"The Present For The Bride"

"And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour." (Psalms 45:12) If you really want to know how this works, then you must truly empty yourself of all that you are, and you must totally surrender your life to the Lord, Christ Jesus. From my understanding of the New Testament writings, Christ Jesus is His title after ascending up into heaven, therefore when a writer uses that term he is depicting Jesus at the right hand of the Father; otherwise, when Jesus Christ is commonly used, it shows and speaks of His earthly visitation and anything associated with what He has accomplished here, whether personally or indirectly. To this date, after over thirty years of walking with the Lord, I do not believe that I have ever totally surrendered my life over to Him; I may have had my moments where there was full submission and obedience, but those moments were few and far between; short pauses in my life of trying to keep up with three or four different lives being lived out in one person. There is the Christian man, that I try so hard to focus on keeping first and foremost as the character most lived out; the husband, that must be there, regardless of the circumstances or the needs that I might have; the business man, that is constantly seeming to be working, even when I am not, I seem to always have some aspect of my work upon my mind; and then there is the entertainment guy, who is the guy that likes to entertain and to be entertained. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to put myself down, I am just being totally honest about the way I see myself and life as I see myself living it. My point is not about my lack of spirituality, although I am the first to admit where I fall short, it is more about the fact that there is always more we have available; more of Jesus, the more that we surrender, more of Him, the more we empty ourselves of ourselves, and it really does not end until we are glorified with Him in heaven; because at that time we will be one with the Lord, but until then, we must constantly work on being pure as He is pure... "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." (Ephesians 4:1-7)  

"The Purification of The Bride" -3

"Hearken, O daughters, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship Him." (Psalms 45:10 & 11) Something else that I think we should consider, although I know it is not a mystery, is how much God loves us compared to how much we deserve to be loved; not that we are unlovable in His eyes, but that we fall so short of returning our love to Him in the way that He loves us. Usually when a bride is preparing herself for marriage, there are certain apprehensions that come to mind, things like, is this the right one, or will I be well taken care of, or how will this look when we are old. Things that add a little mystery to the journey that is ahead, but things that can also make the journey worth taking, and give meaning to the worth of getting married to someone that you will grow old with. With the Lord there is no such mystery; with the Lord, we do not need to be concerned with our welfare or where we will end up, because He is our Lord, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End; He is Life, Love, and the Word of God, and in Him is security for ever and ever. Remember Who it is that is speaking, and the manner in which He is speaking is for instruction; meaning that we are to listen and obey, because God is giving us the picture of a very special wedding between His Son and the church, which is you and I. He started off with the image of the Son, the King of Glory, the Mighty One; to now show us the image of who we are, and how we must prepare ourselves to become; which is really not much different from the way a bride prepares herself for her very special day, except on a much more spiritual scale. Not that we need a Ben Franklin Scale, although we are instructed to weigh the cost, but that we need to examine who we are compared to what we are to be, and measure that against Who He is and what He will make us to be; which are those things on a much smaller scale that a bride considers and dwells upon before her marriage day. Finally, God's instruction to what we are to do, and why we are to do it: "for He is thy Lord; and worship Him"; any questions left out there about whether or not we are to worship Jesus Christ have been erased, for God Himself has made it clear where He stands on the issue. So really, all the issues and concerns have already been settled; we have nothing that is holding us back but our own lack of understanding... "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:9-11)

"The Purification of The Bride" -2

"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him." (Psalms 45:10 & 11) I can not begin to tell you how right that felt, usually I give unwanted movies to someone else, but to throw them away seemed more well deserved, even though I did like some of those movies for their message, though the message was filled with ungodliness and worldliness. But that is how we must look at those things in our lives; do they bring honor to the King? do they add beauty to our lives that He should desire from us? As I was praying this morning, I could not get a certain Book out of my mind, one that is buried between Judges and 1 Samuel, called Ruth; it is only four short chapters long, but it carries a powerful message which deeply lines up with the general theme of these verses. Although it is basically a love story, it is the story of a heathen girl named Ruth that falls in love with Jehovah God, believing that He is the only true God; therefore causing her to leave the life of her ancestors and follow her mother-in-law to Bethlehem to end up marrying Boaz, and to become the great-grandparents of King David. The line in that Book which best describes what I am talking about is found in Ruth 1:16 & 17, as Ruth is cleaving onto Naomi, and does not want to return to the land of her people, she says, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me". Basically this is about a heart that surrenders all for the sake of knowing the One True God; having tasted the God of Israel, she had no desire to return to the pagan gods of her people, but only wanted to know more of this Jehovah God and to be one of His people. That is what I felt the Lord speaking into my heart yesterday, that I needed to separate myself from those things that are not of God, and cling onto those things which are of God; which I had already known, but these were some of the things which I had let into my life unfiltered... "According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain into life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:3-8)    

"The Purification of The Bride"

