"Bought With A Price"

"Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of Truth." (Psalms 31:5) If you remember how the story ended, Judas threw the money back; but then again, he never really understood the value of certain things, especially the value of the cross! There is a certain power that comes through the redemption that God has poured out; one that has another kind of a searing, whereas, we are sealed with His Spirit; a special people, who are sealed until that great day, zealous of good works and living in holiness, by committing ourselves unto God while waiting for the completion of our redemption. This very special kind of person is one that has been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, and can only be realized by accepting what the complete value of that purchase was; in other words, you understand from what you have been redeemed, which is from the bondage of the law and it's curse, the power of sin, and the grave; all troubles, iniquity, evil, enemies, death, and destruction; and something else, than always seems to get in our way: we have been saved from ourselves!!! Oh, yes indeed! Because of our redemption, we have justification, we have forgiveness, we have adoption, and we have purification; none of which we can provide for ourselves, and all of which we desperately were in need of to become a child of God; and as His children, we have become His special property, by which He protects us, and He cares for us, because we are the apple of His eye! The greatest price of all was given for our redemption, and we should never ever discard the value of what has been given that we might be saved! If Judas had only realized the real price that had been paid, thirty pieces of silver was nothing in comparison to that price; neither could thirty pieces of silver have purchased anything close to one ounce of what was required to know forgiveness... "And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD." (Zechariah 11:11-13)

"Incidentally" -part 3

"Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for Thou art my strength." (Psalms 31:4) Another thing that is interesting about this word 'taman', and something that really put the brakes to someone thinking they are in control of their own destiny, are the things hidden within the Lexicon regarding this word, and what is implied about Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus. The plot that Judas had in his heart to betray Jesus was laid way before he set out to go through with it; as a matter of fact, his original plan to betray Jesus did not involve a reward of money; because in Mark's account he is unintended to receive any money; yet in Matthews account, his question is one of enticement, as he says, "What will you give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?"; as if his part of the bargain is really important compared to any sort of money or reward, and the reward part of it was just a bonus for what he was going to do anyways. My point being, is that Judas even considering to betray Jesus was enough to put the wheels in motion, and it had become a plan that he was no longer in control of, nor could he stop it if he wanted to! Money was no longer an issue, nor was it a motivation for his intended betrayal; the betrayal itself was what motivated Judas, for he had now moved over to the side of darkness; which we can see in John's version, as Judas received the sop from the hand of Jesus, that Satan enter into Judas, and then Jesus said, "That thou doest, do quickly". (John 13:27) What are we talking about again? It is about "Commitment to God", which flew right out the window for Judas as soon as he began thinking about how he might betray Jesus; letting those thoughts enter into his heart is all that it took to destroy his commitment to follow Jesus as his master, and changed it instead to a plot of betrayal, and how he might benefit from it in the process. This is how it works with regards to the Internet, and once you let into your mind those images and filthiness, there is a searing that takes place in your mind; and if you understand how searing a steak works, it is to hold in the juices while the steak is being cooked: now you figure out how that might work!!! BUT GOD!!! He alone is more than able to erase those images, and to remove the endorphins that they have created; which is something that we cannot do on our own; just as we cannot remove sin from our own lives, it is only possible through God. Which brings me to David's invitation following his demise, which is, "for Thou art my strength"; placed interestingly after the colon, it offers as a gate, a way to enter into 'the defense of the upright'; upright meaning a man or woman who is innocent before God, because they have ask for forgiveness... "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:5-9)

"Incidentally" -part 2

"Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for Thou art my strength." (Psalms 31:4) So, I was wondering if anyone out there looked up "laid privily" to try and figure out what I was going to be talking about; and if so, did you come to the same conclusion? We actually danced around this topic last night at our monthly Men's Meeting; interesting enough, there was a cord struck in the direction of our willingness to get enticed into being part of something, just to satisfy our own lust; even if that enticement could result in some serious damage to our life, ministry, and even our families. To put this into a shortened version of what I might be trying to capture from these 'swirling Eddie's', I would like to use the example of David; who, had it not been for his sin with Bathsheba, could have avoided many tragic problems within his kingdom, family, and a small part of his relationship with God. The biggest problem with what David did was his desire to keep that sin a secret; because in doing so, he plotted within his heart to kill an innocent and faithful man; a man, who in his own rights, was more loyal to the king than he was to his own pleasure or even to the needs of his wife; which may have been the reason Bathsheba was so inviting to king David. If you can try and picture what imploding darkness might look like, and then picture that as the rabbit hole David was allowing himself to enter into; all because he was so concerned with his own reputation! The word that "laid privily" comes from is a single word which is 'taman', and that primarily means to hide, conceal, or to bury; but it also has within it's definition a little bit of darkness; darkness that is beyond our ability to control, and that really only can be controlled when it is exposed to Light! The devil is not called "the prince of darkness" for nothing, because that is his primary dwelling place, and where ever darkness exist, he is not only lurking there, but is the ruler of it! A good rule of thumb for any Christian, is to avoid the darkness, because darkness is not your friend!!! Which means, if you are holding onto sin that you have not confessed, it must be brought to the Light, so that it can be dissolved, otherwise the darkness looms; and when darkness looms, then it consumes the light that is within us, one beam of light at a time...(to be continued some more)... "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:12-15)

"Incidentally"

"Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for Thou art my strength." (Psalms 31:4) So, is there something there, or are we really not all that subject to the powers of darkness? I tend to walk cautiously when it comes to giving too much credit to the devil; however, he is certainly out there, and he is defiantly busy trying to take as many of us to hell with him as he can! Oddly enough, we have this device today which just so happens to be called 'the net', or technically the Internet; other wise known as the World Wide Web, where billions of men and women all over the planet can experience tons of information with just a click of a button; unfortunately, sometimes too much information is not always good for man's soul, as was the case in the garden of Eden with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The word for "net" is 'resheth', and it has two very different meanings that come under the same word represented, which is "net"; on the one hand you have a net which is for trapping, such as for catching, leaders leading people to sin, judgement, and anything else that is a trap for man; while on the other hand we have something referenced as 'network', which just so happens to indicate brazen, for altar of tabernacle (Exodus 27:4). Now I might be stretching this net a little far, but don't you find it rather interesting that one of the biggest problems that God's children are being led astray by is this thing we call the Internet? Basically, this 'network' spoken of in Exodus 27, was a skirt made of woven brass that went around the bottom of the Altar of Burnt Offerings. Talk about idol worship: we are living in an age where a virtual temple has been created, and where millions of God's people offer a virtual sacrifice at the "network" that the devil has dominion over! I am not saying that all the Internet is of the devil, because clearly, there are many benefits to having it as part of our daily lives; but what I am saying, is that just as the devil has dominion over this fallen world, he too has dominion over the Internet; and just as everything in this world is not of the devil, so too, neither is everything on the Internet. However; if you are one of millions of our brothers, and some sisters too, who are offering sacrifice at the altar of 'Satan's Network', then there is only one way that you can get out of that "net" you are trapped in, and that is to have God pull you out!!! You will not get out on your own; God needs to pull you out of that net, because the net was "laid privily"...(to be continued)... "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speaketh to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul." (Ezekiel 3:17-19)

