? Good question, because I was going to call it "Fortitude Begins", but then I thought of calling it simply "OH"; as in, "Oh, I did not know that". The first word that begins verse Four, is the word "For"; and for those of you that do not know this, "For" is pretty much the same as 'Because', 'And therefore'; or maybe even "OH" could be it's meaning; what you think? Have you ever had a moment when you feel God saying, 'Come and take a walk with Me, and let Me show you something'? Well, this is like one of those moments! What have we been talking about through these first three verses, is a type of prayer; not just any prayer, but one in which we are seeking God's protection. To get the point of what I am saying, we could think of this prayer as 'the building of a fortress'; one in which we must take shelter within, and that we will be protected by. Now then; let's say that this fortress that we are building, metaphorically, is only allowed to contain a certain type of person; in other words, to take refuge within this fortress that is being built, one must be holy! Wow, that sounds like a great responsibility; doesn't it? Yes; but remember, this is a fortress that you are building; or in actuality, you are asking to be built for you! Therefore; to put this in a way that might make better sense; let's just say, that we cannot begin to ask for God's protection, and not realize that He is a God that does not tolerate wickedness; nor, does He allow evil to dwell within Him. Which means, the fortress that we are having built around us, is one that is holy, because He is Holy! Now it comes to the point, where we are saying, Let me in!!! We know that there is a fortress, because we have established that He is our Fortress, and that we are crying out for His protection within it; however, there must be a heart willing to surrender to His Holiness, in order to get in!!! I know that I may have not illustrated the point very well; but try to imagine this as a mutual understanding between you and God; whereas, you are asking for God's protection upon your day, and He is saying, 'But you know that I am holy; right?' And with that; we set out to begin our day as holy; knowing that only holiness can dwell within Him, we walk accordingly, in the fear of stepping outside of the fortress that has been established in Him...

"The Meeting Place"

"My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and look up." (Psalms 5:3) I know that there are some who will not receive what I am about to say, primarily because they do not think it matters much what time of the day that they pray. However, I think it has more to do with how they prefer to wake up in the morning, because some people like to stay in bed until right before it is time to leave, or until they feel like getting out of the bed. Regardless; there is a time and a place that is meant to be set aside for our fellowship with the God who directs our path, and I believe with all of my heart that it is to be in the morning. I have made it my general practice to get up at 4:00am every morning. As a matter of fact, as my phone goes off each and every morning at 4:00, the words PRAY are displayed across the screen, as the wake up melody is played. The reason that I have chosen this particular time of the morning, is because it is at this time of the morning that I am assured that there will be nothing to disturb my time alone with God; no one else will be up for several hours! Personally, I don't know how anyone can start their day without first getting alone with God, to not only start each day in His presence, but to seek His protection over the day! But you might be saying, But Rich, I do my devotions at night before I go to sleep; that just seems to work best for me. I know, I know; I have had countless discussions about this subject with many, and have even taught about it from the pulpit; but you have to understand something very important about what we are talking about here: A Prayer For Protection is placed before you begin your day!!! Night time prayers are also essential, and we have already looked at what they are for; that they are for taking inventory of the day, asking forgiveness for events, praying for those that we have meet, and asking God to help us do better tomorrow; but our morning prayers are for doing battle, suiting up in our armor, and seeking God's direction for the day!!! This is what David is saying here, that each morning his day will not only begin with prayer, but that he will be seeking God's direction in the day that is set before him. The term "and look up" which David concludes with, is a term that means 'watchmen', as to view out, or to look out; with the intended meaning being that of watchmen in a tower, who are looking out for that which is approaching; meaning future events or expectations of what is to be expected, or that which might be approaching. These are hardly the things that one would set out to do at the end of the day; that would be more for assessing the damage, thanking God that there wasn't any, or for putting in order the things of the day that has past. To be perfectly honest, I have tried the nighttime meeting place before, and have found that it just does not work! Nothing consistent ever gets established at night, because bedtime always varies from day to day, and depending where I am at, or who that I might be visiting with. But 4:00 in the morning; well, let's just say, that the only thing that gets in my way of my Meeting Place with God is the snooze button. What we are talking about here is a Meeting Place; which is a place within our day, every day, that we can meet with the Lord for fellowship with Him! This is not a place that is selected by location, but is a place determined by time; so if you work nights, then maybe your time should be set for the night, before you start your day; but, if you really want to set a specific Meeting Place that is established between you and the Lord, then the morning should be your choice. He almost always picks up where we left off!!! It is as if He waits for me to show up at our Meeting Place, every morning, and then He says, "Now where were we? ", as we begin our time together; I do not want to miss out on that, ever!!! For me, as well as it was for David, the place has been determined by time, not by location; because time is the only thing that is consistent; no matter where I might be located, or where I am at 4:00am, He is waiting there to meet with me!!! Thus, David too had determined to meet with God in the early morning, before the rising of the sun; no matter where he was, either in his house, or on the battlefield, the Meeting Place had been established, and was set to a specific time; for seeking God's protection in the day that was before him! We really need to get desperate to win the battle out on the battlefield; or we can stay in the camp and bandage up the wounded that have come back...(You think about that!)

