"No Bull..."

"For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering." (Psalms 51:16) Oh, I know, it sounds a little testy, but trust me, it really isn't what it seems to be; it's just what popped into my head as I was praying for a title. Even God has a sense of humor, don't you know? But seriously, do you actually think that it pleases God that animals need to be slain and their blood sprinkled around all over an alter? Do you think that pleases God? Nor does the smell of burnt flesh make Him happy; God is not pleased by death, whether it be man's or animal's, death is something that God hates. When I gave a message on Genesis chapter 7, I was drawn to the fact that God said at least four times, "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth", as if it grieved Him in His heart that He had to do what He did; which is why it says in verse 6:6, "And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart." God is love! He loves all of His creation and all that He created He put such glory into, that those who study anything which He has made, cannot deny that He is; they might pretend to believe otherwise, but that is all that they are doing, just pretending to believe a lie. I wonder if any of our atheist friends would die for what they believe? I mean, if they were given a choice, either deny what you believe and confess that there is a God, or die, if they would still hold true to their belief? I know that I will not deny God, because I know He is real and that death is only the beginning; but what do they have to hold onto, except a lie that offers nothing but hopelessness? Why do you think so many that don't believe are investing so much into finding life somewhere else? They are reaching for hope; hope in something other than just this; hope that there is something that expands past this life, but without putting any hope in God. If they only knew how much that God loves them? If they only knew how much they mean to God? That is the only reason for the spilling of blood; not that God likes blood to be spilled for our sins, but that God loves us more than words can express.... "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." (1 John 2:6-11)      

"God Working In Us" -2

"O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise." (Psalms 51:15) There is another side of this changed life, besides God performing the change in us, there is us wanting to be changed. Keep in mind that this is a prayer, prayer being a petition unto the Lord for Him to do something for us, something that we could never do for ourselves. I think that might be the most important thing for us to remember, is how much we are lost without God's help, and how unable we are to fix ourselves; it is God, and God alone that must create the change in us; we can never make ourselves have a new heart, or muster up the will to obey the will of God; to somehow think that we can, goes against all that the gospel message speaks about. Even praise, as much as we would like to think that it is completely from within our own hearts, is ordained by God; you can see that example show in the story of Cain and Abel. The vision that I had this morning was about those transparent sheets of story pages, the ones where each page has another section of the story, and as you place them over each other, they complete the picture; if the wrong sheet is in the mix, then the picture presented does not display the right story. That is what I mean by God ordained praise, because the praise offered up to God must have the right story behind it; in other words, we must understand why it is that we are praising Him, and how it is that we are meant to praise Him; all of which are given to us by Him, as He presents to us the picture, layer upon layer, each connecting layer pointing to the message of the cross... "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him." (1 John 2:1-5)

"God Working In Us"

"O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise." (Psalms 51:15) So many people do not understand what Jesus meant, when He said, "The kingdom of God is within you"; and I have heard it explained in ways that are almost demonic in nature; but if He was speaking about the Holy Spirit, then don't you think He would have said "Spirit" instead of "Kingdom"? I for one do not believe that Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit, nor was He speaking about some hidden force within us; He was speaking about change from corruption to incorruption, from darkness to light, from death to life; it's all about a life that is changed on the inside, and that change is from God! Just a Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". Basically, if we are not made new by God, then we have no clue what the kingdom of God is really all about; but if God does make us new, then we are all about God's kingdom, and His kingdom is working within us. I see this verse to be in close relationship with Isaiah 6, as there needs to be a spiritual cleansing that takes place in us before we can actually be the mouthpiece for God; not that God can't speak through whatever He wants to, because He can speak through rocks if He wants to; but to be a vessel that He can use, and one that willfully wants to be use by Him, then we need to be conformed into that vessel by His Holy Spirit dwelling within us; and His Holy Spirit will only dwell within a vessel that has been made pure and spotless by the blood of His Son. That is the true meaning of "The Kingdom of God is within us"; not that we have anything in us that is able to produce His kingdom and make it to come to life; just the opposite is actually true, because what we have within us is sin and death, guilt and shame, lust and envy; all of which are things that are far far away from the kingdom of God. But God! Our God, who is rich in grace and mercy, He changes all those things into the image of His Son, His Son being the Head of the Kingdom; the One which has been placed above all else, to be the Head of the Church, and represent the Love of God towards us... "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 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, and 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 2:12-17)

"Real Thanksgiving"

"Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness." (Psalms 51:14) Yes, and also I wanted this verse for today! There is such power in being thankful for what God has done for us; not just the power that comes from our salvation, although that is pretty powerful, but the power in knowing that we are innocent before God; that power that gives us the boldness to enter into His praise with thanksgiving in our hearts; that power that makes us want to shout out to the world how much God loves us, because we have witnessed it firsthand. When Jesus first came into my heart, my heart felt as though it was not large enough to contain Him by myself, and I needed to share what I was thankful about, or else I was going to explode. That is the kind of thankfulness that David is trying to express here in the verse. It is not just about giving thanks for what God has done, because that is to be directed towards God in the form us praise and worship; but it is more about having a heart that is totally and completely overwhelmed by what God has done; so much so, that you cannot contain yourself, and you have got to shout it out! The other day I was listening to a message about the "Ten Lepers" from Luke 17, and I was pricked in my heart by the summary to this message, which basically spoke about shouting out thanks as loud as we shouted out for mercy. If you don't know that story, it involves these ten lepers that were standing on the side of the road as Jesus walks into town, and they were crying out with their voices lifted up, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests, and as soon as they were headed into the direction of the temple, they were all healed; yet only one of them turned back to give thanks to Jesus. Actually, it says, And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:15-16) After which something else happens that I believe is Jesus magnifying what had just happened, as the Pharisees demanded an answer of Him regarding the coming of kingdom of God...
"And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)

"Resting In Him"

"Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee." (Psalms 51:13) If you thought I was going to have a part two for verse 12, you were right, but God led me in another direction. The joy that comes from being reconciled with God is enough to satisfy any want that we might have had, this is how we keep that joy abounding within us! Paul calls this "The Ministry of Reconciliation" in 2 Corinthians 5:18, and it is primarily the fruit of our being reconciled to God. But you might say, Where is the resting, because this sounds like work? Well, it is not a function or a task, if that is what you are thinking, it is a place where you are at; and because you are there, you want others to be there with you. God is all about reconciling the world unto Himself; that is what He wants more than anything else, is to have everyone turn and come to Him; but that is not going to happen, and He knows that, but He still holds out, waiting for that last sinner to answer His call. If you really think about it, this is actually a time of rest for God, because after that last sinner jumps on board, things are going to get quite busy on earth and in heaven. Besides that, there is nothing that we can do of ourselves to be reconciled to God, therefore, there is nothing that anyone else needs to do either; so there is really no work being done, except by God; we are only messengers that share about a place where others might come to, God is the one that will call them, and God is the one that will reconcile them onto Himself. So you see, it really is just about resting in Him; and in the process, we get to experience more and more of His joy... "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 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." (2 Corinthians 2:17-21)

"Enter His Rest"

"Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit." (Psalms 51:12) No doubt we absolutely need the Holy Spirit to assist us in repenting and remaining holy, because without Him, we might not even pay much attention to God's word speaking into our hearts. It's kind of like being in church, and the message is almost as if the pastor was spying on your life, like, Who told him about me? But God knows all that there is to know about us, and we are never out of His reach, nor do we hide anything from His sight. To me, to truly enter into God's rest, requires a pure heart, one that is honest before God, and one that has come clean before Him; otherwise, without a pure heart, we are still trying to work something out between ourselves and the Lord. To truly know what His rest actually means requires real freedom, not just some sort of borrowed freedom that is here today and gone tomorrow, but the actual freedom that is given to us freely by God; in other words, God's freedom does not require a payment from us to be obtained, and if we try to purchase it, then it is not God's freedom that we are getting, because His is already bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ upon the cross. This is no little deal with God, it is a major deal that requires we put all of out trust in the finished work of Christ; anything less, and we are trying to take some of the credit upon our selves; even the smallest portion of the credit, if we could claim anything, is our sin for which He died; other than that, we have noting else to claim, except that we are guilty of His death. Oddly enough, that is where we find "the joy of Thy salvation", is in the truth of what we have done and what we have not done; it's not that it gives us joy for what we have done, nor do we get joy in doing nothing; it is the simple fact that God loves us in spite of what we have done, and regardless of what we do for Him, He loves us and gave of Himself that we might be made free, freely... "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)

"Sincerely, Let Him"

"Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me." (Psalms 51:11) Part of what is required to let God work, is to need God's presence in our lives; what it should have been like to have God leading that mass of people in the wilderness, yet they still provoked Him with their unbelief; which really was not a matter of not believing in God, how could they deny that; but it was more about believing that God loved them, and that He was there for them; instead they insisted that God brought them out of Egypt to kill them in the wilderness, because there was not enough graves in Egypt. First and foremost, we must understand that sin separates us from having fellowship with God; it's not a matter of God not wanting to fellowship with us, because He wants nothing more than that we would take the time, and have the desire to fellowship with Him; it's a matter of holiness and approachability, because we cannot approach God in sin, for He is Holy. That is what is so wonderful about the gospel message, in that God provided His Son to make us holy, as He is Holy, that we could enter into fellowship with Him; it's not just about eternal life, but an abundant life right now, one that is filled with God's presence and that demonstrates His power by the mighty acts that He does each and every day in our lives. Did you know that their shoes did not wear out? It is little things like that which go unnoticed day in and day out; the big things can't be overlooked, but the little things get taken for granted. Not that the Holy Spirit is a little thing, but He is taken for granted probably more than any other thing in our lives, because He is always there, but so seldom do we listen or care what He might think. David was quite aware of how much he had grieved the Holy Spirit, and it was something that he was quite aware that he needed in his life, as he had witnessed Saul's life when God had removed His Spirit from him. When we pray for God to pour His Spirit into our lives, we must be aware of what God's Spirit within us is for, in that He is there to guide our lives... "For he that entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." (Hebrews 4:10-13)  

"Let God Work" -3

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalms 51:10) Okay, I am sorry, but I must make this point hit home; I know that we have sung this song forever, but what comes naturally is not always what is meant to happen. There are three basic parts to this verse, the first of which is the part that is asking God to create a clean heart in me, which requires offering our heart to Him so that He might create something wonderful. The second part, although it is simple to think about, it is hard to actually put it into action, which is the "O God" part; I say that based upon the history of us putting our trust in God whole heartily and waiting for Him to do what He is going to do. Basically, it all comes down to who God really is to us: Is He God or not? If He is the God that created the heavens and the earth is six days, then it really shouldn't be that hard for Him to reshape my heart or to create something from nothing; which is what we usually need to happen, because there is nothing wonderful in these hearts of ours to begin with. The third part is one that requires our participation on a completely different level; not only do we need to give Him our heart, but we have got to want Him to change us; which is that "renew a right spirit within me" part. This part is sometimes the hardest part to get through, and what went wrong for so many in the wilderness. God had to change an entire generation of His people, and when that generation refused to be changed, then He moved onto the next, and they all perished in the wilderness. Think about this or a moment, as the most important thing for us to do, before we can actually love God, we must trust God is God, that He loves us, and that He has only good things that He wants to do in us and for us; if we do not have those basics down first, then all that we are doing is loving an empty suit. We must believe in God, trust in God, and then we can love on God... "For some, when they heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to fall short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." (Hebrews 3:16-4:2)