"Sticktoitiveness" -2

"For Thou art my Rock and my Fortress; therefore for Thy name's sake lead me, and guide me." (Psalms 31:3) The strange thing about Nineveh, and something that gives it such an interesting place in the story of God's redemption, is that they were a people that once turned to God, but their turning did not stick, and neither did they or their land stick around; that is what pride will do, if you let it run your life! For those of us that know what to do, and do it not, to us it is sin; Nineveh was comprised of a people that knew not what was right or wrong, yet God had pity upon them. (Jonah 4:11) Prior to my accepting Jesus into my heart, I did know what were God's Commandments, as I had studied them and read them many times during my life; but it never really dawned on me that they were anymore than guidelines, or God's preference for us to abide by; because I knew they could not be anything that we could not break, and if they were, I was toast from the age of four! Understanding the meaning of "Rock" and "Fortress" in the context of what David is putting forth, it is more than just a hiding place or a place to take refuge; it is different from the "rock" of the previous verse, in that it speaks of something of a stronghold, which is more than just a hiding place, it is a place that has a foundation; meaning that it has a base that cannot be moved. The "Fortress" speaks of a mountain castle or the top of a mountain; the peak of something enormous that can never be moved! Now consider what this means in relation to the God that knows you better than you know yourself: the God who loves you so much, that He gave of Himself because He knew that you were toast if He had done nothing to save you: and the God who has a plan for your life; a great plan, that surpasses all of your expectations or anything that you could possibly imagine. Those are God's name's sake; that is His reputation of how He is, and what He did, and what He does in the life of those that call upon His name. Having considered all of that, what more is there that we could ask for, then that God were to lead and guide our misguided lives... "For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God." (Ezekiel 34:11-15)

"Sticktoitiveness"

"For Thou art my Rock and my Fortress; therefore for Thy name's sake lead me, and guide me." (Psalms 31:3) "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't!" That's the catchy little tune I had within my head this morning as I was rolling out of bed; wondering, What the heck is this all about!!! We must come to the simple conclusion that we cannot trust our own best judgement, because our Father knows best! Plain and simple as that might sound, it's the truth that must be told; and more than just told, it must be lived out in our lives as the truth that we believe in for our own life; meaning that we live it, not just say that we believe it to be so! Remember what this Psalm is talking about, which is 'Commitment to God'; whereas, we need to have a bearing as to which way is up, and then we must continue to push in that direction; remembering all along, that it is His hand that is guiding us, and sometimes there are some bumps along the way. It's not rocket science, but it is logical, and something that we must put into practice as the way our life is to be governed; after all, that is why God is God; and beyond the fact that He is God, He is a God that knows what we are, and what we are capable of doing, both the good and the bad! He will never allow us to be tempted beyond that which we can endure; however, when we take our eyes off of Him, our temptations can become overwhelming, and our trials can seem unbearable; which is why we must always know which way is up, and where we are to be looking! (I know I am using a lot of exclamation points today, but that's because I have a lot of exclaiming to do!) The general point that I am trying to make, is the fact that we are not able to be trusted to make the right choices for the direction of our own lives, because we are so unstable and so easily led astray. A perfect picture of what that might look like, is that of building sand castles on the beach; as you are constantly having to rebuild and reshape your castle, only to have the waves come and tear it down again; so we allow God to build it for us, because it is only what He builds for us that will stand... "He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved." (Nahum 2:5 & 6)

"Preparativeness" -2

"Bow down Thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be Thou my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me." (Psalms 31:2) For those of you that did not understand what yesterday was all about, it was basically just something to make you think about what it might look like to walk in trust; because that kind of a life is rare, even among those that are called "Friend of God". In other words; even those that are known for their ability to walk by faith, have times when trust in God is forgotten about, and they place their fate in the hands of others. If you doubt me, then read what Abraham did to Abimelech in Genesis 20; for he feared what man  might do to him, even after God had told him all that He was going to do through him. Preparativeness might seem like a strange word, if it is even a word at all; but the general idea goes far beyond the idea of being prepared, or even preparative, which is something that prepares the way for something else; but it goes more to the ability to be prepared, as in to 'make ready' our hearts and our minds to accept trust in God as a way to live out our lives. It's more about attitude than it is about action; although actions count, they don't count as much when they are wrong, because the attitude of our heart is headed in the right direction. As with this verse, Psalms 31:2; which has several variables hidden within it, that are easily overlooked; the first of which is the part that says, "deliver me speedily", because part of our problem in trusting in God, is that we always want it now, and when it does not happen our way, then we always seem to wonder if God is even listening to our prayers for help. However; an interesting thing is presented; one which is alluded to by the colon that separates the two lines of thinking, whereas it is inviting us, as if a gate, to journey forward and discover what we need to truly be prepared to trust in God! It is about a dwelling place; where our hearts desire to live, and how we really have no desire to be anywhere else but in our Father's arms of protection. When we step outside of that dwelling place, we do so with a rebellious heart that is seeking it's own; which is the sin that James is talking about in James 4:17; whereas, we know in our hearts that God is the one in control of our life, yet we venture forward with our own plans regardless, thinking instead that God will adhere to our plan, by making it His; which is tantamount to "rejoicing in our boastings", and all such rejoicing is sin... "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." (Isaiah 53:5-7)

"Preparativeness"

