"Won and Done!"

"Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness." (Psalms 150:2)

  Matthew Henry breaks this Psalm into three categories of praise: "For what, and upon what account, God is to be praised," is the first of these, which accounts for verses one and two. Having looked at the unquestionable power of His mighty hand: that it is by His power we are both called into His kingdom, and with that same powerful hand we are kept secure in His kingdom, we must, with all of our might, be steadfast and continue to rest in His hand, against all odds and without hesitation! You cannot believe the spiritual battles that I have been going through this last couple of days, maybe even weeks. It is not a question of why, because I already know how the enemy works; but it is more a question, do I have what it takes to carry on, even when I might feel like giving up? But God is not giving up on me, that much I know! How do I know, you might wonder? I know it might sound like old news, but it isn't any weaker than when it was first revealed: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ!" This is not just something to believe, but it is something that we must make certain, and that we hold onto; especially when we start not believing that it counts anymore, or that God has somehow changed His mind. Because, that is when we push away all the doubt and count more upon His Word than ever before! We must not make our failures the thing that we measure God's greatness by, ever! I had a thought a little earlier in the week, and I have almost felt a little reluctant to say anything, only because I know that there are some within the church that will not agree. It has something to do with the way we deal with our sins, those sins which we hold onto, even though we might know that they harm our relationship with God. There is something else that has never changed, which is God's mighty acts! I am sorry if this might not agree with your ministry or the way you might view sanctification; but when we first came to Christ, we were transformed into something that we previously were not; it was not anything that we needed to work at, it was everything to do with what God had done, instantly and unquestionably! I guess maybe the easiest way to illustrate what this might look like, besides the fact that we can never change our own heart, is to believe that anything we are holding onto, it is just that, something else that we must let go, and we must give it to God! The way I see it, if it is something that we think we must deal with on our own, then, on our own we will pick it back up! It is really not that hard to understand, but it sure is hard to let it go; especially when it is yours, and yours alone...

"Now, dear brothers and sisters -you who are familiar with the law -don't you know that the law applies only while a person is living? For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. So while he husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But is her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries. So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God." (Romans 7:1-4) NLT