"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house." (Psalms 45:10) I can remember after I first got saved, how that I took an evaluation of all the stuff that I had in my life that needed to be removed; stuff like all the pagan things I had collected over the previous ten years of my life; some with mystic or supernatural sentiment, some that were just flat out evil, and some of which I struggled to part with, like my collection of vinyl records. It wasn't that I did not want most of these things anymore, because most of the things that I had collected had sentimental value, or were like trophies collected for reminders of certain areas of my life; but it was more a matter of purification in my life towards being joined with Jesus Christ, and how I believed God was telling me that I needed to clean house; something that we all should do periodically anyways, as we tend to collect things that do not glorify God, nor do they add purity to our lives. My biggest issue now is movies, primarily my very large collection of movies, some of which are not the kinds of things that I am proud to display, and are usually kept separate from the rest of my collection. If you have a movie collection of any sort, then you might understand what it is that I am talking about; then again, if you have a movie collection like I have, you might ask someone else to weed through your collection, because it is hard to remove everything that means more to you than it should.
Start with all the 'R' rated movies, with the exception of The Passion of The Christ and maybe Gladiator, all of those movies that are rated 'R' have either nothing which brings glory to God, nor do they purify our minds, or edify the Holy Spirit that is within us. I can watch some pretty rough stuff on my own, but as soon as I try and share the same movie with someone else, I feel shame for something that is being said, or for something that is shown; things that I hardly even notice watching the movie by myself. Basically, my point is about purification in our lives for Jesus, and how this verse speaks more about the former things than it does of people, such as family or friends. It is those pagan, worldly, and even religious practices which do not belong in our relationship with Christ that we must separate ourselves from, and bring nothing into our relationship which would be considered an idol, which is something that comes between us and God...
Today is trash day; time to clean out some worldly stuff!!! "And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know: but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." (Acts 19:15-20)  

"The Splendor of The Bride"

"Kings' daughters were among Thy honorable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir." (Psalms 45:9) Let me be the first to say, this verse is hard to visualize, so I will resort to Matthew Henry for his sixteenth century insight for most of commentary. That said, I truly believe that we are all going to be surprisingly amazed by what we will become in heaven; we will still recognize one another, of that I am sure, but having glorified bodies, that my friend is going to blow our minds; so much so, that sin will be the last thing that we will think about; or more to the point, sin will not enter our minds at all! As for those "ivory palaces" which were mentioned in the previous verse, those are the church having been glorified in heaven, and having been made ready for marriage, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9). Would it be fair to say that there might be some that stand out more than others? I would surely hope so! I can not imagine that Peter, John, Paul, Phillip, Stephen, or the many others that have been or will be persecuted and killed, will not have a special seat in heaven; let alone, those that have forsaken everything else to serve Jesus, that they would have a better place than someone like me, who has hardly forsaken anything, and lives a life of comfort and pleasure. Collectively, we will all be the same body, but you have got to imagine that there will be higher honor for those that sacrificed much, verse those that sacrificed little; at least I would hope that is the way it works, otherwise we that sacrifice little might feel a little shamed having the same reward as someone that gave up everything. Personally, I would just be happy to be a fly on the wall in heaven; as long as I make, that would be just fine with me. I remember a message that I heard once, it must have been at least twenty years ago, but it was a powerful message about the building of the church, the church being the city of the bride, The New Jerusalem that is spoken of in Revelation 21. In this message the pastor spoke about the bricks or stones that made up the walls of the temple being those that did well in this life, and those that were more honorable were jewels within the walls; those that did not do so well, they made up the mortar that held everything together. Imagine what that might look like...  "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the twelve gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." (Revelation 21:9-14)

"The Splendor of THE KING"

"All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad." (Psalms 45:8) When I think of "garments", I think of coverings, and when I think of coverings, I think of what is seen, as in the majesty and splendor of "All" that Jesus represents to "they", meaning us, His church. You want peace like no other peace that you can know? then Jesus can provide you that peace, for He is the Prince of Peace. You want joy that can stay in the midst of the fiercest storms? then Jesus can provide you that joy, for He is the Joy of our salvation. You want love that loves unconditionally and uncontrollably? then Jesus can provide that love in our hearts, for He is the Love of God manifested without restraint and measure. All these things are His pleasure to give us, as much as we need and more, because as we shine as "ivory palaces" so He shines also, whereby we make Him glad. Besides that, He sees us much more different than we see ourselves; He sees us as His bride, adorned in pureness and in white, as a virgin would be prepared for her marriage. He sees us as He is, holy and pure; we cannot see ourselves in such a way, but we know that as He is, we shall be also (1 John 3:2), for we will see Him as He is, the Head of the church, His bride. Peace, joy and love are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, of which we are a temple, as God's Spirit tabernacles within us; therefore, if we need more peace, joy and love in our lives, then we need more of the Holy Spirit; more of Him and less of us! We really can not produce peace, joy and love on our own; it's not within us of ourselves, nor is it something that we can do outside of Jesus Christ. We might pretend that we can have peace, until something presses against us; we might pretend that we have joy, until something robs us of that joy; and we might pretend that we have the love of God, until someone makes us mad, and we are offended. Which brings me to another matter that is tucked with in this verse, which is "smell"; because the smell of a garment is smelt because something has made it smell, and it will smell regardless of the garment, but because of that which has tainted it... "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe; for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26)

"Mark of Superiority" -2

"Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." (Psalms 45:7) When we are talking about things written about Jesus, I don't think that there is a single page in the Bible that does not in one way or another reference Him. Those of His hometown of Nazareth, as amazed as they were, could not comprehend that He was who He said that He was; even His own brothers and sisters did not comprehend it until after He had risen. This was really not something easy to understand, that God would actually humble Himself, become a man and walk among us for thirty-three and a half years, and then suffer and die upon a cross for our sins. Yet it was the only way that the judgment for sin could be satisfied, by the righteous sacrifice of God's only begotten Son; He who was with God prior to coming, who was God prior, and who created the heaven and the earth; that same God, our God, manifested here upon this earth, and He will manifest Himself again; but the next time He will not be so humble, He will come with power and authority. When we read there words that are written within the New Testament in red, these are the words spoken by Jesus Christ in person; that is powerful to think about, even as we look upon them, or touch them, or move our hand over them as we smooth out the pages; these are the words that came from the mouth of God... "But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." (Hebrews 1:8-12)

"Mark of Superiority"

"Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Psalms 45:7) When it comes to understanding the fullness of the Godhead and the level of superiority which God has placed upon His Son, there are some factors that take our minds to a point of being stretched far beyond their normal capacity; you could say that our minds don't contain the capacity to fully comprehend the fullness of the knowledge of who Christ is, was, and always will be, which is probably why Revelation 19:12 says, "and He had a name written that no man knew, but He Himself". In John's gospel message, he opens with a preface of who Jesus was and is; by taking the first eighteen verses, John points out what Jesus came to do, then he goes on to give the account of what he had witnessed with his own eyes; but he finishes his gospel message with something of an open book, by stating, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen". The capacity of our minds can not contain such knowledge; nor can we comprehend the magnitude of the richness of His glory; only He can fully understand and comprehend who He is, and all that He has done. What we can comprehend is His love for righteousness and His hatred for wickedness; this we can comprehend by His passion for the cross, and by the suffering that He endured to defeat the power of sin once and for all. Having the knowledge which He had of who He was and what it was He came to do, made Him to be anointed with the oil of gladness; that same gladness that He spoke about in Luke 22:15 as His desire, saying to His disciples, "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God"; and then He went on to show them what the bread and the wine of the Passover represented, and how it was about to be fulfilled. This anointing is that which was written of Him in Isaiah 61:1, and that which He had in the synagogue of His home town the very first Sabbath after returning from the wilderness, after having been tempted by the devil... "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord". And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and He sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, "This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears". And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?" (Luke 4:18-22)  

"Mark of Authority"

"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre." (Psalms 45:6) Now, as to the writer, meaning the one who is speaking the declaration of this verse, this is no doubt God speaking in the third person; this is the Father speaking to the Son. If you are looking for a "Mark of Authority" to be placed upon Jesus, then here is a good place to take note of, because it implies the Jesus Christ has been given more than just the keys to the kingdom, He has established and owns the kingdom. Looking at this from a point of who begot who, I would lean towards the Father having begotten the Son; but looking at this from the point of origin, the Father and the Son are one, and They have always existed together. However, if you want to look at this from the point of establishment, then we can clearly say that Jesus Christ the Son is the Establishment, for He has been given the "Mark of Authority" by the Father, "In Whom He is well pleased" (Luke 3:22). Besides the fact that Jesus has earned ownership by His death upon the cross, He is given the credit for having been the Creator of all that He has purchased (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:3), which places Jesus as equal to and along side of the Father; a position that many can not accept Jesus to hold, but instead they place Jesus in a category between God and the angels; which was the position that He occupied while upon this earth, not in His glorified position. To try and figure out the Person-hood of God, that is not what God has instructed us to do; but rather, we are to take Him at His word, which clearly tells us that the Father and the Son are One, and that there is only One God (1 Corinthians 8:6)... "Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? And again, when He bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom." (Hebrews 1:4-8)

"Taking Aim" -2

"Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee." (Psalms 45:5) Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament, but it still delivers a big message; although at it's heart the message is against the enemies of Jacob, those being the Edomites, it's general purpose was to bring encouragement to the Israelites. In this regard, I would to think that this verse speaks about the complete and utter destruction by which Jesus will destroy all that hinders His bride; not just removing that which comes against us, but taking away the memory and all the pain that was associated with it, once and for all. After the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 the Edomites passed from the pages of history; the Herods of the New Testament were part of that passing remnant. God has a way of cleaning things up, far more than man could ever do himself. If you really want to let Him, He can get you free from anything that might have a hold upon your life, but you need to let go and let God do the work. Which brings me to the second part of this verse, "whereby the people fall under Thee"; because there are a couple different ways that we can view the "people", and several different ways to look at "fall". We could place this meaning to line up with the fall of Edom, and how God took them totally out of the picture; or we could, if we wanting to look for something more promising, say that fall more represents a spirit of humility; whereby His people are utterly amazed and fall at His feet, giving up all notions of having anything to do with anything, because of all that He has done...
"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To Whom coming, as a Living Stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:1-5)  

"Taking Aim"

"Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee." (Psalms 45:5) I am pretty sure that God has made nothing that He regrets having made, nor would He do things different if He could do things over again. If God could say that everything was good knowing what would take place later, then how could He judge that things were good? Good will always win in the end; evil will see it's day; God's will will win, no matter what! If we could only see what God sees, then we could understand what that means; which is pretty much the reason that He has given us His word, so that we can take comfort in knowing that everything will work out in the end, and that God's perfect will will be established. Having been in through certain things that cause me to doubt God's protection was upon my life, I can say with all honesty that I don't always live up to the things that I preach; it is hard to keep our focus when we are pressed on every side, especially if we are not living a life that is worthy of a child of God. But if God has called us to Himself, then we are what we are because of God's hand, not because of anything that we can do, or anything that we do not do; God is the one that changes us, and God is the one that holds us and keeps us. Therefore, there is no one else that I want to judge me, other than God; there is no other place that I can be protected, other than in God; and there is no other arrows that I want to pierce my heart, other than His arrows... "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD." (Obadiah 1:3 & 4)

"The Prosperous One" -2

"And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things." (Psalms 45:4) As many of you have most likely found out by now, living a life for Jesus is not all about all happiness and feeling comfortable; it's hard at times, and there are moments when life just hurts. I share again Ray comforts lighter side version of the parachute, as those that know the plane is going to crash will wear their's no matter how uncomfortable and silly it might appear; while those that are seeking comfort and happiness for the ride will surely take it off, especially after having others put them down for wearing it. Jesus never promised that it would be easy; He said that His yoke was easy, not that this life would be easy; this life is really hard, which is the main reason that we must not love it, but love Him. Those that love this life, hold onto the things of the world; those that hold onto the things of the world, tend to let go of Jesus, because you can't hold onto both. When it comes to "terrible things", we can say without a doubt that there are things which make us dependent upon the Lord, and there are things that cause us to take our eyes off of the Lord; the terrible things tend to make us put our eyes on Jesus, terrible being those things that cause fear in our hearts and make us realize just how fragile life really is. With that, I would like to picture my King upon His white horse, saying, "and in Thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness"; while at the same time, realizing how powerful He is, and how there is nothing in this world that can even come close to defeating Him. This is my King, my God, and my Lord that loves me; so where is there any fear in that? There is not and fear in that, which is precisely why His yoke is easy and His burden is light... "And why call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:46-49)