"Bow down Thine ear to me; deliver me speedily; be Thou my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me." (Psalms 31:2) Before I get to far into this, I need to express what I feel God is speaking into my heart about this Psalm, and why I called it a roller coaster ride; because life just does not always go the way you plan it, or think things should be, and you need something that has stability in order to hold it together! Part of the idea involved with putting all of your trust in God, is that you do not know what will happen next; and you might plan for things to take place in your life, but you do so with reservations as to what God might have in mind, with a wait and see attitude, and not setting everything in stone. Goals are nice things to get you motivated and involved in the process of achievement, but they can also get in the way of what God wants to do in our lives, because goals have a certain pattern of planning ahead; something that should be foreign to the normal Christian way of living, and that goes against trusting in God to guide and direct our life. Don't get me wrong, I love to set goals, and continue to plan things which are based upon things that I want to achieve in my life; but I have learned not to put so much stock into my plans, because doing so only leads to great disappointment. Having said that, I also believe that God wants us to be the very best that we can be in any thing which we endeavor to achieve; whether that be parenting, a businessman, or anything else that we feel called into; including things that we find ourselves doing that were not even planned for, we should always try and do our very best at whatever it is that we do; always doing everything as unto to the Lord, and with an attitude of working for Jesus. I remember as a your child, I loved a certain cartoon that always came on about noon time; although I can't remember what it was called, but it involved a tortoise who always wanted to try something new, and a lizard of a wizard who was always happy to oblige him in doing so. It never failed, that no sooner had to tortoise transformed into his new line of work, that he would find himself at odds with his new profession, and would end up crying out, "Help Mister Wizard!" And I can't remember exactly how it went, but the wizard would wave his wand and say something like, "Tizzel, Tazzal, Tizzel. Tome; Time For This One To Come Home". Not that that has anything to do with anything... "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:13-17)

"Commitment To God" -2

[[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]] "In Thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in Thy righteousness." (Psalms 31:1) I bet you didn't see that coming, did you? Bing! You guessed it; the title above Psalms 31 in my Bible is, "Commitment To God"; and in case you were wondering why I have ran these two Psalms together, it is because I believe that they are meant to be associated with one another. Basically, the general idea that we are forever thankful for what God has done to not only provide the forgiveness of sin, but to make us into sons of God, is closely aliened with something that many refer to as commitment; which means more than just sticking with God, as if you are walking off in the distance like the disciples did to Jesus the night He was arrested. To put this in a little better perspective, there are three basic parts to this verse, which start out a roller coaster ride type of a Psalm, that goes through several peaks and valleys of what would be considered as the normal Christian experience; and in these three basic parts are the three basic rules of commitment unto God. I say rules, because just a gravity is called a rule, so also are these three basic rules like gravity in our relationship with God. First rule of thought is that of "trust"; whereas, we must put all of our trust in God, and believe with all of our hearts that He not only knows what He is doing, but that He is doing in our lives what He has intended for us to experience. This might not seem like that important of a rule to some, but of the three basic rules, it is the one that most likely will cause most people to turn and walk away from God! There are two parts to this first rule (actually, there are many parts, but two general ones), and they involve what we think of God in any given situation, and then, what we think of the situation with relation to God's authority over our lives; authority meaning the right to control and the power to determine what is best for our overall good welfare. The second rule is one that causes many people to stumble, because it has actions involved with it that are based upon our ability to respond correctly to any given situation; just as you might respond well to a jester about your spouse, as you respond in the moment, and while standing next to them. It is about our spontaneous reaction, which is evidence of our commitment to not only trust God in every situation, but to also defend God's honor and name, because there is no wavering in our belief of His great power and authority over our lives. And then we have the third basic rule; the one on which all other rules and standards are held together in, and that gives power to the rules, as gravity holds things down upon this earth. God is committed to us!!! Oh, yes; He is not only in control of our lives, but He is our righteousness, even when we fail: it is He alone that is worthy to be called righteous, we just get to ride upon His shirttail... "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by Whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:1-6)

"Commitment To God"

"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; to the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever." (Psalms 30:11 & 12) For me to put into simplistic words that which is beyond our ability to fully comprehend is far beyond my capacity or knowledge; but I pray God can assist in the interpretation of what is communicated in this posting; because my words are really not what is important, and I could type just a single word, and God could, by His Spirit, speak a thousand! There really is no need at all for great debate over whether works are important to the proof of our salvation, because works are just a byproduct of our commitment to God, and the fact that there is nowhere else we would rather be, than as close to God as humanly possible; however, if God has taken up residence within our hearts, then works will be self evident that His Spirit dwells inside of us, because the fruit of the Spirit is displayed in action!!! If you don't believe me, then think about what fruit represents, besides just something that is born out of something else; because fruit is also something to be looked upon, which means that it has the ability to display joy, peace, or love; something that others can see within our lives, and feel drawn to desire it for themselves, just as Eve desired the forbidden fruit in the Garden, but without it involving sin. Commitment to God is just like commitment in marriage, whereas you have taken a vow, and you have entered into a covenant that is for ever based upon the commitment that God has made to you! In a traditional marriage, it is the groom who initially gives his vows first to the bride, and then she responds to his promise with those of her own; so too, is our response to the Father's love, whereas, He has demonstrated His love to us by committing His Son to die on our behalf, thereby giving forth His vow first, and in the most powerful way that He could. Now it is the brides response, and what would she say to that??? "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." (Romans 8:12-17)

"Taking It To The Bank" -2

"To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever." (Psalms 30:12) Now just in case you thought that I was getting back into some kind of a 'works' based frame of mind, it's not about works, it's about giving thanks to God for the wonderful gift of salvation that He has so lovingly given us; something that is not based upon our works, but rather, it does in us a powerful transforming of our lives, that just so happens will produce 'works' in our life; which is the general purpose for the title that I have chosen for this verse; because in order to actually have anything of substance to bring to the bank, it must be something that the bank will accept as money, or worth. Okay, let's forget about doing anything substantive for anyone else, and let's concentrate on the change that is made inside of our hearts. It is critical to be honest with ourselves when we view the 'works' that are evident within our own hearts, because ultimately, that is the real proof of the changed heart; and if our heart has not truly been changed, then our faith is in vain, and is not worthy of anything of value, and not something that we can take to the bank! Don't understand what I said? Well, it has more to do with substance than it does with works! Works are the result of a substantiate change that has happened inside of us; just as the word "glory" that David is speaking of is the substance that creates a song in his heart; it's a spontaneous reaction to that which has happened inside of his heart: his mourning has been changed to dancing, and his sackcloth has been changed into gladness; which is the Lord's doing by the eternal gift of His salvation, and which has more value than anything else; as long as it is real!!! How do you know if it is real? Well, that is between you and God, and if it does not feel real to you, then that is something you need to take up with God, because only God can change your heart. But, if you know in your heart that it is real, then that is something you can count on 'taking it to the bank'... "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the alter? Seest thou how faith wrought his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the Scripture fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." (James 2:17-23)