"Let God Work" -2

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalms 51:10) Holding fast is not a passive thing, I am sure that you are aware of that, it takes something of what some might call "Holding On"; and just in case you don't understand what that actually means, it requires hope, hope that no matter how hard the ride gets, or how it might make you feel, whether you think you have had enough, you are not going to let go, ever! Sometimes it might be hard to find peace in what we are going through, but that's the whole point of the message: our peace is not in what we are going through, our peace is in Christ, who is already waiting for us to get through it; more than that, He is right here with us in the boat!!! I think it all comes down to a little thing called faith; I say little, because that is usually all that we have, a little faith. But truth be told, if we have our faith in God, then God is all that we need, and our faith is going to be big enough to do any thing and get us through any storm. But really, it is not about the storm, or the ride, or even the trial of your life; it's about love! I wish I could hold onto His love more than anything else, but there is always something that gets in the way; if it's not work, it's money; and if it's not personal pleasure, it's personal concerns; I seem to spend about a tenth of my time experiencing God's love, and the rest of the time I am loving myself or the things of this world. I am sorry for that, but I am just being honest. Yet, that is part of holding on, because it is God's love that matters most; He always loves us, and He is always there to love us; we just need to cry out, "Abba Father", and He will hear our cry, and He will listen. That my friend is called "the right spirit"...
"Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not you hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when you fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their hearts; and they have not known My ways. So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." (Hebrews 3:7-15)

"Let God Work"

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalms 51:10) Obviously this onion has yet to be peeled. When we are talking about the God of Wonders, do you ever wonder if He has really finished creating? I really don't think that He has finished yet; as a matter of fact, I am quite sure that His best work is yet to come. Revelation 21:1 says, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." I am not quite sure what John meant about there being no more sea, except maybe because he was a fisherman, it just happened to be something that he noticed was missing; bad news for some of those surfing pastors from the 60's and 70's though; but I doubt there will be any golf courses either. When it comes to God doing a work in us, He is never done doing what needs to be done in us; at least not until we are done with this life, and even then, I believe we will still be changing and growing in heaven; otherwise, why would there need to be the Tree of Life with the twelve manner of fruits? (Revelation 22:2) Even after we have been given peace, and even after guarding the peace that we have been given, there is still more to be done in this sinful body; this body of flesh, which always wants to be satisfied, and really never dies until it is physically dead. Don't you ever realize how you can be asking for forgiveness with one side of your thoughts, and planning for mischief at the same time with the other? Or maybe that's just me? Actually, it's just our hearts that need fixing; our minds will follow the direction of our hearts, so it the heart that God needs to work on, again and again! That might be the biggest problem for those who have been saved for many years, is the idea that God changed their heart and now that is done, so now it's been years of working on their minds. God was never done working on our heart! We might have thought that because He changed our heart, He was done working on it; but He took a heart of stone, and it made into something that He could create from; something formable and to mold into the image of Jesus Christ... "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a son over His own house; whose we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." (Hebrews 3:1-6)

"Guarding Peace"

"Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all of mine iniquities." (Psalms 51:9) I was trying to think of what might compare to that real peace which only God can give, and the only thing that I could think of was what it might have been to live in the garden prior to the fall. If there ever had been anything that would have come close, then that might have been it; no worries to speak of, because everything that you might ever needed was already provided for by God; as a matter of fact, the only concern that there was, was not to eat of one particular tree; which just so happen to be smack-dab in the middle of the garden. If there was ever a day that needed to be a do-over, then the day that Adam let down his guard was one of them; but there are no such things, except in movies and some sports. Some play golf that way, but that is not actually part of the game; at least not if you are being true to the game. If you play golf, then you know what I am talking about, because it is a lot like sinning: you do it once, and it becomes easier to do it again, and again, and again; until before you know it, you don't even think twice about it, because it comes naturally, and nobody wants to play with you anymore. There is no peace in that kind of a life, nor can you honestly say that you have peace in your game. If you don't get that, it's okay; golf is what it is, and most of the time it's just another four letter word. The real point to this, is that of guarding that which the Lord has given us, which is our 'reasonable service' as a servant of the Lord; and if the Lord has given us peace, then it is something which must be guarded! Maybe you might be thinking, How are we expected to guard something like peace? After all, is it actually something tangible? Oh, it is tangible alright, because it is real and meaningful to every one that has tasted of it; once you have tasted of it, you know when it is no longer there. But I still have not answered your question, have I? Do I really need to, given that there is really only one thing that takes away our peace with God... "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. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." (1 John 1:5-10)  

"Knowing Real Peace"

"Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice." (Psalms 51:8) It might seem a little odd, but real peace can only come through a heart that has been broken. I know, you know that already; I have known it myself for a long time; it's just that we seem to forget what it was like on that day when we answered His knock upon our hearts; at least I know that I have many times, and I will probably do it again. There is really no greater peace that we can know, then the peace which comes by being right with God; it is a peace that is hard to describe, because it is really not of this world. That is what I believe that David is speaking of when he says, "Make me to hear joy and gladness", which is the kind of joy that the Lord gives to us, that we commonly refer to as, "The Joy of The LORD". It cannot be heard through all of the guilt and shame that we experience when we are separated from God because of sin; and believe me when I say, sin does separate us from fellowship with God. Our broken heart is something that happens when we realize God's love up against our sinfulness; God's love is so amazing, even the hardest heart can be broken by His amazing love. We can know real peace only through the love of God, period! If you asked me to explain what it is that I am talking about, I don't know that I actually can; except to say, the real peace that comes through the love of God is not of this world, which means that it goes beyond this world and everything that this world is about; meaning life, death, health, money, food, shelter, any thing that is of any concern to us otherwise, is no longer something that involves the peace that only the Lord can give to us. Then, and only then, can we really hear joy and gladness... "Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:13-19)  

"...To The Love of God"