"Intervention"

"Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto Thee will I pray." (Psalms 5:2) Now, just in case you might have been wondering, why , or if I was trying to focus on one particular type of prayer; what we really should be paying attention to, is the reason for this type of prayer; then maybe, just maybe, we can better understand why this certain type of prayer is so very important. Again, this is titled, "A Prayer For Protection"; which for a lack of a better way to describe it, this prayer is meant to acknowledge two very important things: one, is that we acknowledge our inability to deal with something within our own strength; and secondly, we are acknowledging that it is God who is able to deal with whatever we can not. In this, David asks God to hearken unto the voice of his cry for help; which is to say, 'Lord, I need Your help, because I cannot do this on my own; therefore, please answer my plea!' Furthermore; David acknowledges that it is God alone who is able to protect him, as he says, "for unto Thee will I pray"; thereby, there is a plea for God to intervene, by doing that which only God can do! We must never discount the power of prayer!!! Especially when we are up against the ropes, and are at the point of desperation! As we shall see, the enemies that set themselves against us come in all shapes and sizes; sometimes, even in the form of ourselves; which is another reason that it is so vitally important that we surrender to His power, so as to assure that what is opposing us is not our self. You might be wondering how it is that we could ever be opposing ourselves? Maybe the better question that we could ask is, When don't we? Can we say that we are not worthy, and yet think as though we are? Or, can we say that He has made us worthy, and then think that we are not? There is a fine line between what we are, and what we are not! On the one hand, we are set apart by Him, as the work of His hands; while on the other hand, we are evil minded, and driven by the lusts of our hearts. Knowing this, we are to be careful to walk a very fine line between that which God is doing in us, and what we do within ourselves. This is the dynamic of what freewill is all about: it is to have our will so closely in line with His will, as to ensure that we are never in opposition to ourselves, and thus, we are never in opposition to His will for us! We have enough enemies to deal with, why add ourselves to the list, when we don't have to? We can try and kid ourselves all that we want, but until we can get to that point where we realize how desperate we are for His intervention, in whatever it is that we are up against, we are not going to be protected from ourselves, let alone, someone else! This is what our prayer language is meant to do: to bring us to the point where we can speak out from the very depths of our soul, and to acknowledge how desperate we are for His intervention in our lives...

"Expressed Amazement"

"Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation." (Psalms 5:1) So; if you thought anything that I said before was weird, then get ready for some really far-out words of weirdness! First off; I would like to bring your attention to the word "meditation" that is used by David here in this verse; for it is a word that only appears two times in the Hebrew writings: here within this verse, and then again in Psalms 39:3, which says, "My heart was hot within me, while I was 'musing' the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue". It is a word that means murmuring, and is much like the inner voice of the heart, of which, there are sometimes no words that can express what is being said. This is what having a "prayer language" is all about; for there are times when there are no words to express what we wish to say; therefore, the Spirit will make utterance for us, and no our behalf. To some, this might be what they would call "speaking in tongues"; so be it; however, what I believe that this represents is something a little more complex than speaking in an unknown language; but is more of the abbreviated version in words, of what is being said in the inner most part of our very soul; which in that case, we fully understand what is being said, we just didn't know how to say it! My point being this: that although the words may be eloquent and precise, they barely scratch the surface of what is actually being felt within our hearts; yet they are enough to verbalize with our mouths, that which is being felt; if that makes any sense whatsoever? In the context of what is being said here, by David saying, "Give ear to my words, O LORD", there could very well have been the word 'but' placed before "consider my meditation"; with the meaning being, "Let these few words which I express with my mouth, be acceptable, O LORD, as you consider the expressions of my heart". This line of thinking is reinforced by the the other verse which this word used for "meditation" appears within, whereas, David is describing the fire which is burning within his heart while meditating upon the LORD; while the words which he spoke forth, were just the smoke from that fire! The next verse within that Psalm, which is verse Four, says, "LORD, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am". There are just some things that cannot be expressed in words!!! (I really love this blog!)

"The Language of Prayer"

Before beginning Psalms Five, or better yet, as we begin it, there is an interesting thing that is only found here within this Psalm, which is the word "Nehiloth". If you remember back to the start of Psalms Four, I spoke about the introduction which says, "To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David", and how the word Neginoth meant stringed instrument, music, or song. Well, here we have another introduction: "To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David". What's different about this introduction is that the word "Nehiloth" is a word that no one knows the meaning of; that is, except for David and God! Looking at the meaning in Strongs, it simply says, "Meaning uncertain; but that it might mean the name of a melody, or a musical instrument". Well, I have an idea for what the meaning might be, and it has to do with the language of prayer; something which we commonly refer to as, Prayer Language! If you have a title for this Psalm in your Bible, then you will notice that the title is, A Prayer For Protection. As a son of the King, there is something which comes with that position, and it is called opposition by those who are the enemies of the King! One enemy in particular is the devil, who will stop at nothing to try and get us to fail; Epic ... Fail, as my niece Laura would say. He especially likes waiting for our confidence in ourselves to be strengthened, so as to devour us, as we have wondered outside of the fold. This language of prayer that we are talking about here, is the type of prayer which is ushered up to God from a heart of desperation and thanksgiving, in one. If you might be thinking that those two words do not go together in the same direction, they do, and I will prove it to you! Again, let me remind you of what I said earlier about these five Psalms which lead up to Psalms Eight: they ascend upward, and they get more and more intense as they go!!! The general premise that I am getting from this escalation, is that of enlightenment on the part of the Believer, which coincides with the transformation of our Lord from that of the Servant Son in Psalms Two, to that of the Glorified Creator of the universe, that He is shown as in Psalms Eight. When we remove all of our deficiencies and inadequacies, what we are left with, is a glorified child of God!!! On a more personal note; something to really cause you to consider things that really matter, and important to life, is to attend the funeral of someone that you love; which is what I was able to do yesterday. To make this experience even greater, I had the honor to be asked to be a pall-bearer; and not just any pall-bearer, but I was the last one on the right side of the casket; which meant, that I was the last to push the casket into the Hearst, and into the locking position. The vision that I received, as I pushed the casket into the Hearst to be locked into place, is more than I can put into words! You really can get a sense for the things that really matter in this life, as you are placing what remains of a life, into the last form of transportation that their tent will receive in this world. Knowing full well that she was not actually in the casket, I still received a very vivid picture of what that tent is for, and that it is only a vessel to carry us through this world and onto the next. I pray that as we progress through these next three Psalms, that we will come to the realization of what it meant by, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil"... (Just a little side note that you should know; this prayer that I mentioned is mostly intended for me; as I consider this blog to be a "Living Journal" that is used to not only express what I am feeling the Lord is showing me, but to also express what the Lord is doing in me through the process: many things of which, words cannot express!!!)