"Taking It To The Bank"

"To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever." (Psalms 30:12) Having spent the majority of the last thirty-plus years doing that which pleases me instead of doing that which is pleasing to the Lord, I can tell you from experience, that there is a right way to live as a Christian, and then, there is the wrong way! Some people will try to convince you that your okay, and that your journey brought you here, so you should consider it all part of God's plan; to which, I am willing to want that to be the truth, but then when I think back to all that could have been, and all that should not have been, it is something that I really do not like to think about. Regardless of what you might think about how our actions, or lack of action, play out in the whole picture of grace, there are going to be results involved; which mean, lives will be affected in one way or another. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, and I need to slow down just a tad. There is one word I wish to look at in this verse today, and it is the word "silent", as in, "and not be silent"; because it is a word that requires inaction to make it happen; in other words, silence is what you hear when nothing is moving, as in dead, lifeless, and stagnant; there is no there there! I know I have shared on this many times before, but I believe it is something that needs to be realized as a major problem within our churches, our families, and in our personal lives as ambassadors of Jesus Christ: our life we live in Christ does matter, and we will be judged accordingly! I am not quite sure how that all plays out in heaven, but I am pretty sure that God has a plan for those that serve themselves, and for those that serve others; but, I would not just think that everyone will all be the same in heaven, as if there are no benefits to doing well, just as there are consequences for not doing well. This word "silent" is a word that denotes more than just what is given out, or not given out, but it also describes the essence of what is taken in, as in, a closed mouth will not taste goodness, or allow food in to nourish the body; all of which will rob us from the experiences of abundant life in Christ, which is that which brings forth the Rivers of Life... "He that believeth in Me, as the scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)

"Understanding Grace" -2

"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;" (Psalms 30:11) Understanding grace is something that takes time for some people; forgiveness is an easy concept to understand, but grace, grace is something that must be answered to; you cannot just receive grace, and then walk away fulfilled and done, there must be something that comes of it your life. For most of us, this is pretty much common knowledge; yet, there are those times in our lives when we do not show the fruit of what we know we must do. Call it laziness, or whatever you want to call it; personally, I think it is sin; which means that we have missed the mark, the mark being our testimony of Jesus Christ! Looking at this verse from the perspective of someone who is actually interested in understanding grace, there is a certain element missing in way that David is being changed from one thing to another; it's a little thing called 'self'', as in I have changed from this to that; because, that is not how grace works! It is by God's grace that we are changed, for the grace of God has lifted us up from death unto life, and has placed us into a position where we have been made a son of the King, forever and ever! The fruit of that transformation is the "dancing" and the "gladness", where it is something that is an automatic response with our hearts; in other words, "Your life will surely show it"! It is God who turns our hearts, and it is God who has clothed us with His righteousness; we cannot change our own heats, and we surely can't clothe ourselves with righteousness! There are two things to consider as you look at this verse, and as you meditate upon what David is putting into this "Prayer of Thanksgiving", and that is, how God has changed us, and, what that change looks like. Do you understand that it is God that has put the gladness into your heart? You might recall a song that we all sang once upon a time, it goes something like this: "I've got the joy, joy, joy, down in my heart, Where?" Yes, where is a good question to ask, as in, Where did that joy come from? The answer is so very simple, it actually does not need to be said, but it must be said!!!! IT IS JESUS!!! Knock Knock!! "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20)

"Understanding Grace"

"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;" (Psalms 30:11) There are just some things that require you to receive them before you can believe them; as with the case of the unforgiving and unthankful servant, who forfeited the gift he had been given by not receiving the completeness of that gift. It really is pretty interesting how that works, because God has made us more than saved from the condemnation of our sins; He has established for us an inheritance into something we could have never ever obtained, and something we surely do not deserve! And whether you know it or not, part of our inheritance that we have been given is really not ours to keep! Take the sister that I was sharing about yesterday; she understood what she had been given, and knew what it was she needed to give away: the expression of joy in a God that loved her, and in Who's hand she was forever safe and secure. Yet, as I shared yesterday, she was scared of the disease, but you could not tell that from looking at her; because even though she was scared of that disease, she was looking forward to getting to heaven. Not all of us can do that, yet we should! Something as great and wonderful as our inheritance must be shared, and the way that we share it, is by making it known; and part of making it known, is to live it out! You see, part of grace is giving thanks; as a matter of fact, you cannot receive grace and hold onto it without giving thanks! As with that dear sister, who could have gotten away with walking around defeated, instead, she wore gladness and joy; and we that looked upon her could see for a moment what grace actually looks like and how powerful it is to overcome whatever might come against us. I know that not everyone out there will understand what I am saying, because there are some among us who have not yet received the completeness
of God's gift of grace; and until you do, you really cannot believe how incredible everything else just does not matter much any more; everything else, that is, except for giving thanks and praise unto God... "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:19 & 20)

"Needing God's Help" -3

"Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be Thou my HELPER." (Psalms 30:10) Now then, if we know what seems to be the problem in our life, and what it is that makes us stumble, imagine how much more God knows, because He sees everything about us, even the hidden things within our hearts that we don't even know. Knowing this, then wouldn't seem logical to trust that God knows best what we need to live out our days here upon this earth? James says in chapter four, verse 3, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." The lust that James is speaking of is simply pleasure, meaning a desire for pleasure; which for the sake of argument, actually means to be free from all suffering and persecution; that would include things like hunger, financial worries, and any thing else that might take our pleasureful living experience away. I firmly believe that God wants us to live a pleasureful life, and He has a plan for our life that includes unspeakable joy; a joy that goes far beyond anything that this world can provide for us; but more times than not, we are asking for the wrong things for God to allow that to happen within our life. Let's take affliction for example; whether that be a sickness, or a trial, or any other thing that might cause us to feel discomfort in this life; if God is allowing us to go through something, then He is allowing it to happen for a reason; and more likely than not, that reason involves where our focus really needs to be. I can recall a dear sister that I knew about fifteen years ago, who is now at home with the Lord; she was suffering with breast cancer, and within her suffering she had great joy within her heart in the midst of what she was going through. Oh, see was scared, and she wanted to be cured; but the joy that she had was not based upon being cured, or even the hope of a cure; it was based upon the focus that she had in Jesus Christ! You see, had it not been for her illness, she may not have reached out to the Lord and asked Him into her heart; and for that, she was abundantly grateful. God knows what we need before we even ask, and the thing that we often need, we can't even truly see until we receive it. I guess what I am trying to say, is that if we think that we lack anything, then there is only one thing that we lack: THE HELPER!!! "And I say unto you, Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye 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. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:9-13)