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (Psalms 51:7) You do know that God loves you, don't you? He loves you so much, He will do whatever it takes to make you clean and to free you from your sins. When it comes to "Spiritual Cleansing", it is the conduit we need to experience the fullness of God's love for us; He knows that, and that is way He wants to make us clean, so that we can have the kind of relationship with Him that really matters. The sixth verse was about man's part in this cleaning process, which is to be totally honest with God, and to act upon what God says, which is really the beginning of wisdom; this seventh verse is all about God's part, because only God can make us clean! If you think about Jesus cleaning the feet of the disciples in that upper room, He was not only demonstrating what it means to be a servant, but He was illustrating the washing away of our sins, on a daily basis. Yes, I said on a daily basis, meaning every day! Every day I step in something (or don't step out), that requires a foot washing; every day I need to ask God for His forgiveness; and every day, He loves to forgive me! We need to understand God's heart for us is to have us love Him; His love for us demands our love, yet He does not demand it, otherwise He would not have given us free will. It is however a commandment; which if you stop and consider what His commandments mean, they are only there for our good; in other words, it is good for us to love God! There is absolutely nothing better for us than to love God, and nothing matters more towards our eternal existence! This word "purge" that is used is a very interesting word to use, because it actually mean 'sin' more than it does 'purify'; as a matter of fact, this same word is used over ten times more for 'sin' than it is for 'purify'. "Hyssop" is the type of plant used for medical and spiritual healing, yet when used or applied by man, it has only a limited application; but when applied by God, His application is complete and never misses reaching the goal; every little smudge, every little stain, God can totally remove. We don't see that happening, yet we can feel it in our spiritual relationship with God, and in our love for Him... "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-31)

"Giving In..."

"Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom." (Psalms 51:6) I like playing on numbers, and this sixth verse plays right along with that numbers game. Sure Adam had an excuse for eating that fruit, but God did straighten him out on that; and when it was all settled, Adam took the total blame; after all, he did name his wife Eve, after the fall (Genesis 3:20). If you have ever seen the movie "Unstoppable", Kirk shows how things might have went, in that Adam waited to see what would happen to Eve, and then he took of the fruit; he was right there all along, watching her be tempted. What he should have been doing was protecting his wife; as God had given him charge to "dress" and "keep" the whole garden (Genesis 2:15), which means that he was to become a servant and protect everything that God had given him. Instead of giving into sin, Adam should have given into what God had commanded him to do; and for his punishment, God made the task which was once easy and enjoyable, become hard and sorrowful (Genesis 3:17-19). You see, if the truth be told, we hardly ever sin on accident, we set ourselves up to sin by putting ourselves in the wrong place or by making our situation one that makes sin easy; why was Eve even standing there looking at that tree anyway? and why was Adam letting her? The writer of Hebrews points out in Hebrews 12:4, saying, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin", which pretty much sums up our lack of taking sin as serious as Jesus did when He was tempted in His garden (Matthew 26:36-46 &Luke 22:39-46). If we truly want to resist being tempted, then we need to try a little harder to not let ourselves be tempted; and when temptation does come our way, we will be a little wiser as to what we need to do to avoid it. Praying is a pretty good idea, because it is what Jesus did, and He kept on doing until His being tempted was removed. I think that if we just tried that, we might actually "stand" a pretty good chance of overcoming some of those wrong choices that we make... "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:10-13)

"Giving Up" -2

"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalms 51:5) What I am going to say today, I might ruffle some feathers over, but nonetheless, I believe it must be said. There are some out there that believe that our conversion must be an act of our own, and that we are the ones who must come to God first; I personally find this notion highly unlikely, for the simple fact of what Jesus stated to Nicodemus at the end of their talk; if that was the end, because I believe that Nic had a change of heart that night. I think the reason for that notion might be the fact that Nic came to Jesus at night, as if that explains anything at all; because in reality, who is to say that God did not call Nicodemus out there? I believe that nobody can just come to God, that is not how it works; God calls us, and we must answer! A changed life is a miracle that happens by us answering the knock upon our heart, and it involves the Holy Spirit putting the desire to be changed within us; otherwise, we would just prefer to remain in our darkness. You do know that we will see Adam and Eve in heaven, right? They might be the cause for the way we were born, but that does not mean that they weren't forgiven, because Adam did answer the call, "Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9) As much as we might want to give ourselves the credit, our salvation is 100% a gift from God, because had He not called us out of the darkness, we would still have remained in it; that's just our nature, and the way that we were brought into this world, and we must realize that in order to be truly saved. Basically, the point that I am trying to make, is that we must see the truth in order to come to the truth, and when we come to the truth, then our eyes will be opened. In other words, when God calls out to us, we realize that we are dead and in need of life, we understand our situation; God's Spirit makes this aware to us, in that His Spirit is life, but His Spirit is not dwelling within us, therefore we realize that we do not have life. We have spent our whole life trying to fill a void that can only be filled with one thing, and that is God's Spirit... "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8)

"Giving Up"

"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalms 51:5) My mom would always say, "A leopard can't change it's spots"; this she would say as to my unchangeable condition to get into trouble, and that no matter how hard I try, this is what I am, spotted. That is pretty much what David is saying here, is that this is the rock that he was brought forth from, and maybe if he would have realized that sooner, he might have taken better care to avoid temptation. We all need to realize what we are, and more importantly, what we are capable of becoming! This is like an Isaiah before the throne moment, where you confess your sins before God, only to realize that you are a worthless sinner, born and raised in a sinful world, with no chance of changing, because this is what you are. Some may not think that this is important to realize, but this might be one of the most important steps that there is towards repentance. Back to the slave illustration that Jesus gave, and how "the servant abideth not in the house for ever", there has to be a change in the life a the believer, and that change must come from within; if there is no change, then that servant will leave the house because he does not feel welcomed, nor does he belong there, and that house was never really his house to begin with. This John gives reference to in 1 John 2:19, saying, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." In other words, they never were actually changed, but had only tried to cover their spots; spots that were what they were, and there was nothing they could have done to remove or to cover them; it had to be a change on the inside, which comes from a changed heart; a heart that Jesus has come to dwell within, because we had given up on trying to change ourselves, and we invited Him into our hearts, that He might change us... "And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John 3:19-21)  

