"Hold Fast"

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." (Psalms 27:14) There is so much that "Wait" and "Courage" have in common, and as you examine the meaning of these two different words, you will discover that their common cords are instruments of binding together, such as a rope the binds strongly. Seeings how that this is a day which we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I thought it should be fitting to examine His ability to hold fast to the Father; which means that He and the Father were one, in almost every way: one in Spirit, one in objective, one in the way they viewed the world; the list could go on and on. If you can imagine how a strong rope is constructed, there are cords which wrap around each other, and within each of those cords are many threads of fiber that give each cord their strength; in other words, there is strength within each of the cords, and there is multiplied strength in the cords that wrap around each other. Another way we can look at this, is by saying, Jesus was holding onto the One who held Him, so much so, that there was no possible way that they could be separated or torn apart. It might be hard to imagine what that might be like; especially since Jesus and the Father shared a common view of the future also; but that is why we have been given God's word, so we too can also have that same shared view of what is to come, and we can take courage in knowing that it's all going to end more glorious than we could ever imagine. If you really think about it, Jesus looked beyond the cross; and as I said before, although the cross was essential to the redemption of the world, it was His Resurrection that brought new life into the world; and as such, it was the Resurrection that He looked forward to, knowing that He was going to be victorious over death and the grave, and that it would only be a matter of a few days, and He would rise again to strengthen His disciples. That's the kind of waiting that we are to have; knowing and believing with all of our hearts that His word is true, we hold fast to His word, and we bind it upon our hearts and into our minds; making each and every verse, each and every promise, another fiber of our cord; and then we hold fast to the One who is holding onto us..."If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set you affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." (Colossians 3:1-4)

"Safe and Secure"

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." (Psalms 27:14) I know I have said this a least a couple dozen times already, but as with most every one of the Psalms, the final verse sums up what the Psalm is about. The title printed by the Publisher above this Psalm in my Bible says, A Prayer of Praise; taking into consideration what it means, or should I say, what it should mean to us to be able to pray to our God, and knowing that He listens, we should be a people that have no worries whatsoever. I mean really; if we truly believe that He is listening, and if we, as His child, that we know that He loves, can cry out to Him as our Loving Father, then from where do our worries come from? Stinkin thinkin might be part of the problem; where we conjure up some reasons in our minds why we  are not answered, or reasons why God might be mad at us; primarily because of sin that we might have not confessed, or something that we did not do when asked to do it. The wavering mind spoken about by James is a good example of what I am talking about; where we ask God for help, and then in almost the same breath, say, God shall not answer my plea for help, because. (James 1:6-8) If there is one important thing that I have learned over the last thirty plus years, it's that God loves to answer our prayers; He may not answer them right away, primarily because of "all things being done in good timing", but He totally loves to amaze us by showing us how much He cares for us; we just need to learn to wait upon Him! What is it that we actually need when we cry out to Him with our insecurities? Isn't it that we would feel secure? I mean, really; isn't that all we really need? We could have a host of armies camped outside of our home, just waiting for the slightest sign of movement inside, to open fire and take us out; yet if God has made us feel secure in Him, there is absolutely nothing to be worried about! It's the same for whatever else you might be dealing with: if God is with you, then whom do you need to be afraid of, or what could possibly come against you? It really comes down to four words said two different way: "Wait on the LORD" and "Be of good courage"; they pretty much mean the same thing, it's just a different way to say that we feel safe and secure in the Lord our God..."Being confident of this one thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" (Philippians 1:6)

"The Destination" -2

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." (Psalms 27:13) Having the perfect vision of what awaits us, we are never that concerned with the journey along the way; at least that is how it is meant to be! Although we are safe in the arms of the Lord, this present life can sure dig it's claws in us, making us take our sights off of the prize every once and awhile. On the road to the cross, Jesus had His eyes fixed on what was on the other side of His suffering; oh, He absolutely had His eyes fixed upon the cross, it was an essential part of the plan; but the glory that waited on the other side of the suffering, that's what gave Him endurance to see it through. God has given us His word that we might know what is in our future; that we might know how much that He loves us and how He has provided a very special place for us to dwell with Him for all eternity. We can debate the manner in which we are to conduct ourselves in everyday situations, and how much of God's law we are meant to incorporate into our lives; but one thing we can never ever forget or neglect to practice is His love! We are ambassadors of His Love! I know that we are sometimes overly concerned about how much others might sin, and that we must somehow convince them they need to turn or burn; but the only thing that is going to convince them to change is the Love of God! It is really all about loving them as God loves them; not judging them, and surely not telling them what horrible sinners that they are; but actually convincing them that there is a God that loves them, and that He died for them while they were yet sinners, that He might bring them into a more perfect relationship with Him. In other words, we must prove God's love is real; that is what it means to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ; just as Jesus Christ came to not only save the world from their sins, but He came to show us how much God loves us; proving, once and for all, that God is Love! We can hit people over the head with God's word until our Bible's fall apart, but it's not their heads which need to receive His word, it's their hearts! And the only thing that will change their hearts is the Love of God..."We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God." (Romans 15:1-7)   

"The Destination"

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." (Psalms 27:13) It's really all about where we will finally end up! All the trials, and all the heartaches that come from the ebbs and flows of this broken life; people come into our lives, become a part of who we are, and then they are taken out; it all can be a little overwhelming if we were to focus on all the bad stuff to long; therefore, we should keep looking forward to that place where there will be no more tears, or sorrow, or death, just pure life in the presence of God! I am one of those that loves to watch Fox News; my television is almost always on the Fox News Channel, with the exception of Thursday through Sunday, then it's on The Golf Channel; although, I am beginning to get a little weary of all the commercials on both of these channels, and I am thinking of keeping it on my third favorite channel, which is the Food Channel; I love good food, and nothing beats eating foods that are pleasing to the eyes, smell, and taste. It can look great, but if it smells like wet dog, I won't eat it; and it can look and smell good, but if it's taste is bitter and lingers to long in your mouth, I would walk away from it if I were you. We can look forward to the food we shall eat in heaven; and you better believe, there will be eating in heaven; not so sure about 20 oz. rib eyes, cooked to a perfect medium rare, which is my favorite meal; but we can be assured that we will be completely satisfied with everything that God provides for us. Here, not so much! We are told that we should be, and even instructed in God's word that we should live lives that are content, but do we? or do our hearts still burn with passions for the things of this world? I am not talking about sinful things, but things that bring simple pleasures, like toys, and mini vacations, and theme parks, and just having fun. These are things that for the most part are man made pleasures, that although they are fun and can bring enjoyment into our lives, they can also bring us into bondage if not done in moderation. The point to all this jabbering, is that which we are to focus on, which is Heaven; that's the place we should be focused on, and it's where we need to be investing the desire of our heart; everything else is dying and will be taken from us, but Heaven, that's just getting closer and closer every single day... "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Hebrews 13:5 & 6)