"Needing God's Help" -2

"Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be Thou my Helper." (Psalms 30:10) Prayer is more than just words spoken out to a God of mercy, prayer is our expression of need to a God of endless power and grace. Yesterday's post may have seemed a little strong on the subject of anger, but anger is really not something that is easily managed, primarily because it arises from nowhere, and then you just find yourself letting go; and once you start letting go, it's hard to find the switch to turn it off! I prayed for the sister that I felt I had offended on Tuesday, and prayed that God would forgive me, and that He would allow her to forgive me also; and when I called her to apologize, she acted as if I had really done nothing wrong and that everything was just a big mistake; but I continued to ask for her forgiveness, until she said those words, I forgive you! And then, when it came time for our conversation to end, I ended our conversation with, Thank you for forgiving me. I knew in my heart that I had done wrong, and I knew that I needed her forgiveness, even though she may not have felt what I felt. Personally, I cannot understand why she did not feel offended, except that maybe she has so much forgiveness inside, that she instantly forgives and is never offended in the first place; but isn't that the way it is to be? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 about love, and he puts love in the position of character, meaning that love has a face!!! One of the characters of love, is that it is not easily provoked; which means, that a person is not easily offended. Man, oh man, do I need help!!! If you know the story behind James, then you should know why he might have spent so much time on his knees; most likely for all the times he had called his brother crazy; that was until He rose from the dead! We do not see the full picture in hardly anything that we look upon, especially when it come to human interaction; in that regard, we assume far more than we actually know, and most of time, we are totally wrong; just as James was totally wrong about Jesus, and calling Him his crazy brother for all of those years growing up. James expresses from personal knowledge those actions of our tongue, and how the tongue is so unruly and can not be easily controlled; as a matter of fact, without God's help, it's like a fire that is out of control... "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." (James 3:5-8)

"Needing God's Help"

"Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be Thou my helper." (Psalms 30:10) You have no doubt heard the phrase, You can't chew gum and walk at the same time; and if you have, then you might have proved that statement to be incorrect; however, walking large and small at the same time is another matter all together. As a matter of fact, I was thinking about this yesterday on my long drive home from an Inspection, and I came up with a perfect example of how difficult it actually is; besides being pulled into a very stupid situation that caused me to lose my temper, I actually envisioned the right hand and the left hand apposing one another. Okay; try this, and see what I mean: lift both of your arms in front of your face, and place your right palm over your left hand, leaving about three or four inches of space between them; now spin your right hand away from you, while at the same time, spin your left hand towards you. E-gads! I give up! Walking in the Spirit, means that we rely upon God, not upon ourselves! Every time I step out and think that I am super human because I have been given power from On-High, I find myself throwing mud upon my own face; mostly just to try and hide my expression, but the mud is also the result of my actions and anger. Maybe I need anger management, or some kind of a drug to keep me from blowing a gasket when stupid stuff happens around me; or maybe, just maybe, I need to settle down a little, take a chill-pill, and pray for help! But you know what; the not so funny thing is, in the heat of the moment, I don't want to pray for help; even if you ask me to pray for help, I will bite your head off, and act as if your trying to say that I have no right to be angry. After all; what's the big deal with having a little anger now and then? Well, it can be a really big deal; and it can really cost you, if you are not careful; just ask Moses, he will be the first to tell you that anger is not something you want to display among the children of God! Forget the right hand not knowing what the left had is doing; it's more like, the right hand and the left hand have no control over what the other hand will do! Or maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with character, and the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time, without biting your tongue off... "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." (James 1:26)

"The Great Question"

"What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise Thee? shall it declare Thy truth?" (Psalms 30:9) So which one is it, do we largely live by the power of God, or do we to become small and walk in meekness? Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-8, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." It is therefore my humble opinion, that both character's are to be present, at all times! Not actually an easy thing to do, but a needful thing to practice, because on the one hand we are to be alive unto God, while at the same time, we are to be crucified daily. Now, about David's questions, which have three parts within this verse, but really only one question is being asked, and it has to do with profitability and thanksgiving; two things that pretty much go hand in hand together, and pretty much both end at the time of death. Oh, we will be praising God in heaven, that is for sure; and there will be rewards in heaven for the work accomplished in us; but right now, while we are to be thankful for all that we have been given, now is the time to praise Him and to live out the thankfulness that is within our hearts! To put this into a little better perspective, the "blood" that is being spoken of is our blood; easy enough concept to understand, because it actually means the life force that keeps this mortal body moving from day to day. That being said, and as I said before, we all have a specific job to do, something special that God has appointed for our lives to live out, while we are to be walking within this mortal body; once this body is done, so also is our ability to work out God's special plan for our lives. So, if you really want to know what the great question is in all of the chatter, it has at it's root the heart that is full of thanksgiving, and has the heart of a servant; which earnestly is asking: What can I do for You today Jesus? "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and contueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (James 1:22-25)

"Becoming Small"

"I cried to Thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication." (Psalms 30:8) Do you understand the concept of "pride cometh before the fall"? If we understand the concept of needing God desperately to have victory in our lives, then where does pride fit into that equation? Prayerlessness!!! Don't you see the pride in not needing God's guidance, protection, intervention, mercy, and His Holy Spirit to fill you in everything that you do, and every day of your life? If you really do want to have victory over your flesh, then cry out to God for the victory! You are not going to stand up to the devil on your own, I don't care how strong you think that you are, he is stronger; however, He that is in us is mighty, and the devil has no chance against Him! Okay, here's an interesting concept to consider about that unthankful and unforgiving servant from Matthew 18:21-35, and what it was that motivated him to not forgive his fellow servant; was it the money that he insisted on that caused him to act that way, or was it pride? Pride might seem like the wrong motivator; that is until you consider how pride can make us feel as though we no longer have need for mercy! The parable that Jesus gave was in answer to Peter's question about how many times he should forgive his brother. In the interest of time, let's just pretend that we understand the question Peter was asking, and move onto the answer that Jesus illustrated, which pretty much was the question back to Peter, How many times do you want to be forgiven? In the parable, the king forgave the servants debt entirely; meaning that the servant really had no further need to be forgiven of the debt, because the debt had been removed. And then enters the pride; because pride lifts us up above others, it makes us to feel superior, and it takes away our need to seek mercy; and if we are not seeking mercy, we do not give out mercy! If we are not earnestly praying to God for His help, then what does that say about our security and confidence in ourselves to get through our day? You see the concept now! Pride does come before the fall, because pride makes us feel as though we can take on the world... "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls." (James 1:19-21)