"Owning Up" -2

"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest." (Psalms 51:4) Basically it comes down to the simple fact that God knows everything, so you are not hiding anything from Him, therefore you might as well just admit that what you have done, you have done it right before His very eyes. It is not like when you were a kid, and you would hide from your parents, and do something that you were not to do; then they would question you, asking you what you have done, or did you do this or that; God does not need to ask, and when He says that you are guilty of something that you have done, He is justified when He says it because He saw you do it. It is kind of like with Thomas, who spoke against Jesus behind His back, but Jesus knew what He had said, just as if He had been right there when he said it; and when Jesus showed up, He knew exactly the words to say to Thomas when He got there: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing." Talk about hitting the nail on the head, that was pretty much right to the point; Jesus was clear in His judgment of Thomas' faith, he was faithless and he needed to believe. Jesus was also clear when He said, "If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins" (John 8:24); it really does not get any clearer than that how important it is to know who Jesus really is; to not be faithless, but believe... "I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:12-18) 

"Owning Up"

"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest." (Psalms 51:4) This is probably the most profound statement in the Bible on owning up to God for our sin; another one that comes close is Thomas's statement upon pressing his figure in the holes of Jesus. You really need to understand what is being said, or better yet, you need to see what is being understood. Those Jews that believed on Jesus lacked understanding because they did not know God; they might have thought that they knew God, at least the God that they were raised to know; but they did not know "THEE GOD"; they worshiped the God of Abraham, but from afar; meaning that they had no personal relationship with the God they worshiped. Doubting Thomas did not really understand who Jesus was; he might have called Him master and teacher; he may have even referred to Him as lord; but not until he place his finger in His nail pierced hand, did he see that Jesus was God; more importantly, as he said himself, "My Lord and my God!" Those that do not believe Jesus is God say that Thomas cursed due to his astonishment, but those of us that believe know different; Thomas was astonished alright, not because Jesus had risen, but because Jesus had said who He was, and it had all became perfectly clear in that very instant. In other words, Thomas was not doubting what had taken place, his real doubt was about who Jesus really was; because if he had believed that Jesus really was God, then Him rising from the dead would really not be so unbelievable. Right about now you're probably wondering why I am sharing so much about Thomas, but there is a connection. The biggest sin in the doubt of Thomas was not believing in Jesus Christ, of which he owned up to by proclaiming what he did; to which Jesus answered, "Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." It might seem crazy, but there really is a connection between what Thomas realized and what David is saying in this verse; both of them totally get the picture and understand Who that they have sinned against, and Who it is that can forgive them.... "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:24)

"Taking Ownership"

"For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." (Psalms 51:3) This is something that must be personal and that I take ownership of; I cannot give anything to God that I do not own. I am pretty sure that we all pretty much understand that; although you can't tell that to be the case, based upon the way that we judge one another so much; we judge each other as if we have never done any wrong ourselves. In our relationship with God, forgiveness brings deliverance, but there are always the scars left over from the chains of bondage. Taking ownership of what we have done is harder than we sometimes think; sure, it is easy to say, Yes I am guilty; but then we go and try to find someone else to blame for our mistakes. You can see the example in the way Adam and Eve reacted to their own sin: at the very first they knew that they were guilty, but when confronted, they blamed someone else for what they had done. Understanding something about what Jesus said when He spoke of "the servant abideth not in the house for ever", we need to get the picture of what it means to be a servant in someone's home, in that it is not their home, but it belongs to someone else. The "servant" that Jesus was referring to was the person that might sin, as He said, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin"; but the truth of the matter is, we all sin, and not one of us are innocent of sin; therefore we were all once servants of sin. The only thing that can free us from being the servant of sin is by making Jesus our Lord, thereby making Jesus our new Master. The biggest problem that we have in that 'difficult situation', is that we continue thinking we live in the old master's house; we continue on with answering the commands of the old master, even though we have a new Master, Jesus Christ our Lord. There must be something there we have forgotten, something that we keep going back for; maybe it is just the memory of the sin, or the thought of what we experienced from our sin. The reason I referred to this as a 'difficult situation', is because it is difficult to not listen to that old master anymore; although it might be simple, and the answer is as simple as pie, it is difficult to obey what we know to be truth. That is what giving it all over to the Lord is all about! All of anything is everything, which means that there is nothing left for us to hold onto; absolutely nothing... "I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with My Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of you father. Then said they to Him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I proceeded forth and come from God; neither cam I of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My word." (John 8:37-43)

"The Motivation" -2

"Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." (Psalms 51:2) First of all, I must understand where my iniquity is from; we know what sin is, and we know that it is something that we were born into; because I am an offspring of Adam, I am born in sin; but iniquity is me putting that sin nature to work. That is a lot like Cain, who inherited his sin nature from his father Adam, but put it to work by letting it drive him to kill his brother Abel. I really good explanation of what iniquity stands for in relation to sin, would be to look at it this way: In sin I was born, which was not a fault of my own, but iniquity is my sin, of which I deserve to be punished. Sometimes it takes an entire lifetime to come to this understanding that we are just full of iniquity, because most people actually think that they are a pretty good person; and compared to what Cain did to his brother, or what David did to Uriah, they come off looking pretty good; but they are missing the point. There is something gone missing within us, and it only comes through surrendering to God; to put it in the most simple terms possible: we must surrender our life to Him, for Him to pour life into us! The life that we need is His Spirit, without that, we simply cannot love as we were created to love Him, nor can we love each other the way that we were meant to. Which causes me to remember another thing that iniquity stands for, which is guilt, as in being guilty of sin. It is hard to express love as we should without being free from the guilt that comes from sin. Some might think that guilt might motivate someone to love, as if there was some kind of driving force behind feeling guilty that makes you love someone that you have wronged; but it does not work out that way, because love that is motivated by guilt is always looking for relief; in other words, it is a love that is always hungry for something that it will never find satisfaction for in loving; there is only one thing that can wash us from our sins, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ. What does all this mean? Well, if you insist on believing that you only need redemption because you were born separated from God, then you are missing part of your redemption, and your guilt may still remain; and if your guilt still remains, then you are motivated to love for all the wrong reasons... "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commiteth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8:31-36)

"The Motivation"

"Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." (Psalms 51:2) How bad do I want to be right with God? What makes me want it? First and foremost, my sin separates me from God, I understand that, and I do not want to let anything get between God and myself; but is that the only factor that motivates me to make things right? I hope not! I do not what my motivation to be one of protection and provision, as if I only want to be close to God so that He will take care of me; that's a lot like a child that only sticks around the house to be cared for by their parents, even up into their late adulthood; they are not there because they love their parents so much that they can't leave home, they are there for their parents to provide a place for them to feel secure. God wants us to love Him! My motivation must be based upon love, which is my desire to be close to the One that I love, because He loves me so so much! So in a way, yes that is a main factor which motivates me to make things right, but it is not thee factor, because thee factor involves love, and love does not seek reward! What does it mean to completely surrender our life to God? Think about that for a moment, and ask yourself what if anything can you take into complete surrender? Better yet, what do you expect to bring out of it? "Spiritual Cleansing" is all that matters! "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth". (John 4:24) God cannot change a heart that does not want to be changed, and the only way that we can love God is by having a changed heart; we can pretend that we love Him, but that will not be the truth, and Jesus said we "must" worship Him in truth. So my next question has to do with "spirit", and what does it mean to worship God in spirit? Well, in the text above, the "Spirit" and "spirit" are one of the same; they are the same word, which refers to both God's Spirit and our spirit in the same expression. My spirit is lost without God's Spirit! Do we totally understand that concept? If we do, do we understand why we need redemption? This is probably the only thing by which we must meet God half way... "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

"The Approach" -2

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according in Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions." (Psalms 51:1) You do believe that Jonah really did get swallowed by a giant fish, right? Jesus would not have used it an illustration if He had not made that fish to swallow him up. As I was saying, God's mercy is always more than we need to be forgiven, and God wants to forgive us, He really does; we just need to come clean before Him, not try and clean up before we come to Him, because He wants us to come just as we are, broken and ashamed. Jonah did not say, "If I get out of this fish I am going to get right with God", he got right with God right where he was, and then God delivered him from the fish! I think I understand what it feels like to be broken, but do I know what deliverance feels like? Did Jonah? You see, that is what I am trying to say; God will use our faults for His perfect will; God can take something that is totally wrong, and He can make it work for that which is right. I do not pretend to understand all that God does and why He allows some things to happen, because we simply cannot even begin to see what God can see; but when David is asking for God to "blot out" his transgressions, it is more than just a simple request to be forgiven, it is asking that God wipe them away, as if they never happened. Have you ever felt that ashamed before, where you wish that something you did could be removed? And yet, we all know that is not possible, except in the movies. David is primarily concerned about God blotting out his transgressions from His view of him, as if he was asking God to exterminate the very act from the record book. Our number one objective is to get right with God; and God's number one desire is that we ask Him to make us right; that we would sincerely come to Him needing to be made right, and believing that He wants to do that in us. That is really key, yet it is what we sometimes lack the most, the belief that God wants to do something special within us, beyond just forgiving us; God wants to do a work in us that is beyond our wildest dreams, if we would just surrender. Approach does not only mean to draw closer or to get near, it also means a way of dealing with something: "Our ways are not God's ways"; and remember, this is about Spiritual Cleansing, which does not appear in the flesh, nor is it even concerning the flesh; it is about our spirit being one with God's Spirit... "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:5-6)

"The Approach"

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions." (Psalms 51:1) Possibly the hardest thing to understand about the relationship that God and David had, was that everything was understood. I know that might not make much sense, but you have got to understand something about David, in that he understood that God understood him; therefore David could approach God based upon the fact that He was totally aware of everything about David, and that there was nothing David could say that God did not already know, neither was there anything David could not say that was secret from God's knowing. Additionally, God was always very upfront with David, and David understood the heart of God; more than that, David understood God's heart towards him, the whole him! What makes us hold back from our approach to God is that we feel dirty and unworthy to approach Him, when in reality, there is nothing that we can do to undo our dirty feeling until we actually make ourselves approach God. I say make ourselves because it is not a casual approach, but it is one of complete humility and surrender; we need to prepare our hearts in order to enter in, which means we need to have the proper understanding. Notice the attitude of David's plea: there are no excuses or any hint of blame being put on anyone else; it is all about two very important things: our wickedness and God's mercy; that's it, I am guilty and God is merciful!!! The most important part of that equation is the mercy of God, because His mercy far out-performs my wickedness; as a matter of fact, God's mercy is far more abundant than my wickedness could ever be, but it is dependent upon my surrender; which is another thing that David understood about God, that God was there to receive him when he surrendered. How we miss that point so often, as we hold back from surrendering everything to God for fear of falling, or for fear of what will happen next; when the most important part about a surrender to God is that we put all of our trust in Him, especially the part about dealing with our transgressions. Transgressions are not just sins, they are willful disobedience; the sign says stop, but you go anyway; God's word says don't, but you do it because you want to do it anyway. Sin is falling short, as in, missing the mark; in other words, I cannot do what I should do because I am not able to do it, because I lack what it takes to hit to be perfect; which is far less offensive to God than doing what I should not do just because I want to do it. Is that understood?
"Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came unto Thee, into Thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land." (Jonah 1:17-2:10)  

"A Prayer for Spiritual Cleansing"