"Voyage Captain"

"Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty." (Psalms 27:12) Yes, it is true, Jesus is the Captain of our soul; but greater than that, Jesus has experience on these treacherous waters, and having maneuvered the fiercest storm there ever was, we can rest assure that He will get us through to the other side! Looking at this verse from a little different angle, we can see how this verse fits nicely to the persecution and the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ; as a matter of fact, from the very beginning, and with God's judgement against the serpent in the Garden, this was planned out with God saying, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). If you notice, this verse does not say, "Deliver me not over to mine enemies", because is was the intention of the Lord to be delivered over to His enemies; but to be delivered over to the will of His enemies, that's a whole separate matter! Their will was to shut Him up, to make Him no longer a force to be reckoned with, and to try and prove that He was not who He said that He was; all of which they failed to do; as a matter of fact, the will of His enemies were crushed His Resurrection, Ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His believers! The greatest voyage ever, our Captain not only charted it, and sailed it Himself, He controlled the very waters that He sailed!!! All of it; every last detail of His life; from His birth, all the way through His life, and even in His sufferings, He was in complete control of all that happened; the will of His enemies was never an issue, because His will was being played out throughout His life and even in His death! If ever we needed reassurance of God's ability to take a bad situation and turn it to good, what better proof do we have than the Captain of our souls? " Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." (Hebrews 12:1-3)

"Voyage Maker" -2

"Deliver me not over to the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses have risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty." (Psalms 27:12) Now then; herein we know how that Jesus can with a word control the wind and the seas, how much more can He control what happens around our simple lives? I know that we all have been raised in the cartoon era of seeing waves and whirlwinds that have faces, and that look as if they might even have a soul; but I can assure you, although they sometimes are very powerful, they do not think, or plan, or even have reasoning within them, they just do what they are forced to do, which is swell and blow. I think that we sometimes forget the power of the God who loves us. I know we have learned about His great and powerful works through various Bible stories, and that we truly believe that God can do big and mighty things; but when it comes to our own life, we look at it as if, God's power is too busy being used elsewhere to be used on something as meaningless as myself. Never underestimate the Bigness of our God! We that are His children, He has placed us upon a path, and that path He has placed us on is the voyage that He has made specifically for our life; which means that my voyage, although the destination is the same as yours, is entirely a different voyage, filled with different encounters, different adventures along the way; each one is specifically made for me, and is fashioned for the work the that God who loves and cares for me wants to perform in my life. God allows things to happen in our lives; He sees those things coming, and more importantly, He sees the outcome of everything that we encounter; this is the power that God has over anyone and everything else, in that He knows what will happen next and the enemy does not! If we fail to see God's hand working upon our lives, it's not because His hand is not working, it's because we are not seeing the work that He is doing! I know you may have heard this before, and I hope I don't mess it up, but here's a little illustration of what I am taking about. There was a fierce storm that came upon a community, and the city was flooding; and while the rescue 4 x 4 trucks were patrolling the neighborhoods, they came upon a man who's house was flooding and he was protruding out of his window. They stopped at his house and yelled out for him to run out to safety; but the man replied, "It's alright, my God will save me!" After several attempts to persuade the man, the rescue workers moved on. Soon the water had reached the roof level of the house, and the man was now sitting on top of his roof; and along come a rescue boat, and the rescuers called out for the man to get in the boat; but he continued to reply, "That's alright, I am trusting in my God to save me!" Unable to convince the man the rescue workers moved on. Finally the water had taken over the enter house, and all that was still left was the top of the chimney; and as the man was perched at the top of his chimney, a helicopter arrived with a ladder rolled out for the man to grab onto; but he refused to grab hold of the ladder, yelling up to the rescue personnel, "Never mind, my God is going to save me!" After the helicopter crew had finally given up and moved on, the man was swept off of the chimney and drowned by the current. When he arrived in heaven, he was quick to ask the Lord, "Lord, I put all of my faith and trust in you, yet you let me perish in the storm; why did you not save me?" To which the Lord gently replies, "My son, I did all that I could do: I sent you a 4 x 4, a boat, and a helicopter; what more were you looking for?" "Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (James 1:16-18)

"Voyage Maker"

"Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty." (Psalms 27:12) Since we are on the subject of learning, one of the most important things that we need to learn, is that Jesus will get us through to the other side! It might get a little ruff, and there my be waves that appear as though they are going to destroy us; but if He has promised to get us through, then just hold on and enjoy the ride! I am thinking of the illustration given in Matthew, Mark and Luke, regarding Jesus calming the storm; however, it's not really about the fact that Jesus calmed the storm, even though that is spectacular in and of it's self; but rather, it's about having faith in Jesus, and when Jesus says, "Get in, we are going to the other side of the lake", we need to trust Him that we are going to get there safely. I truly do believe that God has a sense of humor, and He does have that ability to be amused, and even to amuse us in many of the things He does; but you have to wonder what was going through the mind of the disciples as they saw their fate, or at least thought that they saw it. Mark 4:37 says, "And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full." In other words, the ship was full of water from the crashing waves, and it really looked like they were going to sink! Now I don't know about you, but I have had some voyages that had some pretty close calls; times when I really thought, This is over! But God!!! You know I like that phrase! God is more than able to get us through to the other side, He just wants us to put our trust in Him to do it, and sometimes He will allow the storm to get really really crazy, just so He can show us what He can do! Think about this for a moment; because if it was Jesus who decided to get in the boat and to travel to the other side, don't you think He knew what He was doing? He had just finished off speaking about "The Parable of the Mustard Seed", and now it was time to demonstrate how that works. Men are seriously bad at asking for directions, we think that we have a gift when it comes to navigating, whether that's concerning travel or putting something together, it's all about, Stand back and watch me work my magic. Maybe it's because we get that from our Heavenly Father, who, by the way, does not always stick to the road map or the instruction manual; He can do it His way, or He can turn our way into His way; either way, God gets His way; so sit back and enjoy the ride... "And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" (Mark 4:38-41)  

"Bondage Breaker"