"The Prosperous One"

"And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things." (Psalms 45:4) Prosperity usually encompasses wealth, yet in also includes other factors, such as well being, lots of children, heath and comfort; you can name many things that people could use to define prosperity, but the greatest one of all should point towards eternity in heaven. Jesus said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36) It really does not take a whole lot of debate to understand the eternity far outweighs this time upon earth; yet, there are so many people that will choose prosperity here over the prosperity in heaven. Truth , meekness and righteousness are the things which Jesus presented as the foundation of His teachings; in truth, He declared Himself to be the Truth; in meekness, He declared Himself as Meek; in righteousness, He is the Righteousness of God. All three of these are the same principles that must govern our lives, as we must walk in truth before God, control our passions in meekness, and live by the law of righteousness. As to the "terrible things", what might be terrible or dreadful in the eyes of some, might be glorious and splendid in the eyes of others. A good example of this would be Jesus being crucified upon the cross and what a terrible thing that was in the eyes of all who loved Him; yet, the Bible says that it pleased the Father to bruise Him; just one more thing that prosperity can point to... "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief; when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand." (Isaiah 53:10)

"The Mighty One"

"Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with glory and thy majesty." (Psalms 45:3) No doubt we all know that the Sword represents the Word of God, and that His word is sharper than any two-edged sword; so what, pray tell, does this sword spoken of have anything to do with "A Song of loves"? Having been where I was in the place that I would read God's word, yet had no clue what He was speaking through it, I can understand something about how it feels to be disconnected from the three aspects of what is needed to comprehend; God's Spirit, His Love, and His Word, all need to be present in our lives together for what is being said to matter in us. Before I accepted Christ into my heart, I thought I knew God, and I would read the Bible every day; but I had nothing seriously being spoken into my heart. It wasn't until I received Christ into my heart that I could see God's love for me; and it wasn't until I received Christ that I had been given the Holy Spirit to guide me through His word. Now His word is not just words that have been written on paper, but are words that have been written upon my heart; words of love, not judgment; words of compassion, not condemnation; these are the differences between those that have Christ and those that do not: for those that have Christ, His judgments are mercy and grace; for those that do not, His judgments are death and destruction. Besides this, Christ Jesus is the "Most Mighty", and He is the Mighty Warrior that will defend His bride and will permanently defeat His enemies, once and for all; as He came once in the form of love and compassion, He will return in the form of Fire and Judgment... "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." (Revelation 19:11-16)

"The Fairest One"

"Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever." (Psalms 45:2) From His birth, as humble as it was, Jesus was the fairest One: fairer than the children of men. We see this declared by the angels to the shepherds in Luke 2, and we know this personally by the relationship that we have with Him; something that can only be declared in our own hearts upon accepting Him into our heart personally; because when we do, we discover that there is no other, only Jesus will do! Not just a prophet, or a teacher, or even a priest; yet He fulfilled each of those each of those callings to the highest degree. Not just a king, but the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; born as a baby, yet full of grace and truth, having preexisted from the before the beginning of all creation, and Who's kingdom is established for ever and ever. This is the Jesus that I serve; this is the Jesus that has saved me; not just a Man who walked among us for 33 years and then went away, but the God of creation Who took it upon Himself to do something that only He could do, come and die in our place upon the cross. Those that might not understand how important this is, have not tasted the life giving change of knowing their Redeemer; nor have they yet experienced the freedom given by being delivered from their sins; there is no way to explain it, other than trying to say that feel free and alive; but people that do not know how that feels cannot relate, because it involves the Spirit, of which they have not, nor can they, until they open the door of their heart and let Him in. We that have Jesus know these things full well, but sometimes we need to be reminded what He has done for us; especially after having struggled in this world for several decades after our conversion, we tend to forget what it felt like to be transformed from one life to the other, and to truly know The Fairest One... "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5) "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

"The Preface"

"My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer." (Psalms 45:1) Imagine, if you will, that this is a Psalm not written by a man, but by none other than God Himself, primarily the Holy Spirit. The character of the Holy Spirit is to show us Jesus, either by pointing the way, confirming Him, or living Him out in our lives. As He is the writer, this verse is His preface to the story to unfold; one which is boiling up within Him because of the goodness of the matter to which He is about to speak. If that is too hard to imagine for you, then you could simply take this to be the Holy Spirit speaking through the writer, and just leave it at that; but there are some verses here that go outside the writer, making it easier just to imagine this is God speaking to us, in us, and through us, which is what His Spirit does. Another thing that we must realize about the Holy Spirit, is that He does not draw attention to Himself, but that He always will speak of Jesus; He might manifest Himself through gifts, but such gifts are to draw attention to Christ, not Him. That said, there are several ways that God will speak to us, and He uses this first verse to express almost every way imaginable; it might seem like a play on words, but within this verse we find things like, the heart, His goodness, His creation, speaking, touching, His Spirit, the tongue, His written word, and even His Son, the King. As Matthew Henry has put it: "This Psalm is an illustrious prophecy of Messiah the Prince: it is all over gospel, and it points to Him only, as a bridegroom espousing the church to Himself and as a King ruling in it and ruling for it". Now, due to the nature of the Holy Spirit, that being to point to Christ, He does not point to Himself, but is Himself, in us, the evidence that we are in Christ. With that, let's take this to the next level, and let's imagine that same Spirit is declaring this Psalm through us, the church; which by the way, if you get right down to it, is the number one thing that we have in common with God, His Spirit dwelling within us... "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father." (John 16:7-16)