"And Largely Living" -2

"LORD, by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled." (Psalms 30:7) And here we go! This is the thing that I was trying to get across, but seemed to be stumbled by in the process: there are two ways that we can walk in this world; we can either walk from victory to victory, or we can walk from defeat to defeat; both of which will involve God's favour being upon us, but the difference is the carnage that is left in our pathway, because there are repercussions to our defeats! If we continue to keep walking in the Spirit, then we will be walking from victory to victory, with God continually blowing our minds with the power that He has given us, and we may even bring many many others into the fold beside us as we go; however, if we give into temptation and the desires of our flesh, then we will establish a defeat; and although God may bring us out of our defeat victorious, we can begin to measure our success by the defeats that we are delivered from, and we really never make that much of a difference towards the kingdom of God. Oh, God can still use us, and does; but the impact that we should have had upon those that He has placed within our lives, is not what it could have been, if we would just remain walking in the Spirit! This touches extremely close to the critical areas in my life, so I do not speak as one who is unfamiliar with what I am talking about! The point that I wish to make, is that God would have us to be victorious; and more than that, He has provided all that we need to walk victoriously; but it really comes down to our desire to have the victory!!! Thus, the reason for the silly title of this posting, because we really do have the ability to 'largely living', meaning that we can press ahead on the basis that God has made our mountain to stand strong, we just need to stand upon it! And know this: the higher the mountain, the stronger the wind becomes at the top, so you had better stand strong in the power of His Holy Spirit; remembering that we can either lean upon the habits of our defeats, or we can yield to the power of His victories... "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tested, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:12-15)

"And Largely Living"

"LORD, by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled." (Psalms 30:7) Does God shine upon you? That might seem a little strange to start off with a question like that, but it makes a perfect way to start a conversation; better yet, how about asking, Do you know when God shines upon you? I guess that depends upon what shine means, right? Well, it is much like the instance when Jesus was transfigured, then Moses and Elisha appeared with Him, and God spoke, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him". (Matthew 17:1-5) Only, what I am talking about is a little less Holy; but the general point is that God makes you aware that He is blessing your life, and so much so, that others can see His blessings being poured out upon you also. On certain occasions, and in a certain way, our attitude of knowing that God is smiling down upon us is based in the way that we are thankful towards Him in our hearts; it's much the same as you would place your confidence in the sun's ability to warm your face, because you see the sun is shining; if you have ever experienced that for yourself, or can picture what I am talking about. Now, regarding God hiding His face; I can think of more than one occasion in my own life, when I actually was hoping that God was hiding His face; more like, hiding His eyes from what I was doing! But in all seriousness, what David is speaking of, is when that shinning sensation you get from God shinning down upon your life seems to be gone, much like when a cloud passes between you and the sun; you don't even need to be looking at the sun, yet you can still tell when it happens. After which David uses a word call "troubled", as in, "and I was troubled". I want to take this opportunity to go back to something I said the other day about, What is your night? Because there are two very different reactions that we can have to the night appearing upon our lives: we can retreat into our little cave, like a child hiding under the blankets, or, we can know that it is time to get things done! This word "troubled" that David is using here takes on both of those reactions, but puts the greater effort into making hast, as in trying to get to the bottom of what is wrong with this picture... "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 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)

"Living Large"

"And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved." (Psalms 30:6) I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I had actually lived this faithfully over the last thirty plus years, because I will tell you with all honesty, that I have fallen short more than once. Oh, I as David, may have said that it would never happen, but saying it and living it out are two entirely different things! However; thanksgiving is to be a constant way that we live, which means that it must be a part of every area of our life, including those times when we seem to not have a care in the world! That is what this word "prosperity" means; it is the word 'shelev', and it is only occurs one time in the Hebrew writings, and it is in the verse we are looking at today. It actually means to be at ease; to have total tranquility and security in your life, not having a care in the world. Now I know that it is something that we should strive for, to be fearful of nothing that man can do to us, and to be totally at peace in whatever comes our way, but this is something all together different, and is more about having security in your present surroundings and standings; much as would be the case if you have more than enough to live on, and there was no threat of anyone tampering with your lifestyle or your home; home meaning more than just a house that you live in, but all that you have established for yourself and your family. And, therein lies the key to my problem! I; me; el' stupido! What have I ever established!!! "Look at all that I have made for myself" is not something that you what written on your tombstone! And it surely is not something that you want written on your heart! I break things! I ruin more things than I could ever make perfect; and I can't think of a single thing I have ever established, except for something I flushed down the toilet. But as sure as the sun will come out tomorrow, even though we say we shall never be moved, and we say it with all honesty and sincerity, just let prosperity dig in to your manner of living, and see if you never move; because your odds are not very good, considering neither David, and especially his son Solomon, could not stay footed upon that promise. Don't get me wrong, they did a pretty good job of making God the primary reason for being where they where and having all that they had; but there were times when the "I" took over, and starting looking for gratitude in all that they had been given. Do not think that what I am talking about is not a big deal, because it is; as a matter of fact, it brings down very large men of God all the time!!! It's kind of like seeking for clarity in all your livelihood and in the decisions you make for your home; when it is more than likely that clarity is what the Lord wants you to let go of, because He wants you to walk by faith and by trusting in Him, not in those things that you think that you have  under control... "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways." (James 1:9-11)