"Teach me Thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." (Psalms 27:11) If you thought I got a little carried away yesterday, I'm sorry you feel that way; my mom always use to tell me, If you think you smell something stinky, then you better check your own pants first before you start pointing fingers. Here is the thing about learning lessons from God, and what we must always guard our hearts from in the process: most assuredly the lessons that we learn from God are containing things regarding our own hearts and are not necessarily about others! We have this natural tendency to start looking at others first as soon as God places something upon our heart, as if it's not us that stinks, but it's someone else; when in reality, God will place something upon our hearts because our ministry always begins at home first, and our heart is where home is! It's really interesting what the word for "enemies" that David uses in the verse means; it is different than the others that he uses in this Psalm, because these enemies bind you up; which means that there is a vicious circle that you are trapped in, because you really cannot break free from that which binds you. If you consider what David is speaking about with "lead me in a plain path", it means a level place or a level country; a level way of life, an upright life: it is very difficult to try and win a game against an apposing team if the playing field is not level, as in, two people verses twenty! The Apostle Paul referred to a "thorn in his flesh" in 2 Corinthians 12:7, which many believe to be a physical ailment of sorts, but which some think could have been a spiritual infirmity that dealt with something else; I tend to take the side of the spiritual infirmity, and I do so because that portion of Scripture is about "Depending on God", as in "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness". (2 Corinthians 12:9) In other words; what we lack in strength, God more than makes up for by His grace!!! Again, I want to remind you that this is a "Prayer of Praise", prayer depicting a petition and praise a celebration, there are two things that are going on here; on the one hand David is petitioning God for strength, and on the other, he is praising Him for His! In other words; it is God alone that is Holy and Righteous, least we forget it..."But this Man, after He offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Wherefore the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 10:12-17)

"Reality Hits Home, Again"

"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up." (Psalms 27:10) Some of us need to be nudged a little before we can actually listen to what God is trying to say; my heart is in the right place, I just have this thing that many refer to as 'boneheadedness' that prevents me from listening correctly to what is being said. I know that we can do better than what we are doing, we have the ability to live out Jesus in our lives, we just need to get out of the way and let Him shine in us; it's just that we refuse to get out of the way most of the time, and therefore our present condition takes center stage! What the heck does that mean? you might be asking. First and foremost, our lives are not our own any longer; we have been purchased with a great price, and we are now the property of Jesus Christ; who is not only our Owner and our Master, but He is our King and our Lord. After having witnessed as many people that have been torn away from the church as I have witnessed, I can tell you something that many of them all have in common: they have let themselves take center stage, and have put their own needs, reputation, feelings, and even their own cares, far and above those of anyone else; and in so doing, they have neglected to let Jesus shine in them, because their selfishness has gotten in the way! Love of self, is what the Bible calls it! Just as with this verse we have before us today, when all have forsaken me, then God is there to take me up; so too, when we remove our present condition from being in the way, then Jesus will be able to shine into the hearts of others; and when I say present condition, I mean this fleshly body that is constantly seeking to be satisfied and to have it's own way. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." (James 4:10) It means that we forget about getting our way, and focus on the Lord having His way! When we put our cares above those of others, nothing good can come from that; it only shows others how little you really care for them, and sets ourselves up to be taught a lesson from our actions; unfortunately, the odds of actually leaning what the lesson is teaching you, is not in your favor; not based upon the numbers that I have seen. How is it that we are lifted up by humbling ourselves in the Lord? Because Jesus is able to shine in us; and when Jesus is able to shine in us, then those around us will not see a person that is filled with selfish wants and desires, but they will see Jesus caring for them, through us..."From whence come wars and fighting among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: 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. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:1-4)

"Reality Hits Home"

"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up." (Psalms 27:10) No one can love us like our Heavenly Father does; neither can anyone come close to knowing what is best for our lives! Don't misunderstand me, I love my mother and look forward to seeing her again in heaven; but after I came to the Lord and had made Jesus the priority of my life, she questioned my eagerness to share Jesus with others; that was until she accepted Jesus in her own heart one night at a Darrell Mansfield concert. Although, one thing that I can say about my mother, she never did forsake me, or deny me a place to stay; even when I was in my very worse, she always looked for the best in me. David on the other hand, he was not thought of as the greatest of his father's offspring; as a matter of fact, he was hardly thought of at all; spending many nights and days out in the fields tending the sheep, as a teenager he was gone more than he was at home. Maybe he did fell abandoned and forsaken by his parents, but he had a great opportunity to get to know his Heavenly Father as he would spend day after day and night after night in fellowship with the One whom he came to love. If you know the story, when God instructed Samuel to go the the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite, saying, "For I have provided Me a king among his sons", after arriving and having view all of whom he thought were Jesse's sons, seven of them in all, which Jesse passed before Samuel a second time, the LORD had not chosen any of them; and finally Samuel asked, "Are here all of thy children?", to which Jesse answered, "There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep". All of David's elder brothers were men fit for battle, and men that their father was proud of; yet David, he was different, he loved to be out in the fields tending the sheep; which was not a desired profession in the land of Israel, as a matter of fact, it was a menial job, people who held such a job were looked down upon, just as David was looked down upon by his father, and even his brothers; you can see the tone in Jesse's answer to Samuel, and how is emphasized the fact that David was keeping the sheep, as if to rub it in how that's what he did. But God; He does not look at the outward appearance of a man, but looks upon the heart; and what God saw in David was a man that loved Him, and loved to be in His presence; something the our Heavenly Father seeks after in all of us, that we want to be in His presence! I don't mean just looking forward to Sunday's and midweek gatherings at church, but actually rising up in the mornings eager to spend time in fellowship with a God that loves you so very much..."O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee." (Psalms 63:1-3)

"Reality Check" -2

"Hide not Thy face far from me; put not Thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation." (Psalms 27:9) One little thing that I forgot to mention yesterday, was how much we can truly depend upon God for His unconditional love to never stop loving us! Here is the reality of His love for us: that He would take something that means the very most to Him, and that He would give that something for us, that we might not only be able to come into His presence, but that we might also be able to experience the wonder of His love; a love that cannot be expressed in words, but that He expressed by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son! What can we possibly do that would cancel out His love for us? The only way that we cannot receive God's love is by not accepting it, because we could surely never earn it; it is beyond our capacity to earn something of such great worth! So, how are we to react to something so amazing as that? This is what I see in this verse we have before us: it's not that David is afraid that God will leave him or forsake him, because he truly knows that God is always by his side; but it is the pure magnitude of God's love goes so far beyond anything that we can possible comprehend, that we are in such awe of His love for us, we really sometimes find it hard to believe that He loves us, especially when we realize how much we fail to love Him back in a way deserving of His love for us! We are praising God in this realization, because it's not really about my ability to live up to God's anticipations for my life, He loves me just as I am; it's about me realizing how much that God loves me, and taking the reality of His love for me, and loving Him back!!! This is how we are even remotely capable of beginning to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, by realizing His great love for us, so much so, that it keeps us in check; in other words, it overwhelms us to the point that we are fearful that we might sin against Him and trespass against something so amazing as His great love for us...Besides that; He gives us every possible tool that we need to work on loving Him back, even when we fail, He has a tool for that... "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son; much more, being reconciled we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement." (Romans 5:9-11)...I am not even sure that we can give this gift back; once we are in possession of His gift of salvation, we are no longer our own, but His...