"A Royal Wedding Song"

PSALMS 45 - [To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil. A Song of loves.]
Just in case you were wondering, my point about God not being here was geared towards those that try and make God out to be of this world, as if heaven is here and now; bazaar as that might sound, Jesus did not claim this as His home, and neither should we; so those that wish to claim this as heaven, well for them, maybe this is as close as they get. As for me, I am looking for something that is far far better; something that is so spectacular, it will take my breath away, literally! Which just so happens to bring us to this next Psalm, "A Royal Wedding Song", as titled in my Bible. The most spectacular event to take place is yet to come, which will be the Royal Wedding between Christ Jesus and His church. Oh, what a glorious day that will be! The word "Shoshannim" is kind of an interesting word, mostly because it speaks of a work or ornament resembling lilies, or an instrument that resembles a lily, such as a trumpet might. This same word is used in the introduction of two other Psalms, Psalms 69 and Psalms 80; both of which involve the work being done that only Jesus Christ is capable of doing, and both of which speak of urgency and power, as might be the case in the sound of a trumpet. Which ever the case, the point that must be made has more to do with the fact that Jesus was the Instrument used for our redemption, restoration, and glorification; and this Psalm we are entering into points to Him, and Him alone, as the "Bridegroom espousing the church to Himself and as a King ruling in it and ruling for it" (Matthew Henry). The second thing to take notice of within this introduction is, "A Song of loves", which is more to the instruction and the placement of the songs origin, which is from that of the church unto the Bridegroom. This is something that I believe goes closely in line with what Paul was speaking of in Ephesians 5:32, and concerns the great mystery of Christ and the church; which speaks of the love of Christ towards His church, and the reverent love of the church towards Christ, as well as the two being joined together as One, and in one love... "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)  

"Reaching Up" -2

"Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies' sake." (Psalms 44:26) I thought I would be starting 45 today, but I need to say one more thing that God has put upon my heart regarding our reaching up to Him for protection. In this world (the world being the place in which we live), there are so many things that tend to bring us down (down meaning that we loose sight of the joy in which we should be living), that it is always good to have somewhere else that we can reach to other than this place. I would have no joy whatsoever in my life if not for the fact that heaven is waiting for me, and I for heaven; besides the fact that my wife is in the condition that she is in, I have many more issues that tend to press against me; like owing taxes, trying to keep up with work, and just getting out of bed some mornings; if it wasn't for this blog, I might try to sleep in most mornings. But besides anything that this world might put me through, my biggest and most important issue to focus upon, each and every day, is my relationship with the God that loves me more than I love myself. I can honestly say, I know God loves me more than I love myself; and because I know that, there is nowhere else that I can reach to for protection; not within myself, not to anyone else, and surely not to anything that is of this earth. As with most of the Psalms, the final verse usually summarizes or amplifies the meaning of the entire Psalm, which is true in this case also. "A Prayer for Protection" could be summarized by this one verse, "Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies' sake". God's mercy is never out of reach, because He truly does love us, and He is more than willing to redeem us; but it requires that we reach up to Him, unlike some may teach, where you can make God to be anything that you need or want Him to be; God is not here, He is there, and He is bigger than you could ever imagine... "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 4:8-5:1)

"Reaching Up"

"Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies' sake." (Psalms 44:26) All things considered, our redemption is always a lot closer than we actually think that it is. I know that we sometimes cannot see it, nor does it seem possible in some of our trials that there are any easy answers or solutions that will make the trial go away; but that's the thing which is most glorious about God, because He is the answer and the solution! He is so glorious that He replaces the trial with more of Himself, thereby making the trial seem less of a threat to our lives. We really don't get that a lot of times, but the truth is, we focus so much upon that which is seen, we sometimes forget how much power is provide us by just reaching up to God. After all, God is bigger than any problem we could ever have, and He is more powerful than any trial that might appear to overtake us. As to the whole point of "a prayer for protection", this has more to do with that than we might think; because if we are earnestly going to seek God's protection through praying to Him, then there are a few things that we need to know about Him before we can earnestly do that. The first of which, is that God is able to do that which we pray for; if we don't truly believe that He is able, that doesn't necessarily mean that He won't, it just means that we won't earnestly ask Him; I don't adhere to that whole notion of God didn't answer your prayer because you lacked faith thing, because God does things according to His will, not ours. Secondly, if He is able, then we must believe that He is willing to do that which we pray for; and if not what we are praying specifically for, then what is best for our lives in His perfect will. In other words, the answer and solution is not always what we are looking for, but instead will always draw us closer to Him; that might include death, believe it or not; at which point, it doesn't get any closer than that. And thirdly, to be totally and completely assured of His protection, we must totally and completely understand how holy that He is, and because He is holy, we must be holy... "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:12-18)        

"Laying Down"