"...At Peace With God"

I have determined that I am a millionaire, because I owe a million dollars in taxes; therefore, I am worth a million dollars, to someone! But guess what, I am worth a whole lot more to Someone else! I have been purchased with a mighty cost!!! Do you ever really think about that? The price that was paid for us to be given eternal life, and to be given riches beyond our imagination. You can pretend that this stuff you have here is worth something if you want to, but let me assure you of something very important; it is all vanity! Look at me, I have this or I have that; while some may even go as far as to think that the stuff they own gives them security; it is a burden to maintain it! Real peace is only found in Jesus Christ, because He maintains us!!! We are His treasure; His precious Bride, that He has prepared an eternal dwelling place for in heaven; there waiting for us, and for Him to come back any day and to take us there, to be with Him forever in glory! Do you believe that He is returning any day? Perhaps today!!! Are you ready??? Is there oil in your lamps? We have talked about this before, and whether or not the oil represents the Holy Spirit or not. It very well might, and most likely does; but regardless, it means being prepared for His return, and doing all that we can to be prepared; and if that means being filled with the Holy Spirit, then we should make every effort to make sure that is so!!! In the passage from Luke 11:9, where Jesus says, "Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened", there is a very good reason that He uses the analogy of food as He describes what the child will ask of his father; because by using food, it shows that what the child is asking for, is something that must be asked for continually. As a matter of fact, the real interpretation for the verse above, is to "Keep asking; Keep seeking; Keep knocking"; where it is our responsibility as His 'virgins' to be ready at His return. He has made us virgins; we are required to remain that, and to be equipped and ready at His return to take us home! With that, I will only add one last thing about all of our stuff: sometimes the stuff in our lives becomes nothing more than something which we hide behind, including our loved ones! And when they are taken from us, we are left standing exposed and unable to hide anymore. So, what are you hiding in? If it is Jesus Christ, then you will be unchanged by the loss of whatever is taken from you; however, if it is something else, then you are not safe from exposure!!! "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." (Psalms 4:8) Yes, Selah...

"Being..."

"Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." (Psalms 4:7) You have to know, that there is no greater feeling then that which we feel in our hearts when we are walking in the Spirit of God! What makes the world glad is profits and the gain of riches; all of which is so easily taken away and turned into ashes. Thinking back to all the crashes in the Stock Market, and how many people that were successful in that system, and then ended up taking their own lives after losing their gains; how strongly they must have put their trust is something so temporary. What we are talking about here, is the gladness that is only achieved by being one with the One who made us! There is no other way to have the Joy of the LORD, then to be walking in harmony with Him as His obedient child! With that said, I am wondering what makes us miserable and weary? Is it that we have slipped away from walking with Him? or have we put more trust in something else that has let us down? There is another meaning to the beginning of the previous verse, and the words, "There be many that say, Who will shew us any good?"; and that meaning is that of worldliness! What I am saying, is that we have come to a place where we have looked for God to bless our livelihood upon this earth to such an extent, that we are taken more by the blessing, then we are by the One who has blessed us. What that actually means, is that our countenance is derived more from our blessing than it is from the Light of the LORD; so much so, that as soon as the blessings are threatened, then our countenance is fallen! Would you still praise Him if all you had was taken away? "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36) That is really what we are talking about here, is our soul!!! "Thou hast put gladness in my heart" means that there is rejoicing within our very soul; whereas our soul means 'the heart of man', which is what gives us determination or will; it is the seat of appetites!!! Do you understand what that means? It means that everything that we need has been satisfied by the joy that we have in the LORD! Nothing else matters; not the riches; not the blessing of this life; not even those that He has blessed us with; everything of this world has been placed in the category of temporary, and therefore is not what our joy is based upon! I love my wife; of that, there is no denying; but if the Lord were to take her home today, the joy that I have in the Lord would not change! I like the house that I have been given; yet if it were to burn to the ground today, I would not lose the joy which I have in the Lord! And, if they were to throw me in prison today, of which there is that possibility, I would still not lose my joy with the Lord!!! I have thought about this more than you can know; because I owe more than I am worth in taxes, I have given a lot of thought to being put in prison; and if it was not for the need that I have to care for my wife, I would gladly surrender my rights and go. Nothing can take away the Joy that I have in the LORD!!!