"Reality Check"

"Hide not Thy face far from me; put not Thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation." (Psalms 27:9) Pardon me for feeling a little groggy today, I drove all day and kid of overslept. But, I must let you know, I listened to about twenty sermons yesterday, and I heard several messages that went very nicely with the message that God was speaking into my heart about this verse I am looking at today. One in particular was about not shinning the instrument; meaning to not put to much glamour into these vessels which God has redeemed, because all the glory is meant to be given unto Jesus Christ. Taking into consideration how that this Psalm is a "Prayer of Praise", we must not forget that this is all about praising God for what He has done, not forgetting our condition in the process! In other words, we are not glorified creatures yet; although the Father might see us as so, we are never to act as if we are, neither are we to assume that we have been; we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, the same redemption that everyone else on this planet was redeemed for. Yes, I said everyone! God loves all the people on this whole earth the same, and He sent His Son to die for each and every one of us. The only difference between me and the worst hardened criminal on this earth, is that I have believed in Jesus for my salvation from sin; that's all that separates me from the one's that have not received Jesus; it's not how much God loves me, because He loves us all the same! With that said; we must keep our focus on the One who has redeemed us; always remembering that we are flawed creatures who have been taken up by the love of God; that same love which has been made available to even those that might currently hate God; because in reality, before we were saved, we too were a people that hated God..."But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

"Needy Response" -2

"When Thou saidest, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." (Psalms 27:8)  After having understanding as to why our heart needs to independently seek God's face, we must then make that determined approach to do so. Yes, I am well aware of the fact that Jesus has taken down the barrier that stood in the way from us entering into the 'Holy Place', but our desire must still be to enter in. This is what God is calling us into; as a child in need of love and nourishment, we are to desire to be in the presence of God's holiness, because it is only there that we find the warmth and comfort we need for our souls. This too is something that we have because of our relationship with Jesus Christ, and it is only by our hearts being converted and our relationship restored with God by His Spirit dwelling inside of us, that we can even begin to see our need for to seek His face. It is when we draw into God's presence that our sinfulness and our darkness is revealed, and when we can begin to acknowledge our great need for God's mercy and grace. Those that do not want to draw into the presence of God, do not want to because they do not want their sins revealed; neither do they desire to come out of the darkness, because they desire the darkness more than they desire to be in God's presence. Therefore, it is a desire that is placed in us by the born again relationship that we have through Jesus Christ; Jesus has put that desire in us, and because it is in us, we must respond on a daily basis. It's not something that we can neglect or think that we can be without; our new life in Christ has needs to sustain it, just as our bodies have needs of food and water; and just because we have matured in the Lord, does not mean we can neglect to nourish our spiritual bodies, just as we cannot neglect to provide food and water to our physical bodies when we grow old. All these reasons for us to come into and to seek to remain in God's presence are things worthy of praising God for, because they are things which He desires for us and has made the way for us to desire them for ourselves! This is not only an invitation made by God for us to seek His face, but it is a commandment that we do so; in other words, He invites us to enter in, and then expects us to do so based upon our will to be there; and just in case we lack what it takes to do so, He has provided us the desire and the way...even us of old age... "Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the LORD our God." (Jeremiah 3:20-22)

"Needy Response"

"When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." (Psalms 27:8) I don't know about you, but my heart melts to this verse. There is just something about knowing how much God wants us to push towards Him; He has created us to not only need Him, but to have free will towards reaching Him. It might be hard to totally grasp what that means, and why it is that something we take for granted, like the ability to choose which direction we will go, can ultimately be the catalyst that propels us into His presence. Just in case you did not understand what I just said, let me break it down into something that can be more easily understood. God is so awesome, He knows exactly what He is doing, you must take the time to totally understand that! He has created us with this thing that is called 'free will'; and, although it was free will that caused man to fall, it is also free will that brings us back into God's presence! On a whole, the ultimate avenue for our turning is the 'free will choice' of Jesus Christ; having been sent by the Father, He still had to make that choice to lay down His own life for our sins: so technically you could say that it was the act of Jesus providing a way for us to completely approach God, that our free will choice to do so was made possible. But nevertheless, it is our choice to do so that is the catalyst to bring us into God's presence; and it is only by our free will that we can enter in; in other words, no one else can decide for us, it is only by our own heart believing and making that choice, that we can enter into the presence of God. What I see in this that God has done, is that He has made our relationship with Him a personal matter; it's something that must be sought by each and everyone of us individually and earnestly. Our relationship with God is not based upon who our parents were, or by any secondhand encounter with someone else that knows God; but it is solely based upon our own hearts responding to His voice, and then choosing to answer and to draw unto Him. In so doing this the way that He has designed it, we all are on the same level of relationship with the God that created us; meaning, that we do not need to have to go through various degrees of progression to enter into His presence; just One, the One who made the way for us to enter in...KING JESUS..."Have ye not known? have ye not heard? have it not been told they from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hosts by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgement is passed over from my God?" (Isaiah 40:21-27)

"Needy Persistence"

"Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy upon me, and answer me." (Psalms 27:7) This is the point of needing reassurance that God is listening, and that He will acknowledge our prayer of praise; not that we need to actually hear from Him, because that's not what David is talking about; it's more about our hearts being drawn towards God, and earnestly wanting to be in His presence. God does not need to answer us as someone speaking to us when we ask a question; He will answer us by allowing us to gaze upon His beauty and His holiness, which is more than words could ever describe or explain. This verse is all about us being persistent in coming into God's glorious presence; remembering that we are flawed creatures, it is our need to come to God as one that is in a position of humility and awe of His pure and total righteousness; which is something that we fall far short of being able to have, therefore we are dependent upon God's mercy to allow us into His presence. That's what the cross of Christ is all about: bringing us into a condition of holiness by the forgiveness of sin, so that we have that opportunity  to enter into God's presence by having first been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus washes us whiter than snow, making us objects of pure holiness in the sight of a Holy God; you can't get much cleaner than that! But it is our duty to persistently pursue His presence; as a child in need of being comforted by a parent, we are to be longing to be picked up and held by our Heavenly Father; that is our need, and it is how God responds! Take in what David is proclaiming here; as it is in the midst of praising God with all of His might, he now wants to be held by his Creator, the One that made him and gave him the ability to praise Him. We are born to need God... "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." (Isaiah 61:10 & 11)

"Tried and True, For Sure!"