"For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth." (Psalms 44:25) This might sound like laying down, as in to assume the most humble position to pray unto God, and it very well may be that; but I am thinking it speaks more about the condition of the heart, as in, I am totally worthless, and I am nothing without You, Dear God! Assuming that we are still involved with a prayer for protection, and I have no doubt that we are, then it would only seem right to acknowledge how critical our need is, because it really doesn't get much lower than this. But here, in the context of the what is being said, there is something else that must be considered, which is, What the heck is being said!!! Since these two statements are separated by a colon, then they are pretty much the same thought; whereas the first statement opens the door to the next, which is the explanation or example of the first. If we are taking for granted that this is speaking about a position of prayer, then it is easy to see how this would work: as our entire person is bowed down to the ground, then our belly would surely be adhered to the earth. However, if "our soul" is speaking about our seat of desires, then the "belly" would be our seat of hunger; which would also mean that we are talking about the state of mind in which we constantly battle: the difference in walking by faith, and walking by sight. As odd as that might appear, we are in a constant battle between the flesh and the Spirit; the flesh sees what it wants, and the Spirit knows what It needs; the Spirit is stronger than the flesh, yet the flesh seems to overpower the Spirit, because of the difference between sight and faith. I hope that came out the way that I meant it to appear, because we all seem to have a different way of looking at what we think that we have seen or heard. Oh yea, that reminds me: God does not change His word either... "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he 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 as Him? (Luke 11:11-13)  

"Reaching In" -2

"Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?" (Psalms 44:24) True, I mentioned puzzle, but it's not a puzzle that is meant to not be figured out; it's more like the kind of puzzle where you match things listed on opposite sides of the page, by drawing a line connecting one thing from this line to something from that line. First off, I honestly doubt that God hides His face, nor does He sleep, as in not paying attention; God has no need to think, "Oh, I wonder what they are doing?", because He already knows; and He surely does not forget about the things that we are going through; if He has numbered the very hairs on our heads, I am pretty sure He has counted all of our days also. Secondly, if any one has hidden themselves, or has become forgetful, it is us; in other words, if any one needs an adjustment, it is us, not God! Just as John was saying about "and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure", because God does not change, nor does He need to change, but it is us that must be changed to be more like Him. Not only do we need to be changed, but we must want to be changed; we must want it more than we want any other thing, which is our part of the purification process. It is God that does the purifying, but is you and I that must allow Him to do so by having a heart that wants to be changed; which as John said, is motivated by the hope within us that "when He shall appear, we shall be like Him". Basically, the point I believe that needs to be focused upon, is that God's protection is always right there for the taking, or for the receiving, however you which to look upon it; but it requires us to approach God in Spirit and in truth; in Spirit, because God requires and seeks those that worship Him so; in truth, because we must be totally honest before Him, which means that we totally realize how much we need Him, and how much we fall short of His glory and holiness... "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Luke 11:9 & 10)

"Reaching In"

"Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?" (Psalms 44:24) I don't care what you think about my post from yesterday, if you did not get it, then that's not completely my fault; I only have so much I can say in so much space and time, but I know what it was that God was telling me. But if you thought that was hard to piece together, then get ready for another puzzle. What is the opposite of reaching out? How about you just do nothing? Typically, in most cases, I would say yes; but remember, this is about us praying for God's protection, and if we are seeking His protection, then doing nothing is really not something that we must do. What are my options? What is my defense? Where do I begin? How about starting at the beginning? Who's am I? Am I my own, or do I belong to Another? And if I belong to Another, then what does that make me? I am a son of the KING! Do I truly understand what that means? Because if I do, I don't think I live out the confidence of being His son, or the security of His ownership over my life; at least not when I am feeling guilty over something that I have done. This is really not that hard to understand; and God has made it so easy, because He really wants us to grab hold of it and understand how it works. First off, if my father was king, and he loved me with all of his heart, then do I really need to worry about whether or not he will protect me? Absolutely not! So then, what might cause me to worry about being protected by my father the king? Have I wandered off from the sight of his protection? You can see how it works in the natural world; why would it be any different with God? I know what you are thinking, it is because God sees all and knows all, so we really can't get out of His sight. True, as far as God's ability to know our every move and every thought; but as far as being in the sight of His protection, sometimes our biggest enemy is our self. Now where do I begin?
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." (1 John 3:1-3)

"Reaching Out"

"Awake, why sleepest Thou, O LORD? arise, cast us not off for ever." (Psalms 44:23) In all of life, there is nothing that is more awakening than death. I get that; and I also see why God allows for us to experience loss; not that He needs us to understand how fragile this life is, because I think we get that also; but because we need to understand how much we need Him. How much do I really reach out to God for help? Not as much as I should, that is for sure! Either one of three things exist in our hearts that prevent us from reaching out to God: either we don't feel worthy, we don't think He cares, or we think we can handle it ourselves. Two of those three are shown above, with a little more focus on the second, as in, Does God even care? Well, Does He? I think we should let God speak for Himself, and He has! Some read Genesis 6:6 and misunderstand the heart of God, as if God can repent for something that He has done; but God does not change (Malachi 3:6); and if He does not change, shouldn't that also mean that He does not change His mind? Wait, before you start trying to think of excuses, start thinking of promises that God has given; try to use a little Philippians 4:8 when it comes to God's character, because God is love, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5); darkness being unhappiness and ruin, which is the consequences of sin. Within each of us there dwells this kind of darkness, which is the sorrow and despair we anguish over our sins, coupled with the destruction that is the wake of our sins, there is a serious need for repentance. Yet with God, He has no such experience, nor does He need to feel the need to repent from anything, because He is all-knowing. In this "darkness" which is spoken of, we have the first of those three reasons, being that we don't feel worthy to reach out to God; not necessarily because we are unhappy in that we sinned, but rather that we feel that God is unhappy towards us, and because of that our lives are ruined. Nothing, absolutely nothing could be further from the truth!!! The God that we serve is a God of mercy and restoration! He is waiting for us to reach out to Him, because He offers mercy; therefore, we surely do not want to try and do this on our own...
"For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John 317-21)