"To Be Or Not To Be"

"There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift Thou up the Light of Thy countenance upon us." (Psalms 4:6) As Simple Jack would say, "But this head movie makes my eyes rain". Really; What are we talking about here? The question is twofold, but the answer is One! "Who will show us any good?" is the question asked by many who say, Where are the children of God? Show me the proof of God in your life, and then I will consider if He is real or not!!! Or, as the question asked in the movie 'Courageous', "Where are you men?" If we are still talking about purpose, then here it would be: To be a Light to those that question for something that is Real!!! This goes back to the question that was asked in verse two: "O ye sons of men, how long will you turn My glory to shame?" What is the reason that we are here, and not already in the presence of God? Because, there are some people, that if they are saved, they should have went home as soon as they were! We are here because we have something to share that we have been given; and if we are not sharing it, then we are putting His glory to shame! "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain". (Philippians 1:21) This the Apostle Paul writes speaking of his countenance while in prison, and that in and through all things, including that of death, Jesus Christ is to be glorified in his life. If you are a Christian, then you should know right here and now, that there are people around you who are looking for proof in you! Some may have given up, thinking, Really not much there that I want; but it is not to late for you or for them: Where There is Life, There is Hope! And as long as you are still here, then you have something that you need to share!!! Now; as I said before, David has left off addressing just the assembly at the point, and in the first half of this verse, he is addressing both the men and God together. The second part of this verse, he continues praying, and then continues to pray all the way to the end of the Psalm. With that, the second part of this verse is the solution for the problem of what many are asking: Who will show us the way? You know that old saying, "You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?" Well, here is the solution: "LORD, lift Thou up the Light of Thy countenance upon us!!!" You do know that we have a Helper to help us achieve this task; Right??? All that we need to do is ask, and He will answer!!! "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will ye give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:9-13) The bottom line to this problem that we have, is that we really have no excuse whatsoever for the reason that we are not what we should be: "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot contain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." (James 4:2-3) BE...

"The Expextant Heart"

"Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD." (Psalms 4:5) Here we have a challenge set before us; which is much like God would be saying, Prove Me, and see My strength! It really is about how much trust Him to not only be our provider, but also that He is our Rewarder of good works! This is not about works for salvation, because we know that no one is justified by their works; but rather, this is about works of gratitude for Him loving us, and the pleasure we get from knowing that we are pleasing in His sight. To put this in the most simple terms that I can: This is our responsibly duty, if we are going to put our trust in Him! In other words; how can we say that we trust Him, and yet, we cannot be trusted to obey Him? In a certain way, what we are talking about is a mutual agreement between our conscious spirit and a Holy God; whereas, we are expecting God to fulfill His promises, therefore we strive to fulfill that which is expected of us. Although there really is no comparison between what He has done and what we can do; His reward is eternal; our sacrifices are but for a moment. This is the perspective that comes with knowing who we are in Jesus Christ: that we are created in Him as a living sacrifice unto good works; not because we can, or that we must; but it is our reasonable service as we put all of our trust in Him for His protection and for His provisions for this life. Basically, what I see David saying here, is that if we offer the sacrifices of righteousness, then we can put our trust in God for His provisions and protection. Does that mean that God will not protect us if we don't? NO! I don't think it works quite like that; but we may not like the journey we experience along the way, as much as we would if we did! When we are not fulfilling our part of the agreement, He will still fulfill His agreement to get us through to the other side; we just may not enjoy the storm along the way as much as we would if we had all of our trust in Him. This is about our heart, and the ability that we have to trust Him with all of it!!! If we are not surrendered to Him, then how in the world can we even pretend that we have all of our trust in Him; it just does not make any sense!!! It's like saying, I trust that I can fly, but yet you don't have any wings! If we are fulfilling our part of the agreement, or the covenant, however you which to accept it, we can have an expectant heart that He will fulfill His! We trust in Him, in and through all things; knowing that no matter what is happening in our lives, that anything which seems like a trial or adverse circumstance, is no our fault; therefore, we can have joy through anything, because all of our trust is in Him! And when I say all, I mean every bit of doubt has been erased, because we know that He is our wings!!!