"And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD." (Psalms 27:6) Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly like a bird? Not just any bird, but with the strength of an eagle? There is something that we must understand about David's perspective on God's deliverance: David had faith in God's ability to deliver, which meant that God delivered! Something as powerful as faith in a God that is able to supply all of your needs, is really all that you need; therefore, the only thing left to do, is to give Him praise! Not just your average shout out to the Lord kind of praise; but we are talking sacrifices of joy, which go beyond just speaking praise to the Lord, they are taken to the point of demonstration. We have no problem demonstrating our anger and frustration, as we throw our little tantrums when we do not get our way; so why not demonstrate our joy in the Lord as we consider all of His great things that He has done for us? You most likely have heard this before, but it's a reality that needs to be looked at; but why do we get so excited over our favorite sport, demonstrating how much we are behind them, and then when it comes to giving God praise, we are so timid and reserved? I have been to a few church services where people are fired up for Jesus, and there is almost a sense of electricity that is flowing throughout the building; you can feel God's Spirit filling the room, as everyone releases praise out to God by praising Him for what He has done through His Son Jesus Christ. I would like to call your attention to the wording of the verse above; because there is something being said which requires our attention. David does not say, "And now has my head been lifted up", he says, "And now shall my head be lifted up"; it's all about trusting God, and then praising Him based upon that trust. That's when we can sore like eagles, when we can begin trusting God so much that we cannot contain ourselves from giving Him praise for what we know He is going to do! That's the kind of praise which anticipates God's deliverance; therefore it is praise which demonstrates great joy and excitement; much like the excitement we can demonstrate as we witness our favorite team charging towards the goal in an indestructible manner, it's just something that can't be contained..."Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:28-31)

"Tried and True"

"For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me upon a rock." (Psalms 27:5) This is where the spiritual rubber meets the road, and where we truly come to understand what it means to lose the cares of this world; it's "in the time of trouble"! You can claim it, name it, or even try to proclaim it; but until you have been thrown into the eye of the hurricane, you do not know if you can maintain it! Not quite sure of what I am talking about? That's not all to surprising, considering the fallout ratio in our churches today! What that means, is the actual ratio of people who claim to stand upon the promises of God, and then as soon as trouble comes their way, they sling mud in the face of those that care about them; anything to make their troubles out to be the result of someone else, as to have an excuse why to be overwhelmed by something brought on by someone else. I am sorry to inform; but it really does not matter where our troubles come from; what matters is where we go to when they do come! God is more than able to protect us; more than that, He wants us to count on Him for His protection, and to make Him the one that we run to when we are afraid of shadows. That's really all we have to contend with here on this earth, is shadows; they really cannot destroy us, and neither can they have any affect on our spiritual lives; that is unless we let them, and there are plenty of people within our churches that do let them! Heck, I see people getting seriously bent out of shape, just because some one's shadow might have stolen a little bit of their sunlight; it might have only been for a brief moment, but does not matter to them, nor are they willing to forgive and look for peaceful solutions; and do you know why? It is because they are looking within them selves and not to the One who can submerge them in a Spirit of forgiveness! It really comes down to what we truly believe in our hearts, and if we are actually willing to act upon all that we truly believe; or are we going to react by wanting sympathy and revenge in our situation. It appears on the surface, that most are choosing the later for a solution; which is not a solution at all, but only something that will become a poison to their soul, and to their spiritual walk and testimony of the power of God's love and grace. What the heck am I getting at? Right? There are two things that need to matter more than any trouble that we find ourselves up against, or that might seem to be overwhelming us: it's that God's love and His grace is all that we need; those two things are the ticket to being someone that overcomes in times of trouble; and they are only going to be found by turning away from ourselves and surrendering unto God..."Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgement. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. The vile person shall be no more liberal, nor the curl said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry; and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand." (Isaiah 32:1-8)  

"Pick Your Poison"

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I might dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple." (Psalms 27:4) If nothing else, I am going to have this verse memorized; but my main point to make here today, is about what we pick for that which will be killing off what. The expression, "Pick Your Poison", is often referred to when using alcohol; as if to say, Pick the drink that kills you with the most pleasure. But it can mean many other things also, and it is basically saying that your faced with a decision between a few things that can ultimately kill you over using them in the long run. That said, I will remind those of us that are believers in Jesus, that we actually have two separate identities: the one which is of old and is to be counted dead in Christ, and the other which is alive unto God and has been raised up in Christ Jesus. To understand what I am trying to get at, we must consider what 'poison' does in most cases; in the context of biology, poisons are substances that cause disturbance to organisms, usually a chemical reaction to set off some type hindrance to how an organism is designed to work or function. In the verse above, the poison that we need to disturb our fleshly organism is to be in God's presence; not just coming into His presence, but actually absorbing that which will kill off the flesh over the long run. Two things that David mentions here are "to behold His beauty" and "to enquire in His temple"; each having two very distinctive poisoning affects on not only our flesh, but on how we as mortals react to the world around us. "The beauty of the LORD" is God's delightfulness, as in the pleasantness that is experienced by being in His presence, or the brightness of His glory; but it also refers to His amazing loving kindness and His grace; which are those things that continue to break our hearts over how much He loves us and how much He is willing to forgive us! The other poison listed is "to enquire in His temple", and is something that involves more than just popping in for a visit, but means to study or plow into, as if there is something significant to investigate; to inspect diligently the sanctuary of God! It requires that we take in all that He has in store for us, as well as all that He has to represent His power and glory; much of which are there to provide us the confidence in all of His promises to us; after all, how can you doubt the words of a God that is bigger than the universe? On the flip side of this, we have those poisons which hinder our spiritual life and our closeness with our Heavenly Father; those things being, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; all of which are poisons to our soul..."Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:2-7)

"Pick of Destiny" -2

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple." (Psalms 27:4) I know, you are wondering, What more is there to say about being determined to dwell in God's house; Right? Well, if you were indeed wondering that, I have something to speak to you about; and it might get a little hot in the kitchen, if you know what I mean. First I must try and explore what "the house of the LORD" entails, and what it means to want to dwell there. To the average believer, that might mean dwelling at church; as if anyone could hang out at church every day of their life and not become a fixture! The house of the LORD is the dwelling place of God; which is not made with brick or wood, but is made by the Spirit of God abiding there, whether that be a place, a person, or state of mind. In other words, you do not need to go anywhere to be dwelling in God's house, except to enter into His presence! Now that I have determined what it entails, now it's the wanting to dwell there time; because that is the key to what I believe David is getting at: time! If I could spend time anywhere, where would I want to spend it? David was a man of God, but he was also just a man, having passions that are no different than you or I; that was verified with his sin that he committed with Bathsheba; but this is a prayer of David's, that he might be in God's presence all the days of his life. Seeing how this was his prayer, and how this is a "Prayer of Praise", it would make perfect sense that the more we dwell in God's house, the more we have no fear of this world, or anything within it. This is something that comes with the territory, if you understand what I am saying. The more we dwell in the world, the more the world matters to us; that includes how the world affects our trust in God! The more we dwell in God's house, the more we understand how little this world has anything that can harm us or come against us; like, "If God be for us, then who can come against us!" (I really made a bad choice with this hotel; it stinks, it's noisy, and it has no Internet connection! I have had to restart this post at least 20 times, and I am really getting tired of typing the same thing over and over...) "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John 4:23)

"Pick of Destiny"