"In Life and In Death" -2

"Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." (Psalms 44:22) I think that the point I was making has to do with what we honestly believe to be true; not what we think to be true, based upon what we have been told; nor what we perceive to be true based upon what we have looked upon. What we know to be true must be confirmed in our hearts, the Spirit also bearing witness inside of us that it is so. Jesus, 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) The point being, that the place will not matter, such as the mountain or the temple, but the heart is where true worship will take place; and the time had come for man's spirit to be reunited with the Father, whereby we can experience true worship based upon a personal relationship; the Holy Spirit being given us, that true worship will be confirmed. We must not hold anything back when it comes to true worship with God; meaning, that we must be an open book before Him, because the fact is, that is what we are. The truth that is in our hearts must match the truth as it is; after all, God knows us better than we know our self, so what do we think we are hiding from God? As to the point of life and death, death is a very real thing for this mortal body, there is just no way getting around that issue; but if we continue in life by living as though God's word does not matter as it should, then where do we get the experience of living a life in which death has no victory?
"Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us as an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." (Philippians 3:15-21)  

"In Life and In Death"

"Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." (Psalms 44:22) Once we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we are no longer our own, and our life is no longer something that we control, even though we think sometimes we have control of it. This is something that many of us forget, as we make plans for this, or we plan for that, we sometimes fail to ask the question, What will You have me to do, Lord? We might ask Him during spiritual issues, like where we are to fellowship, or what He would have us to share; but Jesus would have us seek His guiding for all of our daily lives, including what we should wear, whom we should hang out with, or even what we should let into our minds. I know that might sound a little legalistic, but the simple truth of the matter is, our life is not our own, we are the property of Jesus Christ. I know it might sound a little old fashion, seeing how many churches are becoming more and more liberal in the way they let the world dictate how they teach, or how they view God's standards for our lives; but God changes not (Malachi 3:6); it is man that changes his view of God, and what God's standards might be for their lives, which is usually based upon the desires of their hearts, not how they interpret the word of God. What seems to be the case, is that they determine what they want to believe, and then they distort God's word to closely alien with what they believe, instead of letting God's word determine what they should believe. This is a very slippery slop, and there is no net to catch us when we fall, as harsh as that might sound. I base that statement upon the fact that God's word must be the standard upon which we live our lives, not manipulated to match the standard of this world; otherwise, if we fail to hold God's word to be the standard, then upon what are we basing our promise of eternal life? Is His word that in which our life is made manifest, or is it the world? Just saying... "Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied Him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?" (Malachi 2:17)

"In Spirit and In Truth" -2

"If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange God; shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart." (Psalms 44:20 & 21) Then again, maybe Jesus was speaking about the other disciples, as in men, as in other people, or what others think; after all, was it not that issue that cause Peter to deny Jesus three times, what others might think? It's really not an issue of being intimidated by what others might think, because that is only a byproduct of the issue; the real issue was that of forgetting who Jesus was; was He Lord, the Son of the Living God? If he still believed that with all of his heart, then what others might think would not be an issue. If Jesus is who He claims to be, then where can we find protection, but in Him? Why would we seek protection in anything else? It is really amazing sometimes the kind of stuff we stretch out our hands to for protection; things like the Zodiac, or things like gambling, or the lottery; even the stock market, or investments, or even all this stuff we surround ourselves with. None of that stuff has any power whatsoever to give us eternal life, and none of it will protect us from the fires of hell. They say that Jesus spoke more about hell than He did about heaven, if you are using the word heaven, then I would say that is true; but if you are speaking about the kingdom of God, then I might challenge the statement. The kingdom of God is now and forever, is began for each one us the day we invited Jesus Christ into our hearts; from that very moment, each and every one of us that believe in Jesus, have entered into the kingdom of God, and hell is no longer an option. Today I am giving the message at our church, and I will be teaching on Genesis chapter seven; yes, the whole chapter; but one of the wonderful illustrations within that chapter, is found in verse sixteen, where it says, "and the LORD shut him in". Noah had to enter the ark, as God called him into it in verse one, saying, "Come"; after Noah entered, it was God that shut the door, and when God shuts the door, no man can open it... "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are One." (John 10:27-30)

"In Spirit and In Truth"

"If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart." (Psalms 44:20 & 21) Maybe I should start using several verse every day, because at the pace I am going, I will still be in Psalms four years from now; but actually, this two verses also must go together. Again, for the love of God, why can't we get this through our thick skulls? Nothing gets past God; nothing is hidden from His view; everything that we do is an open book to God, and He sees even the secrets of our hearts. In case you might not get that, the secrets of our heart is not just what we do and what we think upon, it's our passions and what our heart is drawn towards. After His resurrection, and upon His third time showing Himself to His disciples, Jesus had just finished dining with them, after assisting them with a great catch, and He said unto Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?" (John 21:15) Much speculation surrounds whom or what Jesus was referring to by "these"; was He speaking about the fellow disciples that were with him, or was He speaking about the fish? I am going with the fish. Peter had pretty much gone back to his former profession, as did many of the other disciples. When Jesus first called him, he was a fisherman; and after Jesus was put to death, he went back to being a fisherman; but Jesus had called him out of that. In Matthew 4:19 & 20, Jesus found these four fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and He called them, saying, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men"; then instantly and without hesitation they dropped their nets and followed Jesus. For the next three and a half years Peter was being trained in his new profession; no longer a fisherman, who caught fish for a living, now he was to be a fisher of men, who was to bring the lost onto Christ that they might have life. It's really not that easy to give up something you know brings you income, without having been called out of it; and even then, if your calling comes into question, then you will sometimes go right back to that which you know. But God would have us to know Him more than anything else; more than our professions; more than even the ones that we love, like our family, friends, and even our self... "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, "This man began to build, and was not able to finish." Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him the commeth against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26-33)

"Staying Committed"

"Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way; thought Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death." (Psalms 44:18 & 19) You might have noticed that I used more than one verse today; I just couldn't break these two verses up; they were meant for each other. Two things that come to mind for me here, without even giving it much thought; the first is the time when many people quit following Jesus because He said He was the Bread From Heaven, and then He turned to His disciples and asked, "Will ye also go away" (John 6:67); but Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." The second thing, which is a little harder to communicate, is when the Centurion sent friends to Jesus, asking Him to heal his servant with just a word; he sent them saying that he was not worthy that Jesus should enter under his roof, nor thought himself worthy to come unto Him, but that he believed Jesus could just say the word, and his servant would be made well. After hearing this, Jesus marveled at this man's faith, and turning around to those that followed Him, said, "I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel". (Luke 7:9) This first thing has to do with us knowing God's promise of eternal life; who else can promise that? so where else can we turn for the promise of eternal life, but to God? The second has to do with God's power, and the fact that God, with just a word, can do whatever it is that He wants to have done; so where else can we go for protection, but to God? Both of these understandings are based upon us believing that God's word is truth; if we cannot get past the very first verse of the Bible, then we have an issue; and if we cannot hold onto the verses given in Revelation 22:1-5 as that place we are destined for, then we have another issue. On the one hand we have an issue with believing God can do anything, and on the other hand we have an issue with being in heaven, because we either can't see ourselves there, or we are not yet convinced that it is real. So, how do you view the Bible? Is the Bible 100% true to you? or do you have doubt over certain parts of it? Or, like many other people in this world, even those that say they believe, do you think that much of the Bible is allegory, or even fictional events and stories meant to point us in a direction? If so, please pray that God would settle your heart in this area, and that, by the power of His Spirit, He would give you the truth... "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from things that are written in this Book." (Revelation 22:18 & 19)

"Understood"

"All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant." (Psalms 44:17) I see, said the blind man; or so the saying goes. But how often do we understand our real standing in this world? Jesus said,"He that loveth his life shall lose it: and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life." (John 12:25) It is one thing to believe in what you are, it is another to come to the understanding of it; for we are only here for a very short while, and we truly need to get that through to our heads. The "covenant" which is being spoken of is that of serving other gods, which is expressed by the statement, "we have not forgotten Thee". Now I know that we can get a little sideways in our plans and our goals for daily living, because I have been there many times; but when we start making plans that involve earthly treasures, say like houses, boats, cars, etc., we really need to be careful about whom we are serving in the process of planning. Really, it comes down to what is the most important thing in our lives; is it pleasing God? or is it pleasing ourselves? The flip side of what I am saying, is to be stripped of everything, taken captive, and forced to serve those that do not know God, which is what has happened to the children of Israel more than once; which is only to give us a contrast of how cruel the world can be to us, verse how faithful and true that God is to us. Basically, it all comes down to us understanding Who it is that we serve; knowing that there is nowhere else we want to be but in His house, as His servants, and hoping in His protection... "Your words have been stout against Me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shalt ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not." (Malachi 3:13-18)  

"Great Misunderstanding"

"For the voice of him that repoacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger." (Psalms 44:16) I don't care how you slice it, getting beat up does not look good to those that are watching. Two thoughts come to mind: why don't you do something? and, why is this happening? Of all the great and mighty things that God has done, you would think we might be a little less concerned; after all, "if God is for us, then who can be against us", right? Have you ever noticed what a sick tree looks like after it has been pruned by someone that is trying to save it? It looks terrible; like all of it's glory has been removed, and there is hardly anything left that produces shade, or that gives beauty to behold. What God allows us to go through, He does for our benefit, or for the benefit of others around us; something that we seldom catch hold of in the midst of our circumstance; at least not at first; usually it isn't until every single possible earthly resource has been used up, then we have no other choice but to place everything in God's hand. It isn't until we do that, that we finally realize, with all certainty, that we are in God's hand! It's not that we did not know this before, because we understood it to be so; but knowing something from the experience of surrender is so much more real than knowing from what you have been told. Think of that game you play, the one where you fall backwards while someone else stands behind you to catch you; we sometimes picture that kind of thing going on when we surrender to God, where we just fall backwards into His arms; but that's not so, because we are already in His arms to begin with, we just need to let go of everything else. You really can't tell anyone how it feels to totally surrender to God, it must be experienced to really know how it feels. But one thing is for certain, when we surrender totally to God we are not hoping for someone or something else to save us, only God... "Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved  with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known My ways. So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." (Hebrews 3:7-14)

"Left Guessing"

"My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me." (Psalms 44:15) What is next? We really never know what God will do next, but we can be assured that He will bring us to the other side, that is His promise; although we tend to forget that sometimes. If God had told me what He was going to do before hand, then I might have been reluctant to go any further. We like to believe that God will not allow us to be tried by more than we can stand, but I really don't know if that is actually true when it comes to suffering and dealing with sickness; it might be true with temptations, because there is always an escape, but you don't get to escape some of life's tragedies. Cain used the expression, "My punishment is greater than I can bear", yet I counted at least six times in which God had given Cain an opportunity to repent for his hatred towards his brother, but he refused. So you see, God will always allow us a way to avoid being tempted into sin; and even after we sin, God allows a way to be delivered and forgiven; but sickness and death, is really not something that He has promised us we would not have to deal with in this life. As for the children of Israel, they were constantly having to be corrected for either not listening to God's instruction, or ignoring His commands; either way, they seemed to always be taken captive by either some other nation or by some other worldly seduction. I think that is kind of like things are with us, because when everything is going well in our lives, we tend to forget about God and focus upon enjoying life; but when things are going really bad, all of the sudden we start focusing upon God again, and soon enough, He is all that matters; so in that regard, then yes, maybe He has provided us a way of escape...

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end." (Hebrews 3:1-6)