"Sweet Surrender"

"Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah." (Psalms 4:4) If you thought that I was taking you for a ride, and had somehow veered off of the tracks, then maybe a little quiet time would be in order right about now! The general point to what I was saying, was how easy it is for us to accept the worlds view about what path or direction we should take; heck, we could be twisted up thirty times a day, if we are not paying attention! The path of least resistance is usually the one that the world would instruct us to take; but in God's economy of almost all areas of our life, His ways are not exactly what the world would consider as logical and wise choices. In the verse above, David is using six words to describe something that is really quite complex. The first three words are "Stand in awe", which is easy enough to read, and then accept it as something which means what it says; but, what is it saying? Is this a deer in the headlights kind of moment? Or is this a principled position that we are to take as we serve the Living God? (Here you go again Rich!) Okay; because we know that we are chosen, and because we know that God has set us apart for His workmanship, then we can rest assured that He is going to do something spectacular in our lives; especially when we are walking by faith, and not by sight! Therefore, we stand upon His promises, knowing that He is going to complete in us that which He has established for our lives; which is where the "awe" comes into play, because in this, we are excited to see what God is going to do, what He is doing, and what He has done; each and every moment of every day! However; the second three words, which are, "and sin not", are the potential 'wrench thrown into the gears' part of the path that we are on! In other words; when we do set out to serve Him, and as we walk by faith and not by sight, then we must be very careful as to what we do, by not letting sin be a part of our lives, as we trust in Him for the direction of our life. In this, again we have a colon placed after those six words; which informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark. And with that, we have, "commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still"; which is a round about way of saying, don't go to sleep with unconfessed sin in your heart! It is a matter of making a conscious examination of our hearts, as we lay there examining the endeavors of the day, and paying strict attention to account for any sins that might have been committed; then asking for God's forgiveness for those sins, prior to going to sleep. The "and be still" part of this practice, is waiting for God to answer; whereas, we lay still before the Lord, and waiting for His absolute peace to come upon us. But wait; there's more!!! Because, if for some reason we are awakened during the middle of the night, then we should practice it again, because there may be something that we missed!!! Selah...

"Rest Assured"

"But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto Him." (Psalms 4:3) As if things couldn't get much clearer than this! Looking at this in contrast to what was asked in the previous verse, here we have an answer given by David, which is the reason we must stop whatever it is that we are doing that is stopping us from a complete surrender unto God. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD." You know the verse, but do you know the reason? We are called to be separate because we have been set apart! In other words; He has set us apart already; we that are called and have responded to His calling, are already set apart for His workmanship; therefore, it is now our duty to live out that which He has already done! What this means for those that turn His glory into shame, is that they must stop pretending, and start living as one who has been set apart for His kingdom! And for those that refuse to move, either due to uncertainty or just plain stubbornness, must forget about themselves, and step out in His strength and in His direction for their life! To put this another way; the word "godly" is a word that means 'the faithful ones'; which is not based upon our ability to complete a task that we have been given, but is based upon our ability to obey in His direction! He will complete whatever it is that He has called us to do; we just need to move in that direction!!! And, the primary action required for us, is to come out from among the ordinary, so that He can make us extraordinary; of this, we can rest assured!!! And, just in case there is any doubt as to what shall happen, we are assured that He will hear us when we call out for help along the way! Now, about that thing I said the other day, with regards to what we perceive to be the truth, which may actually be a lie. There comes a time in our lives as a believer, when we are faced with a decision; something that becomes a crossroad in our walk with the Lord. On the one hand we have a road that is set before us in which we can see ourselves moving in a certain direction; a direction that looks comfortable, and is one that we can envision ourselves performing in and are at ease in; thinking also that this path will bring us closer to God, as we serve Him in this direction; when in reality, that path will move us further away from Him, and our dependence upon Him for our strength. Again, this path is based upon self, and is something which is drawing us into it based upon our abilities and not His; which means, we are looking at our own strength and saying, I can see myself doing that. Don't be fooled by feeling good about something that you can do! Because, for God to get the glory in anything that we do, it must be something which is beyond our ability and strength (I am talking about the direction, not about a task!!!). Do we want to trust God in the directions of our life? Then maybe that path which looks impossible is the path that we must take! Otherwise, we settle for something far less than that which God had intended for us... (Remember what I said Friday about what we would see as we moved through this Psalm: It would be about security that we have in God; it is not in ourselves!!!)