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." (Psalms 27:4) No pun intended here, but what we pick as our number one desire matters more than we might otherwise realize! As I have sang this verse many times over the years, it should have been one that I have become very familiar with, and I should have it's meaning firmly planted within my heart; but have I really made it my prayer? And when I mean prayer, I mean that which I earnestly pray for and seek after. As with anything that we strive for, or that we seek to accomplish in our lives, we do so with determination towards achieving the things that will bring us closer to that goal; and consequently, we also avoid doing the things which will hinder us from reaching the goal that is set before us. Just as a runner that is training for an upcoming race, will practice winning that race by continually trying to beat their own best time; each time they run, they put there mark ahead of that which they had accomplished before. They also know from experience, what it is that makes them sluggish and weak, so they avoid eating those foods or doing those things which will cause them to be off of their game. It's very much that same way with our desire to be close to God. We know those things which cause us to be ashamed and unwilling to seek His fellowship, so we should be avoiding them and practicing only those things that will bring us to our number one desire; if that truly is our number one desire, or is it something that we might think we want, but we continue stuffing our face with junk food and soda? If it were truly the prayer and the desire of our heart, then we would earnestly seek after those things that bring us closer and closer to dwelling in God's presence; and pushing away from and avoiding everything that does not bring us there! You know, the one thing that prevents a runner from not giving it his all, is that he does not truly believe that he can win the race; therefore, he does not push himself as if to win, but is content with just trying to finish..."Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

"None Whatsoever!"

"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." (Psalms 27:3) There is practically nothing that could be worse than what David is picturing here as a situation to be stuck in; I mean really, I you had a host of armies outside your home, with the sole intention to taking your life, what could be worse than that? A little dose of cancer, or maybe some financial devastation? No, I'm thinking, Give me the financial problems or the disease; at least then I could still have a fighting chance; but a host of lethal warriors banging down my door, that's not something that would give me much hope in making it to my next birthday. But here's the thing about God's protection, it's not dependent upon what chances we have; neither is our circumstance something that is beyond God's control or undoing; God can take my torn up, burned up corpse, and rise it up again, if that is what He so chooses to do; who am I to look for God's solutions to my problems? This flesh has nothing to brag about when it comes to fighting the Lord's battles; neither should we expect there to be any comfort from the world around us, as to be a hiding place from whatever should come against us; the battle belongs to the Lord, and it is the Lord that has the plan and the power to win it, not us or anything available for us to hide behind. Our greatest resource is the power of God, and the sooner we realize that, the sooner we will understand what it means to have no fear! Ya, but Rich, you don't understand my situation! What's worse that this? Really now; can you honestly say God can't fix your situation? because I know that He is able to fix anything! That's what gives me hope every day; that God is able to do anything, and all things are possible with God; no matter how impossible everyone thinks things might look, God's abilities are not based upon anything but what He chooses to do; period!!!! So, next time you feel overwhelmed by something and feel as if there is no hope, remember one simple fact about what God can do: "For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37) Spoken by none other than Gabriel the angel of the Lord, who should know what he is talking about...

"No Confidence in the Flesh"

"When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, the stumbled and fell." (Psalms 27:2) I hope your getting this, because there is nothing that can destroy us outside of our own flesh! And even then, it takes an act of flat out rebellion to be ripped from the hand of the Father!!! I once had a shirt that I kind of wore out, and it said in big bold letters, "PROPERTY OF JESUS". That is what we are when we give our hearts to the Lord; no more are we our own, nor do we belong any longer to this world; but we are the property of Jesus Christ, and what He is given by His Father, He does not let go of without a fight; and just in case there might be some problem with the grip of Jesus (that's not likely to happen), the Father's grip is right there also to reinforce the grip of the Son!!! (John 10:28-30) We really do not understand or know all that is going on around us; we might think that we do, but there are forces at work that we do not have the capacity to see, let alone understand what is going on. As with Paul's exhortation in 2 Corinthians 10, we do not war against flesh and blood, and because we do not, we must take our battles into the spiritual realm; that's where our battles are won, not by the way things appear to be happening, neither by the these resources that we have all around us; but by God doing a work to cause that which has come against us to fall away. Meanwhile, we are being brought to a greater elevation of trusting Him, as we marvel at how He continues to protect us and grow us up big and strong, spiritually; while the flesh becomes weaker and weaker as the days roll on. Obviously we are not indestructible; having been in church leadership for over the last fifteen years, in can attest to that fact; but if we remain seated in Christ, then there is nothing that can make us stumble or fall away from the grace of God; and even if we happen to leap out of His hand, if we were indeed His property, the Father will catch us... "I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep through Thine Own Name those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as We are." (John 17:9-11)

"Confidence In Jesus"

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalms 27:1) Sooner or later I will move past verse one, but not today! Seeing how this is titled "A Prayer of Praise", I am reminded how important it is to praise God in all things; not just in the good things that might happen to us, but to those things which are considerably bad, we must still praise Him in the midst of every storm, no matter how reluctant we might feel about doing so. I have heard several prominent men of God make references to the fact that they yell at God; as if to make light of the fact that they will sometimes be mad at God for letting something happen, or for not answering when they have called; I do not feel comfortable with the notion of being angry at God; actually, I never want to be found being angry at God, because there is no point to be mad of my confidence in God's love for me and how all things work for the good, if I am angry over something that has happened or not happened the way I had hoped. I might have a thing or two to be angry about, but I believe that God has a reason and a plan in everything that His children are allowed to go through, no matter how crazy and totally ungodly that ordeal might seem, God's children are promised to be brought through to the other side, and in that we should be confident through any storm that we face. How does being angry at God display our confidence in His protection? It really does not! As a matter of fact, it displays our mistrust in what He is allowing us to go through; as if we are the ones that know what is best for our lives, and therefore we are going to tell God off for not doing it our way. Job's wife had put that charge in front of him, by saying, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." (Job 2:9) Job's reply to his wife was one of confidence in God's ultimate end game, and that we are to expect good and bad things to happen in our lives; after all, God brings rain and sunshine to both the good and the bad people, so how are we to rate any higher than others? Job 1:22 says, "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." After having lost all his livestock, his servants, and his children, Job's answer to God was to worship Him, and to give Him praise, saying, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21) If you ever want a really good example of how something that seems totally crazy and ungodly can be God's actual plan the He intended to go the way that it did, then we have the greatest example of all in the death of His Son! You know that all those who watched Him be crucified had that big question exploding in their hearts: Why God; why are you letting this happen? Could it be that God knows what He is doing??? "Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not." (Job 42:1-3)

"Three Avengers"