PSALMS 51: [To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.]
I guess you know by now the title above this Psalm in my Bible; and by the introduction you can see that this was one of the lowest points in David's life; so it stands to reason, David needed "Spiritual Cleansing" more than anything else in his darkest hour. If you know the moment he is talking about, it was when Nathan came to him and gave him the story of a man that had many sheep, yet he took the little lamb of his neighbor, his only little lamb that he treated like his child, and he cooked it and fed it to his house guest (2 Samuel 12:1-14). This God gave Nathan to say as an illustration of the coldness of his heart, for he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, gotten her pregnant, and had her husband killed to try and cover it up. Her husband was a man named Uriah, who was listed as one of David's 'Mighty Men' (2 Samuel 23:39), and was more faithful to David than most men would ever be; which was got him killed, because he refused to go to his wife while he was in town, but instead stood guard at the door of the king's house (2 Samuel 11:6-15). David's heart was not always like that, but rather he was referred to by God as "a man after mine own heart", to which David was to fulfill God's perfect will (Acts 13:22). This has always given me wonder, not that David sinned, because we all sin, but rather the fact that David was a vessel used to "fulfill all" of God's will; as if David's sin committed was always meant to happen, and through it God's will was fulfilled in David's life and in the testimony of God's great mercy and grace. There where seven things that were included in David's repentance after Nathan had come to him: first off, he had a godly sorrow for his sin; secondly, he had verbal confession for what he had done; thirdly, he had a turning away from his sin, or a renouncing of it by changing his heart; fourthly, he experienced forgiveness; fifth, he had restoration to God's favor; sixth, he had rejoicing take place in his heart over his salvation; and seventh, he had a willingness to testify to others the grace of God. When God speaks of "the sure mercies of David" in Isaiah 55:3, He is speaking of this! God is showing us that no matter how much we blow it, or how bad our sin might be, that He is still able and willing to forgive us of our sin, to restore us, and to use us to do His will; which is His will being fulfilled...
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:16-21)

"Make It Count" -2

"Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright I will show the salvation of God." (Psalms 50:23) I really do think it is interesting how this Psalm is followed by one of the greatest passages in the entire Bible concerning confession and forgiveness; it stands to reason that we need to know how God operates before we can totally understand how to ask Him for forgiveness; at least to ask Him in a way that gives us assurance that we have been cleansed. Confession is not just spewing out some sins that we have committed before God, as if we are coming clean before Him, it is a heart felt sorrow that takes place within us because we have sinned against God, which is remorse for having wronged the One that loves you more than you even love yourself; if you can understand the importance of what that means. When we truly understand why it is that we must praise Him, then we can truly give Him the glory that He deserves, without actually trying to impress Him or anyone else! If there is anything we must take away from Psalms 50 before moving ahead into Psalms 51, it is that "God Is the Judge" of not only your eternity, but He is the Judge of your internal character; and He not only loves us more than we love ourselves, but He knows us better than we know ourselves; in other words, we need to be perfectly honest with Him, because He knows what we are thinking, what is in our hearts, and even what we don't know we are capable of doing or thinking, He already knows! Not that it matters, but how do you think you could handle loving someone with unconditional love, even though you knew in advance that they would hurt you, or turn against you? I don't know if I could do it, especially if I knew what God already knows, because He really deserves more of my love than I have offered Him. I guess the reason for my title, "Make It Count", has more to do about the way that we are treated than the way that we perform; which really comes down to the way that we are loved by God, regardless of our performance or response to His love, just knowing that He loves me is the most important part of my relationship with God. I mean really; who can actually say that they can love God with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength? We always come up short, but He never does; His love never fails, so doesn't make since that it should be His love that we must focus upon and not our own? That is the only way we are going to make His love count... "Ho, every one that thirstest, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money on that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." (Isaiah 55:1-3)

"Make It Count"

"Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God." (Psalms 50:23) This was tougher than I thought it was going to be; which was due mostly to the fact that I wanted to stay in Isaiah with all my closing verses; but also due to the fact that this is hard to share about and to deal with the truth that comes out of it while sharing. The whole thing about "consider" that I mentioned yesterday, I was spoken to later in the afternoon regarding the same matter; it was through 'To Every Man An Answer', as Pastor Steve used a similar illustration to answer a caller. The point was made about sin that we don't want to give up, and that God honors our free will; so in order for God to change our heart, we must first change our mind regarding what we want most: do we want to hold onto that sin, and accept the consequences of owning it? or do we want to desire the things of God in our life, and receive all the blessing of being owned by Him? Once we change our mind and desire Him above all else, then He will change our heart, making that desire real and long lasting. Giving our heart to the Lord is something that starts in our mind; it really is all about a choice! We cannot fool God in anything, so we should just stop trying to pretend to worship Him, and really let go so that real praise can come forth from our hearts. That is what this verse is actually speaking of; it's all a matter of wanting God! Not just wanting to be counted as one of His, but actually wanting that relationship with Him that only comes from Him owning every fiber of our being. To really see the "salvation of God", is not about 1 and 1 equals two, or about putting two and two together, it is about being set free, really free; beyond belief freedom that can only come from having a perfectly clean slate before God. And again, it always involves "consider"; always we are to be considering what is that perfect and acceptable way of the Lord; and with the right heart, and the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, we actually have a pretty good chance of making all the right choices...
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called Trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified." (Isaiah 61:1-3)

"Torn Apart"

"Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." (Psalms 50:22) I really thought that I was going to do verse 21 again, but God said, "It is enough". When He is taking about "this", this is a pretty big concept, because it involves everything that He has set in motion and that we are a part in; which takes into consideration far more than we ever even begin to comprehend. When it comes to being torn apart, that may or may not be such a bad thing, it really depends on whether or not we believe in God; and not just any God will do, it must be Thee God, the One And Only; the Maker of heaven and earth, the God that formed you and that holds you in His hand. If I truly believe in God, and I truly do believe that He loves me, then it's okay to be torn apart, because He will put me back together again; and when He does, those parts of me that needed to be removed, He will leave out. And yet, there is something else to be considered in all of this, and that is our sin; without God's mercy and His perfect plan of redemption for our lives, we are going to be judged for those sins; which will be far more than any one of us will be able to bear; just read some of the descriptions that Jesus gave of hell, and you will see that it is not going to be a pretty place. As far as His judgment goes, not then, but now is when we want to be judged; right now is when we have the opportunity to "consider" what He offers and "consider" where we will be if we do not accept His offer. Matthew Henry puts it like this: "Consideration is the first step towards conversion." We must consider all that God is, all that we are, and all that He offers us; then we must consider what we must do! God Is the Judge, and ultimately He will have the last word; what position do you want to be in when His last word is issued, being torn, or being delivered? That might not make sense to some, but God will only take so much rebellion and forgetfulness before He puts forth wrath; He is extremely patient with us, but He does have a limit. And yet, look at Jesus and all that He suffered for us; does that not speak to the seriousness of sin in the eyes of God? So we should not take sin lightly, because it carries a very heavy punishment; but His love is greater than all the sin that ever was: Let His love tear you apart...
"For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My Spirit this is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, not out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever." (Isaiah 59:17-21)