"To Be Loved" -3

"For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalms 30:5) This is it, I believe; but that's not really up to me! What is your night? For most of the people who live by night and day schedules, night is the time when you prepare for bed; but for those that work odd hours, night is when you get things done. But here's the thing with God's schedule: He does not have a night and day routine, nor is He dependent upon our schedule to operate His plan into our meager little lives! What the heck am I trying to say! (I say that to get your attention.) How do you know whether or not that trial you are going through is not God's mercy at work in your life??? It might seem like God is judging you, or taking you through something because of something that you have done, or something you have not done, but that is not God's general plan, nor is it His heart for you; He does not allow us to face trials in order to punish us, His heart is to get our attention, and to make us more dependant upon Him! We toil through life, sometimes not giving much thought to our spiritual living, and whether or not we are putting much of an effort into the friendship we have with the Lord; that is until we are facing something that is beyond our control; then we snap out of our slump and cry out to God for His mercy. It is in those times that His mercy means more to us than ever before; again and again, His mercy endures; again and again, His mercy makes us wait on Him, and it gives us mornings! Mornings are the bright day at the end of a very dark night... "And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He is also become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon His name, declare His doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for He hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." (Isaiah 12:1-6)

"To Be Loved" -2

"For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalms 30:5) Giving thanks and being thankful are not just words, it is a life style of living out thankfulness to the God that loves us; that is what "Song" represents, and to "Sing unto the LORD" is a true natural reaction to being thankful for Him loving us, even though we surely do not deserve it most of the time! His love is not conditioned upon our actions, but knowing His love is! I really don't think many of His children completely understand that; and if they do, they are surely not living it out in their actions. I have got to say something about small churches, they are filled with life; and when I say life, I mean the living and breathing life that is lived out every day in each and every one of us. I started out in big churches, and as a new believer, it was good to have lots of options and things to get involved in, like the church softball team, or teaching Sunday School; so many programs and possibilities to stay busy and in fellowship with other believers. Unfortunately, the bigger the church, the easier it is to get lost in a crowd and the more easy it is to be lost in the crowd; that is unless that big church has small group fellowships, then you will at least stand a chance of really knowing what fellowship is meant to be. The smaller the church, the better; that's the way I feel today, because it's not about numbers, it's about loving God, rejoicing in the Lord, and being thankful for all that He has done to save us! The most important message with the Scripture above is the part about, "in His favour is life", because it sums up the whole reason that we are thankful, we should be thankful, and that we must be thankful; that basically means that we have no excuse to be unthankful, seeing that God loves us so very very much. The word "favour" is a word that might cause you to stop and think about how you treat the love that you have been so freely given, because it goes way beyond God's favorable acceptance of us, it goes to the heart of our acceptance of His love and what we are to do with that acceptance. In other words, the "life" that is the result of His favour is not our eternal life, but it is living life, as in something that is alive, breathing, and growing day by day; it's life that has sustenance and requires maintenance to keep it going! Okay, maybe you need me to give an example of what I mean, yes? Then let me use the a word called friendship, which is a word that has both sustenance and requires maintenance; we don't say, What a friend I had in Jesus; now do we? No we don't! It is "What a friend I have in Jesus!" Which means that it is an ongoing relationship that requires maintenance, because it is not a fairytale, it has real sustenance... "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)

"To Be Loved"

"For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping my endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalms 30:5) Not everyone will get what I am about to say, but to love, is to be loved! It's one thing to be loved, and to know that God loves you, that we all can easily understand; but putting that love to life, that is where we know love! I believe that we all have a very special purpose to be alive on this earth; in our own special way, we all make some kind of difference in someone's life; some are good, and some, not so good, but some how or another, we all do effect the life of someone else in one way or another. It is my hope and prayer that I effect people's lives to the good, not giving out signs of being discouraged, or making my trials out to be something that abandons the hope of eternity. I think that we sometimes forget that people our watching us, especially when we are going through something; they are looking for real hope to be demonstrated in the life of those that say have hope. I am not talking about 'hope and change', I am talking about change, and then there is hope! I guess it all comes down to how you see the gift you have been given, and how that gift was given. Take the 'unthankful and unforgiving servant' from Matthew 18:22-35, who did not truly understand the great gift that he was given, and therefore did not put into practice that which he had been given. That servant was called into account by his king for a debt that he owed, one which he could never repay, and when he begged for mercy, he received it; that was the gift he received, it was mercy; the grace part of that story was him being totally released from the debt! The king did not try and work something out, or make some kind of compromise on getting payments; he totally released him from the debt! The whole point of the parable, is that we must forgive others if we are truly thankful for the forgiveness that we have received, because if we are truly thankful for the forgiveness, then we have been changed into a person that knows what true forgiveness is all about. It is the same with love, in that we are so very thankful for the love that God shows to us, that we have to show love, because we know what true love is all about; and every time we do show forth His love, it reminds us that we are loved... "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for God is a consuming fire. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." (Hebrews 12:28-13:3)

"Step One and Done!" -2

"Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." (Psalms 30:4) To tell you the truth, I never have been to much of a twelve step fan, although I am sure it works well for those that need it; most of the time I subscribe to more of the three step plan, which is "Rise, Take up thy bed, And walk"; and when things are really critical, there is always the one step plan, which is, "Come Forth!" But we really are not talking about salvation here, we are talking about giving thanks to the God that has saved us and given us eternal life! Notice that it says, "O ye saints of His", because we are chosen to be His saints, which puts another meaning of the word "holiness" into account. The word that David uses, and that has been translated to "holiness" is the word 'qodesh', which is also a word that means 'My Holy Name', holy garments, Thy Holy Spirit, and holy gems, an image of the nobles of the people, with an allusion to the breast-plate of the high priest. The general idea is that all those things that are spoken of are the things which belong to God and that He has established; these are the things which have been made Holy and are to be considered Holy, because He has made it so. Now then; if you are indeed one of His saints, then guess what that means! You guessed it; you have been made Holy!!! The problem is, that for many of us that walk in this world of sin and death, even though we have been counted as 'His Holy Ones', we still don't get the part about being holy; it's just too easy to see the evilness, and way too hard to see the holiness; but the holiness is there, it's just a matter of where we are looking! Look to Jesus... "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 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." (Hebrews 12:1 & 2)

"Step One and Done!"

"Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." (Psalms 30:4) You might have thought I was going into some kind of a twelve step teaching or something like that; but it really comes down to remembering what a mighty work that God has done, and thanking Him for it with a true heart of thanksgiving. As with the meaning of 'Song' that I spoke of during the introduction to this Psalm, the word "Sing" that David is speaking of is a kind of 'let go and dance' kind of a word; where you cut off all your surroundings, focus upon the Lord, and let go into praising Him! I can remember when I was in jail, we would gather together in a circle, all of about twenty of us that were inmates, and we would all sing the "Father Abraham" song; you know, the one where you spin around, stomp your feet, swing your arms, and bob your head up and down; it just seemed so natural, as we were celebrating being grafted into the Israel of God. Twenty grown men, some of whom were considered to be Lifers; all of many different races and backgrounds, but all brothers in Christ; just letting go and praising Jesus! I really did enjoy my time spent with those brothers back then, even though we were imprisoned together, it really did not feel as though we were confined, because we were set free in our spirits. The word for "saints" that is used is a word that depicts someone who worships Jehovah, or the saints of Jehovah; yet, it also means holy one, faithful, kind, or godly. Coupled together with "holiness", as in "give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness", and you are speaking of entering into the heart of the temple of God! That most holy place in the sanctuary of all that God has done for us; where all that matters is what He has done for us, that we might be called His saints! Maybe it was so easy to worship the Lord from behind bars because we all were looking to be in another place anyways; but then again, aren't we all to be looking towards that better place... "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on this earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:1-3)

"Step One, Two, Three!"

"O LORD, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit." (Psalms 30:3) As crazy as this might sound, but I am not afraid of death; I might be concerned about how it is that I will die, but death is only a whole new beginning as far as I am concerned. This ability to have the attitude which says, I am not afraid to die, is based upon the faith that I have in what my Lord has done; not only has He removed all sin from condemning me, and given me eternal life with Him, but He has also taken away the fear of death by having conquered death Himself! In Galatians 1:3-5, Paul makes a short statement that sums up what I am talking about when I say that He has taken away my fear, when he says, "Grace be to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of the Father: to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." That thing called 'peace' that Paul mentions, it takes away all fear of death and what might await us, because it replaces that fear with a knowledge of God's goodness towards us, and His desire to deliver us from the curse of 'this present evil world'. You really need to believe this is true for that peace to be confirmed in your life; and when I say confirmed, I mean that your peace remains when it is called upon! I can not begin to tell you the number of people I have known who fall apart at the thought of death, and who, when they should embrace death as a new beginning, instead, they act as if it is the end. This is what I meant the other day, when I said that those things were based upon what we believe; because we must believe that it is so, in order to experience that real peace that is given us by the Lord; because our faith is based upon what we do not see, but what we know in our hearts to be true; and in believing it is so, we can embrace death as the new beginning of our eternity with our Lord. Do you have that peace in the light of death? If not, you should; and if you don't, you should be asking why you don't; and if you don't believe it is possible to have it, then start thanking God for your eternal life, and see if it shows up... "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden." (Galatians 6:3-5)

"Step One, Two"

"O LORD my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me." (Psalms 30:2) Forever is a very long time, don't you know? Not only have we been lifted up to a position of immortality, but the joke is on death and the many different ways that death can happen; that includes all death by illness and decay of this mortal shell; which is nothing more than a tent to house my spirit, a temporary tent at that! So, now that we have been given this new spiritual understanding about the true meaning of what we see and what we do not see, how should our conversation be? Are we really to be that concerned with what is happening here, or do we need to focus more on that which is to come? I say this because it is only going to get worse, and the disease of sin is only going to spread more and more rampantly; making that which is wrong right, and that which is meant to be right wrong in the eyes of this world. Notice that I said the disease of sin; because that is exactly how it infects our society and our world; taking down long standing statutes of law and order, by replacing them with make-believe ordinances that do nothing but take the focus off of God and place it upon man. We must continually teach ourselves in the conversations of our heart; reminding ourselves of the fact that we have been saved from not only the sin of our own lives, but also from the sin of this world; and no matter how bad things might become here, there is nothing that the sin of this world can do against us, or can take away from our eternal existence; for we have been healed from that! Knowing that we have been, we must be thankfully and prayerfully going about our daily lives, taking each and every day as another opportunity to make some kind of difference in the world around us, and understanding what it is that we are here for... "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2)

"Step One"

"I will extol Thee, O LORD; for Thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me." (Psalms 30:1) The first step in becoming thankful is to realize the position that we have been given in Christ Jesus our Lord, who having raised up from the grave and ascended up into heaven, will also raise us up also, that we should be with Him in heaven for ever. Yes, that's a future event we look forward to, but it is also a current life in which we live, because that eternal life began the moment we first believed; in that moment, all the burdens of sin and death were removed, and we became a new creature that was raised up above mortality and taking the sting of death out of the picture, for good! Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:1, "We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." The "then" is much the same as a "therefore", where we need to take a look back and see what it is there for; which is back to the following chapter in verse 17, which says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: and old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Which also begins with a "therefore", and must be considered the result of something previously spoken, which actually begins to be spoken of in verse 5:1-3, that says, "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. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." And, the "for we know that" is the result of our faith, which is spoken of in the previous verse, 4:18, which says, "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." Based upon all these things, which are conditioned upon our faith and what we believe, we are thankful to our God for having changed us, and for having made us a new creation in Christ. Now then; if we are truly thankful for what God has done, then our thankfulness will be apparent in our lives, because the gift of eternal life that we have been given means more to us than all that is in this world, seeing how this world and all that is in it shall pass away..."For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the 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;" (2 Corinthians 4:16 & 17)

"Becoming Thankful"

"For the LORD your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it." (Deuteronomy 20:4 & 5) Above Psalms Thirty, in my Bible, is the title "A Prayer of Thanksgiving", and below that I have written in blue ink, * Deut. 20:5; I mention the blue ink because that would tell me that I wrote that in there at least twenty years ago; maybe after purchasing a new home, or maybe during a sermon at church. The introduction of Psalms Thirty says, "A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David"; which, for several different reasons has it listed as both a Psalm and a Song, which have different meanings, although they both do mean songs. If I had to try and explain the difference between these two words, a quick and easy way to put this might be, that Psalms are songs written in the Old Testament, and are prayer and praises that were written by several different writers, and the word is only found associated with those writings; whereas Song, although also meaning song, is more about bursting forth in song, as in singing unto God because you are so thankful for what He has done. As we dive into this writing and song, we should understand something about the meaning of a house, in that, it means more than just a place where you lay your head at night, or a place where you raise a family; it also means 'within', as in within your heart. The title of my blog today might seem a little odd to some, but thankfulness is a lot like forgiveness, it is something that must be expressed from your heart; which means, that you cannot just say it, it must be demonstrated by your actions and in your life. In other words, you cannot say to someone that you forgive them for something, and then still hold that thing against them, because that is not true forgiveness; just as you cannot say to someone that you are thankful for something that they have given you, and then just discard that item as if it means nothing..."Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." (Matthew 13:44)