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalms 27:1) As with our battle in overcoming those three elements of our sinful nature, the Lord has provided us with three avenging principles of that which He gives us to be over comers. The first of which is His light, that for which we need to blind out the lust of the eyes; making us aware of those times when we are looking upon something as something that is pleasing to the eyes, His light burns brighter than that which our eyes might lust after. The second of which is the salvation that the Lord has provided, by His death and resurrection, having given us the power and the ability to put our flesh in the category of dead, and being raised in His resurrection, we are no longer under the power of the lust of the flesh; but are to consider our flesh to have been crucified with Christ, that we no longer live for the flesh, but we are now alive unto God. And thirdly, it is by His strength that we shall overcome the pride of life; His strength being that which makes me secure and confident, nothing of myself, for I am nothing without Jesus. It is the Lord for Who I live for, not looking to build up myself, but that He should be elevated; and as soon as I forget that, I will be soon reminded by the awareness of my weakness. Having these three things, there is really nothing that can come against us, even that which comes from within us; because Jesus has given us all that we need to avenge that which causes us to sin; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life... "And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (Genesis 3:6)  

"Borrowed Light"

"A Prayer of Praise" [A Psalm of David] "The LORD is my light and my salvation: whom should I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom should I be afraid?" (Psalms 27:1) Wasting no time on small talk, I thought we needed to jump right into this next Psalm; primarily because it flows nicely from the previous Psalm, and continues the thought of our need for more of Jesus: the more of Jesus I have in me, the more I shine for Him!!! Just in case you were not aware of this fact, the light that we have in our lives is not our Light, but it belongs to Jesus. When you look think about a light that is borrowed, it is much like the light of the moon in the night sky: borrowing it's light from the sun, it is allowed to shine with the reflection of the sun's light. That is pretty much how we shine with the Light of Jesus; for we are borrowing the light we shine with from the Son of God. There is one slight difference between this situation of borrowing the Lord's Light and that of borrowing as to pay back with the same or equivalent value, which is sometimes how it works when you borrow something from a friend; the Lord requires that we shine brightly, and that we do not bury our light that we have been given. In answer to David's question, we do have someone to fear, and that someone is the Owner of the Light that we have been given!!! Not to be feared as a tyrant or a harsh taskmaster, but as the One who holds us accountable for His Light which is meant to shine brightly in us, and is meant to produce other sources of borrowed light. In other words; we have a Light that is given to us, that is meant to be multiplied! If the Light we have been given is not spreading unto others, then it is because we are covering His Light for shining as it should. What is it that gets in the way of the moon shining brightly? It's the world!!! "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2:15-17)

"Needing God More"

"My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD." (Psalms 26:12) Prior to getting the feeling of completeness, there must first be something commonly referred to as "becoming undone"; it's taken quite a process to get to where you have gotten, and trying to get that mess unwoven is nothing we can do, nor should we even attempt to; however, there are plenty of philosophical thinkers out there that think otherwise. It's like, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"; it was the chicken stupid!!! (Genesis 1:20-22) We were all born in sin, and we were born with a sinful nature; whether we might have been treated bad, or had been raised poorly is irrelevant to the problem of sin being in our lives; it's there because we born into and live in a fallen world. (Genesis 3:22-24) What we need to do, is to come "just as we are" to the Lord, and then let Him make us whole: He alone is the solution to the mess in our lives; and it is He alone that is able undo all that we have done! Why then, after being made whole by Jesus, would we need to try and discover the source of our misadventure? The source is sin; something that Jesus came and died for, and something that He has taken care of; trying to blame our condition upon somebody else, has no real good result, other than giving us an excuse for the way we have become; which is actually the opposite of the way we are to be fixed! Once we understand this, and we make it the rule of our hearts, we can come to the place that I believe David is speaking of; it's a place where you know what you are, what it takes to make you complete, and what it takes to remain there..."Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart." (Proverbs 3:3) "Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation." (Psalms 111:1) "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:1-3) "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8)

"Needing God"

"But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me." (Psalms 26:11) One of the reasons that the sheep hear the Shepherds voice, is because they understand how much they need Him for the life they seek after; not just eternal life, although that is the most important; but for this life also, and for walking in our "integrity". The point is one of have completeness or fullness, which is only possible when we are abiding in Jesus Christ! Before coming to the Lord, there is a huge void in us that nothing on this earth can fill; we might try everything possible to fill it, but until we are born again, we are not going to even know what being filled feels like, or even what it is we need to be filled with. Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus, tried to make this point to him, and who a man must be born again before he can see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). It's not just that a person cannot see, as with the eyes, but rather, you will not experience the kingdom of God and all that it brings into your life: love, hope, peace, joy, and most importantly, the Holy Spirit! We are made complete in Jesus, and if for some reason we do not feel complete, then guess what we need: More of Jesus!!! More of what Jesus offers, which is redemption from sin; sin that still might be taking hold of part of our lives, preventing us from the fullness that is available to us, if only we would surrender our lives completely! In John 10:29, which was the closing of yesterday, Jesus says, "My Father, which gave them me", something that takes us back to John 3:16, in which Jesus is telling Nicodemus how God loves us so much, that He gave us His Son, so that we might have everlasting life; however, that life is dependent upon us believing on the Son. The principle of our redemption being something that we must need, is very much like Jesus said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." The children of Israel were being punished by God for their rebellion, and were being stricken by snakes and many people were dead and dying. Then the people came to Moses and confessed their sins, asking that Moses would pray that God would take those serpents from them. Yet, God did more than take the serpents from them, because He had Moses place a brass serpent upon a pole, and who ever had been bitten, even though they were dying, they only needed to look upon the serpent lifted up, and they would live.  (Numbers 21:4-9) They had to see their need to look upon that serpent; just as we must see our need to look upon Jesus!!! Look upon Jesus, live; don't look upon Jesus, your dead already..."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." (John 3:18)

"Humility Goes a Very Long Way!"

"In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes." (Psalms 26:10) When faced with a choice of two very different life styles, one must realize the motivation of our hearts when we have chosen the one that brings fame or fortune; it's really based upon our hearts greatest desire, which is to worshiped and admired. Solomon, when asked of God what his greatest desire was for leading the children of Israel, said, "That he would have wisdom"; and God honored his request by making him a very wise man; but then God also blessed him with riches beyond imagination, and great fame throughout the entire world; much of which Solomon regretted, but that's another story. My point to this thing that is referred to as "humility", is based upon the notion of who we are, what we have become, and more importantly, where we are headed. Not all things are black and white, and we sometimes must make choices that involve the grey areas; it's not all one way or the other, but it is entirely based upon the motivations of our hearts; where is your heart headed? To put this weird conversation in a different perspective, I would like to examine who Jesus hung around with during His three and a-half years of ministry; it was not the religious leaders, but rather those that were looked down upon by the so called men of God who ran the temple. Those that Jesus hung around with, were those that He would be dying for; not that He also did not die for those that would not accept Him, because He died for the entire world; but it was those He hung out with which were the ones that would be more willing to see their need for His atonement; while those who counted upon their own righteous deeds would not be so willing to see that need, even though it was there right before their eyes. Jesus said, in John 10:1, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber". Jesus is that Door; the only Door that gets us into heaven; and any man or woman that does not humble themselves to the fact that they need Jesus to save them, has their hands filled with mischief; and their right hand, which is that which they take oaths by, and swear by. and make covenants with, is full of bribes; which are things they do or give to try and cover up their own sins and trespasses. The same principle can be used for any numbers of situations; whether that might be how we plan our lives, how we live our lives, or how we fix our lives; we must fix our eyes on Jesus as the One who we will follow, abide in, or run to in times of trouble... "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)