"In Truth"

"These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes." (Psalms 50:21) Yes indeed, God Is the Judge; and because He is, He gets to establish all the rules; including the rules of punishment and His correction upon our lives. We don't get to make the rules, although we might think we do, based upon our own human emotions and feelings; God's ways are not the same as ours, so why do we think He will judge as we might judge? When it comes to the children of Israel, they are God's chosen people, yet they were chosen by God to bless the rest of the world with the perfect picture of God's love; through every story of being taken captive and delivered, from falling away and being reunited, to worshiping idols and coming back to God; they all are the mirror image of each of our lives, and how we struggle in staying true to God. But more than that, they are showing every one that cares to see how God is faithful, even though we may not be, He is, and He keeps on being faithful; why? because He has chosen us! Don't ask me to explain how that all works, because I can't, nor do I really care to know how it all works, because we cannot know the mind of God; but know this, He loves you, and anything that He allows you to go through, He does because He loves you, even those things that seem devastating and unbearable; just look at the picture of Israel if you do not believe me. We look at things in the here and now, in the flesh and blood; but God is not flesh and blood as we are, He is Spirit; but just to make things fair, He did come down and live as we live, and you see how that turned out! I really don't think that anyone could suffer as much as Jesus suffered; He looked towards the cross for many years, knowing how much He would suffer; the closer that day came, the more it most have pressed against His heart, the more He must have anguished that day's arrival. Imagine that for a moment, knowing all that you need to go through way ahead of time, and having to look forward to being beaten and nailed to a cross; let alone the actual suffering through it, even though you could end it all with just a word, He kept silent. I don't think that we really grasp the power demonstrated that day; the ultimate power of the love of God was shown in His humiliation, in that He could have said, "It is enough", yet He looked forward to saying, "It is Finished"... "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." (Isaiah 60:1-5)

"In Love"

"Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son." (Psalms 50:20) I know that I had mentioned this before, but James most likely was haunted by the way he treated Jesus as his brother; at least until after he really knew who He really was, because before then he considered Him a nut; as did many of the others that knew Jesus from His youth. That's one of the important characters of love, in that love believes. Do we need to have our heart convinced, is that the real issue? Or is it that our mind is always too skeptical to allow our hearts to truly love the way God wants us to love one another? I have a really hard time with this, and I need to stop judging others by what I think is going on with them, and start praying for them instead; not praying for them because I think that there is something wrong, but praying for God to bless them and show them His great love for them. I think that might be a good start for a lot of my issues, to just start praying for anyone that my mind begins to think wrongly about; if I think a bad thought about anyone, then that should be the trigger within me to pray for them; to pray God's blessings upon their life and that they would fall deeply in love with Jesus. Would that convince my heart to love and that I am capable of loving my brother? Maybe. Maybe I need to hit the carpet and ask God to change my heart, because He is the one that needs to change it, I can't do it, I should know that by now. The first place to start is by loving God, and that is only made possible by believing that He loves me; really believing that He loves me, just as I am; every last once of this broken and shamefully wicked person that I am, He loves me because I am His child, not just for what I am going to be one day, but right now He loves me! Jesus hung out with sinners because He loved them, and He would be hung on the cross to save them from their sin; something that they could never do on their own, it was only Jesus that could save them. Do I need my heart convinced of His love for me? Do you? The picture that is framed is falsehood, which is of the devil, who is the father of lies, and who wants to convince each and everyone of us that God cannot love us because we are not worthy of His love. We cannot accept even the smallest portion of that lie, because it will come out in the way we love one another; we must believe with our whole heart that God loves us, every last bit of who we are; that is what He came and died for; that is why He came and died for us, because while we were yet sinners, He loved us and gave His life for us. Yes, we are not worthy of His love, but He still loves us...
 "We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; in transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that depareth from evil maketh himself prey. And the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no imtercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness sustained him." (Isaiah 59:11-16)

"In Words"

"Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit." (Psalms 50:19) James has some pretty good things to say about the tongue, but there is someone that knows not only every word that we speak, but every thought behind every word also. My fault is about to get worked on, and I am a little worried that I might need to start checking myself; because some days I am about sick of myself and the words that I allow to come out of my mouth. It's not that I have not prayed for God to help me control my words, because I have, over and over I have asked Him; so maybe it is not about controlling the tongue, but more about a change of heart? My mom use to say, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything"; it is something that might be good to practice, if I could ever take myself out of real time situations for about six weeks or so, I might be able to make it a habit. But here is the thing that I must come to realize more than anything else, that God does not command me to be anything that He cannot make me! Moses was a good example of that, because when God commanded Moses to go before Pharaoh, Moses had every excuse in the book why he was not able; it was not a question of being able, but one of being willing. So the question I need to ask myself, is if I am willing to allow God to change me? I have asked Him enough to help me control my tongue, but have I given Him more control over my life? Have I even considered it? I would like to think that I have; after all, I have devoted several hours each day to doing this blog, so I have at least given Him part of my day; but what about the rest? Well, I have stopped listening to Talk Radio while in my car and only listen to CSN; although I am in and out of my car so much that I hardly ever get to hear the whole message of anyone speaking. I think it involves more than occupying our time with doing this or that, because we are the same person no matter where we are at or what we are doing; but it's more about the relationship that we have with God; is He LORD of our life? If He is, then there is no me time and Him time, it is all His time; every waking or sleeping moment belongs to Him; every thought is judged by Him, so I had better watch what I allow my mind to think about! Here is something to think about, it might sound a little dumb, but if our "tongue frameth deceit", then from where is the picture taken?
"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He cannot hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands." (Isaiah 59:1-6)