"Humility Goes a Long Way"

"Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:" (Psalms 26:9) Not so long ago, people were delighted by tangible pleasures, such as sports, family outings, walks in the park or along the beach; things that involved spending time together by actively sharing in the same moment of time together; even a lovely night out to dinner could have been enough to spark the fire of fellowship together. Today's world is greatly different, with each person sitting in their different world; some on Facebook, some checking messages; some don't even know what they are doing, all they know is that which fills there idle time, which means for some, any time of the day. What's up with this conversation? Well, just in case you were wondering, I have been praying for a way to explain what it means to be intimate with God; to be still before Him and to take the time out of our busy life to actually hear what He has to say. This intimacy with God requires devotion to your conversation with Him, and requires focusing on Him, and not on what you must be doing as soon as your done praying. Call it being in the moment, if you will; as with this modern society, which more and more is being filled with people isolating themselves into their own little bubbles; to enjoy the company of those that we are with requires our devotion to their presence; which really involves paying attention to them; the way that they react, the way that they express themselves, or just the all-round goodness of their company! I think it's time for me to buy a watch! Strange as that might sound, I will no longer be part of isolation epidemic; and the easiest way that I see to help me do that, is to wear a watch; something I haven't needed in years, since I always have my cellphone on me. That way I can leave my cellphone in the car when I am spending time with someone, and not be tempted to look at the screen, or distracted by anything but what we can share in together. Now you might be wondering what if anything this has to do with this verse today; and if you are, it's okay, because I was beginning to wonder myself! Actually, I was not; but I was hoping it all would make sense; because it's about doing what we need to do to ensure that we do our part! Whether that be our part in having the right kind of fellowship together, or by making sure all our focus is upon God when it's time to pray; we are the one's who are responsible for our actions, and we must assure that we do all that is possible to make it happen. As with the message David is putting forth, it's really quite simple: if you do not want to be gathered with sinners, then don't hang out with sinners; don't be like a sinner, and you won't have that identification as one of them! There are only to gatherings of souls which will exist: the gathering of saints, and the gathering of sinners; purpose in your heart to be in the right gathering..."But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank:" (Daniel 1:8) "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)

"Good Means You Love God" -2

"LORD, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth." (Psalms 26:8) As I was praying about this passage of Scripture, I was taken to the mat on something that goes way beyond just loving God back; if we are really thankful for all that He has done in our lives, and for how much He does love us, then we do not have to try so hard to love Him back, it's something that should come to us naturally after having received such a power love into our hearts and minds. However; God gave me such a simple vision of the weakness we tend to have in love, especially us men, as we pour out our hearts to gain the heart of a woman, and then once she is ours for good, we become selfish and neglect to express love in a way that keeps her amazed. God never stops loving us; neither does He stop showering us with His great mercy and grace; rather, it is we that fail to express love back to Him, and in so doing, we neglect to feel the great love between us and Him. Okay, I might need to explain that a little further. It's kind of like a husband or a wife, who after many years of being married, wakes up one morning and says, I just don't feel that love in our marriage anymore! Do thing not feel that love because their spouse quit loving them, or might it be because they have fallen out of love? Maybe both are true in many situations; however, that is not the way God would have us react to love. Love is not a feeling, or an emotion; love is a commitment to another, by which you are to love regardless have how you might feel, or even if you feel loved back. I can tell you from experience, love requires sacrifice of self; which means, that you put aside your selfish need for feeling the comforts of being loved, and do all that you can to express love; thereby, providing love!!! Yes, it is a lot like running water; you can be loved on like it's no body's business, but until you begin expressing love yourself, you are not really going to feel the affects of love. You say that you don't feel love in your marriage; then love your spouse like never before! You say that you want to feel love; then start loving with all of your heart! As for God's love, and how we can trust that He loves us; His holiness and righteousness speaks to the magnitude of His love, because there is no darkness that dwells in God, only Light and Righteous Love... "Lord, help me to express my love for you in the actions of my life. Help me Lord, to love you with all of my might, that I can feel what it means to know love, and how your love works through me and in me. In your wonderful name, Lord Jesus. Amen"

"Good Means You Love God"

"LORD, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth." (Psalms 26:8) No place is as good as being in the presence of God! There is absolutely nothing that compares to what comes over me as I fellowship with the Lord in early mornings, and as I worship His name and His awesome works that He has done. It's because I love to be in fellowship with Him that I am forced to get up each morning and seek His face; whether I feel like it or not, I must not forsake having fellowship with the One who loves me more than I can ever realize! That might sound a little foolish to some; like, why would I be forced to get up? isn't it something that you do willfully? Yes, most mornings are filled with great expectation of what the Lord will speak to me about; and some are even so expectant, that I can hardly wait until it's time for fellowship; but there are those mornings when I feel tired, and I want to stay in bed. Those kind of mornings I must force myself to get up; not because I must overcome being lazy, but because I must not forsake the time that I set aside for meeting with the Lord. I have done that several times before, and it is not something that I want to do again. That's one thing good about having a very early morning prayer time: there's really not much else you could be doing at 4:00 in the morning; besides sleeping, or meeting with the Lord. Therefore, I have only two choices of things to do at the particular time when I am to be meeting with the Lord each morning; I either stay sleeping, or I get up and seek His face; every once in awhile I find myself having done the first one, but it is usually because of pure fatigue, and not because of being lazy. The point I am trying to make, is one about a desire to be in God's presence; whether we might feel like it or not, if we know how much we need to be there, then we have got to make a choice not to forsake meeting with Him on a regular basis; which means daily! I know that some of you are puzzled by why someone that would love to be somewhere so much, could ever think about forsaking being there, but it's not something that you just get up one morning and choose to do; it's more something that you ease your way into, where you might start with fifteen minutes, and then thirty, and then forty five; until the hour you have set aside for prayer has become five minutes, and you barely have a chance to ask forgiveness for any dreams that you may have had that night. I am sorry if you don't understand what I am getting at; but if there is one thing I have learned over the past thirty plus years, it's that prayer must be more than a little five minute acknowledgement of God; it must consist of asking for His forgiveness, praising His majesty, praying for others, and sometimes just sitting there being still before Him, to let Him turn you inside out! Just try it if you doubt what I am saying! Force yourself to pray for one hour each morning, and make sure that you make it a full hour; not because it will not count as much if you don't, but because you will appreciate it more if you do..."And He cometh unto His disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matthew 26:40)